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Tuesday,
February 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Cell operators sue WLL counterparts
Air Sahara set to spread wings
German Logistics to raise investment
BSNL mobiles carry no signal |
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Narayana Murthy, Nilekani ‘Businessmen of 2003’
CII for harsh steps in Punjab budget BPCL to invest 7,500 cr for expansion
India Inc optimistic about economy
Oracle-HP to set up centre in Gurgaon
HCL Comnet to hire 150 soon
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Cell operators sue WLL counterparts New Delhi, February 10 “The fact that the WLL (M) services are not permissible outside the SDCA has been admitted by the WLL (M) operators themselves in various affidavits filed before the TDSAT. The Association of Basic Service Operators had also emphasised in its affidavit that the WLL (M) phone would not work outside the SDCA”, a COAI statement said. In complete contravention of the admitted stand of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the private operators, the Delhi circle of Tata Teleservices was working across multiple SDCAS — Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida and Faridabad — and further that misleading advertisements were being published by Reliance Infocomm offering roaming services across 673 cities in India, the COAI said. Such violations by the WLL (M) operators were not only harmful to public interest as they resulted in misleading and misguiding consumers. |
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Air Sahara set to spread wings New Delhi, February 10 With the delivery of first of the CRJs in the next few days, the airlines will receive a total of seven aircraft which it will use to open new corridors. The airline’s CEO U.K. Bose said here today that Air Sahara had also begun exploratory work on starting flights to Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the hope that the government gave permission to private carriers to operate to Saarc countries. The Civil Aviation Minister had last week said the government was looking into opening the Saarc sector for the private airlines. Mr Bose told reporters that Sahara had been asked by top government officials to go ahead with preparations to fly on the international routes as permission would be given to private carriers "very shortly". He, however, admitted that private airlines had no clue to what "formula" the government was going to have for them regarding the routes. "We will have exclusive aircraft for our international operations," Mr Bose said, adding that Air Sahara would add five Boeing 737-700s and 800s before the end of the year besides seven Bombardiers by April on a seven year lease. The airline was targeting a fleet of 22 by 2003-end and was spending $ 40 to 45 million. The first station to be linked by the Canadian Bombardier will be Gorakhpur. The 50-seater will operate first on the Delhi-Gorakhpur-Kolkata route. Mr Bose said new corridors like Hyderabad-Pune, which has a significant traffic, would be opened up with the regional jet. Direct connectivity will beg the Bombardiers on the regional routes in the mornings, he added. From 13 destinations, Air Sahara will expand to 26 destinations and increase their flights to 155 from 63 by the year-end, he said. |
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German Logistics to raise investment New Delhi, February 10 "The decision comes in wake of economic reforms in India as a result of which we foresee a bright future for this industry here. We plan to pump in an additional Rs 10 crore towards our Indian operations in the coming years", Dr Thomas C Lieb , Member of the Board, Schenker Stinnes Logistics said while talking to the Tribune. The company (Schenker India) which has eight offices across the country provides integrated logistics services offering land transport, air and sea freight as well as comprehensive logistics solutions and global supply chain management. Schenker India started its operations here seven years ago in joint venture with NPIL, Bombay. However, last year, with a view to integrate Schenker India to the worldwide Schenker network, the company acquired full shares from NPIL and now has 100 per cent control over Schenker India. "The Indian logistics industry which has so far been dominated by small players, is now attracting large investments from global players . The economic reforms are now picking up and international players are eyeing the Indian market", Dr Lieb said. He said following the takeover by Deutsche Bahn (DB), the German Railway Concern, the activities of the Stinnes Group and DB have been combined to produce one of the world’s largest logistics service providers with sales amounting to 11 billion euros and more than 60,000 employees. "The company is today among the world’s top three in air cargo business and among the top two in sea cargo". Schenker India which is focussing on American, Canadian, European and Asian markets is expecting a 50 per cent growth in volumes this year whereas the turnover increased to Rs 80 crore in 2002, which was more than double two years ago. Schenker, he said, plans to be more involved in future with particular attention to supply chain management of spare parts for manufacturing industries and telecom equipment. Currently it is offering other related services also like freight services, fairs and exhibitions, removals, integrated logistics, warehousing and distribution etc. |
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BSNL mobiles carry no signal Palampur, February 10 The tall claims made by the BSNL authorities has proved false as the customers have fed up with the poor and faulty mobile service in two months. The Customer service Centre at
Dharamsala is ill-equipped as there is always shortage of sim cards and other material. The customers have to visit the service centre time and again to get new connections. The staff posted in the centre lack commercial approach and after 1 p.m. no new connections are issued. Despite directions from the higher authorities choice numbers are not allotted to subscribers. Even there is also acute shortage of pre-paid coupons at BSNL retail outlets in various parts of the district. The most popular Rs 325 plan of BSNL, which has attracted large number of customers in the beginning, has disappointed the customers because of week signal. Even in lower parts of Palampur, Bhawarna, Maranda BSNL mobile phones fails to catch signal whereas the other mobile companies has better network on BSNL mobile phones most of the time the screen displays “no service”. |
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Narayana Murthy, Nilekani ‘Businessmen of 2003’ New Delhi, February 10 Narayana Murthy and Nilekani are the sixth recipients of the award and this is the first time that Fortune has named two individuals as Asia’s Businessmen of the Year, said Robert Friedman, international editor, Fortune, in a press release. “The partnership of Murthy and Nilekani have made a remarkable impact on Asian business, pioneering a powerful business model that taps into India’s pool of inexpensive English-speaking engineers to deliver quality information technology services and transforming the country into a global player in the IT industry”, it said. What makes Infosys stand out is also its remarkable standards of corporate governance and the company may be the only corporation in the world to publish its
financial statements in accordance with the accounting standards of eight countries — Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan and the USA, it said. Fortune said in 2002 the company turned the global technology downturn to their advantage by playing to their strength as a low-cost alternative and while other companies were downsizing, Infosys increased recruitment and launched aggressive overseas sales and marketing activities.
