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| Fiat Siena is ready to rule the
roads of Jammu Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, May 26: With the hope of making strong inroads into established competition, the Fiat has launched face-lifted Siena.......more Coke restrained from FARIDABAD, May 26: A city court has restrained Coca Cola from telecasting an advertisement....more Rs 8 cr project for SHIMLA, May 26: An ambitious Rs 8.86 crore milch livestock development project has been .......more Rupee ends the MUMBAI, May 26: Unfazed by war cries, the rupee stayed stable against the US dollar....more Call rates decline, gilts MUMBAI, May 26: The interbank call money market, which stayed firm above the re-finance rate of 7 per cent initially......more |
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Banks should
evolve country risk management policies: RBI MUMBAI, May 26: Reserve Bank of India has said that banks should formulate appropriate, well documented and clearly defined ‘Country Risk Management’ (CRM) policies addressing issues of identifying, measuring, monitoring and controlling country exposure risks......more Unviable business MUMBAI, May 26: Despite the State Government’s claim of being an investor destination, Maharashtra ....more Demands to fuel NEW DELHI, May 26: The Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Ascon Survey, which....more Inflation rooted at 1.46 NEW DELHI, May 26: For the third week in a row, the inflation rate stayed rooted at 1.56 per cent with periodicals and minerals like dolomite showing a marked rise while electricity tariffs for industry...more |
Fiat Siena is ready to rule the roads of Jammu Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, May 26: With the hope of making strong inroads into established competition, the Fiat has launched face-lifted Siena. At first glance, one can tell that new Siena is essentially a Palio with a boot. The now-familiar Palio nose with its sparkling clear head-lights, narrow slot grille and deep chin means one look at the Siena with admiration rather then merely tolerate it. On the FLX versions, the Siena gets a chrome surround on the grille to make it look more upmarket. But, it is at the rear that most significance transformation has taken place. Despite possessing almost identical, Giugiro, the legendary Italian styling guru, has altered the huge 500 litre boot from a grossly oversized bulge to a well formed and almost muscular rear end. The number plate has been moved from the bumper, the largest tail-lights given a more modern cut and lip has been incorporated into the edge of the boot. The Siena solidly built chasis makes it the heaviest car of the bunch but the extra mass pay rich dividends as far as ride comfort and an overall feeling of invincibility are concerned. Climb inside the new Siena and one will be hardpressed to tell the old car from the new one. One get the same stout asymmetrical dashboard, the same three-spoke steering wheel and the same shifter. As far as other comforts are concerned, Siena has extra long doors and wheelbase. Climb into the rear and one can soon aware of the additional space. The supportive rear bench seat and perfectly raked backrest impart levels of comport that are difficult to match. The heavy Siena imparts a big car feel like noon of the others do. Even since the car was launched, its ride quality has always been special. The new Siena comes with a reworked suspension that is now stiffer. Using harder, taller springs Fiat engineers have managed to retain a fair amount of the supportive ride quality that its predecessor possessed. The new Siena will easily absorb the roughest of patches, ruts, as well as dips and taller springs make it more adept at swallowing huge craters without bottoming out. Fiat has formally launched Siena in the City of Temples. M/s Oriental Car Dealer, NHIA, Channi Rama, Bye-Pass Road Jammu has been authorised as dealer of the car. |
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Coke restrained from telecasting
controversial FARIDABAD, May 26: A city court has restrained Coca Cola from telecasting an advertisement which allegedly ridiculed a TV commercial by its rival Pepsi featuring cinestar Amitabh Bachchan and cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar. Restraining Coke and Rishi Cable Network, Faridabad, from telecasting the said commercial till disposal of the case, Judicial Magistrate Rachna Gupta also summoned the cable operator, Hindustan Coca Cola Ltd, its Managing Director and Director Communications asking them to appear before her. "..The said commercial is apparently obscene and vulgur and against the standards of decency," the court observed and asked the Deputy Commissioner to prepare a report on the advertisement and submit the same on June 10. The order came on a complaint filed by one Chhaterpal who alleged that the said advertisement telecast on various channels was derogatory, defamatory, vulgur, obscene and ridiculous and defamed the two superstars. The complainant further alleged that the said TV commercial was in violation of various provisions of Indian Penal Code, Young Persons (harmful publications) Act and Cable Television Networks (regulation) Act and having detrimental effects on the viewing public. When contacted coke’s spokesperson Nantoo Banerjee declined to comment on the issue saying he did not have all the details on the development. (PTI) |
