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Ram Naik
non-committal on discount to investors IRDA warns TPAs,
insurers on not settling
claims in time High GDP growth
to push up insurance cover IPCL floor price
for IPO fixed at Rs 170
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Induction
furnaces face uncertainty NHPC gets
approval for Tata Motors to
acquire LG launches GSM
handsets Graphic: Production of foodgrains,
oilseeds and other crops during 2003-04
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Ram Naik non-committal on discount to investors
Mumbai, February 18 Talking to reporters at the NA Platform of Mumbai High to celebrate the “three glorious decades of Mumbai offshore’’, about 160km off the Mumbai Coast this afternoon, Mr Naik said it was too early to say whether the small investors could be offered any discounts when the oil companies offload their part equities. It is still in preliminary stage, he observed. Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie, who was here yesterday to attend a conference, had said the government wants to reward the small investors and the extent of discounts and the lock-in periods would form part of the proposals to the Finance Minister. Mr Naik, when pressed further, commented “we want to give something to people at large and domestice investors’’. However, he also added the government wants to raise Rs 14,000-crore through this disinvestments and the three oil companies whose equity would be offloaded include ONGC (10 per cent), Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) 10 per cent and IBP 20 per cent. Earlier addressing a small gathering of top ONGC officials and former chairmen (who were felicitated by him on the occasion), Mr Naik said the ONGC has made the nation proud. What started as an ‘act of faith’ by a handful of young scientists and engineers has today turned into the most quoted example of a success story in the corporate circles, Mr Naik observed and added it is the nation’s ‘’most valuable corporate, private and public sector combined’’. It is not the numbers, which make ONGC a leader. Although money matters, it is the men who matter the most in ONGC, he said. He underlined the importance of safety and security. Referring to the recent
helicopter mishap, which had claimed many lives, Mr Naik said the Dr T.S. Vijayraghavan (Ex-Petroleum Secretary) has submitted two interim reports, which were under examination of the government. Experts from Indian Air Force (IAF) were also appointed as the third party auditors and their report too has been received, he said adding that the intention was to establish the best in safety and security standards to minimise loss of human lives and property. Mr Naik lauded ONGC’s
initiative to appoint internationally reputed advisor Hart Aviation of Australia as consultants to draft the corporation’s aviation policy and build up standards for offshore helicopter operation. ONGC is also bringing in a helicopter under water escape training simulator from Canada to Mumbai to train its offshore employees and the training would begin by the end of next month. Mr Naik was all praise on the successful implementation of the redevelopment plan of Mumbai High North and Mumbai High South involving a huge investment of over Rs 8,000-crore.
— UNI
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IRDA warns TPAs, insurers on not settling New Delhi, February 18 “We can take action against those TPAs and the insurers can terminate them (in case they break the rules), IRDA Chairman C S Rao told newspersons on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. “Definitely we will tighten the rules, he said adding that the responsibility of settling claims lied with the insurers. He acknowledged that the insurers and TPAs were facing ‘initial hiccups’ with the increase in volume of business. The regulator was also creating a database for health insurance which would enable easy settlement of premium settlement ratios. The database should be ready within a period of six months. Speaking at the conference he said that the insurance industry had not really tapped the potential of the Indian market, especially in the rural areas. “The insurance industry has not made any determined effort to tap this enormous market. Similarly, there is a need for risk cover for the socially and economically disadvantaged section of the population,” the IRDA Chairman said. There was also a need to come up with appropriate micro-insurance products to cater such concerns. He urged actuarial professionals to look towards rural markets not only as a regulatory obligation but as a potential market waiting to be tapped. The IRDA further urged the actuarial professionals to strengthen their knowledge base, skills and expertise in a wide range of areas — asset liability
management, underwriting, investments, derivatives; legal framework; legislations and regulations relating to the insurance industry.
