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Wednesday,
June 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Wheat prices likely to increase
Delay in rains not to hit farm output
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Centre plans to raise foreign holding in SBI 15 pc rise in cotton area
Rupee at 2-yr high
Honda launches new-look Accord
Intel looks at India as chip design hub
Colgate net goes up 27 pc
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Wheat prices likely to increase Chandigarh, June 10 Unlike in the past few years, private traders have been very active in the grain markets of Punjab this year, making hefty purchases of the golden grain. The wheat prices are expected to rise in the coming weeks in view of tighter market conditions due to the inability of official procurement agencies to hit the target of procuring 105 lakh tonnes this year. Only about 90 lakh tonnes of wheat had been procured by the FCI and the state government procurement agencies so far. Wheat purchases during the same period last year totalled 98.59 lakh tonnes. Traders had so far purchased 1.17 lakh tonnes of wheat this year as against 15,400 tonnes last year. According to trade sources, although Punjab had not been able to meet its procurement target, large stocks of wheat continued to be exported to foreign countries which was bound to put pressure on the prices in the domestic market. However, the Centre was alive to the situation and taking appropriate measures to meet contingencies. Although it had not banned wheat exports, it had put certain restrictions on wheat exporters which had slowed down exports, thus making more wheat grains available in the domestic market. Meanwhile, official foodgrain procurement agencies in Punjab had begun winding up their wheat purchase operations in the state even though they were still nowhere near achieving this year's target of procuring 105 lakh tonnes of the golden grain. According to official figures, wheat procurement in Punjab had barely touched the 90-lakh-tonnes mark so far, falling well short of its target by nearly 15 lakh tonnes. Official sources in the FCI here today said there was little hope of any official procurement agency making any sizeable purchases of wheat in the next few weeks this year. As a matter of fact, there had been no wheat arrivals in as many as 10 out of 17 districts of the state during the past more than 10 days. On Saturday, only 22 tonnes of wheat were procured in the state, indicating that the procurement operations were as good as over now. According to Mr K.Siva Prasad, Senior Regional Manager, FCI, Punjab, the FCI had purchased 25.48 lakh tonnes of wheat this year while the state government procurement agencies had purchased about 64 lakh tonnes. The shortfall in the wheat procurement had been caused by a fall in wheat production because of unfavourable wheat conditions during germination and maturing of the wheat. |
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New Holland not keen on PTL arms Chandigarh, June 10 He said the company would rather prefer to buy the share of other financial institutions in the company to have financial control. Talking to TNS, he disclosed the government was reportedly expecting a minimum price of about Rs 700 crore ($150 million) for the PSIDC's stake. However, it was unlikely that any bidder would offer that much price. He said,‘‘we have already completed the evaluation of the company. However, the final decision will depend upon the final bidding price and the decision of the company's management.’’ Ms Vini Mahajan, Director and Secretary, Directorate of Disinvestment, Punjab, disclosed that the due diligence in PTL had been completed. All bidders had studied the technical and financial capability of the company. The Core Committee on Disinvestment would meet on June 18 to take a decision about the issues raised by the bidders for disinvestment in PTL and other units. She claimed that draft agreements would be prepared by June 30 and the process of financial bids is likely to be completed by July end. Unofficial sources said about 10 major tractor manufacturers and fund managers were in the race. The confidentiality agreements have already been signed with them. Regarding the future prospects of PTL, he asserted that it had strong brand value in the domestic market. Despite lower cost of production it needed expertise in management and upgradation of its product range. He felt that a share in PTL would help the New Holland to increase its market penetration and product mix, which had already about 26 per cent share in the 41-70 HP segment. He admitted that slump in the agricultural sector had badly affected the Indian tractor industry, which had shrinked by 13 per cent during 2002-03. However, with the normal monsoon expected this year, the industry is set to witness a significant growth. Mr Gaspari claimed that about 15 to 20 per cent of the staff in PTL was surplus and they would have to be offered VRS to improve its bottomline. Insiders in the tractor industry admitted that during the past two years, the Rs 6,000 crore domestic tractor market has sharply shrinked, resulting in the decline of tractor sales from 2.66 lakh in 1999-2000 to about 1.60 lakh in 2002-03. |
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Delay in rains not to hit farm output New Delhi, June 10 Officials in the Agricultural Ministry said the delay in the arrival of monsoon by a week would not have any impact on kharif production. The pattern of rice and oilseeds sowing would be normal and there would be no change in grain trade policy because of this factor. An agricultural scientist associated with ICAR said it was too early to quantify the acreage and output for the kharif season but the delay in arrival of monsoon was not a cause of worry provided its subsequent progression was normal. The premier institute has set up a team of scientists to monitor the movement of monsoon and amount of rainfall in the region to calculate the kharif production. The weathermen said the delay in monsoon should not be linked to its overall performance which could swing either way. Monsoon’s arrival on the southern coast on June 8 against the expected June 1is not likely to affect its overall performance, Deputy Director
General of Indian Meteorology Department S K Subramanian pointed out. |
