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Drastic
slump in fortune LONDON, Jan 24: There has been a drastic fall in the fortunes of London-based Indian steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, the Hinduja brothers and.......more Gujral for "democratisation" of WOrld Bank, IMF, WTO ZURICH, Jan 24: Former Prime Minister I K Gujral today sought "democratisation" of multilateral organisations like the World Bank,....more Car, commercial vehicles, scooters, MUVs sales down NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Car sales fell by 41 per cent in December 2000 at 31,847 units as against 53,760 units sold in the same month last year......more Microsoft to pay Sun 20 mln dollars in Java settlement SEATTLE, Jan 24: Software giant Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. settled a bitter, 3-year-old lawsuit, with Microsoft agreeing to pay its .....more |
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Computer
dictionary also NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Racking your brains over rom, ram, java and a whole lot of mind-boggling computer terms? relax. A computer dictionary, the first of its kind in the country, promises to leave no cyber rock unturned in answering the worries of an increasingly technology-driven India.........more ONGC to market VISAKHAPATNAM, Jan 24: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is poised to market its indigenously-developed state-of-the-art......more Quantum announces alliance with www.Chalomumbai.Com MUMBAI, Jan 24: Quantum Information Services Ltd, which owns the websites www.Equitymaster.Com and www.Personalfn.Com is announced ..more IRDA asks LPA to convert itself as risk manager NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman N Rangachary today asked the Loss Prevention ....more |
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Drastic slump in fortune of rich Asians in Britain LONDON, Jan 24: There has been a drastic fall in the fortunes of London-based Indian steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, the Hinduja brothers and steel magnate Lord Swraj Paul, during the last one year, according to the latest "Rich Report 2001" comprising top 300 British millionaires. Mittal was listed as the fourth wealthiest in Britain in the Sunday Times rich list 2000 with a fortune worth 2.2 billion pounds. The latest list drawn up by the Sunday Mail shows that Mittal’s fortune had dwindled to 1.2 billion and his position had fallen to 17th. Slump in the steel industry has knocked more than 500 million pounds off his fortune. Early last year Ispat international, the public company of which Mittal owns nearly 80 per cent, was worth more than one billion pounds. Now it is worth 270 million pounds, the report said. The total wealth of the Hinduja group chaired by S P Hinduja, which was assessed at 1.95 billion pounds in 2000, has slumped to 800 million pounds in 2001, the report said. "Close scrutiny of flagship businesses which were valued by leading management consultants at 1.05 billion pounds has revealed they are worth less than 150 million pounds on the Bombay Stock Exchange," the report said. The shares in truck naker Ashok Leyland and Hinduja Finance Corporation, which includes cable tv interests, have plunged. The report quoted a spokesman of the group as saying that the shares were undervalued. "Plans to build power stations in India have been stalled by bureaucracy and funding difficulties, although the family still owns a swiss bank and other manufacturing interests including pharmaceuticals. (PTI) |
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Gujral for "democratisation" of WOrld Bank, IMF, WTO ZURICH, Jan 24: Former Prime Minister I K Gujral today sought "democratisation" of multilateral organisations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation saying they were "non-representative and thus lacking credibility". "Globalisation is not likely to register the desired progress unless the multilateral organisations like the IMF, World Bank and the WTO are democratised," Gujral told a policy summit of the global ageing initiative here. He said his "intention is not to decry or diminish their relevance in any manner but to point out how at the very time that the international community most needs these agencies, we find them non-representative and thus lacking credibility". Delivering his key note address, Gujral suggested the US repatriate a third or so of the social security funds collected from overseas H1-B visa holders to their home Governments, which, for India, would amount to about seven billion US dollars. Terming as "unfair" non-repayment of social security payments to H1-B visa holders when they returned to India, he said in case India received the money, it would be more than the entire annual assistance New Delhi got from the World Bank and other bilateral donors. "Such repatriation will go a long way to strengthen the third world’s faith in globalisation," the former Prime Minister said. Quoting a Harvard University study, Gujral said temporary migrant labour to the US with H1-B visa from India contributed 22 billion US dollars per year in the form of direct taxes and social security payments. In this regard, he also said the Indian exchequer made "hefty" investments in educating and training these highly skilled migrants. Rejecting a charge that India’s commitment to globalisation was weak