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Wednesday,
September 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Probe ordered
into selling of cheaper diesel by Essar Rs 349 cr scam in
financial institution Titan Ind plans
to enter 50 countries
Reliance plans
power plant around Delhi Soft loans for
textile units Cut in H1-B visa
to hit IT industry BoP ties up with
Sonalika |
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SSI sector seeks lower
interest rates
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Probe ordered into selling of cheaper diesel
New Delhi, September 23 “Prima facie, it looks that the company has violated the rules by selling petroleum products to bulk consumers instead of selling them through retail outlets. It also seems that the company has also violated another norm by not selling petro products to far-flung areas,’’ the officials told UNI here. If Essar is found guilty, it would be the first ever violation of the marketing authorisation rights in the post-Administered Pricing Mechanism era. The probe, to be carried by the officials of the Petroleum Ministry, will cover all aspects, including violation of the marketing authorisation conditions by selling the petroleum products to bulk consumers instead of through retail outlets. The ministry will look into the issue raised by oil companies whether the company can sell the imported diesel in bulk under the existing laws, the officials said. The probe has been ordered in the wake of an appeal by state-owned oil marketing companies that they should also be allowed to sell petrol and diesel on discount to bulk consumers near the refineries on lines of similar move by Essar Oil. Essar Oil is reportedly selling oil at 70 paise less a litre in Ratnagiri district. State-owned oil PSUs alleged that the move is hurting their sale. The Essar group is being allowed to import diesel and petrol as the company has been permitted to set up retail outlets in the country. Essar had proposed to invest more than Rs 2,000 crore in the oil sector. The Essar Oil was given the marketing rights by the government to set up around 1,700 retail outlets. Of these, 11 per cent retail outlet should be set up in the far flung areas. Officials in the Petroleum Ministry said the government has allowed import of petroleum products to Essar oil as per the conditions laid in policy of marketing rights. However, the company is selling these products to bulk consumers and no quantity is being sold in the listed far flung areas by setting up retail outlets there. With the probe in place, the Petroleum Ministry is unlikely to take a decision on a proposal to allow state-owned companies to go for differential pricing for diesel in coastal and inland areas. Presently, the Oil PSUs are fixing the gate price of petrol and diesel by equalising the freights.
— UNI
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Rs 349 cr scam in financial institution Mumbai, September 23 Unveiling a white paper on Monday, Parrikar alleged that Economic Development Corporation had suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 349 crore following bad loans sanctioned by his predecessor Luizinho Faleiro of the Congress party. Ordering a police investigation in the matter, Parrikar said that the loss was mainly by way of outstandings on principal and interest on a number of corporate loans. Parrikar alleged that loans to the tune of Rs 218 crore sanctioned during the tenure of Faliero as Industries Minister turned to be bad. Of these Rs 97 crore were sanctioned to corporates in
Goa.
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Titan Ind plans to enter 50 countries New Delhi, September 23 The company, which is present in 29 countries, is also planning to enter about 50 countries. The company, which registered an over 45 per cent decline in the net profit last fiscal, is keeping its fingers crossed with Titan Managing Director Bhaskar Bhat telling mediapersons that bottom line this year would be much better. The company has presence in West Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe and is exploring the possibility of entering the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Austria, Poland, Argentina, Brazil and Canada. “Typically, we set a target of adding 10 countries a year. However, on an average, we end up adding seven to eight markets per year. By that count, we are hoping that over the next three years we should be present in about 50 countries”, the Managing Director of Titan Industries said here today. On the highly competitive US market, Mr Bhat ruled out that the company had an immediate plans to enter America.“Cost of entry into America can be extremely high. This we have found out from our experience in Western Europe. As of now we are choosing the newer destinations”, Mr Bhat said. The company lost £9 million in its European venture, comprising the Britain, Spain, Greece and Portugal markets, last fiscal on brand building exercise, Mr Bhat said, adding that the company had written off the loss, which was also reflected in the decline in the net profit last year. Titan earned a Rs 9.78-crore net profit last fiscal against Rs 18 crore a year before due to lock-out in its factory during the Q4, outlay of Rs 50 crore for VRS and Rs 10 crore of investment to fund its European foray. The company today launched a new range—International Collection. The range has 60 designs in the price band of Rs 2,500 to Rs 6,000 and is targeted at the Middle-End market. The company has also increased its advertising budget to Rs 40 crore this fiscal against Rs 26 crore last year. Of this, one-third will be spent during the festival season alone, Mr Bhat said. In addition, the company will also unveil a national roll out of its launch fast track range of sunglasses nationwide in April next year. The product is currently available in Bangalore only.
