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Tuesday,
September 24, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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ONGC to
buy HPCL stake in MRPL Need to
strengthen co-operatives: Ajit Law
against spurious drugs on the anvil IFCI eager
to merge with IDBI Lupin to
focus on herbal medicines |
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Chinese
taps may hit Indian units Asia’s
rich are getting richer, says survey PNB
Housing Fin cuts rates
Reliance
ties up with FreeMarkets
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ONGC to buy HPCL stake in MRPL
Mumbai, September 23 “In our agreement with the AV Birla group, it has been clearly stated that the ONGC will buy further equity in MRPL in a statutory time-frame at Rs 2 per share, the same price at which we bought the business house’s 37.9 per cent stake in MRPL”, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha told reporters here today. He said discussions were on with HPCL and the two companies will sign an agreement “within a few days”. Last month, HPCL’s newly appointed Chairman and Managing Director M.B. Lal had said the oil major has no plans to exit from MRPL at Rs 2 per share and moreover, the refinery was important for the supply of petroleum products in South India. HPCL’s earlier partner, the Aditya Birla group, recently sold its 37.9 per cent stake in the company to the ONGC for Rs 59.4 crore. “We want to retain our shareholding but at a later stage if the ONGC offers us a good deal we may consider it”, Lal had said. After major financial re-engineering of MRPL debt, HPCL’s stake will reduce from 37.49 per cent to below 26 per cent in the company. The ONGC will also acquire Oil India Ltd’s 23 per cent stake in the Mangalore-Hasan-Bangalore product pipeline. Besides, the ONGC will infuse an additional equity of Rs 600 crore and subsequent debt restructuring will give the company a 51 per cent stake and management control. While MRPL will become a subsidiary of the ONGC, Raha said there were no plans to purchase additional shares from the market. The ONGC is exempted under the Sebi guidelines for making an open offer for acquiring an additional equity. Raha said the corporation will also invest Rs 600 crore in information technology to have an integrated communication system in place. On marketing of petroleum products, Raha said he was under-producing naphtha and LPG due to glut in the market. “We have lost about 15,000 tonnes of LPG as IOC, BPCL and HPCL have not lifted committed quantities,” he said, adding that the company has asked the government permission to market LPG on its own.
PTI
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Need to strengthen co-operatives: Ajit New Delhi, September 23 The minister said due to piled-up stocks of wheat and rice, consumers will not be affected, but farmers are bearing the brunt. He said while talks regarding the relief measures to farmers are on, only those states would be helped by the Centre which were agreed to modify several rules relating to co-operatives. Emphasising the need to strengthen co-operatives, he said these could strengthen the position of farmers. “It is extremely essential that farmers are well aware of the latest farm technologies, marketing methods, etc. The biggest challenge is that the benefits of IT should reach even small farmers”, he said. It will be the agricultural sector which will offer tremendous employment opportunities in the coming years compared to the manufacturing or service sectors. The current competitive scenario demanded farmers to work like “businessmen” where they organised everything properly and used the best of techniques for farming. This could also require expertise and educated youngsters to work towards improving the productivity and quality of the produce. Regarding the agri-business and agri-clinic scheme, so
far 1,200 persons have been trained under this scheme. Mr Ajit Kumar Singh, Chairman, Nafed said during 2001-02, Nafed achieved a turnover of Rs 1,665 crore and earned a net profit of Rs 3.54 crore. “Due to the good performance, a dividend of 9 per cent has been proposed compared to 8 per cent last year for its members”, he said.
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Law against spurious drugs on the anvil
New Delhi, September 23 “Law is there but it is not adequate. We must strengthen the law as spurious drug manufacturers are the real killers and antinationals,” Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha told PTI. However, there were certain drawbacks in the existing law. If spurious drugs are caught, the onus to prove that the medicine did not belong to them lies with the manufacturers of genuine medicines, Sinha said. “We have to find ways and means. We have to strengthen the law and we may move a Bill,” Sinha, who will be completing 100 days in office on October 10, said adding the punishment would be made deterrent. The Bill could have provisions to check, monitor, catch and punish those who are doing business in spurious drugs. “Emotionally speaking, they deserve capital punishment,” he said. Referring to non-availability of several life saving drugs in the government hospitals, he favoured bulk purchase of medicines from manufacturers rather than from chemists to achieve the twin objective of getting the medicines cheaper and checking corruption. However, this should be done by floating proper tenders and without compromising on quality of medicines.
