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chemicals, engineering Cos badly hit in first half MUMBAI, Feb 18: Post-tax profitability of automobiles and ancillary companies, industrial chemicals and.......more Reliance, Infosys LONDON, Feb 18: Two Indian companies - Reliance Industries and Infosys - have been voted....more FIIs net buyers in MUMBAI, Feb 18: The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in both equities.....more NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Despite the fall in foodgrains output and projected lower growth....more |
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India can
attract $100 bln infrastructure investment NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Leading industrialist Srichand P Hinduja has said India can attract Foreign Direct . ....more Web sites for beginners DREIEICH, Feb 18: A web site of one’s own: That ultimately becomes a goal of many surfers. Yet relatively ......more India’s leading BERLIN, Feb 18: India, which is the leading exporter of leather handbags to Germany, has been....more Potassic fertilisers are NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Unlike urea, potash and phosphatic the two decontrolled fertilisers....more |
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Industrial chemicals, engineering Cos badly hit in first half MUMBAI, Feb 18: Post-tax profitability of automobiles and ancillary companies, industrial chemicals and engineering companies was badly hit in the first half of the current fiscal. According to a Reserve Bank study, the post-tax profits of engineering companies as well automobile and ancillary firms dropped steeply by 18.1 per cent and 59.1 per cent respectively during the first half ended September, 2000. Basic industrial chemical industry also posted a decline of 16.3 per cent in profit after tax. However, post-tax profits of iron and steel producing firms doubled during the period, recording a rise of 151.9 per cent. Similarly, profits of electrical machinery companies rose by 54.9 per cent. Industries like cement, construction and textiles did not not perform well registering a substantial fall in pre and post tax profits during the first half of 2000-01. The study prepared by the corporate studies division of the Reserve Bank, covered 1060 non-Government non-financial public limited companies, which accounted for 24.5 per cent of the paid-up capital of the total industrial segment falling under the category. The study was based on the first two quarters of these companies for the year 2000-01. The study said the performance of the private corporate sector during the first half of the year was characterised by improved growth in sales and deceleration in profits. Though sales growth at 15.3 per cent in the first half was higher by more than three percentage points as compared to 12.1 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, gross profits decelerated, rising by 9.5 per cent as compared to the 12.2 per cent growth witnessed in the first half of the previous year (1999-2000). Of the 1060 select firms, 772 companies reported post-tax profits in the period under review as against 804 companies in the corresponding period of the previous year. Post-tax profits rose by 11.3 per cent, about four percentage points lower than that in the half-year ended September, 1999. While sales rose by 15.3 per cent to Rs 1,53,840 crore, expenditure of these companies moved up by 16.5 per cent to Rs 1,33,300 crore, about one percentage point higher than the growth in sales. The study also observed that the rates of growth and profitability also varied according to the size of paid-up capital. While sales and expenditure of large companies rose by 17.1 per cent and 18.4 per cent respectively, about 280 companies having a capital size of Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore recorded a lower growth in sales at 14.2 per cent and expenditure at 15.5 per cent. On the other hand, post-tax profits of companies in the capital size of Rs 5 to 10 crore, at 20.4 per cent and for those in the size class of Rs 15 to 25 crore, at 19.7 per cent, recorded impressive rise. In respect of the top companies, the rise in post-tax profits was much lower at 11.9 per cent. These companies operated with sales margin of 12.6 per cent. (UNI) |
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Reliance, Infosys among best managed companies in Asia LONDON, Feb 18: Two Indian companies - Reliance Industries and Infosys - have been voted as the best managed companies in their field in asia. According to the fifth annual survey of the best managed companies in Asia, Reliance Industries tops the petrochemicals sector for the second year in a row, while Infosys leads the Information Technology (IT) sector. The results of the survey were published in the latest issue of Euromoney Magazine. Reliance Industries, India’s largest private sector company, recorded sales turn over of Rs 21,564 crores (4,619 million dollars) and net profit of Rs.2,106 crores (451 million dollars) for the nine months ended December 31,2000. In the IT sector, two other Indian companies NIIT and Wipro have taken the second and third position while in the construction sector Gujarat Ambuja occupies the second place next to Malaysia’s gamuda. In the iron and steel sector, Tata Iron and Steel (TISCO) emerge as the third best managed company next only to ponang iron and steel of Korea and Jakarta Kyoei Steel of Indonesia. In the leisure sector, India’s East India Hotels come third next to Shangri-La Asia of Hong Kong and Star Cruises of Malaysia. The survey says, in 1999, Infosys was listed on the New York’s NASDAQ Exchange and it has soared from 34 dollars to over 270 dollars. Infosys was an unknown company back in 1992. But thanks to the IT revolution the company Chairman M R Narayanamurthy and six co-founders are all multimillionaires today. (PTI) |
