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Govt pulled
up for NEW DELHI, Dec 1: A Parliament committee has questioned the Government decision to reduce the interest rate payable to subscribers of the Employment Provident Fund (EPF) for 2000-01 saying the recommendations of the Central Board of Trustees against the move were overlooked........more INTUC (HP) unit elections SHIMLA, Dec 1: The All India President of INTUC has rejected the elections of Himachal Pradesh unit of INTUC held by a splinter group on Nov 19 at Nalagarh.....more
NEW DELHI, Dec 1: The Government today justified disinvestment of the Government’s shares in Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) on the plea that Asthe Company ceased to be a Public Sector Enterprise, manufacturing cars for private use did not fall into a priority sector.....more Mukherjee appointed MUMBAI, Dec 1: C1 India Pvt Ltd, is the distributor for the SAARC region of commerce one (NASDA: CMRC) which is the leader in global E-commerce . Mr Mukherjee will also function as a strategic advisor to the company. His primary responsibility will be to establish....more |
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Bimal Jalan rules out any NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan today ruled out any change in the interest ......more
No proposal to reduce NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Government today said there was no proposal to reduce fertiliser subsidies though it .......more NEW DELHI, Dec 1: United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) said today.....more One lakh tonnes of sugar exported from India to Pak NEW DELHI, Dec 1: One lakh tonnes of sugar has been exported from India to Pakistan during the current financial year...more |
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Govt
pulled up for not consulting on NEW DELHI, Dec 1: A Parliament committee has questioned the Government decision to reduce the interest rate payable to subscribers of the Employment Provident Fund (EPF) for 2000-01 saying the recommendations of the Central Board of Trustees against the move were overlooked. Though the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) decided unanimously in its meeting to recommend interest at the rate of 12 per cent to be credit to EPF members for the financial year 2000-01, the Government did not consult the Central Board on its proposal to not accept the recommendations, the report said. The report of committee on subordinate legislation under the chairmanship of Dipankar Mukherjee, presented to Parliament today says the CBT being an autonomous organisation should have been consulted on the issue. The Labour Ministry, in its comments during the meeting, said the Central Government considered the recommendations of the Board in the light of average income of the fund from April, 2000 onwards. The ministry said, in its view the average income had drastically fallen to less than 11 per cent and it accordingly determined interest for epf at 11 per cent for the current financial year. (PTI) |
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INTUC (HP) unit elections to be held in March SHIMLA, Dec 1: The All India President of INTUC has rejected the elections of Himachal Pradesh unit of INTUC held by a splinter group on Nov 19 at Nalagarh. In a letter addressed to the state unit president Kanta Sood, the INTUC president, G Sanjeeva Reddy said that election held by this group was illegal as the state unit had not deposited the affiliation fee and was a ‘defaulter’. He said that defaulter units could not participate in the elections and asked the state unit to deposit the affiliation amounting to about Rs 3.15 lakh by December 31 to remove the disqualification. Disclosing this, Sood told reporters that the elections would now be held in March 2001 and Subhas Sharma, president Punjab unit of INTUC, had been appointed the Returning Officer for the elections. She said that the old body would continue to remain in office till the fresh elections were held. Meanwhile, the state unit of INTUC today submitted an 11-point memorandum to the Government demanding minimum wage of rs 100, immediate stop to retrenchment of workers and regularisation of workers who had completed five years of service. She said that INTUC would serve a one-month notice to the Government for acceptance of its demands failing which it would chalk out its action programme. The state INTUC president also removed Rajesh Sharma, president HRTC Employees Federation from the membership of INTUC for overstepping his jurisdiction and constituting the adhoc committee without taking the state unit into confidence. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 1: The Government today justified disinvestment of the Government’s shares in Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) on the plea that Asthe Company ceased to be a Public Sector Enterprise, manufacturing cars for private use did not fall into a priority sector. Elaborating the rationale behind the Government decision to sell its existing 49.7 per cent stake in the MUL, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie informed the Lok Sabha that the profit-making unit had turned out to be a loss-incurring enterprise by losing Rs 120 crores in seven months of this year. The MUL profit was Rs 650 crore three rears ago which came down to Rs 340 crore last year with Maruti cars’ market share dwindling to 60 to 65 per cent from its previous dominant share of 83 per cent, the Minister told the House during the Question Hour. Another factor that compelled the Government to take this decision was that the MUL’s Japanese partner, Suzuki Motors could not supply the new three models, the Minister said adding that the deteriorated worker-management relations in the unit had also taken its toll. The Minister said around five years ago, the then Government had decided to sell its stake in the MUL and quoted an astronomical amount and also received a feasible offer too. But it was not known why the Government dropped its move, he added. Now, the Government was trying to fetch an offer near to that but Mr Shourie did not disclose the amount they are looking for saying negotiations were at an advanced stage. (UNI) |
