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| Sky marshals to be deployed on select routes NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Deployment of sky marshals on selected routes at random basis and quick....more Punjab
demands NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Punjab has demanded an increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) of.....more ‘Govt
did not find NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Government said today it has not tried to find out why bidders like Air France. ...more CRISIL
assigns MUMBAI, Aug 27: The Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) has been as....more |
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IOC slashes prices of bitumen NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has slashed prices of bitumen between Rs 500 and Rs 1200 per tonne.....more MUMBAI, Aug 27: Call rates remained range-bound and closed easy in a squarish market at the interbank call money market here today.....more Delhi
traders oppose NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Traders in the capital have objected to the proposal to introduce caste-based...more India
requires 5 to 10 NEW DELHI, Aug 27: The digital committee of the Associated Chambers of Commerce Industry ....more |
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Punjab demands increase in paddy MSP to Rs 580/Q NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Punjab has demanded an increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) of common rice to Rs 580 per quintal from the current Rs 510 per quintal in view of the increase in input costs and only "notional" surplus in stocks. "There should be at least an increase of Rs 580 per quintal in the paddy procurement price for 2001-02 so that farmers could meet their cost of production," Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal told PTI. This was against the recommendation of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) to increase it by Rs 10 per quintal. He said increase in MSP should be linked with the price of inputs and not with the level of stocks with the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The costs involved in terms of irrigation, equipment, fertilisers and transport had increased and the MSP should also be raised accordingly. The argument of a non-manageable surplus with the FCI was not valid as hundreds were dying of starvation in the country, he added. Starvation deaths showed that the concept of surplus was only notional and demand for food was not being met, he said. In these circumstances Punjab’s demand for an increase in MSP was correct as it would bring succour to the farmers much in need of cash to till their farms. (PTI) |
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‘Govt did not find out why other AI bidders withdrew’ NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Government said today it has not tried to find out why bidders like Air France-Delta Airlines, Swiss Air Group and Emirates - who had submitted Expressions of Interest (EOI) for disinvestment of Air India - withdrew from the process thereafter. In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Disinvestment Arun Shourie said these three bidders had in fact submitted their EOIs and obtained bid packs but withdrew later without assigning any reason. On whether the Government had tried to find out the reasons for these bidders’ loss of interest in the disinvestment process, the minister replied in the negative. Replying to another question, Shourie denied that the withdrawal of these bidders was in any way related to the draft shareholders’ agreement and share purchase agreement for ai disinvestment, saying "the parties who withdrew from the bidding process did so for their own internal reasons and they did not mention the conditions of the draft shareholders’ agreement and share purchase agreement as the reasons for their withdrawal". He said British Airways-Quantas had also expressed interest in the initial stages of AI disinvestment but did not confirm its participation and later withdrew. (PTI) |
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CRISIL assigns AAA rating to TSL MUMBAI, Aug 27: The Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) has been assigned "AAA" to the Rs five billion non-convertible debenture issue of Tata Sons Limited (TSL). The rating assigned to the other outstanding non-convertible debentures of TSL has been re-affirmed. The "FAAA" rating assigned in the fixed deposit programme of TSL has also been reaffirmed, the CRISIL press release stated here today. The rating reflects business strength and strong cash flows of the company’s largest division—TATA Consultancy Services leading to a favourable financial position for TSL. The financial profile of TSL is characterised by comfortable gearing and interest coverage levels, despite large level of investments in Tata group companies over the last three years, the release added. TSL has four operating divisions—Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), Tata Economic Consultancy Service, Tata Financial Services and Tata Quality Management Services. (UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has slashed prices of bitumen between Rs 500 and Rs 1200 per tonne. Prices of bitumen for bulk sales has been slashed by Rs 1200 per tonne to Rs 6840 per tonne with effect from August 25, IOC Director (Marketing), O N Marwaha, told PTI here. Price of LDO has been reduced by Rs 500 per tonne to Rs 11690 per tonne with effect from August 16, 2001, he said. Bitumen packed of 80/100 grade would now cost Rs 8390 per tonne as against Rs 9590 per tonne previously. Similarly, bitumen of 60/70 grade for bulk sale will cost Rs 7480 per tonne instead of Rs 8130 per tonne earlier and bitumen of 60/70 grade for packed sale would cost Rs 9030 per tonne as opposed to Rs 9840 per tonne earlier. Marwaha said price of naphtha has been increased from Rs 11890 per tonne to Rs 12140 per tonne for general consumers while the hike for fertiliser consumption is only Rs 150 per tonne. Price of bulk sale bitumen of 80/100 grade was reduced to Rs 7540 per tonne with effect from August 17 and then to Rs 6840 per tonne with effect from August 25 while the same for packed bitumen of the same grade was brought down to Rs 9090 per tonne from August 17 and to Rs 8390 per tonne with effect from August 25, Marwaha said. Price for bitumen of 60/70 grade for packed consumption was first slashed to Rs 6980 per tonne and then raised to Rs 7480 per tonne while that for packed consumption came down to 8690 per tonne and then went up to Rs 9030 per tonne in two tranches, he added. (PTI) |
