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May 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Post-May 1: is consumer a loser?
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SARS affects Punjab tourism Jalandhar, May 3 The post US-Iraq war scenario and rising fears in the West about the SARS threat in Asian countries have adversely affected the already sulking tourism industry in the state.
Mastek arm forges alliance for BPO
Pick pharma scrips for long term
Farmers can claim damages for defective seeds
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Post-May 1: is consumer a loser? Chandigarh, May 4 However, claims officials of BSNL, after the introduction of interconnect usage charges (IUC) by TRAI from May 1, the corporation has tried to offer competitive pricing plans to its subscribers. Options from BSNL
The customer can take any of these packages. For this, he will have to apply on the prescribed form to the BSNL office concerned otherwise he would be billed under the BSNL General package. Under these plans, customers will have to pay different charges for each call. For instance, under the General package, the urban subscribers will pay Rs 1 per call, up to first 300 calls, except 30 free calls. After that they will pay Rs 1.20 per call. However, under the BSNL Special, package they will pay Rs 1.10 per call after availing 600 free calls. Similarly, under the BSNL Super plan, they will pay Rs 1 per call, after enjoying 1,800 free calls. Impact of IUC
For instance, according to a TRAI consultation note on IUC, for an inter-circle call over 500 km, the charges at originating and terminating end with uniform access deficit charge (ADC) will be Rs 2 per minute each, while the carriage charge is Rs 1.10 per minute, taking the total charge to Rs 5.10 per minute against the prevalent tariff of Rs 4.80 for that slab. For instance, a landline subscriber at Chandigarh who wants to call a local friend on his Connect mobile (WLL) will have to pay Rs 2.40 per three-minute call, instead of Rs 1.20 earlier. The basic to WLL phone pulse has been reduced from 180 seconds to 90 seconds. Similarly, to call a person on a cellphone (like AirTel and Spice), landline subscribers will have to pay Rs 7.20 per three minutes , instead of Rs 1.20. The pulse has been reduced from 120 seconds to 30 seconds. Which plan to opt for?
Most consumers are puzzled over the different plans offered by the BSNL. While the cellular operators like the Spice and AirTel offer guidance to its customers about the "suitable plan for them" through their agents and through their websites, BSNL has made any such effort. *
For a household, who is not even using 125 free monthly calls offered by BSNL, the BSNL General plan is suitable. *
A working couple with a nuclear family can opt the BSNL Economy plan and they can save up to Rs 20 per month, as they will get free 150 calls by spending minimum charges of Rs 350 per month. *
The corporations and offices providing free phone facility to their employees can save up to Rs 130 to Rs 200 per month by opting the BSNL Special plan that offers free 600 calls with minimum monthly rental of Rs 750 and additional calls for Rs 1.10 each. *
The businessmen and employed with high use of phones can save Rs 500 onwards by opting for the BSNL Super plan that offers 1,800 free calls with minimum monthly commitment of Rs 1,650 and additional calls for Rs 1 each. Bonanza for Internet users
As per the national policy to promote Internet surfing in the country, BSNL has introduced the concessional rates during the peak-off hours between 10.30 p.m. to 6.30
a.m. Calls made to numbers of the Internet providers will cost just Rs 7.20 for one hour (10 minute pulse) as against Rs Rs 24 per hour (3-minute pulse) during peak hours between 6.30 a.m. and 10.30 p.m. Internet users claim that had BSNL offered the concessional rates during 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. as proposed by the TRAI in March, it would have helped them access their friends and relatives in the Eastern countries like Singapore. Value-added services
BSNL has also introduced some value-added free of cost. These include caller line identification (CLI) and call waiting/forwarding/holding facility. The 95 facility has been extended above 200 km within the circle. However, customers will have to shell out Rs 30 per month for getting detailed monthly bill. Should one keep basic phone?
