Rising AIDS cases could jeopardise
Indo-US relations: Sibley

KOLKATA, Oct 4: US Consul General George N Sibley has struck a note of warning, saying the ballooning incidence of HIV cases among the Indians could jeopardise the already "disappointing" economic relations with India.

Referring to a recent report, published by US-based National Intelligence Council, which placed India with Nigeria, Ethopia and China as the most AIDS-affected country in the world, Mr Sibley said unless the trend was bucked, it could eat up all the gains achieved by the country on the economic front.

"AIDS will reduce economic growth by 1.5 per cent of the GDP and increase health budget by over 50 per cent as the insidious disease affects the workers, who virtually run the wheels of commerce," the Consul General said while speaking at the annual general convention of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce here last night.

Presenting a "grim outlook" on the economic front, Mr Sibley said around 20 to 25 million Indians would be infected with HIV virus in the next ten years, causing a "great stress" on the country’s resources. "No amount of spending on the infrastructural development will be able to meet this burgeoning crisis unless it is tackled head-on," he added. "My job is only to act as a facilitator and unless India goes for an image makeover and improves its climate, most countries will shy away from investing in the country. Investment is based on sound economic principles and not on any other factors," he said.

Speaking about the great transformation in the Indo-US relation after Robert Blackwill’s appointment as US ambassador to India, he said, "even though there has been an improvement in military and diplomatic relation with India, our economic relation continue to be disappointing as India does not form a lucrative market compared to other countries. "

Conceding that the terrorist attack on the USA had led to a fall in the US investment, Mr Sibley said, "US trade with India remains the lowest at a flat rate of 1.5 to 2 billion dollars, while compared to China, it is 41 billion dollars. The total Foreign Direct Investment in the USA is, however, 316 billion dollars." (UNI)

BHEL to erect 2 210 mw sets at Patrichha thermal station

NEW DELHI, Oct 4: State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged a Rs 1,425 crore order to set up two 210 mw sets at Parichha Thermal Power Station in Uttar Pradesh.

The turnkey order placed by Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd envisages design, manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of main plant equipment, comprising boilers and turbine generators with associated auxiliaries, Controls and Instrumentation (C&I), a BHEL release said here today.

BHEL will also supply two 700 hp diesel electric shunting locomotives for movement of rakes for handling material and feedstock from railways siding to the power station.

The boilers and turbine generators will be manufactured at the company’s Trichy and Haridwar plants respectively, while the C&I system will be supplied by its electronics division at Bangalore.

Its Hyderabad plant will manufacture the coal mills and boiler feed pumps whereas the transformers and locomotives will be supplied by the Jhansi plant.

The BHEL-built thermal, hydro, gas and nuclear sets account for more than 65 per cent of the country’s total installed generating capacity of over 1,04,000 mw, it said. (PTI)

Continental AG of Germany enters Indian two-wheeler tyre market

Excelsior Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Oct 4: In a major landmark development, Continental AG of Germany—one of the largest and leading tyre manufacturer in the world, has announced its foray into the Indian two-wheeler tyre market.

Continental has tied-up with Metro Tyres Ltd—the flagship of company of Rs 300 crores Metro Group of India.

Announcing the Indian foray of Continental, Mr Jorg Essiger, Managing Director (Motorcycle Tyres), Continental AG, Germany said, "India is the second largest two-wheeler market in the world and it is growing at a rate of 25 per cent per annum. Under such circumstances, it becomes one of the most lucrative market for the two-wheeler tyre company to be present and here".

As a brand, it already has a standing in the Indian market also. So we decided to harness the vast potential that Indian two-wheeler market offers, he added.

According to Mr Rummy Chhabra, Managing Director, Metro Tyres Ltd., "We are thankful to Continental that they have re-imposed their faith in us. We see a great opportunity in this tie-up and are confident that with the support of Continental, Metro will once again prove to German tyre giant that they have made the right choice by selecting us their India partner. Another significance of this tie-up for Metro is that it marks group’s foray into two-wheeler tyres".

