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US is planning to send NEW DELHI, Oct 9: The US Government is planning to send a trade mission to India on clean ....more JK Bank
registers Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 9: Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited has registered an impressive growth in all spheres including profit and deposits during the second.......more Skindia GDR declines further by 0.55 pc MUMBAI, Oct 9: The Skindia GDR index, representing 22 actively traded companies declined further by 0.55 per cent from 619.13 points to 615.74......more US bullish on India’s WASHINGTON, Oct 9: Venture capital in Indian Information Technology industry is expected to rise from technology companies in 1998 to at least a. ...more |
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LG to invest $300 mn, PUSAN (KOREA), Oct 9: LG Electronics will invest 300 million dollars in its Indian operations by 2003, two years ahead of its earlier target, and is ........more Negotiations on POP NEW DELHI, Oct 9: Negotiations on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) are expected to be completed by ....more
Sinha not to revise 2000-01
NEW DELHI, Oct 9: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today said the GDP growth.....more CII outlines measures for NEW DELHI, Oct 8: Confederation of Indian Industry, while welcoming SEBI’s initiative...more |
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US is planning to send trade mission to India NEW DELHI, Oct 9: The US Government is planning to send a trade mission to India on clean technology in sometime in February next year, Mr Michael J Copps, Assistant Secretary for Trade Development, US Department of Commerce said. While co-chairing the concurrent session on concurrent session on "growth through e-commerce" at FICCI for India-Chem 2000, Mr Copps said that the future lies in greater interaction between Indian and American businesses in areas like clean energy and telemedicine. Mr Copps said that with the Indian Prime minister’s visit to US recently, both Mr A B Vajpayee and President Bill Clinton, established encouraging commitment between India and the US. They have set in motion a process whereby cooperation between US and Indian public and private sectors will take place in all sectors, more so, in promoting e-commerce between the two countries, he said. Mr Copps greatly emphasized at the need for developing basic infrastructure facilities in India first so that the latent opportunities that lie in e-commerce are can be truly tapped for e-commerce is a binding force which will touch peoples’ lives only if fundamental infrastructural and civic amenities are in place. He said that issues of uninterrupted power supply, good roads, railways, aerodromes,orts and mature financial institutions, credit facilities, sound legal framework which can authenticate e-signatures and cyber laws are most important to be placed so that these can facilitate e-commerce. Mr Dewang Mehta, president, NASSCOM, speaking at the session lamented that the national internet backbone is still not operational. He apprised the audience that ther are 540 companies in india today which are providing e-commerce solutions. About 140 obvious that a huge potential of outsourcing e-commerce solutions lies in India today. Mr Suresh Rajpal, former president, Hewlett Packed, currently CEO of Trigyn e-Business Solutions, said that the Internet revolution will have larger impact than the industrial revolution. It has opened up a huge market place with great opportunities. Important in this entire gamut of cyber technology is to understand that Internet will not only powerfully differentiate companies but will also empower consumers, customers and employees. Outlining the challenges in e-commerce area, Mr Rajpal apprised that security of information and transactions is key problematic area, issue of bypassing of taxes and telephone charges which are due to Government, absence of legal framework, widening gaps between haves and have nots, battle over standards and economics of actual delivery of goods to consumers within a stipulated time are important issues which need attention. Mr R Sivadas, CEO, Echem. Com, in his presentation, said that a huge shakeout is expected in the chemical sector in India comprising of about 6600 units due to low capacities, poor technologies and high costs of production. Stressing aat how e-commerce can benefit the chemical industry, Mr Sivadas said that aggregation of buyers and sellers will add value to both buy and sell side of supply chain because of lower transaction costs of both purchasing and sales (estimated at 8 to 10 per cent), volatility in pricing will reduce, will provide key information oneline, greater and cheaper networking opportunities and service features. (UNI) |
