 |
Thursday,
April 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Reliance reports 26.54 pc growth in net
Bharti net at Rs 26 crore in Q4 |
|
|
Mobilefirst offers more facilities
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Hosiery units fear Inspector Raj
Now PAN to cost Rs 60 Post
offices to collect power bills
PSB draws up 1,125 cr credit plan
Centurion Bank to be recast
Decision on EPF rate next month
|
|
Reliance reports 26.54 pc growth in net Mumbai, April 23 The company posted a higher net profit for fourth quarter ended March 2003 at Rs 1,101 crore (Rs 835 crore in FY-02) with net sales jumping to Rs 12,755 crore (Rs 9,993 crore). The board has recommended a 50 per cent dividend (Rs five per share) for FY-03 resulting in a total outgo of Rs 787 crore, as against a dividend of Rs 47.5 per cent in last year. Reacting to the results, RIL scrip fell sharply from Rs 284 this morning to Rs 272 after mid-session as operators booked profits. As a result, the BSE sensitive index that had gone up to Rs 3009.01 at early stages of this session, dropped to 2963.91 at 2.30 pm. RIL’s net turnover in FY-03 increased to Rs 45,898 crore (Rs 42,089 crore). Exports went up to Rs 11,510 crore (Rs 11,200 crore), the company said in a release. On consolidated basis, net profit (after adjustment of minority interest) stood at Rs 4,003 crore (Rs 3,280 crore) on net turnover of Rs 45,910 crore (Rs 42,096 crore) during the fiscal 2002-03. RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said “the discovery of world’s largest gas find in 2002 in India, acquisition of IPCL and BSES and the countrywide launch of Infocomm services, all in span of one year, are significant milestones in Reliance’s growth”. RIL Vice Chairman and MD Anil Ambani said “We are enthused with the company’s strong financial performance, in a year that saw unprecedented volatility in feedstock and product prices, and renewed pressures on global business and consumer confidence as a result of increased geo-political uncertainties in several regions of the world”. RIL said the net worth of the company increased by 9 per cent at Rs 30,326 crore (Rs 27,812 crore) while total paid up equity capital stood at Rs 1,396 crore. The latter rose by Rs 342 crore on allotment of shares to shareholders of erstwhile Reliance Petroleum in October 2002. Earnings per share for the year was pegged at Rs 29.3.
PTI |
|
Bharti net at Rs 26 crore in Q4 New Delhi, April 23 Announcing the results, Bharti joint Managing Director Rajan Mittal attributed the improved performance during the fourth quarter of 2002-03 to an increased subscriber base but said expansion of the company’s services into 15 more circles during the year had led to overall losses. Revenues for the year increased the Rs 3,000 crore mark at Rs 3083 crore, posting a year-on-year growth of 107 per cent. The company became PAT (Profit After Tax) positive during the fourth quarter against a net loss of Rs 7 crore in the preceding quarter and a whopping net loss of about Rs 64 crore in the fourth quarter of last fiscal. During the quarter, the company also posted a revenue growth of 134 per cent at Rs 1040 crore. With a subscriber base of 3.1 million as on March 31, 2003, the company’s prepaid subscriber base was 76 per cent of the total, with a market share of 24.2 per cent. The company’s average monthly revenue per user during the year was Rs 1594 in the postpaid segment while in the prepaid, it was Rs 388. The monthly churn was 0.8 per cent in the post-paid voluntary churn segment while it was 3.4 per cent during the year in the post-paid company initiated churn segment. In the pre-paid, the churn was 2.7 per cent.