It depends on the use of phone and nature of work of subscribers. Due to inclusion of IUC, one can make calls at a lower rate within the same network as compared to calling someone on other network. BSNL officials admit that the usage of landline phone will not be profitable for all customers in the IUC regime. In some cases, they agreed, if one was making plenty of STD calls to someone at mobile phone, he could buy a mobile. Even BSNL is offering cell to cell calls for up to Rs 2 per minute. Otherwise, they said, one could have two phones — landline for making calls to landline phones and mobile phones for making calls to mobiles. |
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MobileFirst slashes STD rates
New Delhi, May 4 The new rates are effective from May 1. This offers a saving of 20-30 per cent on these calls as compared to the earlier average charge of Rs 4.39 for landlines and Rs 4.98 for calling mobile phones. For distances over 200 km, the new composite rate will be Rs 4.50 a minute, down from Rs 6.79, and Rs 4.98 for landlines and mobile phones respectively. With long distance calling to mobile phones already rationalised, the new rate for distances over 200 km will offer over 30 per cent savings on calls to landlines. On the pre-paid front, MobileFirst subscribers will now be able to make local outgoing calls at flat rate of Rs 3 per minute which would include the PSTN charges for landlines. At Rs 4 per minute for calls up to 200 km distance, pre-paid subscribers will get over 25 per cent savings while calls over 200 km will be at Rs 5 a minute as opposed to Rs 7.20 earlier. All incoming calls will be free. MobileFirst is an alliance of BPL Mobile, Escotel, RPG Cellular and Spice Telecom.
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SARS affects Punjab tourism Jalandhar, May 3 The jolt to tourism has come at a time when the state is witnessing a quantum jump in the average arrival of domestic tourists for a number of factors — mainly the benefits passed on to tourists by hoteliers following relief given by the Centre and state governments and the possibility of inclusion of the Golden Temple in the World Heritage list. Investigations by The Tribune have revealed that the inflow of foreign tourists to the state, had dwindled up to 60-65 per cent as compared to the past. If earlier the average number of foreign tourists visiting the state was 300 or 400, now it had trickled down to just 100 or 125, leading to fears among hoteliers that the foreign tourist inflow might reduce more especially on apprehensions over the spread of SARS in Asian countries. Tourism has suffered an blow this time, particularly as far as foreign-based tourists are concerned”, observed Mr Paramjit Singh Buddhiraja, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Punjab. The decrease of foreign tourist inflow, according to Mr Buddhiraja, had forced hotel propritors to entice foreign customers by extending huge discounts through their tie-ups with Indian Airlines and Uzbekistan Airlines. “These packages run with discounts up to 50 per cent in room and food charges. The industry is dependent upon domestic tourists, whose number has increased dramatically over the past two years due to awareness among tourist destinations about Punjab,” said Mr Buddhiraja. He said the passing on of benefits, given by the Centre and state government to customers had also encouraged tourists from other parts of the country to visit Punjab. Mr Bhupinder Singh, chairman of the association maintained that the situation was grim as far as foreign tourists were concerned. “They shy away from Punjab for being a border state and for their general misconception that Punjab was near to the disturbed areas of Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Mr Bhupinder Singh hoping that the declaration of the Golden Temple as a World Heritage site was likely to have positive effect on the arrival of foreigners. |
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Mastek arm forges alliance for BPO
Mumbai, May 4 According to a statement issued here, Carreker Corp will own 51 per cent of the new company, Carretek LLC, while Majesco Software Inc. will hold the rest of the stocks. Carretek will initially focus on payments-related business processes and IT services such as custom software development and application management. Within this area of expertise, the Carretek offering will include a flexible array of offshore outsourcing services to financial institutions. These will include global sourcing strategy development services (consulting, methodology and tools) to help banks understand their offshore outsourcing opportunity and optimal decisions; outsourcing of selected payment processes to India through a range of business models to suit different banks' needs and application development and support. Carretek will draw on Carreker's expertise in payments systems and associated business processes to help banks rationalise the business case for transitioning some of these processes to cost-efficient offshore locations and improving banks' return on investments in payments technologies. Carreker's image-related technologies, already in place at many large US banks, will enable such transitioning and leverage the banks' previous investment in these systems. By outsourcing selected processes to state-of-the-art facilities in Mumbai, Carretek expects to reduce banks' net costs for outsourced payment processes by 35 to 40 per cent, in addition to improving the productivity and quality of the processes. Said Subhash Mukerji, President of Carretek and Managing Director of Carreker Corporation: "Our offerings are not intended to compete with onshore outsourcers, but to assist those who seek the benefits of off-shoring and need a partner who understands financial services operations and can help them access global offshore resources. "Our research shows that US banks, facing a decline in check volumes, will need to reduce related costs by $1.85 billion over the next four years just to maintain current per item costs. "To achieve this level of savings, they must consider offshore processing options and invest in the enabling technology, initially for the savings but ultimately to streamline and improve these processes." He added: "We found that Mastek shares our values, particularly in its full commitment to client satisfaction, which has enabled them to compile an enviable track record in quality offshore services to financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies, supported by excellent IT credentials." Atul Vohra, President of Majesco Software, Mastek's wholly owned US subsidiary, said: "There's a qualitative difference between outsourcing applications development and outsourcing business processes, such as payments. For the latter, it is critical to have deep content knowledge in the processes being transitioned so that the outsourcer can continuously transform and improve the processes in line with changing market conditions. Ashank Desai, CMD, Mastek Ltd, said: "The association with Carreker is in line with our strategy to focus on the banking sector, which is one of the heaviest users of IT and BPO. "This venture also reinforces our belief in win-win approaches to alliances.Mastek's best-in-class BPO offshore capability and expertise in IT offshore outsourcing along with Carreker's domain expertise in the banking sector will provide unique leverage to Carretek's customers."
