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Saturday,
February 22, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Wal-Mart dethrones General Electric
Bids opening date for PunCom put off
Kinetic unveils costliest bike
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Economic zone for Gurgaon
Power rate hike may force units to shift
Rabi crop output to fall by 7.5 mt
Jaswant Singh goes hi-tech
TCS largest software exporter
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Wal-Mart dethrones General Electric New Delhi, February 21 All top 10 companies in the All-Star list are from the United States, which recently faced a slew of scandals in the corporate world. In the list of 50 companies, 36 are from USA. At the second position is General Electric followed by Microsoft, Dell Computers, Johnson and Johnson, Berkshire Hathaway, Procter and Gamble, IBM, Coca-Cola and FedEx. Wal-Mart has become the only company to top the most admired and fortune 500 list in the same year, according to a latest issue of Fortune. The renowned retail chain was at number two in the 2001 admired list. This year Dell, Proctor and Gamble and Coca-Cola moved up markedly from their last year’s position of 23, 15 and 20. So far as the Asian region is concerned, Japanese companies stole the show with Toyota Motor figuring at 11th position, Sony at 13th and Honda Motors (26th). Toyota continues its number one position in the auto industry. Singapore Airlines also figured in the list at 21st position compared to the previous year’s 50th rank. The remaining 10 companies in the list are from Europe with Britain bagging the four slots, followed by two each by Germany and France and one each by Finland and Switzerland. BMW at number 12, the highest ranked European company, is the new comer to the list. The top international company last year — Nokia, on 24th place, also moved up to number 18. Other non-US entrants to the All-Star list are: L’Oreal (23), Royal Dutch/Shell (33), Volkswagen (37), Michelin (44), Unilever (41), Emerson Electric (47) and HSBC holding (50). Notable expulsions in this year’s list include Vivendi, Bayer and Texas Instruments. J.P. Morgan Chase, Ford and Bristol-Myers Squibb also fell off the list due to bad news and large losses, Fortune said in its latest issue. The companies that did not make it to the list but improved their status among their peers include China Telecom, Ricoh and Canon — all from the Asian region. The Hay group, which conducted research for Fortune’s All-Star list, surveyed 345 companies, of which 202 are based outside the USA. To be eligible, companies had to have revenues of at least $ 8 billion in 2001 — the criterion not met by even a single Indian company. Respondents ranked their industry peers on a scale of one to 10 in nine categories: quality of management, quality of products and services, innovation, long-term investment values, financial soundness, ability to attract, develop and retain talent, responsibility to the community and environment, wise use of corporate assets and global business acumen. Fortune divided these companies into 29 industry groups, including three new categories — forest and paper products; mining, crude oil productions and motor vehicle parts.
UNI |
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Bids opening date for PunCom put off Chandigarh, February 21 According to official sources, the last date for opening the bids has been extended from February 21 to March 6, to resolve some issues. Today was the last day for submitting financial bids for the 69 per cent stake of the Punjab State Electronics Development & Production Corporation in the company. The sources said five companies had earlier submitted ‘‘Expression of Interest’’ in the first stage. After signing the confidentiality agreement, only three companies, Shyam Telecommunications, HFCL and
Videocon, submitted their bids, and Bharat Hotels and Motorola backed out. After making an assessment for the financial and technological viability of the company, these companies had asked the government first to downsize staff by over 50 per cent out of the total 790 staff strength. Subsequently, about 300 employees were offered VRS recently. Insiders claimed the company had been fast losing orders since the beginning of the disinvestment process. The management was also not ready to make any long-term commitment to suppliers and buyers. |
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Kinetic unveils costliest bike Chandigarh, February 21 Priced at Rs 1.49 lakh on road, the six-gear motor cycle will be imported as a complete-built unit from the stable of Kinetic's allied firm Hyosung Motors in South Korea. "The firm will import only 100 motor cycles from South Korea to maintain its exclusivity", Mr Ajay Kapila, Senior Vice-President of the company, while launching the bike, told mediapersons here today. These 100 bikes will be sold only in five places — Chandigarh, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai. The 250 CC Aquila is the first cruiser bike in the country which has two cylinders and 8 valves having 26 BHP with the maximum speed is 130 kmph. With 25 to 30 km mileage, the bike is available in different combinations. Ajay Kapila said, "the bike will be available in March. We will evaluate the sale for six months and then import more." |