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Mukherjee appointed director of C1 India Pvt Ltd MUMBAI, Dec 1: C1 India Pvt Ltd, is the distributor for the SAARC region of commerce one (NASDA: CMRC) which is the leader in global E-commerce solutions for business, Thursday. Announced the appointment of Abhishek Mukherjee as a director on its board. Mr Mukherjee will also function as a strategic advisor to the company. His primary responsibility will be to establish the C1 brand in the Indian market, a company release said. A seasoned professional with a career spanning over 25 years, Mr Mukherjee will put in place a strong management team and work towards developing a comprehensive marketing strategy for C1 India Pvt Ltd. His goal will be extend the reach of the commerce one network further and to ensure that the targets set by the company are met as per schedule. Mukherjee will take up the challenging task of setting up an E-exchange, gate2biz.Com, for C1 India. Over the next few months, Mukherjee will initiate key alliances and consolidate relationships with customers and suppliers who will trade on this platform. The release added. (UNI) |
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Bimal Jalan rules out any change in interest rates NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan today ruled out any change in the interest rate this fiscal and said the Government borrowings were on target despite volatile market conditions and spiraling global oil prices. It (interest rate) will remain stable and has already softened, Jalan said, adding there was no possibility of any changes in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of banks from the current 8.5 per cent in the next four months of this fiscal. In the wake of robust revenue collections so far, Government borrowing was on target and was expected to be around the budgeted Rs 1,17,000 crore, he told reporters on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Forex Congress. Despite the expected 5.5 billion dollars inflow from India millennium deposit, Jalan said the markets are normal. The central bank was sterilising the proceeds from State Bank of India’s deposit scheme periodically and there would be no exess liquidity in the system, he indicated. Our objective is to keep market movements orderly and ensure that there is no liquidity problem or rumour or panic-induced volatility, he said speaking at the Congress. On the effect of global oil price hike, he said our markets are relatively thin and the declared policy of the RBI is to meet temporary demand-supply imbalances which arise from time to time. In the current period, he said RBI has been meeting the oil import requirements of Indian Oil Corporation directly as also the debt service requirements because of extraordinary rise in oil prices. (PTI) |
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No proposal to reduce fertiliser subsidies: Dhindsa NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Government today said there was no proposal to reduce fertiliser subsidies though it was looking into reports of 15 fertiliser companies availing of subsidies to the tune of Rs 450 crore by falsely showing higher production and lower capacity utilisation. Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Chemical and Fertiliser Minister S S Dhindsa said though the Expenditure Reform Commission has recommended consideration of gradual reduction in fertiliser, the Government had no proposal to implement it. To a query by Pranab Mukherjee and S R Bommai, on whether the Government would consider paying of direct subsides to the farmers, Dhindsa said it had been found that direct subsidies from the exchequer did not fully reach the farmers as margins are taken away by middle-men. He said the Government was awaiting the Alag Committee report which is verifying charges of fertiliser companies seeking unjustified subsides to the tune of Rs 450 crore by showing enhanced unit and lower capacity utilisation. In reply to another question raised by Dipankar Mukherjee regarding opening of two closed public sector pharmaceutical companies in West Bengal, Dhindsa said the BIFR had suggested it was unviable as they running at four per cent of their capacity and hence could not be revived. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 1: United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) said today it was keen to co-operate with the private sector in India to enhance Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and formulate an umbrella programme to integrate all its projects in the country. The private sector is extremely dynamic in India and UNIDO would like to increase its co-operation with this sector to attract FDI to India, director general of UNIDO Dr Carlos Magarinos, now on a visit to India, said in a statement here. India’s private sector will be a major driving force for the formulation of an umbrella programme or country service framework which integrates the UNIDO projects, he said. What India needed was more enterprises, he said, adding, UNIDO will help to create more jobs, but this is not enough. We need to create more enterprises and more entrepreneurs to ensure that the population is connected to the global economy. Magarinos said that the India was well endowed with human resources to develop more partnerships with MNC’s and private entities for accelerated growth. The purpose of his visit, Dr Magarinos said, was to ascertain the views of the Government, private sector and intelligensia for formulation of an unbrella programme to make it more meaningful for the priorities of this country. (PTI) |
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One lakh tonnes of sugar exported from India to Pak NEW DELHI, Dec 1: One lakh tonnes of sugar has been exported from India to Pakistan during the current financial year, Lok Sabha was informed today. Sugar from India continues to be exported to Pakistan, told Minister Shanta Kumar stated during question hour. He said Government had not received complaints that Pakistani traders were not showing interest in lifting sugar imported from India as it was of low quality. The minister was asked about media reports which said main political parties, farmers’ unions and big farmers in Pakistan have also opposed the import of sugar from India. (PTI) |
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