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Press Note 18 curbs go
Sensex falls to 6,100 points as FIIs bail out
Nasscom seeks animation studio
MS research launches India centre
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Tata launches Spacio Gold
PTL profit soars 70 pc
Bharti raises $ 354 m for expansion
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Press Note 18 curbs go
Kolkata, January 12 Dr Singh reiterated his commitment to create an Asian Economic Community for more people-to-people and business-to-business interaction across Asia, sans barrier to trade, investment and movement of people. “I am convinced that India has to be a more open economy and must derive the benefits of globalisation. But we cannot compromise on our core national security concerns, nor indeed can we compromise on the values that define our nationhood,” the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the 10th Partnership Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industries here. Dr Singh said the Government would do away with the restrictive provisions of the Press Note 18 for all new joint ventures with foreign partners. “The foreign companies will now have to go for only commercial and contractual venture without any government interference,” he said. New guidelines
After PM’s announcement, the government issued revised guidelines superseding the restrictive provisions for foreign investment under the contentious Press Note 18. The new Press Note 1, which replaces Press Note 18, will come into force with immediate effect. It says prior government approval would be required only in cases where the foreign investor has an existing joint venture or technology transfer or trademark agreement in the same field. The onus to provide requisite justification as also proof that the new proposal would or would not jeopardise the existing joint venture or other stakeholders would lie equally on foreign investor or technology supplier and the Indian partner. — Agencies Industry happy The decision on Press Note 18 has received collective endorsement from the domestic industry even though some individual industrialists feel that it could harm their interests. Ficci President Onkar Kanwar has expressed “satisfaction” on the decision but cautioned industry “to carefully draw up future contracts using the global templates in practice where a ‘cooling-off’ period of three to five years is included in commercial joint venture contracts.”
CII president Sunil Kant Munjal said this announcement was both timely and fair and by focussing on all future joint ventures, it protected existing joint ventures as these were set up and established with the understanding of this notification. “The scrapping of Press Note 18 would mean immense benefits to foreign investors at the cost of domestic industry. This cannot and should not be encouraged”, he said on condition of anonymity. — TNS
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Sensex falls to 6,100 points as FIIs bail out
Mumbai, January 12 The BSE Sensitive Index has lost more than 700 points in the last few trading sessions, causing concern of the Sensex going below the psychological 6000 mark. Today’s fall comes amidst better-than-expected performance by blue-chip Infosys in the third quarter. The company reported a third quarter net profit growth of 51 per cent at Rs 497 crore. It still lost 3 per cent to close at Rs 1903. While the Sensex closed at 6103, Nifty was down 36 points to close at 1916. Lesser IT companies like Pentasoft shed 20 per cent while Polaris lost around 8 per cent while NIIT, Satyam and Visualsoft were down between 3 and 4 per cent each. Banking scrips like IDBI Bank, Karnataka Bank and Syndicate Bank plunged over 10 per cent each while the Bank of Maharashtra, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Punjab were down around 8 per cent each. Only Corporation Bank gained marginally. Cement companies lost marginally amidst hopes that reconstruction in tsunami-hit areas would benefit this sector. In steel, JVSL and Ispat Industries lost 8 per cent each while Saw Pipes and Sesa Goa were down 6 per cent each. Other big players Essar Steel, JISCO, Jindal Stainless, Jindal Steel and Power, SAIL and Tisco lost marginally, 1 per cent each. The Reliance Group continued to lose heavily with IPCL and Reliance Energy shedding around 4 per cent. Reliance Capital and Reliance Industries moved down around a per cent each.
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Nasscom seeks animation studio
Hyderabad, January 12 Speaking here today on the sidelines of the “Animation India 2005” conference, Nasscom president Kiran Karnik said the government should step in to provide infrastructure support to the industry, which has a huge potential in the international market. “Animation studios require huge investments and the industry has a long gestation period. Hence, we have informally asked the government to establish a state-of-the-art animation lab, where companies can rent equipment and grow faster, as is done in Hong Kong,” he said. The two-day conference was inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Nasscom Chairman Jerry Rao delivered the keynote address. The Indian animation production industry, which earned more than $ 200 million last year, is at present a small player in the global market but is well-placed to tap the potential, the Nasscom chief said.