and half-hearted, he said New Delhi had never resiled or defaulted on an international obligation or a commitment that it had freely entered into. "On the contrary, we have been staunch upholders of the global system, liberally contributing men, material and resources to such common causes as have been sanctified through due process of the international community," the former Prime Minister stressed. Maintaining that the threat to globalisation came from elsewhere, he said "it is very difficult to reconcile with the problems of global way the developed nations in the WTO". He said the world trade in textile and agriculture, the main areas in which the developing countries retain a sort of comparative advantage, have been kept out of the disciplines of the world trading system. "There is a double injury in this, for quite apart from the welfare loss to the developed countries themselves, the result has been to keep most developing countries locked out of the world economy. This is hardly a happy augury for the globalised future", gujral added. (PTI) |
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Car, commercial vehicles, scooters, MUVs sales down NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Car sales fell by 41 per cent in December 2000 at 31,847 units as against 53,760 units sold in the same month last year mainly on account of sharp fall in sales of Maruti Udyog, TELCO and Hyundai. Cumulative car sales (April-December 2000-01) stood at 4.18 lakh units registering a decline of 8.3 per cent against 4.56 lakh units sold an year ago, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) here today. Commercial vehicles sales, an indicator of economic growth, fell by 33.3 per cent at 12,866 units in December from 19,297 units in the same month of the previous year. Sales of two-wheelers went down by 18.4 per cent at 2.75 lakh units compared to 3.37 lakh units in December 1999, due to a sharp 55.5 per cent drop in scooter sales with all the scooter makers like Bajaj Auto and LML posting negative sales growth. Motorcycle sales, however, recorded a 10 per cent growth during the month. Multi-Utility Vehicles (MUVs) sales pegged at 9,439 units in the review month, down by 11.6 per cent, as against 10,680 units sold in the same month last year. Sales of three-wheelers also dipped by 6.8 per cent to 16,958 units from 18,195 units an year ago. (PTI) |
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Microsoft to pay Sun 20 mln dollars in Java settlement SEATTLE, Jan 24: Software giant Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. settled a bitter, 3-year-old lawsuit, with Microsoft agreeing to pay its rival 20 million for limited use of its Java programming technology. The suit, filed by Sun in October 1997, alleged Microsoft had violated terms of its licensing agreement for Java by improperly modifying the technology so it would only work with its windows computer operating system. Sun, which makes powerful server computers and software that dish up web pages, is a perennial foe of Microsoft that has helped the US Government in its antitrust case against the Software Titan. Microsoft is appealing a federal judge’s ruling last year to split the company in two. The settlement of the suit yesterday, which had not gone to trial, lets Microsoft use Java in existing products such as its internet explorer browser, and those now in a testing phase, for the next seven years. Java is a "write-once, run anywhere" computer language that lets programs run on a variety of operating systems and devices. Microsoft critics charged that the company altered Java to try to maintain the dominance of windows. A previous five-year license and distribution agreement for Java struck in March 1996 was terminated, two months early. A microsoft countersuit was also dropped. But future Microsoft products cannot use Java, which is liberally sprinkled throughout the internet on web sites and intergraded into much web-based software. It was not immediately known how the settlement will affect Microsoft’s .Net strategy, a sweeping plan for the next several years that aims to turn Microsoft’s software into a service that can deliver data to users anywhere. Shares in Microsoft rose more than 1 dollar to 61-7/8 dollars in after-hours trading, following a rise of 7/16 on the NASDAQ. Sun shares rose almost 1 dollar to 32-7/16 dollar, up from 31-9/16 dollar in regular trading. Although the settlement laid to rest an annoying legal issue for two industry giants, it did little to temper the open scorn both companies have shown each other. "Sun has used the legal system to compete against Microsoft for the last several years," said Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan. "Both sides have had rulings lately for and against them. This was going to be costly litigation and both parties looked and said what can we do to bring this to an end." "We’re very pleased with this. It protects our customers and current products, since they are not impacted by the settlement," Cullinan said. "As you know, in this industry, seven years is a very long time." Sun also claimed triumph out of the settlement, saying it preserved the integrity of its product. "It’s pretty simple: this is a victory for our licensees and consumers," Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy said in a statement. Mcnealy has often publicly — and colorfully — called for the break-up of Microsoft, scorned its products as inferior and labeled the company a bully. "Microsoft is unwilling to accept the rules of the web. Its behavior with regard to Java, and when presented with the choice of compatibility or termination, it chose termination," Patricia Sueltz, Vice President of Sun’s Software Systems group, told a conference call. "I don’t think we gave away anything. We brought the suit, they’re writing a check for 20 million, we’ve terminated the agreement, they get to continue to distribute an outdated version of our technology, but they can’t use it for .Net, so think about it and you decide," Sueltz said. (REUTERS) |
