|
|
|
|
Sops Rollback
New base year to cut deficit
Ambuja exits ING Vysya Life
Nod for prop to A-I likely next week
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Glaxo dares Maggi with Foodles
NTPC FPO subscribed 77 pc; scrip gains
SJVNL not to go public this fiscal
UK sees revival of tourism
E-mail service through SMS
M&M launches mini truck
|
|
Sops Rollback
New Delhi, February 3 However, strong industrial growth numbers do indicate that the government may start thinking of withdrawing these measures, Sen told reporters here.Industry growth has started picking up in recent months fueling suggestion from the RBI and other analysts for partial roll back of stimulus measures taken to ward off the impact of global economic slowdown last year. Sen, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, said industrial growth figures gave supply side picture and did not tell whether demand was actually there to take that supply or only inventories were building. The GDP data provide demand side figures also, Sen said, adding that it was up to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take a call in the upcoming Budget on stimulus measures, depending on industrial growth numbers or economic growth figures. "It is up to the Finance Minister to either play safe (in the Budget) and wait for actual economic figures to come out or play gamble and take a decision depending on industrial growth numbers," Sen said. Industrial growth for November stood at 11.7 per cent against just 2.5 per cent a year back. For the first eight months, industrial production grew by 7.6 per cent against 4.1 per cent a year ago. The government had cut excise duty by 6 per cent, service tax by 2 per cent and stepped up plan expenditure to provide stimulus to the domestic economy hurt by the global financial turmoils. Though these measures helped the economy grow by a stunning 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of the fiscal, against 6.1 per cent in the preceding quarter, and 5.8 per cent each in the previous two quarters, this has pushed up fiscal deficit which is projected to touch a high 6.8 per cent this fiscal. — PTI
|
|||
|
New Delhi, February 3 "The deal has gone through, but I cannot divulge any further (details)," the spokesperson said. Declining to comment on the deal, ING Life Vysya, however, said the new shareholding pattern in the firm would be announced soon. According to ING Vysya Life's website, the ING Insurance International BV (INGI) owns 26 per cent stake in the firm, Exide Industries 50 per cent and "other shareholders" hold the remaining 24 per cent. ING Vysya Life Insurance was established in 2001 as a joint venture between INGI, ING Vysya Bank and GMR Industries. Now, INGI and Exide Industries are the joint venture partners. The total premium income of the insurance firm increased 24 per cent in 2008-2009 to Rs 1,442 crore over 2007-08. The total paid-up share capital of the company crossed Rs 1,000 crore during FY'09 and its solvency ratio was 226 per cent as of March 31, 2009. — PTI
|
|||
|
Nod for prop to A-I likely next week
New Delhi, February 3 The carrier had earlier been asked to bring down losses before it got the first tranche of equity infusion from the government as a bailout measure. “The GoM has asked for some clarifications. We will meet again. There has been massive cost cutting by Air India,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said after a meeting of the GoM. Meanwhile, the government is likely to approve an additional equity infusion of Rs 800 crore into the cash-strapped Air India next week, but wants the airline to take “extraordinary” measures for financial turnaround. “We are moving the Cabinet (for equity infusion of Rs 800 crore), a note has already been circulated, I think by next week the Cabinet approval should come,” Patel said. “These are testing times for the aviation industry both internationally and domestically and extraordinary measures need to be taken,” he added. Patel said the target of reducing cost by Rs 2,000 crore by the national flag carrier until March is unlikely to be met. “The target of reducing cost by Rs. 2,000 crore by March is unlikely to be met....so far costs have been cut by Rs 700-800 crore.” A further assistance would only be given on achievement of specific revenue enhancement and cost reduction targets by the airline, Patel said.
|
|||
|
Glaxo dares Maggi with Foodles
New Delhi, February 3 The company launched its noodles under the popular Horlicks brand named Foodles that is expected to compete with market leader Maggi from Nestle. "The Indian noodles market is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore and has been growing at the rate of 25 per cent. We, believe that the overall entry of Horlicks will expand the category further," GSK Consumer Healthcare India executive vice-president (marketing) Subhajit Sen said. The company said the new product would further extend its Rs 1,500-crore Horlicks brand and help in sustaining the double-digit growth that it had been registering. "In 2009, Horlicks brand is around Rs 1,500 crore. With Foodles, it will surely extend further. Though our aim right now is to establish and create awareness about the product (noodles), our target will be to have a market share of 6 to 10 per cent in the next 6-12 months," he said. GSKCH said at present it was focusing on Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It plans to introduce the product in the National Capital and other northern states in the next six months to one year period. At present, industry estimates pegs the Indian noodles market at around Rs 1,000 crore with Nestle's Maggi accounting for about 80 per cent of the share. Horlicks Foodles will be available in Rs 10 and Rs 15 in multi-grain and regular variants under various flavours like “Ala Masala”, “Curry in a Hurry” and “Slice of Spice”. Sen said the company would not launch as many products as it did last year and would rather focus on building the ones introduced last year. Under the Horlicks brand, GSKCH had introduced around eight products in 2009. — PTI
|
|||
|
NTPC FPO subscribed 77 pc; scrip gains
Mumbai, February 3 The scrip, which opened on a weak note, gained 1.82 per cent to settle at Rs 209.80 on the BSE. During the day, the stock touched a high of Rs 211.65, up 2.71 per cent. On the National Stock Exchange too, the scrip saw an upward trend and settled the day at
Rs 209.45, higher by 1.67 per cent from previous close. On the volume front, over 65 lakh shares of NTPC changed hands on the two bourses. "NTPC was in line with the market. Retail investors are buying the stock from the secondary market," CNI Research CMD Kishor P Oswal said. The FPO of the power firm got subscribed 77 per cent today, the first day of the issue.
