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Friday,
July 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Infosys beats market expectations
Bills to demutualise SEs in next session
MFN: India hopeful of Pak gesture |
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Oil firms for hiking LPG, kerosene prices
Rs 66 cr recovered from PF defaulters
Telegraph Act amendment okayed BSNL launches new scheme Y.V. Reddy
tipped to be
RBI Governor
IFFCO net
zooms to
Rs 807 cr
Dhindsa for better speciality chemicals
Pfizer, Glaxo lower AIDS drug prices
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Infosys beats market expectations
Bangalore, July 10 The Bangalore-based and Nasdaq-listed company also marginally revised upwards its guidance for revenue and earnings per share (EPS) for 2003-04 as it declared its Q1 results, cheering up sentiments on the BSE. Driven by the Infosys’ announcement, IT stocks flared up in the trading, pushing up the BSE Sensitive Index, which opened strong at 3639.42 as against yesterday’s close of 3620.79, with Infosys gaining by 11.32 per cent. Quarter-on-quarter (January-March 2003 compared with April-June 2003), the company registered an impressive revenue and net profit growth of 6.09 and 7.38 per cent, respectively. Infosys slightly enhanced its guidance for revenue and EPS for 2003-04, projecting it to be Rs 4420-4483 crore, and Rs 168.20-168.50, revising the earlier figures of Rs 4,408-4,479 crore, and Rs 161-163, respectively. “There is an increased interest in offshore outsourcing as global operations realise its benefits. Business opportunities continue to grow. However, the pricing environment remains challenging,” CEO, President and Managing Director, Nandan M Nilekani, told reporters at the Infosys campus on Bangalore outskirts. Giving an update on the Sponsored Secondary ADR Programme, Infosys said it plans to despatch the “Invitation to Offer” to the shareholders in India by July 12. The company added 22 new clients during the quarter ended June 30, 2003. A global banking enterprise selected Infosys to implement a sourcing strategy for reducing cost, improving the efficiency of internal operations, and enabling a quicker response to business needs, for its North American operations. Infosys said a large, diversified bank based in the UK entered into a long-term strategic relationship with it for its IT requirements, and designing and building a research portal for a provider of securities and investment banking functions. Nilekani said Rupee appreciation vis-a-vis US dollar over the year would have an impact of Rs 100 crore but hastened to add that the company had proactively hedged its net receivables to mitigate it on its margins. Infosys added 2,175 employees on a gross basis during the April-June quarter of 2003, a record for any quarter. Software revenues in USD terms grew by 7.7 per cent for three months ended June 30, 2003 as compared to January-March of 2003. The revenue growth comprised volume growth of 9.6 per cent and a price decline of 1.9 per cent. Nilekani reiterated that the company was in process of setting up a development centre in China. — PTI
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Bills to demutualise SEs in next session New Delhi, July 10 The new legislations are aimed at improving the governance of stock exchanges and eliminating the existing conflicts of broker members. The Bill, once passed, will facilitate the professional management of bourses and streamlining the decision making process, apart from streamlining the business operations. corporatisation of stock exchanges will also facilitate the raising of funds for technology upgradation and enable acquisitions of other markets. The Union Budget for 2002-03 had proposed the amendment of the SCRA in line with the recommendations of made by Joint Parliamentary Committee which went into the reasons behind the securities scam. Mrs Swaraj said that of the 23 stock exchanges in the country, 20
stock exchanges have been registered as companies either limited by guarantee or by shares while the other three — BSE, Ahmedabad Stock Exchange and Indore Stock Exchange — are operating as association of persons. |
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MFN: India hopeful of Pak gesture
New Delhi, July 10 “In denying MFN status to India and imposing curbs on, Pakistan is in violation of WTO charter, in violation of SAARC charter and in violation of the fact that India has not withdrawn MFN status from Islamabad,” he said. India granted MFN to Pakistan in 1995-96, while Pakistan has not extended the normal WTO rights or the MFN status to India, though it has maintained a “permissible list” of 600 items that may be legally imported from New Delhi. About Indo-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s submission of five to six recommendations, including relaxing visa norms and removal of other trade barriers, Sinha said the government would look into all these recommendations in “totality”. — PTI
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Oil firms for hiking LPG, kerosene prices
New Delhi, July 10 “This year, the Finance Ministry has reduced the subsidy (on LPG and kerosene) to two-thirds of the amount allowed in 2002-03. Unless LPG and kerosene prices are raised, the all- time high profits of oil companies will erode,” sources said. The subsidy Rs 67.75 per cylinder on LPG and Rs 2.45 a litre on kerosene in 2002-03 was not enough to cover the cost and IOC, BPCL, HPCL and IBP together lost Rs 5,430 crore, they said adding the state-run firms have approached Petroleum Minister Ram Naik for being allowed to immediately raise LPG and kerosene prices. The losses on selling LPG and kerosene below the cost were covered by higher refining margins, higher realisation on petroleum stocks and sharp reduction in interest rates. This year things would be different. With subsidy on LPG cut to Rs 45.17 a cyliner and that on kerosene to Rs 1.63 a litre, under-recoveries will rise substantially. “Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has already issued a profit warning saying its net profit will fall to Rs 2744 crore this year from Rs 6115 crore in 2002-03 unless LPG and kerosene prices were raised,” they said. Naik, on the other hand, is not going with the oil firms in the election year and has instead sought cut in excise duty on LPG and kerosene to zero from the current 16 per cent, a demand which has not found favour with the Finance Ministry. — PTI
