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Tuesday,
July 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Hyundai
plants halt production Review of
Punjab reforms on 1,000 cr
loan for Baglihar project Pharma
companies investing in HP
Zimbabwe
seeks Indian expertise |
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Polaris,
Grasim, M&M profits rise
Employ
Himachalis, get sops, firms told
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Hyundai plants halt production
Seoul, July 28 Operations in China, India and Turkey have cut production by half as Hyundai Motor’s domestic plants have virtually stopped supplying auto parts overseas because of the labour unrest which began late last month. “The plant in China has run out of main components such as engines and transmissions. Without the parts supply, it will have to stop production from early August,” Hyundai Motor spokesperson Jake Jang told AFP. Jang said the plants in Turkey and India had more components in reserve than China but once the stockpiles run out, they too would also face closure. Factories in Russia, Egypt, Malaysia and Pakistan suspended operations earlier this month, the company said. Hyundai Motor union workers had staged half-day and full-day strikes since June 20 to push their demands for a shortened work week from six to five days and union participation in key management decisions. There was no immediate sign of labour unrest easing today, when Hyundai Motor’s main plant in the southern city of Ulsan, 400 km from here, remained idle. Hyundai said all 39,000 workers at the Ulsan plant had taken one week summer vacation en masse as part of their protest.
— AFP
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India plant unaffected NEW DELHI: Hyundai Motor India today said its operations had not been affected by the labour unrest at its parent company in Korea as its cars had high local content and it also had sufficient stock of imported components. “We have more than enough stock of imported components. Also, cars like ‘Santro’ and ‘Accent’ have 90 per cent indigenisation level,” company officials said. Reports from Korea had stated that a labour strike in Korea had hit the local subsidiary’s operations. Operations in other Hyundai subsidiaries, including India had been badly hit as the plant in Korea has virtually stopped supplying auto parts overseas because of the labour unrest which began late last month, media reports said. “The ‘Sonata’ and ‘Viva’ have relatively high level of import content but we have enough components for these two cars. We already make ‘Santro’ and ‘Accent’ engines in India,” they said.
— PTI
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of Punjab reforms on Chandigarh, July 28 The team comprising Mr stephen Howse, Mr Sadiq Ahmed and Mr Vikram Chand was briefed on the fiscal policy adopted by the state government by the Principal Secretary, Finance, Mr K R Lakhanpal. He spoke about the steps taken so far to galvanise the state's agriculture and power sectors and overhauling of the administration to provide good governance and cut down on expenditure. Mr Kashyap said there were two purposes of the team. One, since Punjab had sought loan from the World Bank under its ''Structural adjustment fund'', Punjab wanted to impress upon the Bank of the reforms already implemented and what was proposed in future. There was a provision with the Bank for states that need loans ranging from $125 million to $ 150 million, annually. The states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh have availed of this facility. The second purpose was to ''educate'' the administrative secretaries on the basics of preparing project reports for funding from the World Bank. Punjab is processing projects worth Rs 5,000 crore for rural drinking water, urban infrastructure, covering solid waste management, water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment plants in 13 towns, integrated rural development and water resource management. The Union Ministry of Finance, said Mr Kashyap, had already forwarded Punjab's $ 125 million project on development of highways, road and railways over-bridges to the Bank. The ministry had appreciated the state's efforts to improve its fiscal position through a series of reforms, particularly its medium-term fiscal programme. Mr Kashyap said yet another team of subject matter specialists would follow the visit of the present team. It would meet Capt. Amarinder Singh tomorrow. Punjab had received an interim review of its reforms on agriculture, fiscal policy and good governance, followed by a special report on agriculture. The key point in these reports was that besides fiscal policy, focus must be on power sector reforms and good governance by cutting down wasteful expenditure and through additional resource mobilisation. The people must get ''quality'' socio-economic services at ''affordable'' costs and must pay for the same at least to recover operational and maintenance costs. Incidentally, most of what the World Bank expects Punjab to do also forms part of the programme agreed upon by the Congress Chief Ministers' Council meetings at Guwahati and Mount Abu. The party expects its Chief Ministers to follow that agenda in letter and spirit, say sources.
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1,000 cr loan for Baglihar project Srinagar, July 28 This decision was taken at a meeting between Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the Managing Committee of the Indian Banks’ Association here today. The association is holding its first ever meeting here on the invitation of the Chief Minister, in which 20 members are participating, an official spokesman said. The J&K Government is striving to get money for the 450 MW Baglihar hydel project, first major hydro-electric project taken up at a cost of Rs. 4,600 crore. Mechanism for providing this loan to the state government will be evolved by the member banks. The Chairman of the association, Dr. Dalbir Singh, who is also the CMD of the Central Bank of India said it would be some sort of a syndication of banks to meet the J& K Government’s requirements. This is for the first time that banks have taken such a decision. Welcoming the decision of bankers to help the state government in meeting its immediate financial requirements for Baglihar, Mufti Sayeed said that “every penny spent in J&K is, in fact, an investment for peace”. The bankers have a significant role to play in accelerating the process of normalcy in the state. Another important decision taken at the meeting is the opening of closed, shifted and merged branches of nationalised banks in the valley. The Sopore branch of the Central Bank of India has been reopened. Similarly, other closed branches would also be reopened shortly. |
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Pharma companies investing in HP Solan, July 28 With an outright exemption in Central Excise those units stand to benefit most which have incurred a little on Modvat/Cenvat. It has benefited the pharmaceutical sector the most. The package is proving less attractive for the industries where the end products of one unit serve as raw material for another sector. Since such processing units have already paid excise once on the raw material they have now been expecting reimbursement of the Modvat paid initially. The pharmaceutical sector is attracting huge investments. With the existing pharmaceutical sector being Rs 1,000 crore, the officials anticipate an expansion of as much as Rs 4,000 crore from the big groups. They revealed that big investment in the form of 50 crore by Dr Reddy’s Lab and 20 crore by Alembic was already through. |
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Zimbabwe seeks Indian expertise
Panipat, July 28 Mr Mudzi, who led a high-powered delegation to the Moonak minor irrigation project in Karnal district for an on-the-spot assessment of the project, told The Tribune that Zimbabwe could benefit in several ways from Indian experiences in these sectors since like India, his country was basically an agrarian economy. The agriculture contributed 15 per cent to the total GDP and 70 per cent of the population was dependant on it for their livelihood. The delegation will have discussions with top functionaries of the power and water resources ministries to chalk out a comprehensive strategy for technology transfer. Regarding other areas of cooperation, Mr Mudzi said there was vast scope for cooperation in the fields of the railways and the IT sector. In fact, Zimbabwean delegations will visit India soon for discussions. The Zimbabwean High Commissioner to India, Mr J. Wutawunashe, pointed out that requirements for the rehabilitation of farmers were pumps and motors, pipes, borewells and sprinklers.
— TNS
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