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Daewoo to hike Matiz NEW DELHI, June 5: In a bid to service the spiralling demand for its .....more HSBC forecasts NEW DELHI, June 5: Demand for passenger cars in India will continue .....more
More powers to FCI in NEW DELHI, June 5: Faced with an all-time high foodgrain stock of 45 ......more Bangladesh to import MALDA, June 5: Bangladesh may import 30,000 metric tonne of .....more |
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SAIL debt burden NEW DELHI, June 5: Steel Authority of India’s (SAIL) debt burden has gone down by Rs 685 crore at the end of fiscal 1999-2000 with the public sector reducing its borrowings by internal generation of resources coupled with the financial restructuring approved by the Government......more
Global investment BANGALORE, June 5: The two-day Global Investment Meet (GIM) began here today with....more IFCI to tap fixed deposit NEW DELHI, June 5: In an attempt to widen its product portfolio, financial institution IFCI Ltd. will start accepting fixed deposits latest by July-August. ....more Surya ties up with Crowne NEW DELHI, June 5: Delhi-based five-star deluxe hotel ‘The Surya’ is tying up with UK hotel chain Bass Hotels for its Crowne Plaza brand, choosing it ...more |
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HSBC forecasts buoyant car demand, sluggish scooter sales NEW DELHI, June 5: Demand for passenger cars in India will continue to be buoyant despite recent price hikes but scooters and commercial vehicles sales are expected to be sluggish, says HSBC in its latest automobile report. "Demand for cars will continue to be buoyant despite the price increases, as economic upswing and development of metro cities will boost demand prospects," HSBC’s report said. It said passenger car demand will continue to grow at about 35 per cent year-on-year for the next two months. On scooter sales, hsbc said Bajaj Auto had pushed sales in February-March 1999, which caused an excess inventory of 30,000-35,000 with the dealers. This situation got corrected in the beginning of the current fiscal, when scooter despatches fell by 21 per cent, it said. "The first quarter of 2000-01 would statistically report a significantly higher sales growth. This should not be confused with recovery in scooter sales as the base was artificially lower," it said. Demand for motorcycles will continue to be buoyant, more so, in favour of four-stroke motorcycles as compared to two-stroke bikes. Excellent positioning coupled with reliability would ensure maximum benefit to Hero Honda, followed by Bajaj Auto, hsbc report said adding strong growth trends for both the companies would continue. However, TVS Suzuki and Escorts will continue to lose in the competition. It also predicted that moped growth would continue to remain dismal for the near future but scooterette growth would be robust. Demand for tractors in February was very weak, as sales dropped by 20 per cent year-on-year. "However, year-end pushing would imply that March would be a stable month," it said adding M&M had lost a month’s sales on account of strike at its tractor plant, as a result of which the company claims to be working on low inventories. HSBC said the fall in sales in January and February in tractors reflects a correction as during the previous months, where the sales were pushed. (PTI) |
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More powers to FCI in disposing of old stocks NEW DELHI, June 5: Faced with an all-time high foodgrain stock of 45 million tonnes in the central pool, the Centre has decided to set up a high powered committee in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to expedite sale of old stocks of wheat and rice. Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister Shanta Kumar said the Government was in the process of simplifying the existing complex procedures of selling old stocks of wheat and rice. "We would have a major storage problem by the time the kharif procurement starts and therefore we need to do something urgently," he told PTI. By setting up the high powered committee under the FCI Chairman, the current requirement of a go ahead from the Finance Ministry would be done away with, the minister said. As against the total buffer stock requirement of 24.3 million tonnes of foodgrain (10 million tonnes of rice and 14.3 million tonnes of wheat) as on July 1, FCI is expected to be saddled, with about 45 million tonnes of foodgrains. Kumar said the record buffer stock was the result of an all time high procurement of wheat by FCI and other state agencies and poor offtake of the foodgrains by State Governments under the Public Distribution System. FCI and other State Government agencies are estimated to have procured nearly 16 million tonnes of wheat from farmers during the current crop season. Kumar said the Government was considering various options like barter trade and exports to reduce the foodgrain stocks in the FCI godowns. Government’s effort to push up exports of wheat last year had proved to be non-starter due to lack of price competitiveness of Indian wheat in the global market. Despite the Centre permitting exports of upto one million tonnes of wheat during 1999-2000, only a