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Hero Motors, Italian firm tie
up US move to limit IT trade worries
India Dual control hits
coop banks’ growth Gold crosses $400
mark PNB signs pact with Principal Group
Hyundai ownership feud goes to
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Hero Motors, Italian firm tie up New Delhi, November 19 Hero Motors, which was investing Rs 135 crore in setting up a manufacturing line at its Ghaziabad plant near here, would launch its first co-branded non-geared scooter in the fourth quarter of 2004, Hero Motors Managing Director Pankaj Munjal told a news conference. The company would source vehicle design for the non-geared scooters, which, it said, would be a fusion of scooter economy and efficiency and style of bikes from Aprilia. These scooters will be launched in the 75 cc, 92 cc (targeting young female market), 125 cc (targeting family and young male market) and 177 cc category (exclusively for export market). Refusing to divluge the price of the latest offering from the Rs 7,800 crore Hero group, Munjal said the vehicle would be priced higher than the existing competitors. “If you want the best of technology, comfort, style and performance, you have to pay a premium,” he said. The premium could be about 10 per cent over the competing models. Aprilia would not have any equity in the venture and would only be paid an unspecified royalty per vehicle for the technology and design. Munjal said the company was targeting a 10 per cent share in both the 3,50,000 scooterette market (below 100 cc) and 4,00,000 vehicles a year in family un-geared scooter market. About 20-30 per cent of the vehicles manufactured at Hero Motors’ new 450,000 units-a-year assembly line would be exported. Hero Motors Chief Operating Officer P.V.V. Srinivasa Rao said the company had the engine technology to manufacture 75 cc and 92 cc scooterettes and for 125 cc and 177 cc un-geared scooter, which has been nick-named “motoscooter”, it is talking to another European firm for technological tie-up. “Our latest offering will be a cross between a bike and a scooter,” he said, adding that the company would in Oct-Dec, 2004, launch 75 cc and 92 cc scooterette for the young female market. Other products would be rolled out over the next 18 months, he said. Aprilia, which like Hero Motors started with making cycles four decades ago, will buy back 3 variants (75 cc, 92 cc and 125 cc) for it customers in Europe. Aprilia Chairman Ivano Beggio said the low cost manufacturing in India would save the company 20-30 per cent. Hero Motors’ current partnership, which is for a period of 8 years with a yearly turnover of about $ 70 million is in the form of a trademark and licensing agreement. Aprilia will transfer technological know-how, which would primarily include design. Hero Motors, which would pay Aprilia royalty per vehicle for using its brand name and technical expertise, would have the exclusive right for the Aprilia-licensed co-branded vehicles in India. —
PTI |
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US move to limit IT trade worries
India Bangalore, November 19 Sibal was speaking at a meeting here of the India-US High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG), which also focused on expanding bilateral defence ties to co-development and co-production of defence equipment. "The proposed anti-legislature measures by a few states in the US on IT outsourcing and offshoring needs to be addressed squarely, as such attempts will only hinder ongoing progress in the high technology areas between the two countries," said Sibal. The HTCG meeting was organised by the CII and Nasscom on the eve of a high-level bilateral meeting on Thursday in New Delhi to be chaired by Sibal and U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce Kenneth Juster. The US moves to restrict IT trade were likely to figure in Thursday's meeting, Sibal said. This was the second meeting of the HTCG and it focused on fostering bilateral hi-tech commerce, including trade in strategic goods and technologies. Sibal also hinted at a possible agreement on leveraging the government and private resources to connect the Indian and US economies in hi-tech areas such as biotechnology, education technology, nano-technology and telemedicine. A 30-member U.S. delegation and captains of Indian industry attended the HTCG meeting. The daylong session dwelt on the framework for addressing various issues like regulatory measures, confidence-building steps, technology security and reaching out to the industry in both countries to overcome the impact of US sanctions on India in the wake of the Pokhran nuclear tests of May 1998. Referring to the HTCG's first meeting in Washington about four months ago, Sibal said: "In the first meeting, we looked into tariff issues on IT products, customs procedures and trade facilitation measures at Indian ports. Juster urged the Indian Government to remove impediments on trade investments by US firms and to raise the cap on foreign direct investment in defence ventures from the present 26 per cent. During his trips to Hyderabad and Chennai over the past two days, Juster sought India's commitment to lower barriers for greater market access to US firms and products in hi-technology areas. —IANS |
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Dual control hits
coop banks’ growth Chandigarh, November 19 Consequently, the management of the Punjab State Cooperative Banks, running over 800 branches, has not started computerisation and failed to close down about 100 loss-making branches. Interestingly, the state government has reportedly failed to utilise a financial package of over Rs 700 crore for the restructuring of the cooperative banks announced by Mr Ajit Singh, former Agricultural Minister, in August last year. Mr Bua Singh, President, Punjab State Cooperative Bank Employees Federation, said, "Had the state government passed the Cooperative Amendment Act, recently cleared by the state Cabinet and awaiting clearance of the state Legislative Assembly, to offer autonomous status to the cooperative bank, we would have obtained over Rs 720 crore as one-time grant under the Centre Rs 8,200 crore package announced for the cooperative banks last year." According to the provisional estimates, the deposits of the cooperative banks have marginally increased from Rs 1,003.83 crore as on September 30, 2002, to Rs 1,034.48 crore by September 30, 2003. The total advances increased from Rs 1,972.95 crore to Rs 2,280.48 crore and the total profit of the banks increased from Rs 10.63 crore to Rs 12.99 crore during the same period. Due to the higher interest rate, complicated procedures, a section of farmers is already shifting to commercial banks. Mr A. Ramanathan, CGM, Nabard, Chandigarh Region, said since the cooperative banks came under the state subject, the Bank could not intervene to improve the functioning of the bank. The employees alleged with a share of just Rs 20 lakh in the total Rs 299 crore subscribed capital, the state government was exerting undue pressure in the day to day functioning of the bank. The bank has an authorised capital of Rs 100 crore. |
