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Clinton signs WASHINGTON, Oct 11: Ending the two-decade annual ritual of reviewing China’s trade....more Gujarat takes a lead in GANDHINAGAR. Oct 11: Gujarat Industries Commissioner Dr K N Shelat.....more IDFC to facilitate NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC)......more
India, Malaysia NEW DELHI, Oct 11: India and Malaysia today signed a key agreement...more |
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‘Govt committed to NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar said today Government was committed to procuring the entire quantity of paddy coming in the mandies of Punjab and other parts of the country if prices go below the Minimum Support Price (MSP)......more UK-India round LONDON, Oct 11: The UK-India round table has recommended establishment of a "permanent fund" for setting up "India chairs" in British...more ICRA assigns LAA NEW DELHI, Oct 11: ICRA Limited has assigned an LAA Plus (SO) rating to the Rs 100 crore long term debt programme of Tamil Nadu Urban.....more CII outlines measures for NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Confederation of Indian Industry, while welcoming SEBI’s initiative...more |
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Clinton signs China Trade Bill WASHINGTON, Oct 11: Ending the two-decade annual ritual of reviewing China’s trade status, US President Bill Clinton last night signed the China Trade Bill, designed to open the country’s mammoth market to US business. Describing the legislation establishing permanent normal trade relations with Beijing as a historic moment in US-China relations, Mr Clinton said the measure would open the Chinese market for US goods and services and pave the way for the "economic freedom" of the Chinese people. Clinton’s gesture came amid reports from Beijing that the final round of talks between the two countries over China’s entry into the WTO had stalled and US Trade representative Charlene Barshefsky had sought the intervention of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji to push the negotiations forward. Indications here are that China is not in a hurry to enter the WTO and a decision in this regard is expected to be taken only next year. US business interests favoured the agreement as it would provide access to China’s vast market of over one billion people. But critics here say the agreement would reward a "repressive" Communist state and cost US workers their jobs. President Clinton’s argument has been that bringing China into the global trade regime would help make Beijing a more responsible member of the world community. The agreement also takes into account the fact that the Chinese economy, already among the world’s largest, has expanded over the past 20 years at a phenomenal rate of nearly ten per cent per annum. During this period, US exports to China have grown from negligible levels to over 14 billion dollars a year. It is expected that there will be an additional turnover of around two billion dollars from agriculture alone by 2005. The legislation would also ease China’s entry into the WTO. China, has in turn, given significant concessions across virtually every economic sector including increasing access to agriculture, services, technology, telecommunications and manufactured goods. (AGENCIES) |
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Gujarat takes a lead in chemical industry sector GANDHINAGAR. Oct 11: Gujarat Industries Commissioner Dr K N Shelat said that Gujarat which had emerged as India’s chemical industry leader has successfully, achieved environment management in this industry by helping to set up Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) at Chemical Industrial Estate and by motivating industrial units to actively participating in environment management. In a release issued by the Industrial Extension Bureau (INDEXNB) here today said that Dr. Shelat who made an impressive presentation on chemical industry in Gujarat at a business presentation meet organised at India-Chem-2000 held for four days from October 5 at New Delhi and stated that Gujarat’s share in select chemical products was highest in the country with 87 per cent of Soda Ash, 71 per cent of Salt, 70 per cent of Castor, 69 per cent of Inorganic Chemicals, 54 per cent of Captrolactum, 45 per cent of Pharmaceuticals and 4o per cent of Dye Stuff produced in India. Interaction with the participants wherein pollution control infrastructure of CET plants had invoked keen interest and questions asked by some of the foreign delegates were dealt with in detail by the industry participants from VAPI, the release said. Dr. Shelat in his presentation, said that Gujarat had achieved highest investment in Chemical industry which had reached to the mark of Rs.459 billion and Gujarat shared 35 per cent of the total export of Chemical and allied products from the country. Pointing out to the sectoral composition of industrial development in Gujarat he added that this industry had claimed 43 per cent of the total industrial investment and 41 per cent of industrial production. Calling upon industrialists and delegates of other countries to invest in Gujarat, Dr. Shelat stated