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JK Bank registers impressive growth Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 9: Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited has registered an impressive growth in all spheres including profit and deposits during the second quarter that ended on September 30 last. This was noticed during the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank. It was found that the total income of the Bank for the first half year ended September 30, was Rs 558.79 crore which recorded 26 percent increase over Rs 443.63 crores of the corresponding period of 1999. The Bank release issued here said that it posted a net profit of Rs 77.29 crore for H-1 of 2000-2001 against Rs 55.11 crore during the corresponding period of 1999-2000 , registering an increase of 40 percent. The release said that Bank continued to show an impressive performance during the second quarter ended September 30 while registering a growth of 41 percent. The deposits of the Bank have recorded a growth of 39 percent from Rs 6721.37 crore to Rs 9321.20 crore. The release said that the advances of the Bank increased to RS 3578 crore as on September last as against Rs 3050 crore in September 1999, thereby recording a growth of 17 percent. The Bank’s investment profit also grew up by 44 percent from Rs 3440.90 crore to Rs 4962.43 crore. The release said that the after the Bank took computerisation way of working, it brought a revolution in its functioning and efficiency to the full satisfaction of customers. The computerised branches account for 74 percent of the bank’s business, the release said. It said that the bank is the member of SWIFT which has facilitated transfer of funds to international transactions. |
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Skindia GDR declines further by 0.55 pc MUMBAI, Oct 9: The Skindia GDR index, representing 22 actively traded companies declined further by 0.55 per cent from 619.13 points to 615.74 points on October 06, according to instanex capital daily update release here today. The Skindia GDR index P/E ratio also moved down by 0.48 per cent from 12.67 points to 12.61 points, while the Skindia GDR index premium shot up by 9.21 per cent to 10.39 per cent from 9.51 per cent. Out of 67 scrips, there were 22 gainers, 12 losers and 33 unchanged on october 6 as compared with 11 gainers, 16 losers and 40 unchanged of previous day. The major gainers for the day were Crompton Greaves US dollar 0.73, Indo Gulf US dollar 1.00 and G E Shipping US dollar 2.50 while the major losers were Satyam Infoway (ADR), Rediff.Com (ADR) and ICICI US dollar 9.70. (UNI) |
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US bullish on India’s IT industry, pours venture capital WASHINGTON, Oct 9: Venture capital in Indian Information Technology industry is expected to rise from technology companies in 1998 to at least a billion dollars this year, media report said. This year it would touch a billion dollars, most of which are originating from the United States, "Newsweek" magazine reports, quoting Vishnu Varshney, Chairman of the Indian Venture Capital Association. By 2008, it is expected to jump to 10 billion dollars, says McKinsey & Company. "If you want cheap labour, go to China. If it’s cheap intellect you want, India is the place," an American venture capitalist Norman Prouty (61) said. As in the US, says Newsweek, India’s it industry is gradually becoming an engine of economic growth. The flow of new investment money leads to the creation of new companies, which in turn spins out jobs and wealth in a country in need of both. "India is standing where the US was in the 1980s or Israel in the early 1990s," says Venture’s Chief Executive Officer Neeraj Bhargava. "Information technology is India’s oil. You can smell the electricity in the air," he says. (PTI) |
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LG to invest $300 mn, to set up more production plants PUSAN (KOREA), Oct 9: LG Electronics will invest 300 million dollars in its Indian operations by 2003, two years ahead of its earlier target, and is planning to set up two separate facilities for appliances and components in the country within the period. The Korean electronics giant had initially said it will invest upto 300 million dollars by 200ut the rapid growth of Indian operations has helped to advance the investment, a senior company official said here today. "We will have invested 296 million dollars in Indian operations by 2003; we have already put in 150 million. India is the second fastest growing market after China with an over 30 per cent growth rate," the company’s Director of Overseas Sales M B Shin told PTI. Shin said the company would set up its second manufacturing plant for home appliances, mainly air conditioners and refrigerators, in either East or West India within the next three years, but declined to divulge the investment committed for this facility. Also, Shin said LG will invest 10 million dollars within this time to set up a compressor manufacturing plant in India in an attempt to indigenise components used in LG products manufactured in the country and increase their export potential. Commenting on the Indian subsidiary’s plans to offload 25 per cent stake to the public, he said these plans were very much on the anvil and should be finalised sometime next year. Speaking about LG’s global operations, Shin said the Korean conglomerate had tided over the recent economic crisis by offloading stakes in non-core businesses like the LCD and others and more such equity dilutions were being considered. "We are looking at offloading stakes in some of our other businesses to further improve the debt-equity ratio of the LG group, but this exercise should not affect Indian operations in any way," he said. (PTI) |
