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India, Colombia agree NEW DELHI, Mar 5: India and Colombia today signed four agreements with one for according special focus to boosting....more Budget shifts onus of foodgrains procurement from centre to states NEW DELHI, Mar 5: The Union Budget has shifted the onus of procuring foodgrains......more Govt
appoints advisors NEW DELHI, Mar 5: The Government has appointed SBI capital market.....more Kerala to submit new proposal for technology mission on coconut THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Mar 5: The Kerala Government will soon submit to the Centre a revised proposal.....more |
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Exchanges told to MUMBAI, Mar 5: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today told stock exchanges to immediately reduce the threshold limit for applicability of the volatility margin from the present 80 to 60 per cent......more Operations
at KORBA, Mar 5: With operations coming to a halt at the controversial Bharat Aluminium Company’s (BALCO) plant, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi is all set to visit this industrial town as the indefinite strike by 7,500 employees entered the third day today..........more India
to capture 5 pc WASHINGTON, Mar 5: India is expected to capture five per cent of the 585 billion dollar global information technology services market within three years, taking its turnover to 30 billion.....more |
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India, Colombia agree to extend credit line, sign 4 pacts NEW DELHI, Mar 5: India and Colombia today signed four agreements with one for according special focus to boosting trade between the two countries by providing matching lines of credit of US dollars ten million each. The agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Colombian President Adres Pastrana Arango, who arrived here last night on a three-day official visit to India. Before signing the agreements, Vajpayee and Arango held wide-ranging talks to give a fresh impetus to ties between New Delhi and Bogota followed by delegation level parleys. "My visit will further strengthen bilateral relations between India and Colombia," Arango told reporters after he was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan here this morning. Arango said that country proposed to cooperate with India in the fields of computer software and education. Besides the agreement on lines of credit signed by Managing Director of EXIM Bank Y B Desai and Colombian Foreign Trade Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez De Rincon, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and his Colombian counterpart Guillermo Fernandez De Soto initialled an accord for academic cooperation between Foreign Service Institute of India and San Carlos Diplomatic Academy. Desai said while India would provide a 10 million US dollar line of credit to Colombia for boosting exports in that country, a similar amount would be given by Colombia for its exports to India. Two other agreements on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders and visa facilitation were signed by Secretary (west) in the External Affairs Ministry R S Kalha and Colombian Ambassador to India Maria Clara Betancur. During his stay, Arango will hold talks with President K R Narayanan, Vice President Krishan Kant and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. He will also have a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Arango will address a seminar on India-Colombia business organised by CII here tomorrow. (PTI) |
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Budget
shifts onus of foodgrains procurement NEW DELHI, Mar 5: The Union Budget has shifted the onus of procuring foodgrains from the centre to the states which is expected to prove ruinous for Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh which record surplus wheat and rice production. Punjab and Haryana, which together contribute more than 70 per cent of wheat and rice to the central pool, will find it difficult to moblise funds for procurement once the central agency, Food Corporation of India (FCI), moves out of the business of purchasing foodgrains, analysts observe. Together these two states account for as much as 85 per cent of wheat and along with Andhra Pradesh, they account for about 81 per cent of rice procurement of the country. The budget assertion that "financial assistance will be provided to the State Governments to enable them procure and distribute to Below Poverty Line families at subsidized rates" is a catchy proposition for the these foodgrain surplus states. These states have not been procuring foodgrains for Public Distribution System (PDS) of their respective states but for the central food kitty and enable the country to be self-sufficient in food production. The need for PDS producement in these states is almost negligible, the analysts feel. These states have been knocking at the door of the centre before every wheat and paddy crop to get enhancement in their Cash-Credit (CC) limit for mobilising funds for disbursement of money to farmers for purchase of their produce from mandis (markets) by the state-run agencies, even as these purchases would be made for the central pool. When the budget proposal will be implemented, these states are bound to face nagging problems in creating funds as the FCI would not be around to stand surety for the procured stocks. Only Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have been making purchases themselves from farmers but they do not have much surplus foodgrains to offer to the central pool. In rest of the states, the FCI procures the foodgrains directly from the farmers even as its share is always around 30 per cent. But the state agencies too make procurement for the FCI, that is, the central pool. