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Punjab postpones decision to divest
Aiyar justifies ad expenses of oil cos
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Motorola to invest $ 100 m in India
Nokia mulls global
CDMA telecom operators for
Tatas plan 10 MT steel plant
Emami to diversify into biofuel cultivation
HP to launch sub-Rs 20,000 computers
Amartex to raise Rs 60 cr
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Punjab postpones decision to divest stake in 4 PSUs
Chandigarh, August 25 The government was to disinvest from Punjab Communication Limited (Puncom), Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (PACL), Conware and Punjab Tourism. These four companies had been recommended for disinvestment by a committee headed by a former Chief Secretary, Mr P.H. Vaishnav. Sources said more details had been sought regarding legal formalities and also the nature of holdings. In PACL, the Punjab Government has a plan to off-load 44 per cent of the stake having a face value of Rs 90 crore. The sources said this company had been on the disinvestment list for long and the process was culminating now. A total of six bidders have already submitted their plans to take over the company having its unit at Nangal, Ropar district. In case of Puncom, a fresh process for disinvestment is to start. The government intends to offload 74 per cent stake in the company. In 2001, the company was on the disinvestment list but the process could not completed. The Punjab Government intends to sell-off its stake to a private bidder and not through a public offer. The rest of the 26 per cent stake in Puncom is already held by the public. The reason for disinvestment, in Puncom that is worth Rs 200 to 250 crore, is that the government has opined that it was difficult to keep pace in an industry where technology changes very fast. By the time the government takes a decision, technology is on its way out. Puncom is a telecommunication company and technology of wireless communication, traditional landline telephones and telecom equipment is changing fast. The company has its unit in Mohali and owns about 10 acres of land in Mohali, which alone is worth at least Rs 50 crore in the open market. It has 3 lakh square feet working area and an assembly unit. In tourism, the government wants to disinvest from units that are not making profits. Some of them are located along important highways. Conware is a subsidiary of the Punjab Warehousing Corporation. The Punjab Government has already disinvested from Punjab Tractors Limited.
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Aiyar justifies ad expenses of oil cos
New Delhi, August 25 “This is not a wasteful expenditure. The overall expenditure by these oil marketing companies constitute hardly 0.1 per cent of their total sales turnover,” Mr Aiyar said in the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour. On the issue that consumers were being subjected to high fuel prices at the cost of “this wasteful expenditure”, he said Rs 266 crore spent on sponsorship and advertisements was almost negligible considering the whopping Rs 20,000 crore under recoveries by these oil marketing companies last year. The under recoveries could go up to Rs 40,000 crore this year and expenditure of Rs 230 crore spent on advertisement would hardly make any difference on fuel cost.
IBP’s SOS to govt
Petro retailer IBP, a subsidiary of IndianOil Corp, has sent an SOS to the government warning it would go bankrupt by September end if the company was not allowed to raise petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices. IBP, which reported a net loss of Rs 233.97 crore in April-June quarter of 2005-06 fiscal, is projecting a further loss of Rs 495 crore in the second quarter due to the freeze on fuel price despite cost jumping by 26 per cent since last revision. “The company’s accumulated net worth will be eroded completely at the end of September 2005 and hence, the company will become sick,” IBP Managing Director N.G. Kannan last week wrote to Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi. Petrol is currently being sold at Rs 7.42 a litre below the cost of import while diesel is under priced by Rs 5.86 per litre. Public sector oil firms are incurring a loss of Rs 11.21 a litre on sale of kerosene and over Rs 100 on sale of every LPG cylinder.
IOC to raise loan
To meet its fund requirements, IndianOil Corporation Ltd (IOC) has signed agreements to raise $ 670 million as foreign currency loan. Of this, $ 200 million would be utilised to refinance existing syndicated term loans and the balance would be used to meet crude oil import requirements of IndianOil. IndianOil Director (Finance) S.V. Narasimhan recently signed the agreement at Hong Kong for $ 200 million syndicated term loan facility, arranged by Citigroup, Calyon Bank, HSBC, ING Vysya and Standard Chartered Bank at competitive interest rates. Separate loan agreements for raising short-term loans for financing oil imports were also signed with ICICI Bank, Singapore ($ 250 million), Mizuho Corporate Bank, Singapore ($ 50 million), The Bank of Tokyo and Mitsubishi Ltd, Singapore ($ 50 million) and the Bank of America, Taipei ($ 120 million) during the recent Singapore visit of IndianOil Executive Director (Corporate Finance) P.K. Goyal.
— PTI, UNI
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Oil hits record high of $ 68
Singapore, August 25 Front-month October contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange touched $ 68 a barrel mid-morning in Singapore before easing slightly to $ 67.76, a gain of 44 cents from yesterday’s closing in New York. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the oil prices would need to hit about $ 90 a barrel to match the highs of 25 years ago. Meanwhile, the IMF chief said that the oil prices would remain at high levels as robust demand shows no signs of easing.