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Reliance plans power plant around Delhi
New Delhi, September 23 "We are currently exploring various options to set up a gas based thermal power station at a location in and around New Delhi", Director (Business Development) J.P. Chalasani told PTI here on the sidelines of a ceremony to commission a grid substation. Chalasani said the company’s board had granted in-principle approval to the project and the company was now looking at possible sites for locating the project. He said the plant would require an investment of about Rs 3,000 crore at the least for a capacity of 1,000 MW. BSES Ltd, now rechristened Reliance Energy, is identifying sites in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi for the project for which it would draw on gas reserves recently discovered in the KG Basin, he added. The energy would be used primarily to supply its existing and future distribution networks in and around the capital region. BSES acquired majority stake in two distribution networks in Delhi following last year’s privatisation of the business. The proposal comes close on the heels of Tata Power — the third distribution license holder — announcing plans for establishing a plant with similar capacity in Delhi.
— PTI
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Soft loans for textile units Ludhiana, September 23 The eligibility for assistance under the scheme is that a unit has a minimum institutional debt exposure of Rs 2 crore and has a positive earnings before interest, depreciation, tax amortisation (EBIDTA) during the past three years. There will be an expert group that will ascertain the financial and technical viability of the units. The scheme which has started on September 15 and has a tenure of five years. The government has also formulated a scheme for modernisation of the powerloom sector and has committed Rs 260 crore to the decentralised powerloom industry. To induct technology in the powerloom sector, the technology upgradation fund scheme has been enlarged for power loom units that want loans up to Rs 50 lakh for modernisation of machinery. Meanwhile, Mr P.D. Sharma, President, Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Punjab) has alleged that the government has ignored the small-scale sector which is the backbone of the textile industry. In a letter to Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, he has pointed out that on analysing the scheme it appears that the scheme is heavily tilted towards favouring the large and medium industry ignoring the interest of the small-scale units, specifically engaged in hosiery, knitting and small spinning units. It appears that the scheme does not cover hosiery or knitwear manufacturers. The small-scale units are under debt taken from the banks at an exorbitant rate of interest varying between 15 and 18 per cent. These units are also being penalised with heavy penal interest in case of delays and defaults in repayment of the loans.
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Cut in H1-B visa to hit IT industry
New Delhi, September 23 "We are not really worried about its impact on the Indian industry in the short-term. But if the level of 65,000 is maintained for a long term, it will have a fallout, said Kiran Karnik, President of Nasscom. "The impact may be felt after two or three years," he told mediapersons here today. Beginning October 1, the number of H1-B visas issued, which currently stands at 1,95,000 a year, is likely to be reduced to 65,000 a year unless Congress addresses the issue by September 30. Almost 50 per cent of the H1-B visas issued worldwide last year by the US went to Indian professionals. India is also currently the second largest source, after Mexico, of legal immigrants for the US. "Legislation has to be introduced and passed by US Congress by September 30 if the level of 1,95,000 H1-B visas is to be maintained. Otherwise the cap will revert to 65,000," said Karnik. "There is a possibility that the level of 195,000 will be retained. Last year the legislation was introduced and passed just a few days before the expiry of the deadline. It may happen this year also. "But if it doesn't happen, then I think the level of 65,000 may be too low for market forces to operate." The proposal to cut H1-B visas comes at a time of slump in the US economy and unemployment, resulting in an outcry against job losses in the local market and tech jobs being shipped abroad, particularly to India, via outsourcing. The H1-B visa category was created in 1952 to provide the US economy with technically skilled foreign workers. Currently, there are some estimated 9,00,000 H1-B employees in the US, 35 or 45 per cent are from India, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Karnik said employers in the US currently need and will continue to need H1-B workers. "The H1-B visa programme has been very useful for the US companies. It's an issue for the US industry to take up. By reducing the cap from 1,95,000 to 65,000 you are artificially suppressing the market forces," he said. The Nasscom chief said the Indian IT industry will be comfortable with the level of at least 120,000 for H1-B visas. Karnik said the delay in processing of visas to the US is also creating problems for the local software companies. "We are more worried about the delay in processing of visas than a cut in the number of visas issued by the US. "Earlier, visas for technology professionals used to be cleared in two or three weeks but now the process gets delayed by two or three months. Such long delay causes uncertainty." The US is the prime export destination of the Indian software industry, whose export revenues increased from $164 million in 1991 to around $10 billion in 2002, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 45 per
cent. — IANS
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BoP ties up with Sonalika Hoshiarpur, September 23 Mr A.S. Mittal, Vice-Chairman, International Tractors, said small farmers, having 2 acres and above will be able to get loans. The bank will not charge any processing fees and will not demand any fixed deposits from the farmers. Farmers can repay the loan amount over a period of 9 years. Mr A.S. Rekhi, Joint Executive Vice-President of Bank of Punjab, assured full cooperation from the bank and a long-lasting working relationship. He promised that the bank will act like a farmer’s bank and revolutionise purchase of tractors and agriculture implements in Punjab and Haryana.
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Spice bonanza Grasim ‘Freedom’ Kinetic Motor Havell’s PNB branch Alstom UTI MF Guj Refinery Office-bearers |
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