 |
|
Farm
insurance in Rewari, Sangrur, Hamirpur
BSNL charging Rs 240 extra on new connection BSNL rolls out SMS, Internet, ISD schemes |
|
|
SC notice to Centre on Hind Copper sale New Delhi, November 7 The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Ministries of Finance and Disinvestment on a petition challenging the Centre’s decision to initiate the process for privatisation of Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL). HC notice to Cadbury on banning products
CORPORATE NEWS |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reliance capital MF acquires TV-18 shares
Kamdhenu Ispat plans IPO
No ban on polythene bags in Punjab Himachal can attract Chinese investment
SBI cuts deposit rates
Samsung fridge plant
inaugurated
|
|
Farm
insurance in Rewari, Sangrur, Hamirpur New Delhi, November 7 Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh sought the cooperation of the states in implementing the programme which aims to provide protection to farmers from production and price risk. The districts in which wheat will be taken up for pilot project are Buxar in Bihar, Banaskantha in Gujarat, Rewari in Haryana, Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, Parbhani in Maharashtra, Sangrur in Punjab, Mirzapur, Faizabad and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttaranchal. The districts where paddy will be taken up in the project are Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, Kamrup in Assam, Mysore in Karnataka, Cuttack in Orissa, Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Bardwan in West Bengal. Under the programme, a farmer’s production and price risk for the crop produced by him will be protected by ensuring the minimum guaranteed income, determined by using an average yield of last seven years and MSP. If the actual income falls short of the guaranteed income, the farmer would be eligible for a compensation to the extent of indemnity from the Agricultural Insurance Company. An area approach as in the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme will be used for the actual yield and price measurement of the insured crop. A premium subsidy of 75 per cent to be given in case of small and marginal farmers and 50 per cent for other farmers. The subsidy for the pilot project will be entirely borne by the Centre. Experts are of the view that the project can contribute significantly to agricultural growth. They suggest on crops, determination of MSP and calculation of the average yield for better results. The minister said the programme would be fine-tuned on the basis of the outcome of the results of the pilot project. Meanwhile, the sowing of Rabi pulses is gaining momentum. The area reported to be sown so far is about 17 lakh hectares which is ahead by about 9 lakh hectares as compared to the corresponding period last year. The normal area under Rabi pulses is about 106 lakh hectares. |
|
BSNL charging Rs 240 extra on new connection Chandigarh, November 7 Officials in BSNL, Punjab circle, admitted that in Punjab and Chandigarh alone, about 1 lakh new landline connections were released last year, though a significant number of customers surrendered their connections during the same time. These customers paid an additional Rs 2.40 crore. Interestingly, said the officials, even BSNL did not benefit from that collection. This amount was deposited with the Department of Customs and Excise, along with the service tax collected from customers. At the national level, the figure works out to be Rs 40 to Rs 50 crore annually. Officials in the finance department of BSNL claimed, “Since it was a nominal amount paid one-time by the customer, no one bothered about it. Under the new system, one can apply for the fixed line connection by depositing a draft of Rs 840 as installation charges. Within one week, one can expect new connection and would get the first bill after two months, along with Rs 3,000 added in the name of “refundable security.” But what is surprising is BSNL also adds Rs 240 extra in the name of 8 per cent service tax on the refundable security, besides tax on the total bill amount. Asked Mr Raminder Sharma, a BSNL subscriber, who had taken new connection, said: “If BSNL cannot pay interest on the security amount, it has no right to charge extra amount. At 6 per cent interest rate, BSNL should pay about Rs 180 annually to its customers." |
BSNL rolls out SMS, Internet, ISD schemes New Delhi, November 7 Announcing the schemes, BSNL CMD, Mr Prithipal Singh, also extended till January 15 the reduced ISD rates for calls to the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada. Moreover, ISD rates to the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand are being reduced from Rs 21 per minute to Rs 12 per minute from November 14, which will be valid till January 15. Reduced ISD rates, ( Rs 7.20 per minute) for USA, UK, Canada, which were earlier applicable upto November 21, 2003 would now be extended upto January 15, 2004. Under the handset bundling scheme, all makes including Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson and Samsung will be made available at BSNL outlets on payments in easy instalments ranging from Rs 170 per month to Rs 600 per month depending upon the cost of the set the consumer chooses, the CMD said. SMS enabled fixedline instruments are initially being made available in Kolkata and Bangalore and would be extended to other places gradually. The SMS service would be restricted within the BSNL network, both fixed and cellular, to start with. The handset bundling scheme will be available from Monday and the instalment facility would be offered to SBI and ICICI cardholders in five states - Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Special Student Power — 99 scheme for post-paid cellular connections, which was applicable upto October 31, is being extended till November 30 in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Chennai. The SMS service, which would be available from tomorrow, would be free of cost. The instruments would, however, cost about Rs 1,600. Under plan 399 and plan 499, second basic phone connection for internet use for individual users only (outgoing allowed on code 172xxxx) will now be available at a flat rental of Rs 399 in areas where rental for the first connection is Rs 180 or less, and at Rs 499 where the existing rental is Rs 250. The facility is being made available from November 14. BSNL also announced that local shifting of landline phones would be done free of cost from November 14, which costs Rs 600 at present. |
