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AI, IA to induct NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Alongside divestment of their stakes, Indian Airlines (IA) and Air India (AI) are set ....more
Govt to exempt Turbo-Prop NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Government is soon going to issue a notification to exempt Turbo-Prop aircraft operating .....more Retail revolution CHENNAI Oct 13: Retail revolution is at the doors of the country with the retailing business having all set to .....more |
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Germany for
business BERLIN, Oct 13: Germany would like Indian Computer Software Companies not only......more PHDCCI for cost NEW DELHI, Oct 13: The PHDCCI today called for an integrated and practical approach from Government agencies, financial institutions,.....more Central excise withholds CALCUTTA, Oct 13: The Central Excise Department has witheld all refund claims due to the cigarette companies since July 2000 onwards as the...more Shares tumble NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Panic conditions emerged as stocks spread over a broad front, plunged to hit recent low levels on the stock market today...more Hotel Management NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Government has decided to increase the annual intake of the Hotel Management and Food Craft...more |
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AI, IA to induct 11 planes by April NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Alongside divestment of their stakes, Indian Airlines (IA) and Air India (AI) are set to enhance their fleet strength by seven and four respectively in the next five to six months, Civil Aviation Secretary A H Jung said today. While IA would buy seven aircraft between November and March next year, AI would induct four by April, Jung said on the sidelines of a workshop on global navigation satellite systems here. AI is scheduled to induct one aircraft each in mid-December and February and two in April. Replying to questions, he said no decision had yet been taken on the applications by few companies, including crown air and modiluft, to launch domestic airlines. These applications were being studied at the moment, he said. Asked whether bilateral agreements had been signed with some countries in the past few weeks, Jung said while bilaterals had been signed with Gulf Air and Malaysian Airlines, talks remained inconclusive with German Airline Lufthansa. He categorically stated that the Government did not intend at the moment to allow domestic private carriers to operate on international routes. (PTI) |
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Govt to exempt Turbo-Prop planes from paying tax NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Government is soon going to issue a notification to exempt Turbo-Prop aircraft operating on regional routes from paying taxes on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) like the foreign airlines, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chaman Lal Gupta said today. "The notification is going to be issued shortly," Gupta told PTI after inaugurating a workshop on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) here. Several other incentives for operation of Turbo-Prop aircraft to link smaller cities were "also in the offing", the Minister said in his address at the workshop without elaborating. He also enumerated the measures taken by his Ministry in divesting the stakes of its subsidiaries - Air India, Indian Airlines and Hotel Corporation of India - and airports, saying globalisation and privatisation of aviation infrastructure would boost business and tourism in the country. Civil Aviation Secretary A H Jung, in his speech, said the Government was considering a project report on a technology demonstration system for satellite navigation over the Indian air space. The report had been prepared by the Department of Space in coordination with the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Referring to other initiatives in this field, Jung said trial operations of the Airborne Dependent Surveillance (ADS) system were being carried out to provide navigation coverage of the oceanic air space. (PTI) |
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Retail revolution coming to India CHENNAI Oct 13: Retail revolution is at the doors of the country with the retailing business having all set to emerge as a multi billion industry contributing at least 10 percent to the GDP and providing employment to 10 percent of the population in the next decade. According to a report on ‘retailing in India-the emerging revolution’ prepared by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Mckinsey and Company Inc, there are defnite signs of the retailing industry taking roots especially in the south which is the top consumer market in the country. Explaining the report at a two-day seminar organised by the CII here today, Michel Fernandes, associate principal, Mckinsey and Company Inc, said that in the grocery sector alone the volume of organised retailing would be to the tune of around one billion US dollars and 0.3 to 0.5 billion in the apparels market. The report predicted that emergence of organised retailing as a major industry in the country would be a spin off for various other positive developments in the economy including a boom in the demand for supermarket floor spaces, demand for high tech it software and software personnel, better supply chain management systems and a change in life style. "At least 10 out of the top 100 Indian companies in the country would be retail chains by the year 2010", the report said. (PTI) |
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Germany for business