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FIIs net buyers in equities, debt MUMBAI, Feb 18: The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in both equities and debt at Rs 857.7 crore (USD 184.3 million) and Rs 29.7 crore (USD 6.4 million) respectively for the week ended February 16. FIIs were net buyers in equities on all the five trading days of the week while they were net sellers to the tune of Rs 11.4 crore (USD 2.5 mn) in debt on February 12, according to data available with Securities and Exchange Board of India. On February 14, the foreign funds were net buyers in equities at Rs 399.8 crore (USD 85.9 mn), highest in reporting week, followed by Rs 182.3 crore (USD 39.2 mn) and Rs 151.9 crore (USD 32.6 mn) on February 16 and 12 respectively. The BSE sensitive index fell sharply by 107.67 points on February 16. On the previous day, it had gained 74.88 points to close at 4437.99. The sensex rose by over 360 points in the last four weeks. On the debt front, FIIs remained net buyers at Rs 25.4 crore (USD 5.5 mn) on February 13 and Rs 15.7 crore (USD 3.4 mn) on the last day of the week. No transactions were conducted on February 14 and 15. SEBI data on mutual funds for the four days beginning February 12 showed that they were net sellers in equities at Rs 482.06 crore and net buyers in debt at Rs 25.51 crore. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Despite the fall in foodgrains output and projected lower growth rate for the agricultural sector during the current year (2000-2001), the food stocks with the Government are bound to go up from 44.5 million tonnes (November 2000) to 55-60 million tonnes by the end of June next, according to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) review of the economy. This is mainly because of the increase in the procurement of both wheat and rice during the current marketing season. The procurement of wheat during the current marketing year was 16.4 million tonnes, up by 15.6 per cent form last year’s record procurement of 14.1 million during the corresponding period. Likewise, the rice procurement during the 1999-2000 marketing year (October-September) went up by about 46.48 per cent over the previous year. During the current marketing year (2000-2001), an 8 per cent increase in the procurement trend has been expected. The northern states had successfully pressurised the central government into procuring even wheat below the prescribed quality norms. Likewise, the Centre had to undertake procurement of rice in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar under political pressure. Another reason for the increase in stocks was the upward revision of the 1999-2000 foodgrains production level from the record 205.9 million tonnes to 208.9 million tonnes due to upgrading of the rice and wheat output. NCAER study said disposing-of such a high level of stocks was going to be a challenge to the policy makers in the face of falling offtake from the PDS (Public Distribution System) and prevailing low prices in the international market. A well thought out food-for-work programme suited to various regions of the country only could help salvage the situation. But this would largely depend upon the prices at which the grains are distributed and the sort of innovative progrmmes designed and planned for various parts of the country , it pointed out. The combined offtake of both rice and wheat from the PDS during the first seven months of the current year(April-October) was about 8.3 million tonnes, 21.8 per cent lower over the corresponding period of last year. The open market sales of wheat have remained a non-starter as the issue prices were much higher. The oil-for-food barter offered by the United Nations too is not of much help as it would take only 1-1.5 million tonnes of wheat. Possibility of rice export too is low due to the price depression in international market. During the first two quarters of the current year (2000-2001) rice production has gone down by 2.1 per cent and that of coarse grains by 1.5 per cent over the corresponding period last year. This is mainly due to the low rainfall in the north-western states and floods in West Bengal and Assam. However, the study noted some silver lining in the agricultural production trends. The output of pulses has shown a 14.6 per cent increase during the kharif season over last kharif’s output. Similarly, output of cotton is likely to exhibit a 9.8 per cent growth over the preceding year’s harevst. (UNI) |
