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Thursday,
April 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Punjab Tourism Policy unveiled
CORPORATE NEWS
Power Bill to help NHPC recover dues
Pension scheme for new govt employees
Spice ties up with ICICI-Lombard |
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Power Grid net at 650
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Hero Honda unveils ‘CD Dawn’ PNB signs MoU with New India
Assurance
Nilihent launches business software GRAPHIC: WORLD CRUDE OIL PRICES DROP
Motorola emerges from red
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Punjab Tourism Policy unveiled
Highlights
New Delhi, April 16 The Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, unveiled the Tourism Policy for 2003 at the PHDCCI here today. “The aim is to promote tourism by reviving the cultural heritage of the state and ensure sustainable development of tourism in a manner that contributes towards employment generation and economic growth”, he said, adding that the government would act as a catalyst by providing support for infrastructural facilities and a platform for managing a calendar of events. As a first step, the focus will be on domestic tourism for which the policy attempts to concentrate on places of pilgrimage, eco-tourism, recreational facilities, heritage sites, rural and farm tourism and sports and adventure tourism. The Golden Temple has been recommended to UNESCO for world heritage monument status. Attracting NRI investment would be one of the major focus areas in attempts to promote international tourism . While religious heritage of Amritsar and Anandpur Sahib will be promoted in a big way, Harike Lake and Ranjit Sagar Dam will be developed as major tourist destinations. The Khalsa Heritage Complex, coming up at Anandpur Sahib, is a part of the efforts in this direction and it is likely to be completed by 2004, the Chief Minister said. The action plan includes integrated development of tourism circuits and upgradation of tourism support services which would ensure availability of trained personnel in various disciplines of hotel management and travel trade and tourist reception centres (TRCs) at important entry points and destinations. While the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board, under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister has been set up, the state government has also constituted a coordination and advisory committee on tourism and cultural affairs. “All funds through the state Budget and those made available through centrally sponsored schemes would be routed through this board”, Capt Amarinder Singh said. He said the government was also planning to come up with a Tourism Trade Facilitation Act. The Punjab Government will also coordinate with the tourism departments and corporations of neighbouring states and promote package tours on a reciprocal basis. The tourism industry of the state will be extended various tax incentives under the policy. While no house tax will be charged for the first five years from new projects of classified hotels, restaurants and amusement park projects involving an investment exceeding Rs 2 crore, no entertainment tax on amusement parks will be levied. The licence fee structure will be rationalised and soft loans for new tourism projects and expansion of the existing ones will be provided by state-level financial institutions. Tourism projects will be treated on a par with the industry for the purpose of incentives.
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CORPORATE NEWS Mumbai, April 16 Net income for the reporting quarter grew by 1.2 per cent at Rs 2,367.50 crore as compared to Rs 2,338.46 crore in January-March 2002 despite business operations being adversely affected by the uncertainty associated with VAT towards the end of March. Chairman M.S. Banga said the company used aggressive pricing in home and personal care and higher media spends in order to stimulate volume growth. The overall sales grew by 8 per cent for the power brands, making it the fourth consecutive quarter of growth in the face of depressed markets, he added. “This strategy may well have an impact on operating profit in the very short-term. However, we remain confident of our ability to deliver sustained profitable growth through driving the power brands with innovation, appropriate pricing and brand investment,” he said. “In our foods business too, we have introduced several new products with healthy gross margins to drive future growth,” Banga added. HLL said results for soaps and detergents, personal products and ice cream business includes benefits arising from repayment of deferred sales tax liability of Rs 20 crore, Rs 0.50 crore, Rs 10.94 crore respectively. Jindal Strips Jindal Strips Ltd today reported a 214 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 145.79 crore for 2002-03 as compared to Rs 46.36 crore in 2001-02. It declared an interim dividend of 60 per cent for the year 2002-03. Liberty Shoes Liberty Shoes Ltd said today it is hoping to clock a turnover of Rs 250 crore in 2002-03 with a net profit in the vicinity of 6 per cent. The audited results will be made public next month, said company’s Executive Director Adarsh Gupta.
