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Saturday,
October
4, 2003,
Chandigarh, India  
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ONGC pays Rs
3,598 cr dividend to government
SBI MF scheme
with free insurance Uco Bank to
refund 4,000 cr to IPO applicants NHPC among top 10
investors Mufti launches
shopping arcade in Kashmir REC pays 175 cr
dividend |
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LIC observing Oct
as social security month PNB cuts retail
loans interest Nippo names
Yuvraj Brand Ambassador
Cane growers seek payment of
arrears
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ONGC pays Rs 3,598 cr dividend to government
New Delhi, October 3 ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha handed over a cheque of Rs 1559 crore to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Sumitra Mahajan and company directors were also present on the occasion, an ONGC press release said here. ONGC had earlier paid interim dividend of Rs 2039 crore on February 5, 2003. The total dividend paid by ONGC to the government for 2002-03 is Rs 3598 crore, up 114 per cent from the dividend of Rs 1679 crore in the previous year. Since corporatisation in 1994, ONGC had paid total Rs 8914 crore as dividend to the government against capital investment (not adjusted to inflation) of Rs 343 crore. ONGC has paid Rs 16,314.8 crore to the Central exchequer during FY 02-03, up 79 per cent from Rs 9131.2 crore in the previous year, on account of royalty, cess, dividend, duties and taxes. It paid Rs 2,786.8 crore in royalty and taxes to the concerned state governments, up 59 per cent from Rs 1748.7 crore in the previous year. Cumulatively, since corporatisation in 1994, ONGC has paid Rs 66,419 crore to the Central exchequer and Rs 13,037 crore to the concerned state exchequers.
— PTI
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ONGC signs crude supply pact with MRPL
New Delhi, October 3 The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by MRPL Vice President (Finance) L.K. Gupta and ONGC General Manager (Finance) D.K. Sarraf. ONGC will charge MRPL import parity price for two million tonnes of sweet crude (low in sulphur) to be supplied from Mumbai High fields. The price of ONGC’s Mumbai High sweet crude has been benchmarked to Nigerian sweet crude Bonny Light. Crude to be supplied to other coastal refineries, like CPCL in Chennai, KRL in Kochi and HPCL in Vizag, are also priced on a similar formula. Another one million tonnes of crude from ONGC’s field in Sudan will be shipped to MRPL in 2003-04. The first cargo of Mumbai High crude MRPL was shipped in end March 2003, after MRPL became a member of the ONGC Group of companies.
— PTI
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SBI MF scheme with free insurance Chandigarh, October 3 The life cover will continue as long as the investments remain in the scheme. The scheme is open till October 22 and will again open for continuous sale and repurchase from November 10, 2003. Till recently, the ICICI, Aviva Life and Birla Sun Life were offering unit-linked insurance schemes, but now the SBI has come with a mutual fund with free insurance scheme. An open-ended scheme with two plans for investment— Saving Plan and Investment Plan— offers growth and dividend options. The funds under the Saving Plan will be invested in investment grade debt instruments such as government securities, corporate bonds and debentures and money market instruments. The investment plan will be investing at least 80 per cent of its corpus in investment grade debt instruments and money market instruments and the balance will be invested in stocks. Growth option is for investors seeking capital appreciation. The dividend option under both the plans, claim fund managers, will endeavour to declare dividends on a quarterly basis subject to the availability of distributable surplus and at their discretion. The returns under the growth plan will be through capital appreciation. This open-ended scheme will charge an exit load of 1 per cent if the investments are redeemed within six months from the date of investment and an exit load of 0.5 per cent for exit within one year from the date of investment. Of course, there will be no entry load. Incidentally, the SBI Mutual Fund is one of the largest bank sponsored mutual fund in the country. It has, so far, launched 31 schemes, of which 14 have been redeemed, yielding reasonable returns. The fund has more than Rs 4,400 crore as assets under its management. The investors will have to invest a minimum amount of Rs 25,000 and in multiples of Rs 5,000 thereafter. Analysts point out that the free insurance cover will help the SBI Mutual Fund to retain investors with it for long term, since the free cover will cease to exist once an investor exits the scheme. The insurance cover will be available to individual investors under both, the resident and non-resident Indian categories. The dividends distributed will be tax-free in the hands of the investor. Profits from Magnus held for more than 12 months will attract long-term capital gains tax at the rate of 10 per cent plus applicable surcharge in the hands of investor (under current IT law). But Magnums will not be liable to wealth and gift tax.