To manufacture motorcycle and scooter tyres, Metro Tyres is setting up a new manufacturing facility in Ludhiana at a cost of Rs 30 crores.

Metro Tyres has the capacity to produce around 1.5 tyres and 1.50 lakh tubes (bicycle per day.

Metro’s earlier tie-up with Continental to export ‘Continental’ brand bicycle tyres is also progressing very successfully. Last year the company exported tyres worth Rs 18 crores to Continental, a stupendous jump of 110 per cent over the previous year’s export of Rs seven crores to Continental.

Heidelbergcement mulls entry in India

NEW DELHI, Oct 4: After Italcementi and Lafarge, another major global player in cement, Heidelbergcement, is thinking of starting operations in India.

The 6.7-billion-euro German giant heidelbergcement, the third-largest cement company in the world with presence in 50 countries, is presently studying the Indian market before beginning operations.

"India is a complex market and we are presently in the process of studying the market," company sources told UNI.

While Italcementi started through a 50-50 joint venture with the Zuari group, Lafarge took over two marginal players — Tisco and Raymond.

Heidelbergcement, however, has so far left all options open for business in India. "There are many ways of doing business here and currently we are just studying which one suits us," the sources said.

"We are looking at the Indian market and studying it for the last five months but nothing has been finalised as yet," they added.

Heidelbergcement produces cement, ready-mix concrete, concrete products, aggregates, as well as dry mortar, lime, sand-lime bricks, and building chemicals.

Its cement sales last year were 45 million tonnes, putting it among the largest cement producers worldwide.

Heidelbergcement is present in six countries in Asia. In Bangladesh, the company has an import terminal and participation in a grinding plant in the port of Chittagong.

It is operating a plant near Dhaka which came up last year. Its two production sites in the country have a combined capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.

Heidelbergcement also has presence in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Brunei. (UNI)

Handicrafts generate Rs 5 cr business at German fair

NEW DELHI, Oct 4: Indian handicraft and gift manufacturing companies which showcased their latest designer products for exports at the recently concluded international Cadeaux Leipzig fair in Germany have generated business worth Rs 5 crore including serious inquiries.

The joint India participation, comprising 7 Indian firms at the 3-day fair, was organised by the Indo German Export Promotion Project (IGEP) as part of its core sector activities to assist Indian companies enter the German gift and handicraft market.

The autumn version of cadeaux, the gift and consumer fair in Leipzig, is a big event in the eastern part of Germany. The designs displayed at the cadeaux included wide range of lifestyle and home products and materials made from wood, iron, stainless steel and jute as well as home furnishings.

The original designs had been developed for the participating Indian companies with the help of German designers associated with the National Centre for Design and Product Development.

The main highlight of Indian participation was the India Day at the fair with Mr Werner Dornscheidt, the Chief of the Leipzig Trade Fairs as the chief guest. Mr Dornscheidt appreciated Indian handicraft products and their popularity in Germany.

The economic situation in Germany is still seen to be very bleak with a large number of people saving their money and not spending on non-essential items.

Jute products, paper products, home furnishings and cutlery received good enquires and on the spot orders at the fair. But response to slow moving articles as furniture or expensive silver products was not upto expectations, an IGEP release here today said.(UNI)

Plan to hike spending on social sectors to win polls

NEW DELHI, Oct 4: Spurred by the need to showcase successful development projects which can help win votes, the tenth five year plan will concentrate on quick turnover social sector programmes, which will help to reduce poverty by five percentage points by 2007.

The poverty level will be brought down by five percentage points by the end of tenth plan, from the present level of 26 per cent, and 15 percentage points by 2012, Deputy Chairman KC pant told UNI in an interview.

The BJP will be facing elections to ten assemblies during the next 24 months and general elections in 2004-05. The party is concerned that the common man does not perceive that he has benefited from reforms. It consequently wants short to medium-term developmental projects which have the potential to fetch votes such as new schools, mid-day meal programmes, maternity and child care programmes, rural roads and electricity.