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has already taken a serious note of the centre’s ‘washing off hands’ from the procurement of foodgrains and fixing the states’ responsibility in managing the surplus foodgrain production. Punjab Congress chief Capt Amrinder Singh also criticised the move, saying Sauomg the centre was shirking from its responsibility of fixing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat and paddy crops and wanted to privatize the trade in foodgrains. The removal of inter-state restrictions on the movement of farm produce in the budget is also a part of that scheme of things, he claimed. In the context of Punjab, the Congress leader pointed out that the state agencies had already locked up around Rs 600 crore in the procurement of paddy alone for the central pool and has to bear the interest on the amount as the stocks were not being lifted by the FCI. Similarly, around 10 million tonnes of wheat, most of the stocks belonging to state agencies, are still to be moved out of the state. From where will the State Government bring money for procurement of the coming wheat crop, estimated at 110 lakh tonnes, when it was finding it difficult to meet establishment expenses every month, Capt Amrinder Singh questioned. The inordinate delay in the announcement of the MSP for wheat by the centre is also being attributed to the thinking that has been exhibited in the budget, the analysts surmise. Now the states might have to come forward to announce their own msp for the coming wheat as they have already been doing in the case of sugarcane prices. Every year, the centre announces Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) for the sugarcane crop and the states have to fix a higher rate for the crop because of political considerations and pressure from the farming community. In fact, the analysts felt that the centre was worried as the food subsidy bill overshot the budgetary provision of Rs 8,210 crore last year (2000-01) by 47.7 per cent. The revised subsidy estimate of Rs 12,125 crore has been attributed to increase in FCI foodgrains stocks which stood at 46.51 million tonnes on February one, 2001. Thus, the centre is saddled with stocks three time more than the buffer stock requirements which cost around Rs 5500 crore to the FCI by the way of additional inventory, offsetting the saving accrued from the reduced consumer subsidy. But, the analysts argued that before shifting the liability to the surplus states, the centre should have kept in mind that these states had made remarkable contribution in making the country self-sufficient in foodgrain production and lost most of their soil nutrient value in the process. At the same time, these states have riveted to vicious wheat-paddy monoculture cycle. The farmers of these states should have been given time and financial help for diversification to other crops like pulses and oilseeds. In this context, they pointed out that even the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has given an "adjustment period of six years" to India and other developing countries before enlisting their full participation in trade-oriented agricultural regime. But the surplus states have been denied this facility also, food trade analysts felt. The sudden shifting of responsibility of procurement to the surplus states did not amount to mere "decentralisation" of procurement and implementation of the proposed dismantling of ‘Dragon-like’ FCI, but penalising the already bankrupt states and their farmers who are under heavy debt for producing more foodgrains to keep the ghost of hunger at bay. (UNI) |
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Govt appoints advisors for VSNL selloff NEW DELHI, Mar 5: The Government has appointed SBI capital market and credit suise first boston as global advisors for the disinvestment in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. The KPMG will be advisors for CMC disinvestment, officials said. The Government, in its attempt to speed up disinvestment in VSNL and CMC Ltd, has already invited ‘expression of interest’ (EOI) from the potential bidders. In the first disinvestment in the crucial Telecom sector,the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment decided on February 1, to sell 25 per cent of its equity in VSNL and transfer the management of the cash-rich firm to a strategic partner. In CMC, the CCD had decided to bring down the Government stake from 83 per cent to 26 per cent. The VSNL Board, having huge reserves of Rs 4000 crore, has been strengthened by induction of N R Narayan Murthy and Subodh Bhargava. It has been