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Creation of common mkt can solve problems of central Asia: Experts NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The resolution of the ‘great game’ going on in central Asia for its vast energy resources is the creation of a common economic. ....more BoB
mutual fund KOLKATA, Feb 8: BoB Mutual Fund, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, will launch three debt related open-ended schemes all over the ....more Goa beach privatisation plan suffers setback PANAJI, Feb 8: The Goa Government’s proposal to involve the private sector in the management of beaches has run into rough weather with a one-man ....more IOC
signs share NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today signed a share purchasing agreement with the Government....more |
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Government to maintain NEW DELHI, Feb 8: Indian Oil Corporation Chairman-cum-Managing Director M A Pathan today expressed reservations over the Government’s......more RBI
mopping up forex to MUMBAI, Feb 8: Reserve Bank of India is buying foreign exchange from the market in a major way to build adequate reserves to meet external.......more Govt
cracks its whip on NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In a major crackdown on malpractices of soap manufacturers, Government has issued a directive that grades of soaps be .....more Women
entrepreneurs VIJAYAWADA, Feb 8: An industrial estate exclusively for women, the first of its kind in the country, is to be set up by the Association....more |
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Creation of common mkt can
solve NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The resolution of the ‘great game’ going on in central Asia for its vast energy resources is the creation of a common economic market that takes into account the interests of all the nations, experts have said. Delivering a lecture on ‘India and new great game in central asia’ here yesterday, former Ambassador Gajendra Singh said, "my solution to the disputes in south and central asia is the creation of a common market on the lines of the European Union, which brought together nations that were at loggerheads. "This is a possible solution to dissipate fights for energy resources in the region," he said. He brought out that the central Asian region had witnessed many turmoil in the past which spill over to the present times. The differences between turks, persians, Arabs over religious issues made it a tumultuous area. "It is this religious division from which fundamentalists derive inspiration that culminates into terrorism," he said. "Further, the massive energy resources in the caspian region, estimated at about 400 billion barrels of oil and more than the resources of Saudi Arabia and Iraq put together, have complicated the covert tussle between nations," said the former Ambassador, who spent about ten years in Turkey. Former Ambassador A N D Haksar said the energy resources in the region are the focus of the world but that is not all. "Events of the last six months have also highlighted the nexus between the region and the growth of terrorism with its repercussions all over the world, including regions like western provinces of China," he said. Mr Singh was of the view that "at the moment, the Caspian Basin can be used to counteract Arab oil by the Anglo-Saxons but oil companies will not allow one pipeline to use all of it. "The collapse of the USSR, made the new central Asian countries like Kyrgystan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and fragile polities and economies with inadequate security and state apparatus. "Such conditions created appropriate atmosphere for fundamentalism from the neighbouring regions to seep in and thrive. Though they are trying to consolidate themselves through forums like the Shanghai five and Caspian Economic Cooperation Organisation, the region remains a potential place for constant trouble," he added. "People there are also using religion to counteract globalisation and the major problem is how Islam can come to terms with modernisation," he added. The expert on central Asian region, who has written many articles on the subject, said, "after the September 11 strikes on the US, it is crusade versus Jihad that is going on and India must keep out of it. "As far as China is concerned, its focus is on the pacific region and it is not interested in joining any common market. So, considering the geo-strategic and geo-economic importance of the central Asian region, it is important to forge closer economic ties with willing nations. "Afterall if Africa can have the organisation for African unity and can plan for a common market, why not the central and South Asian nations," he added. (UNI) |
