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Essar bags stake in BPL for
VAT panel may exempt diesel from
OBC to lower interest rates on SSI loans
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End export subsidies, reiterates Kamal Nath
Nasscom moots database of IT honchos
India willing to permit trade via Wagah
HAL signs JV agreement with Snecma
Rico Auto ends pact with Ford
Girls light a lamp to mark the start of ‘Project Vistaar’, a plan announced by Microsoft to reach out to over 26 cities across India, during a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday. — PTI
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Biocon net plummets
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Essar bags stake in BPL for Rs 4,400 cr
Bangalore, July 20 BPL Mobile Chairman and CEO Rajeev Chandrasekhar told reporters here that he and co-investors sold 64 per cent stake in the venture. The agreement was signed after highly competitive bidding by seven to eight foreign players, besides some very keen domestic players in the field, BPL Mobile officials said. “This could perhaps be one of the last leg of major consolidations in this sector,” Mr Chandrasekhar said, alluding to the creation of the largest pure play cellular operator in India under Hutch Essar. Explaining the choice of Hutch-Essar, he said: “The decision was partly emotional and partly rational. “The group does not currently have a presence in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and hence the entire acquisition process fitted in perfectly well. I strongly believe that the decision was in the best interest of the customers and team members of BPL Mobile which made me decide in favour of Essar,” he said. “I was looking at the larger picture.” The deal follows Essar’s recent consolidation of its position in its joint venture with Hong Kong-based Hutchison, operating in India under Hutch brand, by acquiring an additional 3.4 per cent equity. Essar had also recently approached the government for securing licences for seven more circles. BPL Communication owns a 74 per cent stake in the BPL Mobile Communications (operations in Mumbai) and 100 per cent in BPL Cellular (operations in Maharashtra and Goa). Intention of both parties is to eventually have BPL Mobile merge with Hutchison Essar’s cellular services after the necessary approvals. Once merged, Hutch Essar would become the largest pure play GSM operator in the country with a combined subscriber base of over 11 million across 21 circles, a company statement claimed. “Though the leading competitors might raise the bogey of the 10 per cent stake factor, this deal falls under the intra-circle merger and all the guidelines stipulated under it have been complied with,” Mr Chandrasekhar said.
— PTI
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VAT panel may exempt diesel from uniform tax
New Delhi, July 20 The sources said the tax on diesel is not likely to be increased to 20 per cent in Delhi as VAT panel may exempt the fuel from the common minimum tax rate, which it plans to implement on items across all states by September. At the last meeting held in April, the Committee had asked the states to move towards uniform sales tax on diesel across the country. At present, Himachal Pradesh has imposed sales tax on diesel at 14 per cent, Haryana at 12.5 per cent and Punjab at 8.8 per cent. Consequently, the Empowered Committee has allowed Delhi to lower the levy to 12.5 per cent from 20 per cent. Punjab and Haryana had reportedly declined to increase the sales tax on diesel under strong pressure from the farmers’ lobby. Delhi lost 40-60 per cent of diesel sales during 25 days of implementing 20 per cent tax on the fuel in April, state Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit said. The Empowered Committee in its last meeting on July 9 had decided to write to all states to follow uniform minimum rate on bullion at 1 per cent by August 1 and on other items by September 1. The Committee will then recommend administrative action against the states violating the uniform minimum rate principle. Delhi is facing similar problem with bullion where it has imposed VAT of 1 per cent, while non-VAT states like Rajasthan and Gujarat levy 0.25 sales tax on the precious metals. With VAT panel’s move, the Delhi Government decided that it would wait till August 1 before any decision on lowering VAT rate on bullion from 1 per cent to prevent shifting of trade in gold and precious items to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia said the state would lose Rs 40 crore of revenue for the whole fiscal because of shifting of trade in bullion. However, bullion traders claimed that the loss is much higher.
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Oswal Group founder dead
Ludhiana, July 20 He was 97. His last rites were performed at the Chander Nagar cremation ground in Civil Lines here today. The funeral procession was attended by scores of people from all walks of life, including politicians and industrialists. A noted industrialist, he was known to be one of those who made Ludhiana the industrial hub of the country.
