 |
Tuesday,
July 8, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
MUL
inducts four Directors
Chevrolet
Optra launched
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VAT only
after consensus: panel 15
proposals worth 70 cr cleared Pak may
grant MFN status to India IOC only
Indian firm on Fortune list
Go
mobile with Rs 20 only
|
|
MUL inducts four Directors New Delhi, July 7 The Independent Directors to join the company’s board include Chairman of the A.V. Birla group Kumaramangalam Birla and former Chairman of PriceWaterHouseCoopers Amal Ganguli. The third Independent Director to join the company is Pallavi Shroff, senior partner of the Amarchand and Mangaldas and Suresh Shroff and company. These appointments were approved by the company’s board at a meeting held here. The meeting was attended, among others, by O. Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC). A release issued by the company said all new directors were eminent people in their respective fields and would contribute to enhance the quality of corporate governance at MUL. According to officials at MUL, the board has been expanded as per the requirements of SEBI where it is necessary to have Independent Directors on board following the listing of the share on stock exchange. MUL’s share was recently listed on both the NSE and BSE with the shareprice of Rs 125 as decided by the government. However, the return of Mr Bhargava to the Maruti fold, although as a part-time Director is significant specially since it reflects the increasing control of the SMC on its Indian operations company. Mr Bhargava is known to be close to SMC in the past and even now has been brought back on recommendation of Japanese majority shareholder. Mr Bhargava had made way for RSSNN Bhaskarudu as the Chairman of the MUL after completion of his term at a time when there was tussle underway between the government and the Japanese shareholders for the control within the company. Mr Bhaskarudu had been appointed the Chairman with the government’s backing, with the SMC backing Mr
Bhargava.
Suzuki chief meets Shourie
Suzuki Motor Corporation chief Osamu Suzuki today met Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie and is understood to have discussed the prospects of its joint venture car company Maruti following divestment of over 25 per cent equity of the government through public issue last month. His visit coincides with the listing procedure of Maruti shares at the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange after an overwhelming response to the IPO. Although the shares could be listed till July 15 at the two bourses after sale of 7.9 crore government shares in MUL, the exercise may be completed in the next couple of days, sources associated with the disinvestment process said.
— PTI
|
|
Chevrolet Optra launched
New Delhi, July 7 The base model of the 1800cc car has been priced at Rs 7.89 lakh (Ex-showroom, Delhi), GMI President and Managing Director Aditya Vij told a news conference here. “The Optra will expand our existing portfolio and help us to further consolidate our position in the Indian automobile market,” Vij said, adding that the company expects to sell 10,000-12,000 units of the car this year. India is among the only six countries in the Asia-Pacific region where the car will be launched this year. The Optra will also be available in two more variants — premium LS and luxury LT models — which have been priced at Rs 8.4 lakh and Rs 9.69 lakh. This is the second model to be introduced by GM India under the Chevrolet brand which it said would cater to the mainstream market and help the company become a volume player. GM India had earlier this year launched the luxury sports utility-vehicle Chevrolet Forester. The Optra will compete in the emerging D1 segment against vehicles like ‘Skoda Octavia’ and ‘Toyota Corolla’. This segment has witnessed a surge in demand with sales during the first five months of this year growing by 97 per cent. Asked whether the launch of the Optra would lead to phasing out of GM India’s existing mid-size car Opel Astra, Vij said both models could co-exist in the same segment. Answering another query on GMI’s plans of launching the earstwhile Daewoo Motors India’s premium small car Matiz as ‘Chevrolet Spark’, Vij said introducing cars from the GM stable weighs high on the company’s priority list. The car, to be manufactured at the Halol (Gujarat) plant, has been developed on a new platform, designed by GM Daewoo Automotive Technology (GM-DAT) while the engine has been sourced from GM’s Australian subsidiary, Holden. GM India, which currently sources engines from its parent’s subsidiaries worldwide, has signed a deal with domestic automaker Hindustan Motors to locally produce engines.
— PTI
|
|
VAT only after consensus: panel New Delhi, July 7 Unlike before, the committee has refused to set any deadline and said it would be decided only after a consensus was arrived at after due consultation with political parties. “It is a major decision for the country as a whole. When we introduce it, we want the acceptance to be total”, Mr Dasgupta said after the meeting. The VAT panel would meet Finance Minister Jaswant Singh within a fortnight to fix date for the meeting with political parties. “States were unhappy with Finance Minister’s announcement. But we have taken a view of the consulting political parties and then set a new deadline”, he said. The West Bengal Finance Minister said 22 states had sent their VAT Bills for presidential assent, but these required some changes. In all five rates of VAT had been agreed - zero per cent for items related to national security, 1 per cent on precious metals, 4 per cent on agri and essential industrial inputs, 12.5 per cent for most other items and 20 per cent for demerit goods. The VAT had threatened to snowball into a major controversy with the government facing protests from within its NDA allies as well as the Opposition parties on the issue.
