Govt committed to disinvestment

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Government today said it was committed to disinvestment and had accorded high priority to foreign direct investment in the mid-year economic review which projects upto 5.5 per cent economic growth for the current fiscal.

The review, made for the first time by the Government, was presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh. Unveiling a four-point agenda for furthering reforms, Singh said structural reforms would be given importance in the next budget along with steps to promote development of infrastructure which is key to high economic growth.

He, however, admitted that fiscal deficit was higher than the target set in the budget.

Amid the controversy over sell-off process, Finance Minister said "disinvestment will form integral part of reforms. FDI will be given high priority."

He said despite widespread drought, the economy was poised to maintain a healthy 5-5.5 per cent growth during 2002-03. (PTI)

OVL signs agreement for 25 pc stake in Sudan oil project

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: The ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) has signed a purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) with a Canadian company for buying 25 per cent stake in the Greater Nile Oil Project (GNOP) in Sudan, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said in the Rajya Sabha today.

The agreement, signed on October 30 with the Talisman Energy Inc. of Canada, will be subject to consent from the Government of Sudan and waiver of pre-emption rights held by consortium members - China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and Petronas—national oil companies of China and Malaysia respectively.

The minister said the External Affairs Ministry was also assisting in the dialogue with the three partners and a solution could be expected shortly.

He said the ONGC would be investing Rs 3600 crore and the amount would be raised by the ONGC on its own. India would be getting 30 lakh metric tonnes of oil a year from the project, he added. It could be compared to Bombay High, he added.

To a question about the risks innvolved because of the internal situation in that country, the minister said it had evaluated all risks before approving the participation of the ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) in the GNOP. Only after evaluation of all the risks did, the Government take a conscious decision in this regard, he added.

In reply to another question about the piped supply of LPG to the people, the minister said LPG was not available in sufficient quantities at present. However, natural gas was being supplied through pipes in some major citiees like Delhi and Mumbai.

He said public sector oil marketing companies had registered an average growth rate of 13 per cent in the sales of LPG during the last three years. (UNI)

An NGO paints grim fiscal position of Punjab

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3: Even as the Punjab Government is desperately trying to get development funds from various agencies, including the World Bank, an NGO has said, "it is not possible to approach multilateral funding agencies, financial institutions and capital markets for funding development projects because of the State’s grim financial position."

The Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), in its Punjab development report-2002, said the State revenue deficit of Rs 3,842 crore is 5.48 per cent of its GDP, while its gross fiscal deficit, which stood at Rs 5,211 crore, is 6.92 per cent of its GDP. Punjab’s public debt at Rs 3,3037.46 crore is about 47.16 of its GDP and its annual interest liability is the tune of Rs 3,149 crore, which is 32.71 of the state’s revenue.

"The revenue received are not enough to even pay the salaries, pension and interest and other committed expenditure, which is 112 per cent in 2001-2002," the report added.

The CRRID report said, "with this background it is not possible to approach multilateral funding agencies, financial institutions, and capital markets for funding development programmes," adding, "the Government will not be able to access funding under the centrally-sponsored schemes in the absence of desired sectoral reforms and its inability to contribute its own share." The report emphasised the need for Government’s immediate attention to correcting revenue and fiscal deficits and substantially reducing public debt. It said fiscal deficit of about seven per cent should be halved to 3.5 per cent , revenue deficit by half a per cent per annum to bring it to the zero level, public debt as percentage of GDP be reduced from 47.16 per cent to 25 per cent by 2007.

Similarly, committed expenditure, which stood at 112 per cent of the revenue in the last fiscal, should be reduced to 60 per cent by 2007, the report said, adding all these measures were necessary to boost the economy of Punjab.

It suggested structural fiscal measures such as three-year rolling budget from the current financial year for the sake of consistency and continuity and Action Taken Report (ATR) on budget’s announcements, it also said the Punjab fiscal responsibility act should ensure long-term financial stability by capping state borrowing, state guarantees and deficits.

The report said the Government must revise user-charges for transport, drinking water, technical, medical and higher education and for secondary and tertiary health care to improve quality of all these services.

It called for compression of expenditure on non-tax and non-plan expenditure, "aggressive and fast-track disinvestments" in public sector undertakings, full implementation of the recommendations of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission to improve finances of Punjab State Electricity Board and to bring power sector reforms.