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OBC to lower interest rates on SSI loans
Ludhiana, July 20 While the benefit of lowered interest rate was passed on to 50 borrowers in Ludhiana today, Mr Prithviraj said he would take up the matter of reducing interest rates in the board meeting of the bank, scheduled to be held soon. He also announced reduced interest rates for loans up to Rs 50,000, loans between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore and loans above Rs 1 crore. “The idea is to promote small-scale industry which has a major contribution in generating employment and in exports,” he said. He said the bank’s measure was in sync with the government’s aim to promote SSIs. “The government is planning to announce a special package for SMEs,” he said. To further this aim, the bank would also ink a pact with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for co-financing SSIs in the SSI clusters of Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. He said in order to increase credit flow to this sector, the bank was trying to inculcate lending culture for which it was sensitising its employees and conducing special camps. Mr Prithviraj said OBC’s credit flow to agriculture had also been more than the target. “Against the budgeted Rs 400 crore, we managed to reach Rs 500 crore. This year, we plan a credit flow of Rs 560 crore,” he said. Talking about the bank’s financial condition post-merger with the Global Trust bank (GTB), he said at the time of the merger, in August 2004, GTB’s non-performing assets (NPAs) were Rs 1,700 crore, which have now come down to Rs 1,250 crore.
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End export subsidies, reiterates Kamal Nath
New Delhi, July 20 Addressing the valedictory session of the Pre-Hong Kong Ministerial Stakeholder Consultation Workshop on Agriculture Negotiations here this evening, Mr Nath made it clear that there should be an immediate end to export subsidies and effective and substantial reductions in domestic support provided by developed countries to their farm sector which depressed international prices of agricultural produce, thereby adversely affecting farmers in developing countries. “These steps must precede market access into developing countries, and not the other way round,” he stressed. The two-day workshop, attended by a large number of stakeholders, was jointly organised by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Mr. Nath was emphatic that market access commitments by developed and developing countries should be designed to ensure wider distribution of benefits for all nations.
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Nasscom moots database of IT honchos
Chennai, July 20 However, the database will not have blacklisted employees accused of fraud, malpractice or any cyber-crime in the course of their work. Nasscom President Kiran Karnik while addressing a press conference here yesterday, said, "No, we are not for a black list, we will not support any move like that." He was here to attend the software industry body's summit on human resources. He said Nasscom would prepare a database of people in the information technology and information technology-enabled services industry that would give some basic background information about registered professionals — their age, address, date of birth, education and institutions through which they qualified. Mr Karnik said the database would be confined to such basic data in the first stage so that any company could verify an applicant's details. He said Nasscom would ask an independent third body to maintain the database and would not be directly involved in its operations. Whether a company could access the database to cross-check details, especially about qualifications and where someone graduated from, would be decided by the applicants themselves. He said, "The control will be with the individuals (professionals). They can decide whether someone should be allowed to verify their credentials." Replying to a question on whether the industry planned to weed out delinquents caught selling confidential data or exclusive codes and programmes, or resorting to other related crimes in the workplace, he said later there could be data concerning any crime record, like charges or conviction for cyber crime, but it would not be fed in at the present stage. He did not foresee any immediate threat from China's thrust on English education to take advantage of the global BPO market. However, he warned that India could not afford to be complacent, as the present headstart that India had in terms of its large body of English-speaking professionals could be offset by the pace at which China was wont to pursue its new initiatives. Mr Karnik said Nasscom had signed a memorandum of understanding with the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for strengthening Indian technical education through improvements in curriculum, faculty, infrastructure and teaching methodology.
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India willing to permit trade via Wagah
Islamabad, July 20 "Pakistan had requested India to allow duty-free import of cattle, meat, onion, potato, tomato and garlic and we have conveyed our willingness to permit such imports through the Wagah border," Indian High Commission officials said here. About reports in the Pakistan media that India was delaying the exports to press for its demand to fully open the Wagah border for bilateral trade and transit to Afghanistan, High
Commission officials said the delay appeared to be due to differences between Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan.
— PTI
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HAL signs JV agreement with Snecma
Bangalore, July 20 The joint-venture would be a centre of excellence for the manufacture of key components and assemblies of aero engines. While HAL would bring its experience of manufacturing in India, Snecma would transfer technology to the JV, providing HAL additional export avenues and greater access to civil aerospace industry. The agreement was signed by HAL Chairman Ashok K Baweja and Snecma CEO and Chairman Marc Ventre. In a joint statement, the two companies said the JV would produce critical components for Snecma as well as for Turbomeca, another company of SAFRAN group.
— UNI
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Rico Auto ends pact with Ford
New Delhi, July 20 "The company has sought such termination as the consideration accruing to Ford would have been much higher than anticipated compared to the benefit that would have accrued to the company under this agreement," Rico said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Selim Group Officials of Indonesia's Selim Group will soon visit West Bengal to finalise a deal for setting up a new two-wheeler factory, Industries Minister Nirupam Sen informed the state Assembly in Kolkata today. During question hour, he said officials of the Indonesian company would arrive here on July 27 to sign an agreement on the proposed plant to be set up at Uluberia in Howrah district. Another new factory for production of heavy vehicles would be set by Ural India Group, a joint venture between city-based Saraf group and Ural of Russia, Sen said, adding that a plot of land had already been allotted to them.