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Rs 8 cr project for dairy farming in HP SHIMLA, May 26: An ambitious Rs 8.86 crore milch livestock development project has been sanctioned for Solan district toencouragen dairy farming in Himachal Pradesh. As many as 10,000 cattle breeders will be adopted under this project that will help more than 20,000 societies engaged in milk production, according to an official spokesman here. The State Government has taken several steps to strengthen the bovine wealth of agriculturists, opening about 200 veterinary institutions, three semen laboratories, five artificial insemination centres and seven liquid nitrogen plants during the past four years in the state. A central bull centre is being established at Palampur in Kangra district which will meet the requirement of semen for artificial insemination to a large extent. Initially, artificial insemination was done by liquid semen but now frozen semen, which can be stored for longer periods, is used for the purpose. To preserve the frozen semen six liquid nitrogen plants are functioning in the state besides three semen processing laboratories which produce four to five lakh semen straws every year. A spokesman said a special laboratory had been set up to check "foot and mouth" and other communicable diseases of animals in the state. A special feed and fodder programme has been launched in the state in order to ensure proper rearing of quality livestock. Under this programme, 3,000 mini-kits and fodder seeds are being given on cent per cent subsidy to scheduled caste families and women every year. Besides, fodder seeds are also being made available on fifth per cent subsidy on total cost. Small and marginal and farmers belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribe families are being provided 100 hens per farmer at subsidised rates to encourage poultry farming, the spokesman said. The Government is laying emphasis on extension of education and training programmes. A training centre has been set up at chamba for veterinary pharmacists. The Government Veterinary Training Centre, Sundernagar, is organising training programmes to provide self-employment to rural unemployed youhts. After training they are given a unit of three milch cattle for which the entire interest is borne by the state Government. They are also provided with an animal health care and artificial insemination kit. (UNI) |
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Rupee ends the week firm vs US dollar despite war fears MUMBAI, May 26: Unfazed by war cries, the rupee stayed stable against the US dollar during the week ended may 24 on sufficient dollar supply by state-run banks at the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market. While the border heat melted the stocks and bonds markets, the rupee displayed a ‘matured gesture’ thanks to the ‘blessings’ of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), forex experts said. "It seems the ‘war heat’ has not been felt much in the forex market as players are optimistic that RBI would continue to intervene in the market to support the rupee in case of a panic", the treasury head with a private brokerage firm said. The apex bank had reportedly intervened in the market and kept the Indian currency range-bound throughout the week by selling the greenback through state-run banks, he added. Unlike stocks market, forex market is well-controlled, and in case of any panic situation, RBI which is comfortable with a record forex reserve of over US dollar 55 billion, can sell dollars and arrest any slide in rupee, a forex dealer at a public sector bank said. Though the import demand continued to be much higher than the normal export supply due to war fears, sufficient dollar supply by state-owned banks helped the rupee to end the week stronger, he added. Rupee resumed the week marginally weaker at 49.03/04 and witnessed only mild swings across the 49-mark, despite heavy volatility in other markets due to the border tension. The Indian unit dipped to its life-time low of 49.06 on Monday intra-day deals and appreciated to the week’s high of 48.9750/9850 on Wednesday, before closing the week at 48.9850.9950, showing a gain of three and a half paise from 49.02/03 of the previous week end. Even the marginal slip of the rupee on Thursday to a record low closing of 48.04/05 was not because of war concerns, but due to the longer spot date which was shifted to next tuesday on account of Monday’s New York holiday, a forex dealer at a private broking firm said. Banks always buy dollar on Thursday to take advantage of the longer spot date and in the case of last Thursday, the spot date was further extended to May 28. The