The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Sensex zooms past 16,000 level Mumbai, September 7 For the first time this year, the benchmark Sensex closed above 16,000 points on a strong rally sparked by positive global cues and improved rain in many parts of the country. The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty also closed at its highest level since May 30, 2008 at 4,782.90 points. Domestic indices moved up in tune with the global stocks, which surged following a decision by G-20 Finance Ministers in London past week-end to continue with stimulus packages to counter global economic downturn. "The markets moved up today in tandem with the global peers. As the Asian and European markets remained positive today, a bullish investor sentiment engulfed domestic markets," said SMC Global vice-president Rajesh Jain said. The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed the day at more than 15-month high of 16,016.32, a rise of 327.20 points, or 2.09 per cent, over its previous close. Nifty gained 102.50 points to close at 4,782.9.0 Marketmen said investor sentiment was further boosted as confidence of India Inc grew after improved rainfall in many parts of the country in the past few days. Strong response to the initial public offer of Oil India, which opened for subscription today also buoyed investors, they added. Broker Mahindra C Shah said FIIs and operators taking cues made heavy purchases in realty, metal and bank shares. The government's estimate that economy would grow by more than six per cent this fiscal also helped trigger a rally. Meanwhile, metal stocks remained firm after Tata Steel reported a 25 per cent rise in its sales to 4.92 lakh tonnes in August on the back of robust demand from the construction sector. The realty sector index gained the most rising by 5.49 per cent to 4,533.36 pints followed by the metal index, which gained 3.95 per cent to 12,989.46 points. The Bankex index rose by 3.10 per cent to 8,603.92 and the consumer durable index by 2.70 per cent to 3,378.54 points. The auto index rose by 2.45 per cent to 6,228.20 points, the teck index by 2.31 per cent to 3,158.24 points, the PSU index by 2.17 per cent to 8,490.40 points, the capital goods index by 1.70 per cent to 13,209.76 points, the oil &gas index by 1.51 per cent to 9,900 points and the healthcare index by 1.47 per cent to 3,917.11 points. With the buying activity picking up, the small-cap index rose by 2.83 per cent to 7,189.47 points and the mid-cap index by 2.31 per cent to 5,967.77 points. — PTI
	Sacked HDFC staff allege bias Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 7 When Centurion Bank of Punjab merged with HDFC Bank last year, the Centurion bank employees thought it was for their own good. But soon they were to realise that the new alliance would mean an abrupt end to their career. Over the past few months, as many as 160 odd employees of the erstwhile Centurion Bank of Punjab have allegedly been laid off by HDFC Bank management. About 35 employees were allegedly forced to resign last week itself. These employees alleged that they were pressurised to resign or face termination. However, HDFC Bank has denied the accusation, stating that the employees concerned were sacked only after they failed to clear the Performance Improvement Programme of the bank, adding that theywere given three-month salary and other benefits on termination. HDFC corporate communications head Neeraj Jha told The Tribune that in all 90 employees from various branches of the bank in the country had been asked to quit. Of these only 20 were from the erstwhile Centurion Bank of Punjab. But these protesting former employees allege that the HDFC Bank management always had a biased approach. “After the merger, positions of all Centurion Bank of Punjab employees were downgraded. We were told to report to people who were junior to us. When I questioned this, I was given a termination letter without any reason,” alleged Baljit Singh, who was downgraded from head of liability acquisition (vice-president) to area acquisition head (assistant vice-president), before his services were terminated. Another employee, Sarabjit Singh, alleged that before the merger of the bank, he was rated as a star performer of Centurion Bank of Punjab. “Suddenly my new employers found me wanting in skills and I was forced to resign,” he said. He added that the bank transferred him frequently to harass him and when he protested, he was forced to quit. These employees have also alleged that they were discriminated against because of their religion. A former cluster head of the bank at Abohar, who was forced to resign last month, alleged that his boss used to pass derogatory remarks against his religion. HDFC Bank denied all these allegations, saying that the bank gives equal opportunities to its employees and does not discriminate on the basis of religion, caste, gender or previous employers. For the sacked employees, this job loss has come at a time when there are no jobs available in the market. Sarabjit Singh said he had not found a single job in the past one month. “The younger lot will still get a job. But middle-aged employees are the hardest hit as they will not find any gainful job now,” he said.
