|
|
CMC disinvestment: NEW DELHI, Oct 15: CMC Ltd will be handed over tomorrow formally to Tata sons which has acquired 51 per cent stake in the information technology .....more Exploit potential of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 15: A three-day international meet on coir has called for efforts to effectively exploit the export potential of eco-friendly ...more SBI
Chairman rules VRINDAVAN (UTTAR PRADESH), Oct 15: State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Janki Ballabh has ruled out a second phase of Voluntary ....more Govt
to step up NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Optimistic of keeping price level low, Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said today Government will....more |
 |
Sinha not in favour of NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today indicated that he was not in favour of any amnesty scheme or further lowering of tax rates to shore up revenue collections as the industry had not adequately .......more Handspring
launches LONDON, Oct 15: US-based handspring introduced a handheld computer with a built-in cellphone for the European......more RSP
registers 2.4 NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) registered a 2.4 per cent growth in the production of......more Coconut
traders feel threatened THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 15: The Centre’s decision to bring down the import duty on palmoil is viewed with concern by the coconut traders and growers in ..........more |
 |
|
|
|
|
Exploit potential of coir as eco-friendly products: Seminar THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 15: A three-day international meet on coir has called for efforts to effectively exploit the export potential of eco-friendly coir products, along with innovation and diversification on the basis of research and development. Organised by the Coir Board in association with the United Nations development programme, the Coir Exporters Association, the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation and the Kerala Government, the meet, which concluded at Kochi on Saturday, was the first-of-its-kind in the coir sector. The international coir fair, attended by about 300 delegates from within the country and abroad, stressed the need for the coir industry to urgently introduce high-value alternative items at competitive prices. Attempts to minimise the adverse impact of the WTO agreement were also underlined. The meet suggested the setting up of an export processing zone in Kerala, exclusively for coir products with a view to attracting foreign direct investment. At the traditional "coir village" set up in connection with the coir meet, about 40 companies in the coir sector participated. Delegates from different states in India and from Japan, Germany, Holland, Russia, Israel and Korea presented papers at the meet on a wide spectrum of topics related to the coir sector. "Cheaper varieties of polyster floor coverings imported from Belgium posed stiff competition to coir floor coverings," pointed out Mr Rameswar Goel, president of the Coir Dealers’ Association. Mr G N Gandhi, formerly of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, called for modernising production employing appropriate technology. "Success in marketing depends on assessing demand and appropriate production", he said. Quality products at competitive prices could alone capture the market, observed the delegates. Mr Hatsuno Watanabe from Japan, who is Editorial Manager, Interior Times said the competition posed by chemical textiles and the absence of effective sales promotion for coir products were the twin constraints of coir trade between his country and India. Products from Philippines and Sri Lanka were also a threat to Indian coir in the Japanese market, he added. (UNI) |
|
SBI Chairman rules out a second phase of VRS VRINDAVAN (UTTAR PRADESH), Oct 15: State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Janki Ballabh has ruled out a second phase of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) in SBI. "There is no thought of another phase of retirement schemes in SBI," Mr Janki Ballabh told UNI here yesterday. Mr Janki Ballabh, who was here to attend the All India Conference of the National Confederation of Bank Employees, said it was high time the quality of the service improved and better marketing strategies adopted in the changing world scenario. The Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) which has become a bane for the banks should be done away with at the earliest, he added. Meanwhile, Confederation general secretary Y Tharaknath termed the VRS as anti-labour and a method aimed at getting rid of the unions. He alleged that the Vajpayee Government was moving much faster in the direction of privatisation than the P V Narasimha Rao regime who had first brought in changes in the banking sector. " The Privatisation will only lead to the deprivation of loans by the common man, priority sectors, small scale industries and agriculture sectors," he added. The resources of the banks would not be available to the government for developmental works which in turn would adversely affect the economy of the country, Mr Taraknath said. The contention that the Non-Performing Assets(NPAs) which stand at more than Rs 1,00,000 crore was the basis for the privatisation move was incorrect. The truth was that the government was playing into the hands of the World Bank, he said. " The argument that privatisation was to meet the requirements of the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is only for hoodwinking the masses," Mr Taraknath added. " If bad loans are recovered and banks are freed from bureaucratic control and political interference, handsome profits can be recorded by the banks," he said. The public sector banks in India today were in deep trouble as their bad debts—NPAs were assuming gigantic proportions with no signs of any serious attempt to recover them, he said. Several rural branches have been closed reducing the flow of finance to farm and small scale sectors. Now a large chunk of the bank staff were being reoved so that the privatisation plot of the nationalised banks could be achieved easily, he alleged. Confederation president L Balasubramanian said, "the government should give priority in bringing the willful defaulters of loans to the forefront but it is thinking of privatisation and VRS." "Privatisation of banks would mean a farewell to the concept of social banking," he said adding that once the nationalised banks were handed over to the private sector, credit flows to the rural sector and agriculture would come to a standstill. He accused the government of "privatising the gains and nationalising losses". More than 3500 observers and 1500 delegates are attending the two-day All India Triennial Conference of the National Confederation of Bank Employees that commenced here yesterday. (UNI) |
