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Tuesday,
June 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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ONGC net profit surges 70 pc
Kotak Mahindra net profit falls
Bold fiscal reforms for HP suggested
Haryana to review industrial policy |
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China to invest $500m in India In graphic: State of Indian Economic
Hero Honda told to pay
Rs 25,000
Birla cuts home loan rate to 8 pc
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ONGC net profit surges 70 pc New Delhi, June 23 The ONGC’s turnover increased from Rs 22,514.2 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 34,536.4 crore, up 53.4 per cent, in 2002-03, company CMD Subir Raha told a news conference here. The ONGC is the first Indian corporate with profits crossing the Rs 10,000 crore mark. This is the highest-ever net profit and by any Indian corporate. The quantum jump in the exploration and production firm’s net profit was primarily due to it selling crude at international prices to domestic refiners as against a cap price of $ 16 a barrel paid to it during the administered pricing previously. “About 80 per cent of the increased turnover was because of crude and products (LPG and naphtha) being sold at international prices,” Raha said. The ONGC, which will invest Rs 16,566 crore (Rs 10,309 crore in India and Rs 6,257 crore in oil fields abroad) in 2003-04, is projecting revenue to go up to Rs 37,088 crore during the current fiscal. The net profit was projected at almost the same level as this year. “An increase in the international oil price by $ 1 per barrel results in an incremental revenue of Rs 918 crore. We expect a 10 per cent increase in domestic gas price over the current price of Rs 2,206 per thousand cubic metres in the current year that will give an incremental revenue of Rs 415 crore,” Raha said. A Committee of Secretaries has already recommended immediate increase in ceiling price of natural gas prices to Rs 3,250 per thousand cubic metres.
To pay 130 pc dividend
A record dividend of 300 per cent has been paid by the ONGC in the fiscal 2002-03 with the board today declaring a 130 per cent final dividend as the public sector undertaking registered Rs 10,529 crore profit in the fiscal. Subir Raha told newsmen that the company had made six
discoveries. The discoveries were made at Vasai West (oil and gas) in western offshore, GS 49 (gas) and GS KW (oil and gas) in Krishna-Godavari offshore, Chinnewala Tibba (gas) in Rajasthan, Laipling Gaon (oil and gas) and Banamali (oil) in Assam.
Eyes HPCL stake in MRPL
The ONGC, which last week bought out a 20.9 per cent stake held by banks and FIs in its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery (MRPL), is now eyeing HPCL’s 16.97 per cent stake to further consolidate its holding in the loss-making refinery before making an open offer to buy out public holding. The “ONGC’s acquisition of the Aditya Birla group stake in MRPL made it the only refinery in India operating on equity crude. MRPL is on the turnaround path and for every dollar invested in the company, 22 cents go to somebody else,” Subir Raha said. Raha indicated that the ONGC was keen to buy out HPCL’s stake in MRPL, but said taking that decision rested with the government. |
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Kotak Mahindra net profit falls
Mumbai, June 23 Addressing a press conference here, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Uday Kotak said the drop in profit was mainly due to Rs 42.32 crore loss towards insurance business investment for the year and also higher provisioning towards minority interest for the group at Rs 205.1 crore. Besides, the company incurred an expenditure of about Rs 63 crore for setting up the banking business for which it made investment of Rs 500 crore towards maintaining statutory liquidity ratio (SLR). The company announced a dividend of 21 per cent for the year, unchanged over the previous year. Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) said it would set up an asset reconstruction company (ARC) in the July-August quarter to leverage its expertise in the emerging business opportunities. Uday Kotak said the bank would contribute funding up to 40 per cent of the total capital required for the ARC as per the norms of the Reserve Bank of India. The ARC would be operational through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) where other partners would be invited to participate, he said. — UNI