	Cadbury rejects Kraft’s £10.2 bn takeover bid New York, September 7 British confectionery major Cadbury today rejected the proposed buyout offer made by Kraft Foods Inc for £10.2 billion, but the American food and beverage group remains hopeful of carrying forward a constructive dialogue. Kraft Foods said in a statement that it had made a proposal to combine the two companies but the Board of Cadbury has rejected this proposal. However, the statement added: “Kraft Foods is committed to working toward a recommended transaction and to maintaining a constructive dialogue and is announcing this proposal as a means to encourage and further that process.” Kraft Foods proposed to takeover Cadbury for 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft Foods shares per Cadbury share. This values each Cadbury share at 745 pence and valuing the firm at £10.2 billion, the statement said. The 745 pence offer for each Cadbury share represents a premium of 31 per cent over its closing price of 568 pence on Friday. Illinois-based Kraft Foods has brands like Terry’s, Milka, Oreo, Ritz and LU biscuits, acobs coffees in its kitty. Kraft Foods believes that the proposed merger would create a geographically diversified combined business with significant scale in key developing markets, including India, Mexico, Brazil, China and Russia. — PTI
	Re-feel Cartridge to expand national footprint Sanjay Khurana Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 7 In a move to spread its presence in the country, Kolkata-based Re-feel Cartridge Engineering Pvt Ltd has drawn up plans to open 70 more outlets this year besides introducing office stationery at its stores. The company is engaged in refilling and remanufacturing ink and toner cartridges for all kinds of inkjet and laser printers. Amit Barmecha, one of the firm’s promoters and franchise development head, who was here yesterday to inaugurate a store, told The Tribune: “Currently we have 83 stores in 55 cities on a franchisee basis and now plan to increase the number to 150 by the end of the current fiscal”. He added the company, which also has stores in Mohali, Patiala, Delhi and Gurgaon in the region, would soon open two more outlets in Chandigarh. According to Barmecha, the share of refilled and recycled cartridges in the estimated Rs 3,000-crore printer cartridge market in the country has almost tripled to roughly 34-35 per cent over the past two years. “Refilled cartridges are fast replacing those manufactured by OEMs as a preferred choice among printer owners, as our solutions lead to a saving of almost one-third in costs,” he averred. “We offer almost the same quality of cartridges as those made by OEMs like HP, Canon and Epson at roughly 25% of their market price. Unlike the unorganised sector that uses the outdated ‘drill and fill’ method of refilling cartridges, Re-feel uses a nine-step process to ensure quality products,” he said. Re-feel Cartridge intends to raise Rs 10-20 crore from private equity players for, among other things, setting up a new business for repairing and reconditioning laptops. The company has targeted a turnover of Rs 15 crore during the current fiscal, only the second year of its operations.
	Kamath foresees 7.5 pc growth in current fiscal Mumbai, September 7 With good first quarter results in pocket and green shoots of economic recovery becoming visible, a growth rate of 7-7.5 per cent for the country this fiscal is well within the reach, a top banker said. “Manufacturing sector has come back to the stream. Infrastructure, mainly power, is coming back in a big way. My belief is that we will see a growth of 7-7.5 per cent (in the current fiscal),” ICICI Bank chairman KV Kamath told a conference here. Kamath’s projections are more than the RBI’s July forecast of at least 6 per cent growth in the current fiscal on the back of an expected recovery in global markets. Kamath said the growth could moderate to 7 per cent if the monsoon is unfavourable but it could touch 7.5 per cent if they turn out to be good. In the last three months, Kamath said, ICICI Bank has seen its corporate clients resuming their projects, which were shelved previously, on account of a sharp slowdown in the financial markets. Key-sectors like oil, cement, auto and services have started recovering from the slowdown,he added. However, a few other export-oriented sectors, primarily textiles, still face challenges, he said. Banks have significantly slowed down their unsecured lending to avert rise in loan impairments, he said. But loan growth to corporates and home loan consumers have picked up in the recent past and is expected to improve further, Kamath said. The banking system is equipped with sufficient liquidity on account of various meausres from the policy makers and liquidity is unlikely to emerge as a challenge for growth, Kamath said. On interest rates, Kamath said an upward movement in the rates is unlikely in the immediate future. Noting that bad loans were a major concern to global banks, Kamath said some amount of “cleaning up” is yet to be done on the “credit side of business and property side of business” globally. — PTI
	ArcelorMittal makes open offer for Uttam Galva New Delhi, September 7 India-origin billionaire Lakshmi Mittal-led ArcelorMittal today made an offer to buy an additional 29.4 per cent stake in domestic steel firm Uttam Galva Steel at Rs 120 a share. In a public announcement made to the shareholders, ArcelorMittal said its open offer would begin on October 31, and close on November 19, 2009. The open offer comes following ArcelorMittal's announcement to snap up a 35 per cent stake in Uttam Galva through a mixed route of share purchase from existing promoters and open offer. The total consideration payable under the open offer would be up to Rs 422.71 crore. The offer is being made to all shareholders of Uttam Galva Steel to acquire over 3.52 crore (3,52,26,233) shares of the company that form 29.39 per cent of the existing voting capital at a price of Rs 120 a share, it said. However, taking into account the equity shares of the company to be issued on conversion of outstanding FCCBs along with the total outstanding share capital, the stake to be acquired comes to 25.76 per cent of the emerging voting capital. SBI Capital Markets made the open offer announcement on behalf of ArcelorMittal, Netherlands, today. Last week, ArcelorMittal said it has entered into a share purchase agreement on September 3 with Uttam Galva's existing promoter R K Miglani family for acquiring 5.6 per cent stake. — PTI