PTI
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IFCI eager to merge with IDBI
New Delhi, September 23 Addressing the ninth Annual General Meeting, IFCI Chairman V.P. Singh said the restructuring plan suggested by McKinsey, which has been accepted by the FI’s Board of Directors, envisages separation of NPAs or “bad” assets of the ailing FI from its interest earning or “good” assets. While asking IFCI to transfer all its NPAs to its ARC — Asset Care Enterprise, Singh said the consultant suggested the business model for the good bank entails merger with a “potential universal bank”. The indication is clearly towards merger of better half of IFCI with IDBI, which is the largest stakeholder and is in the process of becoming a universal bank. McKinsey also suggested that IFCI should adopt a stand-alone structure as a mid-corporate service provider with thrust on asset financing, IPO management, syndication, project financing, receivables financing, merger and acquisition, and project advisory. Highlighting the importance of development financial institutions (DFIs) in India, Singh said “the infrastructure” sector alone requires Rs 20,00,000 crore investments in the next 15 years. “Since the Indian capital market lacks depth and stability, the continuance of DFIs can be considered sine qua non for the growth of industrial and infrastructure sector,” he added. Referring to Moody’s observation, he said “IFCI, as a DFI, still has an important role to play in the Indian financial landscape particularly when ICICI has already merged with its banking arm and IDBI is contemplating to convert itself into a universal bank.” Singh said IFCI was exploring possibilities of tie ups with reputed international strategic partners for the proposed stand-alone entity and the ARC.
PTI
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Lupin to focus on herbal medicines
New Delhi, September 23 “We have filed the INDA because we are focussing on phytomedicines as a thrust area. The research project on development of prophylactic treatment for migraine has now entered the pre-clinical phase,’’ Lupin Chairman Desh Bandhu Gupta told UNI. He said, “We are hoping to get the DCGI nod within 18 months. Then the company will go for a three-stage clinical trials.’’ The lead for this therapeutic has come from botanical genesis. All the essential data for filing the INDA such as in-vitro and in-vivo pharmacology, safety pharmacology, detailed toxicology, formulations development and other requirements have been completed and submitted to the DCGI for approval, he added. Mr Gupta pointed out that the INDA application is the result of a successful pre-clinical development programme. “Once the approval for conducting clinical trials is received, the product will be taken through the modern medicine route as far as regulatory and marketing nods go.
UNI
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Chinese taps may hit Indian units Chandigarh, September 23 Not many are aware that the Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula belt is India's largest producer of complete sanitary fittings, accessories and their parts, including taps, showers, mixers, etc. There are about 150 small and medium-sized units manufacturing these items with an estimated annual turnover of around Rs 100 crore. Some of the best known brands of bathroom and sanitary fittings such as Nova, Ess Ess, Excel, Jel, Arc, Royal and Ebony are manufactured here. Other brands such as Jaguar, Parko and Marc have also grown out of the originally Chandigarh-based company, Esco. According to Mr Pradeep Handa, regional head of Parko, the total Indian market for bathroom and sanitary fittings is in the region which is of Rs 1,200 crore annually. Chinese bathroom and sanitary fittings which have now become available in the country are up to 50 per cent cheaper than the Indian items. However, the quality of the Chinese goods leaves much to be desired. Says Mr Ajay Grover, a dealer of bathroom and sanitary fittings, the Chinese goods are no match to the Indian bathroom fittings in quality. Therefore, he does not see the Chinese imports posing much challenge to the organised sector. However, as regards the unorganised sector, it can be hit by the Chinese imports because these are cheaper than those being marketed by the small units. Those who go in for cheap installations tend to compromise on the quality of the stuff they buy. The Chinese imports have forced his company to expand its activities which were so far confined to Delhi and the surrounding areas, besides exports to Singapore, Malaysia, Sultunate of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, South Africa and the UK.
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Asia’s rich are getting richer, says survey
Singapore, September 23 In a survey covering China, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, the London-based firm found the number of affluent individuals, defined as those with net liquid assets of over $ 50,000, rose 6.3 per cent to reach $ 5.6 million by the end of 2001. The total pool of liquid onshore assets owned by affluent individuals in the four markets expanded by 10.2 per cent to $ 1.3 trillion, a compounded growth rate of 19.5 per cent since 1997. China led the wealth market, with the number of affluent individuals rising by 14.9 per cent, and aggregate liquid assets by 20.4 per cent on a compounded basis since 1997, according to the survey results in The Business Times. Singapore posted the slowest growth among the four economies with rates of 10.5 and 12.1 per cent for affluent individuals and aggregate liquid assets, respectively. “Wealth creation...has been constrained by the mass affluent sector,” Datamonitor said. “Mass affluent wealth creation is largely driven by bonuses and other financial incentives within employment,” it noted. “Such incentives have been thin on the ground across 2000 to 2001 as employers began to tightly control costs,” the report added. The study also cited increasing price sensitivity among clients illustrated by falling brokerage rates and stiff competition among credit and credit card offerings. “Mass affluent individuals will require service levels that are comparatively high compared to price levels,” it said. “Business models will have to combine a need for high service quality with relatively low potential revenue,” it added.
DPA
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PNB Housing Fin cuts rates
New Delhi, September 23 The revised interest rates are 9.5 per cent for five years, 10.25 per cent for 10 years and 10.75 per cent for 11 to 20 years. The new interest rate under the flexi scheme (for three years contract) is now 10.5 per cent for 15 years. In view of the coming festival season, the company has also reduced upfront fee to half a per cent for customers availing loan from October 1 to December 31. It is also offering personal accident coverage to its new borrowers without any extra cost.
UNI
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