tie-ups with Indian BERLIN, Oct 13: Germany would like Indian Computer Software Companies not only to set up "body shops" but also promote joint ventures for long-term economic ties between the two countries, a leading chamber said. "Green cards are not the only solution to help Germany overcome the acute shortage of it experts. We would like to see German business forge tie-ups with Indian Software Companies," chief of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce Jurgen Charzinski told a 30-member software delegation from India. The German assessment of India’s ambitious plans to become a computer superpower and to achieve the targetted 50 billion dollars worth of software exports by 2008 was outlined by their business and industry groups during a series of meetings with the visiting Indian delegates. So urged to strengthen their presence in the European markets and take steps to increase their exports to the continent. Europe accounts for about 24 per cent of India’s software exports of four billion dollars compared to 60 per cent exports to the US. The promotional on to expand business tie-ups were held at Frankfurt, Bremen, Dusseldorf and Lleipzig. The four cities represented Germany’s traditional and emerging manufacturing and service industry base which offered a huge potential for Indian companies to forge strategic alliances in the 50 billion-dollar information technology market in Germany. The German Government had launched the green card initiative in August allowing special work permits to be given to 20,000 software experts from non-European Union countries for a five-year period. Managing director of the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry Walter Eingelmann exhorted Indian Software Companies to look towards Europe which he described as a "prospecting market". "Indian IT companies are worldwide considered and accepted as leading companies," he said. The Indian delegation made a strong pitch for German industry’s use of Indian computer expertise and highlightged the advantages of going in for off-shore contracts with the Indian companies. Charzinaski also endorsed the view of the delegation on the issue of off-shore contracts saying this would be suitable for several German companies. Members of the Indian delegation represented small and medium sized software companies. They were told that cost competitiveness of Indian software talent was indeed an "attraction" with the average cost of software programmer in India being about one-tenth of costs for similar talent in the US or Europe. (PTI) |
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PHDCCI for cost effective techniques to control pollution NEW DELHI, Oct 13: The PHDCCI today called for an integrated and practical approach from Government agencies, financial institutions, equipment manufacturing companies, academic and research institution to encourage the industry to adopt cost effective techniques of pollution control. One of the root causes of the problem has been the adoption of only curative approaches by the industry rather than a mix of curative as well as preventive policies, the chamber said. The preventive approach, utlising environment friendly technologies, maintains production while keeping pollution to a minimum, and it prevents creation of pollutants thus minimising waste disposal problems, it said. The industry has to be made aware, through information, education and training of the enormous benefits that the environment friendly technologies bring with them as well as the latest and the most suitable technologies available. The current research and development carried at academic and Government owned research laboratories is not oriented towards innovative approaches to pollution control. The development of low-waste and resource-conserving technology with the help of local research institutions needs to be encouraged, the chamber asserted. A very close cooperation between the manufacturers and users of equipment should be an on-going process so that any new technology brought in could be made successful by appreciating all the factors that go into efficient use of the equipment, PHDCCI said. In order to improve the operations and to enhance the viability of the pollution control equipment, it is necessary to bring improvement in the infrastructure including removal of the shortage of water and power. Loans at easy terms should be made available to the industry, especially the small units, to enable them to adopt environment friendly technologies. The chamber suggested that they should also be given financial assistance in the form of tax concessions and duty exemptions, for utilising environment friendly technologies. Further, the financial institutions and banks should insist that environmental costs be included in the project feasibility studies. Demonstration of environment-friendly technologies can be very effective in making the small and medium enterprises adopt them. Such demonstration projects should illustrate the best practice to be adopted based on proven techniques. If the benefits of clean technologies are proved to the prospective users, the adoption can be much easier, the chamber said. (UNI) |
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Central excise withholds
