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Tuesday,
July 15, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Pension,
insurance schemes launched
GM rules
out Matiz relaunch PTL
hopeful of better bids Yahoo! to
set up centre in Bangalore Banks
disburse 7,212 cr in Haryana |
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Graphic: Per
capita external debt of top 15 debtor countries
HDFC
Bank net surges 30 pc
SC
notice to Reliance Energy, Tata Power
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Pension, insurance schemes launched New Delhi, July 14 While the pension scheme is offered by the LIC, the four government-owned non-life insurance companies -National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance - will run the health insurance scheme. Under the pension scheme, named Varistha Pension Bima Yojana, subscribers will be entitled to a minimum pension of Rs 250 per month and the maximum of Rs 2,000 per month. This will entail a minimum one-time premium of Rs 33,335 and a maximum premium of Rs 2,77,490. The community-based Universal Health Insurance Scheme will involve a premium of Re 1 per day for an individual, Rs 1.50 per day for a family of five and Rs 2 per day for a family of seven. The subscribers will be entitled to reimbursement of medical expenses to the extent of Rs 30,000 towards hospitalisation, a cover for death due to accident up to Rs 25,000 and compensation due to loss of earning at the rate of Rs 50 per day up to a maximum of 15 days. Underlining the need for health insurance schemes, Mr Vajpayee said “elections are contested in many nations on the issues of health and governments change on such sensitive matters”. “In India too, health is an important issue. I am confident that officials of insurance companies and the Health Ministry will discharge their duties effectively and help people”, the Prime Minister said. Stating that the launch of today’s pension and insurance schemes were examples of the government’s commitment to speedy implementation of programmes and policies, Mr Vajpayee asked the Finance and Health Ministries to ensure proper implementation of the schemes. Reiterating the government’s commitment to food security he said “today we are able to provide food to the poor at the cheapest rate anywhere in the world”. The distribution system of the country could be at fault if there were reports of any starvation deaths. Mr Vajpayee disagreed with Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj who had observed that old age itself was a “disease” for senior citizens. “Sushma ji ne abhi kaha ki budapa ek bimari hai, main ise nahin manta aur agar aisa hai to hum iska ant kar denge (Sushmaji just said old age is a disease. I don’t think so, and even if it is we will end this)”, he said. Exit option Jaswant Singh today introduced an exit option in the new pension insurance scheme of the LIC after 15 years and a loan provision after three years. In such an event, the deposited amount will be returned in lump-sum to the policyholder. Apart from this, up to 75 per cent of the total deposited premium will be allowed in the form of a loan after the policy had run for three years. The rate of interest on the loan will be determined by the LIC, from time to time. At present, the rate of interest was 10.5 per cent. In the event of the death of the policyholder, the entire premium amount would be given to the nominee.
— UNI |
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GM rules out Matiz relaunch Ludhiana, July 14 Talking to The Tribune here today, Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs of the company, said General Motors viewed India as a big market and therefore after Korea company has launched its Luxury car Optra here. Mr Balendran was in the city regarding the launch of Optra that had been priced at Rs 7.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Ludhiana). By 2005, the company aims at seeing 50,000 General Motors cars on the Indian roads from the current 17,000. Rubbishing reports of GM re-launching Daewoo ‘Matiz’ as ‘Spark’, Mr Balendran said this was mere speculation. “We are working on some new products but due to competition in the auto sector, it is not possible to reveal our plans at this point”. However, Mr Balendran ruled out any price hike in the GM line of products. “Though steel prices have sky-rocketed, but we are able to offer cars at the existing prices due to in house purchase of all components from GM subsidiaries across the world”. Meanwhile, Mr Sanjeev Garg, Director, vehicle and part sales, General Motors India, said the company was working on other products, including diesel vehicles but the immediate aim was to consolidate the position of Optra in the market. The company has booked 400 Optras since its launch on July 6. The company plans to sell 7000 Optra cars throughout India till December this year. Out of this the northern market has a share of about 10 per cent. The company had already launched Corsa, Opal Swing and Corsa Sail during the last two years, he said.
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PTL hopeful of better bids Chandigarh, July 14 The state government is hoping that with the expected increase in demand for tractors, prospective bidders may come forward with better price to take 23.4 per cent share of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) in the company. The last date for submitting financial bids for prospective bidders is July 21. PTL, with 18 per cent market share, has been in news recently as the company has been put on the block by the state. Despite the drought last year which had adversely affected the sales volumes, the company registered Rs 62.2 crore profit before tax during the financial year ending March 31, 2003. The sales of tractors came down from 40,100 in 2001-02 to 24,200 in 2002-03. According to industry watchers, with reports of good rains in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, the company’s tractor sales can increase by 15-20 per cent in the current fiscal year. The financial results of good sales can be reflected in the third quarter of the current financial year. The current share price of the company is hovering around Rs 165. The analysts say that despite the prevailing uncertainty due to continuing disinvestment process, the company has performed better than expected. Although the company registered Rs 143.5 crore profit before tax in the previous year, yet its competitors found themselves helpless before the onslaught of the drought. Only Mahindra & Mahindra, with about 30 per cent market share, could earn a decent profit before tax of Rs 26 crore in 2002-03 against Rs 25.3 crore earned during the last fiscal. Escorts suffered a loss of Rs 162.5 crore before tax during 2002-03 against Rs 17 crore loss suffered during the previous year. Eicher suffered a loss of Rs 10 crore, CASE New Holland incurred loss of Rs 26.1 crore ( calender year 2002) and L&T John Dear, new entrant in the market, suffered a loss of Rs 69.3 crore.
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Yahoo! to set up centre in Bangalore
Bangalore, July 14 The Bangalore centre, to be launched next month, will primarily focus on software development and Internet-based innovation. The centre planned to have 150 highly skilled software engineers by 2004, company officials said. Yahoo ! Software Development India Pvt Ltd’s CEO Venkat Panchapakesan and COO Bharat Vijay told a news conference here the new facility would work in tandem with the US R & D unit to keep up with the growing needs of the industry. To a question, Panchapakesan said for the Bangalore centre, the California-headquartered parent company had no plans to move jobs from the USA. “Recruitment will be made locally”, he said, adding that the company was already in the process of getting on board around 100 engineers. On setting up the centre here, he said India had a proven track record in software development, a vast English-speaking engineering talent pool. The move was also part of the company’s strategy to take a global approach in product innovation and support. It would work on development of highly scalable server technology, UNIX/C/C++, Server technologies, Middleware, TCP/IP networking, FreeBSD, Apache, Oracle/MySQL DB and Data Mining Algorithms, among others, Vijay said. It would focus on key engineering areas for Yahoo!, including development of its key products like finance, search, mail and messenger, data mining and research, e-commerce, security, core infrastructure and database technologies, they said.
— PTI
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Banks disburse 7,212 cr in Haryana Chandigarh, July 14 Similarly, advances also increased from Rs 9,947 crore to Rs 11558 crore during the review period. Banks disbursed Rs 7,212.32 crore up to March, 2003, against the annual target of Rs 7,003.08 crore.
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