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PM says 8 pc growth rate unachievable
Vat sprays uncertainty over pesticide industry
India earns $ 4.9 b from overseas tourists
Adulteration in petro products rampant
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Farmers can stock wheat in Markfed warehouses
Malaysia allows hiring of 5 lakh foreign workers
SPL to launch IPO for expansion
A-I faces online booking glitches
Gail, ONGC invited to explore Uzbek
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PM says 8 pc growth rate unachievable
New Delhi, April 5 “It appears that even with optimistic projections about the next two years, the average growth rate in 10th Plan period is not likely to cross the 7 per cent mark, well below the 10th Plan growth target of 8.1 per cent per annum. Employment generation is also unsatisfactory so far. The cornerstone of the 10th Plan had been a reversal of the declining trend in the growth rate of agriculture to eventually to take it above 4 per cent. The actual performance of agriculture appears to have deteriorated even further and will possibly not exceed 1.5 per cent during the first three years of the Plan”, Dr Manmohan Singh said. The Prime Minister’s observations — that appeared to be a veiled attack on the erstwhile NDA government’s poor macro-economic management — came during his inaugural address at the second meeting of the Full Planning Commission to approve the Mid-term appraisal of the 10th Plan. The Prime Minister also dropped oblique hints about transiting to a new plan paradigm that would be factor in technological changes, changes in consumer demand patterns and production opportunities. “Is five years a sufficient time span for taking a long-term view on infrastructure development? Most of the creative discussions in a budget exercise focus on Plan expenditure. If so, is it essential to wait for five-year intervals to re-engage in a planning effort? Or can we do this on an annual basis for certain areas and on a longer basis for others? This is especially relevant as we now present medium term forecasts for the budget”, he noted. He said that the growth target was unachievable especially due to slippages in the first three years of the Plan period. “The slippages that have been recorded in the growth rate of the economy, and especially in agriculture, have wide ranging implications for other important economic variables as well. As we all know, growth of employment and reduction in poverty are both intimately linked to growth performance”, he said. These shortcomings, which have also been recognised in detail in the UPA government’s National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP), have been now identified for corrective action in the mid-term appraisal (MTA), the Prime Minister said. Most of the priority areas of government are in sectors, which are the primary responsibility of States - agriculture, irrigation, health, education, etc. Infrastructure areas traditionally seen as responsibilities of the Centre, e.g. power, ports, airports and even national highways are gradually seeing increased private participation.
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Vat sprays uncertainty over pesticide industry
Abohar, April 5 The state government has resolved to charge an additional 4 per cent tax on the sale of insecticides and pesticides, besides other agriculture inputs. This is going to make the same costlier compared to Rajasthan as the BJP-led government there has refused to implement Vat. Most of the bigwigs in the insecticides, pesticides and fertiliser business here had opened sales outlets in Kallarkhera and Rajpura villages on the Punjab -Rajasthan border. They raked in millions, as the products were far cheaper as compared to the trade markets in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan, neighbouring Abohar sub-division due to disparity in sales tax rates. This is evident from the sales graph of acclaimed manufacturers, including MNCs. The sources added most of the leading insecticides and pesticides manufacturers not only had deployed their sales promotion representatives in Rajasthan but were also offering free trips to Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong to those dealers who achieved specific targets. Farmers from neighbouring Rajasthan towns had been thronging the sales outlets near the inter-state border to buy insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers at price less than their own areas. The inter-state border shops are located hardly five to six km from neighbouring areas of Rajasthan but the Vat will turn the tables now, traders fear. This is going to give a setback to the state exchequer also, besides forcing the traders to suspend business until Vat is introduced in the neighbouring state too.