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Uco Bank to refund 4,000 cr to IPO applicants
Bangalore, October 3 “We will retain Rs 240 crore and the rest of the approximate Rs 4,200 crore which was collected, is being refunded,” Shetty told PTI here. The state-owned bank’s IPO for 20 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 2 per share, aggregating to Rs 240 crore, was oversubscribed 17.5 times. He said the issue was oversubscribed 12 times by retail investors and 26 times by institutional investors. “The allotment was made through a lottery and all the applicants may have not got the shares,” Shetty said. The issue opened for subscription on September 3 and closed on September 10. The bank’s scrip is to be listed on the stock exchanges on October 9 following completion of allotment of shares. Shetty said the bank’s growth and profit during the first half of the fiscal would be better than last year, but declined to comment on specific numbers. With the IPO, the bank’s equity capital would go up to Rs 799.36 crore and government holding would reduce to 74.98 per cent. Uco Bank, which has 20 ATMs, planned to increase its network to 150 by March 2004, he said.
— PTI
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NHPC among top 10 investors Chamba, October 3 Mr Yogendra Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director of the NHPC, today said the corporation had emerged as the single largest hydropower corporation across the country achieving a distinction of eight successive ‘excellent’ rating by the Union Ministry of Power. Mr Prasad claimed that the NHPC had achieved the benchmark of finalising contracts of hydropower projects for more than Rs 5,000 crore in the country during the current fiscal year for the first time in its history. Mr Prasad said 300 mw Chamera Hydroelectric Project (stage-II) Himachal Pradesh, 390 mw Dulhasti hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir and Indira Sagar hydroelectric project in Madhya Pradesh would start adding power generation capacity of over 1,000 mw soon. He said the NHPC alone would add more than 1,000 mw of hydroelectricity this year. Other central public sector undertakings would add generation of 3,000 mw of hydropower collectively during the current financial year. Mr Prasad pointed out that generation of 1,500 mw from the Nathpa-Jhakhri hydroelectric project of Himachal Pradesh had also become possible only due to the NHPC’s involvement in this project last year.
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Mufti launches shopping arcade in Kashmir
Srinagar, October 3 “Srinagar is the heart of the state and it must be made beautiful with modern market facilities for locals as well as tourists. The project is a coming landmark of the summer capital,” he said at the launch yesterday. Covering an area of six acres, the first phase of the project will be completed in five years at a cost of Rs 75 crore. It will house shops, restaurants, snack bars, kiosks, showrooms, offices and provide parking for 450 vehicles. The second phase will have an amusement park, coffee shops, auditorium, banquet hall among other things. Describing the project as a “revenue-yielding asset”, Mufti Sayeed sought its funding by organisations such as Hudco, LIC and Nabard to ensure the work was completed on time. Calling for better coordination between various departments to provide improved civic amenities in the state, the Chief Minister mentioned the haphazard growth of residential areas and said no illegal construction would be allowed. Minister for Housing and Urban Development and Tourism Ghulam Hussan Mir said the prestigious complex would come up within a fixed time-frame without time and cost overruns. He said the complex would also provide marketing facilities for Kashmir’s world-famous handicrafts under one roof.
— PTI
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REC pays 175 cr dividend Chandigarh, October 3 The corporation earned the highest-ever profit of Rs 768 crore (before tax) during the lat financial year as compared to Rs 503 crore during the previous year.
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LIC observing Oct as social security month
Mumbai, October 3 A special drive has been launched to create public awareness about various schemes being implemented through nodal agencies and to let people know about the benefits of such schemes to the people and non-conventional groups in the unorganised sector, a LIC release stated here. Various functions, seminars, meetings at work places and in rural areas have been organised in addition to regular activities during the month, the release said. LIC has introduced three schemes for the underprivileged including Group Insurance scheme for the beneficiaries of Swaranjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana. Janashree Bima Yojana offers cover of Rs 20,000 with accidental death and disability benefits to persons below or near poverty line at the cost of Rs 100 per annum. This premium is payable by the member or NGOs or voluntary organisation or unions or government. The balance Rs 100 is borne by the LIC’s social security fund. So far 11.58 lakh lives have been covered under the scheme. ‘Shiksha Sahyog Yojana’ offers quarterly scholarship of Rs 300 for upto two children of parents covered under Janashree Bima Yojna for a maximum period of four years to help them complete studies from ninth to 12th standards.
— UNI
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PNB cuts retail loans interest
Chandigarh, October 3 Mr Bhargava further stated that PNB has lowered floating rate of interest on housing loan. For home loans repayable up to 5 years, rate of interest has been reduced from 8 per cent to 7.75 per cent and for loans repayable above 5 years and upto 25 years, rate of interest has been slashed by 0.5 per cent it is the right time for public to own their own house by just paying Rs 850/- per month per lac for 25 years period or Rs 880/- per month per lac for 20 years. Mr Bhargava added that to make the retail loan schemes more market friendly, PNB has waived upfront fee under bank’s four retail loan schemes.
— TNS
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Nippo names Yuvraj Brand Ambassador
New Delhi, October 3 “There could not have been a better choice than Yuvraj Singh. Considering his power packed shots and fielding prowess, he is but a natural extension of our ‘Jabardast Power’ positioning. Yuvraj will be seen in three TV commercials, two of which are targeted towards urban consumers and one towards the rural.
— PTI
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