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SBI employees observe strike, hold demonstration Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 30: All the branches of State Bank of India throughout the Jammu and ....more Excelsior Correspondent LEH, Dec 30: All the branches of State Bank of India in Ladakh region remained .more
Compromised on paddy, copra
procurement norms NEW DELHI, Dec 30: The Government was embroiled in handling the surplus foodgrain stocks mounting....more
Bongaigaon Refinery, Petrochemicals enter into pact with IOCL GUWAHATI, Dec 30: Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited has...more |
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Steel industry continues NEW DELHI, Dec 30: India’s steel industry continues to be in the grip of recession in the twilight of Y2K with steel majors registering either losses or decline in profits. . ...more Precious metals NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Precious metals— silver and gold— continued their downward journey on the bullion market today on persistent selling by stockists and closed with further losses. Marketmen said buying interest was negligible in the absence of any market moving report from overseas markets. ...more Banking Bill attracts most attention in year 2000 MUMBAI, Dec 30: The Banking Bill triggered a series of protests from PSU bank employees this year, keeping in suspense whether the bill will get a smooth passage in Parliament. However, putting up a brave face, the Government said the bill would get cleared soon......more Foreign currency reserves
up by USD 170 mn MUMBAI, Dec 30: India’s foreign currency reserves rose by US dollar 170 million to USD 39,807 million for the week ended December 22 as compared to the previous week.........more |
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SBI employees observe strike, hold demonstration Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 30: All the branches of State Bank of India throughout the Jammu and Kashmir State remained closed on the second day of the two day strike on the call given by State Bank of India Staff Association, Chandigarh Circle, against the vindictive attitude of the Circle Management of the bank. The Clearing Houses throughout the State remained closed on the second consecutive day of the strike. A massive demonstration was held in front of State Bank of India, Hari Market Jammu branch where the employees raised slogans against the Management of the bank. While addressing the members Comrade N K Pandhi, Assistant General Secretary of the association refuted the tall claim of the local management of normal functioning of the bank in all the one hundred and nineteen branches of the J&K State. He advised the local management not to lodge a false claim which otherwise affects the image of the bank in the eyes of the public in general and the customers of the bank in particular. Comrade A K Dhar, Deputy General Secretary of the Association, J&K Module, congratulated the members for their unity and solidarity for the just cause and warned the management of indefinite strike if such repressive measures were not stopped forthwith. Mr Dhar further said that All India State Bank of India Staff Federation is meeting shortly to chart out the further course of action. He thanked all the member employees for making this call of strike a grand success. |
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Excelsior Correspondent LEH, Dec 30: All the branches of State Bank of India in Ladakh region remained closed today following a call given by the general secretary SBISA. As per a release, no transaction whatsoever took place in any of the branches in the region. |
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Compromised on paddy, copra
procurement norms NEW DELHI, Dec 30: The Government was embroiled in handling the surplus foodgrain stocks mounting to 50 million tonnes and made compromises on the procurement of paddy on relaxed norms and copra from the middlemen during the year 2000. India’s bulging foodgrains kitty is now saddled with a stock of 195.25 lakh tonnes of rice and 259.77 lakh tonnes of wheat against the buffer stock requirement of 8.4 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat each as on January one, 2001. Though the country had succeeded in building its ‘food security’, it has failed to keep the ghost of hunger at bay as one thirds of the population, covered under the Public Distribution System (DPS), still do not have access to the adequate foodgrains of 189 kg per annum, required to maintain a ‘nutritional security’. This became evident from the gradual decrease in the PDS offtake which came down at the year-end to 15.7 million tonnes from 18.4 million tonnes last year. Perhaps this fact forced the Government to launch the Antyoda Anna Yojna on December 25 to provide highly subsidised foodgrains to the poorest of the poor at the rate of Rs two per kg of wheat and Rs three a kg of rice. The scheme, the brainchild of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister Shanta Kumar, was earlier struck down by the Union Cabinet on the plea that it would be difficult to identify its beneficiaries and would cover 50 million people and entail an additional subsidy of Rs 2300 crore, jacking up the total food subsidy bill to above Rs 11000 crores. The outgoing year also witnessed the Government take various steps for liquidating the bulging stocks which included the open sale scheme at the rates, reduced twice to touch Rs 650 per quintal for wheat in the Northern region and around Rs 724 a quintal in other regions, and the throwing of rice to an open auction at Rs 950 a quintal. But all these