|
|
‘Govt to announce scheme to check quality of imports’ NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Government today said sub-standard quality products will not be allowed into the ...more Car, motorcycles sales NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Passenger car sales moved into positive gear clocking a four per cent growth at ...more Hyundai bags export NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) today exported 500 units .....more Skindia GDR index MUMBAI, Oct 24: The Skindia GDR Index, representing 22 actively traded companies declined.....more |
 |
High growth
sustainable WASHINGTON, Oct 24: World Bank today warned that a high eight per cent growth is sustainable only if India controls corruption and ensures good governance....more IBM announces NEW DELHI, Oct 24: IBM India Limited today announced the launch of its online shopping facility- shopibm. ...more ASSOCHAM seeks NEW DELHI, Oct 24: ASSOCHAM today sought rationalisation of excise and custom tax rates for aluminium, battery, paper, tea and rubber industries to provide a level playing field for the domestic industry....more DHL gives shipment NEW DELHI, Oct 24:In a bid to provide quick information about shipments and parcels world over to customers, DHL Worldwide Express has introduced mobile Short Message Service (SMS) and Wireless Application Protocol.......more |
 |
|
‘Govt to announce scheme to check quality of imports’ NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Government today said sub-standard quality products will not be allowed into the country and it will soon introduce a scheme to ensure that products imported into India conform to a particular standard. "There is a need to regulate what is coming into india. In order to control this Government is working on a scheme to ensure quality of products being imported into the country," Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Shanta Kumar told reporters at the inauguration of the international training programme in standardisation here. Kumar said with the signing of the WTO treaty India has to open up our markets which were hitherto restricted to imports and added that his ministry was discussing the issue of putting in place a scheme to ensure quality imports with the Commerce Ministry. Asked about the time frame for launching the scheme Kumar said, "modalities are being worked out. Efforts are on to ensure that it is in place at the earliest. We will announce it soon". "It is an era of competition and we can compete effectively only if we have quality products...We wanted to export wheat but it was found that the protein content in wheat was less compared to the international standards," he said. (PTI) |
|
Car, motorcycles sales rise; comm vehicles & scooters fall NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Passenger car sales moved into positive gear clocking a four per cent growth at 60,528 units even as Maruti Udyog, TELCO and Fiat continued on their downward slide during September 2000. Market leader Maruti registered a 0.4 per cent dip in sales at 35,959 units during the month as against 36,121 units in September 1999, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Maruti’s market share also fell to 59.4 per cent during the reference month compared to 62 per cent a year ago. The company’s sales declined by 16 per cent to 1.68 lakh units during April-September 2000-01 against two lakh units sold in the same period of the previous fiscal. Overall, car sales grew by a marginal 1.4 per cent to 3.4 lakh units during the first nine months of the current fiscal from three lakh units in the year ago period. Multi-utility vehicles sales also went up by 8.2 per cent during September 2000 at 10,909 units mainly on account of impressive sales by Toyota Kirloskar Motors. Commercial vehicles sales, the indicator of the economic growth, fell by 17.0 per cent at 13,437 units during the month even as light commercial vehicles sales went by seven per cent during the reference month. Sales of scooters and three-wheelers and mopeds declined by 33.7 per cent and 17.1 per cent respectively during September while motorcycles posted a positive 33.3 per cent growth in sales during the month. (PTI) |
|
Hyundai bags export order for 2200 Visto from Indonesia NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) today exported 500 units of its popular small car Santro, branded as Kia Visto, to Indonesia as part of a total export order of 2,200 units. In addition, the company has also bagged an order to export 600 Completely Built Units (CBUs) of Santro to Algeria, a statement issued here today said. This comes close on the heels of the 760 units of Accent and Santro which were shipped to Algeria in July this year. HMIL Executive Director (Sales and Marketing) J H Kim said with this, the company expects to record an export turnover of 35-40 million dollars by shipping 5,000 units this fiscal. Regarding the fresh order from Indonesia, Mr Kim said, the cars will be branded as Kia Visto. The entire order will be executed by mid-November, 2000. With the flagging off of this export consignment to Indonesia, Hyundai is well on its way to achieve the set export target of 5,000 units for the year 2000. "Moreover, export of cars made in India, as Kia Visto, is a clear indication of Kia Motor Company Korea’s trust in the international quality of HMIL’s plant near Chennai." In fact, the model Visto is derived from the existing Santro range. HMIL Managing Director Y S Kim said the company is driven to make the Irrungattukottai Plant near Chennai the global supply source for cars and auto components of highest international quality. Visto is being manufactured at the Chennai Plant at HMIL, which has an annual installed capacity of 130,000 engine and transmission sets and 120,000 CBUs. The same plant is also manufacturing Santro and Accent. HMIL has set a target of expanding annual production capacity to two lakh units by the year 2003 and making India the global hub of auto component supplies and CBUs to achieve maximum economies of scale. (UNI) |