brewing war concerns which reached its climax after Prime Minister’s prediction of a ‘decisive victory’ and direction to troops to be prepared for the supreme sacrifice in a ‘conclusive and final battle’ against cross-border terrorism, crippled the stocks market, pulling down the bench mark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) by 328 points or 9.54 per cent and Government bonds by an average Rs 2-3 on Thursday. However, the rupee restricted its loss to just two paise on that day. However, the forward dollar premiums rose during the week on heavy paying pressure on the back of apprehensions of a possible war coupled with slight tightness in the money market. The sixth-month annualised premiums opened higher at 6.48 per cent and shot upto a high of 6.76 per cent on Thursday, before closing the week at 6.34 per cent, up from 6.25 per cent of the previous week’s finish. Though the border tension has eased and the rupee closed the week firm below the 49-mark after Prime Minister Vajpayee softened his war rhetoric on Thursday evening, the undertone continues to be weak as these fears still persist. The dwindling foreign fund inflows is also a cause for concern, a forex dealer at a public sector banks said. "Rupee’s movement in the next week will mostly depend on the developments at the Indo-Pak border and the extent of dollar selling support by state-run banks", he said. The movement of crude prices in international markets is also likely to impact on the rupee, he added. Prime Minister Vajpayee had on Thursday said "sometimes, even when the sky is clear you have lightning. But I am confident there will be no lightning." Market players interpreted the message as a climb down on war talk. Moreover, the sustained efforts of world leaders to defuse tension between India and Pakistan brightened hopes of an early return of peace at the border. In cross currency, the rupee showed a mixed trend. While the indian unit appreciated against the pound sterling by 16 paise to 71.19 from 71.35 of the previous weekend, it fell by 25 paise against the euro to 45.05 from 44.80 and 48 paise against Japanese yen to 39.18 from 38.70. (UNI) |
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Call rates decline, gilts rally as war fears ebb MUMBAI, May 26: The interbank call money market, which stayed firm above the re-finance rate of 7 per cent initially, drifted lower on sufficient liquidity supported by inflows of coupon payment during the week ended May 24. Government Securities (G-SECs) recouped early losses and staged a smart rally on renewed buying interest. They were buoyed by the improved sentiments on liquidity after the Government privately placed bonds with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), coupled with easing of the Indo-Pak border tension. Call rate opened higher at 7.00-7.25 per cent, ruled firm between 7.25-8.00 per cent in the first three days of the week following higher demand for funds, coupled with short supply. The overnight rate, however, eased towards the week-end to close at 6.50-6.75 per cent on increased supply by State Bank of India (SBI) and other state-own banks. The liquidity also improved on account of an inflow of over Rs 3,000 crore by way of coupon payments and others towards the weekend. With the privately placement of bonds worth Rs 6,000 crore with the RBI, market players felt that there would not be any auction in the near future. Since the private placement is an off-market deal, it had no impact on liquidity, dealers said. Reflecting the improvement in the liquidity, RBI received one bid on the last two days of the week for Rs 6,000 crore each in its daily repo auction, though the central bank accepted only Rs 1,500 each (25 per cent of the amount). Gilt prices fell sharply on Monday and Tuesday on distress selling by market players on the back of mounting tension on the Indo-Pak border. However, bonds prices rallied from Wednesday onwards as the sentiment improved after the private placement of bonds with the RBI. The receding war fears also boosted the sentiment. According to Ms Pushpa Rai, an analyst with Mata Securities Pvt Ltd, gilt prices extended their gains towards the weekend on hectic buying support after the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee discounted fears of an Indo-Pak war. The all round recovery in stocks, currency market and improved liquidity in the money market also aided to the positive sentiment. Prices of most of the bonds approached pre-Jammu attack levels, she added. In the coming weeks bonds prices are expected to continue their rally on the back of ample liquidity in the system. Market players will keenly watch the developments on the Indo-Pak border and any fresh tension would adversely affect the sentiment, dealers said. (UNI) |
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Banks should evolve country risk
