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Car sales dip by 13.3 pc NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Passenger car sales continued on the Tailspin falling by 13.3 per cent.....more
South-South cooperation NEW DELHI, Aug 24: India said today South-South cooperation was necessary to remove poverty.....more
NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Gold prices maintained its downward march in the bullion market today on......more 1.75 lakh tonnes of sugar NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Domestic sugar industry has sold 1.75 lakh tonnes of sugar in the international ......more |
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Puts off Nubira launch NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Daewoo Motors India Limited (DMIL) has discontinued production of two top-end versions of its popular small car Matiz and replaced them with new lower priced models, featuring power-steering as standard feature......more Chenab
Advertising Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Aug 24: Chenab Advertising Private Limited—a giant leap in the field of advertising in Jammu and Kashmir today launched its 3rd edition.....more Zen technologies MUMBAI, Aug 24: Zen Technologies Ltd (ZTL) is to enter the capital market with a maiden public issue of Rs 1.91 crore to partly fund its expansion.......more FDI limit for SSIs NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Giving in to the demands made by small scale associations, the Centre has decided to maintain the Foreign Direct Investment limit for SSI at 24 per cent and retain export obligation for large scale.......more |
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South-South
cooperation necessary to NEW DELHI, Aug 24: India said today South-South cooperation was necessary to remove poverty, unemployment and socio-economic inequality in the globalised world economy. "South-South cooperation is the only remedy to problems of poverty, unemployment and socio-economic inequality," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Omar Abdullah said at an India-Africa workshop on sectoral collaborations organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. India and Africa shares common interests and concerns at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations and should work closely on issues of trade and investment, he said. Abdullah said there was a vast potential for increasing trade and investment between India and Africa in the areas of pharmaceuticals, textiles, agro-food processing and packaging, engineering goods and information technology. Stating that India’s trade with Africa crossed seven billion dollars last fiscal, he said "we need to widen the commodity basket and include more countries in trade." India had a negative trade deficit with African nations with imports totalling 5.5 billion dollars as against 1.6 billion dollar worth of exports in 1999-2000, he added. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Gold prices maintained its downward march in the bullion market today on persistent selling by stockists influenced by weak overseas advices and closed with further losses. Silver also followed the trend and declined on reduced offtake in the face of steady inflow of new stocks. Marketmen said a fresh fall in gold prices in overseas markets influenced the trading sentiment. They said since the marriage season is over there is a lack of demand on the part of the retail customers and that is another major factor behind rolling down of prices of precious metals. Standard gold and ornaments lost another Rs.20 each at Rs.4500 and Rs.4350 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign was unchanged at last level of Rs.3800 per piece of eight gram. Silver .999 (ready) lost further by Rs.40 at Rs.7740 per kilo and weekly delivery by Rs.30 at Rs.7770 per kilo. Its coins were traded at last level of Rs.10,700/10,800 per 100 pieces. The following were today’s quotations: Silver .999 (ready) 7740 and delivery 7770. Silver coins buyer 10,700 and selling 10,800. Standard gold 4500, ornaments 4350 and sovereign 3800. (PTI) |
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1.75 lakh tonnes of sugar sold in international bids NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Domestic sugar industry has sold 1.75 lakh tonnes of sugar in the international market in the last one fortnight, contracting 14 cargoes of 12,500 tonnes each at prices ranging between 258-276 dollars per tonne. The cargoes, half of which were contracted yesterday, were awarded in international bids by Indian Sugar and General Industry Export Import Corporation (ISIGIEC), sources said. The contracted cargoes would be shipped between October and December, mainly to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Some part of it will also be transported to Indonesia, they added. Part of the cargoes were finalised at 276 USD per tonne on FOB (Free-on-Board) basis, while the rest was contracted at prices 258 dollars per tonne and upwards, the sources said. ISIGIEC, the body set up by the domestic sugar industry to export sugar, had invited international bids following Government’s decision in June this year to allow exports upto 10 lakh tonnes. India is expected to finish the current season (Oct-Sept) with an excess stock