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Gold crosses $400 mark Singapore, November 19 The spot price rose as high as $400.25 an ounce before retreating to just below the milestone mark, getting its latest lift from the dollar’s slide to all-time lows against the euro and to near three-year troughs versus the yen. ‘’I think if we get through $401, we can rally quite quickly to $405,’’ said Martin Mayne, Associate Director at N.M. Rothschild in Sydney. ‘’If it doesn’t, it will pull back.’’ The dollar was hurt after Washington said it would impose import quotas on Chinese textiles, raising fears protectionism would hurt the US economic recovery. A weaker dollar generally boosts gold. Gold at Rs 5980 New Delhi: Gold prices zoomed on the bullion market here today recording a gain of Rs 55 at Rs 5,980 per 10 gram on aggressive buying by stockists, triggered by a notably firm trend in the foreign markets. The yellow metal was last seen around this level on January 12 at Rs/6020 per 10 gram. The buying activity continued due to the marriage season when reports of a steep hike in gold prices in overseas markets also pushed up the prices. Standard gold and ornaments bounced up by Rs.55 at Rs 5,980 and Rs 5,830 per 10 gram. Sovereign, on the other hand, continued to be asked at unchanged level of Rs 4,700 per piece of eight gram. —
Reuters, PTI |
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PNB signs pact with Principal Group Ludhiana, November 19 Talking with investors here today, D.L. Rawal, General Manager, Punjab National Bank, New Delhi said the bank had collected Rs 31 crore from the Punjab zone from 20 investors under this scheme during the past four days itself. The amount of premium mobilised was highest amongst all zones for the non-life insurance business, under the tie-up arrangements with New India Assurance Co. Limited. He said the zone had covered about 1,20,000 persons, recovering a premium of Rs 151 lakh up to September 30. He said the bank had introduced many products and facilities for the benefit of customers, including connectivity of branches under the core banking solution, PNB debit-cum-ATM card, insurance, mutual fund, PNB smart roamer and PNB prudent sweep. |
Hyundai ownership feud goes to court Seoul, November 19 The feud pits Hyundai Group Chairperson Hyun Jung-Eun against Chung Sang-Yung, the uncle of her late husband, in a battle for control of the business empire that has spearheaded South Korean projects in North Korea. Hyun took over the group from her husband — son of group founder Chung Ju-Young — who committed suicide in August, acquiring a 27.37 per cent stake in the group’s holding company, Hyundai Elevator, including 18.57 per cent held by her mother. The uncle, however, went on a share-buying spree last month, raising his stake in Hyundai Elevator to more than 50 per cent by using Kumgang Korea Chemical and other firms under his control. — AFP PC market grows
24 pc NEW DELHI: India’s personal computer market grew 24 per cent in the July-September quarter, touching seven lakh units over the same quarter a year ago, with HP replacing HCL in the overall desktop market to achieve a 10 per cent market share, according to quarterly PC tracker IDC India. The total PC units grew 17.6 per cent over the previous quarter, it said, adding that the total consumer desktop market grew 16 per cent on a year-on-year basis to touch 2.18 lakh units. HP dominated the consumer desktop market with 20,622 units in the quarter with a market share of 9.4 per cent followed by HCL with a market share of 5.1 per cent. —
PTI
Govt denial on 26 pc FDI in pvt banks NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday denied that it had decided to allow up to 26 per cent foreign investment in private sector banks. “At the moment, no such decision has been taken by the government in this regard. No official communication has been issued in the matter,” a Finance Ministry release said. —
PTI
Free theft cover on Nokia handsets NEW DELHI: HCL Infinet has tied up with National Insurance Company Limited to launch a free insurance scheme for all Nokia GSM handsets. The scheme is valid for all Nokia GSM handsets purchased from October 25,2003, onwards. Under the scheme, the buyer will get an insurance certificate duly signed by the selling channel partner at the time of purchase. The scheme comes at no extra cost on purchase of a Nokia GSM handset from the HCL sales network. —
UNI
HP India unveils servers NEW DELHI: Hewlett Packard India Pvt Ltd on Wednesday unveiled a new line of servers in the sub Rs 1 lakh range aimed at small and medium businesses and said it expected to sell 500 units of this server in the next quarter. HP ProLiant ML150 Intel-based server is priced at Rs 94,900 and aimed at the value-conscious SMBs, Mr Vaibhav Phadnis, country manager, Industry Standard servers, HP India, told newspersons here. —
PTI
American wines
come to India MUMBAI: American wines are coming to India in a big way to compete with well-known French and German brands, the Counsel-General at the US Consulate in Mumbai, Mr Angus Simmons, said here today. Inaugurating the launch of the first fall festival of US wines and food here, he said until 1997 India had been fairly a closed market for imported wines and spirits. However, the trend was now changing, he said. —
PTI |
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Mumbai, November 19