MUMBAI, May 26: Reserve Bank of India has said that banks should formulate appropriate, well documented and clearly defined ‘Country Risk Management’ (CRM) policies addressing issues of identifying, measuring, monitoring and controlling country exposure risks. The policy, to be formulated with approval of respective boards, should specify the responsibility and accountability of the various levels for CRM decisions, RBI said in a circular to all scheduled commercial banks. To begin with, banks may adopt the sovereign ratings of international credit rating agencies. However, banks should eventually put in place appropriate systems to move over to internal assessment of country risk by March 31, 2004. Banks should evolve sound systems for measuring and monitoring country risk. The system should be able to identify the full dimensions of country risk as well as incorporating features that acknowledge links between credit and market risk, RBI said. Banks should use a variety of internal and external sources as a means to measure country risk. Banks should not rely solely on rating agencies or other external sources as their only country risk-monitoring tool. Banks should also incorporate information from the relevant country managers of their foreign branches into their country risk assessments. The frequency of periodic reviews of country risk ratings should be more than once a year and depend on importance and complexity of bank’s business. (PTI) |
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Unviable business environment
prompts SSIs MUMBAI, May 26: Despite the State Government’s claim of being an investor destination, Maharashtra is losing its distinction as the commercial capital of the country with over 70 per cent of its small and medium size industries are either downing shutters or moving to other states. According to Bombay Small Scale Industries Association president Rakesh Pal Abrol, the unviable business environment in the state has caused about 40 to 50 per cent of small and medium units to shutdown their business while, 30 per cent units have shifted their business to neighbouring states. High cost of power, non-availability of timely credit, delayed payments from large industries and lack of technological upgradation were the major factors that led to this dismal situation, Mr Abrol told UNI. SMEs have found neighbouring states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Diu and Daman as ideal destinations, he added. Out of the 4.5 five lakh SME, 1.8 lakh units have closed down their business and 1.35 lakh units have shifted their business to neighbouring states. Plants for rubber processing, foundaries, metal sheets and accessaries manufacturers of automobiles have shifted to other states due to the low-taxation policy and other incentives offered by these State Governments, he added. Mr Abrol said due to industrial sickness and shifting of units, SMEs’ contribution to the exchequer declined by 60 per cent of the gross income. Today the industry pays 15.8 per cent tax. Processed food, perfumes, cosmetics, electronic gadgets and stationery items which were produced in the state are now allowed to import. As per the Union Government’s taxation policy, an importer need to pay only 8 per cent duty on an imported item. On the contrary, goods produced within the country attracts several taxes like sales tax, excise duty and other levies. Access to funds is yet another problem plaguing smes in the state. In developed economies, a chain of finance is available to SMEs which allows them to go from start-up micro finance, to secured debt and from venture capital and public listing. These avenues are still not easily accessible for a large chunk of small units in the state and consequently the delay in obtaining timely and adequate credit has often pushed SMEs into sickness, he stated. The policy of de-reserving the small scale sector is yet another challenge, says Mr Vijay Kalantri, president of All India Association of Industries (AIAI). The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has de-reserved 51 items from the small-scale sector, including toothpaste, clocks and watches. Mr Kalantri said that SMEs will now have to face the challenges posed by dumping from countries like China and Myanmar. (UNI) |
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Demands to fuel production
growth in NEW DELHI, May 26: The Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Ascon Survey, which covered 118 manufacturing and 12 service sectors for the period April-March 2001-02 over the corresponding period last year, reveals that 90 of the 118 segments have recorded a growth rate of less than ten per cent. The CII survey shows that seven sectors have recorded an excellent production growth rate while 20 have registered high growth, while 34 sectors have registered a negative growth, 69 sectors achieved a moderate growth. The forecasts for the first half of 2002-03, however, predict a pick up in production growth backed by expectations of improved domestic and export market demand for most sectors. Signs of a global recovery led by the US are evident after a synchronised global slowdown in 2001 is the primary reason for optimism in terms of exports. The steady growth in consumer durables