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Tax:GDP ratio to reach 10 pc, says Chidambaram
India gears up for post-quota textile regime
Power policy soon: Sayeed
Montek hints at flexible labour laws
.in Internet domain name policy announced
5-star homes for NRIs
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Amul enters ladoo market
Bharti profit jumps 257 pc, Hind Lever posts loss
GRAPHIC: RELIEF TO SMALL INDUSTRIAL UNITS IN DELHI
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Tax:GDP ratio to reach 10 pc, says Chidambaram
New Delhi, October 28 “This fiscal, if all goes well and all of you pay your taxes by October 31 and continue to pay taxes in the remaining part of the year, we hope to cross Tax:GDP ratio of 10 per cent once again,” Mr Chidambaram said while addressing the annual conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. The tax:GDP ratio has been consistently dipping since the mid-eighties when it exceeded 10 per cent. “But in the 1990s, the tax:GDP ratio dipped and came down to 8.2 per cent in 2001-02 due to sharp cuts in tax rates — income tax, customs and excise duties,” he said. The Finance Minister also said that oil producing nations and companies were creating inventories which have resulted in unjustifiable rise in the prices of crude oil. “Our first concern is the rising global oil prices. It is possible that some countries and companies are increasing their inventories of oil. It is also possible that oil producing nations are exploiting the prices of oil”, he said. Mr Chidambaram said that rising oil prices will “rob developing countries like India a critical percentage of their potential growth”. “In fact every $ 5 a barrel increase in oil prices affects our GDP by nearly 0.5 per cent and also contributes to inflation”, he said adding that even if the demand has risen especially from China and India, there is no justification for any price beyond $ 35 to 30 a barrel. Elaborating on the need for having “inclusive” growth, Mr Chidambaram said the growth strategy of the new government is that “while India must grow, it must grow for all Indians”. “While India must shine, it must shine for all Indians”, the Finance Minister said adding that the last Lok Sabha elections reflected “sobering truth; namely that while India was growing a large number of Indians were being left behind”. Even though the performance of the industry and services were “reasonably successful agriculture has been gravely neglected”. Asking the India Inc to particularly invest in the laggard states, Mr Chidambaram said that much higher investment, both from within India and from outside India is the key to faster growth. This Mr. Chidambaram said that the Investment Commission that had just been approved by the Cabinet would be responsible for garnering much higher investment from all sources. The target was to achieve a Gross Domestic Capital Formation of 30 percent, which was higher than the high of 27 percent achieved in 1997. “Indian Industry should accept the challenge of massively increasing investment, especially in agriculture”, the Finance Minister said. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) would take up some public sector companies for their restructuring. “This will provide you (Indian industry) the opportunity to take up the challenge”, he added.
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India gears up for post-quota textile regime
New Delhi, October 28 Speaking at the CII annual conference here, Mr Nath said that with the phase-out of the restrict textile quota regime of the multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) within the next two months, India’s export of textiles and clothing could go up four-fold in the US market from 4 per cent to more than 15 per cent. However, China was expected to benefit to a greater extent (50 per cent of the US market) and the policy of reservation had limited scope of modernisation of the Indian textile industry. Mr Nath said that a national consultation on textiles was being organised next month in order to gear up and strategise further for the post-quota textile regime. The Minister said that India would aim at doubling its percentage share of world exports within five years, and pointed out that India’s current share of exports was 0.7 per cent. “While strengthening traditional exports, we must also look for novel areas and choice of sectors should be such as to provide employment in rural and semi-urban areas, for women and for artisans... In agriculture, we have not only defensive interests but offensive interests also”, he said. Meanwhile, the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said that India and other developing countries will gain significantly from liberalisation of world trade in services in the negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). India has offensive interests in liberalisation of services as it has some comparative advantages that are not shared by other countries in the services sector. Export of services from India is growing 2.2 times faster than other export sectors. However, domestic reform priorities must inform liberalising commitments and these would constitute the defensive negotiating interests of India.
