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Gold hits 14-year
high British Airways planes wait on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport in London on Monday. The aviation authorities were on high alert on Monday after several international flights were grounded last week amid fears of another September 11-style terror attack. — Reuters |
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UK firm buys 49
pc stake New Jersey’s
Bill to shatter Indian BPO dreams Clouds of uncertainty are hovering over the business process outsourcing (BPO) dreams of India as the New Jersey state of the USA is initiating a Bill to check its vendors by law importing BPO services from foreign countries. Faridabad to have
industrial estate Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said yesterday an industrial estate would be established in 92 acres at Mothuka in this district where plots would be allotted to industrialists at cheaper rates. Chennai, January 5 Targeting the ‘popular’ segment, TVS Motor Company today launched a 100 CC four-stroke motorcycle, with Variable Timing intelligent (VTi) engines, claiming to give more mileage to consumers.
Rallis to allot preferential
shares
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Gold hits 14-year high
London, January 5 Analysts said gold could touch $450 an ounce this year, the highest in 16 years, because of ongoing dollar weakness, fears of fresh attacks on the United States and persistent violence in Iraq. Prices touched a peak of $418.25 in early trading, and analysts said they expected the metal to notch up further gains, given the trends on foreign exchanges and gold’s close inverse relationship with the dollar. ''There’s a very small amount of profit-taking at the moment. It may fall back to $410 but I believe a rebound to $420 is on the cards,’’ said one dealer in Sydney. The dollar fell to a three-year low against the yen on Monday, slipping below 106.50 yen as broad dollar selling took it through key technical support. The US unit was under pressure as comments by Federal Reserve governor Ben Bernanke reinforced a view that US interest rates will stay low for some time. The dollar traded at a low of 106.48 yen, while against the euro it had dropped to 1.2695 on persistent worries about a widening US current account deficit. ''With analysts predicting a test of 1.30 in the euro by the end of the month further gains in gold seem likely,’’ James Moore of TheBullionDesk.com said. Gold rose about 20 per cent in 2003 as geopolitical tension and a sliding dollar raised its safe-haven status. A weaker dollar makes dollar-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies, especially the euro. Gold, which in early 1990 climbed to $425 an ounce, showed its resilience last month, holding above $400 despite the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein that lifted the dollar. ''I am not too sure what will happen when the New Yorkers are in. It may test $420. (It) depends on the euro,’’ said Beh Hsia Wah, a dealer at United Overseas Bank in Singapore. ''Technical resistance at $418 is still holding gold back at the moment and with Comex traders returning to find the market $3 higher I would imagine we will see some profit taking today, but a break above $418 will see little to slow gold till $422/425,’’ Moore said. HSBC said over the last two years it was evident that the dollar/euro rate in particular had provided the dominant influence in gold. ''This has been largely irrespective of developments in the underlying fundamentals of supply and demand, changing producer strategies with respect to hedging, the impact of a higher gold price on mine production plans, the ongoing weakness in physical demand and/or whether or not there will be a renewal of the Central Bank Gold Agreement,’’ HSBC said. ''We expect the dollar to continue weakening, with a Q3 target of 1.35 against the euro, implying a gold price of around $435,’’ HSBC added.
— Reuters
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Reliance Power to get trading licence
New Delhi, January 5 In separate letters issued today, the CERC said the commission was finalising the form and manner for the grant of licence and all regulations would be finalised by the end of the current year. The letter, however, pointed out that till the regulatory framework would be set up by the end of the month, the companies could continue the sale and purchase of inter-state energy without obtaining specific approval of the commission. There would be an open house on licence issue by January 14-15. On dismissing the application of Tata Power for a trading licence, CERC sources said the applicant had not yet decided on the name of the company proposed to be incorporated. “But nobody has denied them the right to trading in power,” the sources said. Tata Power was yet to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for electricity trading. Last month, the CERC in order to establish a cross-country power market, issued draft guidelines for inter-state power trading, specifying minimum capital norms. The Electricity Act, 2003, recognises trading as a separate licenced activity and the CERC was required to issue the licence for inter-state trading. The CERC has received applications for grant of licence for trading from Reliance, the Tatas, Essar, Transpower, Adani Power Ltd, Global Energy Ltd and Koyla Energy. All these companies will have to comply with the norms laid out by the CERC under its regulations for inter-state trading in electricity. Under the norms, trading will be restricted initially by way of bilateral contracts between generators and traders on the one hand and traders and licensees on the other hand. The regulator has specified six categories of licensees depending on electricity traded with net worth requirements ranging from Rs 2 crore to Rs 25 crore. The licence seekers would also have to pay differing amounts for licence depending on the category with fees ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. Each licence will have a life of 25 years with the regulator reserving the right to fix the trading margins from time to time. Trading has been recognised as a distinct activity under the Electricity Act, 2003, with the regulator being entrusted with the responsibility of regulating the market. While the commission has been permitting various players to trade for the past few months, including Reliance and Essar groups, players trade at their own risk pending notification of norms. The CERC said it would begin by examining the “application on the touchstone of technical
requirements, capital adequacy and creditworthiness of the applicant.”
