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Friday,
August 15, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Norms for oil dealers’ selection
Punjab to ink pact with Quark by August 27
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Private airlines may fly abroad
Car sales zoom 37.7 pc in July
OPEC wary of high oil prices
Ranbaxy gets nod to sell antibiotic in USA
More Japanese firms to invest
in Gurgaon GRAPHIC: Waiting
List For Telephone Connections
PC users warned of ‘Lovesan Virus’
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Norms for oil dealers’ selection within month New Delhi, August 14 This would pave the way for establishing 3,500 petro dealers across the country. The selection process was kept in suspension following the scrapping of dealer selection boards (DSBs). The instructions were given by the Minister during the Consultative Committee meeting held last evening. In the meeting, attended by the CMDs of public sector oil companies, the Minister said that the new guidelines should be uniform and reservations for various cateogires as it existed will continue. “There shall be no ceiling on income of prospective allottees. Multiple dealership norms will be relaxed so that only dealership or distributorship will be allotted to an individual”, Mr Naik said during the meeting. The Minister said that the individual companies shall form their own guidelines after necessary ratification by their respective boards. The meeting also expressed grief over the tragic crash of an ONGC helicopter in Mumbai on August 11, killing 27 persons. The management of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been directed by the government to formulate an emergency plan to improve the safety standards in line with the global norms within a period of 15 days. The Petroleum Minister has ordered an independent inquiry is being conducted by a three-member committee on the safety and security of life in offshore operations, especially air logistics, maintenance, repairs and renovation of offshore structures and pipelines and hiring of helicopters. The committee has been asked to submit its report within three months. Apart from this, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had ordered a statutory inquiry to look into the circumstances of the accident, he said. In addition, that ONGC would considering job to a family member of the deceased and the Management would be asked to take time-bound decision on matters such as sufficient manpower for offshore operations. The ill-fated MI-172 helicopter hired by ONGC for offshore operations crashed on August 11 immediately after it took off from the helibase at Juhu, Mumbai. It was carrying 25 passengers including 14 officers and eight workmen of ONGC, three contract emoployees and four crew members.
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Punjab to ink pact with Quark by August 27 Chandigarh, August 14 A committee headed by the state Chief Secretary, Mr J.S Gill, is scheduled to meet on Monday to give final touches to the agreement. The agreement will be cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Investment, that is headed by the state Chief Minister and includes the Finance Minister, the Finance Secretary and the Industry Secretary as other
members, before the final ceremony. Mr Parminder Sehgal, Executive Director, Quark confirmed here today that the agreement between the state government and the company is scheduled to be signed by the end of this month. He said,
‘‘though we have still to get information from officials concerned regarding the scheduled date, the target of signing the agreement is by August 27.’’ Official sources said after the failure of Mahindra IT park, the agreement will enable the state government to attract IT companies. Under the agreement, the Punjab State Electronics Development and Production Corporation will hand over 50 acres to the company to develop built-in infrastructure where IT and IT-enabled service companies will set up hire or purchase cabins and compartments to start their operations. The Software Technology Park of India (STPI) and BSNL will provide the necessary communication facilities at this technology park. Quark will expand R&D and software designing centre of the company, besides developing incubators for other companies. Officials said, a pact between Punjab and Quark had been signed in October, 2002, but the final agreement will make it binding for both parties to fulfil their commitments. The sources said all hurdles for this mega project have been cleared and the company is likely to develop an infrastructure set-up to attract investment.
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Private airlines may fly abroad New Delhi, Aug 14 Addressing mediapersons Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, while saying that the proposal for privatisation of airports in Mumbai and Delhi can come up before the Cabinet next week, pointed out that the private carriers are playing “a major and positive role in the domestic aviation sector and they should get a level-playing field.” The five-member Naresh Chandra Committee which met today is expected to give its final report by October. The report is likely to evolve a road map for the civil aviation sector for the coming years. The committee will also deliberate on suggestions to raise the cap of foreign direct investment in the aviation sector, allowing foreign airlines to invest in the domestic sector and setting up of a regulatory body for the airport privatisation. The minister said the process for the upgradation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports to the international level will be completed in the next two years. In the next eight months, the ministry will be able to finalise the plan for making the airports of the international level and in the next two years the process will be completed. Later Civil Aviation Ministry officials said a separate company to be floated for the upgradation of the two airports will not only design the airport but also carry out the construction. Replying to questions on the fleet acquisition programme of Air-India and Indian Airlines, Mr Rudy said “it has to be a mix of lease and outright purchase”. The A-I Board has not yet taken a decision on acquisition of long and short-haul aircraft, while the pre-PIB (Public Investment Board) process for IA’s plans to buy 43 aircraft has been concluded. He said for both carriers, aircraft will be leased to replace the aged ones which will be phased out
and outright purchase made for their fleet expansion programme. Talking on the ground handling proposal, the minister said “certain clarifications” are being made in the earlier government decision to allowing private domestic carriers to continue carrying out their own ground handling. Discussions are on with the Home and Law Ministries in this regard. On the “open sky’’ policy, he said this policy is being practised “as an exception and not as a rule” and is allowed mainly during the peak seasons. The Civil Aviation Ministry has asked the government to review its decision to grant travel concessions for senior citizens, students and other categories of people. The combined losses of Indian Airlines and Alliance Air now stand at Rs 300 crore. Meanwhile the minister also said the Indian Airlines will provide free travel for Bharat Ratna awardees as a goodwill gesture in domestic as well as international flights to commemorate completion of 50 years of flying. |
