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Govt invites Left ire on EPF rate
SBI Q4 net down by 19.8 per cent
Bharti, Peerless, Bharat Hotels mull Rs 1,000-cr investment in J&K
Govt to invest Rs 7,195 cr in shipping sector
Mittal raises bid for Arcelor
Scamsters not to be allowed to book profits
Yechury demands relook at taxation policies
Osram proposes second plant
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SBI tops in bank frauds
Ganguly to play skipper in restaurant business
Lodha case: HC appoints administrators
Bank
Account
Corporate Results
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Govt invites Left ire on EPF rate
New Delhi, May 19 In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said, “It will be an ominous step. I apprehend that this is being done to bring the interest rate at par with the market rate precisely because the Finance Ministry refuses to allow reasonable interest on the Special Deposit Scheme.” He said the government was intended to allure the subscribers to look for private provident fund scheme or to force the trade unions to agree to invest a substantial part of the accumulation in the stock market, which is undergoing violent fluctuations. Mr Dasgupta said, “I will fervently request you not only to desist from reduction in the interest rate on EPF to 8 per cent, but actually increase it to the earlier rate of 9.5 per cent.” In January, the government had notified 8.5 per cent rate of EPF interest for the current fiscal. Even at this rate of interest, the EPFO has to meet Rs 365.89 crore from its own resources. The total payout would be Rs 6,889.04 crore as interest to its four crore subscribers for the current fiscal against its projected interest income of Rs 6,523.15 crore. The EPFO had a corpus of Rs 72,000 crore till March 2004, which grew to Rs 79,000 crore by March 2005. The Finance Committee of the EPFO had recommended 8 per cent interest on EPF for this fiscal, which was supported by the government, but employees’ unions stuck to their demand of 9.5 per cent. Earlier, the government came under attack in the Lok Sabha over its reported moves to hike fuel prices and reduce the interests on Employees Provident Fund. Raising the issue during zero hour, Mr Dasgupta charged the UPA government with ignoring Parliament and planning to announce the hike in prices of petroleum products and reduction in EPF interest rates “at the back of Parliament”. “It is an anti-people and anti-worker move”, he said and condemned the Finance Minister for his reported refusal to give interests under the Accumulated Income Scheme and for dismissing the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s recommendation to hike the interest rate to 9.5 per cent.
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SBI Q4 net down by 19.8 per cent
Mumbai, May 19 The bank’s net profit during the quarter stood at Rs 853.2 crore against Rs 1,064.8 crore for the same period last fiscal. The Q4 total Income rose by 8.2 per cent to Rs 11,186.1 crore, the bank said. For the financial year 2005-06, the SBI reported a rise of 2.3 per cent in net profit at Rs 4,406.6 crore against Rs 4,304.5 crore in the previous year. The FY,06, total income increased by 9.1 per cent to Rs 43,183.6 crore. The group net profit during the fiscal stood at Rs 5,529.9 crore as compared to Rs 5,463.9 crore during the previous year. SBI’s consolidated total Income has increased from Rs 54,5 35.7 crore in the past fiscal to Rs 60,834.9 crore in the FY 2005-06, an increase of 11.5 per
cent. — PTI
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Bharti, Peerless, Bharat Hotels mull Rs 1,000-cr investment in J&K
Srinagar, May 19 FICCI Secretary-General Amit Mitra said here that the Bharti group was planning to invest Rs 200 crore during 2006-07 for expansion and doubling its subscriber base in the state. Hotelier Lalit Suti, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Hotels Ltd, has proposed to establish a hotel in the ski resort of Gulmarg and a shopping mall in Srinagar if the state government provided adequate land. Kolkata-based Peerless also planned to set up a new hotel or taking over a sick hotel in the state while Continental Construction had proposed a power project, he said, adding that all proposals entailed a total investment of Rs 1,000 crore. Maintaining that a peaceful atmosphere was returning to Kashmir, the Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today urged the industrial sector to kick start its activities as there was adequate human resource available along with government and peoples' support. The Chief Minister stressed the need for establishing wide-ranging industries in the state, particularly in hitherto neglected areas especially in the valley. He said a high-level conference of industrialists had also been scheduled at Mumbai to be held in August under "Invest Jammu and Kashmir Summit", in which the potential, strength, facilities and human resource availability would be showcased. The industrialists would be invited to participate in socio-economic building of the state to achieve twin gains of social activity and economic prosperity for investors and people of the state.
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Govt to invest Rs 7,195 cr in shipping sector
New Delhi, May 19 Addressing members of ministry-related consultative committee today, Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T.R. Baalu said the performance of the shipping sector had also improved tremendously with order book position of shipyards having increased from about Rs 1,500 crore in 2002 to Rs 10,000 crore at present. There is also a proposal for providing revival packages to the Hindustan Shipyard Limited and the Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Limited of Rs 814.50 crore and Rs 391.14 crore, respectively.
