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Don’t manipulate ONGC share price, warns Shourie
Pak firm to launch bikes in India soon GM
may relaunch Matiz as Chevrolet Spark Mobile
handset prices down by 26 pc: ICA |
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Chautala to visit Gulf countries to seek FDI Pollution board eases norms for Haryana units Is it all gas about LPG distributorship? Of late, there is a scramble all over the country to grab LPG distributorship. Punjab is no exception to such an alllurement. At least four oil companies, BPC, PC, IOC, IBP, have inserted full-page advertisements in the newspapers inviting applications for distributorship.
Wristwatch designer phone by Reliance
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Don’t manipulate ONGC share price, warns Shourie New Delhi, March 3 The issue of 14 crore shares of the ONGC would hit the market on March 5. He was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the “Made in Pakistan” exhibition here. The government is attaching importance to the ONGC issue, he said, because it would help government raise a large amount in comparison to disinvestment in CMC, IPCL and other companies. Regarding the price of the share, Mr Shourie declined to make any comment saying that the price would be finalised at the meeting of Finance and Disinvestment Ministry officials and would declared after clearance from Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and Petroleum Minister Ram Naik. He declined to confirm whether the government had already approved the price of Rs 620. The ONGC is among the six companies where the government is divesting its stakes through the public offer route during this fiscal. The other companies are IBP, Gail, IPCL, Dredging Corporation and CMC. Earlier addressing the inaugural function, Mr Shourie admitted that lack of infrastructure, visa restrictions and lack of communication mechanism had affected the Indo-Pak trade. He hoped that both the governments would soon take steps to remove these hurdles. He would convey the telecom industry’s request for allowing roaming services in Pakistan to the Home Ministry. “But I cannot guarantee anything on the issue,’’ he added. Bharti group Chairman Sunil Mittal among others had made a request to Mr Shourie in this regard. The nine-day exhibition, organised by
FICCI, is targeted at creating a niche market in India for Pakistan products. The products onyx and marble handicrafts, cosmetics and toiletries, cushion, pillow and
mattresses, fashion garments, textile made-ups and refrigerators.
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ONGC share price fixed
Targeting to mop up about Rs 10,000 crore or more, the government today announced a price band of Rs 680-750 for sale of 14.26 crore shares in the ONGC, while declaring that retail investors would get a 5 per cent price discount. The government also reserved 10 per cent of the public offer each for employees/whole-time directors and shareholders of the ONGC/ MRPL. The price band declared by the government is understood to be higher than a band of Rs 650-680 recommended by advisers. When asked if advisers have made recommendation of Rs 650-680 price band, Chairman of D.S.P. Merryll Lynch Hemendra Kothari told PTI “we do not comment on the advise given to the government on such issue.” He declined to confirm or deny the recommendation of the price band of Rs 650-680 by them. The government decided to go for a higher band after suggestions from the Petroleum Ministry, sources associated with the disinvestment process said. An official statement said “the government has also decided that individual applicants in the reserved category of employees and shareholders applying up to a value of Rs 50,000 will also be given a lower price similar to that for retail individual bidders of 5 per cent less than of the discovered price.”
— PTI
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Pak firm to launch bikes in India soon New Delhi, March 3 The company, that had started its operations in Pakistan, just a year ago, has claimed that it is finalising a joint venture with an Indian auto manufacturer. Dewan two-wheelers, produced with Japanese and Chinese technology, will be priced at a much lower rate as against higher price of Indian competitors. Mr Badar Khan, Chief Coordinatoring Officer, Dewan Motorcycles Ltd, disclosed that the company was at present holding talks with an Indian company and would soon launch its bikes in India. He, however, declined to name its Indian partner, saying it could affect their business interests. The company is showcasing its bikes in the “Made in Pakistan” exhibition that was
inaugurated in the Capital today. Mr Khan said, ''We have observed that there is a huge potential for quality bikes with better fuel efficiency in the price-sensitive Indian market. Due to our lower cost of production, we will be able to sell 65cc scooty at Rs 18,000, 70cc bike at Rs 25,000 and a 125cc bike at around Rs 40,000 in the Indian market.” He said besides foreign players like Honda and Yamaha, the Dewan Motors had emerged as a major domestic player in Pakistan over the past one year. “During the first year of our operations, we have sold over 24,000 bikes in the domestic market. Now we plan to aggressively sell our bikes in the
SAARC countries, including India,” he said. Mr Khan admitted that against the huge market of over 5 million bikes annually in India, Pakistan market is just 5 lakh bikes annually. “ Like India, the motorbike market has grown substantially in Pakistan from about 1lakh annually two years ago to 5 lakh in 2002-03. We are increasing our production capacity to tap the domestic and export market,” he stated. The Dewan Motors is manufacturing bikes in range of 70 cc to 150 cc, besides trucks under the `Star’ brand. The company is employing about 500 persons and has a plant in Karachi. Appreciating the Star bikes, Mr Javed Rahim Paracha, Senior Vice- President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Quetta, Balochistan, a delegate from Pakistan, said ''The Star is a wonderful bike and is becoming popular in our country due to wide price difference and better fuel efficiency as compared to its competitors.” I am sure people in India would also like this bike, he added.
