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Thursday,
March 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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HP units get 5-yr IT exemption
Sachin, Amitabh in billionaires list Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar, Ambanis, Murthy lead elite club London, March 26 Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan have joined India’s top 20 Billionaire’s Club, according to a new report. |
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Mumbai, March 26 Four cellular operators — BPL Mobile, Escotel, RPG Cellular and Spice Telecom— have formed an alliance, MobileFirst, with a target to rope in minimum six million subscriber base, paving way for a tariff war in India.
Dr Reddy, Ranbaxy among best in Asia
Aventis sues Dr Reddy’s Lab
Come April 1, phone bills to swell In graphic: Cellular telephone subscriber
PTDC ad hoc staff fate uncertain
500 gm tea auctioned for $ 26,600
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HP units get 5-yr IT exemption New Delhi, March 26 The New Industrial Policy for Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh approved by the Centre has provided for 100 per cent outright excise duty exemption for 10 years from the date of commencement of commercial production in notified locations with a major thrust on the food processing sector. In addition, 100 per cent income tax exemption will be given for five years and thereafter 30 per cent for companies and 25 per cent for other than companies for a further period of five years for Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh from the date of commencement of commercial production. All new industries in the notified location will be eligible for capital investment subsidy at 15 per cent of their investment in plant and machinery, subject to a ceiling of Rs 30 lakh. The existing units will also be entitled to this subsidy of their substantial expansion. The thrust sector industries, which include horticulture and agro-based industries, food processing industry, sugar, silk, woven fabric, sport goods, information technology and eco-tourism among others, will be entitled to similar concessions without any area restrictions. The funding pattern under the growth centre scheme currently envisaging a Central assistance of Rs 10 crore per centre is raised to Rs 15 crore. The financing pattern of the Integrated Infrastructure Development Centres (IIDC) between the Centre and Sidbi will change from 2:3 to 4:1 and the government funds will be in the nature of a grant, so as to provide the required infrastructure support. The funding pattern between the Centre and both the states will be changed from 50:50 to 90:10 under a scheme of the Ministry of Textiles. |
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IMPACT OF WAR Gold prices dip by Rs 85 Mumbai, March 26 Wiping out the two-day rising streak, standard gold (99.5 purity) opened sharply weak at Rs 5,260 on fresh offering but managed to close at the same level, revealing a steep setback of Rs 85 over yesterday’s close of Rs 5,345. Similarly, pure gold (99.9 purity) also started on a subdued note at Rs 5,300 and continued to lean down on increased selling, before closing at Rs 5,290, also showing a similar fall from the previous close of Rs 5,375. In the global market, gold declined sharply as investors had diverted their attention towards the capital market. PTI Oil continues to soar London, March 26 The price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for May delivery rose 55 cents per barrel from the previous closing price to $ 25.36 in early trading. New York’s benchmark light sweet crude contract for May delivery was showing a gain of 63 cents at $ 28.50 per barrel in out-of-hours electronic trading. Prices on both markets had slipped the previous day as reports emerged of a popular revolt in Basra, sparking hope that US and British forces might escape being bogged down in prolonged urban street fighting.
AFP Rupee extends gains again Mumbai, March 26 Opening flat at 47.60/61, the rupee crossed the psychological 47.60-barrier immediately without any resistance and moved northwards amid strong export dollar inflows ahead of the fiscal year-end and feeble import demand. The rupee closed at 47.5550/5650, the strongest closing level since September 12, 2001, when it finished at 47.43/44, gaining four and half paise from 47.60/61 of its Tuesday’s close.