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Mittal raises bid for Arcelor
Brussels, May 19 Mittal said in a statement that it would offer one Mittal Steel share and euro 11.10 in cash for each Arcelor share, valuing Arcelor at euro 37.74 per share. That is an improvement of 34 per cent over the previous euro 21 billion ($27 billion) offer. Mittal said it would also make “significant changes” to its corporate governance, adopting a one-share, one-vote structure. “We have today announced a materially improved offer,” said Mr Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO of Mittal Steel, in a statement, adding that the new offer provided “an exceptionally attractive premium to Arcelor shareholders.” The company said the “maximum amount of cash to be paid” will be around euro 7.6 billion and the maximum number of Mittal Steel shares to be issued will be around 648.46 million. Meanwhile, Shares in steelmaker Arcelor SA and rival Mittal Steel Co, which is bidding to take over the company, were suspended from trading on several stock market today amid reports that Mittal was to beef up its stock-and-cash offer for Arcelor.
— AP
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Scamsters not to be allowed to book profits
New Delhi, May 19 Mr Chidambaram said the market regulator had already issued a detailed 281-page order, while bank officials found guilty had been suspended. He clarified that banks had not lost any money in the scam. It was the ‘’so-called investors’’ who had been affected, he said. The scam was the result of a collusion between officials of three or four banks at the branch level, brokers and depository participants. The irregularities involved the opening of multiple bank accounts by several people giving the same residential addresses at some branches. The minister made the statement in reply to a question by Mr M.A.K. Swain (BJP) who wanted to know whether the scam had been referred to the Serious Frauds Office.
— UNI
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Yechury demands relook at taxation policies
New Delhi, May 19 “Sensex was being kept high and rising because
of a very favourable tax regime in India. There is need to re-introduce long-term capital gains tax,” CPM Politbureau member Sitaram Yechury said today. He said there was no long-term capital gains tax or dividend tax in India and there was no modern economy in the world without such a tax. Mr Yechury said steps were also required to protect small investors in the stock market as they suffered the most from market meltdowns. The CPM leader said “the tax policy should be determined on the basis of the requirements of resource mobilisation in order to fund the social welfare programme promised in the NCMP.” He also demanded review of the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with Mauritius. He warned the UPA Government against going ahead with capital account convertibility as it would “further imperil the stability of our financial system”.
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Osram proposes second plant
Gurgaon, May 19 “India is one of the high growth areas in our Asian initiative and we want to strengthen our manufacturing capability in the country,” Osram GmbH President Martin Goetzeler said here. The company’s fully owned Indian subsidiary, which had a manufacturing facility at Sonepat in Haryana, had a turnover of around Rs 200 crore last year. Mr Goetzeler said the Indian operations were expected to record a compounded annual growth rate of 20 per cent till 2015. He said the company was looking at “several options” for its new manufacturing facility in India, which also included going in for a greenfield plant. Asked what kind of price benefits India offered in comparison to regions like America and Europe, he said the country offered “significant cost advantages” in labour. “However, even as India offers price advantages in the labour front there is competition within the Asian region itself,” he said. Osram, which in 1998 acquired the lamp division of ECE, has so far invested $30 million in the Indian operations. Apart from India, Osram has eight manufacturing plants in the Asian region. These include three in China, one in Indonesia, two in Japan and one in Korea. Osram GmbH is a group company of German major Siemens
AG. — PTI
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SBI tops in bank frauds
New Delhi, May 19 Among nationalised banks, Canara Bank has recorded a high 47 frauds worth Rs 8.98 crore though in terms of money it was the United Bank of India, which was at the top with Rs 39.58 crore, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told the Lok Sabha today. As many as 39 cases were reported in the Central Bank of India this year till March, involving Rs 13.71 crore while the number of frauds in Punjab National Bank was 37 worth Rs 14.24 crore. The Bank of Baroda witnessed 30 frauds, involving Rs 4.83 crore and Corporation Bank saw 36 cases with Rs 12.24 crore while the Union Bank of India had 25 cases with Rs 12.52
crore. — UNI
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Ganguly to play skipper in restaurant business
Kolkata, May 19 A year-and-a-half after "Sourav's: The Food Pavilion" opened at famous Park Street area here, Dada is finally ready to take over the famous food joint, news reports said. Owned by Abhishek Entertainment and Foods Private Limited, Sourav had previously only lent his name to the restaurant-cum-lounge bar. Now he is all set to don the mantle of ownership. "Sourav is ready to take over. He has been conducting marathon meetings for the past few days. All documentation has been done and only a few legal formalities remain," a city daily reported today.
