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Tractor firms leave villages, explore cities
The State Bank of India will open its first branch in Australia this week to further promote trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. |
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ICICI Bank eyes Bahrain
Dubai: ICICI Bank will make the Kingdom of Bahrain the hub of its operations in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council grouping. The bank has been granted a licence by the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) to open an offshore banking unit (OBU) as well as to provide NRI banking services.
HAL expects 4,000-cr order from IAF
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Tractor firms leave villages, explore cities Manoj Kumar Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 Good monsoon last year and forecast of normal rains this year as well may have helped the tractor companies to check dwindling sales in the farm sector, but total annual sales of tractors have still to cross 2 lakh, achieved in mid-’90s. According to industry estimates, urban tractor market now contributes over 20 per cent of the total tractor market, and is growing at over 25 per cent. It is only in recent years, say industry experts, that the manufacturers have realised the potential of tractor sales in the urban market. The sales of tractors in urban areas of states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and even Tamil Nadu have shown high growth. As per Tractor Manufacturers Association (TMA), headed by Mr R.C. Jain of Eicher Tractors, during 2003-04, the sale of tractors registered a growth of over 10 per cent reaching 1.90 lakh as against 1.70 lakh during 2002-03. The business volume of the industry increased to over Rs 4,700 crore from about Rs 4,300 crore during that period. Says Mr L.D.Mittal, chairman, International Tractors Limited (ITL): “Despite slump in rural market, we are observing high growth of sales in the urban market.” Mahindra and Mahindra, Swaraj, Eicher, John Deer and HMT are also pushing their tractors in the urban market. The growth in housing sector by over 30 per cent annually besides fall in interest rate to around 9 per cent from 13 to 14 per cent during the past few years have given a boost to sales in the urban market. This is despite the fact, say industry insiders, that the price of tractors have gone up by Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000 per tractor in April after increase in steel prices. In fact,
the tractor manufacturers claim that by using tractors in comparison to
other vehicles, the companies are saving 25 to 30 per cent transport
costs due to less diesel consumption and lower price of the vehicle. HMT
has recently introduced a special multi-purpose tractor with hydraulic
lift, and ITL is also promoting its brand among brick-kilns and
construction sector.
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SBI to open branch in Sydney
Sydney, April 19 The first ever branch of the bank on Australian shores, the SBI Sydney branch, will help promote bilateral trade between India and Australia which stands at AD 4.2 billion, Indian Consul General in Sydney, M Ganapathi, said. The branch will open on Wednesday.“It is a very positive development that will further consolidate and encourage trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. It will also engender confidence in the Australian business community and enhance commerce and investment in India. It will particularly benefit the Australian Indian community,” he said. The growing expatriate Indian community in Australia has long felt the need for an Indian bank here. Chief Executive Officer of the SBI in Sydney Ashok Khurana said, “it will redress the major problem facing the Indian community which, in the absence of any Indian bank here and any Australian bank in India, is finding it difficult to send remittances back home to family and friends. The SBI Sydney branch will also help boost bilateral trade by facilitating payment for exporters. While the
branch will not have retail banking facilities, it will offer various
trade finance facilities to exporters and importers in Australia. The
SBI branch will also offer one-off International Money Transfer (IMT) in
various currencies to India and other countries as well. — PTI |
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ICICI Bank eyes Bahrain
Dubai: ICICI Bank will make the Kingdom of Bahrain the hub of its
operations in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council grouping. The bank
has been granted a licence by the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) to open
an offshore banking unit (OBU) as well as to provide NRI banking
services.
ICICI Bank has just started operations in the Bahrain capital
of Manama with treasury-related activities, The Gulf Daily News quoted
the bank’s chief Bahrain representative Ajay Sharma as saying.
“Besides treasury activities, which include lending, borrowing and
dealing in foreign exchange, we hope to make our OBU a key hub for
Islamic banking, especially for trading in commodities,” he
said. Besides securitisation activities, the bank will provide its
expertise to banks in the GCC countries. “Some leading banks in Bahrain,
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have already shown interest,” Mr Sharma
said. “Our NRI banking services will be very extensive because of the
presence of a large network of branches in India,” he noted. ICICI Bank
has a representative office in Dubai and has entered into strategic
alliance with banks in some other Gulf countries. — UNI
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HAL expects 4,000-cr order from IAF
Bangalore, April 19 India has already negotiated
with the American engine manufacturer General Electric for the GE 404
engines with which Tejas will fly, until replaced by the indigenous
Kaveri engine, which is still in development. HAL Chairman N.R. Mohanty
said the company was proactive in pushing for the LCA’s development. He
was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of HAL’s Centre of
Excellence in Machining, which will house modern CNC machines in order
to manufacture “complex and critical components” of aircraft like the
Sukhois, the Advanced Jet Trainer Hawk 100 and the indigenous
intermediate jet trainer, and also for various export requirements. The
LCA first flew in January 2001, and over 200 flights have been
undertaken on three aircraft. Service ceiling of 15 km and supersonic
speeds have been achieved and many aspects of its flight envelope
explored. HAL is investing Rs 300 crore in the machining centre, which
will be set up on 37 acres of land in this city. |
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Are Indian BPO firms non-viable?
