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IA to dry-lease 12 wide-bodied planes
CAs want opening of audit service
New spectrum policy on anvil
GTB merger: OBC to rationalise pay
Power bills shock Baddi industrialists
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ITC to build 3 hotels
Plywood units stop production
Chinese angora wool gives shivers to local traders
Telecom snippets
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IA to dry-lease 12 wide-bodied planes
New Delhi, February 16 The board, which had in September last decided to lease six wide-bodied planes for the purpose of launching international long haul flights, along with three more to replace three existing A-300 B4 aircraft, approved the proposal to increase the number of planes to be dry-leased by three more. The airline officials said after the board meeting that the decision would help the airlines to launch services to new international routes and augment services to the existing ones. With the 12 additional aircraft, the IA’s fleet strength would go up to 77. The public sector airline would be shortly floating tenders, whose technical specifications were approved by the board today, for dry-leasing these planes, the officials said. The wide-bodied planes are twin-aisled and have large seat capacity of between 250 and 350. Airbus aircraft — A-310s, A-330s and A-340s — and Boeing’s B-777 and B-767 fall in this category. However, officials said the airlines would be more favourable towards the Airbus aircraft as its pilots were more used to flying them. However, the airline would be looking at various wide-bodied options, specially keeping in mind the availability of the aircraft. The IA Board felt that 12 additional wide-bodied aircraft would be sufficient to carry out new foreign operations and augment the existing ones in the winter schedule (starting October-November) and summer schedule (March-April) next year. The ministry recently had allowed the Indian Airlines to increase its load factor towards the SE Asian region countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore while reserving operations for three years in the Gulf region just for the Indian Airlines and Air-India. In view of the recent opening up of international connectivity to and from India, an in-house committee of IA had identified certain new international routes as well as certain currently operated foreign ones as suitable for wide-bodied operations. The bilateral air traffic rights to the USA and UK have been expanded in a big way in the past few months and private airlines allowed to operate to London and Gatwick. Both private and public sector carriers are hoping to get the share of the cake on routes to Europe, with bilateral talks with France, Germany, mainland China and Hong Kong in offing.
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CAs want opening of audit service
New Delhi, February 16 The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has taken up the initiative and has urged the government to permit limited liability partnerships to work in India. It is supporting the International Federation of Accountants (Ifac) campaign to convince the developing and developed world to permit “two-way flow of audit professionals” across national borders. The federation is an umbrella body of 163 associations of professional accountants from 119 countries. It is already working on global audit standards that would be acceptable to a majority of WTO members with minor changes keeping in view of local specifications. Mr Gerham Ward, president of Ifac, who is currently on a visit to India, said here today, “the two-way flow of auditors would improve the audit monitoring mechanism, besides helping build trust among countries. It will help the poor and rich countries reap economic benefits,” he stressed. “The federation will meet Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Company Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, the RBI Governor and other officials to apprise them of the importance of international standards in accountancy and their benefits, global trade and also demand removal of all barriers in the free movement of professionals,” he said. At present, there are over 2.1 millions registered accountants worldwide. India, which has a strong presence in the audit sector, hopes that the opening of the service sector, would help Indian audit firms to work abroad either through contracts or as independent auditors. The ICAI has already taken up various steps to prepare Indian audit professionals for the global environment. It includes updating of the curriculum, signing of MoUs with over 30 countries to recognise each other’s professionals. It has also made it mandatory for the professionals to attend in-service training programme to apprise them of latest developments in the profession. The industry experts admit that in the short term, foreign audit firms may succeed to get contracts in India, but the Indian chartered accountants would gain more considering their low wages, and capacity to work in any environment. The country is expecting a high demand for Indian audit professionals in the USA and EU, besides the Gulf and African countries. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has already assured the Institute that the government would take up their case at the next meeting of WTO members. Mr Kamlesh S. Vikamsey, who has recently taken over as the president of ICAI, said, “The statute governing chartered accountants has not been changed since 1949. In today’s world, there is need to permit large-scale firms.” The Naresh Chandra Committee on corporate audit and governance has also recommended in its report to allow limited liability firms work in India. Referring to the benefits from the opening of the service sector, Mr Vikamsey said, “Indian audit firms should prepare themselves for global standards and increase their size to work under the global environment.”
