The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Home, auto loans to be dearer Mumbai, February 12 Home and auto loan customers will have to shell out more with several public sector banks, including the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India (BoI) deciding to end the concessional or limited period loan regime, popularly called teaser rates. The public sector banks, which are offering low interest rates for the initial period of the loan to attract new customers, have decided not to extend the validity of their schemes beyond March. In certain cases, the schemes will discontinue during the course of this month itself. SBI chairman OP Bhatt had said recently that special home and auto loan schemes would continue only till March-end. The SBI had been trying to attract more customers by offering home and auto loans as low as 8 per cent with a limited period offer. As part of the special scheme under “My home campaign”, the SBI has been offering home loans (up to Rs 5 lakh) at 8 per cent interest rate during the first five years of a 10-year loan. For loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 50 lakh, the interest rate has been fixed at 8 per cent during the first year and 8.5 per cent during second and third years. Bank of India executive director M Narendra said, "Our scheme is valid till February. We may not continue the scheme post-February." The scheme, he added, was launched for a limited period and the product has served the purpose. Punjab National Bank chairman and managing director KR Kamath yesterday said the bank would take a call on the teaser rates later depending on the market conditions. Meanwhile, the Union Bank of India has said it will withdraw the concessional or limited period loan rates, popularly called teaser rates from February 15. "The scheme was launched at a time when there was no demand in the market. Besides, liquidity was sufficient at that time", Union Bank of India general manager for personal banking G Govindan said while announcing the decision. Liquidity position, Govidan said, would tighten with the central bank raising the CRR to 5.75 per cent in its third quarter monetary policy review announced on January 29. Axis Bank has already withdrawn its teaser home loan scheme two months before the schedule, following the CRR hike by the RBI last month. On the issue of teaser rates, the banking watchdog had said it was concerned that borrowers may find repayment difficult once the interest rates went up. Reserve Bank deputy governor Usha Thorat had said, "Teaser rates is a cause for concern. The banks must ensure that borrowers can service higher rates when rates return to normal." The RBI has also voiced its dissatisfaction on the discriminatory approach adopted by banks in not letting their existing customers benefit from the current low interest rates. — PTI
	Lower grain output predicted Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 12 The total foodgrain production is estimated to decline to 216.85 million tones (MT) in the 2009-10 season, largely due to a fall in the kharif output owing to the worst drought in 30 years. According the second advance foodgrains estimates released today, the country’s foodgrains output is pegged at 216.85 MT in the 2009-10 season, as against 234.47 MT in 2008-09 season. The production estimate includes kharif (June-September) and rabi (October-June) crops. The production of rice, grown mainly in the kharif season, is estimated to be lower at 87.56 MT as against 99.18 MT in the 2008-09. The production of wheat, grown mainly in the rabi season, is projected at 80.28 MT as compared with 8 0.68 MT in the year-ago period. The total coarse cereals output is estimated to decline to 34.27 MT from 40.03 MT in the review period. Pulses output is estimated to be slightly better at 14.74 MT in the current year as against 14.57 MT in 2008-09 season. Oilseeds production is estimated at 26.32 MT as against 27.71 MT in the year-ago period while sugarcane production is estimated to be 251.26 MT as against 285.02 MT last year. The country which saw a bad kharif season is being saved by rabi production. Estimates state that foodgrains production during rabi 2009-10 is expected to exceed the last rabi season’s production which was an all-time record. Contributed by higher production during the rabi season, the total production of pulses during the year is expected to exceed the last year’s level by 0.18 million tonnes while the production of rapeseed and mustard is also expected to be higher by 0.23 million tonnes, resulting into overall production of rabi oilseeds exceeding the last year’s level by 0.22 million tonnes.
	Industrial growth up 16.8 pc in Dec New Delhi, February 12 Industrial growth zoomed to 16.8 per cent in December, 2009, giving hope to the government that overall economic growth may be faster and rekindling a debate on withdrawal of stimulus packages in the Budget. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which measures industrial growth, had contracted by 0.2 per cent in the same month a year ago and hence made the industrial recovery look comparatively higher. The growth in the factory output was mainly led by the manufacturing sector, which constitutes around 80 per cent of IIP, as it rose by 18.5 per cent against 0.6 per cent slide a year earlier. Within manufacturing, the consumer durables industry like auto, refrigerators, etc surged 46 per cent against 4.2 per cent fall in December, 2008. Capital goods output also rose by 38.8 per cent, clearly showing that industry will sustain high growth rate in future as well. This has raised the expectations of the government that is now talking of better economic growth numbers than 7.2 per cent projected by the Central Statistical Organisation earlier this week. "It (IIP growth rate in December) is quite encouraging and I do hope that the third quarter GDP figures will also be encouraging...it will get reflected in the overall GDP rate", Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here. However, the strong IIP numbers have sharply divided analysts and chambers whether stimulus provided to spur the industry facing the brunt of global financial crisis should now go. However, Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra sounded a word of caution. He said: "Some important sectors like food products, cotton textiles, leather and miscellaneous manufacturing industries are lagging behind other sectors in terms of growth." In fact, processed food industrial production declined by 6.9 per cent. He said the current growth seems to be driven by a few large sectors. "Also, we need to be cautious because this strong (manufacturing) growth has come over the negative growth of 0.6 per cent in December, 2008," Mitra added. In fact, chief statistician Pronab Sen had also pointed to the lacunae in depending only on IIP data for stimulus withdrawal, since it gave only the production figures and did not indicate whether the country had demand to take that supply or only inventories would pile up. — PTI
