 |
|
UP expects record ALLAHABAD, Dec 18: A record 45 lakh metric tonnes of sugar is expected to be produced during the current crushing season in Uttar Pradesh, State Cane Development and Medical Education Minister Dr NKS Gaur said here today. ....more NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Cruising well on a notable recovery in freight rates at the beginning of the year 2001, shipping sector saw a reversal of fortunes ....more ICRA
downgrades NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency, ICRA has downgraded the outstanding LBBB rating (watch with....more PHDCCI
calls for NEW DELHI, Dec 18: The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has called for bold and innovative measures...more |
 |
IDBI’s net profit up PATNA, Dec 18: Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) has earned net profit of Rs 32.95 crore till September 30 during the financial year 2001-2002 as compared to Rs 1.80 crore during the corresponding period last year. ......more Oppn
wants Govt not to THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 18: CPI(M) politburo member and leader of the opposition in the Kerala Assembly V S Achuthanandan today urged the .......more Gold
gain further ground NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Gold prices picked up on the bullion market today on restricted arrivals in the face of scattered buying for the marriage season...more Haryana delivers 4.04 lakh tonne rice for Central pool CHANDIGARH, Dec 18: The Haryana Government has so far delivered 4.04 lakh tonne of rice to the Food Corporation of India for the central pool, a ........more |
 |
|
|
|
|
NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Cruising well on a notable recovery in freight rates at the beginning of the year 2001, shipping sector saw a reversal of fortunes when a single day’s events put it on the backfoot for the fourth year in succession. The September 11 terrorists attacks in the US affected the recovery in tanker and dry cargo freight thereby reducing profitability of shipping companies as freight rates came down and insurance premiums of ships went through the roof. State-owned Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), which was accorded approval for fleet expansion and entering into coastal feeder operations, could see a 38 per cent drop in its profitability this fiscal mainly due to 0.05 per cent extra war-risk premium. Finance Ministry decided to bail out the state-owned airlines - Air India and Indian Airlines - by meeting a part of their outgo on extra war-risk premium, but the shipping industry had to bear the brunt of extra levy in a market that is nearing the downturn cycle. Post-September 11, oil prices declined and cargo movements slowed down, affecting bottomlines of even private sector companies like Essar shipping and Great Eastern shipping. Port sector witnessed a flurry of activity in 2001. While container traffic grew, the total TEUS handled across all the ports was still less than the tenth port among developing countries. The top two ports in the world (Hong Kong and Singapore), classified as being in the developing countries, handled over 16 million TEUS, that is over 8 times the total TEUS handled at all Indian ports. The year 2001 also witnessed India’s progress with LNG shipping going awry. The Greenfield shipping company, formed for transporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Oman to Enron-promoted Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra, fell with troubles at DPC. Its newly-built tanker, LNG Laxmi, could not see Indian coasts as Enron refused to put in more funds. Joint venture partners, SCI and Mitsui Osk Lines of Japan, finally took delivery of the ship but had to charter it to Oman Government as status of Enron’s planned LNG facility was not clear. There was also trouble on the much-awaited LNG policy front with Ministries squabbling to have their way. Cabinet deferred a decision on integrated LNG policy following sharp differences among Ministries over providing fiscal incentives and mode of gas imports. While Finance Ministry was opposed to Petroleum Ministry and Shipping Ministry proposal for substituting the present tax regime for shipping with a tonnage tax wing imports, Power Ministry observed that mode of LNG shipping should not be regulated. Petroleum Ministry, on the other hand, wanted to regulate LNG import. Another issue that surfaced in 2001 was that most of the containers from/to Indian ports were serviced by feeder vessels for/after trans-shipment at the ports in Colombo, the Middle East or Singapore. Except Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), all other ports handled transshipped container anywhere from 80 to 100 per cent. The year was wasted without addressing the issues of draft restrictions and congestion at ports. Good multi-modal evacuation infrastructrue remained a problem.(PTI) |
|
ICRA downgrades CESC debenture NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency, ICRA has downgraded the outstanding LBBB rating (watch with developing implications) assigned to the Rs 155 crore non-convertible debenture programme of CESC Limited to LBBB. The revised rating indicates inadequate safety. The timely payment of interest and principal are more likely to be affected by present or prospective changes in business and economic circumstances. ICRA has assigned a CT1 grade to Jaypee Ventures Limited (JVL), indicating very strong project engineering capacity. The prospects of good technical design services and the ability to pay liquidated damages for non-conformance with contract are highest, an ICRA press note said today. (UNI) |
|
PHDCCI calls for innovative measures to reverse slowdown NEW DELHI, Dec 18: The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has called for bold and innovative measures in the forthcoming budget to reverse the slowdown in the economy witnessed in the current fiscal year and also for consensus political approach for carrying out the second phase of economic reforms without delay or dilution. PHDCCI President Arun Kapur said that as per present indications, the fiscal year is likely to end without achieving growth targets of GDP, industry, agriculture and service sector as well as of fiscal deficit, disinvestment, savings and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The deteriorating performance of infrastructure sector, negative growth in capital goods industry, hardening of interest rates and increased Government borrowings are areas of concern and call for corrective action including passage of all pending economic bills and speedier decisions on economic issues, Mr Kapur said. The chamber in its pre-budget memorandum has pleaded for abolition of mat since it has reduced corporate savings and profitability, compelling companies to postpone their investment plans for modernisation and expansion. The thrust of PHDCCI’s suggestions in the area of central excise, customs and service