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Tuesday,
July 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India
  
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Economic
growth slips to 4.3 pc No real-term hike in MSP for paddy Haryana to
invite fresh tenders for online lottery PTL to
seek shareholders’ nod SBI likely
to sell stake in MF arm UTI MF
declares 12 pc dividend New
plastic PAN cards Steel
production up by 8.25 pc |
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Escorts
net zooms
Kesoram
buys back 1.85 lakh shares
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Economic growth slips to 4.3 pc New Delhi, June 30 Agriculture, forestry and fishing registered a negative growth rate of -3.2 per cent in 2002-03 — a substantial drop from the 5.7 per cent growth rate achieved in 2001-02, — according to the latest official data released by the government today. The manufacturing sector, however, clocked an impressive 6.1 per cent growth in 2002-03 — an increase of more than two percentage points than the 3.4 per cent growth registered in 2001-02. Net National Product (NNP) at factor cost at constant (1993-94 prices) stood at Rs 13,09,531 crore in 2002-03 and per capita income at factor cost during the year stood at Rs 11,010 — an increase of 2.4 per cent as compared to Rs 10754 in the last fiscal year. Construction recorded a robust 7.2 per cent growth — up from 4.3 per cent, while financing, insurance, real estate and business services registered 6.1 per cent — up from the 4.5 per cent growth registered in 2001-02. The growth rate in trade, hotels, transport and communication, however, slumped to 7.8 per cent in 2002-03 as compared to the 8.7 per cent growth rate achieved in the previous fiscal year. The growth rate of electricity, gas and water supply also fell to 3.9 per cent from the previous year’s growth rate of 4.3 per cent while mining and quarrying increased significantly by 5 per cent as against the previous year’s growth rate of one per cent. Community, social and personal services clocked 6.8 per cent growth — up from the growth rate of 5.6 per cent in 2001-02.
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No real-term hike in MSP for paddy New Delhi, June 30 The ministry’s recommendation of Rs 550 per quintal has been forwarded to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which would take a final decision. Sources said the ministry accepted recommendations of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which had suggested clubbing the last year’s MSP for paddy at Rs 530 and Rs 560 per quintal for two grades with the one time special drought relief (SDR) of Rs 20 per quintal each. Though technically, the MSP has been increased by Rs 20 per quintal, sources said in real term, the support price remains the same as the CACP has clubbed the last year’s MSP and the SDR. The Economic Survey has suggested a freeze in MSP as its continuous increase has not only distorted domestic market prices, but has also eroded India’s export competitiveness. Only solution at hand, it said was to freeze the current MSP until such time it becomes equal to ‘C2’ cost or until annual procurement settles down to earlier levels of 24-30 million tonnes. The country’s food subsidy rose alarmingly by 20.3 per cent to a mammoth Rs 21,200 crore in 2002-03 alone mainly due to a continuous hike in MSP for foodgrains and consequent increase in Centre’s grain procurement over the years. The CACP for the 2002-03 had suggested a freeze in the MSP at Rs 530 and Rs 560 per quintal for common and Grade ‘A’ paddy respectively. Since the recommendation was made in May last year, drought in July led to an SDR of Rs 20 per quintal in September which meant the farmers got Rs 560 and Rs 580 a quintal for the two grades respectively. MSPs for kharif crops are generally announced shortly before procurement season begins on October 1. There is a long standing demand of farmers that it be announced before sowing begins in June. The demand was upheld by a High Level Committee on Foodgrains in July last year.