small quantity of 50,000 tonnes was exported to the Bangladesh. Ministry officials said the main reason for lack of buyers in the global market was high cost of Indian wheat estimated at about Rs 6,500 a tonne in the domestic market. "The increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) being effected by Government year after year has made Indian wheat so costly," they said. The burgenoning stocks in the FCI godowns is also on account of the poor purchasing by roller flour millers, who are increasingly making their purchase from the open market taking advantage of the lower prices, industry officials said. While the FCI sells its wheat to millers at a uniform rate of Rs 900 per quintal, wheat is available in the open market at about Rs 625-650 per quintal. The minister admitted that wheat offtake under the PDS to BPL (Below Poverty Line) families had not shown expected increase due to the price increase effected by the Centre in April. Government had raised the wheat allocation to BPL families to 20 kg per month at Rs 4.50 per kg. However, during April, the lifting of wheat was only 35 per cent of the total allocation. (PTI) |
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Bangladesh to import 30,000 mt mangoes from India MALDA, June 5: Bangladesh may import 30,000 metric tonne of mangoes worth Rs 45 crore from India after this month, according to Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries sources. Most of the mangoes would be from Malda and Murshidabad districts in West Bengal, the sources said here. The move follows the slashing of customs tariff from 450 US dollar to 330 US dollar which would enable mango traders in Bangladesh to cater to the demand for the golden-hued fruit in that country, the Director of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries Mohammed Abdul Wahed told newsmen here on Saturday. Apart from the juicy fazli, himsagar, langra, gopalbhog mangoes from Malda and Murshidabad, chousa and dusseri mangoes from Uttar Pradesh would also be part of the export package, he said. In return India would be importing the succulent hilsa fish, dexterously patterned jamdani sarees, delicately crafted China crockeries, he said. Discussion for exporting mango and importing hilsa, jamdani and others had already taken place between Indian Government and the Bangla traders’ delegation, both wahed and the vice-president of Malda Merchants Chamber of Commerce Ujjal Saha, also present on the occasion, said. (PTI) |
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SAIL debt burden down by Rs 685 cr NEW DELHI, June 5: Steel Authority of India’s (SAIL) debt burden has gone down by Rs 685 crore at the end of fiscal 1999-2000 with the public sector reducing its borrowings by internal generation of resources coupled with the financial restructuring approved by the Government. For the first time since 1995-96, the overall debt of SAIL excluding SDF and Government loans, is down to Rs 14875 as on March 31, 2000, a SAIL release said here today. The company also mobilised additional resources of about Rs 2100 crore of which nearly 50 per cent was raised on its own strength, it said. During 1999-2000, SAIL repaid loans of nearly Rs 2500 crore to bondholders, banks, depositors under its public deposit scheme and foreign lenders. It also brought down the average cost of borrowed capital, excluding SDF and Government loans by nearly one per cent through mobilisation of cheaper loans and better operations. Over the previous five years, SAIL’s debt had ballooned by Rs 8700 crore on account of heavy investments made for modernisation of its steel plants coupled with steep recession in the domestic and international markets. (PTI) |
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Global investment meet inaugurated BANGALORE, June 5: The two-day Global Investment Meet (GIM) began here today with concrete investment proposals worth Rs 4,000 crore as Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha hit out at four former Prime Ministers for attacking economic reform which he said was irreversible. Asserting that the economy would further be liberalised in coming months, Sinha said "there is no way reforms will be rolled back and no question of going back to the licence-permit Raj. Charging that an attempt was being made by some people to deliberately create confusion to derail economic reforms, he said this had to be met squarely by building a national consensus in an obvious reference to criticisms of Government economic policies by the former Prime Ministers, Deve Gowda, V P Singh, I K Gujral and Chandra Shekar. Speaking at the meet, Sinha said the Centre was actively involving states as equal partners in the implementation of next phase of economic reforms, launched last year. Billed as the new millenium’s mega meet organised by the Karnataka Government, the opening day witnessed signing of MoUs with seven firms including, Reliance, Enron, automobile giants Suzuki, BPL and Zee Group. The Singapore consortuim which had already established an ITPL (Information Technology Park) here announced plans to embark upon the second stage of ITPL with Rs 500 crore investment and to start the work this year iteself. Sinha said the Government was tailoring its policy initiatives to achieve targetted 8-10 per cent in the coming years and expressed confidence that the recent economic policy decisions would have a positive impact in attracting Foreign Direct Investment. Infrastructure was the key area in which the Government was looking for foreign and NRI investments, he said adding a major tax reforms would be unfolded to attract investments. (PTI) |