The report also called for diversification of agriculture, saying the economy of Punjab can be revived only through political consensus.

It said with these extensive reforms, budgetary support can be accessed from the World Bank. (UNI)

Country can achieve average growth rate of 7 to 8 pc: RBI

MUMBAI, Dec 3: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today indicated that the country can achieve an average growth rate of 7 to 8 per cent annually in the next five to ten years considering the current economic environment marked by low inflation rate, softening interest rate and stability in the financial markets.

According to the RBI Deputy Governor Dr Rakesh Mohan, there is a "much greater degree of stability" in the economy with rising expectations of a revival of industrial recovery through higher private investments.

With manufacturing sector growing over 7 per cent in September and import growth of over 30 per cent in october, he felt that there was an indication of recovery in the coming months.

Dr Mohan who was addressing a conference organised by the Asian Venture Forum here, told newspersons later that the central bank is closely monitoring the interest rates movement in the market and also flow of foreign currency into the system.

While RBI does not have a specific target on interest rate or rupee-exchange rate, it always preferred a stable market that gives confidence to the participants, he said. Pointing out the remarkable achievements of Indian economy in the last one decade in respect of its resilience in absorbing both internal and external shocks, Dr Mohan said, the average growth of six per cent in the last 20 years had led to high expectations among people who felt uneasy even with a expected lower growth rate of 5-5.5 per cent in the current year.

While India is committed to further reform measures, he observed that there was always a great deal of discussion and clamour on the policy making process which allowed consistency in growth achievement.

However, he felt that there was a need to undertake fiscal consolidation in an effective manner since the public sector savings continued to be negative as against much higher private sector savings in the economy. This however, made the balance of payments position comfortable.

The fiscal situation improved recently with higher revenue earnings. This reflected in the market borrowing programme of the Government which cancelled its scheduled borrowing programme last week.

On future investment probability, he said, the Government could be focussing on areas like developing infrastructure projects such as technology and business processing parks, entertainment and bio-technology hubs and hospitals and educational institutions.

Such projects would lower the cost and time consumption for any new enterpreneur wanting to start-up venture in India, he said and added that the average return on foreign investment in India is consistently higher than in any other competing nation. (UNI)

‘Gates foundation’s AIDS projection a forecast’

KOLKATA, Dec 3: US Consul General George N Sibley has said Bill and Melinda Gates foundation’s projection of 25 million AIDS-affected people in India by 2010 was only "a forecast not destiny".

Reiterating US stand over the "whopping projection figures", which had prompted a strong public denial by Union Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha recently, the diplomat said timely intervention programmes could, however, prove these estimates wrong.

On the eve of World AIDS Day in Patna on Saturday, Sinha had termed as "fictitous" the recent estimation by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and US Ambassador in India Robert Blackwill that the number of HIV/AIDS cases in India would rise to the tune of 25 million by 2010.

"There was no basis of such a report", he had observed.

"I told Union Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha that it was a forecast, not destiny...If you do what is needed now, you can prove yourself right," Sibley said last night at a panel discussion on networking of NGOs on HIV/AIDS/substance abuse issues.

The foundation floated by Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and his wife, which announced a US $ 100 million grant for control of AIDS/HIV in India recently, had quoted the US National Intellegence Council report to arrive at the estimates.

"He (Sinha) does not think it is possible that the figure could be that high. If we do what is needed right now, we can prove Sinha right," he told represetatives of various NGOs and Government agencies working in the area of HIV/AIDS.

Sibley said if India thought the estimates "could not be true" and becomes complacent in tackling it, the disease might as well turn out to be an "epidemic" of the magnitude projected.

"If you think it could not be what the figures suggest, it might as well become a reality," he warned.

Showing a pictorial UN AIDS projection of AIDS-affected by 2010 in two other countries, Sibley said while estimates for South Africa showed a sharp upward zoom, that of Thailand was represented by a steady line showing that the endemic would be contained at its present state.

"And I hope that the graph of India in 2010 would resemble that of Thailand and not South Africa," he said.

Earlier, moderating the panel discussion director of the American Center in City Rex Moser said the Indian Government had issued a lot of denial "pretending that the disease would go away". (PTI)

Haryana to promote smokeless chullahas

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3: The Haryana Governmet has provided 2350 smokeless stoves made of cement in 36 villages of the State under the Haryana community forestry project.