and signs of a recovery in some basic goods sectors, on the other hand, has prompted better forecasts in the domestic market. The survey pointed out that there are many lessons in the performance recorded and the constraints faced in 2001-02 for converting the optimistic outlook into a better growth performance in 2002-03. Though 67 out of the 118 sectors surveyed show a moderate growth of 0-10 per cent as compared to 60 sectors last year, there has been a decline both in the excellent and high growth sectors. While 19 sectors recorded a high growth of 10-20 per cent compared to 25 last year, the performance of the sectors in the excellent growth category has also come down to four in 2001-02 as compared to eight in 2000-01. The down trend is mainly due to slowdown in some items in the auto sectors, in the basic goods like crude oil, cold rolled steel, some items in the electrical equipment industry, consumer durable items, machine tools and textile machinery. In all, 90 of the 118 segments have recorded growth rate of less than 10 per cent. This is a decline over the situation observed earlier in the estimated figure where 95 of the 116 segments had shown moderate growth. Some sectors like cement, lead and lead alloy, electric cables and wire, forging transformers, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, cars, refrigerators and colour televisions moved from negative to positive growth in 2001-02. Others such as mopeds, textile machinery, machine tools, rubber footwear and malted food recorded negative as compared to positive growth in 2000-01. The survey has pointed out that 28 of the 118 segments also showed a negative growth in 2001-02. While over 23 per cent of the sectors have reported a negative growth in 2001-02, more than 56 per cent of the sectors have shown moderate growth rate of 0-10 per cent as compared to 51 per cent at the end of the last quarter in 2000-01. Many sectors, according to the survey, have suffered because of the free imports due to the Indo-Nepal Treaty, absence of a clear captive power policy, threat of Chinese imports, competition from unorganised sector, duplication of brands and manufacture of sales and spurious products at cheaper prices in the absence of harmonisation of specifications and standards. The survey stresses the need for a well-defined national standard. There is also a need for earlier implementation of VAT. To make the products more competitive and export oriented, the cascading effect of custom duty, sales tax, expenditure and luxury tax, local taxes like octroi, entry tax needs to be reviewed. The high excise duty on cement, automobiles and machine tools should be removed, the agriculture sector should be given a boost and the infrastructure status should be accorded to the health care sector, the survey suggests. It also lays stress for the adoption of a policy to grow more oil seeds and says that the recommendations of it hardware report needs to be implemented fast. The slowdown in the global economy resulted in exports suffering a setback from the momentum of growth achieved in 2000-01. Out of 51 sectors surveyed, the number of sectors that have shown excellent growth have decreased from 14 in 2000-01 to seven in 2001-02. There was also a decline in the high growth sectors from 11 in 2000-01 to eight in 20001-02. While there has been a slight increase in the number of sectors in the moderate growth list from 11 in 2000-01 to 19 in 2001-02, the sectors registering a negative growth has gone up from 10 to 17. The main segments which moved into the negative growth list include ball and roller bearing, earth moving construction and mining equipment, textile machinery, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, refrigerators and black and white televisions among others. Cars, electric cables and wires, diesel engines and phosphate fertilizer are the four segments, which have recorded positive growth in exports as compared to negative growth in 2000-01. While electronic component exports have achieved excellent growth rates from high growth rate last year, the increase in the auto tyre exports is mainly due to excellent export growth in passenger car segment. According to the Ascon Survey, the main reasons for the downslide in exports are, among others, the decline in overseas demand, steep fall in international prices, inadequate incentives, lack of required initiative to address the issues and action against Indian exports including anti-dumping USA, some European countries and China. Service sector growth also slowed down in 2001-02. Out of the 12 service sectors surveyed, three sectors reported excellent growth of more than 20 per cent, which include cellular services (80 per cent), housing finance (33 per cent), and domestic software services (29 per cent). The construction industry recorded 5.3 per cent production growth. Its export of project services abroad, however, has suffered a setback and has achieved negative growth of minus 15 per cent. While six sectors recorded a negative growth rate, hotel and tourism continue to be in the negative growth list. Four sectors including air cargo, export cargo, import cargo and leasing and hire purchase sectors have moved from the positive growth to a negative growth rate, the survey adds. (UNI) |
