 |
|
Restructuring progwill MUMBAI, Dec 14: Fiat India Limited will not have any impact in its operations here following the...more WB
receives Rs 1811 cr KOLKATA, Dec 14: West Bengal has received fresh investment proposals of Rs 1,811 crore during ..more Indian
industry wants NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Unfazed by the terrorist attack on Parliament house, Indian ....more LPG
industry is on BANGALORE, Dec 14: The private sector lpg industry in India is on a warpath with the......more |
 |
Lalit Suri elected NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Lalit Suri, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Hotels Limited was unanimously elected president of the Hotel Association of India (HAI) at its fifth annual general body meeting held here today.........more IT stocks suffer fresh MUMBAI, Dec 14: Technology stocks suffered further setback, leading to a mild slide in cyclicals and the sensex ended in negative territory for the fourth successive day with a fresh loss of about 35 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today due to fresh selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). ......more Stock finish on a mixed NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Share prices closed on a mixed note on the stock market today on selective buying ...more |
 |
|
|
|
WB receives Rs 1811 cr fresh investment proposals in 2001 KOLKATA, Dec 14: West Bengal has received fresh investment proposals of Rs 1,811 crore during January to November, 2001 despite an overall recession in the national economy, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said here today. The new projects coming up in the state included two thermal power units in bakreswar, two gas based generation units in Burdwan, besides expansion of existing plants of Hindustan Level, Videocon, Larsen & Toubro, among others, Bhattacharjee said, addressing the national council meeting of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). Despite being a late starter, the state has performed well on the industrial front in recent years and witnessed an economic growth of 7.6 per cent during the last fiscal against the GDP growth of only six per cent, he said. About the Rs 5170 crore Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, he said the company was continuing its production and had captured almost 100 per cent market in the eastern region. Also, 473 downstream units had already been set up. Pointing out the state’s success in information technology sector, he said over 170 software and IT enabled services units had opened offices here. Responding to a question by the representative of multinational soft drinks company, Bhattacharjee invited the company to set up a plant in the state assuring all cooperation from the Government. On the labour front, he said, the Government would soon introduce a productivity norm for workers. (PTI) |
|
Indian
industry wants a piece of NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Unfazed by the terrorist attack on Parliament house, Indian industry is positioning itself to take advantage of the big boom unfolding in the infrastructure sector in the war-ravaged Afghanistan. "As peace returns to the war-devastated Afghanistan, activity in ports, roads, housing and other construction sectors will be stepped up," Mr Rajendra S Lodha, the newly-elected President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said. "The Indian industry is having informal talks with the central Government so that it can take a big slice of this cake", Mr Lodha told UNI in a wide ranging interview. He said Indian business can only make a dent if the Government takes the lead and creates an enabling environment required for such a penetration by Indian firms. Condemning the attack on Parliament, he put the business community’s weight behind the Government’s efforts in eliminating terrorism from this peace loving country. "We from the business community are not afraid and will not allow it to affect the morale of Indian business in any manner... FICCI’s 500 affiliated chambers and associations are ready to take on any responsibility," Mr Lodha said. He said the Government was serious in helping out the business community and in this regard recalled "the rich harvest reaped by the industry" in the reconstruction of Gulf countries after the Gulf war. A line of credit from Domestic Financial Institutions (DFI) or international lending bodies was essential to facilitate the entry of the business community in Afghanistan. "The business community would not like to take a big risk and, therefore, the Government must create suitable conditions. This is the lesson business has learnt when operating in an uncertain environment. It burnt its fingers in