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IFCI to tap fixed deposit scheme from July-August NEW DELHI, June 5: In an attempt to widen its product portfolio, financial institution IFCI Ltd. will start accepting fixed deposits latest by July-August. To make the scheme attractive, the institution would set the interest rates 100 basis points above the rates offered by commercial banks, top officials in IFCI told PTI. "We are planning to start the scheme by July- August," B M Aggarwal, Whole-time-Director of IFCI said. Currently, other institutions like ICICI and IDBI offers fixed deposit schemes but are still to get good response from customers, say industry officials. He said to begin with, the fixed deposit scheme will be started in metropolitan cities and depending on the response, it will be offered in other cities across the country. Fixed deposit scheme requires proper advertising as per the company law and the officials said IFCI was in the final stages of getting the required approvals. Currently, commercial banks, which directly deal with customers, have an edge over the financial institutions in the fixed deposit scheme, industry officials said adding that it would take some time for institutions to cut into the banks’ customer base. IFCI would tap fixed deposit for a tenure of one to five years, Aggarwal said. Aggarwal said the decision to start a fixed deposit scheme was part of its move to become an universal bank, where the entire range of banking products would be offered under a single roof. The institution is also planning to enter the insurance sector and would tie up with prospective partners based on a recommendation of an expert group. Last week , IFCI reported a net profit of Rs 59.37 crore in 1999-2000, which was higher by more than 100 per cent from previous year’s Rs 23.5 crore. The profits were much below the 1997-98 level of Rs 370.50 crore. IFCI’s performance continued to be affected by its high level of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) at 20.78 per cent of its asset base during 1999-2000. (PTI) |
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Surya ties up with Crowne Plaza, Marriott loses out NEW DELHI, June 5: Delhi-based five-star deluxe hotel ‘The Surya’ is tying up with UK hotel chain Bass Hotels for its Crowne Plaza brand, choosing it over the Marriott name, a top company official said here today. "We will sign the deal with bass hotels’ Crowne Plaza brand for a management franchise agreement in a month’s time," Surya Vice-President and General Manager C S Pantal told PTI. The Surya has been negotiating with both the Marriott group as well as crowne plaza, but decided on the latter due to its better offer, he said. "Although we have practically decided on Crowne Plaza, the terms of the agreement are still being negotiated," he said declining to divulge the details of the tie-up. Surya has been on a constant process of upgradation and renovation and originally had a franchise agreement with the Sofitel group as a three-star hotel followed by its tie-up with best western as a four-star one. "Now that Surya has been upgraded to a five-star deluxe hotel, we have been looking for a partner through whom we can hook up to their worldwide reservation system," Pantal said adding that it expected the agreement to help it achieve 70 per cent occupancy in the next peak season. Bass Hotels has been on an expansion drive in India with its three brands, Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn and has also been trying to bring its latter two brands to the capital. "Bass Hotels wants to bring Crowne Plaza to the capital and this agreement would fulfil our plan," Bass Hotels and Resorts Chief Operating Officer South West Asia, Rakesh Mathur said. The UK hotel major earlier had Holiday Inn in Delhi through its tie-up with Lalit Suri’s Bharat Hotels before the latter broke away for a stint as Hilton Hotel following which it was back with Bass Hotels as the Inter-Continental, Delhi. "Once the franchise agreement is signed, we plan to go for an aggressive advertising strategy in the next few months," Pantal said adding that it was banking on Bass Hotels’ umbrella advertising to rope in more foreign guests. Mathur said his company was also keen to fill the void in Delhi with respect to holiday inn and added he did not apprehend any competition among its three brands as they catered to different segments of the market. "While Holiday Inn caters to the upper mid-market segment, Crowne Plaza is positioned a rung above it with Inter-Continental as the top-of-the-line premium brand," he said. The Surya, promoted by Cosmopolitan Hotels Ltd (CHL) has had an average occupancy of 55 per cent to 60 per cent in 1999-2000 and earned a profit of Rs 782 lakhs in 1998-99. (PTI) |
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