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Friday,
August 8, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Govt
admits pressure points in economy
Punjab seeks one-time grant to clear sugarcane dues
Syndicate Bank ties up with Allianz Bajaj |
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Kinetic launches 4 new bikes Dabur India stakeholders
okay demerger
EPF arrears mount
to Rs
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Govt
admits pressure points in economy New Delhi, August 7 The quarterly review of the economy placed in Parliament today said that “there are some pressure points largely on account of subsidies in food and some petroleum products”. At the same time, the review observed that buoyed by an encouraging performance in the first quarter and “this year should witness significant growth coupled with macroeconomic stability”. It is for the first time that a quarterly economic review has been placed in Parliament. This follows the passing of the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, which makes it mandatory on part of the government to come out with a review of the economy every quarter. The government assured that there would be “no slippage permitted in bringing about improvements”, in tax administration. Stating that the economy was on a high growth path, the review said that it is expected that good monsoons will strengthen the growth prospects of the agriculture sector. This will again have a positive multiplier effect on other sectors of the economy including the industry and services sector. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) increased by 5 per cent during the first two months of the current fiscal as compared to 4.1 per cent in the same period in the previous year. Subsidies have, on the other hand, increased by 62 per cent in the first quarter primarily due to a big outgo of Rs 1,680 crore on account of subsidies on kerosene and LPG as well as food and fertiliser. Fiscal deficit upto June this year was only Rs 38,608 crore, which was lower by Rs 952 crore compared to that in the previous year. The deficit accounted for 25 per cent of the budget estimate for 2003-04 as against 29 per cent in the previous year, the review said.
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Punjab seeks one-time grant to clear sugarcane dues Chandigarh, August 7 Mr Lal Singh submitted that Punjab sugar industry was paying SAP of Rs 100 per quintal against SMP of Rs 69.50 per quintal. In Punjab the mills owed Rs 140 crore to the farmers as on July 31. Due to delay in payment, he said, the area under sugarcane had been reduced by 30 per cent and if the payments were not released immediately, it would hit the autumn cane sowing which was set to start in September. He urged the Centre to allow the state to supply sugar to nearest Army purchase centres. Mr Lal Singh claimed that Centre was allocating levy sugar quota for Jammu and Kashmir to Maharashtra and UP Cooperative mills and not to Punjab which was adjacent to that state. The Centre could save transport cost worth crores if the quota for the state was released to Punjab. He said the Pakistan flour mills had requested the Markfed to send two lakh MTs of wheat from the state. The state Chief Minister had taken up the issue with the Centre to grant permission to export wheat to Pakistan. Mr Sharad Yadav informed him that the issue was under active consideration of the Ministry, and had recommended opening of wheat trade with Pakistan. It had written to Ministry of External Affairs for clearance. Mr Lal Singh also discussed the issue of pending payments to the state agencies from the Central agencies worth Rs 2000 crore that was pending from 1999-2000 onwards.
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Ratan Tata ‘Telecom Man of the Year’
New Delhi, August 7 “Long before the telecom became fashionable among Indian corporates, Ratan Tata initiated his group into the telecom business by taking personal interest in setting up of a telecom venture. Under the leadership of this visionary, the group underwent successful transition from an old economy giant to a new economy war-horse, and is now at the forefront of changing the face of Indian telecom,” Voice and Data said. The V and D Annual Awards 2003 were presented by Ministers of State for Communications and IT Ashok Pradhan and Su Thirunavukkarasar last evening to top telecom services and equipment companies across 27 categories. Rajiv Burman, Chief Operating Officer of Tata Teleservices accepted the award on behalf of Ratan Tata. BSNL bagged the three awards in the categories — top service provider, top national long distance operator and top basic service provider. The top equipment company award went to Lucent Technologies, while VSNL notched the top Internet service provider award for the year.
— PTI
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Syndicate Bank ties up with Allianz Bajaj Chandigarh, August 7 The Allianz Bajaj will provide training to employees of the bank to sell its products to customers, said Mr Michael Bastian, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank here today. He said the new venture will help the bank expand its business volumes besides providing value-added services to the customers. The bank has also planned to enter the general insurance business. For this a partner will be finalised soon, he said. Mr Bastian said the bank had 35 branches in the Chandigarh region. It has now planned to expand its base in the North. As part of that strategy, 55 new branches will be opened in Punjab (30), Haryana (20) and in Chandigarh (5) in a phased manner. During this financial year, 20 branches will be started in all major towns of the region. He clarified that there would be no recruitment for these branches and the surplus staff from the region will be appointed in these branches. The bank has achieved a credit-deposit ratio of 50 per cent, that is much higher than other banks.The total business of the bank hasreached Rs 60,000 crore and is expected to increase by Rs 10,000 crore this year. The bank's new thrust is on retail banking, especially the housing and personal loans. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank has reached 12 per cent. To expand its asset base, the bank will raise capital worth Rs 100 crore through bonds by the end of this month at an interest rate of around 6 per cent. He said the bank is ready to repay Rs 150 crore immediately to the government at the 10 per cent interest rate. It will dilute the government share to 62 per cent in the bank. When asked about the views of the bank management and the RBI about the repayment, he declined to make any comment.
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Kinetic launches 4 new bikes New Delhi, August 7 The 115cc ‘Boss’, which has been priced at Rs 33,500 (Ex-showroom Delhi), would be positioned in the high-volume economy segment, Kinetic Engineering Joint Managing Director Sulajja Firodia Motwani told a news conference here. The 115cc executive segment model ‘Velocity’ has been priced at about Rs 40,000 while the performance segment model ‘GF170’ would cost Rs 46,009 for the drum brake and Rs 47,884 for the disc brake options. The 170cc premium segment model ‘GF Laser’ sports a price tag of Rs 50,383, Motwani said. The ‘Boss 115’ and ‘Velocity’ would be developed in- house while the ‘GF’ range of motorcycles would be manufactured in technical alliance with Hyosung Motors of Korea, she said.
— PTI
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Dabur India stakeholders okay demerger
New Delhi, August 6 The approvals were granted using ballot in two court-convened meetings held just after the 28th AGM on August 2 last. With this, the company would file the confirmation petition with Delhi High Court today seeking its approval on the scheme of arrangement for the demerger, which is expected by the beginning of the third quarter of the current financial year. The Chairman, appointed by the Delhi High Court, presided over these two meetings and declared the results of the polls yesterday. Pointing out that the creditors of DIL unanimously voted for the demerger, Dabur said in the shareholders meeting, 98 per cent voted for approval of the demerger. The scheme of the demerger was filed with the Delhi High Court in May this year in which the company had proposed to transfer assets of Rs 214 crore pertaining to the Pharma business, out of the total asset base of Rs 521 crore, to Dabur Pharma Limited as part of the demerger. Mr Narang pointed out that with the demerger, the FMCG and Pharma business would have a clear line of sight, follow their own growth charters and benchmark their performance with respective industry standards.
— UNI
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New Delhi, August 7
SEBI
promises the FICCI full support in developing a sound framework
for a vibrant capital market in the country.
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