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India earns $ 4.9 b from overseas tourists
New Delhi, April 5 Apart from hotel and airlines, the garment, jewellery, medical and transport sectors were the major beneficiaries. Interestingly, international visitors used visa credit cards to spend over Rs 4,100 crore to make all these purchasing, said Mr Santanu Mukherjee, Country Head (South Asia), Visa International, while releasing a study, “Recent trends in spending by visitors to India,” here today. “Electronic payment is becoming an important channel for delivering tourism revenues and holds significant potential value in stimulating tourist spending for India,” he said. According to the report, top spenders in India in 2004 were cardholders from the US (Rs 1,280 crore), the UK (Rs 870 crore), France (Rs 220 crore), Australia (Rs 150 crore) and the UAE (Rs 130 crore). Interestingly, cardholders from Japan spent around Rs 11,500 and Chinese spent Rs 10,518 crore for each transaction. The categories that attracted the highest spend included accommodation (Rs 1,000 crore), high-end retail stores (Rs 960 crore), clothing (Rs 400 crore) household goods (Rs 300 crore) and mail and phone order (Rs 100 crore). Mr Mukherjee said with the setting up of additional infrastructure, the international and domestic buyers were finding it more convenient to use the plastic cards. Though debit cards have taken over the credit cards yet the total purchases through credit cards were substantially higher, he said.
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Adulteration in petro products rampant
New Delhi, April 5 A committee headed by an Additional Secretary in the Petroleum Ministry has recommended the handing over of the responsibility of checking adulteration to the oil companies since the Anti-Adulteration Cell has failed to fulfil its duty. A probe is already going on against the officials of the cell for indulging in malpractice. Says Mr N. Srikumar, General Manager, Indian Oil Corporation, “though we do not get so many complaints of adulteration, the situation is quite serious.” He said the company had evolved a system to monitor the supply of oil products through tamper-proof electronic locking of oil tankers, public awareness and regular testing by company officials at the retail outlets. However, trade experts said, at today’s prices of petrol, naphtha, diesel and adulterants like hexane, benzene, pentane, lubricants and their base stocks and considering the scale of the operation, the petroleum adulteration scam could be worth Rs 20,000 crore a year. A report of Tata Consultancy Services has estimated that over 30 per cent of the kerosene under the public distribution system was diverted for adulteration till mid-90s. With the widening of price between kerosene and petrol by around Rs 30 per litre, it is understood that the situation has further worsened. “In the developed world, kerosene is not used at all for cooking and in some countries, it costs much higher than petrol and diesel. So there is no incentive for adulteration,” said Mr Srikumar. Realising the diversion of imported kerosene in the adulteration market, the government has banned the import of kerosene by private players.
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Nabard sanctions credit limit of Rs 710 cr for Punjab coop banks
Chandigarh, April 5 Addressing mediapersons during the annual press conference, the Chief General Manager, Mr A. Ramanathan, said the cooperative banks have availed of the crop loan finance from Nabard to the full extent of credit limit sanctioned due to lower interest rate of 5.25 per cent and the measures initiated by the Union Government for doubling of agricultural credit from 2004-05 to 2006-07. They have also sanctioned crop loans of Rs 53 crore and Rs 20 crore to the regional rural banks (RRBs) in Haryana and Punjab, respectively. The cooperative banks have made a conscious effort in restructuring the debt of farmers who were defaulting under duress by converting the overdue crop loans of Rs 302.26 crore in Haryana and Rs 67 crore in Punjab. A credit limit of Rs 115 crore has been sanctioned to cooperative banks in Punjab for activities allied to agriculture and marketing of crops etc. They have issued 23208 and 38154 kisan credit cards, respectively, to new farmers during 2004-2005. Mr Ramanathan said Nabard has given an assistance of Rs 312.63 under the Rural Infrastructure development Fund (RIDF) to Punjab for 289 schemes involving an outlay of Rs 376.54 crore. The schemes included the installation of 100 deep tubewells, construction of 125 rural roads and 24 bridges and 40 works for flood protection. Similarly, RIDF assistance of Rs 173.21 crore was sanctioned to Haryana for 421 schemes involving an outlay of Rs 193.80 crore. The schemes included gradation of 162 veterinary institutions, 200 rural drinking water supply schemes and 59 minor irrigation schemes. The Regional Office of the bank here has disbursed refinance of Rs 1639.9 crore as on March 31, 2005 under investment credit, thus achieving 140 per cent of the target of the year (Rs 1,167.58 crore). The growth rate over last year is 38 per cent as refinance disbursement during 2003-04 was 1,191.7 crore. The disbursement was Rs 1,041.82 crore in Punjab, Rs 593.52 crore in Haryana and Rs 3.95 crore in Chandigarh. The highest refinance was disbursed in Patiala district in Punjab and Bhiwani district in Haryana. The District Rural Industries Project, which is already under implementation in four districts of Punjab, viz Bathinda, Muktsar, Kapurthala and Patiala, and in three districts of Haryana, viz Ambala, Panipat and Yamunanagar, would be introduced in Rewari this year.
