|
|
When WB visits the NEW DELHI, June 24: The World Bank went to the farmers’ doorsteps last week. "Namaste so, how are you all," a smiling bank . . ....more CII
urges Govt for KOLKATA, June 24: Alarmed over the poor growth in the core sector, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the Government to take .....more FIIs
net buyers in MUMBAI, June 24: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in equities and debt at Rs 196.3 crore (USD 41.9 million) and Rs 268.2 crore...more Indo-Pak
trade in NEW DELHI, June 24: Amidst the hype of the Agra summit between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf, the...more |
 |
Indian hotel industry NEW DELHI, June 24: In sharp contrast to the slow growth of tourism, the Indian hotel industry is bullish about its performance in the current financial. ...more NEW DELHI, June 24: The annual inflation rate fell marginally by 0.08 percentage points to 5.44 per cent for the week ended June nine, despite a...more Govt considering proposal to blend ethanol with petrol KOLKATA, June 24: In a bid to reduce the country’s oil import bill, the Government is considering a proposal of blending ethanol with petrol and....more HP Govt plans to increase area under floriculture SHIMLA, June 24: The Himachal Pradesh Government plans to increase area under floriculture in the state by about ten times in as many years.......more |
 |
|
|
|
CII urges Govt for immediate measures KOLKATA, June 24: Alarmed over the poor growth in the core sector, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the Government to take immediate measures such as major infrastructure regulatory reform and an increase in Government spending. Commenting on the highly depressing growth scenario during the first few months of the current fiscal, CII President Sanjiv Goenka told PTI here that growth prospects during the remaining portion of the year depended on government policy. "A lot needs to be done in the area of infrastructure", Goenka said while expressing optimism that growth might still top six per cent by the year end if appropriate action was taken by the Government. He cautioned that in the absence of any major infrastructure reform the growth scenario would continue to be the same through the year. While stressing that growth during the year depended on investment in the infrastructure sector, Goenka said, "Government spending will have to come and at the same time Government will have to legislate for reform in the infrastructure sector". The comments by the President of CII, the largest representative body of Indian industry, came a day after the Ministry of Commerce released the figures for the month of May 2001 which showed a negative growth rate of 0.5 per cent in the infrastructure sector. (PTI) |
|
FIIs net buyers in equities, debt MUMBAI, June 24: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in equities and debt at Rs 196.3 crore (USD 41.9 million) and Rs 268.2 crore (USD 57.2 million) respectively for the trading week ended June 22. The mutual funds, however, were net sellers in equities at Rs 2.46 crore and net buyers in debt at Rs 266.56 crore for four days beginning June 18, according to the data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) here. FIIs did not transact any offloading activity in debt for all the five days, the highest purchases being on the first day of the week, at Rs 100 crore (USD 21.3 mn). On June 20, the foreign funds bought and sold equities worth Rs 236.6 crore and Rs 126.5 crore, thus turning into net buyers at Rs 110.1 crore (USD 23.5 mn). They remained net sellers for only one trading day (June 19) at Rs 33.4 crore (USD 7.1 mn), SEBI said. The BSE sensitive index which had fallen by about 287 points in the last three weeks, fluctuated in a range between 3427.75 and 3295.34 before ending the week at 3381.76 as against last weekend’s close of 3372.94, gain of 8.82 points. The data on MFs shows that they were net sellers in equities for three days with the highest being on June 21 at Rs 4.69 crore. MFs, in debt, were net buyers on all four days. They bought and offloaded instruments worth Rs 182.15 crore and Rs 54.49 crore respectively on June 20, thus netting purchases of Rs 127.66 crore, followed by Rs 90.05 crore on the previous day. (PTI) |
|
Indo-Pak trade in shackles, industry pins hopes on summit NEW DELHI, June 24: Amidst the hype of the Agra summit between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf, the Indo-Pakistan trade continues to remain in shackles. "There is no free trade with Pakistan which you normally do. Whatever trade volume is there, it is all controlled", Deputy Director General of the Confederation of Indian industry S Sen told UNI. CII, which is lobbying with the Ministry of External Affairs for including the business element in the Musharraf visit, hopes that the Agra summit should pave the way for opening up trade between the two neighbours. Given the size of the two economies, there is a tremendous scope for improving bilateral trade which hovers around Rs 1000 crore. India’s exports of about Rs 750 crore to Pakistan is 0.25 per cent of the country’s total exports. Likewise, Pakistan’s exports of about Rs 284 crore is 0.14 per cent of India’s total imports. According to Mr Sen, the trade and business with Pakistan can be done within a limit of 670 odd items. Restrictions were imposed on the trade for historically not-too-friendly relations with Pakistan. All this needs to change, the CII senior functionary said and added that the trade can be used as an important confidence building measure. No wonder, the apex Indian chamber is in constant touch with the federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce in the run-up to the Musharraf visit. Data monitored by the Commerce Ministry shows that sugar was on top of the tally for India’s total exports to Pakistan for April-February 2000-2001. For Pakistan, the main items of export to India were fruits and nuts. Out of its total export of Rs 283.63 crore to India in 2000-2001 (April-February), fruits and nuts excluding cashew