of 96.39 lakh tonnes of sugar. During the season the availability of sugar, including a carry over stock of 67.23 lakh tonnes from last year, is expected to be around 247.23 lakh tonnes as against a total domestic demand of 150.84 lakh tonnes. India is also negotiating with yemen to export sugar as some trading houses in the country had evinced interest in purchasing the commodity, the sources said. The deals with yemen are likely to be finalised at 280 USD per tonne on FOB basis, which would still be about five dollars lower than the london white sugar price, the sources added. India had previously exported sugar for two consecutive years in 1995-96 and 1996-97, shipping a total of 11 lakh tonnes. But, India consequently became a net importer of sugar due to low international prices, importing more than 20 lakh tonnes. Despite the Indian Government permitting export of 25,000 tonnes of sugar in value added forms last year, no significant quantity was exported due to higher prices of Indian sugar compared to global prices. ISIGIEC had floated domestic tenders for procuring 2.5 lakh tonnes ofits plans to export 10 lakh tonnes during 1999-2000 (Oct-Sept). Government had allowed private sugar mills to undertake exports of up to 10 lakh tonnes of sugar and given levy exemption on the exported quantity in an effort to bring down the huge stocks of the commodity in the domestic market. (PTI) |
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Puts off Nubira launch NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Daewoo Motors India Limited (DMIL) has discontinued production of two top-end versions of its popular small car Matiz and replaced them with new lower priced models, featuring power-steering as standard feature. The company has also decided to put off its foray into the luxury car segment till the restructuring exercise of its parent company —Daewoo Motor Company — is finalised, DMIL Chairman Shiv Gopal Awasthi told newspersons here today. Daewoo had earlier announced plans to launch Nubira-II in India in November this year, sporting a Rs 11 lakh price tag. The company has discontinued production of the SE and SP versions of Matiz, and replaced them with SG, priced at Rs 3.43 lakh, and SA at Rs 3.95 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). "We have removed certain features like music system, rear window defogger and power windows from the se model and introduced a power-steering and also trimmed the price tag to Rs 3.43 lakh for the sg version," he said. The SE variants used to be priced at Rs 3.74 lakh. Though the SA variant includes power-steering and anti-theft system in addition to the existing features of SP, the company has left the price tag unchanged at Rs 3.95 lakh. The price rationalisation has been effected on the strength of the cost-cutting and restructuring exercise that the company had undertaken. "We have undertaken an organisation restructuring by combining several departments, in addition to cutting vendor margins and sourcing components at lower prices in order to cut costs. These have helped us to offset the impact of rupee devaluation and appreciation of Korean won," Mr Awasthi said. The Matiz SG variant has been priced Rs 67,000 lower than Wagon-R, Rs 75,000 lower than Indica, Rs 49,000 below Zen VX and Rs 38,000 under Santro LS. The launch of the two new versions of Matiz is part of the company’s continuous value addition programme, Mr Awasthi said. The launch coincides with a new brand campaign — total spice, an acronym for safety, power, innovation, comfort and economy. DMIL, Mr Awasthi said, will meet the target of selling 80,000 cars this fiscal. The company is also bullish on the export performance with the small car. It has already exported 1,350 units of Matiz in the first four months of the fiscal, which is higher than the 1,200 units exported in the whole of previous fiscal. Regarding plans to introduce a luxury car in India, Mr Awasthi said the exercise would be initiated next year after the restructuring of the parent company will be completed. Ford had last week finished the due-diligence of Daewoo’s Indian operations as part of the exercise to purchase the beleagured Korean car maker. The company, he said, has also not finalised a time frame for infusing fresh equity worth 100 million dollars into the Indian operation. "We had sought approval from the Government and shareholders for infusing fresh equity. But the money would flow in only when required." (UNI) |
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Chenab Advertising launches
