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Saturday,
June 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Stable rupee must for exports, says FIEO chief
Cotton textile in crises
EU’s Common Agricultural Policy under attack
10 services to come under 8 pc tax net |
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Maruti share price, allocation today
Spice announces free outgoing
AirTel launches infinity plan Singla new marketing board chairman
Ranbaxy gets FDA nod for Ofloxacin
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Stable rupee must for exports, says FIEO chief New Delhi, June 20 The rupee has ended stronger today for a fourth straight day buoyed by strong inward remittances. This week alone the rupee has gained 19 paise to the dollar. This, the FIEO Chief, Mr M. Rafeeque Ahmed said has been a cause of concern to the exporters who are working against stiff international competition and higher transaction costs vis-a-vis other economies in the world. The situation has become more precarious since foreign funds taking advantage of the wide interest rate differentials between India and US/Europe have invested/pumped in dollars to the tune of $ 370 million in this month itself in the Indian bonds and equity market. In a survey conducted by the Federation on the invoicing patterns by exporters, Mr Ahmed said that it was found that 21.74 per cent of the Indian exporters invoiced in the range of 30 to 50 per cent in dollars. While 69.56 per cent of the Indian exporters invoiced in the range of 75 to 100 per cent in dollars of which an overwhelming 43.48 per cent did 100 per cent of their invoicing in dollars. Hence for a vast majority of exporters who constitute almost 70 per cent of the sample, an appreciating rupee vis-a-vis dollar is a cause of concern. It is this section of the exporting community, which has stated that the impact on its export earnings and the pressure from countries such as China is increasing and therefore the margin of export profit has also dwindled substantially. Infact, the FIEO Chief added that China has a “fixed dollar” rate - making Indian exports more vulnerable to the forex fluctuations. The FIEO Chief, therefore, requested that the RBI may intervene at this point and bring about parity and stability which is necessary to sustain export growth at the existing levels. |
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Cotton textile in crises Ludhiana, June 20 Stating this in an exclusive interview Mr S.P. Oswal, Chairman, National Textile Committee of the CII told here today that the prices of cotton in India had risen by 50 per cent and the New York futures had also shot up. “There is a short fall in the world supply of cotton this year. The closing stock of cotton in September will be the lowest in the world during the past ten years — 8.5 million tonnes against 10.6 million tonnes of last year. This has given phenomenal rise in the prices of cotton worldwide,” he said. However, Mr Oswal pointed out that the rise in the prices of cotton globally had helped in increasing the area under cotton in countries like China, Pakistan and India. Next crop of cotton could be definitely bigger than this year but still low against the demand of cotton in the world markets. It is estimated that the cotton production in the world would be 21 million tonnes and the demand would be little higher than the supply. “The pressure of prices may not come down and cotton fabric would remain costlier.” New York futures were being quoted at 58-59 cents per pound in the international market while in India, the prices of cotton were Rs 2,350 per maund against Rs 1,500 per maund of last year. Mr Oswal pointed out that the spread of SARS and Iraq war coupled with the economic down of the economy of USA, Germany and Japan, there was depressing sentiment so far as the textile sector was concerned as a result of which, the prices of cotton yarn had become weak. This had eroded the margin of the textile industry which was performing better till early this year up to March. Another factor which has resulted in the depressing sentiment of cotton yarn and cotton fabric, the steep rise in the production of cotton yarn in China by more than 2 million tonnes. All types of yarns including cotton, synthetic and blended have been estimated at 8.8. million tonnes this year against 6.8 million tonnes of last year. “This is the worrisom for Indian Textile Industry as China’s textile activity is very strong both in the export of garments as well as increase in the domestic consumption. China’s annual growth rate of economy is 8 per cent. China is emerging a strong cotton yarn producer in the world and a posing to a threat to India and Pakistan,” he sounded a note of caution. Mr Oswal stressed that steps should be taken to make the handling of business at the ports efficient and improving the costs and banking services. In reply to a question Mr Oswal said that India had not gained much from the spread of SARS in China and other countries and Iraq war so far as the export of textile clothing was concerned. The export of all textile items including clothing was worth $ 13 billion last year. SARS had benefited Bangladesh, Turkey, Mauritius and Pakistan. He felt that China’s export of textiles would not come down due to
SARS. |
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EU’s Common Agricultural Policy under attack New Delhi, June 20 Criticising the proposals, the FICCI today urged the European Commission not to choose the road of compromise and instead to adopt a package of genuine, serious reforms in the overall interest of multilateral trade negotiations. European Commission’s original proposal to reform the CAP was intended to make the region’s agriculture more competitive and market-oriented. The main elements of the CAP reform proposals are ‘decoupling’ (separating) production from direct support payments; linking those payments to environmental, food safety, animal welfare, health and occupational safety standards (cross-compliance); substantially increasing support for rural development; reduction in direct payments
(degression & modulation) for bigger farms, among others. However, as per the latest proposal put forward in Luxembourg, several key elements of the initial legislative proposal of January this year (like decoupling and
degression), have been considerably weakened and the revised scope of their application is at best partial. According to
