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scramble to NEW YORK, Sept 2: If you’ve ever been irked by advertisers’ exaggerations, welcome to the club. ....more Cargo marketing of IA NEW DELHI, Sept 2: Indian Airlines’s cargo marketing and handling activities have been awarded ....more CHANDIGARH, Sept 2: The Haryana Government will construct 35 covered sheds at a cost of Rs 13.27 crore for ....more
Rs 16,000 cr for cargo BHUBANESWAR, Sept 2: The Centre has decided to enhance the cargo handling capacity........more |
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FCA
declines further MUMBAI, Sept 2: India’s foreign exchange reserves slid further by USD 31 million to USD 35,602 million during the week ended August 25, 2000 over the previous week. This was the eighth consecutive week that the country’s forex reserves were showing a declining trend. The fall in the reserves was solely due to fall in the foreign currency assets, according to the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India. Gold reserves and special drawing rights, however, were static at USD 2,924 million and USD two million respectively.......more WB President criticises WASHINGTON, Sept 2: World Bank President James Wolfensohn today criticised India for the ‘slow progress’ in power sector reforms and said conditions will have to be created for running power plants economically if New Delhi wanted to attract investment. To built a power plant in India is an "impossibility" as the structure is totally uneconomic, he said adding "if you do not pay for power, nobody invests in India, then you have no power at all, and then everybody screams". Power plants must broadly recover their costs. Indian power plants have line loss, which......more |
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Cargo marketing of IA awarded ISO 9002 NEW DELHI, Sept 2: Indian Airlines’s cargo marketing and handling activities have been awarded the ISO 9002 quality accreditation by the Registrar of Accreditation Board (RAB) of the United States. This certification will enable the national carrier’s cargo division to compete more emphatically with international airlines for inbound shipping of high value cargo, especially from major hubs like Singapore and Bangkok. Speaking at a function here last night where the certification was awarded, Indian Airlines Director Cargo Anil Goyal said the accreditation might not immediately translate into more business but what it will ensure is that the airline will mandatorily have to maintain basic quality standards in its services. Indian Airlines’s cargo division contributes over 7 per cent to the company’s turnover. Airline officials say it has the potential to be far more productive as the carrier is ideally positioned for getting cargo into the country. Cargo business in terms of the revenue it earns is more profitable than what is made from carrying passengers. The ISO 9002 will go a long in providing a guarantee to overseas shippers, the officials said. Indian Airlines cargo has taken several measures, including quality monitoring systems, root-cause analysis of complaints and improving infrastructure to provide better services. In keeping pace with the global phenomenon of e-commerce, ia cargo is seeking value additions to support a qualitative logistics chain. It is now evaluating the conversion of a300 aircraft into freighter operations as long term steps to improve service. (UNI) |
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CHANDIGARH, Sept 2: The Haryana Government will construct 35 covered sheds at a cost of Rs 13.27 crore for creating additional storage capacity during the ensuing paddy procurement season. These sheds are likely to be ready by September 25. Stating this here yesterday, a spokesman said that the need for constructing the new sheds arose as the Food Corporation of India (FCI) had failed to lift the wheat stocks from godowns in the state. These sheds, being constructed by the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, would enhance the storage capacity of foodgrains in the state by 1.05 lakh metric tonnes he said. (UNI) |
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Rs 16,000 cr for cargo handling in major ports BHUBANESWAR, Sept 2: The Centre has decided to enhance the cargo handling capacity of all the major ports to 374 million tonnes during the ninth plan with an investment of Rs. 16,000 crore, the Union Surface Transport Minister, Rajnath Singh said today. Of the required funds, Rs. 8,543 crore would be spent by the port trusts of which Rs. 6,898 crore would be raised by internal resources mobilisation or borrowing while Rs. 1,645 crore would be provided by the Central Government, he told reporters here. The rest Rs. 7,000-8,000 crore were targetted to be raised from the private sector. The major ports, which had a capacity of 240 million tonnes as on March 31, 1999, handled 271.3 million tonnes of cargo during 1999-2000. These ports, therefore, continued to be congested and the berth occupancy remained high. Singh said that the Government was encouraging private sector participation through projects like container terminals at Kandla, Tuticorin and Chennai, captive coal berth at Tuticorin, captive berths at Paradip and Mumbai and multipurpose berths at Marmugao. The Government plan for expansion and modernisation of the major ports included construction and equipping of new berths, acquisition of the state-of-the-art equipment to match the merging cargo mix, establishment of electronic data interchange, setting up of vessel traffic management system, labour training and welfare, increased role of the private sector and corporatisation of major ports, Singh said. Referring to the performance of the Paradip Port in Orissa, he said that the port handled a total traffic of 13.6 million tonnes during 1999-2000 exceeding its cargo handling capacity of 11.2 million tonnes by four per cent. The cargo handling capacity of the port would be enhanced to 41.2 million tonnes by december next, he said, adding five projects had been identified for capacity augmentation. With the construction of the second multipurpose berth and part construction of the western quay, the port’s capacity had been augmented by 1.6 million tonnes during 1999-2000, he said. Singh said that construction of the mechanised coal handling facility at Paradip with assistance from the Asian Development Bank would raise its capacity by 20 million tonnes. The other projects were in various stages of implementation. This included construction of three general cargo berths which were expected to be completed by March next year while a special pol jetty was likely to be completed by December next, he said. (PTI) |