given full autonomy to enter into any new areas of business like the mobile telephony and value added services. As per the existing shareholding pattern, the Government holds 52.97 per cent of the stake in VSNL and 30 per cent is in the American Depository Receipt (ADR) while 17 per cent floats in the domestic capital market. Analysts feel that the strategic partner could pick up additional equity, over and above 25 per cent, from the ADR or domestic market and be in the driver’s seat. The sectoral cap of 49 per cent foreign direct investment in the telecom sector will continue in the case of VSNL. However, any foreign company can come and bid for CMC Ltd since 100 per cent FDI is permissible in the software services. With the Government deciding to bring its stake down to 26 per cent from 83 per cent, the strategic partner can come and buy the entire remainder of 57 per cent equity. The Department of Disinvestment has set the deadline of March 30 for receiving EoI from the potential investors.(UNI) |
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Kerala to submit new
proposal for technology THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Mar 5: The Kerala Government will soon submit to the Centre a revised proposal for technology mission on coconut, originally mooted and agreed upon during Prime Minister A B Vajpayee’s recent holidaying at Kumarakom, but subsequently rejected by the Union Agriculture Ministry. Informed sources here, however, feel that the proposed mission, on which the state has pinned high hopes, may be a non-starter. The State Agriculture Ministry had already started making modifications to the original proposal by incorporating the suggestions of the Union Agriculture Ministry. The revised proposal envisages a total outlay of over Rs 900 crore for the technology mission. The Central Horticulture Commissionerate under the Union Agriculture Ministry had, last week, returned the proposal for modifications as it did not agree with certain suggestions mooted by the state. While political circles here view this as Centre’s delaying tactics, coconut growers attribute the uncertainty over the proposed mission to the indifferent attitude of the Central and State Governments. Nevertheless, Kerala Agriculture Minister Krishnan Kaniyamparambil seemed quite optimistic of the proposal coming through. The Centre had only objected to certain aspects in the state’s proposal like procurement of seeds from public sector farms, inter-cropping in coconut farms, relief to coconut growers who had to cut their disease-hit palms and replant fresh palms etc. The Centre had not outrightly rejected the proposal, Mr Kaniyamparambil said referring to reports that the Union Agriculture Ministry had rejected it in toto as it was unviable and unrealistic. Meanwhile, Union Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar had gone on record stating that all the states would have to be consulted before finalising the coconut mission. The draft proposal would be sent to all the states to seek their views before finalising it, he added. The Union Ministry expects to give final shape to the proposed technology mission only by next year, hinting that it would be included only in the tenth five-year-plan. Since the ninth plan was at its fag end, detailed discussions with the growers’ bodies, coconut and coir boards, consumers’ organisations and research bodies were held before finalising it. Besides the Planning Commission had to be consulted after which it would be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval. The proposed mission came as a boon to the state and to the crisis-stricken coconut growers from the Prime Minister, who had held preliminary discussions with Chief Minister E K Nayanar and his cabinet colleagues in this regard. The mission was aimed at covering all areas including conservation of coconut cultivation, product diversification, value addition, procurement and marketing. (UNI) |
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Exchanges told to reduce threshold limit MUMBAI, Mar 5: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today told stock exchanges to immediately reduce the threshold limit for applicability of the volatility margin from the present 80 to 60 per cent. This follows a meeting with the Bombay, National and Calcutta Stock Exchanges of the current market situation and in the wake of the bear hammering at the BSE on March two where the sensex lost by 176 points, two days after the union budget. The market regulator is probing into the ‘unusual rise and fall’ of the sensex and ‘looking into the role’ played by certain brooking firms and foreign institutional investors. A SEBI statement issued after the meeting that the rates of volatility margin and other slabs would remain the same. Stating that certain measures were warranted to contain volatility, SEBI said no exemptions is to be allowed in the applicability margin to any class of investors, including financial institutions, FIIs and mutual funds. All the scrips in modified carry forward system/automatic lending borrowing mechanism and bless are to attract additional margin at the rate of 10 per cent on end of the day net outstanding sale position. This was a temporary measure and would be reviewed in due course, the statement added. (PTI) |
