 |
Friday,
April 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
LS adjourned over selloff issue
No bidder for PACL stake
No Bt cotton variety approved yet
Satyam net dips 6.17 pc |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Govt may defer VAT implementation Canon unveils products
Powerloom units seeks relief from Cenvat
Wipro to acquire NerveWire
Oil
prices tumble
|
|
LS adjourned over selloff issue New Delhi, April 24 Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi adjourned the House shortly after it assembled at 2 p.m. after the lunch recess amidst heavy sloganeering by the Opposition against the government. Agitated Opposition members voiced their discontent over the decision of the government to give the Parliament the “go-by” in deciding to go ahead with the disinvestment programme of HPCL and BPCL. Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said that despite an assurance given by the government earlier that the Parliament’s view will be considered on the matter, the government has decided to go ahead with the disinvestment programme of the two oil marketing and refining majors. As soon as the House assembled this morning, vociferous members of the Opposition disrupted the Question Hour for about 15 minutes demanding a statement from the government on the rationale behind the disinvestment of profit making PSUs. Later raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Mr Dasmunshi said that there was considerable opposition to the disinvestment programme of profit making PSUs. “Out of 545 members of the Lok Sabha, 322 members have voiced their opposition and the government has never moved a voting motion on the issue. Can a country ignore the positional strength of this House in such a manner. Parties have publicly stated these PSUs should not be sold”, Mr Dasmunshi said. Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI-M said “this was not a routine matter, and should not be done without Parliamentary approval”. “The government is surreptitiously going ahead with the process.... as if it is the parental property of the some members sitting on that side of the House”. “The White Paper on disinvestment did not mention anything about the profit making PSUs. Then why this sudden reversal of policy”, he said adding that the disinvestment programme will lead to loss of jobs in the country. “The Prime Minister’s assurance of providing one crore jobs every year has become a matter of joke”, he said. Giving some specific figures Mr Chaterjee said that during the last year, the turnover HPCL and BPCL was just Rs 1,000 crore less than the combined turnover of the country’s nine leading private sector companies. While BPCL had made a profit of Rs 850 crore, HPCL had made a profit of Rs 780 crore, Former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar said that it was regrettable that members of the House spoke differently on the matter in Parliament and outside ostensibly to attract public appreciation outside the House while seeking to remain close the powers that be within the House by taking an opposite stand. He said that it appears that majority of the members are
against the policy of disinvestment. “It will be sad precedent if the government goes ahead with the programme by the giving Parliament a go-by. Because it would reflect that the government did not respect the majority view”, he said. Mr Ajay Chakravarty of the CPI said that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum which was tabled on December 23 had unanimously opposed the disinvestment of HPCL and BPCL. While the present Attorney General is of the opinion that the government could go ahead with the disinvestment of the PSUs, the former Attorney General had said that Parliamentary approval was required for the purpose. |
|
No bidder for PACL stake Chandigarh, April 24 Earlier, the Directorate of Disinvestment, Punjab, had extended the date for submitting the bids from April 7 to April 24. Sources said now the directorate would have to call bids again after restructuring the company. Recently, Ms Vini Mahajan had to call bids for the second time for Punjab Communications as lone bidder Shyam Telecom had quoted the price much below the reserved price set by the government. According to sources, five companies had submitted expression of interest for PACL, which included Kanoria Chemicals, Goyal Gases and Grasim Industries. However, after going through the accounts and internal management of the company, they had reportedly backtracked. Interestingly, the government had introduced the VRS for PACL employees. But only 40 employees out of 550 had applied for the VRS. The sources said, due to the prevailing uncertainty about the future of the company and adverse market conditions, the income of the company had come down from Rs 173.25 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 164.10 crore in 2001-02. In 2002-03 the income was pegged at Rs 150 crore. The company had incurred losses of Rs 5.51 crore in 2000-01 and Rs 17.22 crore in 2001-02. This is likely to increase to Rs 25 crore during 2002-03, said internal sources in the company. They said the company had assets worth over Rs 230 crore, but its liabilities had crossed over Rs 170 crore from Rs 155 crore last year due to high interest costs of the debts. Officials claimed that the single plant of the company at Nangal was though working smoothly, due to an increase in the cost of production it was incurring losses. |
|
No Bt cotton variety approved yet
Chandigarh, April 24 Last year, a lot of hue and cry was raised at official level and also by farmers for not approving any Bt cotton variety in the state. In absence of any approved variety, a good number of farmers from Punjab and even Haryana had brought Bt seeds from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh through illegal channels. Financially suffered because of the repeated failure for the past seven years of cotton crop owing to attack of American bollworm, farmers of this region have been fancying a hope in the Bt cotton, that is said to be immune to bollworm attack. Punjab, one of the leading producer of cotton in the country in early 90s, has lagged for behind the southern cotton growing states in recent years. Informed official circles in the Punjab Agricultural University ( PAU), which has been mandated by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, to conduct trials of certain varieties of Bt cotton during the last year, say that it may take one year more to approve any Bt variety for this region. A senior scientist associated with the Research in the PAU said that though field trials of about four Bt varieties had been conducted and results tabulated last year, but as per the ICAR’s instructions at least such trials should be held continuously for two years before recommending any variety for sowing. While in southern states, Bt cotton varieties were recommended for sowing in 2002 after holding the trials in previous years, no variety was recommended then for Punjab and even Haryana and Rajasthan cotton belt by the authorities concerned in the Union Government. Sources in the PAU said that the ICAR had been intimated with regard to the results of the trails of Bt cotton held in 2002. Two varieties- Mech 915, 162- of the Bt cotton have been found highly susceptible to leaf curl, a viral disease as devastating for the cotton crop as the American bollworm. The affect of this viral disease on these two varieties during trials was to the range of 90 per cent. However, two other varieties of Bt cotton — R 134 and 138 — have been found less susceptible to leaf curl virus. However, as per the instructions of the ICAR, these are also required to be tested for one more year before taking any final decision with regard to their approval for sowing. “As it will be a policy decision to be taken at the Punjab Government level after consultation with the ICAR and other bodies such as Genetic Engineering Approval Committee( GEAC) and the Bio-Technology Department of the Union Government, We cannot say that any particular variety of Bt cotton suitable for this region will be recommended or not for this year “, said a senior official of the PAU. In fact, the officials concerned in the PAU say that two common hybrid varieties- LH 144, that is immune to virus attack and F-1861, that is considered by and large tolerant to virus attack, should be genetically modified and recommended for sowing in the state. It is another question that whether the private companies will accept such a proposal of the PAU or not. 
