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D.S. Pendse arrested again Ranbaxy denies UK charges Jaswant’s no to Re convertibility 3-nation highway project to take Assist govt on crop insurance, banks
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| AOL to open centre in India BSNL tariff plan gets TRAI
approval
Bankers demonstrate to recover loans Kharar mill to close down on December 31
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D.S. Pendse arrested again New Delhi, December 23 He was today produced in a city court and remanded to the police custody for seven days. According to a complaint lodged with the police, Pendse contracted with stock broker Rajinder Jhunjhunwalla for sale and purchase of 85,000 shares of Global Tele Systems, when he was director of TFL associate Inshallah Investment Ltd (IIL). These contracts were "principal to principal" meaning Jhunjhunwalla was personally the seller and IIL the purchaser. As per stock exchange rules, such a contract is known as off-market contract, and the broker is legally bound to inform the stock exchange within 48 hours of transcacting it. But this was not followed in this case, the complaint alleged. Pendse, it said, entered into the contracts knowing fully well that they could not be carried forward and they had no means to pay for the shares worth crores of rupees. A SEBI probe had also revealed that the transactions were made after thought and that Jhunjhunwala had indulged in ante dating the contract note and bills and falsifying accounts. The police has already arrested Jhujhunwalla over the charges. This is the second time Pendse is being arrested for alleged
misappropriations in the group company. Earlier, he was arrested in February last over charges of issuing cheques worth Rs 2 crore to brokers for paying personal transactions of a former TFL Director. —
PTI
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MUMBAI: SEBI here today debarred Dilip S Pendse from trading in the securities market for six months for indulging in insider trading in Tata Finance Limited (TFL). SEBI said here today that T.M. Nagarajan, a whole-time member of SEBI has issued an order on December 22, 2003, against Dilip S Pendse in the matter of insider trading by J.E. Talaulicar in the shares of TFL. SEBI said Mr Pendse has been found guilty of violating regulation 3 of SEBI (prohibition of insider trading) regulations, 1992. "Mr Pendse has, accordingly, been directed to dissociate himself from the securities market and not to deal in securities henceforth for a period of 6 months", the order said. —
UNI |
Ranbaxy denies UK charges New Delhi, December 23 “We have received a civic claim from the NHS and the company strongly believes we have done nothing in an improper way and we intend to contest this vigorously,” the company’s spokesperson said here. NHS had yesterday said it was filing a £ 30-million suit against seven companies, including
Ranbaxy. It had alleged the companies struck anti-competitive agreements to restrict the supply of penicillin-based antibiotics and to fix their prices. The spokesperson said one of the penicillin drugs mentioned in the NHS’ legal action involved a product Ranbaxy did not make or market. Meanwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RLL) said today it has received the first approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) to market anti-infective chewable Cefaclor tablets. The Office of Generic Drugs, the US FDA, has determined the Ranbaxy formulations to be bioequivalent and having the same therapeutic effect as the reference listed drug Ceclor Liquid, 125 mg, 187 mg, 250 mg and 375 mg, of Eli Lilly and Company, the drugmaker added.— PTI, UNI |
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Jaswant’s no to Re convertibility New Delhi, December 23 “As long as fiscal conditions are under constraint in the country and they are brought at a level that comfort us, I think there should be no anxiety regarding it (full convertibility of currency),” Mr Singh said during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha. Stating that there are many factors for total convertibility of currency like the state of fiscal deficit and inflation, he said a road map has also been suggested by the Tarapore Committee for moving to full convertibility of rupee. In reply to a question on the management of the burgeoning foreign exchange reserves which have touched $100 billion, he said it served the country “economically, psycologically and diplomatically”. As a result of the burgeoning foreign exchange reserves the government has decided not to seek any assistance from any country, he added. He informed the Upper House that a total of $7 billion worth of high-cost external debts have been pre-paid and “India will continue to pre-pay high cost debts”. The high foreign exchange reserves have also enabled the corporates to borrow at the better rate. The foreign exchange for all practical purposes has been made convertible in the country as business houses can borrow foreign exchange for projects abroad. Referring to the warning sounded by an international economist that India can face problems in forex management, he said the RBI has already taken appropriate steps in this direction. The Minister said foreign exchange reserves are managed and operated by the RBI and are invested in a multi-currency portfolio consisting of international convertible currencies. “Deployment of reserves is guided by the principle of safety, liquidity and return,” he asserted, adding the RBI closely monitors the developments in international foreign exchange markets and makes the needed and suitable adjustments in currency composition of reserves. |
| 3-nation highway project to take off next
year This was decided at a meeting here between foreign ministers of the three countries. The three ministers— External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung and Thailand Foreign Minister Dr Surakiart Sathirathai — held nearly 90-minute meeting which was followed by the delegation level talks. The entire project will involve an estimated cost of $ 700 million, including $ 252 million in the First Phase, $ 154 million in the second phase and $ 284 million in the third Phase. After the meetings, Mr Yashwant Sinha said at a joint press conference that the entire project had been divided into three phases. The first phase is discussed in detail today. India will prepare a detailed report on the bridge at Aravali. It is also decided to set up a committee of senior officials to review the progress on the project. —