PTI |
|
Mobilefirst offers more facilities Chandigarh, April 23 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Umang Das, MD – Corporate Affairs, Spice Telecom said "The underlying philosophy of the mobilefirst initiatives is that of simplicity. The approach in our initiatives today has been one of transparency while being innovative and path breaking.” The salient features of the two tariff plans, the mobilefirst plan 399 and the mobilefirst plan 599 plans are: They also unveiled, for the first time in India, a new mobilefirst Long Distance Airtime (LDA) pack. Priced at Rs 50, it brings simplicity to the subscriber. The pack enables the subscriber 150 minutes of STD calls and unlimited ISD calls with only long distance charges. There is no additional airtime charge. The mobilefirst LDA pack has been designed to promote STD and ISD usage among the mobilefirst community and is an optional pack that will be available across both post paid and pre paid plans. The LDA pack is being filed with the TRAI and will be launched subject to the regulators approval. The mobilefirst alliance also announced the launch of the mobilefirst International Chat service. This is for the first time in India that subscribers will be able to chat with an International community spread across countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, not to mention across the entire mobilefirst community. Mr Ashok Goyal, Executive Director, Spice Telecom Punjab, Mr Krishna Angara, Chief Business Development Officer, BPL Mobile, Mr Sonjoy Mohanty of Escotel Mobile and Mr Arun Sikka of RPG Cellular highlighted the features of mobilefirst alliance. "They said with a backbone of over 10,000 kms that includes over 3 million customers spread across 700 cities we aim to provide enhanced value to our subscribers be it in tariffing, long distance calling, innovative value added services or customer relationship management."
|
|
Hosiery units fear Inspector Raj THE hosiery manufacturers have been on strike for the last few days to demand the withdrawal of central excise duty imposed in the Union Budget 2003 with effect from April 1, 2003. The Central Board of Excise and Customs issued a circular on March 25, 2003, prescribing a new excise procedure on textiles and textile articles. the spirit behind this circular is to facilitate the new assessees in registration and compliance and not to disturb their present way of working. The job workers have almost been exempted, registration can be got done through trade associations, the excise officers have been asked not to visit the new assessees for verification of premises and stocks unless there is specific intelligence report. For giving credit of the duty paid on stock as on 31.03.2003, the declaration of manufacturers without supporting documents has been accepted. These manufacturers have been asked to file quarterly returns in a simplified format in place of monthly returns by others. In spite of all this and the fact that most of the manufacturers are law abiding and want to pay the reasonable duty, there is strike. The reason is fear of Excise Inspector Raj, which is quite genuine. This new excise procedure is not going to change the working style of excise officers, which is the need of the hour. They are so revenue oriented that they can find ways to interpret the law the way they want and if courts come to the rescue of the assessees they can get the law amended the way they want. A glaring example of this attitude is that in 1977 the board issued a circular that for assessable value of the vehicle, pre-delivery inspection charges and cost of after-sales services during the warranty period will be counted for the excise purpose. There was too much litigation on this point and the Supreme Court dismissed 16 appeals of the government. Instead of withdrawing the circular a new Section 4 was added by amending the Central Excise Act, 1944 with effect from 01.07.2000 containing almost the same provisions of the circular. Now in this type of working of excise authorities, if the hosiery manufacturers are not believing the New Excise Procedure and are fearing from the Inspector Raj. I think the excise authorities need to do some thing to remove this fear.
Relay fast begins Amritsar The spokesman of the Joint Action Committee, Mr Gunbir Singh, said the Cenvat would adversely affect the small and tiny powerloom segment.