	WB shelves IT township project after land row Kolkata, September 7 Rattled by allegations of irregularities in allocation of land for a resort, West Bengal government today shelved the ambitious IT township project where top companies including Infosys and Wipro were supposed to set up their units. "The government does not want to be involved in any illegal activity. As such the IT department cannot proceed with the project," an IT Department press release said here. "Under the circumstances at this moment, we are unable to stick to our assurances of providing land to Infosys and Wipro and were constrained to inform them about the government's inability," it said. The government had assured 90 acres each to Infosys and Wipro in the project and signed MoUs with the two companies last year. The proposed Information Technology (IT) township, to come up around luxury resort Vedic Village, had come under a cloud due to investigations into allegations of a link between local land mafia and management of the resort, which came under scanner following an attack by a mob on August 23. The government said that departments like Housing, Land and Land Reforms, Urban Development and PWD were in favour of scrapping the project. "It is impossible for the IT department to proceed with the project if any of these departments refused to facilitate," it said. After the Singur and Nandigram fiasco, the Vedic Village issue snowballed into a major crisis for Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee government with even ruling Left constituents openly questioning the land deal. Land Reforms Minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah demanded scrapping of the IT project. — PTI
	Import duty on rice may go New Delhi, September 7 The Centre is believed to have decided to abolish import duty on rice to augment supply in the domestic market, after drought in about half the country stoked fears of a fall in production of the food grain. Sources said in a meeting last month, the empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) on food, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, recommended that import duty on rice be cut to zero from the current 70 per cent till September 2010. The government had once earlier (March 20, 2008 to March 31, 2009) scrapped the customs duty on rice as part of measures to control inflation. However, the customs duty was restored from April one, this year. The empowered panel also agreed to continue with the ban on export of non-basmati rice, imposed in April last year, sources added. Prior to the ban, India was a major exporter of non-basmati rice along with Thailand and Vietnam. However, the country is currently exporting only basmati rice. The decisions by the government came after poor monsoon ravaged the most important summer-sown crop, paddy, with area under the crop slumping by nearly 64 lakh hectares, deepening fears that rice output may fall more than what the Centre had anticipated. Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said last month that rice production could decline by 10 million tonnes in view of drought. India produced 84.58 million tonnes in Kharif 2008. — PTI
	Tech Mahindra bags Rs 2k cr Etisalat deal New Delhi, September 7 Telecom service provider Etisalat DB, which is in the process to start mobile services in 15 circles across the country, today said it has outsourced its IT applications to software firm Tech Mahindra in a deal valued at Rs 2,000 crore. The pact between Etisalat DB Telecom, a joint venture between India’s Swan Telecom and UAE-based Etisalat, and Tech Mahindra is intended to be spread over a period of 10 years, the telco said. Under the terms of the agreement, Etisalat and its subsidiary would outsource implementation of its end-to-end IT applications and infrastructure, including system integration and managed services, to Tech Mahindra, it added. Etisalat DB and its subsidiary have the Unified Services Access Licence in 15 circles, comprising Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. — PTI
	World trade to slip by 11 pc, says UNCTAD New Delhi, September 7 Indian exporters have more trouble in store, as the global merchandise outlook has worsened with UN body UNCTAD estimating 11 per cent decline in international trade in 2009. "In 2009, world trade is ... set to shrink considerably, by 11 per cent in real terms and by more than 20 per cent in current dollars (terms)," United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report said today. Global recession led to a fall in demand from major developed countries like the US and European Union. Indian exports remained in the negative zone for the tenth month in a row since October 2008. For the April-July period of this year, exports dropped by over 31 per cent. The World Trade Organisation had earlier estimated the global trade to be slipping by nine per cent in 2009. World trade slowed down in 2007 and has been shrinking at a fast rate since November 2008, in both volume and value terms. Trade volume decelerated first in the United States and other developed countries, the report said. The US and other developed countries in Europe account for bulk of India's exports. As the crisis is global, reliance on exports offers no easy way out, since trade is expected to decline by about 11 per cent in real terms and any new trade expansion requires a recovery of consumption and investment somewhere in the world, the report said. — PTI
	Jet pilots union calls off strike Mumbai, September 7 National Aviator’s Guild (NAG), the pilots union of Jet Airways, today withdrew its proposed strike from midnight called to protest dismissal of two senior pilots. “We have withdrawn our proposed strike (from midnight),” NAG president, Girish Kaushik, told reporters here. The union, which claims a representation of over 650 of the over 1,000 pilots in Jet Airways, had given a strike call from midnight today to protest against the sacking of two senior pilots. Earlier in the day, NAG held a seven-hour long meeting to discuss the issue and in the interregnum Kaushik went to meet the Jet Airways management. Jet Airways had last month terminated the services of two of its senior-most pilots, saying “their services were not required” after the two pilots, along with others, formed a trade union body in the company. The union had termed the sacking “an act of vendetta” and demanded their reinstatement. Subsequent to its serving a strike notice on the management, the issue was referred to the Regional Labour Commissioner. A conciliatory meeting was called on August 31 between both Jet Airways management and the union. The commissioner while posting the matter for September 14 had advised both parties to adhere to the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947. He also asked Jet Airways to file its written submission on the matter on or before September 7 (today). — PTI