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Haryana to invite fresh tenders for online lottery Chandigarh, June 30 Orbit Lotto, an outfit of the Orbit Consortium promoted by Orbit Cybertech, Mumbai, and Jindal Pipes, New Delhi, had won the contract on April 9 for online lottery operations in Haryana. It was to arrange bank guarantee worth Rs 5 crore and give another Rs 10 lakh to the state government as signing fee within a month's time. The deadline for signing the agreement was at first extended by the state government up to June 16 and subsequently extended till June 30. As the last deadline expired today and Orbit Lotto did not sign the agreement, the state government would now invite fresh tenders for the online lottery, a senior state government functionary said. He added that back on June 20, at a meeting of the high-powered committee on online lottery, presided over by the Chief Minister, the Orbit Lotto's insistence on modification of certain clauses of the agreement was discussed and it was decided that fresh tenders would be sought after the June 30 deadline in case of refusal by the Orbit Lotto to accept the agreement in its existing format. Finance Minister Sampat Singh, Chief Secretary, Mr A N Mathur, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister B D Dhalia and other members of the committee were present at the meeting, the source said. Mr Ram Yadav of Orbit Lotto, when contacted over phone in Mumbai, said they had sought another extension from the state government. "We requested them to recruit a mutually agreed arbitrator for an objective assessment of the terms and conditions offered by the state government for the online lottery operations. In case the arbitrator approves the terms and conditions, we will have no problem in accepting the agreement", Mr Yadav said.
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PTL to seek shareholders’ nod
Mumbai, June 30 Based on Punjab government’s disinvestment policy, Punjab State Industrial Development Corpo-ration Ltd (PSIDC) was in an advanced stage of disposing of its entire equity stake in tractor company in one block, PTL informed the Bombay Stock Exchange today. The company board has decided to recommend to the shareholders the amendment to AoA, facilitating the acquirer of PSIDC’s stake in PTL to nominate two directors on the board. The proposed amendment would also empower PTL directors to elect one amongst them as the chairman in place of the existing provision by which state industries secretary is ex-officio chairman of PTL. Punjab government has already completed due diligence of disinvestment in PTL and is to sign a confidentiality agreement with prospective investors. Among the companies that have expressed interest in picking up stake in the tractor company are Mahindra & Mahindra and Escorts. During the fiscal 2002-03, PTL’s net profit plunged 57.7 per cent to Rs 42.30 crore from Rs 100.02 crore in FY 2002. The total income decreased from Rs 892.07 crore in FY 2002 to Rs 549.60 crore in FY 2003.
— PTI
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SBI likely to sell stake in MF arm
New Delhi, June 30 “We are looking for a strategic partner in our mutual fund business,” SBI chairman A.K. Purwar told PTI, but declined to divulge details. Indications are that SBI would like to sell 49 per cent stake to the strategic partner who could be a foreign player. The move comes after SBI, along with LIC, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda, took over the charge of net asset value-based schemes of erstwhile Unit Trust of India under the banner UTI Mutual Fund last fiscal. SBI Mutual Fund, established in 1955, had assets worth Rs 3,312 crore and reported a net profit of Rs 6.21 crore during 2002-03. The fund, which manages over 21 schemes, has an investor base of over eight lakh and it was the first bank-sponsored entity to launch an offshore fund, India Magnum Fund, with a corpus of Rs 225 crore. The fund, with a networth of Rs 60.38 crore in 2002-03, is one among the seven bank-sponsored mutual funds in India. SBI Mutual Fund is planning to launch two funds — Magnum Income Plus and Magnum Institutional Fund — this year. The fund has set a gross mobilisation target of Rs 8,600 crore in 2003-04. SBI’s move to sell a part of equity comes in the wake of Templeton buying out Pioneer, the US-based Principal buying out IDBI’s stake in IDBI-Principal Asset Management Company, and HDFC taking over the mutual funds of Zurich. Out of over 30 mutual funds in the country, seven were started by banks, two by insurance companies, Life Insurance Corporation and General Insurance Corporation, besides that of Unit Trust of India. Total resources mobilised by the mutual fund industry stood at Rs 3,14,706 crore and the assets under management were Rs 79,464 crore during the last fiscal. The inflows, mainly due to debt and
liquid funds, and the assets under management peaked during January-February 2003 but heavy redemptions by corporates and banks during March 2003 brought the assets under management down considerably across the industry.
— PTI
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UTI MF declares 12 pc dividend Mumbai, June
30 Mastergrowth scheme, having significant exposure to public sector undertaking stocks, has declared 15 per cent dividend in 1999, 12 per cent in January 2001 and 11 per cent in December 2001, the release said.
