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Michelin buys 15 pc stake in Apollo IT exports jump 35 pc at $ 6.5
billion SC to hear plea on WLL in
December India, Turkey sign
agreements Bids invited for PTDC
properties Harry Potter sales reach 250
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Banks told not to be complacent with g-sec profits
Joshi Auto wins top Maruti awards
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Michelin buys 15 pc stake in Apollo New Delhi, November 17 Apollo Board of Directors had agreed to the Michelin’s purchase of 14.9 per cent equity share capital through a preferential allotment for about Rs 129 crore, Apollo Tyres Chairman S Kanwar told a news conference here. The joint venture, Michelin Apollo Tyres, would be set up to produce bus and truck radial tyres. It would take about 18-24 months to begin production, he said. The 14.9 per cent stake roughly works out to 57 lakh shares at around Rs 235 per share. As part of the agreement, the partners plan to invest $70 million into new greenfield project facility. “We have not identified the location as of now but are looking at states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,” Apollo Tyres Chairman and Managing Director Onkar S Kanwar told newspersons here. Apollo Tyres reported a 36.8 per cent decline in the second quarter net profit at Rs 17.28 crore as against Rs 27.35 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Sales grew 19 per cent to Rs 576.20 crore (Rs 483.64 crore). For the first half of the current fiscal, Apollo’s revenue increased 16 per cent to Rs 1,120.6 crore as against Rs 968.86 crore in the first half of fiscal 2002-03. Apollo Tyres scrip was quoted at Rs 258 at the Bombay Stock Exchange this afternoon. With the offloading of stake and an agreement to set up a joint venture with Michelin, Apollo’s technical alliance with Germany-based tyre firm Continental would cease to exist, Kanwar said. Asked whether Apollo and Michelin had identified the place to set up manufacturing base, he said “though it is yet to be decided, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu can be one of the places”. “With this agreement, Michelin fully intends to establish its presence and to grow in India with Michelin-technology, together with a partner with whom we share mutual obligations,” Michelin official Edouard Michelin said. Michelin will provide the technical assistance to both the upcoming joint venture and existing Apollo Tyres as well. The partnership could not have been better-timed in view of the growing bus and tyre market in India as the ongoing highway projects hold immense potential, Kanwar said. The products would be sold in both “Michelin” and “Apollo” brandnames. —
PTI, UNI
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IT exports jump 35 pc at $ 6.5 billion New Delhi, November 17 However, in rupee terms, the increase is 31.06 per cent during the six month period at Rs 30,623 crore, D K Sareen, Executive Director, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), told newspersons here after releasing the half-yearly estimates of software and electronics hardware. The growth in export of computer software and services was 38 per cent in dollar terms during H1 while that of electronics hardware was 13.29 per cent, he said. “Going by the trend, we are confident that export target set for 2003-04 at $ 13.77 billion is in the achievable realm”, he said, adding that the IT sector should consolidate on its intrinsic strengths and build on it to achieve the target of $ 50 billion IT exports by 2008. Sareen said, the ESC in consultations with the Ministries of IT and Communications and Commerce and Industry, is chalking out strategies to guide the IT segment in enhancing its presence in the existing market, including the US, the EU and Japan and for developing the alternative markets. Unveiling the plan for “IndiaSoft 2004”, P.K. Sandell, ESC Chairman, said delegates from over 45 countries were likely to participate. In Kolkata, Nasscom had yesterday said IT exports were expected to surge in H2 as US economy had picked up. “The picture looks good. As the US economy is picking up, the IT export growth in 2003-04 is likely to be around 26-28 per cent irrespective of the first half performance,” Nasscom President Kiran Karnik told newspersons. The total IT exports in 2002-03 stood at
about $ 9.5 billion. — PTI |
SC to
hear plea on WLL in December New Delhi, November 17 A Bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice G P Mathur, while hearing the interim application filed by the COAI pointing out as to how Reliance has been favoured by unifed licence, observed that it was not proper for the government to frustrate the petition through the new licence regime. The Bench refused to pass any interim order on the application saying “the issue has many ramifications and we will hear it in detail.” However, Solicitor General Kirit Raval pointed out that the unified licence regime was a recommendation of TRAI, and that it was perfectly in tune with the National Telecom Policy-99. He said the cellular operators had no qualms when there was a change of policy under NTP-99 allowing them to switch over from the licence fee to revenue sharing regime under the migration package which was hugely beneficial to them. The present change of policy may help other operators and the COAI should not protest about it. The COAI had said the whole process of the unified access licensing regime was “improper, incorrect, unreasonable and unfair”, and had been carried out with unseemly haste and with a pre-determined mindset. |