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Power policy soon: Sayeed
New Delhi, October 28 Speaking at the annual conference of the CII here today, he said, “The National Electricity Policy is at an advanced stage. The final draft, after taking care of the comments of various state governments, CERC, CEA and other agencies is ready and after approval from the Cabinet, it should be possible to notify the same shortly.” The electricity policy will be followed by the Tariff Policy and other policy documents, he said. The announcement of National Power Policy has been delayed reportedly due to lack of consensus among the state governments and alliance partners of the UPA. In the last few months, some state government have raised concerns regarding certain provisions of the Electricity Act relating to cross-subsidy, captive power, open access, regulatory uncertainty, approach to tariff determination and rural electricity supply, Mr Sayeed said. Mr Sayeed also disclosed that 11 private power generation projects of almost 4,000 mw capacity has achieved financial closure from January to June this year after setting up of an inter-institutional group, headed by Power Secretary R V Shahi.
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Montek hints at flexible labour laws
Bangalore, October 28 “As far as I know, no law is being proposed,” he stressed, speaking at an interaction with academics and mediapersons. He hinted at the possibility of more flexible labour laws being offered as an incentive to the private sector in this regard. “Discussions have just been initiated, and I am not a party to them, but I understand that several companies would prefer more flexible labour laws, and institute affirmative action on their own.” The Planning Commission was currently engaged in “extensive consultations” to arrive at a Mid-Term Appraisal of the 10th Plan, and several meetings with groups of Chief Ministers were being planned in November, at Bangalore (Southern), Guwahati (North Eastern), Calcutta (Eastern), Lucknow (Central), Jaipur (Eastern) and New Delhi (Northern), he said.
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.in Internet domain name policy announced
New Delhi, October 28 Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said the Internet domain name registration system will proliferate the Internet, connecting all ISPs of the country to the National Internet Exchange and is aimed to achieve efficient Internet traffic routing and cost reduction. The new policy for .in domain name registration covers the following main elements: Unlimited generic .in registration will be offered at the 2nd level of domain name and at the 3rd level in the globally popular zones of domain registration, like co.in, .net.in and .org.in. Registrations will be carried out by registrars to be appointed by the .in Registry through an open process of selection on the basis of transparent eligibility criteria. Registrations will follow a competitive pricing policy and best market practices. The minimum fee charged by the .in Registry will be Rs 250 and Rs 500 per year for registrations at the 3rd and 2nd levels, respectively. The .in Registry will adopt Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), and will be assisted by a Dispute Resolution Committee to resolve disputes involving the Registry. It will also appoint arbitrators to address disputes involving the registrars and the registrants. The entire process of registration will be online and should be completed in less than 24 hours of the receipt of the request from a registrant, Mr Maran said.
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5-star homes for NRIs
Chandigarh, October 28 Called ‘Apna Punjab Homes’, the five-star resort with residential apartments spread over an area of about 16000 sq yards of land in a prime locality of Ludhiana, promises to offer modern, state-of-the-art facilities the NRIs are used to having at their residences in the USA, UK and Canada, says Mr Singh. The project which will be managed by a company, will also generate income for the owners of the apartments in the complex. “For the period that they are not living in India, the NRIs can lease out their apartments to the company which will maintain them free of cost. The management can give out these apartments on rent to visiting NRIs or others for which the owner will get 50 per cent of the profit.” The project comprises 120 luxury apartments, of which 72 are two-bedroom units and the rest single bedroom units. Mr Singh claims that 92 apartments have already been sold out to Canada-based NRIs. The complex, he says, will have a swimming pool, health club, gymnasium, bar, restaurant, business centre, kitty hall, children’s play area and an elegantly landscaped central courtyard. The central courtyard will be air-conditioned and equipped with four capsule elevators. All apartments will be fully furnished and shall be fitted with imported fixtures.
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Amul enters ladoo market
New Delhi, October 28 Having established itself in the cheese, ice-cream and pizza markets, dairy cooperative major Amul will now introduce its ‘Avsar’ ladoos in the run-up to Divali. “The experimental run has been conducted in our dairy using a ball-forming machine. The sample ladoos in two varieties of ‘churma’ and ‘besan’ dished were relished by the people. They will be marketed by Amul and formal a launch is scheduled by Divali”, Chief Executive of Anand-based Vidya Dairy H.K. Desai said here. Amul officials said the ladoos will be launched next month on a small scale of 200-250 kg per day.