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| GM may relaunch Matiz as Chevrolet Spark
New Delhi, March 3 “We will utilise the assembly line for manufacturing a mini (compact) car, to be launched next year,” GMI Vice- President (Corporate Affairs) P Balendran told PTI here today, but declined to give details. In China, General Motors is manufacturing Daewoo Matiz as Chevrolet Spark. The domestic automobile industry has been dogged by reports of the relaunch of Matiz by the world’s biggest carmaker. Meanwhile, General Motors said today it would begin due diligence to purchase the car assembly unit of Daewoo India for manufacturing mini cars. “Our offer has been accepted by principal creditors to the Surajpur-based Daewoo Motors India and we will start the due diligence immediately to arrive at the price to be offered by us,’’ General Motors India officials said. Creditors to the beleagured Daewoo Motors India (DMIL) include ICICI Bank, IDBI and Exim Bank, they said, adding that purchasing the car assembly unit of Daewoo Motors would be subject to approval of the boards of General Motors, the creditors and judicial and government authorities. A team for due diligence would come from abroad and would be assisted by Indian officials.
— PTI, UNI
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| Mobile handset prices down by 26 pc: ICA
New Delhi, March 3 An entry level ‘Motorola C 350’, whose price has dropped by a maximum of 20.73 per cent, would now cost Rs 5,545 while ‘Motorola C 300’ would now cost Rs 3,995, a reduction of 20.02 per cent, Pankaj Mahindroo, president, Indian Cellular Association (ICA) said. The maximum reduction has been in the case of ‘Nokia N 6100’, whose price has been reduced to Rs 11,370 from Rs 15,499, a drop of 26 per cent. The other Motorola model whose price has been cut are ‘Motorola C 200’ and ‘C 201’ and ‘C 266’.
— PTI
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Chautala to visit Gulf countries to seek FDI
Chandigarh, March 3 Mr Chautala, who would visit Oman, Kuwait and Dubai, would endeavour to seek investment in Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services among other sectors, said Commissioner and Secretary, Electronics and Information Technology, Haryana, Dr Harbakhsh Singh who would also accompany the Chief Minister. Multi-speciality
hospitals, construction sector and convention centres would be some other areas in which Haryana and other Indian states could have business cooperation with the Gulf countries. Dr Harbakhsh Singh said after the September 11 incident, the Gulf countries were hesitant in investing in the US and they were looking towards other countries. While at present the Gulf countries were showing preference for Malaysia and Indonesia, India could also attract business from them if they were properly persuaded.
— UNI
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Pollution board eases norms for Haryana units Chandigarh, March 3 Stating this here today, Chairman of the board H.S. Bains said the board was processing the applications already submitted to the board and would send the consent letters by March 31. The units, which did not apply for the consent up to the last date, would be required to deposit three samples and they would also be liable for prosecution or closure of their units. Mr Bains said the board already had provided more time to units, which had installed generating sets having capacity of 250 KVA, to install Acoustic Chambers by January 31. Time could be provided to these units on depositing the security of Rs 10,000 in case the capacity was 250-500 KVA and Rs 20,000 for generators having capacity of more than 500 KVA. However, the limit would only be up to March 31.