OC
|
|
Now PAN to cost Rs 60 Chandigarh, April 23 The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into an agreement with the UTI, under which UTI will prepare PAN cards from June 1, said Mr Vijay Khanna, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, North Western Region, here today. He said the assessees would have to pay Rs 60 to get an application form for PAN. Though these computerised cards would be prepared by the UTI, these would be finally distributed by the Income Tax Department after verifying the particulars of the assessees. Previously these cards were issued by the department, butdue to the additional burden on the limited staff of the department, the work had been outsourced to the UTI. It would help the department to concentrate on tax collections bring down the number of complaints regarding the delay in the release of PAN. Till recently, the PAN cards
were issued from the Patiala branch of the department and people had to wait for months to get them. Earlier it was decided to implement the decision from July 1, but now it had been advanced to June 1, 2003. Mr Khanna said:‘‘We have decided to organise awareness campaigns to assure consumers that they will not be harassed by department officials provided they paid taxes in time. Further, we are emphasising on surveys of different segments of potential assessees, which include jewellers, coaching centres, diagnostic centres and professional, to bring them into the tax net.’’ He claimed that the department would now conduct street survey to assess the potential income tax
assessees. For instance, a small survey of marriage palaces and tent houses in and around Chandigarh, had helped unearth undisclosed income worth crores of rupees. IT officials had been instructed to prepare a data base of coaching institutes, private nursing homes, clinics and other trades in the region, he added Regarding the potential of tax collection in the region, he said,‘‘the department is aware of the fact that a large number of assessees are not depositing the full amount of tax, which include professionals, self-employed people and jewellers, departmental stores, placement agencies, marriage palaces and SSI units. We are determined to take strict action against them.’’ |
|
Post
offices to collect power bills
Chandigarh, April 23 She said the service would begin soon and would benefit lakhs of electricity consumers across the state. Further, the department is signing an agreement with the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to directly market its agricultural magazine “Changee Kheti” in the rural areas. Agreements are also signed with telecom operators including BSNL, Connect, Airtel and Spice to collect their monthly bills, apart from selling pre-paid SIM cards of the BSNL.
TNS |
|
PSB draws up 1,125 cr credit plan Chandigarh, April 23 He said the bank had drawn up a credit plan of Rs 1,125 crore for lending under special agricultural plan. A large portion of that credit would be disbursed in Punjab and Haryana where the bank had more than 50 per cent of its branches. The bank had formulated special schemes like financing of agricultural clinics, agri business centres and contract farming. Mr Gujral claimed that the bank had so far set up 32 rural development divisions to focus on the rural development. It had also plans to set up additional 15 divisions during the current fiscal. The bank's priority sector lending had increased, to 47 per cent of its gross credit as against the national target of 40 per cent. The bank would distribute all funds and deposits mobilised from Punjab and Haryana to these states to improve the CD ratio. Inviting industrialists to set up the industry in these states, he said, the bank was open to meet all their credit needs. He claimed that the bank had formulated over 60 borrower friendly schemes, including special schemes for women empowerment. During 2002-03, 60,000 borrowers had been advanced a sum of Rs 815 crore under the retail segment by the bank, he added. |
|
Centurion Bank to be recast
Chandigarh, April 23 He disclosed that the proposal envisaged capital infusion of Rs 319 crore in two phases, Rs 219 crore in first phase and Rs 100 crore in second phase. The first phase would involve a reduction and reconstitution of the existing capital. The capital infusion by new investors would be at Rs 4 per share. The second phase of capital infusion of Rs 100 crore is expected to be undertaken within 2 years, and its terms and conditions would be determined at that time.
TNS |
|
Decision on EPF rate next month New Delhi, April 23 The EPFO made the move in the wake of mounting pressure on it to lower the PF interest rate from 9.5 per cent. The next meeting is likely to be held in the middle of the next month. A decision on lowering of the interest rate is likely to be taken next month as trustees are finding difficult to resist the pressure from the government. The government is caught in a dilemma as lowering of the PF interest rate is highly emotional issue as it will be politically
suicidal for the ruling BJP. While the economic logic supports the lowering of the interest rate, the political logic pleads for holding of interest, sources pointed out. The sub-committee met a day after Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma ruled out lowering of the rate. After attending the sub-committee meeting, President of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh Hasubhai Dave told newspersons that "the decision on the EPF interest rate has been deferred by a month". To continue with the present 9.5 per cent EPF rate, if necessary, the Finance Ministry should give interest subsidy of 1 per cent in case the SDS rate is reduced to 8 per cent or else retain the pre-Budget rate of interest on SDS. "Since we have invested most of our funds in the SDS, the government must give 9 per cent on SDS", Mr Dave said. Meanwhile, trade unions and representatives of employers are shortly going to meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to "convince" him on the need for retaining the present EPF rate. |
bb
Modi-Senator JobsAhead NFL awarded Birla Sun Life Blackberrys LG Electronics |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