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New spectrum policy on anvil
New Delhi, February 16 “We in India, do not commit ourselves to any single technology. Our policy is technology neutral. But it does not mean that we embrace inefficient or discarded technologies” Mr Maran said. He said the government was “committed to ensuring that paucity of spectrum does not throttle the growth of the telecom industry”. “We, therefore, foresee participative growth of all players as well as technologies. A telecom team is already looking into issues relating to spectrum. Likewise, India is looking forward to introducing 3G services and watching the developments and deployments of 3G networks in other countries,” the minister said. Mr Maran was addressing telecom industry leaders at the third GSM World Congress at Cannes in France today. Mr Maran said that India has allowed 100 per cent FDI in the manufacturing sector, but it is has not lead to expected growth. To surpass the target of providing 250 million telephone connections over the next three years, the country has to reduce dependence on imports. He assured the international community that India’s fiscal, taxation and trade policies will be in tune with the expectations of the telecom manufacturers to achieve the objectives, an official statement issued here said.
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GTB merger: OBC to rationalise pay
New Delhi, February 16 The move comes in the wake of huge difference in the pay package of employees of the two banks, with an average GTB staff getting almost double of its OBC counterpart. “The NIBM has made a presentation on the rationalisation of staff for improving synergy between OBC and the erstwhile GTB. “We expect NIBM to hand over the report to us within seven days,” OBC chairman B D Narang told PTI here today.” OBC had appointed NIBM in the first week of January to advise the bank on the manpower rationalisation and deployment of GTB staff to benefit from the acquisition of the ailing private bank. Mr Narang said the bank would start taking action as soon as the report is received and will resolve all issues by the end of February. OBC has a staff strength of about 14,000 that includes more than 1,000 staff from GTB. GTB had about 1,300 staff, out of which more than 100 resigned following its merger with OBC. Although OBC acquired GTB, the Delhi-based PSU bank had given three-year job protection to the GTB staff. However, GTB staff may not get hike in salary for the next few years till the pay package of the two banks become at par with each other.
— PTI
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Power bills shock Baddi industrialists
Solan, February 16 The industrial units are required to seek permission for light load, comprising 5 to 20 per cent of their total load, from the board. The industries, which exceed this stipulated load, are required to pay a penalty for each unit used in excess. The power board had initially been charging a penalty on only the number of units exceeded. But as per the new instructions, the board has now issued notices to the units for paying a penalty on the total units exceeded plus the total light load sanctioned. Penalty worth lakhs has, therefore, become due from each of the 104 units in Baddi, industrialists reveal. Another industrialist rues that charging penalty with retrospective effect is not proper and adds that payments have already been made for each violation, along with the monthly bills. This fresh penalty would mean that they would have to shell out a hefty Rs 50,000 for each unit exceeded, which is not justified, he adds. The senior vice-president of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh-Industries Association, Mr Deepak Bhandari, says the association would take up the matter with the board. The board’s Superintending Engineer, Mr J.S. Chandel, while explaining the issuance of notices said the board had misinterpreted its earlier instructions on charging the penalty on violations. “Therefore fresh ones had been issued,” he said. He added that low generation of power had caused cuts but the situation had improved now.
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ITC to build 3 hotels
Mumbai, February 16 “ITC hotels Ltd is planning to build three new super deluxe luxury hotels in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore and they would be functional in the next two to three years,” Chairman ITC Ltd Y.C. Deveshwar told reporters on the sidelines of a CII function here today. ITC presently runs 66 hotels across 50 countries. The ITC Chairman declined to comment on the recent attempts of the Central government to recover excise arrears amounting to Rs 803 crore by modifying past excise rules
.— PTI
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Plywood units stop production
Yamunanagar, February 16 As per sources in the plywood units, the prices of the two raw materials have witnessed an increase of 25 per cent in the past two months. After the closure of plywood units in Assam, Yamunanagar district is emerging as the largest plywood manufacturing centre in the county. There are about 300 units with an annual turnover of more than Rs 150 crore.
