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NRIs offered equity DUBAI, Nov 5: NRI investors in the Gulf region are being offered equity stake of up to 3.5 million dollars in National-......more Investors
protection NEW DELHI, Dec 5: The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) has revamped the investors protection and education.....more Japan
takes on China PHNOM PENH, Nov 5: A day after China seized the initiative with a free trade zone plan in Southeast Asia, Japanese.....more |
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PFC to come out
with an IPO next year DUBAI, Nov 5: Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) will come out with an initial public offering.......more Sun to introduce two NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Drugmaker giant Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd will introduce at least two .........more Wipro
signs deal DUBAI, Nov 5: India’s leading IT services company Wipro Ltd has made a strategic entry into Qatar by signing a prestigious deal with Doha Bank, the country’s.......more |
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NABARD’s best performance awards to the Cooperative banks .... Jet Airways to hike fares from Nov 10 .... |
DUBAI, Nov 5: NRI investors in the Gulf region are being offered equity stake of up to 3.5 million dollars in National-Standard Duncan Limited and Bakelite Hylam Limited that till recently were part of the 600 million-dollar Duncan Goenka group. Mr N P S Shinh, Managing Director of National-Standard Duncan and chairman and managing director of Bakelite Hylam, said investors can take up minority or equal partnership in the National-Standard Duncan whose full production capacity is expected to be achieved by March next year. Established in 1963 as a joint venture with National Standard of the United States, the company is India’s second largest manufacturer of bead wires for tyres. Its three state-of-the-art factories in Mumbai, Bangalore and near Chandigarh has the capacity to produce 1,700 tonnes of bead wires a month, the Khaleej Times has reported. National-Standard Duncan has also India’s largest production capacity for tyre moulds, both aluminium and steel, with two separate factories in Mumbai and Bangalore. Mr Shinh, along with another promoter, picked up 51 per cent equity in the company when the Duncan Goenka group divested its shareholding in companies that were in the red for a variety of reasons. He remarked that the company was generating up to Rs 50 crore turnover every year with profits in the range of Rs 3 to Rs 4 crore. It offered a good opportunity for investors, especially those who are already in this line of activity, to pick up equity. Mr Shinh said the assets of the company are three times the Rs 20 crore debts after the banks agreed to write-off half of the outstanding amount. The company is also looking for agents in the Gulf, Iran and other neighbouring markets for the bead wires. Bakelite Hylam has three factories in Hyderabad and one in Maharashtra. Set up in 1940 as a joint venture with bakelite of UK, the company’s product range include heritage surface textures, phenolic foam, industrial resins and varnishes, particle boards and laminates. Except for the laminates, Bakelite Hylam has been operating successfully, posting an annual turnover of Rs 40 crore. The laminates factory will become operational by this year-end and we are hopeful about the company’s turnover touching the Rs 140 crore-mark. We are looking for investments in the range of 2 million dollars to 2.5 million dollars, said Mr Shinh, who holds 68 per cent equity with a share capital of about Rs 12 crore. He said there was a tremendous scope for starting a laminates factory in the gulf, which has been a major export market for this product since a long time. The production facility will require an investment of up to four million dollars. Bakelite hylam will provide the technical knowhow and even the first line. We are open to talks with the investors from this part of the world, he said. According to Mr Shinh, there are 60 major companies in India that are on the sickbed and hold good potential for revival through investments. "We plan to acquire more such companies," he remarked. (UNI) |
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Investors protection fund revamped to restore investor confidence NEW DELHI, Dec 5: The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) has revamped the investors protection and education fund, set up under section 205(c) of the Companies Act 1956, in a bid to restore the investors’ confidence in the capital market. According to a just-issued notification of the DCA, a 15-member committee will administer the fund for creating awareness among the potential investors about various companies, both listed and unlisted. The fund has been created in the light of huge losses suffered by investors due to scams in the capital market and the functioning of companies, including those unlisted, non-banking financial companies, Nidhi Companies and Kerala’s notorious fly-by-night operators. Headed by the DCA secretary, the committee’s members would include additional secretary and financial adviser, DCA, the