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FCA declines further by USD
31 million MUMBAI, Sept 2: India’s foreign exchange reserves slid further by USD 31 million to USD 35,602 million during the week ended August 25, 2000 over the previous week. This was the eighth consecutive week that the country’s forex reserves were showing a declining trend. The fall in the reserves was solely due to fall in the foreign currency assets, according to the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India. Gold reserves and special drawing rights, however, were static at USD 2,924 million and USD two million respectively. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms included the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies held in reserves, RBI said. The loans and advances extended by the RBI to the Central Government during the week ended August 25 were up by Rs 366 crore to Rs 2,056 crore while that to State Governments also rose by Rs 343 crore to Rs 2,515 crore as against the previous week. (PTI) |
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WB President criticises India on power reforms WASHINGTON, Sept 2: World Bank President James Wolfensohn today criticised India for the ‘slow progress’ in power sector reforms and said conditions will have to be created for running power plants economically if New Delhi wanted to attract investment. To built a power plant in India is an "impossibility" as the structure is totally uneconomic, he said adding "if you do not pay for power, nobody invests in India, then you have no power at all, and then everybody screams". Power plants must broadly recover their costs. Indian power plants have line loss, which is basically stealing which is unknown in other countries, he told reporters. Wolfensohn, however, said the World Bank did not have any problem lending to india in the face of US sanctions imposed after the May 1998 nuclear tests as virtually all loans were under basic human needs category. "I don’t think we are having any problems lending to India.... There are very few of our loans that do not impact on the poor. We are trying to characterise most of our loans as basic human needs," he said. The bank is in fact engaged almost totally on the issues of poverty and basic human needs, he said, adding the very openness of the distinction has given the bank the possibility of having a very broad-ranging programme with India today. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha is "very happy to leave it as it is. There are no crises in our lending programme," he added. In Andhra pradesh, where people have opposed power tariff hike, the annual subsidy was going to be 360 million dollars even with the new programme making the new operations also below cost, the World Bank chief said. He said the state was not doing anything dramatic, adding the bank would rather advise it to "... Have a tariff structure which will at least recover your costs. If you want to subsidize poor people, subsidize them directly." Wolfensohn, however, complimented India on its ability to take advantage of technology, pointing out that exports from the information technology and other high tech sectors from india were expected to rise from two billion dollars a year to 50 billion dollars in the next five years. (PTI) |
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Kuber Group’s property attached MUMBAI, Sept 1: A Special Court here has attached several acres of cultivated land, valued at Rs 26.5 crore and owned by Delhi-based Kuber Mutual Benefits jointly with other firms of the Kuber Group, which has allegedly duped investors all over the country. The court has ordered its disposal for equitable distribution among investors whose deposits have not been refunded so far. The order was recently delivered by designated Judge Roshan Dalvi, who directed sale of land at Mangaon taluka in Raigad district of Maharashtra where teak plantation was being cultivated on the land belonging to the Kuber Group. The judge has ordered the competent authority to invite offers for sale of property through newspapers and internet. She has also ordered the authority to later move the court for equitable distribution of the sale amount to investors. Kuber Group of companies is facing 118 criminal cases in various courts in the country for allegedly duping investors of several crores of rupees. In Maharashtra alone, the admitted liability of the company is about Rs 29 crore, the prosecution has alleged before the Special Court. The company’s chairman Praduman Kumar Sharma and its executive director M N Sharma had been taken into custody in Mumbai for offences under Maharashtra Protection of Investors Deposits Act (MPID). Investigations are almost over and chargesheet would be filed shortly. Public prosecutor Vasanti Joshi has alleged that the company had duped 2250 investors of Rs 15 crore. The admitted liability of the accused in Maharashtra is Rs 28.9 crore which is more than the property value.(PTI) |
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Daewoo sales up ten per cent in Aug NEW DELHI, Sept 1: Daewoo Motors India Limited bounced back with a ten per cent growth in sales in August this ar at 4,497 units, up from 4,110 units sold in July this year. The sales in August this year a represent a 36 per cent growth over 2,862 units sold in August last year, a statement issued here today said. Of the 4,497 units sold in August this year Matiz accounted for 4,293 units while Cielo and Nexia made up for the rest. The sale of Daewoo cars between January and August this year amounted to 39,284 units, up 174 per cent from 14,300 units in the same period last year. DAO had recently launched two new spruced up variants of its popular small car Matiz. (UNI) |
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