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India can attract $100 bln infrastructure investment NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Leading industrialist Srichand P Hinduja has said India can attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of 100 billion dollars in infrastructure sector through ‘clear and simple’ procedural norms and push annual GDP growth to over 10 per cent. "India is quite capable of attracting an FDI of 100 billion (US) dollars from developed nations for infrastructure growth if only clear and simple procedural norms could be introduced by Government to make it easier to bring in money", he said in a statement here. He said the forthcoming budget must be investor-friendly and attract funds for infrastructure growth. Advocating a three-pronged strategy called "reforms, reforms and more reforms", Hinduja said the increased flow of foreign investment will lift growth past the 10 per cent level and help bring millions above the poverty line. According to Hinduja, the developed economies are "readying for a recessionary phase and this is just the right time for India to attract foreign investment". He said the first and most important set of reforms are needed in the electoral field and the "Government of India should swiftly usher in fundamental electoral reforms that would discourage the parallel economy and shrink it". "This in turn will eliminate political uncertainty, horse trading of elected candidates and divisiveness created on the basis of caste and religious rhetoric", Hinduja, who is also the Chairman of Indusind International Federation, said. He said donation to political parties should be regulated as per open and transparent norms and accepted as approved expenditure for tax purposes. "This is the only way to remove corruption and crime". He said after consultations with their regional representatives in the US, Europe and Middle East, it was felt that "brave steps were now required by the Government to change the investment climate in the country and usher in a free enterprise regime that could dramatically change India’s future for the better". Hinduja felt though strong and courageous steps have already been taken to open up the Indian economy and reduce institutional control, much more remains to be done if India is to become the "economic powerhouse it is destined to be". The leading industrialist said Indian business houses could no more afford to seek protection from the Government and have to be strong, independent, forward looking and committed to the highest standards of excellence. (PTI) |
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Web sites for beginners DREIEICH, Feb 18: A web site of one’s own: That ultimately becomes a goal of many surfers. Yet relatively few people have the programming knowledge necessary to present themselves properly on the web. This obstacle can be overcome with the aid of software designed to create web sites on a home computer. Based on the principle of modular construction, the programs translate whatever a user creates on his or her screen into correct programming language. The software web studio, from Sierrahome software, for example, helps surfers build a site exactly to their specifications. Users can choose from more than 100 ready-for-use web page templates, simply filling in their own details. In addition, over 25,000 images, 2,300 background motifs, 1,600 animations, and 300 sounds are available for use. Everything works visually, using drag-and-drop, which means that even first-timers should find it easy to use. The accompanying instructions, which give strategy advice on web site layout, are especially interesting: "One must be clear right from the beginning about the goal of the site. This means thinking over carefully where visitors will be able to go by clicking through the site, and then building out those sections accordingly," says Jens Schaefer, a software producer at European game maker Havas Interactive. Schaefer adds, however, that top priority must go to the ideas: Home page owners must be clear about what their site will be able to do and what functionality visitors will get out of it. Web studio can be downloaded in a trial version from http://www.Sierrahome.Com/software/catalog/web. Another affordable all-inclusive package is webeasy, offered by the firm Ixla. Webeasy is a personal domain and home page editing programs geared toward beginners. "Setting up a home page has never been as cheap as it is now," says Ixla’s Eyla Hassenpflug. Users must also count on an additional one-time fee of around 25 dollars to cover the cost of registering the web site name. You can download webeasy at www.Ixla.Com. Those in the know often recommend the websphere home page software from IBM. "For us it was important that laypeople could also use our program," says Chistopher Daerr, Marketing Manager at IBM. "At the same time we wanted to provide these users with a tool that could be used to build a professional quality site." To this end first-time users are offered the aid of an animated assistant to walk them through the process of building a site. At various points in the process the user can take a step back from the work in progress to gauge whether everything is right. "One click launches a browser that pulls up a real version of how the work looks," says Daerr. To insure cohesiveness of design, one single program mode is used to coordinate all of the fine detail settings at once. Search for websphere at www.Ibm.Com. One current vogue in home page construction centers on the development of ever more impressive buttons. The graphics tool buttonfly, at www.Buttonfly.Com/us/home.Asp, simplifies the construction of these visual controls. "One can see this trend returning to a lot of web sites right now," says Buttonfly’s Stefan Blomberg. And the functionality of buttons is not to be underestimated, he claims. "They offer a window for the user to see what’s hidden beyond that next click." With buttonfly, buttons can be outfitted with reliefs, shadowing, textures, or blurring. Anything the user designs is automatically converted into GIF and JPEG formats - the standard for web graphics. "One can produce an entire series of buttons with no effort at all," says Blomberg. (DPA) |