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Operations at Korba plant halted KORBA, Mar 5: With operations coming to a halt at the controversial Bharat Aluminium Company’s (BALCO) plant, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi is all set to visit this industrial town as the indefinite strike by 7,500 employees entered the third day today. ‘All the 408 smelting pots which are divided into two lines were closed by last evening,’ General Manager (Works) T W Deoras told PTI here. Denying reports that any officers of the company were taken hostage by the striking employees, Deoras said the officers and other personnel have been working inside the plant since Friday. Expressing concern over the health of the officers who are inside the plant, deoras said ‘the food stocks stored in the canteen will last only for two more days.’ Two officers — Assistant General Manager M D Diwan and chemist Subedar were hospitalised for severe chest pain yesterday, as they were working without any rest, Manager (Personnel and Administration) Shaheer Ahmed said. (PTI) |
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India to capture 5 pc of
global market in WASHINGTON, Mar 5: India is expected to capture five per cent of the 585 billion dollar global information technology services market within three years, taking its turnover to 30 billion dollars. According to an assessment report on IT services in India by leading international securities firm Goldman Sachs, the Indian information technology services sector generated a revenue of 5.7 billion US dollars during 1999 in comparison to 270 million dollars in 1992. The global market was around 349 billion dollars in 1999 when India’s share was just 1.2 per cent. The firm said India’s IT services companies are reinventing themselves for the next technology cycle and old standards are giving way to new web enabling opportunities. In 1999, exports to the US represented over 60 per cent of the overall sector. For many of the larger IT services companies like Infosys Technologies or HCL Technologies, the exposure to US worked out to over 75 per cent. According to a survey of US software services vendors conducted by the World Bank, India is the leading offshore destination for companies seeking to outsource software development or other information technology projects. The Goldman Sachs report has said the gap between the demand and availability of IT professionals in the US is expected to widen sharply in the coming years. The number of bachelor degrees in computer science awarded annually at US universities fell to 24,404 in 1995 from 41,889 in 1986. In comparison, around 68,000 engineers graduate from more than 1800 engineering colleges and technical institutes in India, according to a study by NASSCOM. The severe shortage of IT professionals, along with recent advances in telecommunications, has led to the increasing acceptance and use of offshore IT service providers, like India. The low-cost high skill resources in India will continue to receive attention from the us IT companies as they will be increasingly focusing on costs in the coming years. The average annual wage of software professionals in India was 15 per cent of the average rate in the US during the last fiscal year, the Sachs report said. The Sachs report said the average operating margins for Indian it services companies range from 23 to 33 per cent, while the percentage range from 11 to 19 per cent for US e-business firms and from six to eleven per cent for broadline IT service providers. The average net margins for Indian IT services companies have ranged from around 30 per cent due to favourable non-operating income factors like low taxation and foreign exchange gains, the report said. The lack of high growth investment alternatives in other sectors within the Indian markets as well as the relatively small free floats of many key Indian IT services companies have contributed generally to high valuations vis-a-vis industry peers in the United States. "While we do not advocate forecasting fare value predicated on scarcity premiums, we look for sustainablity of favourable margins and a favourable growth profiles to drive valuations in the sector going forward," the report said. The domestic risks of the Indian IT services industry include poor domestic technology infrastructure, political risk perceptions and bureaucracy. Effort should be made to improve these factors for the growth of the IT industry, the report noted. Indian service providers must scale the value chain to improve project scope, tap more diversified global markets, improve branding to attract the best people globally and maintain a globally respected position. A slow down in global IT spending, particularly in the US, is also an area of concern for the Indian IT industry, it said. The report has identified HCL Technologies as a rising star within the industry, providing a strong opportunity into technology applications, development and R and D outsourcing. Infosys is one of the strongest business models in the industry and sound business execution methodologies. (UNI) |
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