	Textile industry suffers labour pangs KS Chawla Ludhiana, February 12 Two lakh women can be employed in the textile industry in Punjab if given training and assured proper safety and security by the government. This is the estimate made out by the textile industry captains of the state. The employment of the woman in the textile industry will help the industry in meeting the shortage of labour and also result in strong empowerment of women in Punjab. DL Sharma of Vardhman Textiles Group who has undertaken the study told The Tribune today that there was shortage of labour in the textile industry comprising spinning, hosiery and garments industries in Punjab. Punjab has thirty spinning mills in the organised sector, 5,000 hosiery units and garmenting units. These industries have the employment potential to the tune of seven lakh persons. Sharma explains that at present the industry is facing labour shortage of 15 per cent to 25 per cent with the result the textile industry is not able to utilise full capacity. The labour shortage has been caused with the low influx of migratory labour from Bihar and UP and other states. As a matter of fact, Bihar has been the main supplier of labour for the textile industry. Since the states like Bihar have also started witnessing industrial development and the launching of the central schemes like NREGA, the local industries have started facing labour shortage. The unskilled workers in the industry are paid minimum wages at the rate of Rs 3,400 per month plus other perks like the provident fund, bonus and ESI facilities. The average income of the unskilled worker comes to Rs 5,000 per month. Sharma reveals that at present there are 50,000 to 60,000 women working in the textile industry doing different types of jobs. Meanwhile, the engineering industries are also facing shortage of labour for the past few months. The situation with regard to the availability of labour has not become normal after the clashes between the police and migrants in the month of December last.
	650 firms to attend defence expo Tribune News service New Delhi, February 12 Some 650 companies from 35 countries will participate in the 6th edition of the defence exposition starting in the Capital on Monday. The bi-annual event will also be visited by 41 delegations of various countries, besides some of the top-most multi-billion dollar defence companies from across the globe. Defence Ministers from the UK, Bulgaria, Hungary, Nigeria, Turkey, Uganda, Senegal and Suriname are also slated to attend. Defence Minister AK Antony will inaugurate the Def Expo-2010 at Pragati Maidan, announced the Secretary, Defence Production, RK Singh, here today. He said the four-day event will be the largest-ever defence exposition in Asia and will showcase India’s emergence as an attractive destination for investment in the defence sector and act as a platform for alliances and joint ventures in the defence industry. Some major participants to display weapon systems for the Army and the Navy will be from the USA, the UK, Russia, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Israel Italy, Malaysia and South Africa. Israel’s 23 companies will participate in the expo while the US will lead the pack with 25 companies. Organised by the Department of Defence Production, the exhibition will continue till February 18th. Earlier in the day, the American Chamber of Commerce in India and the US Business council organised a seminar for US-based companies on how to do business in India. It showcased an upcoming specialised SEZ on the northern coast of Andhra Pradesh for investment. Also to be discussed was the aspect of US approach for investments in India. Vivek Lall, vice-president, Boeing, India operations, said, “Trust is the key in future India US relations”.
	SBI to hire 25,000 this fiscal New Delhi, February 12 Country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) is likely to induct about 25,000 personnel during 2009-10 across various verticals. “We would be recruiting about 25,000 employees this fiscal and the exercise is underway,” SBI Chairman OP Bhatt said. Last year, Bhatt said, the bank increased its workforce by 27,000. As part of its strategy of enhancing focus on rural operations, SBI is hiring 2,000 probationary officers for rural business. In addition, the bank would hire 2,500 probationary officers. The bank is in the process of inducting 11,000 clerks for marketing, banking and advisory services and 481 officers for marketing and recovery (rural) and technical officers (farm sector). At the same time, SBI has also recruited 500 management executives. Meanwhile, the bank recorded a net profit at Rs 2,479 crore for the quarter ended December 2009, almost the same as in the corresponding period last year. The bank, which has been aggressively going on home loan front with a special scheme of 8 per cent interest rate, saw its housing advances growing by Rs 4,930 crore in the period. Total advances of SBI during the quarter went up to Rs 6,07,154 crore, 19.15 per cent higher, from Rs 5,09,573 crore. Till December end, SBI had a total deposit base of Rs 7,70,985 crore, up 11.26 per cent, compared to Rs 6,92,922 crore in the year-ago period. Total income of the bank was at Rs 21,145.40 crore in the period compared to Rs 20,305.90 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. The bank reported 10 per cent decline in profit at Rs 3,354.94 crore on consolidated basis for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009. It had earned a net profit of Rs 3,713.66 crore in the same period previous fiscal. Total income of the group rose to Rs 32,231.45 crore in the October-December quarter from Rs 29,368.14 crore. — PTI
	C’wealth Games 3,000 hotel rooms still incomplete Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 12 There are eight months left for the Commonwealth Games in the Capital and more than 3,000 hotel rooms meant for visitors are yet to be completed. The task force, constituted to monitor the augmentation of hotel accommodation in the National Capital Region, has found that out of the total 10,540 rooms targeted in the definite category, 7,307 rooms have been completed so far. Hotel promoters were striving to complete the projects and operationalise the hotels by March 31 this year in order to receive the benefits of the Five-Year Tax Holiday announced by the government for hotels coming up for the games in the NCR of Delhi, they said.