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MS research launches India centre
Bangalore, January 12 An MoU was also formalised with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), Government of India, for collaboration in research projects. It start with a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) project aimed at creating a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) system covering all aspects of geographic data. Rick Rashid, MSR Senior Vice-President, said the centre would not do development work or even advanced product research, but focus on “moving the state-of-the-art forward.” The overall mission statement of MSR does include, however, an ultimate transfer of innovative technologies into market products, and “ensuring that Microsoft products have a future.” GIS PROJECT: The GIS project with the MST will bring in a variety of satellite imagery, remote sensing and other data into an indexed database. All non-sensitive data will be made available to the public in an easy-to-browse format. Comprehensive digitisation of India’s terrain can support relief support and logistics in the wake of natural disasters like the recent tsunami, which is a critical need, S&T Ministry Kapil Sibal, who unveiled the centre’s plaque, stated. “If we had had such a system in place, a lot of the relief logistics after the tsunami tragedy would have been simpler,” he said. The national security aspects of such a system had been factored in, and the National Mapping Policy and the fine-tuning of the NSDI was being worked out, he said. MSR has a university department model of functioning, with a flat structure and “critical mass groups.” Personnel have an aggressive publishing regime, and over 15 per cent of the research budget (one of the largest in the world, at $ 6 billion) goes into universities. MSR India Managing Director P. Anandan said research culture meant that while broad frameworks can be set, there could be no set agenda as advanced research is driven by the interests of the personnel.
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49 pc jump in Infy Q3 profit
Bangalore January 12 Basab Pradhan, Worldwide Sales Head and Senior Vice-President, said, “The demand for offshore outsourcing continues to be strong, and new deals are coming at four to five per cent higher rates.” CEO Nandan Nilekani said, “India continues to be well-placed in the IT and BPO sectors, and despite foreign exchange fluctuations, the economy is in India’s favour.” The Earnings Per Share (EPS) guidance has been upped to Rs 68.7 but an appreciating rupee has lowered revenue projections a little to be pegged at between Rs 7,098 crore and Rs 7107 crore as against Rs 7138 crore and Rs 7160 crore. The revenue projection for Q4 is between Rs 1956 crore and Rs 1964 crore. Infosys Chief Financial Officer Mohandas Pai said the operating margins were being maintained in spite of rupee appreciation. As many as 38 new customers have been added during the quarter, along with 2280 new employees. Rs 256 crore has been spent on capital expenditure.
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Auto scene
Mumbai, January 12 Spacio Gold, while retaining its core appeal of three-litre DI engine, rugged built and high fuel efficiency, would offer enhanced looks and comfort to the up-market customer, the company said in a press note here. Launched in 1999, Tata Motors has sold close to 48,000 Spacios so far. Available in AC and non-AC versions and complying with the Bharat Stage I/II norms, Spacio Gold is priced in the range between Rs 4.29 lakh and Rs 4.91 lakh, it added. Honda Unicorn
After rolling out the first motor cycle from its stable in October 2004, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt Ltd today introduced the self-start version of the bike and said it aims to sell 65,000 units by March 2005. This target includes 7,500 units of the self-start model, which is available at Rs 55,982 in Delhi, Rs 57,812 in Mumbai, Rs 58,534 in Bangalore and Rs 58,998 in Kolkata, the company said in a statement here. Honda Motorcycle has already sold 26,000 Unicorns in India in the last three months. “The Unicorn has received an overwhelming response from the market. In the short span three months since its launch, Unicorn sales have already touched 10,000 units level per month. We expect to further build on that through the self-start model,” HMSI Director (Sales and Marketing) K. Iguchi said. Self-start Unicorn is available in 5 colours and meets Bharat stage II norms, it said. With a 13.3 bhp engine, Unicorn offers the best pick-up in its class. Fitted with the state-of-the-art mono-suspension and a strong and flexible diamond frame, the Unicorn is crafted to render smooth drive, it added.
— Agencies
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PTL profit soars 70 pc
Chandigarh, January 12 Product-mix focus towards higher HP range – 87 per cent out of the total third quarter sale of 8400 tractors contributed to raising the revenue and profit, said a company press note. The net revenue for the third quarter reached Rs 251 crores, an increase of 51 per cent over the corresponding performance of previous fiscal. In the result, operating profit for 3rd quarter posted a healthy improvement to Rs. 37.7 crores (Rs. 24.5 crores).
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Bharti raises $ 354 m for expansion
New Delhi, January 12 ABN Amro was the lead arranger for these facilities and these funds would be deployed in further expanding the networks for Bharti’s mobile services and for new circle rollouts, a company statement said. This funding of $354 million has been arranged at an approximate spread of 35 basis points over LIBOR. The total cost of funding is approx. 4.4 per cent (as on date), without currency hedge. This long-term funding has an average tenure of over five years and door-to-door tenure is approximately 10 years.
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