3rd edition Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Aug 24: Chenab Advertising Private Limited—a giant leap in the field of advertising in Jammu and Kashmir today launched its 3rd edition of C-MAC Yellow Pages for the year 2000-01. The edition was inaugurated by Mr Subash Gupta, Chairman, J&K Pradesh Congress Seva Dal(J) in the presence of Mr Subash Verma, Managing Director, Mr Ashish Gupta, Director Marketing and Editing, Mr Rajinder Verma, Director Administration and Public Relations and Mr Satish Jasrotia, Manager Kashmir Region alongwith all the staff members of the company. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Subash Verma, MD, lauded the efforts of the marketing staff of the company to connect people in different parts of the State. He said that this directory covers all the business categories like manufacturers, traders, financial institutions, real estate agents, travel agencies, share brokers, professional institutions and all types of services to benefit the different commercial segments of the State. "This issue is comprised of the information about all the subscribers of 14 district headquarters of the State", he informed and said that the information about all the Government Departments in J&K is also included in this issue to make it more viable and informative. "To make this issue more convenient for the general masses, we have segregated all the information in the form of four different sections as General Pages, Business Pages, Government Pages and Residential Pages", the Managing Director of the Company further informed. Mr Subash Gupta congratulated the management of the Cheban Advertising Private Limited and appreciated their efforts in compiling the Yellow Pages in the unique way it is presented. He said that book is very informative, useful and upto date. He said that this directory will prove itself to be a powerful media for the people of state to communicate them with each other. |
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Zen technologies maiden issue to fund simulator training MUMBAI, Aug 24: Zen Technologies Ltd (ZTL) is to enter the capital market with a maiden public issue of Rs 1.91 crore to partly fund its expansion plans for two software weapons advanced training simulators at Hyderabad. Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) has already picked up a 34 per cent stake in the project by investing Rs one crore, ZTL Managing Director Ashok Atluri told reporters here today. The promoters have invested Rs 3.17 crore and its has received a Rs 60 lakh grant from state-run Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) to part finance the project, he said. ZTL, a manufacturer of indoor weapons simulators meant for imparting training in use of fire arms, would utilise the funds for expansion of its two advanced training systems like Zen tactical engagement simulator and Zen interactive small arms training simulator. The company also plans to set up an overseas office in London and tap the weapons simulation system market in the Middle-East and African nations, he added. Currently, ZTL is negotiating with various state police organisations, the BSF, Assam Rifles and is trying to strike a deal with the Indian defence forces, Atluri said. The public issue is of 19.10 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at par aggregating to Rs 1.91 crore to part finance the Rs 6.68 crore project, he said adding it would be listed at Hyderabad Stock Exchange. The issue opens on September four and would close on the seventh. (PTI) |
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FDI limit for SSIs to stay at 24 pc NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Giving in to the demands made by small scale associations, the Centre has decided to maintain the Foreign Direct Investment limit for SSI at 24 per cent and retain export obligation for large scale units producing items reserved for SSI at 50 per cent. The Centre has decided not to increase the FDI limit from 24 per cent to 49 per cent as recommended by the study group for SSI headed by Dr S P Gupta, official sources said here. The high-powered group of ministers under Home Minister L K Advani had been considering a proposal seeking enhancement of the FDI limit to 49 per cent in order to induct better technology in the SSI sector, they said. Sources said the proposal seeking to reduce export obligation for large scale units producing items reserved for the SSI sector has also been rejected. The study group had recommended reduction in the export obligation from 50 per cent to 30 per cent, sources said adding that in the post-WTO environment the large scale units would be required to export more in order to face competition and so there was no question of reducing the export limit. Sources said the SSI Ministry had also approached the Banking Department to finalise a fresh rehabilitation package for the sick SSI units. The number of sick SSI units is currently estimated at around three lakh numbers of which only around 18,692 units are viable, sources said. Rehabilitation of the sick units is a costly proposition as it involves rescheduling of past overdues with concessions on interest amount due, additional credit for modernisation and technology upgradation and provision for fresh working capital, they said. Sources said at present the State Level Inter Institutional Committees (SLIICs) are the only mechanism for rehabilitation of the potentially viable sick SSI units, but in the absence of statutory backing, they have no power to enforce their decisions. The SSI Ministry has recommended that sliics should be converted into statutory bodies under a special statute and given adequate statutory and administrative powers to enforce their decisions on banks, financial institutions and other agencies concerned with the rehabilitation of potentially viable sick SSI units, they said. The proposal is being considered by the Finance Ministry in conjunction with the Banking Department and the final decision is expected soon, they added. (PTI) |
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