Russia and many other volatile economies," he added. Mr Lodha said the business community has the requisite expertise and technology to make a dent in the emerging opportunities in Afghanistan. "It is keen to put its money there." The FICCI President answered wide-ranging questions relating to privatisation, steps to revive the economy, the coming budget, threat to Indian industry from multi-national corporations, non-performing assets of large companies, taxation issues, the approach the Government should adopt in globalising the economy and the sunrise industries. He expected an upturn in the economy in about six months time and forecast the GDP growth rate for this fiscal at 4.5 per cent and industrial growth rate of about two per cent. "It will be an agricultural-led revival," Mr Lodha said. He quoted Law Minister Arun Jaitley as having stated that Rs 48,000 crore will be saved by India after guns become silent in Afghanistan and terrorism takes a backseat. He described this as the peace dividends. He said the business community would like to work in tandem with the Government which alone was aware of the "big picture." The implication of Mr Lodha’s statement was that tremendous opportunities will be thrown open for the world business community in the aftermath of the war in afghanistan. The Indian Government should pave the way for businessmen to take advantage of the situation. History is replete with instances where the state played a pioneering role in converting the war economy into a robust, dynamic nation. Notable examples are reconstruction of the Japanese and German economies after the great war. Even in the post-war period there are ample examples when the state has been called upon to play a lead role so that the business can take advantage of the opportunities emerging from resurrecting other economies. The FICCI President commended the efforts of Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie in removing the cobwebs in the disinvestment process and was hopeful that this will now gather momentum. He said the minister has been able to convince its opponents the need for accelerating privatisation and the Supreme Court’s judgement in the BALCO case will give a boost to the tardy moves in this direction. The well-known Chartered Accountant, however, did not think any useful purpose will be served by merely hiking the disinvestment target in the budget 2002-03. If this were to be so then disinvestment targets could be pushed up the ladder every year. What was more important was the ground realities and a pragmatic approach. The business leader said that the main cause of the recession in the Indian economy was the investment famine, where the private sector was reluctant to put its money in green field projects because of lack of viability and shortage of demand. The way out was pump priming by the Government in the infrastructure sector which will set in motion a series of spendings leading to demand creation. Mr Lodha, however, cautioned the Government to undertake only high-productive expenditure and not increase fiscal deficit by indiscriminately spending money and needlessly inflating the wage bill. He said the state finances leave much to be desired and revenue deficits were eating into capital expenditures retarding growth. Mr Lodha felt that slow implementation of reforms was also holding back private investment and prescribed six ‘Mantras’ to get the wheels of the economy moving. The "lit pit" or the vicious circle could be broken by further lowering interest rates, legislating labour reforms, enhanced spending on infrastructure, power reforms, lowering transaction costs and taxes and duties. Mr Lodha said duties add upto 35 per cent of production cost for many commodities as compared to half this figure even in the most highly taxed nations. Mr Lodha said he has learnt from his father that standing still, in fact, meant moving backwards. So not only life but all other things like the economy should follow only one direction — forge ahead. The tax expert disputed claims that the staggering Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) with which the banking sector was saddled with were mostly on account of large companies. He said there were good companies as well as bad companies in the large scale as in any other sector, be it the small scale or agriculture. He said the black sheep should be dealt with firmly and regretted that many small entrepreneurs end up paying much higher rate of interest than large corporates. Mr Lodha said if correct steps were taken at the right time then Indian industry will be able to stand on its feet and squarely face foreign competition. An absolutely essential step was legislating and implementing the labour reforms outlined in the last