An official spokesman said here today the project to be implemented over a period of nine years, would cover a total of 300 selected villages in clusters spread over 10 districts in the state.

Each village cluster would have its own nursery and the emphasis would be on growing trees that met the needs of fodder, fruit and timber, he added.

The spokesman said that such chulhas saved around one tonne of fuel per year if used daily, reducing fuel consumption by 50 per cent. These chulhas had also proved to reduce lung obstrution diseases from 54 to 35 per cent and eye problems from 67 to 41 per cent within six months of use, he said.

He also emphasised that 96 per cent of households provided with this Chulha were using it regularly as per studies conducted by the forest department.

Besides this, two fuel efficient crematoria had been constructed in village Tabar of Panchkula district and village Bawal of district rewari, another two such crematoria were in the process of construction in villages of Bodla and Birkheri district Kurukshetra.

The spokesman said that the project was funded by the European commission with a total contribution of 23.30 million euro. The contribution made by the State Government was equivalent to 6.80 million euro.

Under this project, an integrated approach had been adopted for establishing plantations of fuel, fodder, timber and fruits on panchayat and village common lands besides stablising sand dures, undertaking of multi-species farm forestry, planting tree groves, raising kitchen gardens and poplar nurseries and construction of water harvesting dams to improve irrigation water supplies.

He said that the project beneficiaries would include the primary users of blo-mass, women, households dependent on degraded lans and sand dune areas, scheduled castes who were generally landless, small and marginal farmers, all users of common property resources, communities living in the degraded and drought prone areas and any other disadvantaged groups who eked out a subsistence living in arid areas. (PTI)

Govt taken to task for rushing through UTI ordinance

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Taking the Government to task for rushing through the Unit Trust of India ordinance without waiting for the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on stock scam, senior Congress member Manmohan Singh today made a strong demand for restructuring of UTI and demanded protection to millions of investors in the flagship US-64.

Singh said by choosing the ordinance route, the Government had scuttled the process of eliciting the views of the members of Parliament and obtaining an opinion from the standing committee of Parliament.

The former Finance Minister said macro-management of the economy has to share the blame for what happened to the UTI or the capital market and citing the fall in sensex, he said it was because of the Government’s inabiity to manage expectations of the investing community.

While stressing the need for a holistic, more consistent and longer term view of the entire matter to remove the uncertainty and instability of the capital market, he favoured a medium term policy in this regard.

Referring to the proposed disinvestment of NALCO, Singh wanted to know if there was any assurance that people who would take over the company would not exploit natural resources beyoimit and in a manner which was harmful to the ecology. This was the idea behind nationalisation of coal mines, he explained.

He said millions of people, mostly the retired persons, widows and charitable trusts, which had invested in the US-64, were bewildered as they had suffered huge losses. "What is happening in UTI has shaken the confidence of the investors," he said pointing out at the sharp decline in the dividend rate of UTI after 1996-97 and the fall in its net asset value (NAV).

Singh asked the Finance Minister to assure the House that the bill seeking to replace the ordinance, moved by him, did not foreclose the options of restructuring UTI.

The Congress member wanted to know the mode of running UTI-I, because even after bifurcation of UTI, a large portfolio remained with the unit-i scheme and people wanted an assurance that the portfolio would be properly managed.

He said the unit-ii scheme should be SEBI compatible and added a fiscal and monetary system which instilled confidence in the minds of investors was needed to give a new dynamism to the country’s economy. (PTI)

Importance of innovative design in business development highlighted

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: To deliberate on and highlight the importance of innovative design in the overall business and product development, a two-day summit began today with participants not only from across the business community but the academia as well.

The summit ‘competitive advantage through design’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and National Institute of Design (NID), will discuss in detail issues related to design competency for business, managing design development, designing for global opportunities and protection and enforcement of industrial designs, among others.

On the opening day today, industry leaders pointed out to the importance of a design-specific approach for competitive advantage, especially in the current globalised atmosphere.

TELCO Executive Director V Sumantran said adapting to new designs with the changing times was an important aspect for any industry’s growth.

"The 21st century will see increased market fragmentation and the emergence of hybrids, which needs innovation in concept and form," he said.