nuts accounted for Rs 113.12 crore. Besides sugar, India exports a sizeable amount of drugs, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals to Pakistan. Bulk of the bilateral trade is accounted for by the merchandise items like sugar, fruits, pulses, oil meals etc. There is no export/import of machinery, engineering item because of different restrictions. The earlier arrangement of the South Asia Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) did not really help when it came to Pakistan. Under the first and second rounds of SAPTA negotiations, India had granted tariff concessions on a total of 383 products at six-digit level to Pakistan at a preferential rate of 10 per cent. In return India received tariff concession of 10 per cent in respect of 265 products at six-digit level. In the third round of sapta negotiations, India granted tariff preferences in respect of 18 products with 20 per cent concessions, while receiving concessions on an equal number of products with the same rate of tariff preference. (UNI) |
|
Indian hotel industry is bullish about its performance NEW DELHI, June 24: In sharp contrast to the slow growth of tourism, the Indian hotel industry is bullish about its performance in the current financial year, expecting a higher occupancy in major cities and tourist destinations. A ‘business confidence survey’ carried out of 100 hotels in 45 cities this month, by the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations (FHRAI) has revealed that 86 per cent of the establishments are forecasting that their occupancy will go up during 2001-2002. The statistics, according to FHRAI Secretary General Shyam Suri, show the business confidence of hotels in Chennai, Goa and Mumbai is very high as 100 per cent feel that the occupancy will go up during the current financial year as compared to 2000-2001. Mr Suri said FHRAI also conducts a similar survey in December. Although hotels give a more optimistic estimation compared to ground realities, the survey represents the correct scenario. For example, during last year’s survey, as projected, 100 per cent of hotels in Delhi reported a higher occupancy. With 86 per cent indicating that their business is going to go up, the hotel industry is in for an excellent performance. Also, 76 per cent of these hotels—5 star deluxe, 5 star, 4 star, 3 star and 2 star—have reported on an all india basis that their Average Room Rate (ARR) will increase in 2001-2002. The lowest confidence level in achieving a higher ARR is in Mumbai where only 50 per cent of the hotels feel there is going to be an increase. But this is on the expected lines, says FHRAI. As compared to Chennai, Goa and Mumbai, in three other cities—Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune—75 per cent of the hotels think their occupancy and ARR will increase. Between October 2001 and September 2002, 59 per cent of hotels have said they will retain their present room tariffs. While 16 per cent have said they will marginally raise it by 5 per cent, 14 per cent have indicated that the hike will be over 5 per cent and 11 per cent convey that it will be more than 10 per cent. City-wise 75 per cent of hotels in Delhi, Goa, Mumbai and Pune have said they will hold on to the present room tariffs. Fifty per cent of Chennai hotels say they will increase room rates and only 25 per cent in Hyderabad say they will stick with the current room tariffs. With tourist arrivals from abroad continuing to hover just above 2.3 million, the confidence of the Indian hotel industry is based on domestic tourists whose number are close to 100 million a year. (UNI) |
|
|
NEW DELHI, June 24: The annual inflation rate fell marginally by 0.08 percentage points to 5.44 per cent for the week ended June nine, despite a perceptible increase in the prices of primary articles due to a sharp 1.3 per cent rise in the price of non-food articles. The point-to-point inflation rate based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities (base year: 1993-94 = 100) stood at 5.52 per cent a week ago and was higher at 6.42 per cent in the previous year. WPI, however, rose by 0.1 per cent to 160.8 from 160.6 in the previous week. The index was 152.5 a year ago. The final WPI stood higher at 160 for the week ended April 14 compared to provisional figure of 159.6. The final inflation rate stood at 5.54 per cent for the second week of April as against the provisional level of 5.28 per cent. All India Consumer Price Index for Agricultural and Rural Labourers (base year: 1986-87 = 100) rose by two and three points in may, to stand at 303 and 306 points respectively. Primary articles became costlier and manufactured items became cheaper, while fuel products continued to remain firm for the last 13-weeks. The index for primary articles’ group rose by 0.6 per cent to 169.7 from 168.7 as food and non-food articles became costlier. The index was 164.3 in the previous year. Food articles’ group index rose by 0.4 per cent to 176 from 175.3 on account of higher prices for arhar (four per cent), jowar, urad and beef and buffalo meat (three per cent each), maize and gram (two per cent each) and rice, ragi and moong (one per cent each). However, there was two per cent dip in the price of fish-marine and one per cent for mutton. The index for non-food articles’ group rose to 158 from 156 due to costlier cotton seed and sunflower (seven per cent each), rape and mustard seed (four per cent), skins raw and fodder (three per cent each), raw cotton, raw jute and gingelly seed (two per cent each) and mesta, groundnut seed and kardi seed (one per cent each) even as copra became cheaper by one per cent. Fuel, power, light and lubricants’ group index stood firm for the 13th consecutive week at 222.7, while the index was 194.4 in the previous year. The index for manufactured products’ group fell by 0.1 per cent to 143.9 from 144 in the previous week owing to price fall for food products, textiles, non-metallic mineral items and machine tools. The index was 139.1 a year ago. (PTI) |
|