budget. While these could be delayed there was no escape from them. Lack of labour reforms meant only slower generation of employment. He said he knew any number of companies which would prefer to spend an additional Rs 50 to Rs 60 crore on buying machines than employing additional people. "Our main asset is our manpower which is becoming the biggest liability," he added. Businessmen were reluctant to take on people knowing that it will be difficult to retrench them when they are not required. Any delay could only mean making the Indian industry less competitive in the face of large scale imports. It was essential that the large scale be integrated with the small scale, including ancillarisation. The business leader felt that Indian industry needed protection before it develops the muscles of a superman. This calls for a carefully calibrated approach to globalisation. Citing the recent case of the United States Government hiking custom duties to protect its steel industry, Mr Lodha said this may necessitate building a shield of tariff walls wherever required. When asked whether the reforms were a politically paying proposition or parties’ which undertook these were often punished, Mr Lodha said in the long run reforms were immensely beneficial and were necessary for toning up the economy. While parties undertaking reforms may suffer temporary setbacks, in the long run "reforms are a win-win situation for everyone". A clear example was the British case. "You will take at least five hours to explain to me the present difference between the labour and the conservative party. The fact of the matter is that the difference is very thin, if at all it exists". Mr Lodha regretted that the political parties were still on the learning curve in evolving a consensual approach to reforms, even though they have come a long way. He said what was required was a vision and strong political will to push these as they brook no further delay. The FICCI President said he had carefully thought out this year’s theme. It has aptly been summed up in the motto ‘India unbound accelerating growth through competitiveness with confidence.’ (UNI) |
|
LPG industry is on warpath with Govt BANGALORE, Dec 14: The private sector lpg industry in India is on a warpath with the Government to provide the assured level-playing field to enable them to take on the mighty public sector units which account for 90 per cent of the total market. Indian LPG Industries Association President S K Hazra and Vice-President V Rajeev told newsmen here today that the industry had been seeking deregulation of the administered price mechanism as per schedule by April 2002 and bring down the subsidy on lpg for domestic use to 15 per cent from 40 per cent by April 2002. The PSUs cushioned by the subsidy were currently supplying the domestic segment of the market at prices far below the procurement cost of LPG incurred by private industries. They said the situation had led to enormous loss to the private sector which had invested a sum of Rs 650 crores in creating state-of-the-art infrastrucutre in terms of import terminals, bottling facilities, besides storage and distribution systems. They said the subsidy issue could be resolved by granting suitable exemptions through customs duty, central excise and sales tax equivalent to the subsidy amount, which was a little over rs 6,000 crores. The present environment was proving to be extremely unhealthy for private marketers who had made substantial investments. Removal of subsidies and establishment of a more transparent pricing mechanism would enable the industry to stay on its footing. (UNI) |
|
Lalit Suri elected HAI president NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Lalit Suri, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Hotels Limited was unanimously elected president of the Hotel Association of India (HAI) at its fifth annual general body meeting held here today. According to a press release by the HAI it said Priya Paul of the Park Hotels was elected Vice President While L P Gupta Chairman and Managing Director U P Hotels and Ajoy Misra of the Taj Group were elected a the treasurer of HAI for a period of two years. Other members who were elected are P R S Oberoi of the Oberoi Group, R K Krishna Kumar of Taj Group and S S H Rehman of the ITC group as corporate members. Captain C P Krishnan Nair, Chairman of Leela Hotels group was elected fellow member. The smaller and medium type hotels were represented by Col H S Sandhu Managing Director Hotel Pankaj, Chandigarh and R K Baid, Managing Director of Cindrella Hotel, Siliguri in West Bengal. (UNI) |
|