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Centre plans to raise foreign holding in SBI New Delhi, June 10 “It is still under the examination of the government. The government takes its own time,” SBI Chairman and Managing Director A K Purwar told newspersons here. Under the existing equity structure, the SBI has a foreign holding of 20 per cent. This includes proceeds from GDR of 7.89 per cent and total foreign holding of 20 per cent. The proposal for enhancing foreign holding involves the separation of foreign holdings from the GDR proceeds. The GDR issue of the SBI is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Mr Purwar said the SBI management was closely looking the issue of buyback of government securities by the government. The Centre had recently announced that it would buy back government securities to the tune of Rs 82,000 crore from banks and FIs. Mr Purwar exuded confidence that the SBI was geared up to take on the growing competition in the
banking sector in the country and this was reflected in the fact that it was set to be the market leader in the credit card industry. At present the SBI occupies second position in the market in its credit card operations because of the large volumes backed by its vast branch network. The SBI’s Visa Credit Cards has crossed the one-million mark. The SBI’s associate banks also issue the same credit cards. The SBI chief said the bank had invested $100 millions in technological upgradation. “Two-thirds of SBI branches operate under manual environment and one-third of the SBI branches are computerised”, Mr Purwar said. “We hope that 14,000 more branches will be computerised in one-and-a-half years time”, he said. |
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15 pc rise in cotton area Bathinda, June 10 The cotton belt of Punjab has witnessed about 33 per cent increase in the area under this crop while Haryana has witnessed 11 per cent increase. The Sriganganagar circle is the only pocket which has witnessed an 8 per cent decline in the area under cotton this year despite the fact that the weather remained favourable for sowing cotton and the supply of canal water was adequate throughout the sowing season. As per the Punjab Cotton Bulletin, although an increase of 20 to 30 per cent in the area under cotton in the northern belt was expected this season, yet it remained at around 15 per cent only. The expectation was based on the remunerative prices that the growers fetched from the markets. The area under cotton in Punjab had gone up to 6 lakh hectares from 4.5 lakh hectares last year, in Haryana, it went up to 6 lakh hectares from 5.38 lakh hectares last year and in the Sriganganagar circle, it went down to 2.5 lakh hectares from 2.72 lakh hectares last year. In the cotton belt of north India, the area went up to 14.5 lakh hectares this year from 12.60 lakh hectares last year. Official sources said all three states failed to meet their targets of areas to be brought under cotton so that the farmers could be taken out from the vicious cycle of wheat and paddy. The Punjab Government had set a target of 6.4 lakh hectares to be brought under cotton this year. Mr Ashok Kapur, president of the North India Cotton Association, pointed out that in the current year, the pattern of sowing had changed drastically as most of the farmers had opted for hybrid seeds which were less prone to attack bollworm and other diseases. He added that the area under hybrid seeds of cotton had been doubled in Punjab and Haryana while in Rajasthan it was found that almost all farmers used traditional seeds. |
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Rupee at 2-yr high
Mumbai, June 10 Opening on a bullish note at 46.8650/8750, the domestic currency never looked back and steadily rose during the course of tradings as the robust export and foreign fund supplies surpassed the feeble import demand. Unwinding of over dollar positions by few banks also helped the rupee to keep its uptrend. The rupee crossed the psychological barrier of 46.80 barrier in evening deals and closed at 46.77/78, the strongest closing level since April 11, 2001.
UNI |
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Honda launches new-look Accord New Delhi, June 10 To be available by the end of July, the new launch from Honda signifies not only the company’s innovation in luxury and technology but has been completely redesigned to give it a plush look. The new Honda Accord (2003) will be placed in the price tag of Rs 14.7 lakh to Rs 15.7 lakh ex-showroom price in Delhi. Mr H.Yamada, President and CEO of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, announced the launch. According to Mr Yamada, the new Honda Accord will have highly-advanced 2.4 litre i-VTEC DOHC engine. The new car will be in the segment of cars like Ford Mondeo, Opel Vectra and Toyota Camry. The 2003 Accord comes with new dual-tone interiors, dual-zone climate control system which allows individual temperature setting for the front passengers. |
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Intel looks at India as chip design hub
Bangalore, June 10 “India is predominant for software development and now we have added chip development....It is a hub where we are developing products,” Intel President and Chief Operating Officer Paul S Otellini told reporters here. He said access to talent pool of engineers and the single benefit of incremental low costs was an advantage for Intel to look at India for outsourcing software work. Otellini dismissed media reports that it was planning a fabrication unit in India. “We have no such plans,” he said.
PTI |
The Digital GlobalSoft scrip came in for severe bear hammering as the markets made their pleasure with the merger of the local arms of Digital and H-P known in no uncertain terms. The scrip ended 25.5 per cent lower to close at Rs 372.35 on the
BSE. Satyam Computer Service will reduce its dependence on the North American market, which accounts for 76.8 per cent of its revenues and expand to Europe and Japan. Intel Corp will more than double its manpower in India from the existing 1,110 to 3,000 people by 2005. TCS has successfully completed the multi-million dollar turnkey development project for the Canadian Depository for Securities. L&T, which won an order from Lafarge Surma Cement to build a cement plant valued at $103.35 million near Sylhet town in Bangladesh, is expected to go on stream by October, 2005. The share capital of Indo Rama Synthetics Limited and Indo Rama Textiles Limited has been split in the ratio of 80:20 following demerger of spinning business. |
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AirTel handset Woolmark MD RBI Dy Governor Recovery camp New tractors |
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