IANS
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by J.C. Anand Pick pharma scrips for long term During the last fortnight a few corporate results like that of TVS Motors and Reliance Industries were good. But in general the corporate results have been less than satisfactory. The Sensex declined from 2997 points on April 21 to 2966.63 points on May 2. Now that almost all the major companies have announced their first quarter results we should not expect any upward movement in the market indices during this month even though some scrips may improve. Even during the last week some multipharma scrips like Aventis Pharma, Glaxo and Pfizer made substantial gains. Moser-Baer has also improved on declaration of good results. There have been, however, some interesting forecasts about the growth of rate of Indian economy. The CII expects 6.4 per cent growth in GDP. The RBI Governor also expects 6 per cent growth provided the rains are at least 96 per cent of its normal average. However, the CMIE expects a slowdown in the industrial growth to 4.5 per cent during 2003-04, due to delayed impact of drought on rural spending. The World Bank has projected a 5.5 per cent growth for the country. We have, however, to wait for the monsoon to make predictable forecast for the growth rate of the Indian economy. It is, however, clear that any revival in the economy should be expected after the corporate sector announces its third quarter results in October-November. As things stand, the second quarter results are likely to be disappointing due to a number of factors, such as truckers strike, high petroleum prices in April, the Iraq war and SARS epidemic and their impact on some sectors of economy. The future of Indian economy, however, appears to be bright. Long-term investors have little option now other than the stock market to make profitable investments. The investors may focus attention on Gujarat Alkalies scrip which, after a lapse of 5 years, has now declared positive results with a net profit of about Rs 28 crore with and an EPS of Rs 6.11. The company has not declared any dividend this year. But, as the Managing Director of the company has stated in an interview that the company might be in a position to pay an interim dividend this year. Its positive performance is largely due to reduction of its overall debt position by Rs 141 crore. According to a package arrangement with bankers, the company has to raise its equity capital from Rs 46 crore to Rs 78.5 crore through rights issue. Rights will be issued to shareholders in the ratio of 3 for 5 @ Rs 12 per share (i.e. a premium of Rs 2 at Rs 10 face value share). The company is expected to reduce another Rs 130 crore worth of debt in the current financial year. This company is the largest producer of alkali and chlorine in India and is one of the few companies in this sector which have modern technology. It is the third largest state PSU in Gujarat and is likely to be privatised during the next 2 years. This scrip has already moved up from Rs 19 to Rs 24 in the market during last week. Long-term investors can acquire it as the company has a potential both for appreciation and for good dividend. The multi-pharma scrips are also likely to appreciate during the next year and a half. From April, 2005, the new patent law covering both “process and product” will come into force. These multi-pharma companies will enjoy full manufacturing and marketing results. It is quite on the cards that the companies like Aventis, Glaxo, Novartis and Pfizer may announce buyback at prices much higher than the present market prices. Even if they do not announce buyback, the profitability of these companies is bound to be tremendous though the drug prices may also go up and create some problems for the consumers.
