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Wednesday,
December 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Polaris executives expected to reach India today
Notable improvement in industrial climate: Munjal
Reliance Infocom WLL service from Dec 28
BSNL grows 5 pc |
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Fertiliser industry left high and dry
Selloff proceeds net Rs 3,500 crore
Indo Rama to buy back 6.5% IFCI holding GRAPHIC:
Share of Agricultural Sector * in State GDP
Govt clears 22 FDI proposals
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Polaris executives expected to reach India today New Delhi, December 24 Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs told The Tribune today that the Polaris case demonstrated what diplomacy could achieve and asserted that without the Indian diplomatic intervention the Polaris executives would not have been set free in such a short time. India’s Charge d’Affaires in Jakarta, Mr Amar Sinha, had swung into action immediately after the Polaris executives had been arrested by the Indonesian police on December 13. Mr Sinha took up the matter with the Indonesian Chief of Protocol and other officials in the foreign ministry in Jakarata. His role had become all the more crucial as India’s ambassador-designate, Mr H.K. Singh, is yet to take over. This was followed by the summoning of the Indonesian ambassador here to the foreign office twice on two consecutive days - an unusual diplomatic event which conveys a strong message. The second day the Indonesian envoy was called by Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr R.M. Abhyankar and the same evening External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha spoke on telephone to his Indonesian counterpart, Mr Hasan Wyrayuda, with the single-point agenda: immediate release of the Polaris executives. Sources disclosed that the Indonesian foreign minister wrote a “sharply-worded” letter to the police chief and shortly later the Polaris executives were released. But what the Indonesian police did, proved that police forces virtually everywhere is the same. The Indonesian police did not return the passports of Mr Jain and Mr Malhotra and the passports were released only today - four days after their release. Sources said this was the Indonesian police way of face-saving and assertion of authority. Asked what diplomatic fallout could the Polaris case have on Indian trade and business, sources said India lost nothing in the Polaris episode as the Indian IT industry was held in high esteem the world over. |
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Notable improvement in industrial climate: Munjal Ludhiana, December 24 In an exclusive interview Mr Munjal maintains that the slow down of industrial progress was mainly due to the failure of the monsoon this year which greatly reduced demand across the country from all the agriculture linked activities and from the rural areas. Nearly 60 per cent of the population depends on their earnings from agriculture based activities. Mr Munjal observed, ‘Last year, the industrial slow down was impacted due to terrorist activities. The sentiment since then has not regained fully. There is, however, revival seen. The industries that got particularly affected were software, tourism, airlines and textiles. Investments too were affected. The export market is not growing as there is slow down in many parts of the world. The effects of September 11 are still felt all over the world. Hence Indian products have not been able to earn the export orders, the way they could otherwise.’ Q: Do you find the present fiscal policies of the NDA government conducive to the industrial
growth. Munjal: The key to revival is the implementation of second generation reforms. The NDA government being a coalition government has to move by consensus. Therefore the decisions take time. However, the interest of the government is to implement the second generation ... in its letter and spirit. Taxation and privatisation have proved supportive of industrial growth. Another area, which has impacted is the investment by the government in Golden quadrilateral high project, which is going to provide huge employment to people and provide greater avenues for transport. It is generally believed that a unit increase in investment in infrastructure yields nearly two and half times more income. Q: Why have we failed in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) whereas China has got huge FDI. Chinese are posing serious challenge to the Indians on all fronts and they are flooding the world markets with their cheap
goods. Munjal: China started reforms ten years before we stared here in India. Secondly we are a democratic country and the decisions taken here have to be acceptable to all parties whereas in China nothing like this happens. The policy decisions once announced have to be implemented in China. There are areas of high technology where India has a clear edge ever China. However, it is a fact that China in recent years has been able to improve quality and design of their products and price them aggressively. I am confident that the Indian industry will definitely improve its competitiveness and take up the challenge appropriately. Pricing will be an issue and we can provide subsidies — direct or hidden in our products. With second generation reforms round the corner, things should look up for India. A steady FDI inflow is better than sudden spurt and sudden withdraw from overseas investors. Since there is global adjustment taking place. It will take sometime for investments to head towards India. Q: How can we compete China and what will be the impact of China’s entry into WTO. Mr
Munjal: With China entering WTO, we cannot stop her from exporting products to India. Similarly, India also will be able to export to China without restrictions. It is an opportunity as well as challenge. Both the markets are huge in terms of volume and number of customers. Indian companies have to harness their current capabilities to meet the challenge. There can be joint efforts to the export efforts of both the countries. For example, Indian software and Chinese hardware together can compete in the world market. |