attempts did not yield the desired results as the foodgrains production set a new record of 205.91 million tonnes, two million tonnes more than the previous year, with rice and wheat registering new highs of 88.25 mt and 74,25 mt. But the production of coarse cereals, having nutritional superiority, remained low at 30,35 mt with the pulses’ output at 13.06 mt. The Government is facing an acute storage problem even as the new wheat crop, only four months away, is expected to be of the order of 70 mt. Perceiving the export of wheat as another option to liquidate the stocks, the Government authorised the STC, the MMTC and the PEC, the state agencies, to explore the possibility of exporting 2 mt of wheat. Even as the Government allowed the export it Rs 4150 per tonnes, the subsidised BPL rate in the country, the response from abroad has not been encouraging as the international prices are low. At the same time, the Government sought to keep the wheat stocks low by discouraging imports and slapped a 50 per cent ad valorem customs’ duty on wheat imports. Rice imports remained almost nil during the year, but the Government imposed an 80 per cent ad valorem duty on its imports. Rice exports were sharply lower during the year at 18.23 lakh tonnes, valued at Rs 3105 crore while it was pegged at 49.6 lakh tonnes worth Rs 6280 crore during the previous year. Though the Government handles only 30 per cent of the total foodgrains produced in the country, it remained under a constant pressure from the states to procure paddy on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 540 per quintal for the a grade variety. Pressure from the Vajpayee Government’s allies and the Akali-BJP coalition Government of Punjab forced the centre to relax the procurement norms for paddy to save the farmers from making distress sale of their produce. Having succumbed to the Punjab Government’s pressure, the Centre had to direct its procurement agency, FCI, to apply the same norms in Haryana. The MPs of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the main prop of the A B Vajpayee Government, went to the extent of staging a dharna in Parliament and forced the Centre to relax the paddy procurement norms for Andhra Pradesh on the Punjab pattern. The year also saw a spectacular increase in sugar production in the country from 155 lakh tonnes in 1998-99 to 181.41 lakh tonnes. Domestic consumption of the produce was estimated at 150 lakh tonnes. The Government not only restricted sugar imports by hiking the customs duty on imports to 60 per cent alongwith an existing countervailing duty of Rs 850 per tonne, it also allowed the export of 10 lakh tonnes of sugar to lessen the surplus stocks held by the sugar mills. As a measure of support to the domestic sugar industry, the levy obligation was reduced from 40 per cent to 60 per cent in the beginning of the current year. In addition, the sugar trade was liberalised by lifting stock-holding limits on the mills. Moreover, the Government made it mandatory for sugar importers to notify their stocks on the 15th of every month, thus bringing the imported sugar under the release mechanism which is in force for the domestic industry. The edible oils scenario remained dismal throughout the year with domestic demand at 96.43 lakh mt, with a shortfall in production of 14.56 lakh tonnes. Against the shortfall of 19.38 lakh tonnes, the import of edible oils was around 43 lakh tonnes. The imports this year-end were likely to touch the same figure and could force the growers to go for distress sale. More than 29 lakh tonnes of edible oils were already imported under OGL during 1999-2000, showing the imports are exceeding the shortfall as pointed out by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Food Ministry. Similarly, under political pressure from Southern states, the Government directed its nodal agency NAFED to procure copra at the MSP of Rs 3250 per quintal and is set to lose Rs 150 crore in the purchase of 1.6 lakh tonnes worth Rs 500 crore. But NAFED made its purchases from traders who had bought copra from farmers at the rate or Rs 2200 per quintal, thereby benefitting the middlemen. The year saw a constant battle between pro-liberalisation economists and those who wanted to maintain strong food security in the country. The former insisted that the MSP system be dismantled since it was a drain on the exchequer, particularly when international foodgrain prices were ruling lower than the domestic rates. They got a boost when the Expenditure Reforms Commission (ERC) in its report on food subsidy, which has been accepted by the Government, pleaded for freezing the MSP and limiting the holding of food stocks to a level of 10 million tonnes (4 million tonnes of wheat and 6 million tonnes of rice). The next year may see the war of attrition over foodgrains further stepped up in the political arena of the country. (UNI) |
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Bongaigaon Refinery,