— IANS
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Lodha case: HC appoints administrators
Kolkata, May 19 Passing the order on a petition by the Birlas, Mr Justice Kalyanjyoti Sengupta said two of the administrators should be from the legal profession, one a chartered accountant and one person with the experience of running a corporate
house. — PTI
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Bank Account
Chandigarh, May 19 The Centurion Bank and Bank of Punjab merged last year to form the Centurion Bank of Punjab. The net profit for the combined bank CBoP for year ended March 31, 2006, stood at Rs 87.8 crore, the bank said. The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) for the closing quarter stood at 12.52 per cent while the net non-performing assets reduced to 1.13 per cent from 2.65 per cent. The bank's net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter stood at 4.84 per cent. CBoP now operates from 242 branches across 122 locations in India. The bank received approval from the RBI to open up to 38 branches within the next financial year. J&K Bank net down
Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd has posted about 50 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 22.79 crore for the quarter ended March 31 as compared to Rs 45.86 crore for the same period last fiscal. The total income grew by 17.11 per cent to Rs 499 crore for the fourth quarter this fiscal as against Rs 426.07 crore for the corresponding period last fiscal, the bank said. The Board of Directors also recommended a dividend of Rs 8 per share (80 per cent) on shares of Rs 10 each for 2005-06. For 2005-06, the bank’s net profit stood at Rs 176.84 crore as compared to Rs 115.08 crore in the previous fiscal, it said. The total income of the bank increased to Rs 1839.43 crore in 2005-06 from Rs 1645.37 crore in last fiscal.
Federal Bank
Federal Bank Ltd has posted an increase of 69.89 per cent in net profit at Rs 50.73 crore for the quarter ended March 31 as compared to Rs 29.86 crore for the same quarter last fiscal. The total income increased by 32.21 per cent to Rs 460.04 crore for the fourth quarter of 2005-06 from Rs 347.95 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, the bank said. For the year ended March 31, the bank posted a net profit of Rs 225.21 crore as compared to Rs 90.09 crore a year ago and the total income increased to Rs 1653.48 crore for 2005-06 from Rs 1403.01 crore in 2004-05. The Board has recommended a dividend of Rs 3.50 on shares of Rs 10 each (35 per cent).
Lakshmi Vilas Bank
Lakshmi Vilas Bank yesterday reported a 572 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 22.47 crore for the financial year 2005-06 as against Rs 3.34 crore posted in the last fiscal. The bank's business volume during the fiscal stood at Rs 7,289.20 crore against Rs 5,813 crore last year. Speaking about expansion plans, Chairman and CEO R.M. Nayak said they were planning to add 23 more branches during the current ficsal. The bank expects business volume to grow to Rs 10,000 crore. Currently the bank has 228 branches.
— TNS, Agencies
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Tata Motors’ payout 130 per cent
Mumbai, May 19 The financial results include the results of the operations of some of the erstwhile companies and hence are not comparable, the automobile major informed the stock exchanges. The total income (net of excise) was Rs 6,887.17 crore for the fourth quarter of 2005-06 whereas the same was at Rs 5,368.47 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2004-05, it added. For the year ended March 31, the company posted a net profit after tax of Rs 1,528.88 crore where the same was at Rs 1,236.95 crore a year ago and the total income (net of excise) was Rs 20,891.31 crore for the financial year 2005-06 where as the same was at Rs 17,585.22 crore in 2004-05. The Board of Directors recommended a dividend of Rs 13 on share of Rs 10 each (130 per cent ) for financial year 2005-06. Bajaj Auto to pay 400 pc dividend
Bajaj Auto Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 346.97 crore for the quarter ended March 31,2006, as compared to Rs 204.63 crore for the quarter ended March 31 last year, an increase of 69.56 per cent. The company said its total income (net of excise) has increased from Rs 1,761.15 crore in Q4 FY 04-05 to Rs 2,268.95 crore for Q4 FY 05-06. It has posted a net profit after deferred tax adjustment of Rs 1,123.27 crore for the year ended March 31 as compared to Rs 729.16 crore for the year ended March 31 last year. The group has posted income attributable to consolidated group of Rs 357.34 crore for the quarter ended March 31 (Q4 FY, 05-06) as compared to Rs 198.20 crore for the quarter ended March 31 (Q4 FY, 04-05). Net Sales has increased from Rs 1,758.98 crore in Q4 FY, 04-05 to Rs 2,297.52 crore for Q4 FY, 05-06. Income attributable to the consolidated group is Rs 1,104.60 crore for the year ended March 31 (FY, 05-06) as compared to Rs 760.34 crore for the year ended March 31 (FY 04-05). The Board has recommended a dividend of 400 per cent, equivalent to Rs 40 per
share. — Agencies
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Mittal Steel Co. raised its offer for rival Arcelor SA today, valuing the company at euro 25.8 billion ($33 billion), and pledged to make “significant changes” to its corporate governance.