— PTI |
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New plastic PAN cards
New Delhi, June 30 The cards costing Rs 60 will be issued by UTI Investors Services Ltd within 15 days of the application from over 500 centres across the country. The existing 2.86 crore PAN cards would continue to be valid and it would be optional for those assessees to obtain the new plastic cards.
— PTI
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Steel production up by 8.25 pc
New Delhi, June 30 Production of pig iron in the same period is 9.24 lakh tonnes against 7.37 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period last year registering an increase of 25.37 per cent. The export of steel in the period is estimated at 2.6 lakh tonnes which shows an increase of 65 per cent as compared to April and May 2002.
— UNI
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Escorts net zooms
Mumbai, June 30 The company’s total income has decreased from Rs 491.03 crore in the March quarter of 2002 to Rs 356.55 crore in March quarter of 2003. The board has recommended a dividend of 10 per cent for the fiscal ended March 31, 2003. It has posted a net profit of Rs 24.04 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2003, from the net profit of Rs 8.13 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2002, up 195.69 per cent. The company`s total income has decreased from Rs 1,166.17 crore in the fiscal 2001-02 to Rs 998.11 crore in the fiscal
2002-03. — UNI
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Kesoram buys back 1.85 lakh shares
Kolkata, June 30 Consequent to the second round of buyback initiated as per the decision taken at a meeting of the Board of Directors on December 9, 2002, the
promoter's stake increased by 0.10 per cent to 23.97 per cent, officials said. This round of buyback at a maximum price of Rs 40 will come to a close in December, while in the meantime market prices of the company’s share jumped from Rs 27 in March, 2003, to Rs 39 on June 28.
Ind-Swift Lab Ind-Swift Laboratories has allotted its 13.40 lakh shares at Rs 25 per share to three corporate bodies and reduced the dividend on its non-convertible preference shares from 5 per cent to 1 per cent. The three corporate bodies to whom equity shares have been allotted are Shukdev Finvest Pvt Ltd, (5 lakh shares), Sri Ganesh Biotech Pvt Ltd, (4.4 lakh shares), and Multi Biz Ecom Pvt Ltd, (4 lakh shares), each on cash basis, the company informed the National Stock Exchange on Monday.
Bata resolutions Resolutions pertaining to adoption of profit and loss account and appointment of directors which had been put to vote by shareholders at Bata India Limited’s annual general meeting have been passed by an absolute majority with 99.95 per cent of the votes going in favour of the board. Company Secretary of Bata India A.B. Anand, told PTI on Monday that the only financial institution which was present at the voting, had also cast in favour of the board.
Sundaram Fast Sundaram Fasteners Ltd (SFL) today announced a dividend of Rs 12 per share for the year 2002-03 even as the company’s net profit jumped to Rs 45.39 crore during the year 2002-03 against Rs 29.21 crore in previous year. The board in its meeting recommended the increase in the dividend from Rs 10 paid last year to Rs 12.
Titan Industries Titan Industries today reported a dip in its net profit for 2002-03 at Rs 6.21 crore, as against Rs 13.09 crore reported during the previous fiscal. It showed a growth in revenue for the last fiscal at Rs 80.83 crore, as compared to Rs 72.7 crore during 2001-02. Titan Group recorded an increase in revenue at Rs 822.5 crore during 2002-03, as against Rs 736.92 crore in 2001-02. Net profit during last year stood at Rs 11.48 crore as compared to Rs 13.11 crore during 2001-02, it said.
Indo Rama Indo Rama Textiles Ltd (IRTL), a demerged unit of Indo Rama Synthetics Ltd (IRSL), will be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd and National Stock Exchange tomorrow. The spinning business of IRSL has been hived off into IRTL. The share capital has been split in the ratio of 80:20 between IRL and IRTL.
Ranbaxy Lab Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd said today it had received the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval to manufacture and market Ganciclovir capsules in 250 mg and 500 mg strengths. “The division of bioequivalence has determined Ranbaxy‘s Ganciclovir capsules to be therapeutically equivalent to the listed drug Cytovene. Capsules of Roche Palo Alto, lic,” the company said in a statement issued here. In 2002, sales for Ganciclovir Capsules totalled $31.9 million.
— Agencies
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