|
Skindia GDR index declines by 1.70 pc MUMBAI, Oct 24: The Skindia GDR Index, representing 22 actively traded companies declined by 1.70 per cent from 571.34 points to 561.65 points on October 23, according to Instanex capital daily update release here today. The Skindia GDR index P/E ratio also decreased by 1.68 per cent from 11.76 points to 11.5% points while the Skindia GDR index premium shot up by 9.60 per cent to 15.02 per cent from 13.71 per cent. Out of 71 scrips, there were 9 gainers, 17 losers and 45 remained unchanged on October 23. The top gainers for the day were Ashok Leyland US dollar 2.80 (2.48), GAIL US dollar 5.25 (4.98) and Mah & Mah US dollar 3.15 (3.03) while the top losers were Indo Gulf US dollar 0.90 (0.98), Infosys Tech (ADR) US dollar 119.00 (127.00) and TELCO US dollar" 1.68 (1.75). (UNI) |
|
High growth sustainable
only if corruption WASHINGTON, Oct 24: World Bank today warned that a high eight per cent growth is sustainable only if India controls corruption and ensures good governance. Eight per cent growth is not difficult just as some East Asian countries including China have achieved, but to ensure that it is sustainable India should have "high quality of growth based on good governance, control of corruption, spread of education and health for all," World Bank Vice-President Vinod Thomas said. The India-born Thomas, who led World Bank’s latest study on the quality of growth, told PTI that there was no tolerable limit for corruption. Statistics demonstrate that corruption impact the poor most. Studies show that in countries with a low level of corruption, per capita income doubled in 30 years while those with high level of corruption were still mired in poverty, he said. (PTI) |
|
IBM announces launch of ‘shopibm’ NEW DELHI, Oct 24: IBM India Limited today announced the launch of its online shopping facility- shopibm. Customers can now log on the www.Ibm.Com/in and place orders online for IBM’s range of desktop computers, thinkpad mobile computers and netfinity intel-based servers. Shopibm will offer the most popular models to thinkpads, netvista desktop computers and netfinity server product lines at competitive price levels. Orders placed online at shopibm will be fulfilled by ibm directly. Shopibm will also offer accessories and maintenance services for these products, a company release said here. Customers can choose to pay online by credit card or offline through cheque or demand draft. Personal details and ordering information are encrypted enroute the internet, thereby ensuring safe and secure online shopping. To support this new channel of sales, IBM India has recently commissioned a state-of-the-art call centre - the ibm.Com sales centre in bangalore, with advanced telephony and it tools to support customers. Customers can also call the ibm.Com sales centre tol free (1-600-338022) from anywhere in the country Monday through Friday 9 a.m. and place orders. Trained telesales specialists will assist customers with order processing, fulfillment and delivery updates. Mr Murali Raman, Country Manager, Marketing and Channels, IBM India Limited said, "it has been our constant endeavour to improve our service levels to our customers and reach out to them across the country. With internet adoption growing rapidly in India, our leadership in e-business puts us in the right position to offer this new channel to our customers. Shopibm will enable us to directly support both new and existing customers and increase utilisationof our production capacity more efficiently." Under this model of selling, IBM India will be offering the customer a variety of specifications available in the inventory, which the customer can choose from. The direct delivery model has been successful in the us where 30 per cent of IBM’s sales takes place through this channel. Japan and Australia are the other Asia Pacific markets where this model has already been introduced. (UNI) |
|
ASSOCHAM seeks rationalisation of indirect taxes NEW DELHI, Oct 24: ASSOCHAM today sought rationalisation of excise and custom tax rates for aluminium, battery, paper, tea and rubber industries to provide a level playing field for the domestic industry. Chamber President Shekhar Bajaj, in a note to the Central Board of Excise and Customs, said while lowering of indirect tax like excise duty will reduce prices and improve demand during period of demand slump, lowering of customs duties on raw material and increasing that on finished products would also improve domestic demand. In case of aluminum, the current excise duty rate is 16 per cent ad valorem. It is also suggested that the customs duty on aluminum melting scrap should be reduced to five er cent basic duty from current effective rate of 21.91 per cent so as to encourage aluminum scrap recycling. Aluminum scrap recycling requires only five per cent of energy, compared to smelting of primary aluminum metal. Similarly, reduction in the basic duty on lead, antimony and other raw materials to 15 per cent will help Indian lead acid battery industry to face competition. The current cost of production on lead is equivalent to that on import of finished lead acid batteries. This raises cost of production for the domestic producers. Reduction inbasic duty on lead, antimony and other raw materials willhelp the domestic lead acid battery producers by reducing their cost of production. Mr Bajaj said given the current slump