Govt considering proposal to blend ethanol with petrol KOLKATA, June 24: In a bid to reduce the country’s oil import bill, the Government is considering a proposal of blending ethanol with petrol and three pilot projects are being launched for this purpose, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ram Naik, has said. The first pilot project had already been launched in Maharastra in April, this year, while two other such projects were being started in Bareilly and Nasik, Naik said here yesterday. Naik said that initially five per cent blending of ethanol, found from sugarcane, with petrol would be done on experimental basis all over the country if the pilot projects were successful. Subsequently, the blending would be raised to ten per cent, he said at a function on the occasion of signing of gas cooperation agreement between GAIL and WBIDC. This project, he said, would reduce the country’s oil import bill and as well as benefit the sugrancane producing farmers. The Petroleum Minister said that as many as six committees were appointed in this regard since 1977 but no decision was taken earlier. Stating that 70 per cent of the country’s oil requirement was currently being imported, he said that the oil import bill had gone upto a staggering Rs 80,000 crore in 2000-2001 from Rs 25,000 crore in the previous year. The Government, he said, has taken measures to cut down the oil import bill. Thrust had been given for intensification of exploration in the country under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), he said adding that 48 blocks had already been awarded to various companies under NELP. The Petroleum Minister said that under NELP-1 round, a large block in Bengal offshore had been awarded to GAIL and Gazprom of Russia for exploration. Similarly, under NELP-II, one block in offshore Bengal and another bloc in onshore Bengal had been awarded to ONGC and IOC. Naik said that his ministry had also given thrust on possible production of gas from non-conventional gas resources and the first coal bed methene bidding round had been announced. Under this bidding round, he said, one block was being offered in the ranigunj coal field area. Turning to the import of gas from Bangladesh, the minister said country was yet to take a final decision on gas exports to India. Describing it as ‘political issue’, Naik said that talks were on with Bangladesh and expressed hope that something would come out after the election in that country. The Petroleum Minister said that the singlemost important achievement of his ministry in the past one and a half years was to make LPG connections available across the country. The waitlist which was 1.1 crore in October 1999, had been wiped out with the release of 1.27 crore LPG connections in 2000, he said. Now the Government was focussing on increasing the reach of LPG in the rural areas and there was plan to set up 1200 distributorship especially for the rural areas in the current year, he said. (PTI) |
|
HP Govt plans to increase area under floriculture SHIMLA, June 24: The Himachal Pradesh Government plans to increase area under floriculture in the state by about ten times in as many years. The area under floriculture has steadily increased from 30 hectares in 1993-94 to 154 hectares in 2000-2001 according to an official spokesman here. At present 40.70 hectares area is under cultivation of flowers in sirmour district, followed by 26.36 hectares area in Mandi district, 23.50 hectares area in Kangra district, 18.62 hectares area in Solan district, 17.24 hectares area in Chamba district and 16.15 hectares area in Shimla district. Major flowers grown in the state are gladiolus, carnation, marigold, lilies and chrysanthemums. These flowers are sold in domestic markets, especially Delhi, Chandigarh and Amritsar. Associations and cooperatives have been formed to take care of marketing of flowers. As many as 48 societies have been set up for the purpose in the state. The State Government has been providing quality seeds and nurseries to flower growers through these societies. The Department of Horticulture has undertaken registration of individual flower growers for import of improved germ plasma of flowers for use. So far 12 growers have been registered. The spokesman said to boost commercial floriculture, a model floriculture centre was being established at Mahog. A sum of Rs 46.84 lakhs had been already spent on this centre. Seven nurseries have been established in various parts of the state with objective of providing training to commercial flowers growers. The spokesman said that floriculturists were being provided scientific facilities for post harvest management of flowers. The facilities of collection, grading and packing house and cold storage are being provided in districts of Bilaspur, Mandi and Kangra. The State Government has been giving financial incentive to farmers for development of floriculture. Subsidy on packing carton at the rate of Rs ten per carton, subject to maximum Rs 15,000, is given to the farmers. In addition, subsidy is also made available to individual growers under area expansion programme for a unit of 0.2 hectares, depending upon the type of crop grown. The extent of subsidy on various crops range from Rs 4,000 to Rs 20,000. The spokesman said a model scheme for cultivation of gladiolus, carnation and lilies had been approved by the NABARD. Under the scheme credit facility for cultivation of these flowers is made available to the flower growers by commercial/cooperative banks. To acquaint farmers with latest production and post-harvest techniques, training camps and study tours are being conducted in state. Four study tours benefiting 207 farmers were conducted under a centrally sponsored scheme during the past two years. The spokesman said Rs 1.50 lakh was provided for setting up of a green house in 500 square metre area. At present, the flower business in the country is worth Rs 200 crore. Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore are the main business centrs of flowers. Research is going on in 15 centres in the country to develop new varieties of flowers. (UNI) |
|
|