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India, Turkey sign
agreements
New Delhi, November 17 A Turkish business delegation comprising over 25 different companies was in Mumbai and New Delhi for four days to pursue interests in joint ventures and export and imports with Indian companies. At a business meeting organised by the CII, these Turkish companies met over 40 Indian companies to seek trading partners. While quite a few memorandums of understanding are in the offing, a handful are signed within a few hours of the meeting. Turkey’s Under Secretary from the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Omer Faruk Dogan, led the Turkish delegation. Chairman of the CII’s Central Asia Committee and Chairman and Managing Director of Inapex V.K. Mathur, led the Indian side. Mr Mathur spoke about the opportunities India presents, especially given its sound macro-economic fundamentals. Turkish Ambassador to India, Hasan Gogus, spoke at length on the synergies between the two nations and how India was considered a neighbour in his country even though there was no natural boundary between the two countries. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Turkey, it was agreed by both sides that efforts would be made to establish banking links between the two countries. — UNI
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Bids invited for PTDC
properties Chandigarh, November 17 The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment, under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has approved the transaction documents and decided to invite bids on December 5, 2003. In the first phase, the government had offered for sale Amritsar International Hotel, Tourist Complex, Neelon, Tourist Complex, Wagah and Holiday Home resorts. The approval is expected to be received shortly. Bidders have been given the option that they may either purchase 60 per cent of the shareholding immediately and balance 40 per cent by April, 2004, or else they may buy the entire shareholding. The government has also invited expressions of interest for the second tranche of properties comprising Pinkcassia Tourist Complex, Ropar, Sukhchain Tourist Complex, Jalandhar, Gardenia Tourist Complex, Kapurthala, Gulmohar Tourist Complex, Pathankot, Marigold Tourist Complex, Sanghol, Tourist Complex, Faridkot and land at Dasuya. The due diligence is expected to commence shortly.
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| Harry Potter sales reach 250 m London, November 17 And avid young Potter fans can rest easy: JK Rowling has started work on the sixth book in the saga set in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Rowling's agent, Christopher Little, told Reuters worldwide sales of the first five books have now reached 250
million. They have been sold in more than 200 countries and translated into 60 languages, ranging from Gujarati to Ancient Greek. The latest, launched in India this month, was in Hindi. The publishing industry has hailed Rowling's success in teaching the world's children to read again in an age of short attention spans fed a diet of TV, cartoons and computer games. "We look forward to introducing Harry Potter to yet more readers in the furthest parts of the globe," he added. Nor is Rowling resting on her
laurels. "JK Rowling has begun work on the sixth book about the boy wizard. As yet no date is fixed for its release," he said. The release in June of the fifth book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", was billed as the world's biggest book launch with kids from New York to Sydney devouring the tome. On day one, 1.78 million copies were sold in Britain alone, helping to push the first-half profits of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc up by 14 per cent. Rowling, once a single mother who penned her books in an Edinburgh cafe, is now a multi-millionaire who has been ranked as the world's best paid author. The Sunday Times put her earnings over the past year at 125 million pounds ($211 million), which was calculated as being the equivalent to 388 pounds for every word of her latest Potter saga. "She is a money-making machine. The temptation to keep writing after the last of her seven planned Potter adventures must be irresistible. She could be the first billionaire author in history," said Philip Beresford, who compiled the Sunday Times pay list. —Reuters
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Banks told not to be complacent with g-sec profits Mumbai, November 17 “Harnessing technology to improve productivity so as to produce highly competitive types of banking and generating greater non-interest income by diversifying into non-fund based activities will be important features of Indian banking of tomorrow”, the RBI said in its “Report of Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2002-03” released here today. It said, “banks have to put in place appropriate risk management systems.” —
PTI
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London, November 17