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Rs 66 cr recovered from PF defaulters Chandigarh, July 10 Mr N.N. Sharma, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (I) disclosed here today that orders have been issued to attach parts of the properties of the Punjab State Industries Development Corporation (PSIDC) for not depositing the provident dues of the employees of the Punjab Leather Development Corporation, that had been closed down few years ago. The PSIDC has acquired the properties of the corporation. The EPFO has also attached the properties and bank deposits of nine other establishments including Punjab Recorders Ltd, another unit of Punjab Government at SAS Nagar and RMI Cycles, a private sector unit at Rajpura that has been now closed. He said: ‘‘We have recovered over Rs 66 crore from the defaulters during the past one year, out of Rs 79 crore outstanding towards the defaulters. At present over Rs 22 crore additional amount is outstanding towards those defaulters who have approached the High Court or whose cases are pending with the liquidator or the BIFR.’’ These defaulters included Punwire ( Rs 4.11 crore ), FCI and some other companies. He claimed that EPFO had also approached the court to speed up the process to settle the cases. As part of the drive to recover due from defaulters the EPFO had so far attached 268 bank accounts and had issued show cause notice to 28 establishments in Punjab and Chandigarh. It included Partap Paper Mills, Batala (Rs 18.11 lakh), ESPL, SAS Nagar ( Rs 34.70 lakh), New Egerton Woollen Mills, Amritsar (Rs 1.53 crore), Calcutta Construction Company, Ropar (Rs 36.13 lakh), Arihant Textile India, Ludhiana ( Rs 19.48 lakh), Arihant Fabric ( Rs 28.35 lakh), Ajay Electricals, SAS Nagar (Rs 52.78 lakh), Agro Chemical Punjab Ltd , Patiala (Rs 23.19 lakh), Adinath Textile ( Rs 14.20 lakh) and Arihant Thread Mills, Amritsar ( Rs 30.28 lakh). Mr S.K. Aggarwal, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (II) claimed that the regional office had also initiated proceeding against 6,045 establishments to levy damages along with 12 per cent interest for not depositing employer’s share in the PF account of workers. Further, in 21 cases FIR had been registered against the senior officials of the companies to recover dues from the company. Mr Sharma disclosed that during the financial year ended on March 31, 2003, the Chandigarh region, which included Punjab and UT, had covered additional 1,323 establishments, registering a growth of 8 per cent. The number of members had increased to 23.15 lakh from 17.67 lakh during 2001-02 registering a growth of 31 per cent. He claimed that Punjab had become the fourth state in the country, where the settlement of claims of PF accounts had been fully computerised. |
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Telegraph Act amendment okayed New Delhi, July 10 A Bill to this effect will be introduced in the next session of Parliament, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie told newspersons after the meeting. The USO fund, once operational, will allow telecom service providers to launch their services at a much faster pace in rural areas. The New Telecom Policy 1999 makes it mandatory on part of the service providers to roll out services in rural areas. The Cabinet also approved the allocation of Rs 65 crore per year for Media Lab Asia. Mr Shourie clarified that there will be no exclusive relationship with the Massachuchetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and it would be on a project to project basis. The Cabinet also decided to implement the provision of the UN Convention on Law of the Sea for Cooperating with other nations in conservation and management of straddling and highly migratory fishes. “The agreement is aimed at formalising cooperation between high sea fishin nations and developing countries for conservation and management of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks”, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told newspersons. |
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BSNL launches new scheme
Mandi, July 10 He was awarded the first prize, a Hero Honda motor cycle worth Rs 40,000. Chief General Manager, Himachal Pradesh Telecom Circle Shimla, Mr Rajender Singh, handed over the key of the motor cycle to him at a function held here today at Beas Sadan. The second prize of Rs 5000 went to Mr Puran Chand of Mandi district. Speaking on the occasion CGM said such prizes were being given at national and circle level to encourage punctual payment and multiply the number of subscribers. — OC
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Y.V. Reddy
tipped to be RBI Governor
New Delhi, July 10 RBI Governor Bimal Jalan, credited with keeping the Indian financial system untouched by the Asian financial crisis and building a robust foreign exchange reserve base, is likely to step down soon. He is expected to become member of the Rajya Sabha. Besides Reddy, who has served as RBI Deputy Governor, names of two other candidates — Vijay Kelkar, adviser to Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and S. Narayan, a secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office — were also being considered for the post.
— IANS |
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IFFCO net zooms to Rs 807 cr
New Delhi, July 10 Disclosing this, IFFCO Managing Director U S Awasthi said “the society is currently engaged in outlining new Corporate Plan — Vision 2010 with a primary objective to realise the group turnover of Rs 15,000 crore and annual profit of Rs 1,500 crore by the year 2010.” A high level task force has been set up to explore the areas for diversification to achieve the objective for the year 2010, he said.
— PTI |
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Dhindsa for better speciality chemicals New Delhi, July 10 Inaugurating a conference on “speciality chemicals: competitiveness in the new millennium,” he said there was need to upgrade the quality of speciality chemicals as the country had become a major global player with volumes of the Indian market in the chemical sector being about $ 30 billion, of which about $ 4 billion was of speciality chemicals. He said research and development to develop innovative products as well as process to prolong the life of existing molecules through better formulation was the need of the hour. |
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BHEL bags order New Delhi, July 10 |
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Chambal Fertilisers AirTel Tourist units Drug prices ICICI Lombard
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