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Computer dictionary also now available in market NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Racking your brains over rom, ram, java and a whole lot of mind-boggling computer terms? relax. A computer dictionary, the first of its kind in the country, promises to leave no cyber rock unturned in answering the worries of an increasingly technology-driven India. The ‘Webster’s new world computer dictionary’ packs computer references, the latest cutting edge terms, acronyms and jargons. Launched in the country last week, the dictionary contains more than 4,000 entries, including internet slang, to keep one untroubled online. Recognising the growing use of chat, the dictionary starts with the entry, aamof, meaning "as a matter of fact", a commonly used abbreviation on internet relay chat. The 588-page dictionary unravels the meaning of ‘hot dog’ (a site management feature), ‘sniffer’ (a programme for searching specified information), and ‘archies’ (an internet tool for finding specific files) and introduces hundreds of new words to the technology-challenged internet user. There is ‘Net.Police’ (a person or group who take upon themselves the enforcement of usenet traditions and netiquette), and ‘Net.God(des)’, which means "an individual whose lengthy experience and savvy online demeanor elevates him or her to heroic status". It also tells you what is a ‘digital signature’ and a ‘digital certificate’, and corrects that ‘Zulu’ in computer jarogn is not cricketer Lance Klusener, but ‘shorthand expression for Greenwich Mean Time’. "This is one of the latest computer dictionaries available in the world," says Vikas Gupta, Managing Director of Hungry Minds India, that has earned the reprint rights of the book in the country. The low-priced Indian edition (Rs 129), with a first print-run of 5,000 copies, will be updated every year, says Gupta. "A computer dictionary needs to be updated once in two years before technology overtakes it," he adds. Authored by Bryan Pfaffenberger, a professor at the University of Virginia’s Engineering School, the dictionary, in its 8th edition, also educates a prospective computer buyer about such terms as EDO RAM and SDRAM, a G4 and a Pentium III.(UNI) |
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ONGC to market state-of-art
tech products VISAKHAPATNAM, Jan 24: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is poised to market its indigenously-developed state-of-the-art technology products to net additional revenue in the current fiscal. The company has initiated negotiations with foreign firms like UK-based Alberta Research Council on seeking technology transfer of certain products developed by the research and development units of the ONGC, Dr Kuldeep Chandra, who is Chief Coordinator of the Corporation’s nine research wings, told UNI. "The software and procedures developed by the scientists in oil technology are unique. Such products are not available not even in the most advanced countries operating in the sector," claimed the ongc official, who is also Executive Director (R and D) of the Dehra Dun-based K D Malaviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration. The ONGC scientists have also embarked on a pioneering endeavour of extracting oil from exhaust wells using ‘Microbes’, pointed out Dr Chandra, who is here to share his experiences with the senior on-field experts of the oil industry as part of a refresher course being conducted by the corporation in collaboration with the Delta Studies Institute of the Andhra University. "With such experiments proving successful in Gujarat and Silchar (Assam) where oil-wells had ceased to flow, the scientists are now attempting to develop more microbial cultures for similar endeavours in other parts of the country," he said. The identified microbes will be cultured and pumped into the well, which would be closed for a week. The bio-enhancing activity of the microbes increases the surface tension activity of the oil in the well resulting in its subsequent recovery. "The cultured microbes help reduce the carbon-dioxide and the bio-surfectants resulting in free flow of oil that is easy for extraction from those wells which otherwise had ceased to flow." The integrated technology plans for additional oil recovery have become essential now that the it was only 87 per cent from the 14 active fields as against 265 fields discovered. Hence the efforts. "The experts can now recover five per cent more from the wells for the next one decade using in-fill well-and-water injection technologies designed by the researchers," Dr Chandra said, recalling that the ONGC researchers had of late developed what water-shut polymer jels, which could be useful for oil extraction in small off-shore fields. The technology