tax for the year 2002-03 include enlarging the tax base, a judicious reduction in central excise duty rates, a gradual phased duty reduction in the peak rate of customs duty including selective rationalisation along with other NTB measures on imported goods whose levels of prices and imports seriously threaten the domestic industry. Increasing overdependence on central excise in the context of revenue compulsions needs to be moderated and reduced to more objective levels. There should be three rates of excise duty namely eight per cent, 16 per cent and 24 per cent which is the maximum rate besides the duty exemption rate. According to PHDCCI, the Special Excise Duty (SED) should be reduced to eight per cent so that the maximum rate should not be above 24 per cent. The rate of 16 per cent in addition to cenvat duty at 16 per cent creates a sudden jump from 16 per cent to 32 per cent which is not progressive. More goods should be brought under the MRP based assessable value system by giving a liberal abatement after taking into account all PME, costs and costors not related to manufacture, the chamber says. (UNI) |
|
IDBI’s net profit up by Rs 32.95 cr PATNA, Dec 18: Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) has earned net profit of Rs 32.95 crore till September 30 during the financial year 2001-2002 as compared to Rs 1.80 crore during the corresponding period last year. IDBI Chairman J S Verma told reporters after inaugurating the first branch of the bank here, that the net interest income of the bank had jumped by 87 per cent to Rs 82.8 crore and net interest margins grew from two per cent to 2.59 per cent. Announcing attractive interest rates in the short and long term loans, Verma said, "we believe that we can put customers’ cash surpluses to great use and that is why we have to increase the rate of interest to 5.5 per cent for 15 to 30 days and 6.5 per cent for 31 to 45 days.’’ For long-term saving horizons, he said the bank had increased the rate of interest to 8.55 per cent for more than one year tenure and "I believe this will be one of the highest rates of interest amongst banks in India." Verma claimed that at just 11 per cent per annum, IDBI’s home loans were the cheapest in the market. (PTI) |
|
Oppn wants Govt not to sign MoU with centre THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 18: CPI(M) politburo member and leader of the opposition in the Kerala Assembly V S Achuthanandan today urged the Antony Government to desist from the move to sign a "letter of intent" on fiscal reforms with the Centre. Talking to newsmen here, he said the Antony Government had agreed to exchange a letter of intent with the Centre as a prelude to signing a MoU with it as part of the effective and strict implementation of the Centre’s "anti-people" liberalisation and globalisation policies. He disputed Mr Antony’s claim that the CPI(M)-led West Bengal Government had also signed a letter of intent with the Centre on fiscal reforms. The West Bengal Government has neither signed any such agreement with the Centre nor implemented any fiscal reforms as part of the same, he added. Infact, it has strongly opposed imposition of fiscal restructuring plans with regard to reducing the revenue deficit of states, he said. The policy of the West Bengal Government in this matter has been pronounced very clearly by that State’s Finance Minister at the sixth meeting of the inter-state council held at New Delhi on May 20, 2000, the CPI (M) leader said. Mr Achuthanandan said it was ridiculous that the Antony Government had agreed to implement the fiscal policies of the centre, as dictated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), to get a financial assistance of just Rs 43 crore for the next financial year from the "incentive fund" floated as per the suggestion of the Eleventh Finance Commission. He pointed out that even the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh had opposed the Centre’s "retrograde" move to wreck the state’s constitutionally-guaranteed freedom and supremacy to formulate and implement its own fiscal policies. By signing the letter of intent, the states would have to surrender its financial freedom and supremacy to the Centre, he said, adding that it was precisely the reason why the previous Marxist-led Nayanar Government had opposed the move of the centre on the fiscal reforms. Mr Achuthanandan said even many Congress (I)- ruled states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, had also opposed the Centre’s move. (UNI) |
|
Gold gain further ground on restricted arrivals NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Gold prices picked up on the bullion market today on restricted arrivals in the face of scattered buying for the marriage season and notched up fresh ground to close with moderate gains. On the other hand, silver which was in keen demand in last few trading session faced a steady inflow of new arrivals and fell back. Marketmen said trading was restricted due to tight money market position but gold was better as arrival from other states was restricted due to security reasons. They said silver was lower as new stocks coming from official channels, against restricted buying as the festival season was over, mainly pressed the prices. Standard gold and ornaments were higher by Rs.15 each at Rs.4600 and Rs.4450 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign held unchanged at Rs.3800 per piece of eight gram. Silver ready declined by Rs.40 at Rs.7265 per kilo while weekly-based delivery lost Rs.35 at Rs.7275 per kilo as speculators refrained from doing fresh business fearing a fall in its value in next few days. Silver coins were held unchanged in limited trading and quoted at Rs.11,500/11,600 per 100 pieces. Following were today’s quotations: silver ready 7265 and delivery 7275. Silver coins buyer 11,500 and seller 11,600 standard gold 4600, ornaments 4450 and sovereign 3800. (PTI) |
|
Haryana delivers 4.04 lakh tonne rice for Central pool CHANDIGARH, Dec 18: The Haryana Government has so far delivered 4.04 lakh tonne of rice to the Food Corporation of India for the central pool, a spokesman of Food and Supplies Department said here today. Out of this, more than 1.60 lakh tonne of levy rice had been contributed by the millers, over 95,000 tonne by HAFED, 68,188 tonne by Food and Supplies Department, 28,449 tonne by Haryana Agro Industries Corporation and 23,876 tonne by CONFED, the spokesman said. He said over 31.72 lakh tonne of paddy had arrived in the mandis of Haryana till yesterday as against 30.14 lakh tonne during the corresponding period last year. Out of the total paddy arrival, over 15.75 lakh tonne had been purchased by the government agencies at minimum support price and over 15.96 lakh tonne by the private traders which included 7.15 lakh tonne of Basmati. He said that out of the total arrivals, 22.65 lakh tonne of paddy was of grade ‘A’ variety and over 1.91 lakh tonne of common variety. (PTI) |
|
|