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Chinese angora wool gives shivers to local traders
Shimla, February 16 The Union Government had recently reduced the import duty on Chinese angora wool from 40 per cent to 10 per cent. The wool is available in the Indian market at Rs 350 to Rs 400 per kg. The Chinese wool is not of a very superior quality but the low rates have discouraged the farmers, who were rearing rabbits to produce angora wool. According to official data, 50,000 farmers were engaged in the production of this wool but their number has gone down by 10 per cent. The Himachal Pradesh Wool Federation, a premier agency, has not been able to procure angora wool for trading. The federation has raised its rates for the “A” grade wool from Rs 425 to Rs 600 per kg and Rs 350 to Rs 500 per kg for the “B” grade during the last two years. A spokesman of the federation said the angora breeders prefer to sell wool in the market where they get a rate of Rs 800 to Rs 900 per kg. The reason for this is the superior and fine quality of Angora rabbits in the country.
— UNI
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Hyundai plans second unit near Chennai
New Delhi, February 16 The new plant would have a production capacity of 1,50,000 vehicles a year, bringing Hyundai Motor’s total production capacity in India to 4 lakh units by 2007. “We desperately need to expand our production in order to meet growing demand in the Indian auto market, which is growing more than 12 per cent every year, and to top our competitors,” Hyundai Motor Co Chairman Chung Mong-koo told employees at Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL). Mr Chung, who was visiting the Indian facility to discuss business strategies, did not give financial details on the cost of building the plant, which will be located next to the existing plant in Chennai. He said, in a statement issued in Seoul, the company would utilise India to manufacture and ship vehicles to Europe, South America and West Asia. Hyundai aims a 16 per cent rise in its Indian sales this year to 2,50,000 units and expects to double sales to 4,00,000 in the next five years. The auto giant, which controls half of the South Korean market, aims to become a global top five auto maker by 2010. Ashok Leyland
Ashok Leyland, Hinduja group’s flagship company, which had a billion dollar turnover last year, has clinched a deal to supply 3,322 trucks to Iraq, the largest order so far for commercial vehicles from India, company officials said. Other orders from the region include 100 trucks valued at $ 5 million and an equal number of buses to Sudan. Already present in many markets of the West Asia and Africa with its commercial vehicles, the company finds considerable scope for the introduction of defence vehicles too. “Our defence vehicles have proved themselves over the varying terrains of the Indian sub-continent, from sea level to 15,000 ft altitude and at different temperatures,” an official said. “We are confident our vehicles meet the performance requirements of the prospective markets. The Stallion 4x4 is currently undergoing trials in Kenya and other African countries, with encouraging results,” he said. A pioneer in the design, development and manufacture of specialized defence vehicles for over three decades, Ashok Leyland has been partnering the Indian army in their vehicle fleet modernisation. The company exports to over 40 countries in Asia, West Asia and Africa. Saarc countries — Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius and Sri Lanka — GCC/Saudi Arabia, Seychelles and Egypt are major constituents in the Company’s growing export market.
— PTI
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Haier launches pen phone
Kolkata, February 16 The handset is priced at Rs 14,940. Haier India, the wholly owned subsidiary of China-based Haier group, second largest home appliances brand has priced the products starting from the entry level of Rs 3,654 to a high end pen sized phone priced at Rs 14,940. “We hope to sell around five lakh sets this year and hope to garner a considerable market share by the year end,” Haier India director Pranay Dhabhai said here today. The product, he said, will be sourced from manufacturing facility in China. “Haier has a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for both GSM and CDMA handsets in partnership with technology providers and has a capacity to produce 15 million handsets per year,” he said. Haier has manufacturing facilities for the home appliances and consumer electronics products in 13 countries including USA, Europe, West Asia, Africa and South Asia. Symbol Tech
Enterprise mobility company, Symbol Technologies, has introduced a new high capacity WS5100 enterprise wireless switch for large, campus-wide enterprise wireless Wi-Fi deployments. The WS5100 was well-suited for organisations in the healthcare, education, retail and carpeted enterprise markets, each of which faces numerous ‘pain points’ unique to the industry-specific business applications that true mobility enabled, a company release here said today. “Symbol’s customers have made us market leader in the wireless switch market with approximately 25,000 units deployed in the US during the last year,” Symbol’s Wireless Infrastructure Division General Manager and Vice-President Anthony Bartolo said. “As our customers mobilise more of their applications to create new operational efficiencies and further increase employee productivity, the new WS5100 gives them the wireless infrastructure needed to support higher data throughput and additional mobile workers,” he added.
— Agencies
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