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Postal Department gears up to face new challenges
BPCL incurs 1,300-cr loss on LPG
Auto component manufacturers go global
SBI to spruce up core banking service branches |
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Bharti’s 500-cr deal with VSNL to share NLD Heralding a new era in the Indian telecom sector, Sunil Mittal promoted Bharti Group today announced that it would share its national long distance network with Tatas owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited for a consideration of Rs 500 crore.
VSNL bags 24 TV uplinking contracts Internet gateway and services provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has bagged 24 television channel uplinking contracts in India during the past two years, resulting in an additional turnover of around Rs 45 crore per annum.
Market awaits results
Fixed medical allowance taxable
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Postal Department gears up to face new challenges New Delhi, April 25 In the changed business and technological scenario, the Department has introduced various new products like e-post, e-billing, online track and trace system for speed post, passport services, demat of saving certificates. It has helped the department earn additional revenue besides improving customer satisfaction, said Mr R. Ganesan, Member Operations, Postal Board, Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications here today. Talking to The Tribune, he disclosed that new business initiatives had resulted in an additional revenue generation of Rs 747 crore during last fiscal year, likely to cross Rs 1000 crore mark this year. Consequently, the fiscal deficit had been reduced by around Rs 150 crore during 2003-04 from previous deficit of Rs 1400 crore. He said besides commitment to its social obligations, the India Post has decided to introduce new products. By the end of Tenth Plan ( 2007), over 5000 post offices would be fully computerised to introduce new products and to form better coordination within the department. Referring to new
initiatives, Mr Ganesan said, “In association with National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), the department has decided to demat the saving certificates (National Saving Certificate/ Kisan Vikas Patra) as a step towards investors’ convenience, enhanced security and possibility of future tradability of these instruments.” It will enable the customers to convert paper certificates into equivalent number of securities/ units in electronic form and credit them into investors’ DP account, without any charges at all. Initially, the scheme has been introduced in Mumbai, and later will be available in other cities. It will be fully portable, safe, tamper proof and easy to handle. Commenting on the improvement in performance of the department, he said, “Our revenue was increasing at 8 per cent rate annually as against 5-6 per cent growth in expenditure. We are now focusing on introducing premium products, tailor-made reliable services for the bulk customers and
accountability of the staff at the post office level.” The e-billing — delivery of electricity and telephone bills at the consumer’s doorstep— was one such scheme, he said. Further, the postal department has introduced e-post at 640 centres across the country in January this year, to bridge the digital gap been rural and urban population. The new facility, he said, enabled the customers to send and receive e-mail posts through post offices on the same day from any part of the country. In case of rural areas, the mail was delivered by next day. On the impact of fall in mail delivery business, Mr Ganesan, claimed, “We are now focusing on corporate business and financial products. The financial services are now contributing up to 40 per cent to the total annual revenue of the department, rural insurance alone contributing Rs 6,700 crore last year.” He claimed, “Due to social obligation of providing an effective and cheap communication network in all the six lakh villages of the country, the department is incurring an annual revenue loss of around Rs 800 crore. But we are hopeful that with the introduction of new measures we will be able to improve the financial health of the postal department and customer satisfaction as well.”
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BPCL incurs 1,300-cr loss on LPG
Bhubaneswar, April 25 “The subsidy of Rs 22 per cylinder was not adequate and the company had to incur loss of Rs 94 per cylinder which was very difficult to sustain for a long period”, BPCL Executive Director (LPG) R.K. Singh said here. BPCL, along with other PSUs, had already submitted a representation to the government seeking to increase the price of LPG though the government was yet to respond to it, he said. Singh said that BPCL, along with GAIL was awarded the two city gas projects in Pune and Kanpur which would together require investments to the tune of Rs 800 crore. Stating that feasibility study for the two projects was currently on, he said that two separate companies would be formed for the purpose with BPCL, GAIL and the concerned state government as equity partners in the line of Delhi which already had city gas. He said that gas would be supplied to Pune through Uran pipeline while there would be a tap-off point in the HBJ pipeline at Auriya to supply gas to Kanpur. He said that at present, BPCL had LPG market share of 25 per cent in the country and the company would require 2.5 million tonne of LPG in the current fiscal. The BPCL ED said that of the company’s total requirement of 2.5 MT of LPG in 2004-05, two million tonne would be made available from various indigenous sources including ONGC, GAIL, Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery and the company’s three refineries. The remaining 0.5 per cent would be imported. To a question, Singh said in the near future, there was no possibility of LNG being used for cooking purpose as BPCL, a partner in the petronet LNG, like other JV partners has identified industries and automobile sector as main priorities.