|
|
15 proposals worth 70 cr cleared
New Delhi, July 7 The FDI proposals approved by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, as recommended by the FIPB, mainly pertains to chemicals, petrochem, electrical and software sectors. The FIPB approved Honda Motor’s plea for change in royalty terms with its Indian JV Honda Siel Power Equipments. No fresh inflow of capital is involved in this process. Teva Pharmaceuticals Finance Netherlands BV plans to acquire 100 per cent in an Indian company for Rs 40 crore was the largest FDI proposal cleared today. Fijitsu General Asia Pte of Singapore and Fujitsu General of Japan plans to increase their holding in Chennai-based ETA General Ltd to 50 from 30.56 per cent for an investment of Rs 10 crore. Another Japanese major, Marubeni Corporation, and Japan Exlan Company intends to revise their foreign holding to 13.82 from 11.54 per cent in Vardhman Acrylics.
— PTI
|
|
Pak may grant MFN status to India New Delhi, July 7 “The Pakistani government will definitely grant the MFN status to India after some time. However, the MFN is not important, it can come any time. Rather lets resolve all other issues”, Mr Bilour said while speaking at the third executive meeting of the India Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry. “Our main aim is to strive for the
welfare of the masses on both sides of our borders. They have suffered a lot. They do not deserve to live in tension and undue fears any more”, he said, adding that both India and Pakistan have vast trade potential. The economies of both the countries are agro-based but unfortunately bilateral trade between the two countries is less than 1 per cent of the global trade.
More routes to India sought
The visiting Pakistani business delegation demanded opening of more Indo-Pak border routes and introduction of direct rail and air links to facilitate movement of goods and people. Echoing the discontent, President FICCI A C Muthiah said trade infrastructure of both the
countries was highly inadequate. Railway connectivity for cargo movement was irregular and suffered from shortage of wagons and lack of coordination between the two railway authorities. “The shipping linkage is very expensive and uneconomical, specially for high bulk low value products,” Muthiah said. Other members of the 115 strong delegation said movement of goods into India was restricted as most of the border routes were closed. They asked the governments to consider opening up of other border routes other than the current Wagah-Attari route for easy passage of goods. However, their Indian counterparts said that this would be possible only if there was an increase in trade volumes.
— PTI
|
|
IOC only Indian firm on Fortune list
New Delhi, July 7 The state-run refiner with revenue of $ 22,506.2 million is ranked ahead of Malaysian Petronas (ranked 204), Korean LG International (205) and China Mobile Communications (230), the Fortune magazine announced today. For the second year running, Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based retailer, tops the Fortune Global 500. General Motors (the USA) is at No. 2, Exxon Mobile (the USA) at No. 3, Royal Dutch/Shell Group (Netherlands/Britain) at No. 4, BP (Britain) at No. 5, Ford Motor (the USA) at No. 6, DaimlerChrysler (Germany) at No. 7, Toyota Motors (Japan) at No. 8, General Electric (the USA) at No. 9 and Mitsubishi at No. 10. The complete list appears in the July 21 issue of Fortune, available on news-stands on July 14, the magazine said in a statement here. This year, 116 Asian companies were ranked in the Global 500, with Japan (88 companies), South Korea (13 companies) and China (11 companies) leading the region. “Asian companies ranked in the Global 500 for the first time, include China Life Insurance (No. 290), Kookmin Bank (No. 330), Seiko Epson (No. 463) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (No. 500),” Fortune said. The IOC had reported a net profit of Rs 6,115 crore on a turnover of Rs 119,848 crore in 2002-03 (April to March). “The global economy was a world of hurt in 2002, and the numbers in the Fortune Global 500 bear that out: Revenues fell $ 281 billion, profits plunged 56 per cent, and the world’s 500 largest companies employed 1.3 million fewer workers than in 2001,” the magazine said in its introduction to the list. Leading all the losers this year was AOL Time Warner (the parent company of Fortune’s publisher), with a $ 98.7 billion loss, an amount equal to combined GDP of Chile and Vietnam. That accounts for more than half the drop in profits from the previous year for the entire list. “Excluding AOL, the Global 499 profits decreased by 25 per cent, better than last year’s decline in profits, which was twice as large,” it said. Some of the not-so-bad news is coming out of Japan where the 88 Japanese companies who made this year’s list lost $ 2.3 billion in 2002, compared to $ 33.6 billion in 2001. Other Asian countries experiencing a jump in profits include South Korea, where profits increased 29 per cent and China, where profits were up 10 per cent. In Europe, Britain recorded a 50 per cent jump in profits. Incidentally, the IOC more than doubled its net profit in 2002-03 from Rs 2,885 crore in the previous year.
— PTI
|
bb
Dell computers Bank of India Gas price BHEL oxy fuel HLL plea ICICI Bank StanChart-RIL |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