New Corsa variant General Motors India today launched a limited edition of its 1.4 litre mid-size car Opel Corsa, offering a host of add-on features, priced at Rs 5.39 lakh. "The new special edition of 220 cars redefines value for money proposition and offers a host of incremental exclusive features, including a triple information display (TID) system," the company said.
— PTI |
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Hewlett-Packard to slash 14,500 jobs
Houston, July 20 HP also will freeze future pension benefits, while slightly increasing contributions to employee 401(k) plans. HP is one of Houston’s largest employers, with 8,000 workers on its campus here. Most of the workers are a part of HP’s technology solutions business, which includes data-storage products, manufacturing of ProLiant servers, a large research and development operation, call centres, customer support and sales and marketing. HP will carefully target staff reductions. Reductions in sales positions will be minimal, so that HP can continue to provide world-class service and avoid impacting customers; and there will be little change to headcount in research and development, to ensure that the company remains a leader in technology innovation. The majority of staff reductions will come in support functions, such as information technology, human resources and finance.
Cognizant’s facility at Coimbatore The new facility of Information Technology major US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS), on a sprawling 40,000 sq ft area, at Coimbatore, is scheduled to get operational within the next few weeks, a senior company official said today. Informing this to newspersons on the sidelines of the Nasscom HR Summit conference here, CTS Corporate Marketing and Communication Director R. Ramkumar said about 400 software professionals had been identified to work at the new software development centre. “In fact, so overwhelming has been the response, that we received twice our manpower requirement,” he said.
Red Hat partners with college Leading open source provider and Linux Solutions, Red Hat today announced its partnership with Rajasthan based GT Computer Hardware Engineering College as part of expanding its partner ecosystem in the country. With this partnership, Red Hat said its complete range of Training and Certification programmes would be available to students in six different states where GT Computer has its presence. In a statement issued here today, Red Hat said with the ever-increasing use of Linux and Open Source technologies in corporate and government circles in this region, the partnership would help the company to fulfil the need for skilled professionals.
— Agencies |
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Biocon net plummets
Bangalore, July 20 Compared to the previous quarter (January-March 2005), the Bangalore-based company said, its net profit dipped by seven per cent but sounded upbeat about prospects for the rest of the current fiscal. “This quarter bore the brunt of capacity constraints, price erosion, depreciation in interest charges and depreciation on account of large expansion,” Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said.
Ingersoll-Rand Ingersoll-Rand (India) Ltd today said it had posted a net profit of Rs 72.90 million for the first quarter ended June 30, up from Rs 70.30 million registered in the same period a year ago. The firm’s total income increased from Rs 1032.50 million in the June quarter of the previous fiscal to Rs 1195.30 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2005, the company informed the BSE in Mumbai.
Havell’s net up Havell’s India Ltd, the power distribution equipment company, today said it has posted a whopping 134.58 per cent net profit at Rs 12.48 crore during April-June 2005 as against Rs 5.32 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. It has registered a 66.61 per cent increase in net sales at Rs 193.34 crore during the review period, the company said in New Delhi.
Maharashtra Seamless Maharashtra Seamless Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 24.75 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as compared to Rs 17.22 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, an increase of 43.72 per cent. Announcing the results in Mumbai, the company said its total income (net of excise) has increased from Rs 142.33 crore to Rs 203.47 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005.
Jet Airways net up Jet Airways India Ltd today reported a net profit of Rs 95.34 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as compared to Rs 51.96 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2004-05. Total income increased by 43.66 per cent to Rs 1,345.36 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 from Rs 936.47 crore in the year-ago period, Jet Airways said in New Delhi.
NDTV profit dips NDTV has reported sharp fall in net profit to Rs 3.6 lakh in the first quarter ended June 30, as against Rs 7.62 crore reported in the corresponding last year, the company said in new Delhi. However, the revenue of the company has gone up to Rs 41.55 crore from Rs 40.53 crore reported in the corresponding quarter previous year.
Sify reports loss Nasdaw-listed Internet and e-commerce services company, Sify Ltd has posted a net loss of $ 2.26 million for the first quarter ended June 30, 2005 as against $ 1.26 million in the same period last fiscal. The company reported a cash profit of $ 0.34 million in the reporting quarter.
— Agencies,
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HP Vidhan Sabha panel visits Baddi PFC settlement scheme extended GE to invest PNB dividend Dr Reddy’s Today’s Writing Tata AIG Gujarat NRE Metal Coatings Aptech net up |
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