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BoB mutual fund launches 3 open ended debt schemes KOLKATA, Feb 8: BoB Mutual Fund, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, will launch three debt related open-ended schemes all over the country on February 14 ensuring regular income options to investors. Christened ‘BoB Income Fund’, ‘BoB Gilt Fund’ and ‘BoB Liquid Fund’, the schemes would guarantee a tax free annual return of dividend and regular good income for small, medium and large investors, said Mr B Krishna Kumar, Managing Director, BoB Asset Management Company Limited. Speaking to newsmen here today Mr Kumar said they hoped to generate a corpus of over Rs 200 crores through these debt related schemes taking advantage of the coutry’s flourising debt market which had been growing at the rate of 10 to 12 per cent for the past few years now. During the past 12 months the total amount of investment in India’s debt market had gone up by more than Rs 15,000 crores from Rs 93,000 crores in 1999, he claimed and hoped the figure would cross the Rs 125,000 crores mark by this year end. This was possible primarily because of constant cut in interest rates in other investments for the small and medium investors who were now looking for other secured options for investment, he observed. Highlighting the investment propositions of the schemes, opened to public for five days only, Mr Kumar said Government securities, corporate houses and call money would comprise the majority re-investment proposal of ‘BoB Income Fund’, while the corpus of both ‘BoB Gilt Fund’ and ‘BoB Liquid Fund’ would be re-directed to Government securities and other fixed income instruments having high level of liquidity and the call money market. Investors can choose between a dividend and growth plan for any of the schemes with minimum application amount starting from Rs 2,000 each, Mr Kumar said adding the dividend income would be exempted from Income Tax under Section 10(33). He said though majority of the fund was likely to be raised from big corporate houses, incentives in the form of high annual returns and easy exit policy with options for short term investment had also been provided to woo medium and small scale investors. We have also targetted the large pool of NRIs in the Middle East, specially in Oman and the UAE, where BoB has a good number of overseas branches, Mr Kumar said and branded Kolkata as having the third largest investing community in the country after Mumbai and Delhi. The city alone gave us a business of Rs 800 crores on an average annually, he said. (UNI) |
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Goa beach privatisation plan suffers setback PANAJI, Feb 8: The Goa Government’s proposal to involve the private sector in the management of beaches has run into rough weather with a one-man commission, appointed to review all aspects pertaining to the scheme, recommending its rejection. The commission says that "clear cut" state policies have to be formulated before embarking on privatisation and infrastructure development of the beaches. The newly-constituted Goa Infrastructure Development Corporation (GIDC) had come up with a proposal for involving the private sector for the management of the state’s golden beaches, a major tourist attraction, to keep them clean and provide necessary infrastructure for tourists. As it was decided to first take up the famous Miramar Beach, near the state capital, for privatisation, several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), traditional fishermen and others raised objections, forcing the State Government to appoint a one-man commission to have a public hearing and to make recommendations regarding the project. The one-man commission, headed by environmentalist Nandkumar Kamat, in its report recommended complete rejection of the proposal, saying that there were fundamental flaws in the process leading to the project and in the plan itself. In a press release issued here, the Commission said the state did not have a policy for sectoral privatisation and even the state’s tourism master plan was very sketchy and does not give a list of priorities. The report said since the sectoral privatisation policy was clear, it would need a strong statutory support, which alone could guarantee long-term policy decisions and increase the investor confidence. The Commission observed that without a state beach management policy, the Government would not be able to do any scientific and rational planning. "The beaches are our natural ecosystem capital. But tourism planners, land use planners have taken this resource for granted —a mistake, which these authorities would come to regret in the near future," the report said, adding that all the previous recommendations regarding beach management and sand dune conservation in Goa had been neglected since 1982. Pointing out that there were too many role-players involved in coastal zone management, beach management, land use planning, development control, drainage, sewerage and solid waste management, the report said the State Government had to frame an Omnibus Beach Management Act. On the uninspiring record of the service providers and failed experiments in privatisation, the Commission said it had studied the previous decisions of privatisation involving public assets and property. "These failed attempts have only benefited the private service providers and not the general public or the tourists," the Commission added. Suggesting review of existing private