Petrochemicals GUWAHATI, Dec 30: Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited has entered into agreements with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Oil India Limited (OIL) to transport imported crude oil from Haldia to Barauni. The transportation would be done through Haldia-Barauni Crude Pipeline (HBCPL) of IOCL and then reverse pumping from Barauni to Bongaigaon through the Assam crude pipeline of oil. The agreements were signed recently. The creation of facilities for reverse pumping(under Phase-1) has already been completed at HBCPL pipeline at Barauni, oil’s pumping stations and at BRPL. Pumping of imported crude in the oil’s crude pipeline from Barauni to Bongaigaon sector started on December 27, BRPL sources said. Initially indigenous crude oil in the existing pipeline from Barauni to bongaigaon sector will be received by displacement with imported crude oil before it enters BRPL. BRPL has not been able to utilise its full refining capacity of 2.35 million tonnes per annum(MTPA) due to shortage of Assam crude oil. After commissioning of Numaligarh Refinery in 1999, Assam crude availability to the NE refineries had further reduced. Reverse pumping facilities would enable BRPL to receive imported crude oil at the rate of 0.5 MTPA in the first phase which would be gradually increased to 1.5 MTPA after about a year from now. Crude oil import by BRPL would also enable other refineries in the north east to operate their refineries at rated capacities, sources said. (UNI) |
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Steel industry continues to reel under pressure NEW DELHI, Dec 30: India’s steel industry continues to be in the grip of recession in the twilight of Y2K with steel majors registering either losses or decline in profits mainly due to stagnation in demand. The largest steel manufacturer in the country, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), continued to be in the red despite getting an over Rs 8,400 crore rehabilitation package from the Government in February 2000. Most of the private steel producers including Tata Iron and Steel (TISCO), which posted a profit of Rs 216.43 crore in the first half of 2000-01, admitted that they were not getting the right price in the market for their products. The situation worsened due to new capacities coming into operation without any proportionate increase in the demand for steel in the absence of major infrastructure projects in the power, port or transport sector. The glut like situation in steel supply was further aggravated by cheap imports of steel industries, seconds and defectives from Confederation of Independent States (CIS), which was instrumental in setting up lower domestic prices. A sharp rise in prices of vital inputs like coal and power, and rise in transport cost coupled with slowdown in demand and increased availability through cheap imports have severely eroded the profitability of this industry. Lowering of tariff barriers also exposed the industry to vagaries of international price fluctuations. Witnessing the slowdown in the industry, steel production in the first seven months (April-October) grew at 11.9 per cent compared to 14 per cent growth recorded in first seven months of last financial year. During 1999-2000, the finished steel production had increased by 14 per cent at 27.17 million tonnes compared to 23.82 million tonnes in 1998-99. The major contribution in the steel production continued to be from the secondary steel sector with 58.51 per cent while the main producers — SAIL, TISCO and Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) contributed 41.49 per cent of finished steel production during last financial year. The trend, according to officials in the Joint Plant Committee (JPC), is likely to be similar in the first seven months so far. The JPC also predicted that the sluggish conditions of recession would continue and the demand was likely to be somewhere around 26 .53 million tonnes, which was only marginally higher than the present level. The export performance may improve further provided no more dumping duties were slapped, the JPC said. However, hopes of steel manufacturers on the export front during first seven to eight months of current fiscal were dashed first due to fall in international prices followed by anti-dumping investigations and imposition of high tariffs against steel exports from India. (PTI) |
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Precious metals maintain down-trend NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Precious metals— silver and gold— continued their downward journey on the bullion market today on persistent selling by stockists and closed with further losses. Marketmen said buying interest was negligible in the absence of any market moving report from overseas markets. They said most of the Asian markets were closed for Christmas and winter break which dampened the trading activities here. Off-marriage and festival season further impact the market to remain weak, they added. Standard gold and ornaments lost another Rs 20 each at Rs 4550 and Rs 4400 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign continued to be asked at previous level of Rs 3825 per piece of eight gram. Silver ready declined further by Rs 25 at Rs 7550 per kilo and weekly-based delivery by Rs 20 at Rs 7580 per kilo on reduced offtake by speculators. Silver coins, on the other hand, remained unaltered at Rs 10,900/11,100 per 100 pieces on scattered support. The following were today’s quotations: silver ready 7550 and delivery 7580. Silver coins buyer 10,900 and seller 11,100 standard gold 4550, ornaments 4400 and sovereign 3825. (PTI) |
