|
|
Ford rolls out Ikon NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Ford India Limited today launched a new ......more
NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Both the precious metals, silver and gold....more
IOC to become NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said today that it .....more IOC increases its NEW DELHI, Sept 11: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, recognised.....more |
 |
Fiat prices Siena Weekend NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL) launched the Stationwagon version of its mid-sized car ‘Siena.......more
Pak accepts tender ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: Pakistan has accepted a tender from an Indian company for supply of 12,500 .....more Internet to push datacom NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Driven by the rapid proliferation of internet in the country, the Indian data communication equipment market is.....more Lotus-IBM announces NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Lotus-IBM today announced the launch of its flagship groupware, messaging and collaboration product, Lotus Notes version 5.0.4 ...more |
 |
|
|
|
|
NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Both the precious metals, silver and gold, prices recovered on the bullion market today following renewed buying by stockists and local parties and closed marginally higher. Volume of business also picked-up to some extent. Traders said selective buying ahead of festive season mainly influenced trading sentiments. They said, however, overseas trends were conducive. In Hong Kong, gold prices closed lower at 272.70-273.20 US dollars an ounce against Friday’s closing of 274.00-274.50. Silver.999 ready and silver weekly delivery recovered by Rs 5 each to close marginally higher at Rs 7845 and Rs 7855 per kilo respectively on selective buying. On the other hand, silver coins were unaltered at Rs 10,800/10,900 per 100 coins on little doing. Standard gold and ornaments were also in some demand especially amongst local parties and finished Rs 5 each higher at Rs 4485 and Rs 4335 per ten grams respectively while sovereign continued to rule steady at Rs 3800 per 8 grams on some enquiries. Following were today’s quotations: Silver.999 ready and silver delivery 7855. Silver coins buyer 10,800 and seller 10,900. Standard gold Rs 4485, ornaments Rs 4335 and sovereign Rs 3800. (PTI) |
|
IOC to become Rs 100,000 cr company this year: Pathan NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said today that it would become a Rs 100,000 crore company during the current fiscal with estimated net profit of Rs 2,700 crore while outlining its investment plans of about Rs 60,000 crore by the end of the tenth plan period (2007). "We expect to sell about 50 million tonnes of products and our sales will touch Rs 100,000 crore... We should post net profit of about Rs 2,700 crore," IOC Chief Executive M A Pathan told reporters here. He said the corporation envisaged an investment of Rs 22,674 crore during the ninth plan and Rs 34,592 crore during the subsequent five years for both expansion and diversification. Acquisition of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochenmical Ltd would not be at the cost of our existing investment plans, Pathan said adding that IOC had sufficient flexibility and capability to undertake the investment for which it would shortly write to Government. Asked about the valuation of the two refineries, where cabinet decided to sell the Government’s entire stake to IOC, Pathan said "we will definitely like to have current market prices... We will soon complete due deligence report and write to Government,." The company had done preliminary valuation of the two refineries last year and would be updating it based on the market price, net present value and returns expected in future, he added. (PTI) |
|
IOC increases its turnover by 35 pc NEW DELHI, Sept 11: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, recognised as one of the largest downstream petroleum companies in the world, increased its turnover by 36 per cent and the net profit by ten per cent in 1999-2000 as compared to the previous. Announcing this here today at a media conference, IOC Chairman M A Pathan said, despite increasing price of crude oil in the international market, the sales turn over of the company increased by Rs 24,711 crore from Rs 69,430 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 94,141 crore in 1999-2000. The sales volume increased by 2.74 million tonnes from 46.5 million tonnes in 1998-99 to 48.79 million tonnes in 1999-2000 registering growth of six per cent, he said. The operating profit before depreciation, interest expenditure and tax increased from Rs 4,993 crore during 1998-99 to Rs 5,971 crore during 1999-2000, showing an increase of 20 per cent. Profit before tax increased from Rs 2,773 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 2,970 crore in 1999-2000, showing an increase of nine per cent. Profit after tax was Rs 2,443 crore in 1999-2000 as compared to Rs 2,214 crore in the previous year, registering a growth of 10 per cent, he said. The equity of the Government of India, which was 91.14 per cent as on March 31, 1999 came down to 82.03 per cent with the disinvestment of 10 per cent of its holding in an equity-swapping arrangement between Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC). The Corporation’s