plan, which prevented sub-surface water from coming up during oil extraction, was successfully experimented in Bombay offshore fields, he added. The Corporation also found success in its trial with the hybrid hydrocarbon-lift technology for maintaining and upgrading production from old wells at Bombay offshore. These and other state-of-the art technologies developed by the ongc are being made ‘PC-compatible’ as against their compatibility to mainframes, so that more oil companies and operators would volunteer to purchase the products. "This may yield a few million dollars additional revenue for the corporation apart from the revenue we get by marketing our technologies and services now underway," Dr Chandra noted. One of the top-class softwares and methodologies developed recently was "seismic data processing" technology using three-dimensional azimuth-cube method which could delienate the 3-d structural pattern of the oil and gas pools in the sub-surface. "This technology not only defines the exact structural dimension of the field but also its faulters, its geometry and rock alignments layer by layer." The scientists who blast a detonator to product artificial ‘seismic vibrations’ at the oil-field site capture the vibrations in the form of 3-D graph and visuals on a computer-screen on the spot, and study its patterns including dislocations, if any. The experts have simultaneously developed another software which could filter the noise so produced by the detonation and record the signals that help process the data. Dr Chandra said such a noise-filter technology using seismic migration method to filter unwanted noise during the 3-D studies was first of its kind in the world. Scientists of the developed countries are using traditional statistical methods for this task. The ONGC studies the signal impulses generated by detonations, which were recorded by ‘geophones’ set up on the field site. Added to this was another technology to estimate kinetic parametres for calculating the volume of hydrocarbons generated from the sub-surface rock structures. "This again is a unique, faster and superior technology. We have applied for a patent." Another major recent achievement was the development of an interpretative methodology using sensors and indigenous software for formulation and evaluation of resistivity, trial time, gamma count, rock strength, permeability and other parameters to facilitate oil exploration. "Once we integrate these softwares into a PC-compatible one, we are bound to net substantial revenues for the ONGC," he added. (UNI) |
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Quantum announces alliance
with MUMBAI, Jan 24: Quantum Information Services Ltd, which owns the websites www.Equitymaster.Com and www.Personalfn.Com is announced an alliance with www.Chalomumbai.Com. Under the terms of the alliance, the users of www.Chalomumbai.Com will be able to get easy and fast delivery of high quality stock research and seamlessly trade in equities through www.Eqyitymaster.Com and access personal finance related information through www.Personalfn.Com. According to a company release, the users of www.Equitymaster. Com have access to features such as portfolio tracker, live quotes, research reports, company information and many other products without any subscription charges. The information provided by a dedicated team of analysts working in www.Equitymaster.Com will enable investors to make informed decisions before entering into share transactions. Www.Personalfn.Com is a comprehensive personal finance portal that meets the information requirements of investors seeking home loans, credit,insurance,auto loans and mutual funds, the release added. (UNI) |
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IRDA asks LPA to convert itself as risk manager NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman N Rangachary today asked the Loss Prevention Association of India (LPA), formed by General Insurance Corporation and its four arms, to reposition and convert itself into a risk management organisation. "LPA has to reposition itself. The association must in due course convert itself into a risk management and risk analyser," Rangachary said at conference on `Fire safety technology in the new millennium’ organised by LPA here. Although the four subsidiaries have been recently delinked from the parent company GIC, which is to be converted into the Indian reinsurer, LPA continues to be under its fold. "I would seriously suggest that both GIC and four state-owned General Insurance Companies, and the new companies get together and try to plan for some informed and educative measure in risk management loss prevention," he said The inclusion of new companies would ensure LPA to secure a "much stronger position", the IRDA chief said. With the entry of new players, there has been increasing pressure on the existing companies to price their products on competitive lines, rangachary admitted but said pricing of new products should be determined by the market demand and supply. Pointing to the decrease in fire tariff, he said this has put pressure on insurance companies as claims ratios are strictly being checked by the regulator. "There is an urgent need (for LPA’s activities) to be market relevant. If one has to remain competitive then one has to live up by the pressure placed in its business," he asserted. (PTI) |
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