Daily Excelsior...Business

Satyam Infoway
announces launch
of cableweb

CHENNAI, Mar 28: Satyam Infoway, India’s premier internet and ....more

Skindia GDR index
drops by 0.18 pc

MUMBAI, Mar 28: The Skindia GDR index representing GDR of 22 actively traded companies....more

IT and T plans to raise
Rs 35 crore

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Facilities and network management firm IT and T Limited......more

China firm as EU readies
for crunch WTO talks

BEIJING, Mar 28: European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy arrived in Beijing......more

Corporation Bank opens
644th branch at Jammu

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 28: Corporation Bank, a Government of India Undertaking .......more

Low cost mini-biogas plant
for rural electrification

CALCUTTA, Mar 28: Self-electrification in rural India could soon become a cost-effective reality ....more

ONGC dividend

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: The state owned Oil and Natural Gas........more

Satyam Infoway announces launch of cableweb

CHENNAI, Mar 28: Satyam Infoway, India’s premier internet and E-commerce company today announced launch of cableweb, a fecility which will allow access to the net to cable TV subscribers.

Being a broad band connection, cableweb will enable faster download and quicker access to the net besides being more cost-effective than conventional dial-up connections.

Mr Pradeep Lakshmanan, vice-president, online business, Satyam Infoway said in a statement that the launch of cableweb by Satyam infoway allows for faster and coast effective internet access for customers.

It will also bring the internet closer to and within the reach of the masses.

Cable web will allow for instant access to the net without the conventional procedure of dialing up, waiting or disconnecting, as it does not require a telephone for logging onto the net.

To avail of cableweb, a consumer requires a personal computer, cable connection, an ethernet card, a compatible cable modem and a cable splitter. The cable splitter is required to split the cable line between the TV and the PC so that both can be used simultaneously independent of each other, the release added. (UNI)

Skindia GDR index drops by 0.18 pc

MUMBAI, Mar 28: The Skindia GDR index representing GDR of 22 actively traded companies, dropped marginally by 0.18 per cent to 1,249.39 per cent on Monday from 1,251.67 points of March 24.

The Skindia GDR index P/E ratio also declined by 0.21 per cent to 24.22 per cent from 24.27, while the Skindia GDR index premium eased by 2.62 per cent to 46.38 per cent from 47.63 per cent.

According to the instanex daily update, 17 GDRs gained, 12 lost, while 33 remained unchanged on Monday.

The top GDRs gainers were: Reliance which shot up by 7.77 per cent to USD 20.10 from USD 18.65, Indo Gulf 7.14 per cent to USD 1.13 (1.05) and SPIC 6.87 per cent to USD 3.50 (3.28).

The top losers were: Satyam Infoway (ADR), Guj Ambuja 8.51 per cent to USD 5.38 (5.88) and Crompton Greages 5.26 per cent to USD 0.90 (0.95). (UNI)

IT and T plans to raise Rs 35 crore

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Facilities and network management firm IT and T Limited plans to raise Rs 35 crore to finance its incubation centre, integrated web-based call centre and open new offices in the USA and Britain, a top company official said.

"We are receiving feedback from merchant bankers to finalise one of the three available options of debt, private placement and IPO," Mr Rohit Chand, Executive Chairman, IT and T Limited, said.

The zero-debt company is most likely to opt for debt as IT and T is unwilling to divest its equity at this stage and the financial tie-up will be wrapped up within two months, Mr Chand added.

The facility for incubation centre would come up at Noida by June-end which would nurture about 30 companies in five years. It is likely to result in wealth creation of Rs 1,500 crore during the same period.

In this exercise, IT and T has tied-up with IIT Delhi and IIT Delhi Alumni Association to help transformation of ideas into business propositions.

Announcing this to reporters here, Mr Chand said the call centre would provide technological support to a US-based company through voice, E-mail and internet. It has already employed 82 professionals and plan to double the workforce by year-end.

The US and Britain offices would add to the company’s already existent 33 locations.

With the completion of these projects, IT and T would achieve Rs 80 crore turnover and Rs ten crore net profits by the year 2000-01 as against Rs 30 crore and Rs 4.5 crore respectively.

The company is making a transistion to internet with focus on software solutions for business-to-business portals and mobile applications. Currently, the company earns about 50 per cent of its Rs 30 crore turnover from facilities and network management services for its clientele like Coca Cola India, Reckitt and Colman, Ranbaxy and Dabur. (UNI)

China firm as EU readies for crunch WTO talks

BEIJING, Mar 28: European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy arrived in Beijing today for the third round of talks this year on China’s entry to the World Trade Organisation.

All signs pointed to very tough talks with Beijing saying it was in no mood to go beyond the landmark deal it signed with the United States in November and the EU saying it was ready to walk away unless it got a satisfactory deal.