— UNI
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UK firm buys 49 pc stake in HCL Perot
New Delhi, January 5 The new company will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Aircom International UK and will now be known as Aircom International (India), the company announced today. "With the emergence of Aircom India, we plan to continue to penetrate the Indian and SAARC telecommunications markets with more vigour and re-emphasise our expertise and leadership in the wireless business," said Stephen Mockford, group chairman and managing director, Aircom International Limited. The company will offer a full blend of products, consulting, training and support services in the wireless sector, for which they have procured the Certificate of Incorporation from the Registrar of Companies. They will be fully operational by March this year. "We are finalising the strategy document with the India team and will announce our detailed strategy for the India and SAARC market by the end of this month," said Mockford. Aircom customers include network operators such as Hutchison, MTN, Orange, Batelco, TCI, T-Mobile and Vodafone as well as infrastructure vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson, Lucent, NEC, Siemens and NTT
DoCoMo. — IANS
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New Jersey’s Bill to shatter Indian BPO dreams
Mumbai, January 5 The Nasscom-McKinsey report predicts 2 million jobs that outsourcing centres in India will provide in six years and by 2008, the revenue predicted is around $ 24 billion, which will be 3 per cent of India’s GDP. Significantly, the growth rate achieved by this new-born industry was 71 per cent last year, making it the fastest growing industry. In the last five years, more than 336 centres have come up in India, according to trade sources. The burgeoning Indian BPO sector is disturbed over this proposed Bill in the US state of New Jersey to arrest outsourcing to other countries, including India. According to Public Advocate-Designate for the State of New Jersey and the Ratepayer Advocate for the State of New Jersey Seema M Singh, New Jersey politicians are divided on the BPO issue. ‘’Some of the politicians are in favour of BPO from foreign countries, including India, but lots of them are opposing and vigourously protesting against it as their friends and relatives have lost jobs to Indians and others,’’ Ms Singh said. ‘’No doubt the BPO is going to crate a negative impact on the State since it is creating joblessness. People are not happy with the existing BPO trend also. The legislation process is on. But there is a strong need for change in the mindset,’’ she said. Indian companies should be sensitive to this issue. A lot of deliberations are taking place on this issue, said Ms Singh who is also President of the Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce (AICC) here. Interestingly, many companies had asked to lobby for intensive BPO earlier and the same are now
requesting to arrest the trend of BPO from various foreign countries, said officials from New Jersey State. There are more than 200 call centres in India, employing over 1,00,000 educated persons and the service exports in value terms as a result stood at Rs 2,470 crore in 2002, growing at a rate of 30 per cent. According to HRD analysts, though New Jersey’s this move will not dampen the BPO prospects in India that much, the situation will worsen if other US states and other countries follow the same suit. Ms Singh said, ‘’In a globalised scenario, BPO should not be prevented. But taking things of New Jersey into account, the BPO trend must not be encouraged and, of course, it should not be totally ignored.’’ ‘’However, the companies of the New Jersey State have already started minimising the BPO from foreign countries including India,’’ added Ms Singh, who is also a member of Governor James E McGreevey’s cabinet. An Indian analyst feel that time has come to rethink and redraft the business strategy in the wake of these issues. “Though there is imminent threat to the BPO sector in India, time has come to formulate a strategy in advance so as to meet the dangers in the future. Now, many companies are shifting their base to India and there is immense potential for BPO also. But things will not be the same always,’’ he cautioned.
— UNI
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Faridabad to have industrial estate
Faridabad, January 5 This was stated by the Chief Minister after inaugurating the common effluent treatment plant as well as this new Electroplating Zone here in which as many as 250 plots have been allotted to such industrial units out of which 105 of them had already shifted to the new area and started production. Mr Chautala said earlier, this land was acquired for the construction of the jail but now an industrial estate is being developed on that area. He said the state government had removed the bottleneck in the development of an IT park at Faridabad in which crores of rupees were likely to be invested which would speed up the industrial development in Faridabad. He said there was a need to set up more industries in the state as it was the only solution to provide employment avenues to the unemployed youth in the state. A committee had also been constituted for exploring the employment avenues.
— UNI
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TVS Centra to cost Rs 37,000
Chennai, January 5 Bundling price, mileage, maintenance, style, power and riding comfort into it, the “Centra”, also called “fill it once a month bike”, will make it the most fuel-efficient motorcycle in the country, Chairman and Managing Director of the company Venu Srinivasan told newsmen here, while launching the new product, costing Rs 36,990. Pointing out that this latest technology engine would be introduced in other motorcycle brands of the company like Victor and Fiero, he said 1.4 million two-wheelers, including mopeds, would be sold by the company during 2004-05.
— PTI
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