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Inflation rooted at 1.46 per cent for third week NEW DELHI, May 26: For the third week in a row, the inflation rate stayed rooted at 1.56 per cent with periodicals and minerals like dolomite showing a marked rise while electricity tariffs for industry and railway traction were sliced during the week ending May eleven. Calculated on a point-to-point basis, the annual rate of inflation was, however, much lower than the 5.6 per cent during the corresponding week of the last year. The wholesale price index for all commodities (base: 1993-94) in the mean time notched up 0.1 per cent to register 162.7 from 162.6 points during the week ended May four. For the week ending March 16, 2002, the final WPI for all commodities stood at 161.8 as against the provisional 161.5 points and the annual inflation rate based on the final index was calculated at 1.63 per cent as against 1.44 per cent officially announced earlier. The index for the major primary articles group inched up 0.1 per cent to 169.4 from 169.3 with food articles going up 0.1 per cent to 177.6 points, non-food articles dipping 0.3 per cent to 152.6 per cent and the minerals group rising 0.1 per cent to 120.0. Prices of food items like bajra, arhar (three per cent each), barley (two per cent) wheat, jowar, fruits and vegetables, condiments and spices (one per cent each) went up whereas inland fish (two per cent), maize gram and moong (one per cent each) became cheaper. In the non-food articles group, the decline in the index was aided by the prices of copra (eight per cent), fodder (seven per cent), raw tobacco (four per cent), raw silk (three per cent), raw jute (two per cent), raw cotton, groundnut seed and castor seed (one pre cent each) being slashed a bit even though sunflower (five per cent), cotton seed, niger seed, kardi seed (two per cent each), rape and mustard seed (one per cent) came slightly costlier. The index for the minerals group rose due to a whopping increase in prices of dolomite (39 per cent) and silica sand (one per cent) although barytes (eleven per cent, limestone (four per cent), fire clay (three per cent) and bauxite declined. After remaining static for a couple of weeks, the major group of fuel, power, light and lubricants dropped 0.4 per cent to 230.4 from the provisional 231.3 for the previous week mainly owing to electricity rates for industry and electricity for railway traction being reduced three per cent. In the major manufactured products group, the index uped 0.3 per cent to 145.3 from 144.9 points the preceding week. Food products dipped by 0.5 per cent to 148.0 with solvent extracted groundnut oil (three per cent), sooji-rawa, rice bran oil cakes (two per cent each), maida and atta (one per cent each) coming down and bran of all kinds, sugar and sweet-meat confettis (one per cent each) being priced higher. Beverages, tobacco and tobacco products were pushed up 0.7 per cent to 201.6 primarily because of biris (four per cent) and Indian-made foreign liquor (one per cent) cutting into the user’s pocket. The index for the textiles group rose by 1.2 per cent to 117.6 with polyester staple fibre (five per cent), ployester yarn (four per cent), cotton yarn-yanks and synthetic yarn (three per cent each) climbing and texturised yarn (one per cent) plumbing. Paper and paper products jumped by 4.6 per cent to 173.6 from the provisional 166.0 the week earlier due to a steep hike in the price of periodicals (20 per cent) even though newsprint declined by two per cent. Rubber and plastic manufactured products dipped 0.1 per cent to 125.8 due to decorative laminates (one per cent) being priced lower while the index for the chemicals and chemical products group rose by 0.1 per cent to 172.4 with prices of phenol (11 per cent), all types of acid and urea n-content (one per cent each) going up. However, fireworks (five per cent), caustic soda (two per cent), oxygen and liquid chlorine(one per cent each) declined. The non-metallic mineral products group showed a dip of 0.1 per cent to 141.9 due to lower prices of ceramic tiles (five per cent) and the basic metals, alloys and metal products came down 0.1 per cent to close at 140.8 points with steel sheets, plates and strips (seven per cent) and other iron-steel products (two per cent) available cheaper. Machinery and machine tools group climbed a marginal 0.2 per cent to 129.6 with prices of components and accessories of switch gears (seven per cent) and complete engines (two per cent) being hiked while some electrical equipment and systems (two per cent) were slashed. Transport equipment and parts dipped by 0.3 per cent from 149.0 to 148.7 points with the scooters (four per cent) coming cheaper. Indices for all other groups remained static at the previous week’s levels. (UNI) |
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