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Negotiations on POP likely to be completed by December NEW DELHI, Oct 9: Negotiations on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) are expected to be completed by December this year, Dr Bo Wahlstrom, senior scientific advisor UNEP has said. In his presentation on "chemicals management in the future" at the India-Chem 2000, Dr Whalstorm said that tens of thousand of old pesticides are stored throughout the developing world in inadequate and even dangerous conditions and pops comprise about 30 per cent of these stocks. The issues that will be discussed in the final round of negotiations include implementation aspects. Mr Peter Wrampe, Director, Praxair Asia in his brief presentation on technologies for cleaner environment said that there are number of technologies available to reduce pollution of waste caused by industrial and municipal effluent, oxygen, ozone and carbon dioside offer formidable tools for dealing effectively with these effluent, he said. The use of an efficient oxygen mixing system, such as Praxair’s-I-SO Mixflo supplied with oxygen from Prxair’s create and economical alternative for capacity expansion and emissions control, Mr Wrampe said. Mr Wrampe said that by upgrading existing air-based activated sludge systems with Praxair’s I-SO or Mixflo and VPSA systems, power cost can be reduced by more than one third and capital cost can be reduced by more than one half compared with upgrading the same systems with air. Carbon dioxide is the most economical and safety way to control ph of any alkaline water stream price ozone, together with oxygen provides a unique solution to treat difficult effluent steams, he said. In petrochemicals, the throughput of the reactor can be enhanced using oxygen with reduction of lue gas, lowering power and capital cost with lesser generation of pollution load, Mr Wrampe said. Mr Sidney Dunn, Technical Director-Asia Pacific, Betzdearborn in his presentation of "industrial water conservation and waste reuse-a cast study," said that the environmental concerns and economics will drive the industrial water conservation and waste water reuse projects. He said there are five elements to achieve water conservation-define objectives, gather information, brainstorm and develop ideas, implementation and track progress. All these activities require a team effort involving plant operations, maintenance, technical and environmental personnel, he said adding a commitment from the plant management is required to make any waste water refuse scheme successful. Mr Dunn said that to define the water conservation and reuse objectives there should be limitations on fresh water supply. This may be due to expansion of existing capacities and consequently increase in the fresh water needs. He also suggested that the effluent permit restrictions set by state and central pollution control boards should limit the amount of waste being discharged from the ministry. Also, the purchased water costs for the industries have been increasing over the years and so are the costs to treat the effluent to the increasingly stringent specificaktions, he said. (UNI) |
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Sinha not to revise 2000-01 growth rate as yet NEW DELHI, Oct 9: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today said the GDP growth rate projections of 7-8 per cent for 2000-01 will not be revised as yet despite hike in oil prices and steep decline in agricultural production. Admitting that the oil price hike has had an impact on the sentiments and economy, Mr Sinha told newspersons on the sidelines of a conference organised by FICCI here, "it looks like the impact is behind us now rather than in front of us." Mr Sinha attributed the decline in growth rate to drought and a steep decline in agricultural production. "There has only been a marginal fall in industrial production but there was a steep decline in agricultural production compared to last year. And that was the period when drought was at its worst." However, he stated that the growth projections for the fiscal will not be revised as yet. "I am not revising any projections as yet." On the half-yearly performance of the economy, Mr Sinha said the movement of oil prices was unexpected. "There is an impact of oil prices on the economy and the sentiments...But it is behind us." Earlier, addressing the FICCI-Compaq-business world social responsiveness award function, the minister outlined a four-pronged strategy for poverty eradication. "We need higher growth, interventionist policies to bring basic necessities to the people, a growth model to ensure greater employment and renewed partnership between business, civil society and Government to ensure eradication of personal and community poverty." He also called for taking the internet revolution to the rural areas and using the net to provide employment. TELCO was awarded the the social responsiveness award. The award for the first runner up was presented to the Chennai-based South India Corporation Limited, while the award for the second runner up was presented to Ultra Marine and Pigments Limited. (UNI) |