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Farmers can stock wheat in Markfed warehouses
Chandigarh, April 5 This will give the Punjab farmer a pan India market with trading carried out through a multi commodity exchange connected in 130 cities. Now Markfed has become a member of the exchange and can sell wheat on the exchange just like the trading is carried out on the stock market. Prices of wheat will be displayed daily at Markfed warehouses allowing farmers the option to sell when they desire and not be forced to sell to pay off debts. The Managing Director of Markfed, Mr S.S. Channy, explained that farmers will get an advance payment for the wheat when they come to deposit the stocks at the warehouse. The actual sale can be affected later by watching the market price. This will bring in more options and money to the farmers. A business model creating a market place for the “futures market” for the farmers of Punjab has been evolved, he added. Farmers will be given an option to bring their average quality of wheat and deposit the same with Markfed. A warehouse receipt will be issued which will be tradeable. By pledging the same with banks, farmers can draw an advance against the stocks kept with Markfed. The actual sale of wheat can be affected latter seeing the market price. Rs 5 per month will be charged by Markfed for storage, maintenance and insurance of the wheat. Markfed is linked to the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), Mumbai, and has got a terminal installed in the main Markfed building at Chandigarh and a ticker to know the live prices of all commodities.
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Malaysia allows hiring of 5 lakh foreign workers
Singapore, April 5 The Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers relaxed its stance on foreign workers to overcome the acute shortage affecting several industries. It had previously restricted workers to particular sectors, depending on their country of origin. To ease the shortage, more workers will be brought in from new source countries like Pakistan, India, Nepal and Vietnam, the reports said adding that the actual number would depend on the need of the various sectors. The Cabinet committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, also agreed to forgo the requirement for induction courses for Indonesian workers to speed up their arrival, it said. According to the reports, Malaysia needs two million workers by the middle of this year, including the 1.5 million present already employed in the country. Mr Najib assured that the workers would be brought in legally. The government has set up a technical committee to study the actual need for foreign workers by each industry in the country, he said. Malaysia allowed some 4 lakh illegal workers to leave the country earlier under an amnesty programme this year but on assurance that they returned to work on legal conditions with proper documents. But the government has charged 48 employers in court for employing illegal workers since the grant of amnesty. The illegal workers outflow had a severe impact on the output of the industries, especially plantations, rubber tapping and manufacturing sectors.
— UNI
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SPL to launch IPO for expansion
New Delhi, April 5 “SPL plans to expand its knitwear and garment capacity from 400 tonne per month to 700 tonne per month and 7.5 lakh pieces to 11 lakh pieces per month. We filed prospectus papers with Sebi last week and hope to bring out the public issue after its approval,” said Mr Pushpak Bansal, Vice-President, SPL Industries Ltd, while addressing a press conference here today. Set up in 1994, SPL is a leading readymade garment manufacturer and exporter. Among its international clients are GAP, JC Penney, KOHL, Philip Van Heusen, Dockers and Pierre Cardin. Mr Bansal claimed since inception the company is a profit-making organisation registering a growth of 18-20 per cent. The company achieved a turnover of Rs 172 crore in 2004-05, and aims to double its capacity by next year to post a turnover of Rs 400-500 crore in the next three years. SPL boasts of having the biggest manufacturing capacity in garment export categories in northern India.
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A-I faces online booking glitches
Dubai, April 5 The staff are at a loss to redress complaints of passengers who are denied tickets after payments are made through credit cards or when fares get deducted twice, child fares charged are higher than full tickets and frequent freeze of the site. Air-India officials say the website has not been launched in the UAE, they have not received password to log on and no appointment has been made of agencies to assist those who do not have access to Internet or credit card. Customers are also sceptical of budget travel, as they would end up paying equivalent of regular fares since baggage allowance is only 30 kg against existing 50kg and extra weight is charged at 35 dirhams per kg.
— UNI
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Gail, ONGC invited to explore Uzbek
New Delhi, April 5 This was discussed during meetings between visiting Uzbekistan President Abduganievich Karimov and Indian leaders here. An External Affairs Ministry spokesman today said considering India’s long-term energy needs, ONGC and Gail were offered gas and petrol exploration and distribution projects in Uzbekistan.
— UNI
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