Pointing out that designing in the auto industry had always been influenced by the prevailing conditions of the period, he said it was very important to implement not only what the corporate strategy wanted but, most importantly, also focus on the customer’s mindset. "For this purpose, we are looking forward to design competitiveness as part of which we have emplyed a number of professionals from NID, IITs who can provide the necessary output for our growth," Dr Sumantran added.

Titan Ltd Managing Director Bhaskar Bhatt also highlighted the importance of innovative designing for a company’s progress.

"Design is today the core of of consumer-focussed companies, espceially in the globalised atmosphere with international brands competing with us in the market," he said.

He said apart from focussing on market share tactics, it was equally important for companies to look after "mind-share", which he termed as the future for growth.

"By mind share, what I mean is that the industry, even while competing with each other, should always keep in mind the consumer’s expectations in terms of pricing, requirements as well as desings," he said.

NID Executive Director Darlie O Koshy, while highlighting the same issues, said there was a need for a greater ineraction between the students of design as well as the industry.

"The industry should come forward more aggressively so that the designing aspect is aptly highlighted and put into the company’s strategy from the very beginning," he said. (UNI)

Haryana Govt earmarks Rs 100 cr for setting up dairy units

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3: The Haryana Government has earmarked Rs 100 crore for setting up dairy units in the state during the current financial year and out of this amount Rs 50 crore have already been disbursed for the same.

This was stated by Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala while disbursing Rs four crore as loan among 319 beneficiaries to enable them set up dairy units at a function organised in Hisar, today.

The Chief Minister called upon the unemployed youth not to run after Government jobs and in set up their own dairy units to earn their living as the State Government was providing all assistance in this regard.

He said agriculture was no longer a profitable vocation as the land holdings were fast reducing because of population explosion. He said dairy farming would not only supplement the income of the farmers, but also prove to be a best vocation. The Chief Minister said as Ch Devi Lal had great love for milch cattle, his Government was providing every possible assistance to look after the livestock. He said the Government had given a grant of Rs 51,000 to each registered Gaushala in the state to ensure proper care for the cows. He said an incentive of cash prizes ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 6,000 was being awarded to the milk producers on the basis of the milk producing capacity of their milch cattle.

He said the State Government had constituted a livestock development board to improve the breed of the cattle.

He said 65 veterinary hospitals had been opened in the state during his tenure and Haryana was the first state to introduce insurance cover for milch cattle as well as bullocks. He said 50 per cent amount of the premium of the insurance was being paid by the board and the rest by the cattle owner.

Mr Chautala also inaugurated a Rs one core newly constructed Sher-e-Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai Bhawan which had a hall of sitting capacity of 1000 persons, a library, 11 rooms and a Yaghshala.

Later on, while addressing a gathering at 116th annual function of Arya Samaj, Hisar, he announced the decision of the Government to install statues of patriots and martyrs at prominent places and educational institutions in all cities so that the new generation could take inspiration from their great deeds and high ideals.

While referring to the statement of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal that he would destroy all statues of Ch Devi Lal, if returned to power, Mr Chautala said Mr Bansi Lal should do so in Afganistan. He said the ch devi lal was the creater of Haryana and had struggled hard for the uplift and the poor and the downtrodden people. He was also the champion of the farmers.

He said the statues of Ch Devi Lal were being established so that the people might take inspiration from his life. Earlier, Mr. Chautala also unveiled a statue of Jhansi Ki Rani Lakshmi Bai. The statue is made of bronze and has cost Rs five lakh. (UNI)

‘Loans to farm sector must triple over 10th plan’

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3: Credit to the farm sector is crucial for growth and the loans would have to triple during the tenth plan period if the sector has to achieve four per cent growth, NABARD Chairman Y C Nanda said today. Speaking at CII’s Agro Tech 2002 here, he said that would have to take place during the present times when farm incomes were falling and agriculture was seen as a high-risk enterprise.

Brahmanand Hegde, Chief Manager, Agri-Business Group, ICICI Bank, outlined how the bank had entered into a partnership with fertiliser and pesticide manufacturer rallis India, and Hindustan Lever Ltd for growing wheat in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.

With ICICI providing finance, rallis pitching in with extension servicesd and hll providing assured buy-back at a pre-determined price, farmers stood to benefit from it, he said. (PTI)

| home | state | national | business | editorial | advertisement | sports
| international | weather | mailbag | suggestions | search | subscribe | send mail |