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Saturday,
June 7, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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CORPORATE NEWS
Global investors attend Maruti’s IPO roadshow
Norms for cell firms eased |
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Create atmosphere for investors: CII GDP to grow by 6.3 pc, says ICRA WB okays $ 54 m credit to India 10 news channels, FTV to be free
Rahul Bajaj IIT Mumbai chief
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CORPORATE NEWS New Delhi, June 6 The Board of IOC, which met here today, decided to give one share as bonus to holders of two equity share, company sources said here. The government holds 82.03 per cent stake in IOC while the public float is limited to 3.70 per cent. Post bonus, the company’s equity capital will expand to Rs 1,168 crore from the present Rs 778.67 crore, thereby improving the debt-equity ratio and giving the country’s largest refiner more room to borrow funds. State-run exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) holds 9.11 per cent stake in IOC, while Mutual Funds and UTI hold 4.42 per cent. Banks and financial institutions have 2.40 per cent stake and Life Insurance Corporation has 2 per cent. Sources said the bonus will enlarge the float of the country’s sole entry in the Fortune 500 global companies. IOC shares have seen steep appreciation during the past fortnight. Bata India Bata India, the Rs 694 crore shoe major, has said it is repositioning its image from a manufacturing company to a marketing company. “Brand managers are working on this new corporate brand building
exercise that will be a departure from the past and visualises to combat competition,” says Bata India in its annual report. “The path breaking exercise is to align the position and stress on corporate brand building with more emphasis on marketing of quality services and products.” The existing high powered brand image with deep penetration level would support the present exercise. The change in strategy was believed to be prompted by sharp decline in the company’s turnover to Rs 694.19 crore in 2002 from Rs 759.98 crore in 2001, which forced it to record a loss before tax of Rs 11.20 crore as against a profit of Rs 2.46 crore in 2001. MRPL Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd reported trimming of its losses to Rs 412 crore in 2002-03 as opposed to Rs 492 crore net loss in the previous year. The turnover of MRPL, a subsidiary of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), increased 51 per cent to Rs 8,058 crore as compared to Rs 5354 crore in 2001-02, a company statement said here. The company has earned an operating profit of Rs 403 crore but, after taking into account the various outgo obligations as a result of financial restructuring, the company reported net loss of Rs 412 crore. ONGC had in March 2003 acquired the entire 37.38 per cent stake of A.V. Birla Group in MRPL for Rs 59.4 crore. It further subscribed 60 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each to increase its share holding to around 52 per cent.
PTI |
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Global investors attend Maruti’s IPO roadshow New Delhi, June 6 Senior Maruti officials including Chairman S Nakanishi, Managing Director Jagdish Khattar and Director (Marketing and Sales) K Saito met the investors to woo them to the offering during the roadshow which was completed last night, sources told PTI. The New York leg of the roadshow took place over two days on June 4 and 5, they said. On June 2, Maruti officials had met leading international institutions including Barings, Boyer Allen and GLG Partners in London during the first leg of the international roadshow. Some of these investors had been approached by merchant bankers in pre-marketing interactions earlier and they gave positive feedback on the issue, the sources said. The roadshows will now proceed to other places including Boston,
Amsterdam, Singapore and Dubai, they added. The Maruti officials briefed the investors about the development of the company as a R&D hub for Suzuki cars in Asia and the recent success of its ‘Alto’ car in Europe and thrust on exports with this year’s target set at 39,000 cars. They also explained them about Maruti selling more cars than all its competitors put together even after the entry of 11 global players in the Indian market. Maruti produces 3.5 lakh cars annually, with the ‘M-800’ and other small cars like ‘Zen’, ‘Alto’ and ‘WagonR’ comprising majority of its sales.
PTI |
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Norms for cell firms eased New Delhi, June 6 While allowing cellular and basic service providers to demerge licences, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) had prohibited acquisition within the same service area (intra-circle) by amending a clause relating to transfer of licence. A company having presence in a particular circle could not acquire another licence in the same circle as it could lead to a monopoly-like situation and also due to spectrum constraints. A notification to this effect had been issued by DoT and sent to all telecom players. Officials said permission to demerge licence would enable various service providers to sell their stake, partially or totally, in different circles. So a company having a licence for cellular services in four different circles or states could now form four separate entities and sell them, a flexibility which was not permitted earlier. The government had also amended the clause relating to time period of five years for sale of equity. So far, no company was allowed to sell stake before the expiry of five years of licence, officials said, adding that this clause had now been withdrawn. Besides this, the government had said all unfulfilled obligations like roll-out would get transferred to the new licencee.