|
|
Satyam net dips 6.17 pc Hyderabad, April 24 With a net cash accretion of Rs 425 crore, the board of directors at its meeting here today, which approved the audited results for 2002-2003 and quarter ended March 31, 2003, has recommended a final dividend of 110 per cent making with the interim a total of 150 per cent for the year. Satyam had recorded Rs 490.13 crore net profit from a total revenue of Rs 1,803.1 crore business in fiscal 2002. In dollar terms, its net profit for 2002-2003 was $ 95 million against $ 102.76 million, a drop of 7.15 per cent over the previous year. Briefing reporters here, Satyam Chairman B Ramalinga Raju said for fiscal 2003, the income from software services was Rs 2,023.7 crore, while the EPS was Rs 14.62 including a gain of Rs 0.46 from sale of stake in Satyam GE Joint Venture. The revenue growth of 16.84 per cent in software was achieved despite the challenging economic and geopolitical environment. The performance for Q4, has been in line with its forecast and the company achieved an income from software services of Rs 538.40 crore against its guidance of Rs 525 to Rs 535 crore and an EPS of Rs 3.68 against the forecast of Rs 3.66 to 3.75. JK Paper J.K. Paper Ltd, one of India’s largest paper companies, has reported a quantum jump of 114 per cent in net profit at Rs 9.74 crore for its third quarter ended March 31, 2003. The company has achieved a turnover of Rs 165.85 crore for the quarter with an operating profit of Rs 34.75 crore (20 per cent increase) and cash profit of Rs 25.97 crore. (up 49 pc).
UNI, TNS |
|
Govt may defer VAT implementation New Delhi, April 24 Finance Minister Jaswant Singh is likely to spell out the government’s stand on the VAT issue during his reply to the debate on the Finance Bill scheduled for April 30 in the Lok Sabha, sources said. The compulsions of the BJP-led government is two-fold. Firstly,there is an immense pressure from the BJP MPs against the implementation of VAT as traders, the traditional vote bank of the party, are severely opposed to it. Secondly, unless there is a consensus among the states on the implementation of the VAT there will be severe negative effect on the revenue of the Centre and the resultant impact on the revenue-sharing between the Centre and states, the sources said. Another indication over the strong possibility of deferment of the implementation of VAT came when the BJP today strongly demanded deferment of the implementation of VAT “in view of the differing views of the states”. “It will not serve the purpose if some states implement it and others do not,” BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told newspersons here. It may be recalled that the urea price hike was withdrawn by the Finance Minister ultimately when the BJP demanded for it. Mr Malhotra said the Finance Minister should talk to the states in this regard and try to evolve a consensus before implementing it fully. |
|
Canon unveils products Chandigarh, April 24 He said the company which had started its operations in India in 1997 had diversified into business machines, including faxes, copiers, IT peripherals like printers and scanners and digital imaging solutions. The company is now offering ink jet, laser printers and multimedia projectors. The company is opening two retail outlets in Chandigarh and
Ludhiana. Besides there is a plan to open two outlets in Punjab during the current fiscal. |
|
Powerloom units seeks relief from Cenvat New Delhi, April 24 The All India Co-ordination Committee for Powerloom Centres said that the Cenvat as proposed in the Union Budget 2003-04 has affected the powerloom industry of the entire country. The various segments such as yarn processors, weavers, yarn traders and traders of grey fabrics have been included in the chain of Cenvat. |
|
Wipro to acquire NerveWire
New York, April 24 Wipro has said it expects the transaction to be completed in the quarter ending June next. NerveWire Inc, with a team of over 90 domain experts and IT consultants primarily in the US and offering financial services to clients in the security services, trading/investment management, banking, insurance and high tech industries as well as private clients, would bring to Wipro more than 40 client relationships with over 20 active engagements. NerveWire provides strategy and business case development, business requirements definition, IT strategy and programme management.
PTI |
bb
FICCI Education loan Reliance Info Whirlpool Ambani Inst Cressanda |
 |
| 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 | |