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Bold fiscal reforms for HP suggested Shimla, June 23 In its pre-budget memorandum to the government it has underlined the need for bold economic reforms and fiscal restructuring to help bring down the committed expenditure of the government. The focus should be on rationalisation and reduction in government employment and curtailment in subsidies on public services in view of the outstanding debt of over Rs 15,000 crore. Since it is not possible to raise tax revenue, the government should impose reasonable user charges on services. In fact, it should have a policy to recover at least 50 per cent of the cost of operation and maintenance of urban services such as water supply, sanitation and solid waste management. A new industrial policy should be framed to achieve the growth rate of 10 per cent over the next five years. It should also provide a facilitative regime through decentralisation, deregulation and self-certification to create a conducive industrial environment. Besides setting up a committee on administrative reforms to reduce committed expenditure, options like closing down of loss-making public sector undertakings should be considered. The outlay for infrastructure development and social welfare should be enhanced to 50 per cent over the next five years and to begin with at least 10 per cent additional allocation for development projects should be made in the budget. The allocation for tourism, which was a meagre Rs 4.89 crore in 2001-02, should be enhanced. |
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Haryana to review industrial policy Chandigarh, June 23 It was felt that though state industrial policy had helped state enhance exports to Rs 10,000 crore by 2002-03 besides creating employment opportunities, yet there were a few irritants that needed to be corrected. A senior official of the Department of Industry said a meeting of senior officials of all departments concerned would be held soon to take a decision in this regard. The committee has pointed out that ‘‘there was a need on the part of state government to make certain sacrifices to boost the industry, particularly in the industrially backward areas.’’ He said in view of the Punjab industrial policy and various sops offered by the Centre to the entrepreneurs in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttaranchal, the mid-term appraisal of the state industrial policy had become indispensable. He said the committee had made a comparative study of the industrial policies of Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh and various incentives offered by the respective states to their industrial units. The committee has now recommended a mid-term review of the industrial policy since it felt that the state industrial policy had promoted industrial development in Gurgaon and other towns close to Delhi only. Other districts like Sirsa, Fatehabad, Rohtak, Hisar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panchkula, Ambala, Kaithal, Jind, Narnaul and Bhiwani — according to the report — had failed to get the benefits of industrial growth during the past five years, causing economic disparities and regional imbalances in the state. To deal with the problem of industrial sickness in the state, the committee felt, the state could issue fully tradable bonds to
industrial units to clear the sanctioned cases of disbursement of capital investment subsidy. Appreciating some provisions of the Punjab industrial policy, it has urged the state government to consider whether the provisions like self-certification introduced by the Punjab Government under various industrial laws could be implemented in the state. An official spokesperson said the high powered committee, that would meet soon, would study the issues of industrial sickness, role of financial institutions, enhancement of competitiveness of the existing industry and measures to attract new investments in the industrially backward areas. The committee would also discuss the abolition of local area development tax, reduction in land use charges, reduction in external development charges and development of infrastructure. |
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China to invest $500m in India
Beijing, June 23 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, during his talks with visiting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, spoke about the remarkable progress of the Indian economy, which he said was booming, and affirmed that the working together of the two countries would realise former Supreme Leader Deng Xiaoping's vision of an Asian century. The two countries, during their talks, discussed cooperation in the areas of public finance and infrastructure building in each other's countries as part of enhancing economic cooperation and doubling trade from the present $5 billion to $10 billion by 2005. According to Indian Government figures, the total amount of approved foreign direct investment in India from China between 1991 and August, 2002, was $225 million for a total of 97 approved collaborations largely in the telecom, metallurgical, transportation, electrical equipment and financial sectors.
Indian investment in China has also been increasing steadily. —
IANS |
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Hero Honda told to pay Rs 25,000
New Delhi, June 23 Hero Honda had indulged in unfair trade practice... it has to be held that the company falsely represented that the motor cycle sold by them will give a mileage of 80 km per litre of petrol when it was not so...” the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) said in its order, adding that it was ‘deficiency in service”. Commission President Justice D.P. Wadhwa, Members Rajyalakshmi Rao and B.K. Taimni also directed Hero Honda not to make such claims
hence fourth unless “any such advertisement clearly states as to how such a claim has been made and what are the standard conditions.”
— PTI |
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