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Roadblocks in Carriers Act to go, assures minister
eBay buys online marketplace Baazee.com
TRAI seeks comments on access deficit charge
BSNL cellphones in Punjab to have an ‘edge’
Bharti awards $-15m contract to Ericsson
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Malaysia’s MICE bait for
India Tourism Malaysia today announced the launch of a special campaign along with a series of benefits for the Indian corporates who wish to organise meetings, incentives, conventions or exhibitions in Malaysia.
Corporate news Ranbaxy Lab Asian Paints GRAPHIC : AVAILABILITY OF SEEDS OF PULSES AND OILSEEDS FOR KHARIF
2004
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Roadblocks in Carriers Act to go, assures minister New Delhi, June 23 Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways T.R. Balu gave an assurance in this regard today to a delegation of All-India Transport Welfare Association (AITWA). Mr Balu told the delegation that a committee of the Secretaries of the department will look into the matter and the final draft with amendments in the present Act or a new Act altogether will be submitted for the consideration of the Cabinet. Mr O.P. Agarwal, Chairman, AITWA, disclosed the Union Minister agreed with the delegation that the present Act, which was over 138 years’ old, was no more relevant for the industry in the changed scenario. The industry now requires a new Act or at least comprehensive amendments in the Act. The Centre has already amended the Acts governing railways and shipping sectors, he said. The association has urged the government to amend the Carriers Act on the pattern of Railways Act, 1989, which has a provision of partial recovery of claims in case of damage to the consignments. In addition, the Railways Act also empowers the carrier to “auction the goods if the party denies to pay the freight after the transportation of the goods.” The industry has pointed out that truck operators were suffering Rs 150 crore to Rs 175 crore annually due to the limitations in the Act. For instance, said Mr Agarwal, “under the present Act, a truck operator is held responsible for any damages to the consignments due to the theft or accident though companies do not provide any insurance cover to them for transport goods.” According to the industry estimates, the annual business volume of the road transport sector is over Rs 1,66,000 crore and is growing at over 5 per cent rate annually. “ Since the industry has a majority of small truck owners with one or two trucks and lack articulation like industrial associations, the governments have not bothered to address our problems,” said a member of the delegation. He said the insurance companies were filing 5,000 to 7,000 court cases against truck operators annually to recover claims, paid to the parties in case of damage to the consignments. Small operators were forced to pay 50 to 60 per cent of the damages as out-of-court settlement without any fault. Otherwise, they have to fight long cases in different parts of the country. The delegation also told the minister that insurance companies had stopped offering marine insurance policies to truck operators about 20 years ago for the consignments. “Lakhs of truck operators across the country had gone on a long strike on this and other issues in 1997 but despite agreement, previous government did not bother to amend the Act or to find out some amicable solution,” said Mr R.D. Bansal, president of the association. Mr Balu assured the truck operators the Ministry would make all efforts to address the issues and concerns of the industry that was playing a crucial role in the growth of Indian economy.
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eBay buys online marketplace Baazee.com Mumbai, June 23 The acquisition is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2004. eBay will acquire all outstanding shares of Baazee.com, Inc for approximately $50 million, plus acquisition costs and post-signing adjustments. The agreement will allow eBay to expand its global footprint into the nascent but growing Indian market, says the statement. In turn, Baazee.com will use its new relationship with eBay to further develop its business and strengthen its position in India’s e-commerce market. The combination of Baazee.com and eBay will allow buyers and sellers in India and around the world to gain access to a broader range of choice and convenience, said the release. Mumbai-based Baazee.com offers a diverse online marketplace for a range of buyers and sellers throughout India. The media release claimed that Baazee.com has more than 1 million confirmed registered users who trade in a wide range of categories from consumer electronics and computers, to home decor and jewellery. “Our relationship with Baazee.com is another important step in the growth of eBay’s global marketplace,” said Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay, in the media release. “Although it’s early days for e-commerce in India, we believe there is a great opportunity over the long term. Baazee.com’s strong management team and solid focus on its community make it a natural fit with eBay,” she added. “Our partnership with eBay validates Baazee.com’s business model and position in the industry,” said Avnish Bajaj, Chairman and Co-CEO of Baazee.com. eBay estimates that there are currently 17 million Internet users in India, and by 2006 that number may grow to 30 million, still a tiny fraction of the country’s one billion population.
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TRAI seeks comments on access deficit charge New Delhi, June 23 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has invited the stakeholders’ response to the consultation paper by July 15. The new ADC regime will be announced subsequently. Under the existing system, a differential ADC regime is being implemented based on per minute usage involving a revenue share arrangement. ADC is paid by cellular operators and private fixed line service providers to the state-owned incumbent Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to take into the losses of BSNL to meet its rural telephony obligations. This is, eventually, passed on the consumers by the cellular operators in terms of higher tariffs. In the present system, ADC varies from 30 paise to 80 paise per minute for domestic calls and Rs 4.25 per minute for overseas calls. The consultation paper notes that a number of difficulties have been reported, including the reconciliation of data used for ADC payments, call bypass and grey-market calls. “The authority has reached a conclusion that these matters would be suitably addressed under a regime based on revenue share.” The range for the proposed ADC revenue share based on the calculations is 2.2 per cent (for monthly rental of Rs 200) and 5.3 per cent (for monthly rental of Rs 156) of AGR (adjusted gross revenue).