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Mahindra, J. Irani get awards New Delhi, February 21 While the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award 2002 was given to Dr Jamshed J. Irani of TISCO, the award for Public Service Excellence was presented to the chief of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Mr E. Sreedharan. A special Public Service Award was conferred posthumously on Kolkata police Sergeant Bapi Sen . Dr Udesh Kohli, President, AIMA, said Dr Irani had been chosen for the award for spearheading the movement to transform Tata Steel into one of the most modern and cost-effective steel making facilities in the world. Dr Kohli said Mr Mahindra had successfully presided over the one billion dollar Mahindra and Mahindra Group for over five decades now. “He is one of the few corporate titans in the country who have both witnessed and actively participated in the country’s industrial
transformation. Quoting the citation, he said “the association recognises Keshub Mahindra as an icon, an inspiring business leader and a distinguished corporate citizen while acknowledging his many splendoured contributions to the country”. |
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Economic zone for Gurgaon New Delhi, February 21 He said land would shortly be acquired for the purpose. Haryana being a land-locked state, it was important that the advantages of a port are brought to the state, he said. He also said a committee under the Chief Secretary of the state has been constituted to consider taxation issues. “The committee is taking into consideration the adverse impact on rice exports from Haryana on account of market fee and rural development fund. |
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USA to tighten visa rules
New Delhi, February 21 Addressing CII members here on Friday, Sensenbrenner said this was to ensure that only skilled IT experts are to be allowed in and not cooks and poodle dressers! He also spoke about the new regulations that would affect student visas or I-20s. This, he clarified, would not affect legitimate students from entering the USA, but try and keep out those like Mohammed Atta.
ANI |
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Power rate hike may force units to shift Chandigarh, February 21 Addressing a press conference, Mr S.P. Oswal, Chairman, CII Punjab State Council, said, “the board is calculating the cost of supply on a higher side, despite the higher cost of power from Ranjit Sagar Dam, higher T&D losses and overstaffing.” He said the CII would soon submit a petition before the regulatory commission, saying that the board and state governments be asked to fulfil their promise of putting their house in order before asking for any revision in power tariff. He disclosed that about 20 bulk industrial consumers had already shifted to captive power use, instead of purchasing costly power from the board. About 10 other units were also planning to set up captive power generation units, which were relatively cheaper.
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Rabi crop output to fall by 7.5 mt New Delhi, February 21 It is the first time there has been such a steep fall in seasonal grain production in India, where food output has been rising steadily in recent years. "While the winter crop (rabi) harvest is yet to take place, according to the second advance estimates of production up to February 10, the foodgrain production is likely to be 92.91 million tonnes," he told the Lok Sabha. He said this would be 7.56 million tonnes or 7.5 per cent lower as compared to last year's rabi grain production. The minister blamed it on the failure of monsoon in large parts of the country and the impact of drought, saying the area sown in the rabi season during the current season was about 3.5 million hectares less. The drop in the agriculture output is expected to drag down the benefit of a higher growth in the manufacturing and services sectors to a lower than expected economic growth. The Central Statistical Organisation this month estimated that the agriculture sector would register a 3.1 per cent negative growth due to the impact of drought.
IANS |
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Jaswant Singh goes hi-tech
New Delhi, February 21 The IT-savvy minister has already introduced several innovative steps, including putting up a website on the Mid-Year Economic Review and the Kelkar panel recommendations, to elicit public views. The pre-Budget interaction with public and experts in various fields were also done through the website for the first time this year by dispensing with the customary pre-Budget meetings. The ministry has also aggressively taken up computerisation drive in the tax departments and plans to reduce the interface between taxpayers and officials.
PTI |
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SBI branches Credit scheme SBI housing loan FDI meeting New Birla bonds IDBI home loans ATM launched |
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