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Friday,
March 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Govt help
sought to check grey market Punjab
sets up grain procurement corpn Verma
against cut in EPF rate UAE safe
for trade, says US Consul-Gen |
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Gold
rises in London as $ falls vs euro 2,426 cr
biscuit industry put under a scanner Haryana
tipplers prefer IMFL Food
processing industry at Saha TRAI
extends implementation date for IUC
Industrial
policy for HP hailed
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Govt help sought to check grey market New Delhi, March 27 “To ensure that IT reaches the grass-roots level in India, there is a pressing need to bring down the prices of IT products. A reduction in the excise duty is a must to eradicate the menace of grey market”, Executive Director, MAIT, Mr Vinnie Mehta said. MAIT, the apex body representing the hardware industry, announced its industry performance review for Q3 (Oct-Dec) of Financial Year 2002-03. The desktop PC sales are expected to cross the 2 million mark this fiscal though the third quarter witnessed a decline in sales by 2.3 per cent over the previous quarter, the survey stated. According to the performance review, the desktop PC market grossed 4.31 lakh units, but the sales are 50 per cent of that in the second half of 2001-02. With increased sales throughout the year and also, traditionally, the last quarter accounting for maximum sales, the industry is expected to comfortably cross the 2 million mark in PC sales. While the first three quarters of the fiscal 2002-03 witnessed increased PC sales over the previous year, the market share of the branded PC came under severe pressure. The unorganised sector made a significant dent in the market share of the branded PCs. During the last fiscal, the overall market for PCs had declined over that of 2000-01, the organised sector gained market share as assembled players exited the PC business. Now with recovery happening, several of them are back in business as current market structure facilitates easy exit and entry of the unorganised segment, while the organised sector players with long-term commitment have ended up being at a disadvantage. According to MAIT, the new budget did little to alleviate the problems of the organised sector as the excise duty on IT products was not brought down from the existing 16 per cent to the recommended 8 per
cent. The government loses revenue worth Rs 500 crore annually due to non-compliance to excise duty by the grey market, according to MAIT. In the PC market, among the business segment it was primarily the banks, educational institutions, IT sector and IT-related companies that have led the consumption, the study
revealed. The textile and printing industry also emerged as significant IT consumers. |
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Punjab sets up grain procurement corpn Ludhiana, March 27 The formation of the corporation was necessitated as the RBI had raised objections to the misuse of funds meant for the procurement of wheat and paddy granted under the cash credit limit (CCL). The RBI had told the state government that it would not get the CCL if the procurement funds were not taken out of the state treasury. Moreover, reports of the misutilisation of CCl funds for purposes other than the procurement of wheat and paddy had necessitated the formation of the corporation. The establishment of the corporation would not entail any additional burden on the state exchequer. All employees of the Food and Civil Supplies Department would continue to perform their duties as usual during the procurement season. No fresh recruitment of staff would be made. The Secretary, Food, would be the ex-officio chairman while the director Food and Civil Supplies would be the Managing Director of the corporation. |
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Verma against cut in EPF rate New Delhi, March 27 In the background of dropping interest rates and a long time request from the Finance Ministry to cut the rate of interest on EPF from the present 9.5 per cent, the meeting of the EPFO Board has been convened to take a fresh view on the entire issue. A meeting became necessary as the SDS comprises over 80 per cent of over Rs 1,40,000 crore EPF corpus and that any cut in the interest rate on SDS will call for reduction in EPF rates, official sources indicated. Though the Finance Ministry was of the view that the present interest rate on EPF was “high” considering the lower rates on other savings instruments, Labour Minister Sahib Singh
Verma, who is the Chairman of CBT, is not in favour of bringing down the interest rate and says there is no need for cutting it as EPFO had made “wise” investments in the past. In this context, Labour Ministry sources said, “if we continue to get the same rate of interest on what we had invested earlier, then we can continue with the present rate.” Mr Verma had been vociferous in saying that with the present rate of 9.5 per cent interest rate, the corpus will still have a surplus. Taking a cue from the softer interest rate regime, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh had, in the Budget for 2003-04. |
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UAE safe for trade, says US Consul-Gen
Dubai, March 27 Speaking to Gulf News briefly on the sidelines of the ongoing Gulf Maritime 2003 exhibition, US Consul-General Richard G. Olson said, “It is particularly safe for business.” He explained the US administration had issued a general advisory against travelling to this region, which was why non-essential diplomatic staff had been moved to other locations, but reiterated that the UAE was still very safe and far removed from the war theatre. Meanwhile, show organiser Neil Baird from Australia, Chairman of Baird Publications, poured vitriol on Canberra’s decision to issue a travel advisory to the UAE, contending this move was an over-reaction, which was not resorted to by some of the allies leading the war against Iraq. “We shot ourselves in one foot by getting into a war we had no business to be in and we shot ourselves in the other foot by issuing this travel advisory against a country that is very, very friendly, totally safe and secure, set in a prosperous region, and has a sophisticated business environment with good upside potential,” he said. With such an advisory rendering group travel insurance void, several Australian firms earlier planning to come had no option but to drop their plans. “I am disappointed — but perhaps not very surprised — at this breathtaking combination of ignorance and arrogance on part of Americans. But, we in Australia, appear to be blindly following them.” He noted that south-east Asia is projected as a place that is unsafe for tourists. “But do you know, over the past five years, fewer tourists have been murdered in Thailand, for instance, than in Australia — and fewer tourists eaten by crocodiles.” Baird was particularly scathing of Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s role, saying he was “dismayed and disgusted” at the country’s decisions to join the US-led coalition against Iraq.