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Banking Bill attracts most attention in year 2000 MUMBAI, Dec 30: The Banking Bill triggered a series of protests from PSU bank employees this year, keeping in suspense whether the bill will get a smooth passage in Parliament. However, putting up a brave face, the Government said the bill would get cleared soon. The Government said it would hold the controlling stake in public sector banks even after the dilution of its equity to 33 per cent and that the diluted equity would be widely distributed. As the Government is committed to amend the Banking Companies Act to reduce its holding up to 33 per cent, there were serious debates on how to recapitalise the weak public sector banks through budgetary provisions or the bank-specific Financial Restructuring Authority (FRA). Currently, the Government in consultancy with the Reserve Bank of India is finalising the restructuring plans of three weak PSBs. The Centre had contributed an aggregate amount of Rs 20,446.12 crore towards recapitalisation of nationalised banks by end-March, 1999 and did not provide any amount on this account in 1999-2000. According to Mr R C Agarwal, joint secretary of All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), once the Government equity comes down below 51 per cent, the public sector banks would fall in the category of private sector and would be out of the parliamentary control. As a result, the norms and guidelines related to priority sector financing, ST/SC reservation and social causes would not be applicable on these banks. The guidelines in this respect from the RBI do not have any binding on the private and foreign banks, he said. Mr Agarwal said the basic objective of nationalisation would be vanished and passing of the banking bill in the Parliament would be a death nail to social banking. Computerisation of 70 per cent of total bank branches, reduction of manpower by ten per cent, revision of entry norms for the private sector banks and transition of the financial institutions into wholesale commercial banks were some other major activities in the banking industry this year. About 15 banks introduced the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to cut down manpower by at least 10 per cent. Apart from these developments, leading financial analysts say mergers and amalgamations would be the order of the day in banking sector in the near future. For large Indian banks which are looking at ways to consolidate their restructuring process and gain strength from advanced technology, mergers and amalgamations come as an immediate solution, analysts claim. There were two mergers in the private sector this year - Times Bank with HDFC Bank and Bank of Madura with ICICI Bank. There are also reports that the public sector bank of Maharashtra is contemplating takeover of yet another state-owned bank which has wider network in Maharashtra and Gujarat. The bank industry, which provides employment to 2.5 lakh officers and eight lakh workmen, is at crossroads today. Senior bankers said large and medium industrial houses take loans by claiming that the money would be put to productive use but later divert the funds to adjust their liabilities in non-core and unproductive sectors such as real estate and share trading businesses. However, deregulation coupled with growing competition and technological advancements have changed the role of banks from a mere intermediator to efficient fee-based service provider, the bankers said. The RBI has made the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) more accountable to the depositors and account holders through a act. It also decided to allow Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) to convert themselves into universal banking on a case-to-case basis. Indian banks have also been allowed to diversify their activities into other commercial ventures such as mutual funds, insurance and consultancy services. Notwithstanding various bottlenecks in deepening the financial sector reforms, the overall performance of the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) showed a distinct turnaround during the year, particularly in slashing down the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and enhancing the profit margins. All the major financial indicators such as operating profit, income, expenditure, interest expended and operating expenses posted noticeable improvement. While the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) continued to hold more than four-fifths of the total assets of all SCBs, the State Bank of India (SBI) and its seven associated banks enjoyed the dominant position with their total assets accounting for 30.3 per cent of the assets of the SCBs. Old private sector banks constituted about 57 per cent of the total private sector banks’ assets and only 7 per cent in the total SCBs assets. (UNI) |
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Foreign currency reserves
up by USD MUMBAI, Dec 30: India’s foreign currency reserves rose by US dollar 170 million to USD 39,807 million for the week ended December 22 as compared to the previous week. The rise in reserves was solely due to increase of USD 170 million in foreign currency assets to USD 37,053 million in the reporting week as compared to USD 36,883 million for the last week, the Reserve Bank of India said in its weekly statistical supplement here today. The upsurge continued for the seventh week in row following inflows of State Bank of India’s millennium deposits proceeds into the country. The foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies like euro, sterling, yen held in reserves, it said. The gold reserves and special drawing rights remained static at USD 2,752 million and two million respectively, the supplement said. Loans and advances extended by RBI to the Centre stood at nil after suffering a massive decline of Rs 3,844 crore for the week ended December 22 while that to State Government also fell by Rs 117 crore to Rs 4,305 crore, it said. Aggregate deposits of scheduled commercial banks as on December 15 rose by Rs 2,991 crore to Rs 9,21,440 crore while bank credit was up by Rs 4,257 crore in the fortnight to Rs 4,85,006 crore. Food credit during the period increased by Rs 29 crore to Rs 36,946 crore. Non-food credit also rose by Rs 4,228 crore to Rs 4,48,059 crore, the apex bank said. (PTI) |
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