— PTI
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Punjab bags e-gov award
Chandigarh, October 28 The award instituted by Telecom India 2004 was received by Mr N.S Kalsi, Managing Director of Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation on behalf of the government in Mumbai yesterday. A jury headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice A.KM Ahmadi had been set up to choose the awardee.
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PSEB unbundling flayed
Ludhiana, October 28 “The proposal to unbundle PSEB has been mooted without involving stakeholders, professionals including engineers,” said Mr H.S. Bedi, general secretary, PSEB Engineers Association, adding, “such reforms in which power sector managers are not involved are bound to fail miserably.”
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Bharti profit jumps 257 pc, Hind Lever posts loss
New Delhi, October 28 The company, 28 per cent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, reported consolidated revenues for Q2 at Rs 1,860 crore, a growth of 63 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The earning before interest, tax and depreciation for Q2 was Rs 701 crore, registering 86 per cent year-on-year growth, Bharti Tele-Ventures said in a statement here. Cash profit from operations was Rs 661 crore during the July-September 2004 quarter, a growth of 116 per cent over the same period last year. For the first half of 2004-05, Bharti Tele-Ventures net profit surpassed the full year figure for FY 2003-04. It stood at Rs 630 crore as against Rs 620 crore for the fiscal ended 2003-04. “Bharti’s strong performance both during this quarter and the first half of 2004-05 has once again demonstrated its ability to maximise the full benefits of scale and size. The roll out of our services in the new circles has taken us a step closer to emerge as the most preferred provider of telecom services to our customers, nationally,” the company CMD Sunil Mittal said. For the quarter ended September 30, 2004, Bharti maintained its leadership position with its market share of all India GSM mobile subscribers at 25.9 per cent. Hind Lever
FMCG major Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) today said it had posted a net profit of Rs 324.32 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2004, down from Rs 443.22 crore registered in the same period a year ago. The firm’s total income has decreased from Rs 2594.69 crore in the second quarter of 2003 to Rs 2486.82 crore in the period under review, a company release said here. The company officials informed that the results for the quarter were not comparable to those of the previous period to the extent of sale of edible oils and fats business effective from August 29, 2003.
Ind-Swift
Rising exports and improved margins saw drug majors Ind-Swift Laboratories Limited, registering a robust 226 per cent increase in profit-after-tax to Rs 70.23 million from Rs 21.56 million for the second quarter of the fiscal 2004-2005. The net profit for half year also augmented by 179.16 per cent to Rs 98.82 million from Rs 35.40 million last year. The net sales for the quarter rose by 17.83 per cent, the turnover for the half year registered an increase of 16.53 per cent from 767.89 million to Rs 894.80 million. The EPS during the quarter rose sharply to Rs 4.50 as compared to Rs 1.57 during the same quarter previous year.
Satnam Overseas
Food company Satnam Overseas Ltd today announced a 57 per cent rise in basmati exports at Rs 33.3 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal, as against Rs 21.22 crore in the year-ago period. The company recorded a 37 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 5.23 crore as against Rs 3.82 crore in the year-ago period with exports of its branded basmati rising to Rs 17.93 crore as compared to Rs 6.56 crore in the last review period, SOL said in a release.
Godfrey Phillips
Godfrey Phillips, the country’s second-largest cigarette manufacturer has imported net sales of Rs 328.01 crore for the half-year ending on September 30. This is a 7 per cent increase over the corresponding period of the previous year. Sales for the second quarter was Rs 163.5 crore, up 1.7 per cent from the corresponding period last year (Rs 160.77 crore). Net profit for first half fell marginally to Rs 25.82 crore from Rs 26.3 crore for the corresponding period last year. Profit for the first quarter stood at Rs 11.89 crore, a decrease of 8.5 per cent (Rs 13 crore).
Tata AIG
Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Limited (Tata AIG Life) First Year Premium income rose 72 per cent to Rs 108.6 crore for the half yearly period ended September 30, 2004 against Rs 63.1 crore for the same period last year, while the total premium income increased by 118 per cent to Rs 194.3 crore during the same period, against Rs 89.1 crore for the same period last year. During this period, Tata AIG Life announced a reversionary bonus of 3.25 per cent for the financial year 2003-04. This bonus was in line with the prevailing interest rate scenario and was applicable for all eligible participating plans.
— TNS, Agencies
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