UNI
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Gold rises in London as $ falls vs euro
London, March 27 The dollar fell a fourth day against the euro, making dollar-denominated gold more alluring to European investors. Buyers of physical gold are attracted by its 12 per cent decline since the start of February, marketmen said. “Gold has fallen back to the level where physical demand is supporting the market,” John Reade, a market expert said in a note to investors. “Short term direction will be taken from the currency markets.” Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as $ 2.60, or 0.8 per cent, to $ 332.85 an ounce. The metal has dropped for three of the past four weeks and is heading for its first quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 2001.Among other precious metals, silver for immediate deliver rose 2 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $ 4.42 an ounce. Bloomberg
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2,426 cr biscuit industry put under a scanner
New Delhi, March 27 A majority of the leading brands of glucose biscuits do not carry the quality ISI mark, conceal important information on their nutritional content while some make wrong claims on their protein level, an extensive study has said. Specific standards are non-existent for the Rs 2,426 crore industry, the study has said. A comparative test study done on 12 popular brands of glucose biscuits by an NGO, ‘Voice’ (Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education) over the past one year has thrown many surprises with Kellogg’s and Priya Gold ranked a poor 10th and ninth while Horlicks and relatively lesser known Anmol captured the top two slots respectively. The tests were conducted with the help of wide range of parameters including moisture content, nutritional value, appearance, taste, flavour and crispness. According to the study, glucose biscuits are practically ‘sweet biscuits’ but the term ‘glucose’ has been added to the name even though its content is not stated in the packet. At present, there are no specific standards for glucose content in biscuits. Only three brands provide information regarding proteins on their label and in two of them the actual content is lower than what is claimed, says the study. ‘Parle G’, which claimed to have 8 per cent proteins, actually has just 6.8 per cent of it while Kellogg’s had only 6.2 per cent against the claimed 7.4 per cent. Only claims of ‘Britannia Tiger’ matched the actual content. Only ‘Parle G’ declared the iron content of the biscuit. Other than ‘Cremica’, ‘Priya Gold’ and ‘Britannia Tiger’, none of the brands carries the ISI mark, the study said.
PTI
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Haryana tipplers prefer IMFL Chandigarh, March 27 It can be the case after the observation made by CAG in its recent report. Even though the figures are from different districts, they show that while the consumption of country liquor fell below the expectation of the government in two districts , the sale of IMFL went up in another district. The CAG report said when the records of Hisar and Kaithal districts for 2000-01 were examined, it was observed that there was short lifting by licensees of country liquor quota, while the record of Karnal showed that a licensee of IMFL for the district lifted liquor in excess of what he was entitled. According to the report, the licensees of country liquor at Hisar and Kaithal districts, following assessments made by the government on the basis of previous year’s sale, were each allotted 63.46 lakh proof litres (PL) as their quota. However, both the licensees lifted 57.92 lakh PLs of country liquor each resulting into short lifting of 5.54 lakh litres in each case. This had led to a loss of excise duty to the tune of Rs 1.16 crore. |
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Food processing industry at Saha Chandigarh, March 27 The Managing Director of Radha Nutrients Limited, Mr Laxman Goyal, said here today their unit, which was earlier making jams, sauces and canned fruits, had launched “ready to eat” products to meet the growing needs of urban, nuclear families and working couples. The unit had been financed by the HSIDC. The domestic market for frozen vegetables and ready to eat food had seen an annual growth of about 25 per cent in the past five years. Mr Goyal said the products had been customised for domestic as well as export market. The frozen vegetable unit of the company had already started trial production of frozen green peas, cauliflower, carrot and tomato. Mr Goyal said another group company, Radha Agro Packs Limited, would soon set up a tomato paste plant in Saha Food Park in collaboration with Alberto Burtuzzi of Italy and the HSIDC at an outlay of Rs 12 crore. The MoU in this regard was signed in London in the presence of the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, during his foreign visit in November last. |
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TRAI extends implementation date for IUC
New Delhi, March 27 The issue of interconnect user charge, which was the bone of contention between cellular and WLL players, will now be implemented with effect from May 1 instead of April 1 in the wake of various telecom service providers filing alternate tariff plans. “The various proposed alternate tariff plans have been received from service providers between March 10-24 and need detailed consideration and revision,” TRAI said in a statement today. Since both IUC and alternate tariff plans, if approved, need to be implemented simultaneously, the service providers have been asked to file their plans latest by April 3 so that IUC and different tariff could be implemented from May 1.
TNS
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