UNI |
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Assist govt on crop insurance, banks
told Chandigarh, December 23 The softening of interest rates for the agriculture sector and raising of collateral-free credit limit for the SSI sector from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh had also influenced the credit offtake that had registered a growth rate of 19 per cent during the corresponding period last year. The total bank deposits had increased from Rs 23,484 crore as on September, 2002, to Rs 24,444 crore by September, 2003, showing a growth rate of 8.3 per cent. However, the deposits had registered a growth rate of 12.9 per cent during the corresponding period last year. Mr Naryanasami claimed that the priority sector advances in the state had increased by Rs 1,635 crore or 26.8 per cent from Rs 6,110 crore to Rs 7,745 crore. In the agricultural sector, the advances increased from Rs 2,820 crore to Rs 3,712 crore, showing a growth rate of 31.06 per cent over the previous year advances. Mr Rajiv Arora, Director, Agriculture, Haryana, announced that the National Agricultural Insurance Policy will be implemented throughout the state for Kharif crop-2004, under which small and marginal farmers will get 50 per cent subsidy in premium payment. He called upon the bankers to assist the government in the implementation of the scheme. Earlier, Mr Harwant Singh General Manager, PNB, Northern Zone, informed the participants that performance of the state under the Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana and Swaran Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yozana had improved during 2002-03 in comparison to the previous year. He urged the state government to instruct the Haryana Finance Corporation to forward cases of the beneficiaries under the Scavenger Liberation and Rehabilitation Scheme. A maximum number of cases are pending in sponsoring in Kaithal district ( 121) followed by Gurgaon ( 78). |
AOL to open centre in India New Delhi, December 23 The company has so far not worked out the details about the number of Indian developers it will hire and the nature/kind of projects they will work on. The AOL presence in India will be “relatively small,” the reports quoted AOL spokesman Jim Whitney as saying.The opening of the Bangalore development centre is “still a few months away”, he said. The subsidiary had also indicated earlier that it was diversifying into technology development and content creation for AOL. —
UNI |
BSNL tariff plan gets TRAI approval New Delhi, December 23 TRAI said the benefits arising out of such tariff plans in promoting the Internet penetration outweigh the concerns arising out of discrimination and, therefore, decided that it should be supported. “It was further decided that such bundling of tariffs involving concessional tariff for Internet usage by any service provider will also be supported by the authority,” it said. BSNL’s plans, now approved by TRAI, includes zero installation charges and zero security deposit for the second connection to existing BSNL’s fixed line subscribers. This scheme is available initially for one year. —
PTI |
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BSNL to issue
1 lakh WLL connections Fatehabad, December 23 Talking to mediapersons here today Mr A.K. Nagpal, Chief General Manager, Telecom, Haryana Circle, said it has brought the waitlist of prospective telephone customers in the urban areas to almost zero and it hopes that it will be able to provide telephone on demand in rural areas too once the WLL service begins to function in the next two months. Mr Nagpal was here to inaugurate two remote switch unit (RSU) types of C-DOT exchanges attached to the Fatehabad telephone exchange at Daryapur and Bhuna Morh villages in Fatehabad.
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Bankers demonstrate to recover loans Chandigarh, December 23 As part of the all-India campaign, the bank employees will hold demonstrations in 12 towns, including Gurgaon, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Rohtak and Kaithal, before December 31 this year. The employees of the bank today demonstrated in front of the premises of some defaulters in Sector 34 here. The employees claim that the bank has to recover over Rs 1 crore from defaulters from this sector alone, outstanding for the past many years. Among others, the defaulters included Mr G.S. Bajwa, a construction contractor, who has to pay over Rs 10 lakh. A senior official of the bank claimed that demonstration is held last week in Panchkula also that helped them bring defaulters to the negotiating tables. They had now agreed to repay amount worth over Rs 40 lakh in instalments. Under the programme the demonstrations have also been held in Lucknow, Ahemedabad and other cities. The employees of the branch concerned will march in a procession in the area near their premises or industrial unit, while holding placards denouncing non-payment of bank loans.
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Kharar mill to close down on December 31 Kharar, December 23 As all 612 staffers of the PWM have already applied for the modified voluntary retirement scheme (MVRS) before December 20, which was the last date for accepting MVRS applications, the over five-decade-old NTC mill will be formally closed down from January 1, 2004. The NTC management has announced the cut-off date following acceptance of MVRS by all staffers, said the sources in the PWM today. However, the staffers, who had applied for MVRS, were required to report on duty till December 31. —
UNI |
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2 LSE members suspended Hudco net up PNB loan mela Hutch rates cut Kotak scheme Ludhiana mill IDBI Bank MD Secretary exams ICICI in Canada |
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In a categoric statement, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh today ruled out full convertibility of rupee on capital account in the country till the fiscal deficit and inflation are brought to a comfort level even as he expected the forex reserves to rise further.
India, Myanmar and Thailand will commence construction of a 1,360 km long highway linking the three countries by road, thereby considerably boosting trade and tourism among them, in "early" 2004.
New Delhi, December 23