participation involving public assets, the Commission outlined a ten-point action plan for community need based infrastructure development and environment management plan. In order to bring more transparency, the Commission said, the Government needed to formalise the practice of public hearing by framing suitable guidelines, by inviting suggestions from the public and ngos and to involve the public in the early stages of project identification, definition and planning. "Every public hearing may not be statutory but Goa would march ahead if the Government brings a legislation to make public hearing mandatory for scheduled sectors, projects and plans," the report said, adding that the Government through law department and legal aid cells could encourage NGOs to conduct training classes in community organisation and participation in public hearing. (UNI) |
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IOC signs share purchasing agreement with GoI NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today signed a share purchasing agreement with the Government of India to buy 33.53 per cent equity of IBP Limited, a public sector company. The transaction documents were signed by Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, S Vijyaraghavan, as seller on behalf of President of India holding 59.58 per cent in Indo-Burma Petroleum Ltd and Mr M S Ramachandran, Director (Planning and Business Development) in IOC in the presence of Petroleum Secretary V N Kaul. The share purchasing agreement, involving a fund of Rs 1153 crore, is the second-largest share purchasing transaction in the corporate history of the country. The VSNL agreement, which was signed two days ago between the Government and Tatas, was the largest such transaction. The IOC will take over the management of the company within the next five months, a spokesperson of IOC said. Despite the sale of 33.58 per cent shares by the Government, the status of IBP will not be changed from a Government company. However, it will become a subsidiary of IOC, after the completion of the open offer, which is likely to made by the end of this month. As per the decision, the first board meeting of the re-constituted board will be held on February 19 to discuss future planning. The Government will transfer 74.4 lakh shares of Rs 10 each (face value Rs 7.44 crore) in favour of IOC, which had won the bid at a price of Rs 1,153.68 crore at the rate of Rs 1,551 per share. The IBP became a Government company in 1970, when IOC purchased the majority ordinary shares of IBP from the steel brothers. Later, the Government acquired IOC’s shareholding in IBP in September, 1972. The IBP has a subsidiary company Balmer Lawrie and Co Limited in which it holds about 62 per cent shares. The total government holding in IBP was 59.38 percent, which after transfer will be reduced to 26 per cent. IBP has three business groups i.e. Petroleum, engineering and chemical, having six manufacturing units. The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) had approved the sale of 33.58 per cent equity of IBP Limited to IOC on Tuesday. The Reliance Group, the other bidder, quoted a much lower price and failed to get the company. (UNI) |
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Government to maintain same policy: IOC Chief NEW DELHI, Feb 8: Indian Oil Corporation Chairman-cum-Managing Director M A Pathan today expressed reservations over the Government’s decision to bar the company from bidding for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), likely to be taken up in May/June this year. "I hope that the Government will continue to maintain the policy of not allowing companies involved in the same business to bid and thereby enable competition in that particular sector," he said when asked about his reaction to the barring of IOC from future bidding in the two remaining oil PSUs. The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment on Tuesday barred IOC from bidding at the time of disinvestment of BPCL and HPCL. The decision had surprised analysts, who feared that private companies might try to buy both the petroleum PSUs at cheaper rates. After signing the share purchasing agreement with the Government, Mr Pathan said he agreed with the Government’s contention that the IOC was barred to enable competition in the petroleum sector. Mr Pathan’s remarks assume significance in view of the fact that both the Reliance and IOC were the main bidder for Indian Petro-Chemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL) and if the Reliance group took over the IPCL, it would control 70 per cent of petro-chemical business in the country. He said the company will fund around Rs 1,800 crore, including Rs 1,153 crore to be paid to the Government, through raising short-term loans and internal accruals. Even after raising loans, the debt-equity ratio will rise only to 1:1.1 from the current level of 1:1.03. "The company will maintain the policy of not allowing to raise debt-equity ratio more than 1:1.25, Mr Pathan said. He said the open bid offer to the existing shareholders would be offered in the next three/four weeks and the entire process would