SC notice to Centre on Hind Copper sale
New Delhi, November 7 A Bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice G.P. Mathur, while issuing notices, directed the matter to be tagged along with another petition challenging privatisation of railway coach manufacturing company Jessop and Company. The petition filed by four labour unions active in HCL alleged the PSU was created by an Act of Parliament in 1972 and hence it could not be privatised by an executive permission. Drawing a parallel with the case of privatisation pertaining to HPCL and BPCL, the petitioners said to privatise the PSUs created by a legislation, the government had to first take permission from Parliament or repeal the law. —
PTI |
| HC notice
to Cadbury on banning products Kochi, November 7 The writ petition filed by a native of Thiruvananthapuram submitted that the product of the company was insect-infected, noxious and unsuitable for human consumption. Direction has also been sought in the petition to seize the products from shops and godowns besides initiating proceedings under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. The petition was admitted to file by the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice J.L. Gupta and Justice K. Padmanabhan Nair. —
UNI |
|
CORPORATE NEWS Mumbai, November 7 The company has posted a marginal increase in its revenues for the July-September quarter at Rs 187.03 crore as against Rs 146.41 crore last fiscal as per consolidated Indian GAAP, the company said in a release here today. The company has made a provision of Rs 12.72 crore towards income tax as against Rs 7.03 crore the previous quarter. The net income for the six month period stood at Rs 88 crore while the revenues grew by 30 per cent to Rs 370 crore as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.  |
|
|
Reliance capital MF acquires TV-18 shares Chandigarh, November 7 Reliance Capital Mutual Fund presently has more than Rs 6,700 crore of assets under management, of which net equity assets are approximately Rs 675 crore. The Fund has an investor base of more than 65,000 unit holders. —
TNS |
Kamdhenu Ispat plans IPO New Delhi, November 7 “We will float the IPO very soon after its modalities are decided. Since things are still in the planning stage, it is not the right time to divulge the details,’’ KIL Managing Director Pradeep Aggarwal told newspersons here today. Mr Aggarwal, however, did not elaborate on the size of the IPO but said that the company will announce details within a month. KIL, flagship company of Kamdhenu Ispat Group, engaged in production of HSD as well as reinforcement bars, is planning to decentralise its production mechanism applying strategic tie-ups with the respective regional players in different states all over the country, he added. The total annual production of HSD bars in North India stands at 18 lakh to 20 lakh metric tonnes (MT), which is shared by both branded and unbranded players. The branded players account for 6 lakh MT, of which Kamdhenu caters to 25 per cent. On achieving the planned tie-ups, Mr Aggarwal said, the Kamdhenu Group would be able to double its present production capacity from 1.5 lakh MT to 3 lakh MT per annum in two years. |
No ban on polythene bags in Punjab Ludhiana, November 7 Assuring the industry of full cooperation and support from the PCB he said, the board will be a facilitating agency and not an obstacle in the functioning of the industry. He issued about 100 no objection certificates to the industry on the spot which were pending for quite some time. The chairman said, he favoured a persuasive approach over compulsive one in ensuring clean and pollution free atmosphere. In this context he said, board had planned a massive environment awareness campaign in the state from November 15 to December 15. |
|
Himachal can attract Chinese investment Shimla, November 7 Mr Bahl said there was also much scope in the IT sector as China led in computer hardware manufacturing and India was on top in software. Any collaboration between the two would be mutually beneficial. Himachal had ideal environment for the growth of the IT industry. Other areas where Himachal could attract Chinese investment were textiles, hydel generation, health care services and infrastructure development. He also made strong plea for adopting Chinese model of industrial development to focus on selected districts and cities. Indian exports to China were likely to increase from $ 7 billion in the current year to $ 10 billion in 2004. The industry expected a growth in exports over the next few years to reach $ 30 billion by 2010 accounting for 25 per cent of the country’s total exports. |
|
SBI cuts deposit rates Mumbai, November 7 The interest rate for deposits of 15-45 days has been cut by 0.25 per cent to 4 per cent, a senior SBI official said here today. For maturities of above 45 days, the reduction has been 0.5 per cent, he said, adding that it would be 4.5 per cent for 46-179 days, 4.75 per cent for 180 days to less than one year. The rate has been pegged at 5 per cent for 1-2 years deposits, 5.25 per cent for 2-3 years and 5.50 per cent for 3 years and above. However, the lending rates have been left untouched, he added. —
PTI |
bb
Agrifex ’03 ITCon PNB branch UTI GSF Inflation dips Max New Life CII delegation Sugar mills |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