— PTI
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Auto component manufacturers go global
New Delhi, April 25 Many companies were directly or indirectly exporting components worth Rs 50-100 million to countries in west Asia, Europe and the US, CII said, quoting a survey. Besides supplying to the Indian market, small and medium enterprises in the sector had started taking strategic positions in the international market as both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and replacement suppliers, it said. “Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) manufacturing auto-components are well-equipped to produce components as per the international standards... However, more serious efforts are needed to innovate and develop new strategies including products and technologies,” CII said. The R&D activities in this sector are driven by OEMs, which is between Rs 5-30 million. But there was a need to take a look at small scale industry (SSI) and foreign direct investment policies for the sector to encourage technical and financial collaborations with the SMEs abroad. Upto 40 per cent of the respondents of the survey wanted improved and simplified procedures of finance availability and prompt information regarding finance schemes. The CII survey pointed out that only two per cent of the respondents wanted entrepreneur funds without collateral security while 60 per cent wanted less paper work and administration hassles. Forty per cent of the respondents preferred improved and simplified procedures of finance and prompt information regarding finance schemes. — PTI
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SBI to spruce up core banking service branches
Mumbai, April 25 “SBI is currently considering hiring an interior design firm to translate the bank’s brand image, and the branch design developed by it (bank), into a standardised visual identity, in terms of the layout and “look and feel” of CBS branches”, a senior SBI official told PTI here today. The firm would be required to design the “look and feel” and create a design manual, which can be used to roll-out the standard new format across the country, he said. The country’s largest bank currently has introduced core banking solution at 39 branches and three branches of its associate entities. The number would be gradually enhanced to 2,600 to 3,000 branches. The SBI official said the approximate cost incurred would be in the range of Rs 25 lakh per branch. “We have invited an expression of interest (EOI) from interested interior design firms for this task”, he added. The design firm would be required to submit detailed specifications on the exterior facade design, interior layout principles, individual work-area design and interior look and feel, the official said. The SBI official said some of the issues covering these parameters pertain to exterior signage and positioning of the banners or boards, guidelines for placement of desks of various branch functionaries, location of various work-areas such as those for branch manager, customer service representatives, tellers and single window operators. The shortlisted firms would get an opportunity to work with an SBI representative on one branch to transform it into the end-state design, he said.
— PTI
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Bharti’s 500-cr deal with VSNL to share NLD
New Delhi, April 25 This is first such agreement between two leading players and heralds a new era in Indian telecom. As a part of the agreement, VSNL will have the right to use Bharti’s NLD backbone for a payment of Rs. 500 crore, the company said in a statement here. As per the agreement, VSNL will have the right to primarily use 1,00,000 dark fibre KMs of Bharti’s NLD network, which is less than 20 per cent of the NLD capacity currently available with Bharti. VSNL is in process to start its STD operations across the country and sharing of infrastructure with Bharti would help VSNL to save huge investments for building infrastructure. The agreement is for a period of 15 years. Announcing the agreement, Rajan Bharti Mittal, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Tele-Ventures, said, “Bharti has always been a strong advocate of the sharing of infrastructure on mutually beneficial terms, so as to optimize investments.”
— PTI
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VSNL bags 24 TV uplinking contracts
Mumbai, April 25 The contracts were received following an earlier government directive making it compulsory for all Indian TV channels to be uplinked from India, VSNL sources told PTI here today. The 24 channels include Star News, SS Music, UTV, SkyB, Win TV, Star Vijay, Splash TV and Punjab TV, they said adding that the segment had registered a 300 per cent growth rate with an annual growth rate of around 150 per cent. The company is believed to be getting a revenue of around Rs 1.5 crore per TV channel per year, which is an added revenue, as VSNL uses satellite and its optical fibre infrastructure mainly for its telephony operations. The Tata company was uplinking eight channels from the sub-continent at the time of its divestment, they said. With the increase in number of channels being beamed up from India to 32, VSNL has garnered a 50 per cent market share of the addressable TV uplinking buasiness in India, they claimed. At present, the company uses Intelsat satellite system for uplinking from India, and has MCPC platforms deployed on Thaicom-3 at Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai and APR-1 platforms at Chennai and Kolkata. VSNL is also planning to uplink channels to European and Asia-Pacific countries apart from Hong Kong, Middle East and other foreign markets.
— PTI
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Market awaits results
For the fifth consecutive week the sensex ended with modest gains. During the last five weeks, both the benchmark indices have appreciated by about 9 per cent each. The Sensex ended the week with gains of 64 points to settle at 5925 where as nifty gained 24.35 points to settle at 1,892.45. The gains this week can be attributed to the good corporate results that have been produced by India Inc. as yet and also the slew of positive announcements that have continued to pour in. Hopes of political stability after elections have also boosted the market. Though BJP led NDA is expected to win the election, it may win by a small majority, which is a cause for concern for markets. It is reckoned that a stronger mandate for any new government that comes to power would result in government stepping up economic reforms. The flow of corporate results is all set to intensify next week. The index movements would primarily be governed by the results being announced by industry majors as markets adjust their expectations on the basis of the results delivered. Therefore the market is expected to stay volatile till the results (corporate and election) are over.
Banks
Banking stocks in general have continued to rally on expectation of good results. HDFC Bank declared a 32 per cent growth in net profits to Rs 509.5 crores on back of strong expansion of retail assets, and focus on building a low-cost retail deposit base. Investors looking for a strong banking stock should add HDFC Bank to their folio for long-term gains. ICICI Bank gained ground on Friday after RBI on Thursday allowed fresh buying in the stock by FIIs without its prior approval. The dilution of FII stake in the bank post its recent public issue has provided room for more FII investment in the stock. Banks like IDBI Bank and Vijaya Bank also reported strong earnings growth on the back of surge in retain lending and fall in cost of deposits. Union Bank jumped 18 per cent to close at Rs 83. Other PSU banks like Syndicate Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank and Canara Bank recorded smart gains.
Public issues
Gujarat based contract manufacturer Dishman Pharma made a sparkling debut on Thursday at Rs 542 attracting a huge 209 per cent premium to the public issue price of Rs 175. However, the stock pared those gains after it tumbled 14 per cent on the next trading session to Rs 467.25. Dishman focuses on contract manufacturing for MNC pharma companies. The stock-still looks over priced and investor should avoid the stocks at current levels. Investor can consider investment in the initial public offer of New Delhi Television (NDTV) at the upper end of the price of Rs 70. The stock is likely to list at a higher level compared to the IPO price as it provides an exposure to a quality play in the media industry. For investors willing to take a two to three years perspective on the stock the gains would be sweeter. Bidding for NDTV, which opened on April 21, closes on April 28.
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