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Cellphone users’ base may go up
Mobile phone users are set to outnumber fixed line subscribers before the end of this year if the current growth trend continues, TRAI said today. At present for every 10-fixed line connection in the country, there are eight mobile phone users. Mobile phone subscribers have already overtaken the fixed line users in the Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai and Punjab circles.
— UNI
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BSNL cellphones in Punjab to have an ‘edge’ Chandigarh, June 23 Under an ambitious project that would revolutionise the telecom services, the Punjab Telecom Circle is gearing up to install the state-of-the-art equipment. The tenders for the installation of the equipment, which were called in March this year, are likely to be finalised soon paving the way for the major expansion of the mobile network, sources told The Tribune here today. And with this, all towns of the state (having a population of 5,000 and above, according to the 2001 Census) would be covered by the mobile network, making Punjab the first state to achieve this feat. The number of the BSNL mobile users would touch the 14 lakh mark with the addition of the 9 lakh capacity. The telecom giant, which has a subscriber base of about 3.5 lakh now, plans to add another 1.5 lakh connections to its network by July-end. When contacted, Mr G.S. Bhatia, Chief General Manager of the Punjab Telecom Circle, informed the new generation "edge technology” would provide the mobile users with state-art-of-art facilities for better communication. These included data transmission, MMS, voice broadcast and Internet facilities. Officials highlighted that the affluence in Punjab, coupled with the mobility of the mobile phones, were the main reasons for the ever-increasing demand in the state. Besides, the almost-stagnant demand for fixed telephone lines also contributed to the craze for the mobile phone, although BSNL ventured into this segment only in October 2001. It may be recalled that the expansion was part of the nationwide expansion of the BSNL in which over 1.5 crore mobile connections are to be released. Of them, while 40 lakh connections each, are to be released in the North, South and West Zones, a total of 30 lakh connections would be given in the East.
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Bharti awards $-15m contract to Ericsson
New Delhi, June 23 The contract is for providing India’s first nationwide single vendor Intelligent Network (IN) solution and prepaid system. The agreement also covers all of Bharti’s existing and soon to be launched mobile systems in India, a release stated here yesterday. “Ericsson’s Intelligent Network based charging solution will enable Bharti to offer converged services to its post and prepaid subscribers in the near future,” said The Intelligent Network and charging solution for Bharti is a part of an end-to-end solution from Ericsson, where consulting and systems integration services make it all work seamlessly in Bharti’s existing environment. “Bharti will also benefit from a single vendor “all India” prepaid service with a consistent feature set and timely implementation of products and features across India,” said President-Mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd Manoj Kohli.
— UNI
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Malaysia’s MICE bait for
India New Delhi, June 23 The
campaign — Meet and Experience — Malaysia Truly Asia was launched by
Tourism Malaysia Deputy Director-General Mirza Mohammad Taiyab Beg, as a
part of the inauguration of a special three city MICE
roadshow-cum-travel mart to be held at New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and
focussed on the Indian corporates and travel agents. Tourism Malaysia is the nodal agency to promote tourism in Malaysia. The Indian contribution for the Malaysian MICE arrivals in the year 2001 was a paltry 7,351 when the total arrivals were 143,513. However, it grew to 18,608 in 2003, recording a growth of 153 per cent, making it the eighth largest contributor to the total Malaysian MICE arrivals, ahead of UK and Germany. Tourism Malaysia said in a press release here today that it would offer special incentive, along with their supporting partners, to enable Indian corporates and trade associations to host MICE events in Malaysia. These support and benefits include preferential airfares, special accommodation and transportation rates, dissemination of information collaterals, facilitation on custom and immigration clearances and special discounted rates on various convention centres. It also announced special incentive to event organisers in the form of a special discount ranging from 5 to 20 per cent contributed by the supporting private partners, which include hotels, convention centres, transport facilitators and event organising contractors. In
order to popularise the convention or exhibition, Tourism Malaysia would
provide hyperlink facility of the event on its conference and exhibition
section of the official Website as well as on the publicity material,
disseminate information to relevant organisations and supply of
souvenirs, whereas the Immigration department would assist in providing
a dedicated lane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
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Corporate news
New Delhi, June 23 During the year, the company received the coveted TL 9000 quality management system certification. VSNL also signed a Rs 500 crore right to use agreement for 23,000 route km or 1,00,000 fibre km capacity on an existing advanced fibre optic domestic long distance backbone.
Ranbaxy Lab
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd today said it has received $ 4 million from a German pharma company, Schwarz Pharma AG, for further progress on the development of RBx 2258 molecule. Ranbaxy is developing the molecule RBx 2,258 for treatment of Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH).
Asian Paints
Indian paints major Asian Paints has submitted a preliminary bid to acquire up to half of Israeli company, Tambour. The talks with Tambour’s parent company, Granite Hacarmel Investments, are still at a preliminary stage and no negotiations had resulted yet from contacts with the leading Indian company, a source close to the Israeli company was quoted as saying by the business daily, ‘Globes’.
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Infrastructure grows Garment makers GACL Andhra Bank TAFE Seminar held Zenith PC |
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