UNI |
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Create atmosphere for investors: CII Srinagar, June 6 “Subsidies and incentives do not necessarily attract investors. The government has to create an atmosphere conducive for investment — where the investors feel that their money is safe,” CII vice-president Sunil Kant Munjal said during an interactive session held here. He said though there had been improvement in the atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir through the application of “human touch”, more steps were required in that direction. At our meetings with officials of the state, we wanted to know about their preparations for wooing the investors. We want to share our experience with them as we are closely working with other states of the country,” Munjal said. Noting that there was vast potential for investments in the state, he said violence in Jammu and Kashmir had discouraged the investors. Chairman of J and K chapter of the CII Lalit Suri sought the state support like ensuring safety of investments,
uninterrupted power supply and allotment of land to investors to make Jammu and Kashmir one of the most favoured investment destinations. The CII was an active partner with the Jammu and Kashmir government in the development of the state. Suri, who was also an MP said tourism had been the mainstay of the economy of the state and should be given a special focus in the revival package. Before the onset of militancy, the state received a record high 5 million tourists who had an average stay of three to five days in the state that brought a revenue of Rs 12,000 crore to the state government but unfortunately the vicious cycle of violence led to massive drop in tourist arrivals, he added. State Industries and Commerce Minister Raman Mattoo said the government would support the CII’s efforts to revive the state’s economy by bringing in investments. CII delegates were here for adoption of a school in Baramulla district, which aimed to educationally rehabilitate the children who have suffered due to militancy.
PTI |
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GDP to grow by 6.3 pc, says ICRA New Delhi, June 6 ICRA’s GDP forecast is higher than 6 per cent made by Reserve Bank and Asian Development Bank for this fiscal, apart from IMF’s projection of 5.1 per cent for 2003. “It is our assessment that provided the South West monsoon does not turn out to be a failure as that of last year, growth in 2003-04 is poised to show distinct improvement .... We expect that growth of GDP
should range somewhere between 5.9 and 6.3 per cent,” ICRA said in its report ‘Money and Finance’. It said if growth estimates for 2002-03 were moved up and closer to a more realistic 5 per cent, the country’s GDP growth would be close to 6 per cent.
PTI |
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WB okays $ 54 m credit to India Washington, June 6 The Food and Drugs Capacity Building Project will be the first stage of a long-run programme supporting India’s vision of ensuring safe, high quality food and drugs for the public. “The project will benefit society at large, but in particular the poor, who will gain from lower morbidity and premature mortality as a result of increased safety and quality of foods and drugs available,” a Bank release said. “India, has made considerable progress in improving the health status of its population in the last 50 years, but disparities between regions and between the poor and non-poor continue to widen,” it said. “Food and drugs oversight is an essential public health function, but inadequate institutional arrangements and limited financial resources prevent India from fulfilling its role,” the Bank said. “In addition, India has a large and rapidly expanding food and drugs industry, and pharmaceuticals are a large and growing component of health care expenditure. Consumption of street foods as well as processed foods is also on the rise, as is the concern for consumer protection,” it said. “The poor would especially benefit from the Food and Drugs Capacity Building Project because they are more likely to be victims of poor quality foods and access to medication,” said G.N.V. Ramana, a senior public health specialist for the World Bank and task leader for the project. “A recent household surveys in India indicate that the incidence of
diarrhoea in children under five is 20 per cent higher for the poorest quintile of the population as compared to the highest quintile. The true difference is probably greater, since poor households tend to under-report illnesses,” Ramana said. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will implement the project through its existing directorates for foods and drugs quality control. The credit from the IDA carries no interest and has a 35-year maturity.
PTI |
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10 news channels, FTV to be free New Delhi, June 6 Keen to ensure the Conditional Access System rolls out as scheduled on July 15, cable operators have come out with lists of free-to-air channels available in the metros and some have promised to beam around 60-70 of them for a maximum price of Rs 72, against the minimum of 30 channels made mandatory by the government. While Siti Cable Network is offering 60 free-to-air channels, Hathway has released a list of 56 in Delhi and 73 in Mumbai. The free-to-air bouquet includes over 10 news channels — English and Hindi channels of Aaj Tak and NDTV, BBC World, Jain TV, Sahara Samay, Jain TV, Star News, Al Jazeera and World Net and CNN. It also has around 25 regional channels, 10 Doordarshan channels and three religious ones. The other channels figuring in the list are FTV, PTV, MTV, Balle Balle, B4U Music, Bloomberg, MCM Asia and Nickelodeon. Most of the channels in the Star, Zee and Sony bouquets are pay channels, which will require a set-top box. The government has issued a notification asking cable operators to publicise the list of pay and free channels as well as the rates of each pay channel.
PTI |
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Tata Steel to float subsidiary Kolkata: Tata Steel, the country’s largest integrated steel plant in the private sector, will float a fully-owned subsidiary company Jamshedpur Utility and Services Company Ltd (JUSCO) for taking up activities which are not within the core business of the parent firm. A company release said here that JUSCO is expected to offer services more economically and of better quality, and will market its services to all industries in and outside Jamshedpur.
PTI |
Dilmah tea — touted to be the finest Ceylon tea — will soon be available on the retail shelf, following a distribution alliance between Dabur Foods and the Sri Lanka-based MJF group. Wipro and HCL Tech have jointly won a total package implementation order from a US retailer, which is in the range of $40-$50 million. Ranbaxy Lab has come out tops in the several overseas markets. After the USA, Ranbaxy has emerged as the fastest growing pharma firm in Brazil. Torrent Pharma has set
up wholly owned subsidiaries in Germany and Brazil and is planning to consolidate its presence in various other countries. Reliance Industries has
made its second largest gas discovery, after the Krishna-Godavari basin, in the coal bed methane exploration block in Shahdol in Madhya Pradeh. GAIL India is seeking foreign partners for a $4.2 billion gas pipeline it plans to build in the next five years, its CMD said on Thursday. |
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Akiko Callnet Ambuja Cement Ashok Leyland Digital invertor HSBC |
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