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CII outlines measures for preventing insider trading NEW DELHI, Oct 8: Confederation of Indian Industry, while welcoming SEBI’s initiative in setting up an administrative framework of procedures and guidelines for preventing insider trading, said that the procedures should avoid undue administrative burden on the companies. CII acknowledged that the prohibitions against insider trading play an essential role in maintaining the fairness, health, and integrity of the capital markets. In fact it has been recognised that the fundamental unfairness of insider rading harms not only individual investors, but also the very foundations of our markets, by undermining investor confidence in the integrity of the markets. CII however emphasised that the procedures should be suggestive in nature giving a broad framework of what is expected. It should be up to the individual company to assess its needs and to come up with detailed policies and procedures tailored to its business, company structure and unique circumstances. CII stressed that a company’s code of conduct or compliance memos should set forth the salient points of the SEBI (insider trading) regulations and it is not necessary to give employees actual copies of the law. Employees may not be able to understand what is expected of them from a reading of the regulations. However, codes of conduct and compliance memos are specifically crafted to provide comprehensible guidance to employees. A general acknowledgement from an employee that he or she has read the code of conduct and understood it, should be a sufficient undertaking by the employee as to his or her understanding of the sebi (insider trading) regulations. This would avoid undue administrative burden, according to CII. CII has stated that the compliance department should be responsible for setting forth policies and procedures for the preservation of confidentiality of information and to monitor adherence to the rules regarding thereto as far as possible. As it is conceptually impossible for anyone other than the person who possesses the confidential information to be responsible for maintaining its confidentiality, CII said that it should be the responsibility of each employee of the firm to maintain the confidentiality of such information. On the issue of pre clearance of trades, CII said that not all employees in every firm would need to pre-clear traders and hence the need for pre-clearance of employee trades should be left to each firm to be decided. While only those employees who may be privy to inside information should be required to pre-clear their trades, other conflicts can be caught in the monitoring of trades post trade date, CII elaborated. CII pointed out that it is also important that supervisory personnel in the respective business units/departments pre-clear employees trades along with the compliance officer as it is the respective supervisors, and not compliance, who are best placed to know what information individual employees are privy to. Monitoring of trades is part of the compliance department function, but it is also something that the business unit management must do as they are best placed to spot conflicts, CII added. On the need for a confidentiality agreement CII said that requiring employees to sign a confidentiality agreements is not necessary and is not in accordance with international standards. An acknowledgement of the code of conduct is considered sufficient and to require a confidentiality agreement would unduly add to the administrative burden of the compliance department, CII pointed out. On unpublished price sensitive information, CII has suggested that it should be ensured that non-material events are not included in the definition. It should also be ensured that only unpublished price sensitive information, and not all confidential information, needs to be reported to the compliance department, which is in accord with international standards. Companies should also be allowed to maintain confidential files with adequate protection, according to CII. CII has also said that the international practice of putting securities on the grey list when the firm is associated with any material assignments for a client or is otherwise in possession of material non-public information as abuse of rating change information is usually detected through front-running surveillance reports. Securities that are being purchased or are being considered for purchase are not put on the grey list in most international firms. Employees in that business unit who can take advantage of this information are restricted to trade in the said securities by the pre-clearance process. Alternatively, front-running surveillance reports would detect such trading, CII said. (UNI) |
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