that there was vast scope for investment in this sector as the demand for chemical products in domestic as well as foreign market was growing and its growth registered a rise of 24 per cent annually. There were viable opportunities for investment in petrochemical down stream products like polymers, polyester, fibre, plastic in pharmaceutical products like basic drugs, formulations, herbals, dyes and intermediates, salt and marine chemicals and bio-technology, he added. A special pavilion set up to represents development in chemical and allied industries in Gujarat was declared open by Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel. Minister for Industries Tourism Sureshchandra Mehta, Deputy Minister for Industries Khodabhai Patel, Chief Secretary I S N Mukundan, Additional Chief Secretary G Subba Rao, and other dignitaries were present on the occasion, the release added.(UNI) |
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IDFC to facilitate Rs 5,000 cr investment in infrastructure NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) is facilitating inflow of Rs 5,000 crore into the infrastructure sector, a senior official said. Of this, around Rs 1,000-1,500 crore has already been infused into the sector since its inception, IDFC Vice President (Corporate Planning) O K Balraj said here today. IDFC was now joined hands with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to host an international conference cum exposition on infrastructure development ‘Infranet 2000’ to be held here from December 13-16 this year. "There has been a demand to look at infrastructure beyond its traditional role. Realising the importance of new and emerging sectors in the new millennium, the scope of Infranet 2000 has been broadened to cover sectors such as tourism, information technology, food and agriculture, media and entertainment. We expect a significant number of our participants to be from these new emerging sectors," Mr Balraj said. CII (Northern Region) Chairman Vinayak Chatterjee said the exposition will enhance private-public partnership in the infrastructure sector. The focus of the conference would be to create an enabling environment, wherein key issues of the infrastructure sector would be identified and addressed. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka will be participating in the event as partner states. (UNI) |
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India, Malaysia sign trade pact NEW DELHI, Oct 11: India and Malaysia today signed a key agreement to give a fresh boost to bilateral trade even as both sides declared their intention to further intensify cooperation in defence and other fields. "We have laid the road map for future cooperation for more productive and fruitful ties between India and Malaysia," External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh told reporters here after signing the trade agreement with visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar. Singh announced that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will visit Malaysia early next year dates for which were being firmed up by the two sides. Singh and Albar, who arrived here on a four-day visit on October 8, also signed a document for cultural exchanges and the agreed minutes of the second meeting of the Indo-Malaysian joint commission, which was held after a gap of nearly eight years. Albar, who is leading a 22-member delegation, said "the agreed minutes will the basis for us to move forward and give meaning to bilateral relations. These are no mere documents and they point towards the seriousness of our intentions". Asked about cooperation in defence, Albar said he had "constructive" discussions with Defence Minister George Fernandes. Singh, however, declined to give any details. Official sources said New Delhi has told Kuala Lumpur that it was prepared for joint ventures in ship building, manufacture of spares and combat aircraft maintenance and also intensifying cooperation in military training. (PTI) |
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‘Govt committed to procure paddy; Kumar NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar said today Government was committed to procuring the entire quantity of paddy coming in the mandies of Punjab and other parts of the country if prices go below the Minimum Support Price (MSP). On the problems faced by Punjab farmers following low market price and procurement agency FCI’s reported refusal to accept paddy due to poor quality, Kumar said "Government is duty bound to procure (paddy) if prices fall below the MSP." "The system of procurement should be there, but there was a need to improve the mechanism," he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on disaster management, adding Agriculture Ministry would intervene in this matter if farmers face problems. A senior Agriculture Ministry official said the Government would not relax the quality norms while procuring grains including paddy and soyabean. He said it was the responsibility of the farmers to grade their produce and bring only fair quality grains for procurement. The official said the same problem was also coming in the case of soyabean in Gujarat as due to drought-like conditions in the