 |
Wednesday,
July 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Declare
Baddi free economic zone, HP urged IMF team
to visit Punjab on July 28 Infrastructure
sector displays poor performance Hero
launches bill collection network |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CIIS
offers two new courses Graphic: India's
exports by destination
Ashok
Leyland net up 52 pc, to pay 50 pc
LG
Electronics profit falls 24 pc
|
|
Declare Baddi free economic zone, HP urged Shimla, July 22 Mr Dhian Chand, Chairman of the state committee of the PHDCCI, also called for the upgradation of infrastructure, one-stop clearance for medium and large scale projects,
simplification of procedures and time-bound approvals of projects. Mr Ashok Khanna, ex-president of the PHDCCI, stressed that the government should focus on basic infrastructure like power, roads, telecom and industrial parks, besides social infrastructure like planned townships, facilities of health, education water supply, housing and recreation. He suggested that the existing roads should be upgraded and improved by involving private sector participation. He also spoke on suggestions made by the labour commission, which the state must implement in a time-bound manner. Mr Satish Bagrodia, member of the managing committee of the chamber, called for the steps to save the industries from the nuisance of truck unions. The transportation charges were substantially more than the market rate, which made the goods produced in the state uncompetitive. He suggested that Baddi should be declared a “free economic zone”. Mr Arvind Kaul, additional chief secretary, said an industrial estate was being set up at Baddi for which 2,500 bighas had been earmarked. The Vaknaghat area was being developed for the information technology sector and top companies like Wipro were showing keen interest to invest in the state. He invited private participation in the infrastructure sector and said the new Electricity Act had aroused sudden interest in power project. The main thrust of the government policy was on information technology, tourism and biotechnology sectors.
|
|
IMF team to visit Punjab on July 28 Chandigarh, July 22 He said reforms agenda of the state was just a beginning to deliver goods to the common public. The interaction was organised by the CII North Region. The unbundling of the power sector within next three months apart from reforms in education, health and infrastructure sectors would once again put the state on the higher growth path. Due to the state government’s initiatives to restructure the infrastructure sector and fiscal reforms, the private sector was coming forward to invest in the state. However, it would take one or two years before MNCs and big industrial firms could invest in the state. Referring to the grim financial position of the state, Mr Kashyap disclosed that it was beyond the capacity of the state even to pay the salary of government employees. The salary budget had reached 100.4 per cent of the total revenue collections in the state. In fact, if the state failed to close unproductive units and retrench unproductive staff, it would not be able to come out of the debt trap. The total public debt of the state had already crossed Rs 36,000 crore that was 45.35 per cent of the state’s gross domestic product. Earlier, CII members raised the issues of exploitation of the industry by truck operator unions, delay in abolition of octroi.
|
|
Infrastructure sector displays poor performance New Delhi, July 22 Official figures released by the government today said that the six key infrastructure industries, except electricity, registered a growth rate of 4.1 per cent against 6.2 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. Owing to a major fall in crude petroleum to mere (-) 2.1 per cent in April-June 2003 as compared to 7.2 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2002-03, the overall growth in key infrastructure industries was 4.1 per cent against 6.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2002-03 . In the month of June 2003, six infrastucture industries — crude petroleum, petroleum, refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel— grew by 4.7 per cent as compared to 7 per cent in the corresponding month of 2002. However, the infrastructure performance was improving on a monthly basis this year since it rose from 3.9 per cent in April, to 4 per cent in May and then to 4.7 per cent in June 2003-04. The highest growth rate was clocked by the finished steel sector registering a 7.5 per cent growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
|
|
Hero launches bill collection network