refund claims to CALCUTTA, Oct 13: The Central Excise Department has witheld all refund claims due to the cigarette companies since July 2000 onwards as the tobacco firms had failed to convert provisional registration certificates into permanent ones. Confirming the decision to withold the refund claims by the tobacco companies, a senior Central Excise official told PTI that the decision had been taken on the request of the Assam Government. Till June 2000, he said, the Central Excise Department had made a payout of Rs 150 crore to all tobacco companies who had set up shop in Assam. All major tobacco companies like ITC, Golden Tobacco, Godfrey Phillips and Vazir Sultan had set up units under the small-scale sector in notified areas of Assam primarily to avail of special incentives announced by the Government of India for the seven North-East States vide notification 32/99 dated July seven, 1999. Since then, nearly 14 such units, all in Assam, had come up each employing 45 to 50 persons. The units had been operating under the Provisional Registration Certificate (PRC) issued by the Assam Government, the official said. The Assam Government, however, had been insisting that the tobacco companies should convert the provisional certificates into permanent registration certificates and attached a rider to its demand. This was that the tobacco units should set up non-tobacco manufacturing units to generate local employment. However, according to the official, this was disputed by various tobacco companies. The special incentives allowed the tobacco companies to claim excise refund after paying duty to the Central Exise Department. To tighten the screws on the cigarette companies, the Assam Government subsequently requested the Central Excise Department not to refund the claims which the tobacco firms were entitled to. The official, however, denied any knowledge whether the cigarette firms had taken the dispute to court. The cigarette industry is the single most important industry to provide substantial central excise revenue to the Government exchequer. (PTI) |
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Shares tumble on nervous selling NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Panic conditions emerged as stocks spread over a broad front, plunged to hit recent low levels on the stock market today following nervous selling by Foreign Institutioal Investors (FIIs) and domestic players after a meltdown on global markets and closed with widespread losses. Bucking the trend, tobacco major ITC Ltd and pharma giant Ranbaxy Laboratories remained in positive territory on the back of interested circles’ buying. The Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) sensitive index which dipped below 800 points mark to touch 798.78 points in early trading, recovered part of earlier losses following a significant rally in index-related ITC Ltd and Ranbaxy stock prices and closed 12.42 points, or nearly 1.5 per cent down at 803.62 points. Marketmen said today’s fall was mostly in reaction to a steep fall of nearly 3.6 per cent in the Dow Jones industrial average and nearly 93 points dip in technology-high high Nasdaq composite index last evening and similar trends on most of Asian bourses. They said a spurt in crude oil prices in global markets in the wake of rising tension in the Middle East was another major factor behind free-fall in stocks value. Weakening of the Indian rupee which crashed to a record low of Rs 46.42/46.45 to a US dollar, too had negative impact on the trading sentiments, they added. "Combination of negative factors badly dampened the trading sentiments," felt a DSE broker, adding "players turned nervous on fears of a further dip stock prices and indulged in all-round selling. Shares of technology segment were hardest hit following nervous offerings by bull operators followed by bear hammerings. Infotech giant Infosys Technologies despite a significant recovery in company’s ADRs (American Depository Receipts) value last evening on the Nasdaq, came under massive selling and finished Rs 336 , or almost 5 per cent down at Rs 6489. Satyam Computer stocks too followed suit and fell sharply by Rs 39.40 to close at Rs 370 off the session’s low of Rs 365.50 while silverline technologies finished Rs 18.10 down at Rs 299.50 on all-round selling. NIIT Ltd, Wipro and other front-line IT stocks lost Rs 69.90 and Rs 159.80 to close at Rs 1200 and Rs 2185.05 respectively. SSI Ltd at Rs 2139 (2279.80), Aptech Ltd at Rs 372 (418.95), HCL Infosystems at Rs 255 (275), DSQ Software at Rs 425.30 (461.95) and Rolta India at Rs 226 (241.50) also yielded sizeable grounds. Telecom majors like Himachal Futuristic after showing volatile movements on alternate bouts of buying and selling finished Rs 124.50 down at Rs 1003.10 and Global Telesystems lost Rs 94 at Rs 1045 following late selling by nervous operators. Pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories stocks too were in keen demand and appreciated by Rs 22.55 to close at Rs 649.05 off the day’s high of Rs 658 but late selling pared earlier gains to a certain extent. (PTI) |
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Hotel Management seats to increase NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Government has decided to increase the annual intake of the Hotel Management and Food Craft Institutes and upgrade the syllabus and training standards in view of projected shortfall of over 35,000 trained manpower in the hospitality industry. Disclosing this to the members of the consultative committee of Department of Tourism, Minister of Tourism and Culture Ananth Kumar said that a hospitality education grid comprising of national culinary institute, hotel management institute, institute of tourism and travel management was being set up at Noida. The proposed institution would work as an advanced research and training centre for hospitality industry, the Minister said. He said keeping in view the economic policies of the Government, all the hotel management institutes affiliated to national council of hotel management had been advised for raising their own sources and moving towards self-sufficiency on revenue accounts. Besides the existing hotel management institute at Guwahati, the Centre had approved an institute at Shillong from this academic session, he said, adding steps would also be taken for setting up such institutes in Uttranchal State. (PTI) |
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