state, the crop quality was likely to deteriorate. Gujarat farmers were demanding relaxation in quality norms, but the Government is not willing to relax this condition. The Agriculture Minister said the Government had set up a high-powered committee to review the existing arrangements for natural and man-made disasters to recommend measures for strengthening organisational structures and comprehensive model disaster management plans. Speaking at the seminar on the national day for disaster reduction, Kumar said the committee’s recommendations, to be available by March 2001, would be very useful for the Government in devising strategies to face this challenge. He said the incidence of natural calamities can not be stopped but its impact could be minimised by developing strategies and plans. Speaking at the function, Minister of State for Agriculture P B Nayak said since disasters were linked to development and to the environment, efforts to reduce the impact should also be linked to these issues. He said the status of the economic development determines the parameters of vulnerability to natural disasters. There was, therefor, no getting away form the fact that efforts to reduce natural disasters and those to bring about economic development must reinforce each other. (PTI) |
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UK-India round table recommends "permanent fund" LONDON, Oct 11: The UK-India round table has recommended establishment of a "permanent fund" for setting up "India chairs" in British Universities and urged the two Governments to give urgent consideration to relaxation of visa regimes for academics and IT professionals. The three-day conference, which ended yesterday, emphasised on the use of the most modern IT tools for the dissemination of information. "The meeting recommended several concrete measures to correct frequent misconceptions that occur about what is happening in each country," Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission K C Pant and Lord Swraj Paul, co-chairmen of the round table meet, told reporters here last evening. It was also felt that there were significant misconceptions about the important positions occupied by both countries in the field of IT. The conference took note of the increase in student exchanges between the two countries but concluded tha was a great deal that could be done through cooperation between educational institutions in the fields of educational management, promotion of studies of both countries’ history and culture and student exchanges. The round table stressed the importance of measures to foster mutual understanding of each other’s cultures and assist minorities to sustain the richness of their cultures in a pluralistic environment. The recommendations covered trade and investment, education, it and communications technology and e-commerce. The round table, was addressed among others by Anthony Giddens, Director of the London School of Economics and M K Rasgotra, former Foreign Secretary of India. Pant and Lord Paul, had a separate meeting with Blair at his residence after the conclusion of the three-day conference at Warren House, about 40 kms from here. Besides Lord Paul, the British side was represented at the conference by chairman of the 500-million pound Caparo Group of Industries Sir David Goodwill, former Ambassador Patrick French, British High Commissioner in New Delhi Sir Rob Young among others. (PTI) |
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ICRA assigns LAA Plus (SO) rating to TNUDF NEW DELHI, Oct 11: ICRA Limited has assigned an LAA Plus (SO) rating to the Rs 100 crore long term debt programme of Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund (TNUDF) indicating high safety. The credit quality of the instrument has been enhanced by means of a structured payment mechanism, which requires TNUDF to maintain a Bond Service Fund (BSF) equivalent to one year’s principle and interest payment as collateral through out the currency of the bond. The fund would be invested in liquid securities with high credit quality. The structure, monitored by a trustee, requires TNUDF to bring all payments on the bond into a repayment account at least seven working days in advance of the payment due date. The trustee would replenish any shortfall in the account by drawing from the bsf within three working days. The rating factors in TNUDF’s track record of high collection efficiency, the continued support of the Government of Tamil Nadu, well-established systems and procedures, low gearing, insignificant asset-liability mismatch and the comfortable liquidity provided by its surplus funds. TNUDF is a pilot venture involving private sector participation for funding public infrastructure development. The TNUDF was formed formed by conversion of Municipal Urban Development Fund (MUDF), one of the components of the first Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP-1) financed by the International Development Agency (IDA) and World Bank. (UNI) |
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CII outlines measures for preventing insider trading NEW DELHI, Oct 10: 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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