FICCI, out of the total support given to EU farmers for the years 2000-02, as much as 61 per cent was in the form of market price support (intervention price) and payments based on output, which are considered to be production distorting. Hence, it is essential that EU goes ahead with significant reductions in such payments and substituting them by non-production distorting payments, it said. The chamber said even the reductions of these production-distorting subsidies, as proposed in the reform, are not sufficient. For instance, in the case of cereals, for which EU is one of the major exporters in the world, it proposes to cut down the intervention price (market price support) only by 5 per cent, and in the case of dairy by 5 to 15 per cent. On the other hand, the prices received by the European farmers in 2002 were, on an average, 35 per cent higher than the world prices. Naturally, this calls for sharper reduction in market price support so as to enable the EU farmers to respond to market signals rather than to any pre-determined price. Another cause of concern is export subsidies provided by EU to agricultural products that are not addressed under the proposed reforms. Such high level of export subsidy extended by EU for different product groups adversely affects India’s business interests. Even for products which may not be currently exported to EU, Indian exports run the risk of being out-competed by heavily subsidised EU agri-products in third country markets. For instance, we export sugar to USA, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Russia and EU, and one of our major competitors in these markets is France, which is highly subsidising its agriculture. |
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10 services to come under 8 pc tax net New Delhi, June 20 However, call centres and medical transcription centres, which fall under business auxiliary services, have been exempted, an official release said. While vocational training, computer training and recreational training centres have been exempted, coaching centres providing coaching for competitive, pre-engineering and pre-medical entrance tests would come under the tax net. The Finance Act 2003 had provided for roping in under the tax net seven new services — commercial training and coaching centres, internet cafe, franchise services, technical testing and analysis, technical inspection and certification, maintenance and repair services, commissioning and installation and business auxiliary services. In a notification, the Finance Ministry said the levy of Service Tax on these would come into effect from July 1. Moreover, the scope of Service Tax, which was limited to a few major ports, has been extended to cover all ports. Similarly, authorised automobile service for motorcars and two-wheelers were only taxed so far but the tax will now also be levied on services rendered to buses, trucks, cabs and others. |
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Maruti share price, allocation today New Delhi, June 20 A meeting of inter-ministerial group (IMG) on disinvestment in Maruti was held today to finalise and recommend the price for the public offer, through which the government was divesting 25 per cent equity in the car joint venture with Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation. Sources indicated that the IMG could fix the IPO shares at Rs 122-125 per share and mop up between Rs 950 crore and Rs 1000 crore from the IPO. The government might retain upto 10 per cent of the oversubscription of the 7.2 crore shares. The floor price of the share was fixed at Rs 115 per share. The IMG is understood to have favoured a much higher allocation of shares to individual investors as against the stipulation of a minimum 25 per cent for this category with the intention of maximising the share holding in the company that has more than 50 per cent share of India’s car market. Sources said the government might allocate 46-48 per cent equity to individual investors including 15 per cent to high net worth investors who are seeking more than 1000 shares each. IMG, attended by officials of the ministries of heavy industry and disinvestment, MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar and other executives of the car company as also representatives of the merchant bankers and legal advisors, is understood to have sent its recommendations to the Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie. Earlier, MUL MD Jagdish Khattar thanked the investors for the overwhelming response to the public offer while committing the company to deliver value to the investors by being focused on the business. |
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Spice announces free outgoing Chandigarh, June 20 Spice also announced a Spice Defence Pack for Armed Forces Personnel. Under this scheme all officers belonging to the Armed forces will need to pay just Rs. 500 against the normal Rs 1,000 for subscribing to Spice Prize or Spice Bargain plan. All existing subscribers in Spice Bumper, Spice Fortune and Spice Jackpot automatically move to the new tariff plans from July 1 onwards. Under the New Bumper plan the subscriber has the option of purchasing the STD pack for just Rs 75 in which he will get 75 minute of free STD every month. Speaking on the announcement of the new plans Mr Swarn Bajaj, G.M. – Marketing, Spice Telecom said. “The new plans have been designed keeping in mind the ever-growing mobile usage in the state. |
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AirTel launches infinity plan Chandigarh, June 20 Under the AirTel Infinity Plan, a new customer can get a Motorola T 190 handset with an AirTel post-paid connection for just Rs 3999 (inclusive of registration fee of Rs 1000 and local deposits and taxes and octroi). On a monthly rental of Rs 699, the customer will get 400 mobile-to-mobile minutes free and mobile-to-mobile STD calls will be at 50 paise per minute for the first 50 minutes. AirTel Spirit of Nation Offer is a salute to the Defence Personnel. In this offer Defence Officers get a 50 per cent discount on the Enrolment Fee under the AirTel 012 Plan i.e he pays only Rs 500 against the normal Rs 1000 and no local security deposit. Plus Regional and National roaming and GPRS rental free. Plus 3 months Free SMS pack. Launching the initiatives, Mr. Vinod Sawhny, CEO, Bharti Mobile Ltd., said “AirTel has always taken the lead in enhancing the value proposition of the mobile category, thereby expanding the mobile market. |
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Singla new marketing board chairman Chandigarh, June 20 Addressing a gathering comprising party workers, Presidents of various associations of Arhtias, mandi workers, farmers and general public, Mr Singla assured that he would strive to provide a clean and transparent administration in the institution. |
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