be completed within the next four months. The next board meeting of the IBP Limited will be held on February 19 to take several decisions relating to policy and planning. Defending the decision to bid Rs 1,153 crore to purchasing 33.58 per cent equity in IBP Limited, Mr Pathan said the four-member committee constituted by the IOC Board "had taken all points into consideration". The IBP Limited has more than 1,550 retail outlets with a share of more than 8.8 per cent in the petrol market. The company has 337 retail outlets in metros, thus making the total offer very attractive, Mr Pathan observed. He explained that the committee had also studied the benefits, the IOC may get before finalising the price. The entire transactions is likely to be completed by the middle of this year. (UNI) |
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RBI mopping up forex to meet obligations of 12-18 months: Jalan MUMBAI, Feb 8: Reserve Bank of India is buying foreign exchange from the market in a major way to build adequate reserves to meet external obligations for the next 12-18 months, RBI Governor Bimal Jalan said today. The apex bank is buying forex to ensure that even if india goes through tremendous uncertainty ‘we should have strong reserves to cover our liquidity at the risk of foreign institutional investors, short term debt etc’, Jalan said at NASSCOM 2002 — the international IT conference here. ‘Our policy is to have forex reserves to meet all obligations for a reasonable period of 12-18 months’, he added. Jalan said +we have thin markets and want to have an orderly forex market+. RBI was not targetting any specific level of rupee, the Governor said. India’s foreign exchange reserves stood at a robust USD 49,252 million, a record high, during the week ended January 25, 2002. Jalan said fundamentals of the economy were strong with low inflation and low interest rate scenario. Low inflation rate ‘will have no adverse impact on the Indian economy’, Jalan had said earlier. ‘There is no possibility of deflation now. Any adverse effect of low inflation regime referred in RBI’s currency and finance report for 2000-01 was in relation to a medium term perspective’, Jalan had said. (PTI) |
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Govt cracks its whip on malpractices by soap manufacturers NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In a major crackdown on malpractices of soap manufacturers, Government has issued a directive that grades of soaps be indicated on the label along with the Total Fatty Matter (TFM) and that the products conform to the standards laid down for the purpose. The decision was taken at the instance of Consumer Affairs Minister Shanta Kumar when he took up the matter with the Health Ministry, official sources told PTI. They said with the Government order, toilet soap manufacturers will face legal action if they do not specify the grades of TFM in accordance with the schedule "S" of Drugs and Cosmetic Rules (DCR). The Consumer Affairs Minister intervened when several complaints were received of soap manufacturers cheating consumers by not specifying the grades and selling soap cakes with varied TFM in the market without any substantial price difference, they added. Under the DCR, toilet soaps must confirm to fixed standards, namely is 2888:1983. These standards clearly specify three grades with a minimum TFM of 76, 70 and 60 per cent respectively. The pricing of soaps has to vary in accordance with these grades which is not actually the case as market is flooded with soaps termed as "toilet" with highly variable TFM content and yet no price difference. (PTI) |
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Women entrepreneurs setting up model industrial estate VIJAYAWADA, Feb 8: An industrial estate exclusively for women, the first of its kind in the country, is to be set up by the Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh (ALEAP) in collaboration with the Women Entrepreneurs Associataion here. Under the Centre’s integrated infrastructure development scheme, necessary infrastructural facilities, including roads, power and water, and common facilities like conference halls and labs for quality maintenance, would be developed by the aleap within the next four months, ALEAP President K Ramadevi told a press conference here yesterday. Stating that 75 per cent of the units in the industrial estate would be food processing ones, she said the rest would be garment units. The ALEAP would facilitate tie-ups with foreign companies for food processing technology as also buy-back arrangements for the products manufactured in the industrial estate, said Ms Ramadevi, member of the National Board of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The rice and wheat-based snack products, which were in great demand in european countries, would be marketed under a single brand name, she added. The ALEAP would also arrange for loans from the National Small Industries Corporation up to 95 per cent of the project cost or a maximum of Rs 25 lakh for viable projects without collateral security, she said. (UNI) |
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