IT stocks suffer fresh setback on FII selling MUMBAI, Dec 14: Technology stocks suffered further setback, leading to a mild slide in cyclicals and the sensex ended in negative territory for the fourth successive day with a fresh loss of about 35 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today due to fresh selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). FIIs, which had made net investments last week, have turned cautious and made net sales of Rs 255 crore in the first three sessions of the current week, were net sellers in several counters including heavyweights like Infosys Tech, Satyam Computers and NIIT. The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened steady at 3388.87 but later met with resistance and dipped to the day’s low of 3336.18 before closing at 3353.60 as against yesterday’s close of 3388.59, a net fall of 34.99 points or 1.03 per cent. The broad-based BSE-100 index moved down further by 14.28 points to 1609.21 from previous close of 1623.49. Attributing the change in FII attitude to a sharp fall in the Nasdaq composite index by about 65 points last night due to heavy selling triggered by disappointing profit forecasts from several high-technology bellwethers, market sources said FIIs were also reducing their commitments ahead of year end. The terrorist strike on Parliament House yesterday also compounded investors’ worries over tension between India and Pakistan. The South-East Asian markets too remained weak with the Hang Seng further dipping by 63.43 points and the Singapore st index by 11.28 points at close. But the Nikkei was up by 78.20 points. Second-line software stocks like Mastek, Polaris Soft, Rolta and few others attracted brisk buying support and bucked the general weak trend in technology segment. In the specified group, 100 including 23 index-based scrips registered losses while 69 others closed with gains. The BSE-200 index and the dollex were quoted marginally down at 352.82 and 122.71 from previous close of 355.62 and 123.66 respectively. The BSE-500 index also eased by 7.64 points to 1041.76 from 1-049.49 yesterday. The dollex-30 moved down to 575.16 from 581.04. The volume dropped sharply to Rs 1229.04 crore from Rs 2025.96 crore Thursday. Satyam Computer remained the most active share with a turnover of Rs 115.40 crore followed by Infosys Tech (Rs 96.10 crore), Himachal Futuristic (Rs 90.11 crore), Zee Telefilms (Rs 86.96 crore) and Digital Global (Rs 83.77 crore). Satyam Computer dipped by 8.15 to 246.65, Infosys Tech by 131.05 to 4165.75, Zee Tele by 10.60 to 123.75, Digital Glob by 5.15 to 459.25, NIIT by 5.80 to 235.70, Wipro by 28.70 to 1655.35, Bajaj Auto by 7.70 to 370.55, Glaxo by 9.15 to 315.50, Grasim by 3.80 to 300.05, GACL by 9.45 to 201.30, Hindalco by 6.25 to 698.90, ITC by 6.90 to 687.05, Ranbaxy by 12.75 to 741.70, RIL by 1.15 to 310.55, SBI by 6.80 to 175.60, Thomas Cook by 10.95 to 250.95, Rhone Poul by 12.95 to 349.65, and Tata Tea by 7.10 to 175.30. However, Telco rose by 3.00 to 104.25, Mastek by 21.15 to 230.15, Polaris Lab by 18.95 to 219.40, Rolta by 6.05 to 104.80, TV-18 by 5.70 to 113.25, Madras Cem by 228.65 to 4753.65 and Global Tele by 4.65 to 151.10. (PTI) |
|
Stock finish on a mixed note ahead of holidays NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Share prices closed on a mixed note on the stock market today on selective buying by domestic funds while foreign funds earned profit at technology counters, placing the DSE index higher by 1.60 points at 842.62. Trading activity was restricted as major players refrained from creating new portfolio considering the next three days, including Monday, are holidays. Sentiment of the market continued to be weak after yesterday’s terrorists attack on the Parliament House. Foreign institutional investors were almost net sellers in technology shares which remained subdued for major part of the session. ‘Technology shares were weak at the opening and extended losses in late trade’, said a DSE broker, adding that fund activity was around one-fifth of the normal amount as they were confused about what lies ahead after Thursday’s attack. ‘The fall in US markets led to weakness in front-line technology shares’ he added. A steep hike in index-linked stocks of Hindustan Lever and Ranbaxy lab mainly saved the index from falling in the negative zone. Hind lever rose by Rs 4.75 at Rs 218 and Ranbaxy Lab by Rs 5 at Rs 755 on investors buying while shares of SBI, also having weightage on index lost Rs 15 at Rs 176. Cement major ACC was down by Rs 9 at Rs 164 and Reliance Industries by rupee one at Rs 310. Reliance capital and Reliance Petro also quoted lower on selling pressure. In technology sector, Infosys Technology remained subdued on lack of any support from foreign funds and surrendered Rs 90 at Rs 4170. Satyam Computer was down by Rs 9.50 at Rs 247 and DSQ Software by rupee one at Rs.62 on profit selling. (PTI) |
|
|
|