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Board to reconstruct PSEs approved
Tatas launch India’s first undersea
cable
Lodha & Co resigns as auditor for Birlas
Govt revises cost of Tehri project
Oracle to develop software for Railways
Conference concludes
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Credit card honoured at doorstep
IA’s offer to attract travellers
Oil rebounds above $ 50 a barrel
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Board to reconstruct PSEs approved
New Delhi, November 3 As per the terms of reference, the board will advise the government on strengthening public sector enterprises and making them more autonomous and professional. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told newspersons after the meeting that the BRPSE would also consider reconstructing — financial, organisation and business (including diversification, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions) — central public sector enterprises and suggest ways and means for funding these schemes. Mr Chidambaram said there would be seven members in the board and a non-official member as chairman. It would also have three non-official members and three secretaries of the Centre, he said. The board would advise the government on
disinvestments, closure, sale in full or part in respect of chronically sick/loss making companies which cannot be revived. The recommendations made by the board will be advisory It will give suggestions on the restructuring of enterprises referred to it by the government. It may also take up suo motu cases. With regard to unviable companies, the BRPSE will also advise the government on possible sources of funding and offloading of surplus assets, dues to employees etc. The CCEA also approved the implementation of a “National Mission of Bamboo Applications” during the tenth plan period (2002-07). The programme will involve a budgetary support of Rs 100 crore and partners and participating agencies are expected to contribute about Rs 64 crore. The Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council will be the implementing authority for the mission. An official statement said that the investment would lead to an anticipated value addition of around Rs 800 crore annually by the end of the 10th Plan period and to substantial employment creation. The statement said that linkages would be established between organised and unorganised sectors and is expected to bring about improvement in environmental and ecological benefits. “New tools and techniques could be introduced to enhance the manner in which the bamboo resources are used in the country”, the Finance Minister said.
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Tatas launch India’s first undersea cable
Singapore, November 3 The 3175-km cable project, implemented in less than 11 months, comes within two days of the Tatas announcing acquisition of Tyco Global Network of submarine telecom cable for $ 130 million. Launching the cable, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata said this would prove to be an important link for growth of broadband business to serve the needs of corporate customers and households. While the Tatas declined to give details of investment, company sources said the project was completed in 10 months and two weeks for $ 100 million, fully financed through internal resources of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Even after the acquisition of Tyco Global Network, VSNL is understood to have resources of Rs 1,600 crore from which the company is planning significant investments over the next two years. Asked if the company would invest up to Rs 1,500 crore for broadband and other related areas, N Srinath, Director (Operations) of VSNL,
said, "We are looking at significant investments", but did not elaborate. On whether the company would look at inorganic route for growth, Srinath said "we recently acquired Dishnet and shall continue to look at other prospects." "We are looking at more opportunities (for acquisitions)," he added. Speaking on the occasion, Singapore's Education Minister T Shanmugaratnam complimented Tatas for evincing keen interest in Singapore's development and said, "Tata Indicom cable has a bandwidth of more than 5 terabit per second which is equivalent to nearly 77 million simultaneous phone conversations."
— PTI
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Lodha & Co resigns as auditor for Birlas
Mumbai, November 3 Lodha & Co, Chartered Accountants, Mumbai have resigned as statutory auditors, BGFL informed the Bombay Stock Exchange today. Suresh Surana & Associates have been appointed as statutory auditors subject to shareholders' approval, it said. The company would convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders shortly to seek their approval for appointment of new auditors, it added. The late Priyamvada Birla of MP Birla group, through her will, had passed on control of assets worth Rs 5,000 crore to R.S. Lodha.
— PTI
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Govt revises cost of Tehri project
New Delhi, November 3 Talking to mediapersons, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the revised amount, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), includes the cost of essential works of the Tehri Pump Storage Plant, which is the stage III of the project. Besides, the CCEA also decided to convert the Rs 563.19 crore loan released by the government into equity with effect from 1998-99. This way, the debt-equity ratio of the project is changed to 1:1 as recommended by the Public Investment Board. The Tehri Hydel Development Corporation (THDC) has raised Rs 751.80 crore as the loan for power component of the project from the external commercial borrowings. The corporation has raised Rs 2,720.18 crore for power components. Once the conversion is done, the government will not provide any budgetary support either in the form of equity or loan. Any amount needed for the project will be raised by the THDC from financial institutions and banks. The Supreme Court had given the green signal to the implementation of the project subject to completion of rehabilitation works.
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Shock treatment for molesters
Two students of the garment manufacturing technology programme of the National Institute of Fashion Technology
(NIFT) have designed a unique anti-molestation jacket, which comes with a handy protection device for the wearer if someone tries to attack her. The jacket promises to give the wearer confidence, especially in the present scenario of rising incidents of crime against women. It weighs only 450 gm and costs Rs 855, including the cost of the gadget.
