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India, UK decide to set up a joint economic panel
IT round-up
Parle Biscuits unit closed
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Suzuki’s decision makes govt angry
BSNL Net service at 10 paise per minute
Tatas shelve projects in B’desh
Indian Bank focuses on North
Meghnad for FDI flow to get rid of poverty
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India, UK decide to set up a joint economic panel
London, September 20 They also decided to establish an Indo-British Economic and Financial Dialogue on bilateral and global issues, on financial systems, and to enhance economic and financial cooperation. The decisions were taken during the wide-ranging talks Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with his British counterpart Tony Blair at a luncheon meeting here covering all international and bilateral issues of mutual interest. “We will enhance our dialogue on international trade and investment issues,” a Joint Declaration issued at the end of the parleys at the British Prime Minister’s official residence 10, Downing Street, said. It said: “Our economic ties will continue to expand. We will establish a ministerially-led Joint Economic and Trade Committee to further develop a strategic economic relationship, and develop business-led vehicles to enhance bilateral trade and investment in specific sectors including services and knowledge-based industries.” At this important time in the development of the international trade regime, “we will work closely together for a successful conclusion to the WTO’s Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations,” the two prime ministers said. The Joint Declaration said: “The UK and India agree to expand co-operation in the fields of civilian nuclear activities, civilian space programmes, and high technology trade, in accordance with their international obligations.” Describing India and the UK as natural economic partners, it said: “As India emerges as a global power, trade and investment relations are becoming more diverse. Bilateral trade grew by over 20 per cent last year. We want this rapid growth to continue. But the real partnership lies in the strength of investment in both directions.” The UK is the second largest investor into India. India was the 8th largest investor in the UK in 2003. It is one of the fastest growing, investing in the UK’s knowledge economy. The UK provides an important bridge into the European market, attracting over 60 per cent of India’s investment in Europe, it said. Stating that shared democratic values and a commitment to human rights, justice and the rule of law underpin relationship between the two countries, the Joint Declaration said “we share a global vision of peace, security and shared prosperity, based on sustainable development. — PTI
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India Inc awaits PM’s NYSE visit
New Delhi Unlike in 1999-2000, when it was mostly IT companies speaking of overseas listing, analysts say, this time it could be the big players like Bharti, Tata Motors, TCS and big banks, who would lead the race for going for American and Global Depository Receipts (ADRs/GDRs). “The PM’s visit to NYSE will have a positive bearing on sentiments of Indian companies and set a good impression,” Icra chief economist Saumitra Chaudhury told PTI, when asked whether the visit would revive India's Inc's ADR/GDR dreams. Although Prime Database managing director Prithvi Haldea is not very optimistic about the market sentiments in the US, he said “already in the pipeline are names like Bharti, Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services, who are expected to issue ADRs in the next 12-18 months, besides a host of PSU banks.”
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Aztec to acquire Disha for $ 12
m
Mumbai, September 20 An agreement has been signed to acquire the Pune-based company, with about 400 employees, which would help offer expertise in a critical component of the software product lifecycle, Aztec said in a release here today. The deal comprises payout of $ 9.6 million in cash and $ 2.5 million in stock. Disha has about $ 2 million in cash on its balance sheet, the release said. The agreement is subject to approvals of shareholders and other statutory and regulatory bodies, it said. Hitachi Data
Eyeing government contracts in the telecom, oil and e-governance sectors, Hitachi Data Systems Corp is ramping up its India operations by increasing investment to open an office here and raise the country headcount from 10 to 40 by year-end. Targeted at the enterprise segment, the company today unveiled a new hardware and software platform that has virtualisation layer capable of providing storage capacity of 32 petabytes (32 million GB) and reduces the total cost of ownership by up to 40 per cent. Hitachi’s new TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform (USP) delivers two million input-output operations per second, offering 500 per cent advantage over other storage systems, Hitachi President (Asia) Bruce Symes told newspersons here.
Samsung
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics today said it had developed the world’s first 2 GB double-data-rate (DDR) dynamic random access memory (Dram) chip by using existing micro-processing technology. The new DDR Dram chip was produced by using the existing 80-nano technology instead of technology on a scale of 65 nanometres or less. It has been widely believed in the past that the development of such a high-capacity memory chip would be possible only by using micro-processing technology on a scale of 65 nanometres or less.
Ericsson
Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson today said it would focus on expanding manufacturing in India to include radio base stations (RBS) in a bid to penetrate the fast-growing telecom market. Ericsson will be the first multinational company to manufacture radio base stations in India. “We will bring in other parts of RBS to India, integrate and test them here and sell them in the Indian market,” Ericsson Chief Executive Officer Carl-Henric Svanberg said at a press conference here. Radio base stations are sites that enable mobile phones to work. They have transmitters and receivers in a cabin or cabinet connected to antennas and are essential for mobiles to work. The company currently has a manufacturing facility in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and the base stations will be produced at this plant. In India, Ericsson currently employs 800 persons and is headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. —
Agencies
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Parle Biscuits unit closed
Jhajjar, September 20 The management had pasted a notice regarding the closure of factory outside the gate alleging that the workers were vitiating the atmosphere of the factory by frequent quarrels. According to information, the management-labour tussle was going on for about six months as the management wanted to downsize the strength of the employees. The management had also cut-short the strength by about 400 workers earlier under Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). The president of the Parle Biscuits Mazdoor Sangthan, Mr Virender Singh, said following a 15-month long agitation by the workers, the management had agreed to their demands and the three-year agreement was also agreed to be renewed on September 22. He alleged that the management had apparently took this step to avoid renewal of this agreement. He said about 875 workers are the permanent employees of the factory. He said the management wanted to engage all the labour on contract basis. Meanwhile, around 300 workers gathered outside the factory and decided to stay their until the factory is opened. The delegation of employees also called on local MLA, Mr Nafe Singh Rathee, the Deputy Superintendent of Police and the Labour Commissioner in this regard. The police and civil officials tried to intervene but nobody from the management side was present at the factory.