executive director of the Reserve Bank of India, executive director of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and vice chairman of the Company Law Board. Representatives from the financial institutions, banking and investors promotion associations and unions from different regions of the country would also be on the committee. A budget of Rs three crore has been provided to the fund for the current financial year. More funds would be made available as the unclaimed dividends, debentures, shares and public deposits over the years had totalled to over Rs seven crore. As many as 229 listed and unlisted companies have so far vanished without a trace after collecting Rs 8,555 crore from investors. The fund was set up in October 2001, but no money had been released for the purpose till now. (UNI) |
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Japan takes on China over SE Asia free trade zone PHNOM PENH, Nov 5: A day after China seized the initiative with a free trade zone plan in Southeast Asia, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took the first steps today to include the world’s number two economy in a regional trade deal. Japan has been left on the back foot by an agreement signed on Monday by China and the 10 member States of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that launches 10 years of negotiations towards what would be the biggest free trade zone in the world with a population of 1.7 billion people. Koizumi signed a "joint declaration on the comprehensive economic partnership" with his 10 ASEAN counterparts. The declaration kicks off a 10-year process of building a "broad based economic partnership covering not only liberalisation of trade and investment but also trade and investment promotion and facilitation." "We want to deepen relations with the ASEAN countries," Koizumi said ahead of the signing in the Cambodian capital, the site of this year’s ASEAN summit. The leader of an economy struggling to emerge from 10 years of recession while China basks in a decade of near 10 percent average growth a year said he doesn’t see China as a threat to its trade. "I do not subscribe to this theory that China is a competitor," Koizumi said on Sunday, adding that China’s closer ties with ASEAN should be taken as an expression of the enthusiasm of the Communist giant for the market economy. The issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme also pushed its way onto the agenda as Koizumi told southeast Asian nations Japan was doing its best to normalise ties with the unpredictable communist state. "I would like...The North Koreans not to choose isolation in the world community because that will bring the best benefits for the North Koreans themselves," Koizumi said. The topic will dominate talks between ASEAN leaders and South Korean Prime Minister Kim Suk-Soo later in the day. The leaders face a busy schedule, with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee attending for the first time for talks expected to raise the possibility of a trading corridor between West and East. But for Tokyo, burdened with a stagnant economy and virulent opposition from one of the most strongly protectionist farm lobbies in the world, a comprehensive trade agreement with ASEAN will be easier said than done. The joint declaration signed on Tuesday made no mention of agriculture. In January, Japan signed its first free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore, which has been followed by interest from the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Mexico. Analysts say Japan is now engaged in a game of catch-up. "China really wanted the free trade zone deal to leave Japan out in the cold and that’s what they’ve got. It’s purely political," said one expert on ASEAN. "Japan is now fighting a rearguard action." "Already, Japanese industry isn’t in a position to boost investment strongly in the region. And China is moving that way." Japanese officials deny any hint of competition with China, saying the gains of one are gains for all, although contrasts between the two economies are sharp. China posted year-on-year growth of 8.1 percent in the July-September quarter, whereas Japan’s economy shrank 1.3 percent in 2001/2002. China proposed on Monday that Japan and South Korea study the idea of a regional free trade agreement among the three, and while Japan expressed interest in the idea over the medium to longer term, Tokyo — typically — wants to wait and see. Japan proudly cites the Singapore FTA as an example of how it can be done. But Singapore is hardly a major agricultural exporter and the farm lobby will make more deals difficult. (AGENCIES) |