Agencies
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Power Bill to help NHPC recover dues Chandigarh, April 16 Since it would make it mandatory for state governments to compensate state electricity boards (SEBs) for subsidised supply to the farm sector, it would enable the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) to recover dues worth hundreds of crores from SEBs in time, according to Mr P.D. Sharma, Executive Director, NHPC. Talking to TNS, he said, “Hydro power is the cheapest source of energy, yet its share has declined from 61 per cent of the total power generation in the country in 1980 to about 25 per cent by last year. While SEBs are unable to clear pending dues to the corporation for the power supplied, the governments have overemphasised on thermal power generation over the past few years.” However, he said, the new Electricity Bill, once notified, would pave the way for power reforms in the country. He felt that some of the state governments had already taken the initiative to restructure state electricity boards, but they had to still take steps to check power theft varying between 15 to 40 per cent of the total power distribution across the states. Mr Sharma said the NHPC, which was generating over 2,100 MW of power and working on projects worth over 10,000 MW in different stages, would benefit from these power reforms. Under the recommendations of the high-powered committee headed by Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the corporation has already written off dues worth over Rs 1,000 crore to SEBs, and has registered net profit of over Rs 470 crore during 2001-02. It is likely to cross Rs 500 crore as net profits during the financial year ended on March 31, 2003. He said with the signing of power purchase agreements in advance with the RBI and state governments, the NHPC’s credit rating has substantially improved. Consequently, financial institutions would be ready to give loans at 8 per cent rate of interest. It would help the corporation to complete projects before the scheduled time. For instance, he said, the first phase of 1251-MW Parbati project in Himachal Pradesh would be completed in 4.5 years, instead of the scheduled period of seven years. It would reduce the cost of the project and generate extra electricity worth thousands of crores. He said with T&D losses up to 2 per cent and the relocation of about 2,000 surplus staff on new projects, out of a staff strength of about 11,000 in the North-East, the NHPC would play a crucial role in the power sector. Mr Sharma said the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission would have powers to regulate the tariff charged from SEBs that would benefit the corporation to reap the benefits of power reforms. He said the new Act would enable the country to tap over 84,000 MW potential of hydro power. |
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Pension scheme for new govt employees Washington, April 16 The new entrants will not get pension from the government but would come under the new scheme, he said, adding that those in the organised sector will also be eligible to join it. To provide a comfort level for those who want to get into it, the pension fund would not necessarily be managed by the
government but by one of the institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation, he said yesterday at the Heritage Foundation here. Narayan also said the government believed in the fundamental concept that it should not be in business, and hence privatisation of state enterprises was going ahead. He said the rate of corporate tax of 35 per cent in India compared with many countries in the world. Narayan said to overcome the problem of food surplus, the government proposes to encourage crop diversification and the states were exploring new possibilities in floriculture, pulses and oilseeds. Even after supplying five kgs of rice and wheat totally free to ten million families per day, the food stock stood at 48 million tonnes against the desired level of 25 to 30 million tonnes, he said. In addition to Information Technology and IT-enabled services and back office operations, knowledge industries like biotechnology, entertainment and pharma research were growing at a fast pace, Narayan said. Considering the availability of doctors, drug and pharmaceutical firms and the amount of biotech research being undertaken in the country, India could emerge as a major healthcare destination in the near future, he said. On the infrastructure front, Narayan said work on the Golden Quadrilateral project connecting the east-west and north-south corridors was progressing exceedingly well. “We are going to see completion of it by 2004,” he said. The privatisation of handling containers in ports, had brought about a reduction in the turnaround time from seven and a half days to two and a half days, he said. India’s exports, he said, were growing at about 14 to 15 per cent in the areas of chemicals, drugs, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, garments, textiles and steel.
PTI
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Spice ties up with ICICI-Lombard Chandigarh, April 16 Similar benefits would be provided to subscribers opting for personal accident cover which would be available for annual premium of just Rs 110 for an insurance of Rs one lakh which worked out to just 33 paise per day. Mr Sandeep Bakhshi, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard added, “We firmly believe customers should have easy access to insurance and will begin by launching an array of special offers for the existing Spice customers.”
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Power Grid net at 650
cr New Delhi, April 16 Mr Singh said that capital investment of Rs 70,000 crore is planned during the ten year period 2002-12 for supporting a generation capacity addition plan of 1,00,000 MW to achieve a targetted GDP growth rate of about eight per cent.
“PGCIL is focussing on creation of a strong and vibrant national grid by adding about 60,000 circuit km of transmission network during this period by which the cummulative capacity would stand at approximately 1,00,000 circuit km”, he said. During the current year, Power Grid plans to retire high cost World Bank and Asian Development Bank loans to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore by raising the amount from the market, Mr Singh said. The CCEA is expected to approve its joint venture with Tata Power for construction of transmission lines associated with Tala HEP in Bhutan at an estimated cost of about Rs 1,100 crore. |
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Hero Honda unveils ‘CD Dawn’ New Delhi, April 16 The new product is targeted at the country’s 1.5 million unit basic segment that contributes almost 30 per cent to the total Indian motor cycle market, Hero Honda Chairman Brijmohan Lall Munjal said. Mr Atul Sobti, senior vice-president, said the motor cycle would give 87 km per litre under test conditions. Priced at Rs 31,899, ex-showroom, Delhi, these vehicles would be manufactured at the company’s Dharuhera plant.
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PNB signs MoU with New India Assurance New Delhi, April 16 The bank has already taken up the matter with the RBI for necessary approval and training of staff would commence shortly. The venture is likely to be operationalised by the first week of May, 2003. The Chairman and Managing Director of PNB, Mr S. S. Kohli, said the bank would initially start selling insurance through the branches having large credit portfolio. The arrangement would be extended to other branches of the bank in due course of time, he said.
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Nilihent launches business software Chandigarh, April 16 He claimed that the company, with an annual turnover of Rs 30 crore, was engaged in developing software solutions for small-scale companies. He said this software, costing about Rs 15,000, would be soon available throughout the region, including Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Agra, Meerut, Rohtak, Gurgaon and Jaipur.
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