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MUMBAI, Aug 27: Call rates remained range-bound and closed easy in a squarish market at the interbank call money market here today. The call rates opened marginally easy at 6.80—7.00 per cent as compared to their previous close of 7.00-7.10 per cent. Due to ample liquidity in the market it came down to 6.75-6.90 per cent and eased further to finish at 6.70-6.85 per cent. However, most of the deals were in the range of 6.85-6.90 per cent. The Discount and Finance House of India (DFHI) dealer said that there was lot of movement in the market overnight, despite good demand for funds from commercial bank which was matched by heavy liquidity resulting in easing of call rates to 6.70-6.85 per cent. Meanwhile, the Government securities papers also moved up further in the range of 10 to 20 paise for the different maturity. The Securities Trading Corporation of India (STCI) dealer said Government securities moved in the different range from twenty to twenty-five paise for different maturity. Nearly Rs 12,000 crore were pumped out of the market for one-day repos transaction on the opening day of the fortnight reporting day, dealers added. (UNI) |
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Delhi traders oppose caste-based
reservation NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Traders in the capital have objected to the proposal to introduce caste-based reservation in the private and industrial sectors and said they would oppose tooth and nail any such move. At a meeting organised by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) here today, the various trade organisations said the proposal, under the consideration of the constitution review commission, would be a "serious blow to the trading structure". The organisations decided to launch a mass awareness campaign against the proposal to enforce reservation in the private sector and said they would submit a joint memorandum to the constitution review commission, the Delhi Chief Minister and Members of Parliament. Former judge of the Rajasthan High Court S M L Jain said the Commission was considering widening the reservation policy and any violation of it would invite action under the Prevention of Atrocities Act. Various organisations were also planning to launch a nationwide protest from September four against the proposal, he said. A resolution passed at the meeting said while the trading community had full sympathy with the weaker sections, caste-based reservation in private sector shall infringe on their fundamental right to carry on trade. (UNI) |
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India requires 5 to 10 mln PCs a year: ASSOCHAM NEW DELHI, Aug 27: The digital committee of the Associated Chambers of Commerce Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has proposed to the Government a marketing of the nation effort to induce one top PC manufacturers from USA, Japan, Taiwan or Korea to start a facility of assembling one million pcs a year in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Committee Chairman Dilip Modi said India requires five to ten million PCs a year to execute aggressive IT-isation in all sectors. Both China and Malaysia have essentially created a strong base of specialised hardware industries by active marketing of the country. Moreover, setting up of such specialized, interlinked units has encouraged clustering of the hardware industries, which needs to be planned in various states of India also. Mr Modi said the hardware export sector in the last five years is a bag of mixed results. After a sharp decline of 10.22 percent (15 percent in US dollar terms) during 1997-98 and 27 per cent (34.11 percent in dollar terms) during 1998-99, it has bounced back to show positive growth rate of 27 percent (22.69 percent in dollar terms) during 1999-2000. The estimated export performance of Rs 4,788 crore (1041 billion dollars) during the year 2000-01 exhibits an unprecedented growth of 84.15 per cent (72.14 percent in dollar terms) over the year 1999-2000. While China’s hardware industry is around 40 billion dollars (manufacturing over seven million PCs last year as against 1.5 million PCs assembled and marketed in India), China s software is about three billion dollars, which is smaller than India’s eight billion dollars but it is essentially directed towards meeting its indigenous needs of it based productivity and improving China’s competitiveness. India’s IT expenditure is about 0.7 percent of GDP, as compared to China’s one per cent, Malaysia s 1.3 percent, Singapore s 2.5 percent. China has earmarked an it budget of five billion dollars to develop advanced software skills and communications infra-structure required for advanced software and hardware industry development. China’s PC base is 26 million units, and has 55 GBPS of bandwidth compared to India’s one GBPS. The recent 16-member high powered delegation led by ASSOCHAM president Raghu Mody to China observed that China was emerging as a strong it software outsourcing destination attracting large investment in infrastructure competence in high-end it design and in manufacturing, it has already become the third largest it hardware supplier to the world and is working towards attaining third position for semi-conductor market in next three years by setting up its own IC Valley and a notebook zone. Challenges before the hardware industry according to the ASSOCHAM president are : Under the WTO regime Indian IT industry will have to face zero duty regime, convergence will lead to fast changing technology environment, lack of Government support to hardware manufacturing, frequent policy changes affecting investors confidence and inhibiting industry from long term planning. Also high price sensitivity coupled with high multiple point local taxation has stymied it penetration. (UNI) |
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