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PFC to come out with an IPO next year DUBAI, Nov 5: Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) will come out with an initial public offering next year and then look at an international listing. As per the advice of Morgan Stanley, PFC having 211 million in paid up capital, would first return to the Government 60 per cent of it at par in the next five to six months before tapping the market, Khaleej Times reported today quoting the company chairman and managing director A A Khan. At present, PFC is holding roadshows to market its five-year Japanese yen 12-billion term-loan facility with an overall limit equivalent to 100 million. After the first roadshow in Dubai on Saturday, it is moving to Singapore and Japan. The facility is fully underwritten by State Bank of India (SBI), which is the lead arranger to the loan. Mr Khan said the syndication was launched on October 28 and is scheduled to close on November 18. The purpose of raising the funding is to lend to the Indian power sector that requires 85 billion during the 10th plan or 2002-07. He said PFC, which is placed at sovereign rating by moody’s and standard and poor’s for foreign currency loans, would be disbursing 9 billion during this period. R Krishnamoorthy, PFC’s director finance and financial operations, said that the company had a strong financial performance over the last five years with profitability growing from 5.3 per cent in 1998 to 7.78 per cent in 2002. The return on assets has been at 4.7 per cent in 2002 and it is projected to grow to 4.9 per cent next year. (UNI) |
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Sun to introduce
two NDDS products, a NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Drugmaker giant Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd will introduce at least two Novel Drug Delivery System (NDDS) products and one new chemical entity under human trials in the next three years. "The products will be evolved through in-house research," Sun Chairman Dilip Shanghvi told UNI. Mr Shanghvi, however, refused to share information regarding the therapy areas or the molecules. He said the total research and development expenditure has steeply increased from Rs 13.2 crore, representing 3.6 per cent of sales last year, to Rs 34.1 crore, almost 8.4 per cent of sales in the current half year, ending September 30 last. "I hope we continue to spend four to five per cent on recurring expenses on research and development, which puts us among the top percentile of pharma companies in the country," the Sun chief added. He, however, admitted that the company’s expense in context of the international spending is quite low. Mr Shanghvi revealed that his company will be raising the annual research spend in the next three years to close to 15 million dollars as it will be spending greater sums of money for doing clinical work for one or two products, which may be in human study by that time. About the return on investment in research and development, he said more than 50 per cent of Sun’s current profits come out of products that it has introduced in the past three years, most of which have been developed by the in-house process development group. On the future products, which will possibly add to cash flow in next three to five years, Mr Shanghvi said as a part of conscious company policy he is unable to share any specific information. Conventionally, the Mumbai-based pharma group has been spending 4 to 4.5 per cent of its sales on research and development. During the past three quarters, the spend has gone up primarily because the company is commissioning two new facilities for research and development — one at Baroda and another at Mumbai, he added. Mr Shanghvi said Sun plans to start its para iv filings over the next four-five years and invest about a huge amount over the next three years on innovation-based research as a part of growth strategy. He pointed out that Sun’s subsidiary caraco has already secured approvals for some products. It is concentrating on abbreviated new drug application and awaiting six more approvals. The Chairman said the company expects to better its performance in the second half of the current fiscal, with topline and bottomline growing 15 to 20 per cent. He hoped the domestic formulations business to continue growing by 15 to 20 per cent and bulk exports by 20 to 25 per cent. The company’s second quarter net profit was up 10.62 per cent at Rs 53.31 crore while net sales were up 10.44 per cent to Rs 216.64 crore. On talks of further deals with Eli Lilly, he said Eli Lilly wants to enlarge the basket of products that it outsources through Sun Pharma. "Besides filing drug master files, we are also exploring opportunities for Eli Lilly to source bulks from US for markets abroad," he added. (UNI) |
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Wipro signs deal with Doha bank DUBAI, Nov 5: India’s leading IT services company Wipro Ltd has made a strategic entry into Qatar by signing a prestigious deal with Doha Bank, the country’s second largest commercial bank. Wipro will provide enterprise application integration and security consultancy services to the bank. The contract represented a strategic entry into Qatar for Wipro Infotech, the IT division of the 715 million dollars Wipro Limited, Doha’s peninsula newspaper, quoting its chairman Azim Premji, has reported. Mr Premji said Wipro was proud to partner with Doha Bank as it showcased its faith in his company’s global practices, technology and software integration expertise and quality processes. "Our mission is to be among the world’s 10 top service providers in terms of revenue," he said adding that the Middle East is a critical component of the company’s global expansion strategy as it has a rapidly growing IT market. Some 70 per cent of the company’s revenues come from global markets, including the US, Canada and Australia. It has 300 large corporate customers outside India and at least 100 of them are fortune 500 companies. The IT giant has now decided to increasingly focus on the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region, the biggest focussed market of Wipro, he added. Mr Premji said Wipro will open more offices in the Middle East, including the GCC where it has won many contracts amid global competition. (UNI) |