in the cement industry reduction in excise duty from Rs 350 per mt to Rs 250 per mt would improve demand. Today, the average tax burden on cement amounts to over Rs 800 per mt. Such high incidence suppresses demand. There is also need for a change in the definition of factory to include captive mines so as to allow cement industry to avail modvat benefit on the mining machinery and its components. HSD being extensively used in the DG sets by the cement industry for captive power generation, should also be treated as input under Rule 57 a so that modvat benefit can be availed of as applicable to fumace oil and light diesel oil. In the case of the paper, support should be given to the industry’s eco-friendly efforts by making them eligible for 100 per cent depreciation under Section 32 of IT Act, 1961 for plan and machinery for generation system of chlorine dioxide, oxygen delignification. Simplification of tariff structure is also urgently needed in the paper industry. It should be ensured that there should be only one rate of duty for newsprint and another for all types of paper and paperboards. Restoration of duty level to WTO bound rates from 35 per cent to 40 per cent for paper and five per cent to 25 per cent for newsprint will help domestic industry. It should also be ensured that import duty on LWC paper is brought at par with import duty applicable to other vaneties of paper and that it is not clubbed with newsprint. Newsprint and LWC should attract Special Additional Duty (SAD) and Countervailing Duty (CVD) like any other imported product. Rationalization of import duty on intermediaries and removal of anomalies would go a long way in supporting the industry. The ASSOCHAM chief said in the case of excise duties in paper it should be noted that despite introducing cenvat at 16 per cent on paper, a section of paper industry— User of Unconventional Raw Material (UCRM)—is allowed to pay nil duty for first clearance of aggregate quantity not exceeding 3500 mt per annum. This has encouraged fragmentation of paper mills into small capacities in order to avail the excise concessions. To avoid fragmentation of the paper industry, it should be ensured that no clearance is allowed at nil duty rate. Similarly no extraordinary excise duty concession favouring small paper mills at the expense of large wood based paper mills should be enforced. The new concept for excise duty assessment based on transaction value need to be reconsidered as it includes many post manufacturing costs in the assessment process. Some export incentives should also be considered to help the paper industry. This would include enhancing depb rate to 16 per cent for all varieties of papers and making depb scheme conducive by amending nomenclature to club all the paper varieties into a single item to read as "paper and boards" including the wood free category. Strict adherence of actual users conditions with regard to import of newsprint/LWC/waste paper should also be ensured. In the case of natural rubber we would suggest that bound duty rate under wto for natural rubber should be raised from 25 per cent to 40 per cent as in the case of synthetic rubber. Natural rubber does not fall in the category of agriculture under WTO agreement. Today the bound rate of import duty for natural rubber is at 25 per cent as against 40 per cent for synthetic rubber. Another industry that needs urgent rationalisationof the tax structure, Mr Bajaj said, is the tea industry. In 1999-2000 budget, a central excise duty of Rs two per kg was imposed on bulk tea cleared from the tea estates. Tea features as an essential commodity and thus the excise duty on bulk tea appears inconsistent. The tea producers and exporters were allowed full tax benefit on export profits under 80 HHC since 1983-84. However, the Finance Act of 1999 amended, with retrospective effect from one April 1992, Section 80 HHC to restrict the benefit to tea companies to 40 per cent of its income. This stipulation amounts to discrimination to tea exporters against merchant exporters and the retrospective effect has imposed significant liabilities on them. Even it it is not possible to withdraw the main provision of the stipulation, at least the retrospective element should be deleted. Similarly the reduction in excise duty on inputs used by the construction sector— cement, steel, sanitary ware, tile— will very much help to boost activity in the sector. States also need to restrict sales tax to a maximum of eight per cent. The increased demand would offset the initial revenue loss. (UNI) |
|
DHL gives shipment information through mobile SMS NEW DELHI, Oct 24:In a bid to provide quick information about shipments and parcels world over to customers, DHL Worldwide Express has introduced mobile Short Message Service (SMS) and Wireless Application Protocol. For DHL customers, these services will allow self-control over shipment tracking. If a customer opts to use the service, he just has to select from the mobile phone menu the "send sms" option, then key in the DHL airway bill number. Within a few seconds, a response containing the latest status of the consignment can be received, a company release said here. DHL General Manager Raghunandan said the introduction of mobile tracking has made our system very transparent. "Our customer can locate his parcel any time, anywhere in the world. We have several such initiatives. For instance, to avoid delay at customs, we have introduced clear in the air concept where details of the consignment can be downloaded from the net much before the arrival of the consignment," he added. DHL customers can also access a slimmed down version of DHL’s corporate website from any WAP-enabled mobile phone or device, the release said. (UNI) |
|