— AP, AFP
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India, Singapore sign MoU to expand flights
Singapore, August 25 “With this new expansion, carriers from both countries will be able to start or expand flights between the Indian metropolitan cities of Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and Singapore,” the ministry said in a statement. The air services talks were held on August 23 and 24 in New Delhi. “This latest MoU further strengthens the excellent civil aviation relations between Singapore and India. There has been strong growth of air traffic between India and Singapore, and three new airlines Air Sahara, Jet Airways and Jetstar Asia, have started operations between Singapore and India in 2005 alone,” said Mr
B.G. Choi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Singapore. Both sides had also agreed
to meet again within six months. — UNI
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Motorola to invest $ 100 m in India
New Delhi, August 25 “We will invest $ 100 million over the next three years”, Motorola Chief Executive Officer Edward Zander told newspersons on the sidelines of a conference organised by FICCI here. The fact that the company already had 2,900 persons working here “shows the level of commitment to this market”. The company would increase its headcount in India by another 1000 by the end of next year in its R&D centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore. About setting up a manufacturing facility here, he said although the company
had no immediate plans, “We are considering it. We need to grow our market share here”. Speaking at the meeting organised by FICCI here, he said that India was an “incredible market”. “We are determined to commit more resources and people” in a bid to ensure that everyone gets connected and thereafter provided with seamless mobility. Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Motorola Padmashree Warrior said that seamless mobility provided users with new forms of entertainment and new levels of enjoyment and productivity.
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Nokia mulls global network centre
New Delhi, August 25 The centre would perform network operation tasks primarily for
select operators in the Asia Pacific region as well as Europe, Middle East and Africa as part of the company’s managed services offering. The location of the site, which would initially employ up to 100 persons, would be unveiled at a later date. “Given Nokia’s strong commitment to its expanding services business, plus the positive experience it has enjoyed in India both as a growth and services market, the decision to locate the operation centre in India was an easy one to make”, Simon Beresford-Wylie, Executive Vice-President and General Manager, Networks, of the company, said here today. Nokia had contracted managed services with 34 clients in 28 countries, and had provided operating services for over 20 operators globally, assisting them with day-to-day tasks of running their networks so that they could focus on improving their business offerings.
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CDMA telecom operators for Rs 100 cr entry fee
New Delhi, August 25 The CDMA players Association
AUSPI, which includes Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices, has also said that a single rate for local and long distance should be avoided in the proposed ‘IndiaOne’ plan, saying that it might cause local rates to go up. An increase in local rates is not desirable and also not possible due to the existing ADC and inter-connect usage charges regime that involves payments like carriage and termination charges, AUSPI said in its submission to DoT on the IndiaOne plan. “Inter-circle direct connectivity should be allowed only after levying a Rs 100 crore entry fee. National long-distance service is a separate licence for which a huge entry fee has been paid and roll-out obligations undertaken. “In the interest of maintaining a level-playing field, any inter-circle connectivity should be permitted only after levying a payment of Rs 100 crore,” it said. The other proposal includes merging the access deficit charge with the USO Fund, more spectrum for CDMA players on the 800 Mhz band
frpa’. — PTI
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Tatas plan 10 MT steel plant in Jharkhand
Ranchi, August 25 The Managing Director also said the proposed 10 MT new steel plant, which would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 35,000 crore in two phases in four years, would create employment opportunities to about 30,000 people directly and indirectly. He further said the renewal of lease by the state government, had gave a fresh lease of life to Tata Steel. Over the 100 years that the Tatas were present in Jamshedpur, it had not only set up the best steel plant in the world, but had also tried giving the people of Jharkhand a better quality of life, the statement said. When asked whether it was a knee-jerk reaction of his group in the aftermath of steel giant L. N Mittal group’s decision to invest in Jharkhand, Mr Muthuraman said the group had been planning to set up at least three new plants in the country since 2000. And after Orissa and Chhattisgarh, “the home of Tatas - Jharkhand” was the best choice for the largest steel plant of the Tata group, he said. When the Chief Minister was asked whom he would give preference, he said it was the people of the state that would definitely get the first preference.
— UNI
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Emami to diversify into biofuel cultivation
Kolkata, August 25 Emami Ltd Chairman R.S. Agarwal told reporters that
the company has already applied for 300 acres of land and has been allotted 50 acres near Bolpur in West Bengal. The company is in talks with the oil companies, who are the customers of biofuel, Mr Agarwal said on the sidelines of the 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM). Emami will also set up a 300 tonne daily newsprint plant at Balasore with Rs 350-crore investment. “This will take the total paper mill capacity of the company to 500 tonne daily,” he said. Emami’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Emami Bangladesh, with a plant near Dhaka would be operational by the year-end. The plant, with Rs 10-12 crore investment, would cater to the Bangladesh market. Mr Agarwal said Emami is also looking at acquisitions of foreign brands of the US and the UK and domestic brands in hair care and skincare
segments. “We have liquid funds of Rs 47 crore, which will be utilised for the acquisitions,” he added. Emami Ltd is looking at over Rs 350 crore turnover this
year and 35 per cent PAT growth. — UNI
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HP to launch sub-Rs 20,000 computers
Kolkata, August 25 “We will launch sub-Rs 20,000 PCs in the next three months,” HP General Manager (Consumer Sales) V. Krishnan said here today. Admitting that the price would still be higher compared to the sub-Rs 10,000 brands launched by some competitors, Mr Krishnan said the company intended to offer best-value proposition to its customers. Though Mr Krishnan declined to state the configurations for the sub-Rs 20,000 PCs, he said “We will offer the best configurations at that price.” “The PCs would be offered both with the Linux and Windows operating systems and at least one model would have Intel processor”, he said.
— PTI
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Amartex to raise Rs 60 cr
New Delhi, August 25 The Panchkula-headquartered textile manufacturing and retailer firm aims to shed its north India-centric presence and spread to the rest of the country, its Managing Director Arun Grover told reporters here. Amartex’s first retail outlet in the Capital would open in Paschim Vihar on August 27. “We are planning to open eight or 10 such shops in Delhi and the National Capital Region by the end of the next fiscal at a total investment of around Rs 20 crore. Amartex currently has 30 outlets in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh (9), Punjab (8), Uttaranchal (2) and Chandigarh (1).
— UNI
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