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NABARD’s best performance awards to the Cooperative banks CHANDIGARH, Nov 5 : Haryana State Cooperative bank Apex Bank (Harco Bank) and Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank (PSCADB) have bagged the second prize at the national level under NABARD’s scheme for best performance awards for cooperative banks during the year 2000-01. Punjab SCADB has bagged the award consecutively for five years whereas Harco Bank has won the same consecutively for the last three years, a NABARD release said here today. The award will be presented to the banks by Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in a ceremony organised by NABARD at New Delhi tomorrow. At the state level, Kurukshetra District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) has bagged the first prize among all the DCCBs in Haryana. In Punjab, Jalandhar DCCB won the first prize. Among the Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (PCARDBs) in Punjab, Machhiwara PCARDB (Ludhiana) has won the first award whereas the second and third prize has gone to Shahkot (Jalandhar) and Kartarpur (Jalandhar) PCARDBs. In Haryana, Pundri PCARDB (Kaithal) has won the first prize. NABARD has initiated the scheme of best performance awards, under which NABARD announces awards for two State Coopertive Banks (SCBs) and two State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs) at national level. The awards carry a trophy, a citation and a cash award for each bank. The amount of cash award is Rs five lakh for first ranking SCB/SCARDB and Rs three lakh for second ranking SCB/SCARDS. (PTI) |
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Jet Airways to hike fares from Nov 10 NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Jet Airways today announced a ten per cent across the board fare hike on all its flights from November 10. The fare revision would be applicable on all sectors in normal, business and economy classes, Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer S K Dutta told PTI. Aviation sources said that the national carrier Indian Airlines is also contemplating a fare revision. The move by the two airlines signals an end to fierce competition to woo passengers during the lean season severely hit in the wake of the September 11 terror attack. Now with lean period coming to an end, the two airlines have decided to hike the fares to derive maximum benefits. However, it is not immediately known whether the apex fare scheme of highly concessional rates would continue or not. (PTI) Reliance buys Niko stake in 10 oil, gas blocks MUMBAI, Nov 5: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has acquired 10 per cent stake held by the Canada-based Niko resources in ten out of the 12 oil and gas blocks the consortium had won in the first round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). However, the Government is yet to approve the acquisition by Reliance. At the same time, Niko has opted to retain its holding in the deepwater block KG-DWN-98/3 in the Krishna Godavari basin where Reliance last week announced the discovery of world-class gas reserves, estimated at seven trillion cubic feet, according to industry sources. The Canadian company has also retained its holding in the North-East coast shallow water block NEC-OSN-97/2. "In the case of 10 blocks, pursuant to conditional agreements previously entered into with RIL, which have now become enforceable, all of the company’s interest is transferred to reliance, the operator of the blocks with a full indemnity from the latter for all liability and costs under respective production sharing contracts", a Niko spokesperson said. The Reliance-Niko Consortium — with a ratio of reliance 90 per cent and Niko 10 per cent — had committed to investing US 760 million in three phases in the 12 blocks it was awarded in the first round of Nelp. (UNI) IT usage results in turnover increase NEW DELHI, Nov 5: The usage of information technology among small and medium enterprises and the presence of a website have resulted in significant increase in their turnover, according to a recent survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Nearly 78 per cent of the respondents indicated an increase in their sales due to the use of IT. While 12 per cent said their turnover rose by five to 25 per cent, eight per cent said the jump was between 25 to 50 per cent. Faster execution, enhanced productivity and reduced costs from IT application are the top three benefits of IT usage, the survey said. About 73 per cent of the respondents had their own website. (UNI) |
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