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Reliance Infocom WLL service from Dec 28 Chandigarh, December 24 Officials at the Punjab’s regional headquarter, SAS Nagar are busy in giving final touches to the system, for the launch of service in Punjab. However, they are tight-lipped over the tariff plan, as the company has issued strict instructions to all the officials not to talk to the media persons due to recent controversy over the tariff offers. Informed sources said, the TRAI— regulatory body in the telecom sector — has rejected company’s proposal to charge incoming calls for the WLL service, as it was not allowed under the licence. Interestingly, even before the launch of the publicity campaign, the company has started booking of connections for SAS Nagar and surrounding areas. However, the company is distributing application forms to selected customers, corporate buyers for the launch on December 28. For an advance payment of Rs 21,000, the company is offering a handset worth Rs 7,000 and free airtime of 400 minutes per month. Like BSNL, the company is also offering 15 second pulse, resulting in lowest pulse rate to the tune of 0.5 paise. The target is achieve a subscription base of one crore across 18 states in the first year itself, they said. Officials in the Punjab circle are promising that in case of any revision of the tariff, their amount would be adjusted. However, customers are told that as per its tradition, Reliance would provide special incentives to the first entrants. They said the company will launch this service in 104 cities. In Punjab, the company has invested over Rs 2,500 crore and all the major towns of the state including Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala have linked through optical fibre. In the first stage, the company is likely to include, said officials, Ludhiana, SAS Nagar and some other towns of Punjab for the launch of the service. Regarding the threat of the new entrant, Mr Jayant Keswani, General Manager, Marketing, Connect, said,‘‘ We are also ready to announce the competitive package of three years, the moment RIL offers the package. Though we have made a representation to the TRAI that the pulse rate should not be applied for the long distance calls. ’’ Further, he said, if one calculated the interest on the advance payments, the offer was not so attractive. Mr Randhir Verma, Member, All-India Telecom Subscribers’ Committee, says, ‘‘ Other companies would be also forced to follow in the steps of RIL. However, consumers should be provided benefits of advance payment as well.’’ |
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BSNL grows 5 pc
New Delhi, December 24 The turnover of the company stood at Rs 24,299.8 crore. In terms of extension of coverage, the percentage growth of lines (53 lakh) has been the highest ever. The state-owned company has been financed solely through the internal resources of the company without having to resort to any market borrowing. After making adequate provisioning for higher wage bill for absorbed employees of erstwhile Department of Telecom Services, the percentage of wage bill to turnover is still at a manageable level of 15.84 per cent. The net block assets have attained a figure of Rs 58,922 crore. The capital outlay for expansion and development in the area of rural telephony has been Rs 7,946 crore which is approximately 50 per cent of total capital expenditure of the company during 2001-02. The debt equity ratio also improved from 0.25 last year to 0.20.
UNI
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Fertiliser industry left high and dry
New Delhi, December 24 Burdened with burgeoning fertiliser subsidy of over Rs 14,000 crore, a worried government continued to grope fervently for a mechanism to contain the outgo, while an anxious industry pleaded for 7 per cent urea price hike annually for the next 4-5 years to phase out subsidy saying the industry was real beneficiary of the mechanism. For the distressed farmers, it was yet another year of helplessness as they confronted a truant South-West monsoon. With kharif crop hopes evaporating in the driest July of 127 years, fertiliser sales dried up sharply. The year saw preparations to dismantle the Retention Pricing Scheme (RPS) for subsidy to urea units under a new policy regime. As Fertiliser Minister S.S. Dhindsa puts it, “several aberrations have crept into the scheme”. While readying itself to survive outside the protected RPS environment, the domestic industry also apprehends dumping in the wake of removal of quantitative restrictions on import of fertilisers and wants “reasonable” safeguards. Apex manufacturers’ body, Fertiliser Association of India wants upto 35 per cent import duty on urea under free price mechanism saying it was in tune with WTO regime. It says though DAP has a bound rate of 5 per cent, urea has none.
PTI
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2002: Cement sector witnesses turnaround New Delhi, December 24 Despite suffering from rising costs in inputs like coal, power tariff and labour cost causing depressing bottomlines, the industry witnessed hardening of prices in the second half of the current year. What came a cropper was the leverage expected from the fast pace of national highway projects- Golden Quadrilateral, East-West and North-South Express Corridors, apart from rural schemes like Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Indira Awaas Yojana. However, the generous bank rate cut, a 29-year low at 6.25 per cent, forced housing finance companies to bring down interest on home loans and come up with additional sops, a bonus for the consumers as well as the cement sector. The healthy growth also attracted foreign players who have adopted a strategy of either joining hands with domestic players or individually picking up ailing mini-plants. However, the biggest controversy of the year involving two of major players — L&T and Grasim — shook the whole industry. While Grasim made an aggressive bid for 20 per cent stake through an open offer route, L&T moved in the direction of a demerger of its cement sector by setting up a committee for this. But market watchdog SEBI stepped in and put a hold on it for the timebeing. The sector, however, was not able to spread its wings fully because of twin factors of rather restrictive clause on FDI in real estate and failure to tap the export markets at least within the SAARC countries. Industry veterans feel that the sector could have posted a even higher growth, which is near 9.0 per cent till date had it not been for the two irksome issues. As per the current FDI norms, a project should have a minimum 100 acres area or a wholly owned subsidiary of a foreign company and has to bring in a minimum capital of $ 10 million.
PTI
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Selloff proceeds net Rs 3,500 crore
Kolkata, December 24 The minister told reporters that the delay of three months over the BPCL and HPCL sell-off had slowed the process of disinvestment. Asked whether the government would be able to reach the target of Rs 12,000 crore from disinvestment in the current financial year, Shourie sounded less hopeful, but added that still three more months were left in the current year. About the creation of a separate fund from disinvestment proceeds for re-training of workers as demanded by SCOPE, Shourie said “where is the money”. He said “money would have to be allotted for providing drinking water, creation of new assets and retirement of public debt.”
PTI
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Indo Rama to buy back 6.5% IFCI holding
Nagpur, December 24 The phased acquisition of IFCI’s holding stems from an agreement signed two years ago on IRSIL’s decision to convert a term loan extended to the company into equity. The company’s equity capital is about Rs 166 crore.
UNI
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Exhibition Markets closed Delhi Metro HDFC Bank |
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