New Delhi, December 6
The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Rajasthan High Court order making it mandatory for soft drink companies to have a warning inscribed on their beverage bottles about the presence of “pesticides” to a permitted limit in their product.

A Bench of Chief Justice R C Lahoti, Mr Justice D M Dharmadhikari and Mr Justice G P Mathur said there was nothing “unreasonable and unconstitutional” in the High Court order.

Dismissing petitions by Pepsi and Coca Cola, challenging the High Court order of October 8, the Bench asked their counsel Harish Salve and Arun Jaitley as what was wrong with the warning being inscribed on the beverage bottles like on the cigarette packets.

“This will enable the consumers to decide whether they want to consume the product or not,” the Bench said.

Pepsi and Coke counsel said they had no objection to this but the High Court had taken s strong stand on the issue and they apprehend that it might go beyond this question even when the Union Government had not fixed any standard for the pesticide limit in soft drinks or any other agro-based food products.

They also said that the presence of pesticide in the soft drink products would depend upon its presence in sugarcane and water, which varies from place to place. In such a situation, no fixed standard could be prescribed for this as almost all agro products had presence of some degree of pesticide in them.

The single judge of High Court had made an order for inscription of the warning, which the cola companies had challenged before its division bench. The apex court told the counsel of the two soft drink majors that they could raise the issue before the High Court Division Bench.

After the apex court refused to stay the High Court order, the counsel agreed to make a proposal before its Division Bench about the exact wordings of the warning to be inscribed on the bottles.

Chandigarh, December 6
Loans up to Rs 5 crore will be made available to the small-scale industry without any collateral and third party guarantee. Banks and financial institutions are being urged to finance projects on the basis of viability and merit of the project. This was stated by Mr N.K Maini, Chief Executive Officer, Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for small industries, while talking to TNS on the sidelines of a seminar on “ Agri and Credit Insurance” here today.

The cost of the guarantee cover provided by the trust is 1 per cent per annum and it entails a guarantee fee of 2.5 per cent of the credit facility sanctioned. Collateral free credit worth Rs 9 crore has been sanctioned to Haryana, Rs 6 crore to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and over Rs 1 crore to Chandigarh. In fact loans worth Rs 375 crore have been made available without any guarantee while settling 20,000 odd cases during the past 8-9 months, he informed.

He said ever since its inception, the trust has extended such credit facility to 1,100 IT industry units in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The tie-up to provide the same is with scheduled commercial banks such as Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Bank of India , besides RRBs and those approved by the Ministry of small-scale industry ( NSIC, NEDFi, Sidbi). The interest rate levied is in accordance with the RBI or government guidelines.

Talking about the problems of extending insurance credit, Mr Maini said, “ Because of the smaller size of the loan and the accompanying risk factor, the share of small-scale industries in outstanding credit of public sector banks is plummeting and this needs to be reversed.”

The trust, with its office located at Mumbai provides web-based service to its clients and the entire operation can be transacted through the Internet. These incentives to bank carry zero per cent risk and zero per cent provisions.

Chandigarh, December 6
A conference on ‘Expanding Frontiers of Finance for Rural India’ held at the ongoing Agro Tech 2004 that focused on agriculture financing, rural credit and credit insurance has suggested that immediate steps should be taken to spread insurance awareness against crop loss among the farming community. This was a critical input for agriculture as well as an effective means of economic transformation, most speakers recommended.

Talking about the innovations needed in the institutional set-up for agriculture and rural credit, Mr Rudal Ram, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, emphasised on the commercialisation of agriculture and reassessment of institutional credit structure.

He stated, “the scope for new institutions in rural credit should be assessed with the objective to creatively convert the scope into innovative schemes through extension, co-ordination and consultancy to contribute to the process of rural development.”

Mr A. Ramanathan, Chief General Manager, Nabard, lamented on the declining trends in capital formation in agriculture sector for the past two decades while speaking on ‘Need for Capital Formation in Agriculture: Increasing Role of Investment Credit’. He stated, “ in the 1990’s, the role of private sector in gross capital formation in agriculture sector seems to be overwhelming as compared to public sector contribution which has been marginalised.”

Speaking on export insurance, Mr P.K. Daksh, Chairman & Managing Director, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC), stated, “agriculture insurance is covering limited number of crops and is block-oriented and not individual-oriented, so there is a need to develop the sector to cover the price as well as the yield risk for individual farmers. Insurance is an inevitable part of any industry but the major part of India’s agriculture exporters do not seek insurance cover. Such huge risks can be taken by big and financially strong export houses but not taking insurance cover is highly dangerous for the small and medium export houses,” he warned.