NIFT Professor Rajesh Bheda says the designers of the jacket, Kumar Roshan and Shilpi
Vaish, have worked out its prototype. However, the market tie-up will be finalised only after the patent is registered. The jacket, dark maroon in colour, has been made of Indian fabric and designed to make it look like a normal garment by blending metal rivets with embroidery. The electric gadget concealed inside the jacket is capable of releasing a current of 70 to 100 volts and can be activated at the press of a button attached to the waistband. This results in repelling any attack by giving the aggressor a shock as soon as he comes in contact with the jacket. Provisions have been made to ensure that the wearer does not get hurt in the process. The electric circuit, hidden in a mesh of wire attached to the inner lining of the jacket, is activated only when the wearer wants it to. Insulation protects the wearer from any shock. The two designed the jacket when they were students at the NIFT in Kolkata. They are now working as garment technologists in Gurgaon-based and Faridabad-based companies. The technology is the one used in the electric baton, developed by the DRDO for the use of riot police.
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Oracle to develop software for Railways
Mumbai, November 3 Cris is a Central Government body under Ministry of Railways that manages the IT (information technology) backbone of the government monolith, Indian Railways, right from software selection to its inception. The organisation, at present, is using Oracle-based Freight Operations Information System (Fois) to keep a track of freight movement. "The software has immensely helped us to manage the operations of over 7,000 goods train in India with over 2.5 lakh wagons," he said and added that the productivity too had increased by 3 to 5 per cent. He said it was all due to the software managed freight movement that their revenue saw an increase of 9 per cent last fiscal, while they had anticipated 6 per cent growth. He also disclosed that Cris was seriously considering equipping ticket checkers with hand-held personal computers (PCs) for on-board booking and also introduction of hand-held devices for tracking parcels. Talking about the other IT initiatives, he said a pilot project for parcel tracking was being run on the Kolkata-Delhi section. "e-payment of freight is on the cards and within a few months a comprehensive system would be in place," he added.
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The two-day event organised by the world's largest enterprise software company, Oracle Corp., concluded here today.
In a day, dominated mostly by technical sessions, Mr N. Chandershekhar, Executive Vice- President (Global Operations), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an Oracle customer said: "Most Indian organisations look for end-to-end solutions and not a piecemeal approach as far as the implementation of IT is concerned." He described Ultimatix, the digitised network of his company and presented a case study of Dudhsagar Dairy, Gujarat, which had implemented IT solutions to emerge as a role model. Mr Thomas Kurian, Senior Vice-president, Oracle Server Technologies, explained the benefits of grid computing, while Mr Shekhar Dasgupta, Managing Director, Oracle India, delved into the increased Linux penetration in the government and corporate sectors. Besides this, roundtable talks were also held with the representatives from the financial and service insurance sectors, besides a panel discussion with the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
— TNS
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Credit card honoured at doorstep
Chandigarh, November 3 The Reliance IndiaMobile (RIM) handset, facilitates swiping of credit and debit cards at the customer's doorstep, instead of being restricted to shops or hotels, Mr Kishore Oka of Reliance Infocomm says. "We are in an advanced stage of talks with various banks and leading stores in this region and the facility would be made available soon". The swiping of the plastic cards could be done anywhere at any time across Reliance Infocomm’s network which is being expanded to 5,000 towns and cities. HDFC Bank, Citi Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Punjab and Venture Infotek – the sourcing agency for IDBI Bank and UTI Bank – have already implemented the ‘POS’ (point of sales) solution and some more banks are in the final stages of testing it. It is a win-win situation for both banks and merchants since their operating costs could be drastically cut down.
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IA’s offer to attract travellers
Chennai, November 3 Under the scheme, a business class passenger paying applicable full fare for travel on domestic and international sector would be permitted to take a companion at 50 per cent discount, an Airlines release said here. "The scheme is valid for one way or round trip travel from November 5, 2004 to February 4, 2005. The companion would be required to travel with the primary ticket holder on both one way or round trip journey on same date/sector/flight and the journey has to be completed on or before February 4, 2005," the release added. The new scheme could be availed by both Indians and foreigners residing in India. But the companion coupon offer could not be combined with any other scheme or fare or with any other discounts. the release clarified.
— UNI
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Oil rebounds above $ 50 a barrel
London, November 3 New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, climbed by 66 cents to $ 50.28 a barrel in electronic trading. In London the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in December was 60 cents higher at $ 47.15 a barrel at 1600 hrs IST. "It is linked to the markets reading of the US election," said Commerzbank analyst David Thomas.
— AFP
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New Delhi, November 3