|
Govt to step up infrastructure development, keep inflation low NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Optimistic of keeping price level low, Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said today Government will step up its initiatives in the infrastructure sector, which would spur demand and offset the negative impact on exports after the September 11 terrorist attacks in US and the US backlash in Afghanistan. "We will step up our initiatives in infrastructure sector which will spur demand in the domestic sectors. The increased demand would enable US to sell the goods in domestic market which we are unable to sell in international markets," Sinha told reporters on sidelines a FICCI seminar on insurance here. "We will continue to watch the situation and take necessary steps to insulate the Indian economy from the global impacts. We will do whatever is necessary for spurring investment and growth," he said. Sinha admitted that the war has impacted some sectors of the economy including stock market, rupee, tourism, aviation, foreign investment inflow and exports, but said the dimension of impact on the Indian economy was yet to be assessed. "There has been some impact on exports. As uncertainties over the war increase, it will further impact future exports," the minister said. Sinha did not hide his concern over the sluggish 1.8 per cent growth in industrial production during August compared to 5.0 per cent in the year-ago month. He ruled out inflationary pressure in this situation. "Inflation rate has been low at 3.4 per cent which is very reasonable. Therefore, on the inflation front, I am quite sure that we will be able to keep the situation well under control," Sinha said. On bank rate cuts by RBI in February-March, Sinha said, "the rate cut is one of the factors that drives the economy. It has not created magic elsewhere in the world, and it has not created a magic here also." Favouring low interest rate regime, he said, "interest rate is the lowest-ever in a decade. But this is one of the factors (driving the economy). More has to be done." Earlier speaking at the seminar, Sinha said much of the success of the second-generation reforms depends on the growth of the insurance sectors. "This is one area where we have succeeded and further success will create an environment for what we are looking for," he said. On the industry’s demand of raising foreign equity limit in insurance companies from 26 to 49 per cent, Sinha said, "they (companies) have to wait. Insurance sector must be able to perform before asking for raising equity limit to 49 per cent." He said the private companies have just started their operations while PSUs have a "preponderent" role to play in the coming years. "Show results so that I can tell parliament to raise the equity limit," he added. (PTI) |
|
Sinha not in favour of slashing tax rates NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today indicated that he was not in favour of any amnesty scheme or further lowering of tax rates to shore up revenue collections as the industry had not adequately responded to earlier sops. Speaking at a FICCI seminar, Sinha said there was no guarantee that reduction in tax rates would lead to price cuts and that the tax collection would be higher. Citing the instance of 8.0 per cent cut in excise for automobile sector, he said industry responded to the excise rate cut in the last budget by increasing prices on those items. Indirect tax mop up declined by 6.81 per cent to Rs 24,700.73 crore during first quarter of 2001-02 as against Rs 26,505.11 crore last fiscal despite the excise rate cuts. Referring to the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) of 1997, Sinha said "I am not sure it (amnesty schemes) will help. An immunity scheme every now and then is a disincentive to the tax payers." He also expressed apprehension about the laffer curve phenomena, which envisages increase in revenue mop up when tax rates are reduced, and said "I am not sure that it will be successful in india. I have my reservations on these schemes." Direct tax collections fell by 27.95 per cent to Rs 7,718.16 crore during April-June 2001 as against Rs 10,712.05 crore during the first quarter of 2000. Total tax collections dipped 12.89 per cent to Rs 32,418.89 crore during the first quarter of this fiscal as against Rs 37,217.16 crore during the same period in 2000-01, mainly on account of a drastic 63 per cent fall in corporate tax mop up. (PTI) |
|
Handspring launches PDA phone with keyboard LONDON, Oct 15: US-based handspring introduced a handheld computer with a built-in cellphone for the European and Asian markets today, beating its biggest rivals to what is expected to be a fast growing market. Called Trio, the 150-gram monochrome display product will go on sale for around 600 dollars in January in an English-language version, starting in Britain, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore. Other languages will follow in later months. The trio is designed for the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) mobile transmission technology prevalent in Europe. Handspring said it did not plan a version for the dominant wireless networks in the US, based on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology. Makers of handheld computers and cellphones are rushing to introduce new do-everything mobile devices, bringing back memories of the excitement produced by the launch of the first tiny mobile phones some five years ago. Now that cellphone are widely owned, companies hope these new devices, which combine a phone and a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), will become the engines of growth. With its announcement, handspring steals a march on rival handheld computer maker Palm Inc, which last month postponed the launch of its long-anticipated i705 model, which is expected to be a PDA-phone combination. Handspring and Palm, which use the same software