"I am coming in a constructive way, in a constructive spirit, but it’s negotiations," Mr Lamy told reporters. "I won’t comment on this until the end."

It was not clear when his talks would begin, although officials accompanying lamy said the first session was likely to take place today afternoon.

State media said yesterday China was upbeat on clinching a deal with the EU, the last major WTO member with which Beijing has to agree terms of accession.

But they signalled there were limits to what China would concede in this week’s talks.

The Beijing youth daily said a WTO deal was "within striking distance", but it repeated assertions by top trade officials that China was unlikely to give more to the EU than it had to the United States.

"With the exception of pledges that cannot be made to any WTO member, there are few remaining disputes between China and the EU," the newspaper said, quoting recent remarks by Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng.

China’s chief negotiator Long Yongtu made similar remarks in Geneva last week, saying "China could not give to one partner what it had not been able to promise to another".

Mr Lamy’s spokesman Anthony Gooch said last week EU negotiators would be "putting our best efforts into trying to cut a bilateral deal". He played down long’s remarks, saying they were just part of a tough negotiating process.

EU officials have said outstanding areas of difficulty included services, telecoms, life insurance, banking and distribution.

They have declined to say how long the delegation would remain in Beijing, but said that they would not hesitate to return to Brussels without a deal. (REUTERS)

Corporation Bank opens 644th branch at Jammu

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 28: Corporation Bank, a Government of India Undertaking, opened its 644th branch (fully computerised) in the city of temples at Rail Head Commercial Complex, here today.

Mr Charanjit Singh, IAS, Additional Commissioner Jammu, who was the chief guest, performed the inaugural. While addressing Mr Singh hoped that the bank, keeping in view the current financial crunch in Jammu and Kashmir state, would give due consideration to its lending policy so that maximum people of the State were benefited. He laid stress on best customer service by the bank. He wished that like Southern parts of the country the bank would come upto the expectations of its customers in Jammu also.

Mr S K Dube, Executive Director, National Power Grid, inaugurated the Lockers facility in the bank branch, which is the first branch of Corporation Bank in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Radhey Shyam, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, who presided over the function, emphasised the need for bringing in latest modern concepts in the bank. He said we can not win the new war with old traditional weapons, hence modernization.

Mr H S Saini, Regional Manager, Corporation Bank, earlier in his welcome address made known the distinguished customers of the bank about the Bank. He said the bank had opened its first branch in the year 1906 at Udipi and since its inception, it has made gradual progress and earned profits even during lean periods including the World War-II and the Independence of India.

Mr Saini said the Bank was nationalized in the year 1981. He made known the gathering that as on December 31, 1999, the total deposits of the Corporation Bank stood at Rs 14367 crore and advances at Rs 7028 crores. The Bank earned a net profit of Rs 177.42 crore during the period. He said during the last financial year the bank earned a new profit of Rs 192 crore while the current year the target has been fixed at Rs 240 crore.

Mr Saini told further that the Non-Performing assets of the Corporation Bank were the lowest in the banking industry at 1.87 percent. He said the capital and reserves of the bank were to the tune of Rs 1028 crore and added that net profit per employee was Rs 2.14 lakh and business per employee stood at Rs 185 lakh and return on net worth at 20.4 percent.

The programme started with a prayer by Ayushi Chawla, while Mr Amin conducted the proceedings of the function in a nice way to the applause by the distinguished gathering.

Low cost mini-biogas plant for rural electrification

CALCUTTA, Mar 28: Self-electrification in rural India could soon become a cost-effective reality with scientists here developing a mini-biogas digester, suitable for small family units.

The digester, which requires about 12 kg of cattle dung per day, is designed from low cost materials and can be installed at one-third the cost of conventional biogas plants, its developers from the school of energy studies at Jadavpur University said.

The installation cost of this 0.5 cubic metre single mini-biogas plant is about Rs 2000 while that of a two cubic metre biogas plant is Rs 6000, Non-conventional energy scientist Tushar Jash told PTI.

Majority of rural India, which depends on inefficient kerosene lamps or costly battery operated lamps recharged from solar photovoltaic panels for domestic lighting, can benefit from the mini-biogas digester, exclusively designed for lighting purposes, he said.

Besides, for conventional digesters the owner must have six to eight cattle heads, whereas only about four per cent bovine owners have as many.

The vertical cylinder body of the mini-digester, made of pre-fired earthen rings generally used in lining wells, has inlet and outlet pipes made of asbestos cement.

When fed with cattle dung the digester produces 0.5 cubic metre biogas per day sufficient for four hours of lamp use, the researcher duo of Jash and Sujay Basu wrote in a paper published in the journal ‘Energy’. (PTI)