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Car sales zoom 37.7 pc in July
New Delhi, August 14 Total sales rose, for the fourth consecutive month this fiscal, to 59,800 units from 43,434 units in the same month last year, data released today by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed. Cumulative (April-July 2003) car sales stood higher by 32.5 per cent at 2,09,501 units against 1,58,110 units sold a year ago, the data showed. Excise duty on cars and multi-utility-vehicles was cut by 8 per cent to 24 per cent in the 2003-04 budget. The actual reduction is, however, 7 per cent following imposition of one per cent contingency tax. Sale of trucks and buses jumped by 43.8 per cent to 19,280 units during the review month (13,405 units in July 2002) as both light and heavy vehicles posted higher sales. Cumulative sales in this segment was up by 25.8 per cent year-on-year at 66,179 units (52,606 units). Sale of two-wheelers rose by 12.8 per cent to 4,06,157 units in July 2003 following higher demand of motor cycles and scooters even as mopeds continued to ride in negative territory. For the first four months this fiscal, two-wheelers clocked a 4.9 per cent growth at 16,45,660 units. Sale of motor cycles and step-thrus went up by 21.4 per cent to 3,01,675 units while that of scooters and scooterettees increased by a marginal 1.8 per cent to 78,176 units. Mopeds, however, slipped by 24.3 per cent to 26,306 units. In the growing multi-utility-vehicles (MUVs) segment, sales jumped by 27.6 per cent to 11,117 units in July due to good demand of products of companies like Mahindra and Mahindra, Toyota Kirloskar and Tata Motors. Multi-purpose-vehicles (MPVs) too posted a 18.5 per cent rise at 5,052 units while three-wheeler sales rose by 17.7 per cent to 23,199 units during the month under review. Car market leader Maruti Udyog recorded a 69.8 per cent growth to 31,342 units while that of the second-biggest carmaker Hyundai Motor India jumped by 26.2 per cent to 11,133 units during July this year. Sales of Tata Motors, which makes the compact car ‘Indica’ and mid-size model ‘Indigo’, went up by 13.9 per cent to 9,707 units. General Motors India, which has been riding high after the launch of the mid-size model ‘Chevrolet Optra’, posted an impressive 191.2 per cent rise to 1,925 cars. Its native rival, Ford India recorded a 41.6 per cent rise at 1,425 cars. The latest entrant in the car market, Toyota Kirloskar sold 1,099 cars while luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler posted a 165.6 per cent growth at 170 units. However, Honda Siel cars and Hindustan Motors suffered a 2.8 and 35.1 per cent drop in sales at 1,039 and 998 units respectively. —
PTI
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OPEC wary of high oil prices
Paris, August 13 The official price of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of seven global crudes, which ranges from $ 22 to 28, hovered around $ 29 per barrel yesterday, exceeding the ceiling for the eighth day in a row. And no let-up in prices was in sight. If they remain that high for another 12 days, that would theoretically trigger an OPEC price correction mechanism. Established in March 2000, the mechanism works in two directions to adjust production to bring the basket price to within the target range. If the basket price remains below $ 22 per barrel for 10 working days, the 10 member nations — Iraq, the 11th member, is not included in the production quota system — are to reduce production by 500,000 barrels per day. A basket price over $ 28 per barrel for 20 working days would lead to an output increase of 500,000 barrels per day. But even if the 20-day ceiling is breached this time, the decision to increase production is not automatic. “It’s an unwritten rule, gentlemen’s agreement,” explained an OPEC source in Vienna, the cartel’s headquarters. “The decision to activate the mechanism is never automatic.”
Import bill up
New Delhi: India’s oil import bill for the first quarter of the current fiscal has climbed to $ 4.72 billion while petroleum product exports totalled $ 706 million.
— AFP, PTI
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Ranbaxy gets nod to sell antibiotic in USA
New Delhi, August 14 Ranbaxy is planning to launch its generic drug DisperMox in the US by October, the company said in a statement on Thursday. It has received permission for the move from the US Food and Drug Administration. The drug in dosages of 200 mg and 400 mg tablets will be manufactured, marketed and distributed by Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc (RPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy. Sales will be handled by Blansett Pharmacal Co (Blansett), an Arkansas-based speciality pharmaceutical company engaged in developing and commercialising prescription drug products. Commenting on the approval, Dipak Chattaraj, President and CEO of RPI, said:"The combined efforts of both organisations represent a strategic alliance that is mutually beneficial and will serve to establish Ranbaxy's brand marketing efforts in future." This new dosage form of amoxicillin is recommended for paediatric patients with bacterial infections, including Acute Otitis Media (AOM), sinusitis and tonsillopharyngitis, the company stated. AOM is the most common cause of frequent bacterial infection in children in the USA. DisperMox will be competing in the antibiotic segment with a focus on the amoxicillin suspensions/chewable tablet market that is estimated to be in excess of $105.7 million in the USA. —
IANS
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More Japanese firms to invest
in Gurgaon Chandigarh, August 14 The HSIDC has also allotted one acre at Gurgaon to a Japanese religious organisation for building a temple, the MD said. He claimed that they are making substantial investments in Gurgaon. Listing recent investments made by Japanese in Gurgaon, he said Suzuki Motors has recently bought 40 acres at Kherki Tala in Gurgaon for setting up a two-wheeler manufacturing unit. The MD said the project, which has been already cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, is worth around Rs 900 crore. Mr Om Prakash Chautala had visited the Suzuki company's head office in Japan in November last year and the project was a fallout of that visit,he claimed. Nerolac Paints, affiliated to the Kensei Corporation of Japan, has bought 32 acres in the Bawal Industrial Estate in Gurgaon for setting up a paint manufacturing unit. The company will invest Rs 70 crore for the project, he said. Another Japanese company, Mushasi Auto, has purchased eight acres in Bawal for setting up an automobile parts manufacturing unit, he said and added that Rs 65 crore will be invested for the project. Negotiations are stated to be at a final stage with another Japanese company, Sinkei Yenki, for setting up an electroplating plant.
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