PTI |
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CII for harsh steps in Punjab budget Chandigarh, February 10 The fiscal balances of the state of Punjab worsened in the early 1990s and have continued to deteriorate by accumulating debt faster than the growth of the economy. The revenue deficit and gross fiscal deficit touched 5.48 per cent and 6.92 per cent by the end of fiscal 2001-02. The ratio of debt to GSDP touched a high of 47.16 per cent in 2002 BE. The guarantees too have been on the rise, touching the Rs 50,000 crore mark in 2002. Interest payment between 1990-91 and 2001-02 increased almost nine times, accounting for more than 30 per cent of revenue receipts. Given this background, CII Northern Region has propagated that there should be greater focus on revenue collection. Concrete and detailed planning is absolutely imperative to increase tax collections. In this context, the implementation of VAT is a significant taxation reform measure. The first task for the State is to design legislation and notify the Act in the upcoming State Assembly session. Secondly, the state must issue the rules at the earliest. The memorandum states that reintroduction of octroi, and entry tax have been detrimental to the industry. Such types of levies are not in line with the VAT regime, and therefore should be withdrawn with immediate effect. Otherwise, this would force the industry to migrate to adjoining states, where tax structure is friendlier to the industry. CII Northern region has noted in its memorandum that the prevailing high Stamp Duty rate inhibits prospective purchasers to register their properties. Hence, the house/property tax should be reduced and rationalised. The existing registration charges are too high and should be brought down to 2 per cent. Finally, to contain the fiscal situation, the memorandum has suggested that there is the need to rationalise user charges as well as reprioritise expenditure so that greater money is allocated towards creation of capital assets that enhance social and economic infrastructure. |
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BPCL to invest 7,500 cr for expansion Mumbai, February 10 BPCL Chairman and Managing Director Mr Sarthak Behuria told UNI here yesterday that BPCL will invest Rs 1,500 crore every year for the next five years for floating joint ventures, for modernisation, restructuring and brand building. He, however, he did not elaborate on these plans. He said that BPCL plans to open 600 to 700 outlets by next year. “BPCL will also match the prices of its petroleum products with that of the Reliance Group and Essar if they offer petroleum products at lesser price. The low cost assets and market driven price mechanism, determined by supply and demand, will fix the prices of the BPCL’s petroleum”, he said. Reliance and Essar have obtained the government nod for opening outlets and are planning to do so by 2004. On the issue of BPCL’s disinvestment, Mr Behuria said that the road map of the disinvestment will be clear by the end of this month. Out of the total capital, 32.5 per cent will be given to the public, 5 per cent to the employees and the rest will be kept with the company, he said. On the proposed strike of BPCL employees’ unions opposing its disinvestment, Mr Behuria said that the issue will be sorted out amicably. “A contingency plan will be chalked out to address the situation”, he said. Special attention will be paid for the brand building of Bharat Gas. BPCL will prepare a rate of all its products for the convenience of customers.
UNI |
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India Inc optimistic about economy New Delhi, February 10 The survey which elicited response from 521 companies, points out that while majority companies surveyed expected ‘higher to much higher’ exports, an increase in the proportion of respondents who felt threatened by imports was noted. The companies surveyed covered a wide spectrum of activities, with turnover ranging from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 60,000 crores, from sectors including FMCG, heavy equipment and machinery, food and beverages, petrochemicals, construction and real estate, financial services, cement, automobiles, entertainment, telecom . Of the total, 49 per cent respondents were from light industry, 36 per cent from heavy industry and 15 per cent from services sector. In the run-up to the budget Indian industry seems to be conscious about the implementation of the Kelkar Committee recommendations, the survey pointed out. While 58 per cent of the companies surveyed were of the view that a phased reduction of exemptions and appropriate lowering of tax rates would be the most appropriate step. However 32 per cent of the respondents were prepared for a one time lowering of tax rates and the immediate removal of all direct and indirect tax exemptions as suggested by the Kelkar Committee. Only 10 per cent supported the continuance of the existing tax structure, FICCI said. |
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Oracle-HP to set up centre in Gurgaon
New Delhi, February 10 The potential areas identified include national security, which is crucial for countries like India, Oracle Corporation, Executive Vice-President for Asia Pacific Derek Williams told mediapersons here. He said the company had already developed platform for the national security.
UNI |
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HCL Comnet to hire 150 soon
New Delhi, February 10 “We are planning to hire 150 professionals in the coming weeks. The deployment of these additional professionals will spread across our operations and management centre in Noida, disaster recovery site in Chennai and if required in the dedicated centres,” Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Comnet told PTI here.
PTI |
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