but are rivals in hardware, together have well over 50 percent of the total market for PDAs. They compete with PDAs using software from Microsoft, Canada’s research in motion with its blackberry devices, and psion. A colour screen version of trio will go on sale at an estimated 750 dollars next summer, when handspring also plans an e_mail service similar to the one offered by RIM’s blackberry devices. The blackberry service, which is a huge success in the US, forwards corporate email automatically to a small handheld computer. It has just been introduced in Europe by British Telecommunications PLC’s wireless unit 02. Handspring was founded by key executives who had earlier helped to set up Palm before it was sold to US robotics, now a 3COM company. Handspring has tweaked the Palm Software to improve the phone functions. Consumers will be able to make calls and send text messages from their address books. Trio will compete with products that are based on Microsoft pocket PC software. Both Japan’s Mitsubishi and France’s Sagem already sell PDA phones, although larger and heavier models. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and British Wireless Operator 02 have announced plans for much improved but still relatively big PDA phones, based on Microsoft’s pocket PC 2002, which will hit the shops next year. A host of other companies, among which is Japan’s Toshiba, have also said they will launch PDA phones next year. One trio version will sport a tiny keyboard, to be operated with thumbs, similar to a Rim blackberry device. The other version has the familiar palm interface without a keyboard users write in characters with a stylus. Handspring Chief Executive Donna Dubinsky, who at Palm helped create a market for keyboard-less handheld computers and forced an entire industry to follow that route, reintroduced the keyboard after she saw how popular it was with blackberry users, said Bill Holtzman, head of the Firm’s international division. "There are two concepts we learned from blackberry — the keyboard and push-email," he said, referring to the service of corporate email forwarded to a mobile computer. Handspring had a 14 percent global market share in the first half of 2001, compared with 42 percent for Palm, according to technology consulting firm IDC. Compaq and Hewlett-Packard, which use Microsoft’s pocket PC Software, had an 11 percent and five percent share of the worldwide market respectively. Rim had four percent. Handspring buys a ready-to-use GSM module from France’s Wavecom, which turns the handheld into a cellphone. When the GSM mobile networks in Europe and Asia are fully upgraded to high-speed, always-on GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) internet access, the trios can be upgraded to that enhanced service, Holtzman said. "The software can be downloaded via the internet to a PC and will be installed on the PDA with the next synchronisation," he said. A synchronisation is when address books and other programs on a desktop computer are updated with the latest information on the handheld computer, and vice versa. The trio will be assembled by contract electronics producer solectron. Handspring’s handheld computers are currently manufactured by Solectron and Flextronics. (REUTERS) |
|
RSP registers 2.4 pc growth in production of steel NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) registered a 2.4 per cent growth in the production of saleable steel during the first half of the current financial year over the same period last year. The despatches in the first half of the year recorded a six per cent growth over the same period last financial year. Desptaches of 65.500 tonnes were the best ever recorded in September. In spite of improved physical performance, the profitability during the first half of the financial year was eroded due to the low net sales realisation which affected all steel plants particularly those making flat products. The burden due to declining sales prices during the first half has been considerable as compared to the corresponding period last year. The impact due to increase in input cost was about Rs 56 crore. The financial burden due to increase in wages and compensation on account of Voluntary Retirement Scheme was as high as Rs 60 crore, an official release said. Stocks at RSP were brought down by nearly 30 per cent during the second quarter. In terms of volume product sale was about 13 per cent more as compared to the corresponding period last year. The other achievements in the first half include stabilisation of 8.5 m long slab rolling in hot strip mill and consequent improvement of material yield. (UNI) |
|
Coconut traders feel
threatened THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 15: The Centre’s decision to bring down the import duty on palmoil is viewed with concern by the coconut traders and growers in Kerala. The prices of coconut and coconut oil, it is feared, would further crash, thanks to the reduced duty on palmoil imports. According to the Kochi Oil Millers Association (KOMA), the Centre had decided to slash import duty on refined palmoil from 372 dollars per tonne to 307 dollars. This would bring down the price per tonne of imported palmoil by about Rs 3,120. The unrefined oil carried a price tag of 286 dollars as against the earlier 337 dollars per tonne. As a result, the price per tonne would come down by Rs 2,450. In retail market, palmoil now costs Rs 35 per kg. This will be cheaper by Rs seven per kg. Palmoil would, therefore, be much cheaper than coconut oil. To retain the market, coconut oil prices would also have to be brought down further, trade sources said. The fall in palmoil prices in malaysia prompted the Government of India to reduce import duty on the commodity. According to figures furnished by the trade, a total quantity of two million tonnes of palmoil have already been imported into the country, till July last. The imports have been mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia. In view of the duty drop, imports are likely to increase in the coming months, trade sources said. With the coconut sector already in a crisis, the massive palmoil import following the import duty cut, is likely to fuel the fire in the coconut sector. The trade circles pointed out that the revised support price for copra is a welcome relief. But the much publicised copra procurement to help ease the coconut crisis is yet to be effective. (UNI) |
|
|