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Sachin, Amitabh in billionaires list
London, March 26 Information technology chiefs dominated the list with Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, whose wealth has been estimated at Rs 17,600 crore, heading it. Shiv Nadar, Chairman of HCL Technologies, comes second with wealth of Rs 69 billion followed by Anil and Mukesh Ambani of Reliance. Their wealth has been put at Rs 50 billion. Infosys chief N.R.Narayana Murthy comes fourth with wealth of Rs 47 billion. The Hinduja family is at the ninth position with wealth of Rs 18 billion. There are three women in India’s top 20 - Thermax CEO Anu Aga, HSBC chairperson Naina Lal Kidwai and herbal ‘czarina’ Shahnaz Hussain. Tendulkar’s rise from humble beginnings to where he is today was documented by the report. “Tendulkar comes from a lower middle class Maharashtrian family, studied in a Marathi school and lived in a community chawl in Bandra (East), a suburb in Mumbai,” it said. “Not only is Tendulkar talented on the field, he has also been smart off it,” said advertising expert Prahlad Kakkar, who has directed several advertisements featuring the cricketer. “Tendulkar has handled his advertising portfolio very smartly, in the process making himself one of the richest Indians around,” Kakkar added. The cricketer has now diversified into his other passion, food, starting his own restaurant called Tendulkar’s in Mumbai. He plans to open a string of eateries, the report said. According to the report, Amitabh Bachchan’s entry into the Billionaire Club has surprised everyone. Just five years ago, Bachchan was struggling under huge debt because of the colossal losses incurred by his company, Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited(ABCL), in the entertainment industry. Even his bungalow in Juhu, Prateeksha, was sealed by the banks to whom he owed money. “From being in a debt trap, where I thought there is no way out, to being considered one of the richest men in India, it’s been a long journey,” Bachchan said. “If this struggle has taught me the value of money, it has also taught me how even the best of friends desert you in extreme crisis, and how important family is,” he said. The three women in the Billionaire Club stand out for their contribution to the business field they have excelled in, the report said. Anu Aga inherited an ailing, decaying business from her husband Rohinton. She not only got rid of the loss-making units but brought in professional managers to handle the show. In a short period of five years, she has turned Thermax around completely. Beauty and herbal ‘czarina’ Shahnaz Hussain is the first generation women entrepreneur in her family. “I was married at the age of 14,” she said. But she had inherited a love and knowledge of herbals and ayurvedic products from her grandfather. “I began small in Delhi but now my beauty empire stretches to over 138 countries,” she added proudly. Investment banker and chairwoman of HSBC, Naina Lal Kidwai, is the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School (as part of the 1982 batch). PTI
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Spice, RPG, BPL, Escotel join hands
Mumbai, March 26 “The alliance will offer special tariff for national and international calls, offer roaming and provide value-added services like mobile internet access and mobile payments”, BPL Mobile President and CEO F.B.Cardoso told reporters at the launch of MobileFirst here today. MobileFirst, which is an operational alliance rather than a merger, would roll out its special tariff packages shortly, Managing Director of RPG Cellular, Mr Dilip R.Mehta said. Escotel CEO Rajan Swaroop said the alliance had three million subscribers in more than 700 cities, with a telecommunication backbone of more than 10,000 km in India. “This will help in negotiating better deals with international and national long distance operators, including Data Access and VSNL”, he added. “We are in talks with Hutch and Idea Cellular for certain areas in western circle and Kolkata,” Mr Cardoso added. PTI
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Dr Reddy, Ranbaxy among best in Asia
New Delhi, March 26 Of 144 Asian companies which participated in the contest, only 40 firms, including five Indian companies, managed to secure half-the-maximum score. CFO Asia, published by The Economist group, brought out the results of the Best Annual Reports contest in Asia in association with Belgium-based reports evaluator Enterprise.com, an affiliate of US-based Corporate Essentials. Earlier, the two pharma giants had also been named as top patent filers by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Ranbaxy had topped the list of patent filers in the area of drug applications from the Third World countries last year with 64 new formulations. Dr Reddy’s Labs, with 19 drug patent applications in 2002, came second to RLL, according to the WIPO statistics.
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Aventis sues Dr Reddy’s Lab Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said today Aventis Inc had filed a lawsuit against it alleging patent infringement on six Orange Book patents following its Abbreviated New Drug Application with the USFDA for Allegra, an anti-rhinitis drug. Dr Reddy’s notified Aventis that it had filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application with the US Food and Drug Administration for Fexofenadine. The company has applied for Fexofendine Hcl tablet euivalent to 30mg, 60mg, 180mg of base with paragraph IV certifications on all seven Orange Book patents listed for Allegra, a company release said here.
UNI, PTI |
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Come April 1, phone bills to swell Chandigarh, March 26 The Punjab Budget has hit hard telephone subscribers who were already resenting the proposed increase in service tax on telephone bills by 3 percentage points in the Union Budget. The telecom operators are grumbling that the state government seems to be bent on destroying the industry in the state. It is unfair, they say, on the part of the state government to indulge in double taxation. By imposing sales tax of 12.5 per cent on monthly rental varying between Rs 250 on landline phone and up to Rs 500 on cellular phones, the state government had crossed its limit. The industry was already paying service tax on telephone bills to Centre exchequer. Referring to the recent judgement of the Supreme Court allowing states to impose ST on telephones, he said the telecom operators have already filed a review petition against the decision. The operators have also appealed to the Centre to intervene in the matter, as the customers will now onwards have to pay 20.5 per cent extra on monthly rental, besides 8 per cent service tax on calls. |
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PTDC ad hoc staff fate uncertain
Ropar, March 26 The PTDC, at present, has, 514 employees running 18 complexes of the corporation in various parts of the state. Out of these about 350 are regular and rest either on daily wages or ad hoc bases. The PTDC management has already decided to discontinue the services of 62 daily wagers and 9 ad hoc employees from March end. These employees are being removed from service without any retrenchment benefit despite the fact that they have been serving the organisation for the past 10-15 years. PTDC Karamchari Dal president the Surjeet Singh Saini said employees of the PTDC were worried.
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