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by Pushpa Girimaji Farmers can claim damages for defective seeds In a landmark order, the apex consumer court has upheld the rights of horticulturists and agriculturists to seek compensation against defective seeds under the Consumer Protection Act. Upholding the award of damages to farmers who suffer on account of substandard seeds, the apex consumer court has made it clear that the provisions of the Seeds Act do not prevent a farmer from seeking compensation for substandard seeds under the Consumer Protection Act. The commission has also dismissed the argument of the National Seeds Corporation in this case that without testing the seeds as required under Section 13(1) (c ) of the CP Act, consumer courts cannot come to the conclusion that the seeds are defective. (National Seeds Corporation Vs M.Madhusudan Reddy and Another, RP No 507 of 2003, decided on March 24, 2003) Even though the consumer courts have given relief to farmers in a number of cases pertaining to defective seeds, the significance of this order lies in the fact that here it has dealt with certain basic questions of law which had not been addressed before. In 1998, in the case of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company vs Alavalapati Chandra Reddy, the Supreme Court had commented that it would have appreciated the National Commission, had it discussed the matter on merits and disposed of the case after considering the question of law raised before it. Saying that the question of law raised, namely, whether the consumers were justified in moving the consumer forum was not free from doubt, the Supreme Court had said the question was left open to be decided in an appropriate case. Now the National Commission has finally examined this issue and clarified that the farmer has a remedy against defective seeds under the CP Act. The order of the apex consumer court has its origin in two separate petitions filed by Mr Madhusudan Reddy before the consumer court seeking compensation against the loss suffered on account of defective seeds. While the first case pertained to 36 kg of castor seeds purchased by him, the second was about the poor quality of sunflower seeds. Soon after sowing the castor seeds, when Mr Reddy noticed that the plant growth was not normal, he requested the Area Manager of the Seeds Corporation to visit the fields for examining them. Subsequently, at the time of harvesting, the yield turned out to be just a quarter of what was promised, resulting in Mr Reddy sustaining severe losses. The District Forum before which Mr Reddy filed a complaint, asked the Seeds Corporation to pay Rs 89,000 as damages along with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per anum from the date of failure till the date of payment. In the second case too, the District Forum directed the Seeds Corporation to pay Rs 1.10 lakh with a 9 per cent interest, to compensate Mr Reddy for the poor sunflower yield as well as the cost of fertiliser purchased by him for the crops. The Seeds Corporation filed an appeal before the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. When this was dismissed, it filed a revision petition before the National Commission. It's contention was that the CP Act was not applicable in view of the Seeds Act and the consumer had not fulfilled the requirement of testing the seeds alleged to be defective, as required under Section13 (1) ( c) of the CP Act. The National Commission dismissed both contentions. After referring to the Seeds Act, the apex consumer court pointed out that the Seeds Act provided for regulating the quality of certain seeds meant for sale, but it did not provide for compensation to a farmer or a consumer who suffered losses on account of substandard seeds. "We have no doubt whatsoever that his (farmer's) remedy lies under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986", the commission said. It also dismissed the contention of the petitioner that the onus of proof of any defect was on the complainant and here he had not followed the requirement of getting the seeds tested, as required under Section 13(1) (c) of the CP Act and therefore had not proved defect in the seeds. Pointing out that the farmer had sown all seeds and could not, therefore, produce any for testing and had relied on the report of an expert who had examined the crop, the commission said :"When the provision of Section13 (1) ( C ) becomes unimplementable, than one has to resort to alternate methods, which in this case was the report of the commissioner, who was a retired Assistant Director of Agriculture.... It is not the case of the petitioner (National Seeds Corporation) that either under the Seeds Act or on the label of the product or under any other provisions of law that the farmer is expected to conserve certain portion of seeds to meet the ludicrous expectation of the petitioner (Seeds Corporation) that the farmer produce some seeds from somewhere to get it tested to meet the requirements of Section 13 (1) ( c )". the commission said.
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Apart from TRAI's Standard package, BSNL has offered four other packages to its fixed-line subscribers — BSNL Economy (150 free calls with minimum Rs 350 monthly charges), BSNL Special (600 free calls with minimum Rs 750 monthly charge), BSNL Super (1,800 free calls with minimum Rs 1,650 monthly rental) and BSNL General Package ( with Rs 250 monthly rental and 30 free
calls). In addition, as per the instructions of TRAI, it is also offering TRAI's Standard package for Rs 280 monthly rental. 
Mr R.C.Vaish, Principal General Manager, BSNL, Chandigarh, says as per the IUC regime, access charges will have to be paid when various networks, such as basic, cellular and WLL connect with one another. Consequently, BSNL and other operators will have to pay the charges for transferring and terminating calls to other networks resulting in an increase in the tariff rates.
From May 1, BSNL fixed-line subscribers will pay two to six times more for making calls on the WLL and cellular networks. For instance, for making a local call, they will pay Rs 7.20 per three- minute call to mobile (non-metro areas) and Rs 2.40 per three-minute call for calling at a WLL phone. However, they will continue to enjoy three-minute call for just Rs 1.20 for calling on the landline phones.