The Agro Tech 2004 that concluded here today generated direct business worth more than $ 158 million and business enquiries worth $ 564 million, said, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman, Agro Tech 2004 & Vice-President CII.

Chandigarh, December 6
Farmers in this part of the region are quite eager to learn new techniques and interaction with them has proved to be an enriching experience. This is what representatives from far-off states like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and not so far ones like J&K and Rajasthan commented on the concluding day of Agro Tech.

Mr G. Seenu, Deputy Director, Horticulture, Tamil Nadu, says that more than 400 investment enquiries poured in within three days. “Farmers were too eager to grow products like Anthurium, Karpuravalli and orchids that were displayed at our stall and we had a tough time explaining them that since the climatic conditions in the north and south India are entirely different, so the venture may not be feasible,” he recalls and adds that the progressive nature of the farming community here has left him awestruck.

Dr T.K. Ghosh from Department of Agriculture, West Bengal, says that participating here was a whole new experience for him. He feels that such fairs should be held more frequently. “Two years is a pretty long time in this era of constantly changing technology,” he says. Dr Ghosh says that he plans to introduce West Bengal’s aromatic rice variety, Gobind Bhog, in Punjab. “Other rice varieties like Tulaipangi and Deshiaman can also adopt well to this region,” he opines and adds that this region lags in vegetable cultivation and jute production despite having a conducive climate.

While Mr Avinash Dubey from Rajasthan is of the opinion that the South Western belt of Punjab and the Haryana border adjoining Rajasthan should focus more on growing Aloe Vera and Stwaya, medicinal plants used in making cosmetics and curing diabetes, respectively, Mr M.K. Ganjoo, Horticulture Officer from J&K avers that the northern belt of the region has an untapped potential for strawberry cultivation.

New Delhi, December 6
The Government today introduced the Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, which will pave the way for structural transformation of stock exchanges to the demutualised form.

The Bill, introduced by Minister of State for Finance S.S. Palanimanickam, states that since demutualisation separates ownership, voting rights and management from the right of access to trading, it is imperative that the representation of brokers in Board of Directors of stock exchanges is either not permitted at all or kept to a minimum.

Finance Minster P. Chidambaram also said the Reserve Bank of India would henceforth become the licensing authority for 35 multi-state cooperative banks whose deposits would also be covered under insurance.

Moving the Bill to amend the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961, in the Rajya Sabha, the Finance Minister said the Supreme Court had held that the RBI did not enjoy powers to give licenses to the multi-state cooperative banks.

Other Bills introduced were the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debt Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2004. The Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Bill 2004 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha

Hyderabad, December 6
India’s first silicon chip manufacturing facility will come up near Hyderabad with a total investment of over Rs 7,200 crore.

To be designed and developed by South Korean company Intellect Inc, headed by technocrat-entrepreneur Dr June Min, the state-of-the-art fabrication facility is likely to become operational by 2007.

The Korean company today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh government to set up the mega fab near Shamshabad near the proposed international airport on the city outskirts.

The MoU was signed by June Min and Principal Secretary of the state Information Technology and Communications Department J C Mohanty in the presence of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhae Reddy here.

The state government has allotted 50-acre land at the hardware park to build the facility, which will cater to the demands of electronics and electrical industry.

“The fab will be developed in two phases with $600 million investment in the first phase and $ 1 billion in the second phase. The facility is expected to commence operations by 2007, working on a partnership model involving various parties including government, private companies and manufacturers,” the state IT officials said.

New Delhi, December 6
WTO today said India should adhere to the deadline of January 1, 2005, for introduction of a product patent regime in the country by bringing in necessary legislation to amend its Intellectual Property Rights Law.

“For the benefit of India and for its strong pharmaceutical industry, it was essential for it to adhere to the deadline,” WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi, who is here to participate in the Indian Economic Summit told reporters.

Asked if the deadline could be extended for India as it appears the legislation may not be passed in the short Winter session of Parliament, Mr Supachai said it was up to the member countries to take a view and New Delhi could have consultation with them in this regard.

New Delhi, December 6
In a new twist to the ongoing tussle for control of the Rs 90,000 crore Reliance empire, the rest of Ambani family has asked RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani to furnish “appropriate details” of the ownership issues, which he claimed were settled by family patriarch Dhirubhai during his lifetime.

Family sources confirmed that over the weekend the “Ambani family”, including mother Kokilaben and sisters Dipti and Neena requested Mukesh to furnish appropriate details as per his statement on November 22. Seeking to quell the raging controversy over his tussle with younger brother Anil, Mukesh had said last month all “ownership issues” were “settled” during the lifetime of late Dhirubhai Ambani. — PTI