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High GDP growth to push up insurance cover
New Delhi, February 18 “We wish to see that the insurance industry is able to mobilise long term savings to support economic growth and also facilitate economic development by providing insurance cover to a large segment of our people as well as to business enterprises throughout the country,” IRDA Chairman C S Rao said at a Ficci insurance conference here. Although the insurance market was growing by 25 per cent in the last two years, India accounted for only 0.59 per cent of $ 2,627 billion global insurance market. With economy slated to log 8 per cent growth in 2003-04 and chances of sustaining high growth in the coming year, Rao said “we expect that a large proportion of the population will reach a level of per capita income that will significantly increase the demand for risk and savings-type products and increase insurance penetration in the country.” The IRDA Chief, however, did not hide his disappointment at the lack of products for rural sector. “I am disappointed that products meant for rural areas and to meet the special requirement of socially disadvantaged sections have not come up in a significant way,” he said.
— PTI
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IPCL floor price for IPO fixed at Rs 170
New Delhi, February 18 The lower end of the price band for public issue through book building route, has been fixed at Rs 170 per share and there is no cap in the band, Disinvestment Secretary, Dhirendra Singh said. The government has also decided to have a differential pricing in favour of retail investors by offering a discount of 5 per cent, he said. The fair value of shares being offered to Reliance has been fixed at Rs 195 per share. The roadshows for IPCL were flagged-off yesterday in Mumbai, and the public offering of the company, now managed by Reliance, would open on February 20. After selling its 26 per cent equity to Reliance Industries Ltd in 2002 for Rs 1491 crore (Rs 231 per share), the government now holds about 33.95 per cent stake in IPCL. Of the residual stake, about 5 per cent would be given to employees, while the remaining 29 per cent stake would be offloaded in the market.
— PTI
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US Congress honours B.K. Modi
New York, February 18 In a proclamation presented to him last night, the Congress praised his initiative which led to establishment of a ‘large network’ of high tech businesses that “delivered to the people of India the first mobile phones, switching telephone exchanges, copiers, fax machines and 3-1/4 floppy disks.” The Modi Foundation, it said, sought to fulfill the social agenda by nurturing the cultural, educational, spiritual and social welfare of the less privileged and “promotes global peace through friendship and understanding.” It also recalled his association with the Indian Chapter of Asian Crime Prevention Foundation and Maha Bodhi Society of India. Addressing a select audience after receiving the proclamation, Mr Modi urged Indians to take up the cause of minorities and less privileged everywhere in the world. The next revolution was going to be in spiritual field and Indians with their heritage of peace and harmony were best suited to take up the leadership role in this, he said. Each one should consider himself or herself the ambassador of the country and promote its cause, Mr Modi said, adding India now had the capacity to lead the world in all fields including economic, social and spiritual. In his address, Ambassador at-large B.K. Agnihotri stressed the need for all Indians settled outside the country to work unitedly for the welfare and economic development of their
motherland. — PTI
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Induction furnaces face uncertainty Solan, February 18 With more than 30 applications of induction furnaces remaining pending with the government for over 10 months now the fate of these units hang in uncertainty. These units are concentrated in Baddi-Barotiwala, Kala Amb and Poanta Sahib. This is despite the fact that these prospective industrialists have already invested lakhs on purchasing land as well as completing formalities of the industries and power departments. After making preliminary registration with the industries department these units procured power availability certificates by paying non-refundable advance consumption deposit at the rate of Rs 100 per kwatt as well as infrastructure charges at the rate of Rs 200 per kwatt. Consuming high power in the range of 3 mw to 20 mw the government had proposed to frame a policy for these induction furnaces last year after announcement of the new policy. Despite a lapse of several months no breakthrough has been made in the matter. In a bid to resolve the matter a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of the chief minister was recently constituted to look into the matter. The committee comprising chief secretary, chairman electricity board, director industries, member secretary pollution control board among others are slated to meet soon to suggest recommendations in the matter. With power being the raw material of these units additional investment ranging from 20 lakh to 2.5 crore depending upon the individual capacity is incurred on setting up specialised sub-stations for these units. While a subsidy in the power tariff was permissible by the board for setting up sub-stations it was the inordinate delay in framing the policy which hampered the process opined board officials. A subsidy of 1.5 per cent, 2.0 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent was allowed for setting up of 33kv, 66 kv, 132 kv and 220 kv sub-stations respectively. Grant of power from ordinary sub-stations to these furnaces is dismissed due to their large requirement. Another crucial matter regarding location of these units is also significant as a cluster of such units cannot be allowed in a particular area. With elevation of the board’s Chairman, Kanwar Samsher Singh to the post of Chief Secretary the matter may receive a sympathetic view in the next week’s high-powered meeting to suggest recommendations.