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Suzuki’s decision makes govt angry
New Delhi, September 20 "We have asked them (SMC of Japan) for clarification on the unilateral announcement... This has affected our business and the good name," Heavy Industry Minister Santosh Mohan Dev told PTI here today. The Minister wrote a strong letter to Suzuki after its supremo Osamu Suzuki announced in Japan last week that Suzuki would invest Rs 1,000 crore on setting up new car manufacturing facilities and a diesel engine plant, besides its entry into the motor cycle segment. Taking umbrage of Suzuki's statement for a new production facility where Maruti would be taken in as a partner, Mr Dev said the announcement without taking the Government into confidence tantamount to breach of "understanding" of the joint venture. “This has caused a colossal loss to shareholders in terms of fall in MUL share prices... Market capitalisation of the JV company has suffered a loss of Rs 250-300 crore,” an agitated Dev said. Following the strongly worded letter late last week, Suzuki representative would meet the minister in a day or two. "We are one of the major shareholders (in Maruti) and we should have been consulted before making the decision," Dev said. Immediately after the announcement by Suzuki on September 13, Maruti share prices suffered a major slide, registering a fall of about 10 per cent. This is the first major tussle between the two JV partners since 1997, when the Japanese partner had moved the Delhi High Court over the issue of Chairmanship of Maruti Udyog. The then Industry Minister Murasoli Maran in the United Front Government had taken a hardline on ouster of Mr R C Bhargava, who was later replaced by another Suzuki nominee Y Saito while RSSNL Bhaskarudu was the Managing Director. SMC increased its stake to 54.2 per cent last fiscal following which government diluted its stake further to 18 per cent through sale of over 25 per cent equity in MUL through a public offer that enabled the company to list on Indian bourses. Following the Suzuki's announcement to form a joint venture with Maruti — Suzuki Maruti India — to set up a new car plant in Manesar (Haryana) with a production capacity of 2.5 lakh units, MUL had informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it would meet on September 23 to work out the details on setting up of the new car plant. —
PTI
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Chile seeks Maruti cars
Kolkata He said his country was keen to increase two-way trade and commerce for getting the best for the people at large. Addresssing an interactive session with the members of the Confederation of Indian Industry here, he said, they wanted to get the "right quality at the right price". He said an Indian IT company had recently bagged a big order from a reputed bank. —
UNI
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BSNL Net service at 10 paise per minute
Bathinda, September 20 Detailing this here today, BSNL Punjab Circle chief general manager G. S. Bhatia said the subscribers to the new service needed no account and no validity date, while its billing along with the regular telephone billing were the advantages of this new facility. The charges were only 10 paise per minute, he said. He said the BSNL would soon depute a person in each telephone exchange in all the border areas for timely addressing the complaints. — UNI
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Tatas shelve projects in B’desh
New Delhi, September 20 "The projects have been stalled and will only be taken up after the volatile political situation improves. The group in fact may consider shelving them altogether if the situation does not change," a top company official said. The money to be put in by the Tatas was to be the single largest Indian capital investment in Bangladesh by a corporate group. The $ 2 billion (about Rs 10,000 crore) capital infusion involved setting up of a 1,000 mw power plant, a fertiliser factory and a steel plant. The Bangladesh government had signed an agreement with the Tatas ensuring a 20-year supply of natural gas for the three projects. —
UNI
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Indian Bank focuses on North
New Delhi, September 20 With brand equity in southern markets, Indian Bank is aiming to strengthen its toehold in the north, he said. In line with the Centre’s commitment of a 30 per cent growth in agricultural credit this year to Rs 1,04,500 crore, Mr Rao said the bank, which recently bagged an award for improved farm credit from Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, is focussing on the sector.The bank is targeting 32 per cent growth in loan disbursement to agriculture this fiscal at Rs 1,800 crore, he said. It would soon come out with special schemes for farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, he said without elaborating. Indian Bank is awaiting a final approval from the Finance Ministry for its initial public offering, Mr Rao said, adding it is also open to acquiring a bank. The government is encouraging banks to tap the markets for strengthening their capital base to enable them to meet the stringent Basel-II capital norms by 2006. —
PTI
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Meghnad for FDI flow to get rid of poverty
Mumbai, September 20 In an interaction with mediapersons here, the visiting economist from London School of Economics and Political Science today said revision of public sector wages, maintaining of subsidies, free electricity to farmers and high level of taxations were the main causes of drainage of internal resources. "These policies are basically aimed at protecting the jobs of urban population in India and against the rural poors", he observed. He preferred FDI rather than portfolio investment into India —
UNI
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