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India’s leading position in
leather BERLIN, Feb 18: India, which is the leading exporter of leather handbags to Germany, has been accorded "partner country" status at the Offenbach International Leather Goods Spring Fair. The honour was bestowed on India in acknowledgement of its "leading position" as a leather production and supply country by the fair authorities — Messe Offenbach — reaffirming the close leather ties between Germany and India. The theme "go leather— go India" under which India is presenting itself at the three-day fair at offenbach, near Frankfurt, is an invitation to the German leather industry to focus its attention towards the important sector of the Indian industry, a fair official said. India has the largest number of exhibitors (19) among the 19 countries at the fair which shows international leather collection novelties and the latest fashion hits for midsummer and beginning at autumn. A special "India vibes" fashion show each day featuring 10 German models showcasing novelties in high fashion Indian leather bags, wallets, travel luggage, belts kicking off new trends for this year is the highlight of the fair that opened yesterday. An India evening was held at the fair grounds last night which was attended among others by India’s Ambassador Ronen Sen and the Chairman of India’s Council for Leather Experts (CLE) Mr Mohammed Hashim. (PTI) |
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Potassic fertilisers are becoming unafforadable NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Unlike urea, potash and phosphatic the two decontrolled fertilisers- are becoming unaffordable for the farmers as their prices, being determined by the market forces, have registered a sharp increase over the years, says a parliamentary standing committee report. This has led to an imbalance in the use of three main ingredients of fertlisers needed for the crops which include urea for N, DAP (phosphatic) for ‘P’ and muriate of potash for ‘K’. The ideal ratio of 4:2:1 for N, P and K has got seriously distorted to 4.9:1.35:0.5 in 1992-93 and then to 4:1.19:0.26, says the eleventh report on demand, availability and import of potassic fertilisers. Besides this, consumption of phosphate and potash, which was growing at the rate of 10.74 and 8.38 per cent annually before they were decontrolled in 1992-93, remained stagnant till 1996-97, and thereafter went down by 20.9 per cent and 46.7 per cent respectively. The companies which are producing complex NPK fertiliser have also not played a significant role in improving the ratio consumption. The Government has also failed to achieve its declared objective of reducing the subsidy by decontrolling the potash and phosphatic fertilisers since the ad hoc concessions (another name for subsidy) for them have gone up by about 10 times over the period. In addition to this, the Government has not evolved any long-term policy to attract the industry as well as farming any plausible policy in the interests of the farmers. The urea is still a controlled fertillser whose prices have gone up from Rs 3060 per metric tonne in 1992-93 to Rs 4600 pmt in 1999-2000 (5033 per cent hike). In the same period DAP prices increased from Rs 4680 pmt to Rs 8900 pmt (90.17 per cent) and that of mop from Rs 1700 pmt to Rs 4255 pmt(150.29 per cent). Unlike urea, the committee points out, there has been no proper monitoring of supply of potash and phosphatic fertilisers in the country as the private sector is not coming forward because of lack of a long-term policy as also because the selling prices of these decontrolled fertilisers is being fixed by the State Governments. The states are, in fact, responsible for making the payment of the ‘concession’ (subsidy) to the producers and importers. Since the country does not have commercially exploitable reserves,the entire requirement of potash is met through imports. The import of mop almost doubled during the past four years from 16.27 lakh metric tonnes in 1996-97 to 29.75 lakh mts in 1999-2000. In this context,the standing committee suggested that the Government should evolve a financial package to tempt the companies to go in for joint ventures abroad for setting up units in the USA, Africa and the West Asian countries having potash reserves. At the same time, the committee asked the Government not to rely on private companies and market forces for import of potash fertilisers and suggested that the Indian Potash Limited (IPL), presently engaged in imports, be utilised to the maximum extent. The committee also took serious objection to division of various subjects relating to fertilisers between the Central Government’s departments-Department of Fertilisers under the Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry and Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under the Agriculture Ministry. One of them regulates the imports while the other administers quality control. The committee said that matter related to fertilisers be dealt with at one place. (UNI) |
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