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NHPC gets approval for increasing share
Dalhousie (HP), February 18 Mr S.K.
Dodeja, Chief Executive director of the NHPC disclosed here today that the corporation had so far registered a net profit of Rs 510.50 crore which was the highest ever profit made since the inception of corporation in 1975. The corporation had also registered its sales turnover of Rs 1324.90 crore and generated 986.71 million units (MUs) of energy during last year. Mr Dodeja asserted that the NHPC was dedicated to harnessing vast hydro power potential of the country estimated to 1,50,000 MW of which nearly 18 per cent had been developed so far thereby leading to sustainable development by optimum utilisation of natural resources. The 198 MW Baira-Siul hydroelectic project in Himachal Pradesh was the first project commissioned by NHPC in 1981 after it came into existence. So far the achievements
of the corporation included an installed capacity of 2475 MW, another 4322 MW under construction and about 30,000 MW under various stages of development across the country, he added. Mr Dodeja stated that allocation of Rs 32,226 crore by the planning commission for tenth five year plan was an increase of 500 per cent in comparison to eleventh five year plan. during the tenth and eleventh five year
plans, the corporation was committed to 16004 MW of power generation. The NHPC was lending consultancy services to other agencies and organisations, both in public and private sectors. During the current year, the
corporation had achieved new consultancy assignments totalling to Rs 92.65 crore while last year these assignments were
upto to Rs 26.88 crore, he added.
— UNI
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Tata Motors to acquire Daewoo firm
Mumbai, February 18 The acquisition would be financed equally through Tata Motors’ equity in DWCV and direct lending facilities to DWCV. The price included the perpetual and exclusive right to use Daewoo trademarks in Korea and overseas markets for the product range of DWCV, it said. The investment agreement was signed in Korea by Mr Ravi Kant, and Mr Praveen P Kadle, Executive Directors, on behalf of Tata Motors, and by Mr Kwang Ok Chae, Court Receiver of DWCV, on behalf of DWCV.
— PTI
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LG launches GSM handsets Chandigarh, February 18 Addressing mediapersons here, LG Managing Director K. R. Kim said that the GSM mobile handsets launched by the company had state-of-art facilities, including 27° spin screen and slide-mounted VGA camera. The two new models — G7100 and G3100 — were priced Rs 25,990 and Rs 9490, respectively. He said the company, which was already the main supplier of CDMA handsets to the Indian market, was planning to become the number two player in the GSM mobile handset segment by the year-end. Mr Kim said that the company aimed to become the best in colour phone segment, which was expected to be the key focus area this year. He said that in all 14 new models of fully-automatic washing machines were being introduced in the region. “All these models come in the range of 5-7 kg capacity and have a range of 9 models of top loaders and 5 of front loaders.,” he added. Meanwhile, the company is also coming up with its second plant at Pune with an investment of Rs 500 crore.
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Milkfed bags award
Chandigarh, February 18 |
PNB schemes
New Delhi, February 18 The ‘PNB Smart Roamer’ and ‘PNB Prudential Sweep,’ are meant for current and saving account holders. The Spectrum FD scheme is for all branches.
— TNS
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HDFC MF BSNL scheme Shaadi.com Maruti project Orchid Chem Canara Bank LG Electronics Allahabad Bank |
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