equity went up to Rs 778.67 crore in October 1999, with issue of bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1. This is 34th consecutive year of dividend declaration by Indian Oil. For the year 1999-2000, Indian Oil paid a dividend of Rs 479 crore to the Government of India, Rs 67.5 lakh to the Government of Gujarat and Rs 53.22 crore to ONGC, among others. Indian Oil continues to maintain its position as the lone Indian presence in the fortune ‘Global 500’ listing of world’s largest corporations, for the sixth consecutive year. In the latest fortune listing based on data for fiscal 1999, Indian Oil is ranked 232 by revenue, 46 steps ahead of last year’s position. As per the industry-specific listing, Indian Oil continues to be the 16th largest petroleum refining company in the world. Among the petroleum companies, it is three in terms of profits as a percentage of revenue, and sixth in terms of profits as a percentage of assets. Indian Oil has been ranked 100th by revenue in this year’s forbes international listing of 800 largest non-US companies, Mr Pathan said. (UNI) |
|
Fiat prices Siena Weekend at Rs 7.27 lakh, not to discontinue Uno NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL) launched the Stationwagon version of its mid-sized car ‘Siena Weekend’, priced at Rs 7.27 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), Rs 90,000 cheaper than competitor Maruti Baleno Altura, and announced that its small car Uno will not be discontinued despite a major erosion in sales. The Siena Weekend has been introduced in both petrol and diesel driven versions. The petrol weekend sports a price tag of Rs 7.27 lakh while the diesel model has been priced at Rs 7.87 lakh, FIAL director (sales and marketing) Enrico Ferrero told newspersons here. A safety packaged version of the car will be also be Rs 60,000 dearer. The car will have safety features as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and airbags. Siena weekend is part of the project 178 (World Car Project) under which fiat is producing five vehicles on a common platform. These include Siena, Siena Weekend, Palio, a van and pick-up. FIAL managing director Giovanni Ravina said the the company will be introducing its next small car — Palio — in India in the first half of the 2001 calendar year. The car will be rolled out with over 80 per cent local content level. "We are currently working on hiking the localisation level of the car to bring down costs and price the car competitively. We expect Palio to bring us volumes and drive us to profit," Mr Ravina added. The company, he said, is looking at a breakeven period of three years. When asked if Palio is expected to cannibalise its existing model ‘Uno’, Mr Ravina said Palio will be positioned in a different segment. "There is no question of discontinuing Uno. We will be reviewing the position of Uno after Palio’s launch, but we will continue to produce Uno till there is demand for even a single car." The petrol Siena weekend is powered by a 1581cc engine delivering 98hp at 5500rpm, while the the 1698td diesel engine delivers 63hp power at 4500rpm. Its safety features include fire prevention fuel cut-off system, anti-submarining seats, collapsible steering column and impact protection valves. Meanwhile, FIAL has commenced export of component from India to its manufacturing bases across the globe. The parent company — Fiat Auto — is sourcing cooling systems, dashboards and other plastic parts from India for the world car project. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Alfredo Altavilla, product manager for the World Car Project, said India has been identified as a major production base for Fiat auto of Italy. However, the company is not in favour of introducing the van and pick-up from the World Car Project in India. "The market for pick-ups has not developed as yet in India." The company, he added, is also working towards introducing modifications on the Siena Weekend and Siena to improve its ground clearance. In addition, the new 1.6 litre petrol engine will also be introduced on the Siena next year. The company is also trying to achieve 78 per cent local content on the Siena by the end of this year. The weekend was introduced with 40 per cent local content level. "We have already started local assembly of the Siena and 1.2 Uno engines. By April next year, the 1.2 litre engines would be fully localised," Mr Ravina said. Mr Ferrero said the company is planning to sell 600 units of Siena Weekend in the remaining part of the 2000 calendar year and take it to 1,500-2,000 units in 2001. In addition, the company expects to export rs 100 crore worth of component from India in 2001 and 2002. The company has targeted to sell total 30,000 units in 2001 and take it up to 70,000 units by 2003 to corner an eight per cent share of the Indian passenger car market. In the premium small car segment, the company intends to sell 23,000 units of Uno and Palio in 2001 and hike it to 59,000 units by 2003 and end with a 15 per cent marketshare. In the mid-sized segment, the company is targetting sales of 6,000 units in 2001 and intends to jack it up to 10,000 units in 2003 and corner a seven per cent marketshare with Siena and Siena weekend. Fial has already put in place 55 dealerships for the purpose and intends to hike it further in the future. (UNI) |
|
Pak accepts tender from Indian
company ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: Pakistan has accepted a tender from an Indian company for supply of 12,500 tonnes of sugar, a newspaper reported today. Quoting an unnamed official of Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) in Karachi, ‘The News’ said India sugar and General Import Export Corp had emerged as the lowest bidder at 309 US dollars (about Rs. 14,059) per tonne. The company, which has offered to supply the consignment between October 15 and 25, has been asked to advance the delivery date, the official said adding the response of the firm was not immediately known. TCP did not not accept the company’s offer to supply sugar at even a lower rate of 305 USD per tonne by the rail route, he said but gave no no reason for non-acceptance of the offer to supply sugar by train. (PTI) |
|
Internet to push datacom
equip mkt to NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Driven by the rapid proliferation of internet in the country, the Indian data communication equipment market is all set to witness a 34 per cent Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to touch Rs 2992 crore mark by 2002-03, according to a latest survey. "The data communication market would reach almost Rs 3000 crore by 2002-03, representing a growth of 34 per cent over 1999-2000 base of Rs 1234 crore," the report titled "Lan-Wan Market in India" by IDC research agency said. The growth, exceeding the overall market growth rate would be largely propelled by the penetration of networking within corporate India and the rapid proliferaion of internet. Although, the Land Area Network (LAN) equipments pegged at Rs 531 crore is currently the largest contributor to the data communication market, by 2002-03 the Wan equipments are projected to overtake the former to enjoy a Rs 1332 crore chunk, the report said. "The intense growth of the Wan market components, especially remote access servers, Wan switches and modems and the tremendous growth potential in the service provider segment would be the major catalysts for the market," the IDC report said. In an equipment-wise analysis of the current datacom market, the report said that the LAN equipment market would touch Rs 1212 crore in 2002-03, compared to Rs 531 crore in 1999-2000. The LAN cabling market, excluding the equipments, would be pegged at Rs 430 crore against Rs 300 crore in 1999-2000. "LAN switches represent the largest component of the LAN equipment segment and at a CAGR of 50 per cent it is also the fastest growing category, within this segment," it said adding that despite the onslaught from the routing switches, routers would hold a respectable share till the end of the forecast period. Moreover, the increase in demand for wide area networking and multitude of new Internet Service Providers (ISPs) would keep the router market buoyant. As corporate India wires up, the market for LAN cabling has assumed significant proportions, the IDC report said. The segment, however, is not expected to show dramatic growth rates and the emerging segments like internet and telecom service providers, it enabled service providers and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) segments would drive the growth in the cabling market in near future, it added. (PTI) |
|
Lotus-IBM announces launch of its flagship groupware NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Lotus-IBM today announced the launch of its flagship groupware, messaging and collaboration product, Lotus Notes version 5.0.4 in Hindi to provide cutting edge technology to non-English speaking users in the country. This version will support two primary scripts, Devanagari and Tamil, which would enable Lotus Notes customers to use messaging and collaborative application in Hindi and Tamil and later in Marathi and Konkani. Lotus Notes Hindi version is targetted at Government and public sector organisations, banking, finance and insurance companies, the education sector and private corporates. It is the leading integrated e-mail and collaboration software for the internet. Lotus products had already been localized in 26 languages. With the addition of Hindi, coming with the launch of the 5.0.4 version of Notes its localised list expands to 27. Mr Andrew M Dutton, Vice President, Sales and Channels, IBM Software Group, Asia Pacific, said here "the information technology sector in India is transforming at a rapid pace and India has emerged as a major player on the worldwide technology map. IBM is committed to being a crucial part of this transformation." Lotus-India Country Manager, Souma S Das said at a news conference Lotus Notes has over 350 million Hindi speaking population as compared to 50 million English speaking population. "This version would, therefore, go a long way in making information accessible to the rural population of India. Besides Hindi and Tamil, the version would soon be available in Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani and other languages also ," Mr Das added. Mr Vishwesh Padmanabhan, Country Manager, Software and Solution Developer Marketing, IBM-India, said that the launch of Lotes Notes version 5.0.4 is part of the company’s localisation plan for India. Mr Padmanabhan further stated that the national IT task force had recommended that software should be made available in national languages and today’s product launch is a step in this direction. Lotus Development Corporation is a subsidiary of IBM Corporation. (UNI) |
|
|