— PTI |
|||
|
SJVNL not to go public this fiscal
New Delhi, February 3 "SJVNL IPO is unlikely by this fiscal-end," Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters on the sidelines of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of PTI, organised by the Federation of PTI Employees' Union. The initial public offering of SJVNL was part of the government's disinvestment plan. The government had earlier decided to divest 10 per cent in SJVNL through the public offer which was supposed to fetch Rs 12,000 crore.
— PTI |
|||
|
UK sees revival of tourism
Chandigarh, February 3
Over the past four years, annual growth in the tourist traffic from India has been between 3 and 4 per cent. Till 2006, the year-on-year growth in tourists from India was an average 25 per cent. Ever since the recession hit Europe, the business tourist traffic was hit. Last year, 3,80,000 visitors from India went to the UK, which included leisure, business and student travellers, besides those visiting friends and relatives. With the recessionary phase in the UK over, and the rupee depreciation against the pound, the UK government is expecting the number of business and leisure travellers to the UK to increase substantially. Also, with over 150 flights between Delhi and London a week, the travel to the UK has now become cheaper. Talking to TNS here today, Paramjit Bawa, country-manager, VisitBritain and Punam Singh, country representative, VisitLondon, said the biggest reason that they saw for the increase in the number of tourists is the more favourable exchange rate for the pound. “The pound is 10-12 per cent cheaper now as compared to last year. This is a major incentive for leisure, business and student travelers,” they said. Asked if the recent restrictions imposed by the British High Commission on granting student visas to applicants from North India would affect the tourist inflow, Bawa replied in the negative. “The restrictions have been imposed for a temporary period, till the time the British High Commission is able to have a better system in place for scrutinisation of student visa applications. Moreover, we will continue to have students from other parts of the country,” he said, adding that with Australia getting a beating as a popular destination for education for Indian students, more students would now come to the UK. Punam Singh added that the West and North India were the premium source market for getting tourists to the UK. “It’s not just the metros, but tourists from smaller towns like Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ahemdabad and Surat, besides Coimbatore and Cochin in South India, are on the rise. India is one of the most important markets for us for tourism. This is the reason that India is the only country where we have three VisitBritain Offices and the only country to have a VisitLondon office,” she added.
|
|||
|
New Delhi, February 3 Both operators are launching the service in alliance with iseemedia, a Canadian software development company, on both GSM and CDMA platforms. “Push 4 All Mail” by TTSL will help Tata Indicom and Tata Docomo customers access Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo emails on any type of handset through short messaging services, TTSL said in a statement. It would eliminate the need for expensive data plans or high-end phones to receive emails and rich attachments and clients would not have to worry about device capability. "This is a revolutionary service that will change the way people communicate. Customers would have to no longer worry whether their handsets are GPRS/BREW-enabled or not since Push 4 All Mail is a service that will provide hassle-free easy-to-use-email service on SMS," TTSL AVP (VAS - New Products Development) Zubin Dubash said. TTSL users would be charged Rs 15 per month and 50 paise for every SMS sent. RCom will offer the email service to its prepaid and postpaid users at a subscription fee of Rs 30 and a usage tariff of 50 paise per SMS sent. "iseemedia receives a percentage of revenue from every user transaction," RCom said in a separate statement. "We believe our push email service can deliver substantial revenue upside over the years to RCom," RCom Head (VAS) Krishna Durbha said. — PTI
|
|||
|
M&M launches mini truck
Mumbai, February 3 The company aims to produce 2,000 vehicles per month, Mahindra & Mahindra’s Rajesh Jejurikar told reporters here.
In phase I, the automaker plans to introduce the model in the North, the West and parts of eastern India. Over the next 8-10 months, the firm also planned to launch electric and CNG versions of Maxximo, Jejurikar said. —
PTI |
Gold looks up Re gains 25 paise Auto mall BSNL lucky draw Gastro antibiotic L&T bags orders
|
|||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
New Delhi, February 3
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Aviation today sought clarification from beleagured national carrier Air India, which had incurred a loss of Rs 7,200 crore last fiscal, about its cost-cutting and revenue enhancements measures.