New Delhi, July 22 The vision of Easy Bill is to create a brand which offers consumer convenience in bill payments and reselling communication services using e-transaction-oriented products, said Easy Bill CEO Rahul Munjal. It will enable consumers to pay utility bills in cash at selected retail shops acting as a one-stop collection point for all types of bill payments. ‘’We have tested the new concept in 150 retail stores in the national capital and the response is encouraging. So we have planned to roll out 500 stores here by October and 1,500 stores in the country by the end of 2003. ‘’The company will invest about Rs 50,000 per collection point,’’ Mr Munjal said at the launch of the novel bill collection services here. Besides Delhi, the Hero Group, comprising leading companies, Hero Honda and Hero Cycles, is planning to set up its services chain in Punjab, Mumbai and Maharashtra and to reach out to 35 cities by 2005. In the first year, 2,500 retailers would be roped in to become Easy Bill collection points, he added. Apart from being collection points, Easy Bill will also provide other services such as recharging pre-paid telephone cards. Mr Munjal said, ‘’Our group has acquired tremendous competencies in managing nationwide distribution networks... We want the core strength and experience of the group to be leveraged for the Indian consumer through this new venture. ‘’We have plans to set up one Easy Bill outlet per one kilometre radius in the targeted cities.’’ Easy Bill has tied up with mobile and electricity companies and a large number of retailers to provide the bill collection service, capable of handling cash transaction. Some of the utility providers who have already tied up with Easy Bill are NDPL, Hutch, Airtel and Touchtel in the capital and Punjab State Electricity Board and Haryana State Electricity Board. Consumers will be charged a nominal fee. These collection points will be linked up and connected to a database, which will make it possible to track all receipts online. About the revenue projection, Mr Munjal said the company will overcome the operating cost in the current financial year. ‘’We hope to reach the break-even point in 18 to 20 months,’’ he added.
— UNI
|
|
SMS on landline phones soon
New Delhi, July 22 The Bharti group has come up with a solution offering SMS on fixed telephone lines. “The joint initiative of Bharti Telesoft and Bharti Teletech will now ensure that a large section of population does not miss any more on the convenience offered by SMS on and from the fixed line platform,’’ said Rakesh, Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Teletech at the launch here on Tuesday. With this India is set to join a select group of a dozen countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bahrain, France, Italy and Germany, offering this facility. There are 40 million fixed line telephone subscribers in India while only 10 million possess mobile phones which offer the SMS facility. The popularity of SMS can be gauged by the fact that it accounts for over 7 per cent of the revenue of mobile service providers. Now Bharti Teletech has come out with a new telephone under its brand of Beetel phones that will offer the SMS facility. Bharti Telesoft is in talks with fixed line telecom service providers in India, West Asia and African nations to provide the software. “We are talking to service providers in India and a few countries in the region and have already signed up with Sri Lanka Telecom to provide the server software and a pilot lot of 2,500 telephones," said Mittal. “Within 90 days we hope to have orders coming in from five to six telecom service provider operators in India, West Asia and Asian countries where trial runs are on," said Mittal. Priced at Rs.2,100, Bharti has developed the SMS phones in collaboration with Hong Kong-based Rockway Industries. Initially, the company will be sourcing the instruments from China and as the volumes increase, they will manufacture it at Bharti’s units in India. Bharti currently exports its Beetel phones to 25 countries, with exports accounting for 10 per cent of the turnover. On the cost of SMS from fixed line phones, Mittal said: “The market forces will drive it as in the case of mobile phones.’’ Fixed line SMS currently account for well over 10 per cent of the revenues of many European service providers. For fixed line phone users who would not like to buy the new instrument, Mittal said, the new technology being offered to service providers would enable them to nonetheless receive SMS as a voice
message. — IANS
|
|
CIIS offers two
new courses
Chandigarh, July 22 The courses are Business Administration Automotive Marketing and Mechanical Engineering Technology — Automotive Manufacturing. According to the press statement of the institute, the six semester, three-year programme in Business Administrative Automotive Marketing will enable the students to get jobs at the entry level in the industry. The CIIS has also entered agreements with the major auto players in the country to offer placement. It has also signed MoUs with the Institute of Auto Parts Technology, Ludhiana, and HMT Pinjore to make million dollar equipments and latest technology available to the students.
— TNS
|
bb
AirTel Magic Spice network i-flex Aventis Pharma L&T |
 |
| 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 | |