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Is it all gas about LPG distributorship? Chandigarh, March 3 At least four oil companies, BPC, PC, IOC, IBP, have inserted full-page advertisements in the newspapers inviting applications for distributorship. In all 432 sites have been identified by these companies. Thousands have submitted applications and these companies have collected huge sums of money. More private companies are expected to enter this marketing trend. What has allured thousands of people, estimated at over 40,000 to rush in with applications and bank drafts to different companies and wait for hours or a full day to submit the applications only shows the extent of unemployment and also the desire to make fast buck. Their perceived notion still is that distributorship is a “gold mine”. Not many applicants may have carefully read these ads by different companies that say, ‘’It is a business proposition and not an appointment for job in the organisation. This business proposition has normal business risks and does not guarantee any assured returns or profits’’. Now interview calls are being sent to aspirants. Enquiries with the oil companies that have put out ads and existing LPG distributors in business for several years, revealed that the competition to get distributorship will be tough. Even the locations mentioned by different companies in their ads repeat the same sites. Also, the same sites have been classified differently, either as rural or urban or rural-urban, thereby further compounding the confusion. The same location is mentioned as rural in one, urban or rural-urban in another ad by another company. The All-India LPG Distributors’ Federation, North Western Region, is now up in arms against such a “prank” by the oil companies with the ministry turning its face the other way. The Federation President, Mr Z S Sidhu, accompanied by veterans in the LPG trade for the past 20 years or so, like Capt. Reet M P Singh, a Victoria Cross winner, Mr K.J.S. Bhuttar, Mr A.K. Bhatia and Mr Mukesh Bindlish, today shared their anguish and concern with The Tribune, over future distributors as well existing, pointing out “infirmities” in the new system of inviting applications for distributorship. Mr Sidhu said, “About 500-odd LPG outlets were offered to dependents of the Kargil war and also those killed in action in the anti-insurgency operations in J. and K. Many of them had not been able to find a foot-hold even today after having spent several lakhs. And the tragedy was that some of the locations mentioned in the recent ads were for the same places where such people were still struggling to break even’’. Any one who managed to get the distributorship would be required to invest a minimum of Rs 20 lakh on establishing the agency. This expense would involve a security of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, besides investing in land, at least two kanals for godown and additional investment on its construction and a show room. The Federation is upset that while its operations were bound by prescribed municipal or geographical jurisdiction, the new distributors have been allowed to operate over larger area, 15 km in urban and 30 km in rural. Such are the locations that there would be over-lapping and multiplicity of distribution area, where population is small. At some places it s just 200-odd. This will lead to stiff competition and even malpractices. Take Zirakpur with barely 25,000. The ad is for four agencies, while it is hedged by four existing ones in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Dera Bassi and Banur. One could imagine what a distributor after investing Rs 20 lakh would earn! There was no rationale. The Federation said, “Our purpose is to caution new applicants, draw the attention of the government to out plight and seek equal opportunities for new and old players. There is no money gain any more, contrary to the general impression.”
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Tenders for online lottery to be refloated Chandigarh, March 3 The department has also decided to launch two new lotteries in the state, a monthly lottery prized at Rs 20 per ticket and another weekly lottery prized at Rs 5 per ticket. The first prize of the monthly lottery will be Rs 11 lakh, besides six other prizes, the weekly lottery will have first three prizes of Rs 15,000. This is being done to offer variety to the buyers, who are hooked on to the lotteries. Director of Punjab State Lotteries Sher Singh Sidhu said tenders for the online lotteries would be invited by the end of this month. The tenders invited earlier did not evoke the desired response. Since the experiment of online lotteries had not picked up throughout India, it was difficult to convince people of transparency. Mr Sidhu claimed that the response to paper lotteries in Punjab was the highest in the country and the revenue generation from the sale of tickets last year was Rs 77.60 crore. It might touch Rs 90 crore this year. The response is tremendous to the Bumper lotteries taken out on Holi, Rakhi, Divali and Lohri and every bumper lottery registered a record revenue generation.
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Wristwatch designer phone by Reliance
Mumbai, March 3 A next-generation mobile phone with cybertic design, Telson 1150 can be worn on the wrist and is the world’s lightest CDMA2000 1x phone, the company said in a release here today. The phone, priced at Rs 23,900, will be offered to customers on outright sale basis. It will initially be launched in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and will be available at Reliance WebWorld and retail outlets in these cities. Telson TWC 1150 weighs only 98 gms and is equipped with a plug-in high-resolution 330,000 pixel digital camera.
— PTI
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