New Delhi, April 19 Daksh is one
of the best-managed Indian BPO service providers and its acquisition
will reinforce the view that managing such rapid growth is proving to be
a big challenge for many “local” Indian entrepreneurs. Many MNCs are
making major moves into offshore outsourcing and this raises serious
questions about how many “pure-play” India providers can survive their
pressure, Gartner said. The explosive growth in the Indian offshore BPO
industry in the past two years has begun to expose some newer Indian
outsourcers’ fundamental weaknesses in managing this growth and
particularly the demands of a rapidly-expanding workforce, Gartner
analyst Sujoy Chohan said. Established IT service providers like
Infosys, Wipro, TCS and HCL Technologies have been able to develop their
skills in this areas over many years. For the new players, human
resources issues like attrition and security are emerging as serious
management challenges, he said. The result is management resources are
strained and many entrepreneurs are tempted to cash out while the market
will still pay premium prices for their companies, he said. Gartner
said Daksh focuses on e-commerce — its first client was Amazon — and the
retail, consumer electronics and telecom verticals. — PTI
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Washington, April 19 The four-point
programme has been published by the Kerry’s election campaign managers.
‘Use Government Contracts for US Workers’ reads the heading for the
first measure that Mr Kerry proposes. ‘Stop giving Government Contracts
to Corporations Breaking the Rules’ says the second
proposal. ‘Consumers Right to Know on Call Centre Workers’ is the third
proposal. The fourth proposal reads: ‘End Every Single Tax Credit That
Gives Corporations Breaks for Moving Jobs Offshore’. — PTI |
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Lower farm growth to pull down GDP rate
New Delhi, April 19 “The GDP rate is expected to grow at
6.7 per cent during 2004-05 in contrast to an expected 8.13 per cent
growth in 2003-04”, the NCAER said in the latest edition of its monthly
report Macrotrak. Also, it projected that the fiscal deficit of the
Centre will be 5.3 per cent of the GDP this fiscal, against 6.09
forecast for 2003-04. The deceleration in the overall growth rate of
the economy will be primarily due to a drop in the growth rates of the
rural sector. The NCAER has projected that the agriculture sector will
grow at the rate of 3 per cent in 2004-05 — a significant drop as
compared to the staggering estimated growth rate of 10.7 per in
2003-04. “This contraction in the agricultural growth as compared to
2003-04 will lead to a reduction in overall demand as well. This will
have an impact on the industry and services growth”, it said. At the
macro level, a fall in demand emanating from the rural sector, is also
likely to somewhat pull down the growth rates of the industry. |
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NDTV IPO between Rs 63-70
New Delhi, April 19 The IPO, through 100 per cent book-building method, will see
the promoters issue fresh equity shares and also offload some existing
equity. At least 60 per cent of the issue, which closes on April 28,
will be allocated on discretionary basis to Qualified Institutional
Bidders (QIBs), not less than 15 per cent for non-institutional buyers
and remaining 25 per cent for retail bidders. “Proceeds from the fresh
issue will be used for working capital requirements, repayment of loans
and general corporate purposes,” NDTV Chairman said. — UNI |
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MRF tyres on a roll
New Delhi, April 19 The study, in its fourth year, examines customer satisfaction
with original tyres at 12-18 months of ownership. More than 1,500
owners of 28 different vehicle models participated in the 2004 study,
which was fielded from June to August, 2003.A new model of customer
satisfaction measurement was deployed for 2004. Overall tyre performance
is assessed on 20 attributes, grouped into five pre-defined factors:
ride, handling, traction, durability and appearance. “Unlike past
years, the study deals only with radial tyres, as nearly all new
passenger vehicles sold in India are now fitted with radial tyres,” JD
Power said. MRF received the highest ratings in the study in four of
the five factors determining overall satisfaction with tyres:
appearance, durability, traction, and handling. Bridgestone, JK Tyre and
Goodyear followed MRF in the rankings. “MRF’s continued success is
based on its ability to consistently deliver on those factors that are
most important to its customers,” said Mohit Arora, India Country
Manager, J.D. Power Asia Pacific. “As a result, nearly one-fourth of
MRF’s customers rate their tyres as outstanding,” he added. In 2002 and
2003, MRF tied with Bridgestone to rank highest in original tyre
customer satisfaction in India. |
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Maruti to spend Rs 10 cr on support centre
New
Delhi, April 19 MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar, in a statement here,
said the centre will provide consultancy and training support to
Maruti’s suppliers and sales network. “Maruti is committed to achieving
global standards in quality, cost service and technology and customer
orientation. For this, our suppliers have to be upgraded to world class
levels. The centre will support our partners in this regard, including
smaller units which may not be exposed to world class quality
practices,” Mr Khattar said. |
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Hyundai Accent GVS price hiked
New Delhi, April 19 “Hyundai Motor India would also be increasing the price of other
variants of the Accent in the due course,” the company said. The last
time HMIL had effected a price hike was in May 2003 when it raised
prices by 3.5 per cent. The company has also said it would be revising
upwards the prices of its volume model Santro this month, espceially due
to rising costs of inputs like steel. — UNI |
Approach CIT, HCL ordered
New Delhi, April 19 However,
after a Bench comprising Chief Justice B.C. Patel and Justice Dalveer
Bhandari, opined that the appeal against the assessment order lies
with the Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT) Appeals, the HCL Group did
not press its application. On the observation of the Bench that prima
facie it was not of the opinion to entertain the application, advocate
J. Vellapally, appearing for HCL said the group would not press the
petition and will approach the CIT Appeals against the order of the
assessing officer. — PTI |
bb
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