The tenth five year plan is no longer going to be about GDP growth target alone. For the first time, we are setting social indicator targets that can be monitored. Public spending will be stepped in social sectors like health and education as well as power, rural roads and irrigation , Mr Pant said.

He said resources will be directed during the tenth plan to sectors which are high employment generating. These sectors have been identified by the SP Gupta committee on ‘creating ten million jobs a year.’

The plan panel chief said that a thrust would be given to these sectors over the first two years of the plan, 2002-04. The tenth plan is coming up for ratification by the cabinet this week. The plan document will be put up before the full meeting of the Planning Commission on October five, to be presided over by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mr Pant said Governance was another issue that would play a special role during the tenth plan. For the first time, the document has a separate chapter on the subject.

The Government was also trying to provide social security to the unorganised sector, he said.

Mere allocation of resources is not enough. It does not guarantee achievement of results. Unless the delivery system is improved, results would not be achieved. Therefore, the plan lays emphasis on governance.

Mr Pant said there was an inbuilt mechanism in the tenth plan to get the economy out of the recessionary phase. There was downloading of the plan allocations during the first two years and this hike in public spending will generate all round demand, he said. Industrial growth was slow and the external demand was week. Demand in the agricultural sector had also fallen because of the drought. Stepping up public investment in irrigation and agriculture as well as infrastructure will boost demand. As a result investment, which has dried up during the last few years, will pick up, Mr Pant said.

He said nearly Rs 75,000 crore will accrue from disinvestment during the tenth plan period, which will be used for development purposes. The planning commission head was confident of being able to meet the ambitious disinvestment target for the tenth plan, notwithstanding the political resistance being witnessed at present.

Out of 230 PSUS, nearly 60 are of a strategic nature. The value of the remaining 170 PSUs is Rs 2,60,000 crore at historical prices. Even if 50 per cent of these are sold off, the disinvestment target would be met at historical prices. At current market prices, there value will be much more, Mr Pant said.

He said the differences were natural in a coalition Government and were part of the democratic dynamics. The Government policies on disinvestment are quite clear and there is no reason to doubt that the disinvestment target will not be reached for the tenth plan.

He said the state Governments must offload their equity in those psus which are loss making and which are better disinvested.

Mr Pant said savings will not be a constraint in achieving eight per cent growth target set for the tenth plan period. He said the rate of domestic savings was quite high in the 1980’s and it was important to return to that level. A savings rate of 27 per cent was required for achieving eight per cent growth rate. The tax to GDP rate, which has come down, needs to be pushed up. He said household savings were 21 per cent, corporate savings were five per cent, PSUS saving were three per cent of GDP but the Government dissavings were 4.5 per cent. If only Government dissavings can be reduced by just 2 per cent, then the savings rate would be sufficient to meet the eight per cent growth target.

Asked what would be his message to the NDC where the plan document will be given the final seal of approval, Mr pant said he would want the state Governments to step up growth, reduce borrowings and improve governance. (AGENCIES)

Railways plans food plazas at major stations

NEW DELHI, Oct 4: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has chalked out a massive plan to set up 50 additional multi-cuisine food plazas at major railway stations through out the country over the next six months.

According to official sources, two such food plazas, one at Chennai and the other at Pune will come into operation by December this year.

The remaining fourty-eight such stalls will come up before the end of the current financial year. These will be set up at Patna , Bangalore, Delhi, Darjeeling, Jaipur, Mumbai Central, Kolkata and Nizamuddin among other places.

The new food plazas, aimed at stepping up of passenger amenities during 150th year of Indian Railways, will have contemporary decor, air-conditioned ambience and will be working round-the-clock to suit passenger convenience.

In another major development, the IRCTC will be setting up budget hotels adjacent to railway stations, in partnership with the private sector ones. These will be set up at Bhopal, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Banglore and Mumbai, sources added. (UNI)

Rupee loses marginal ground against US dollar

MUMBAI, Oct 4: The rupee lost marginal ground against the US currency early today on stray dollar demand from banks, but the outlook for the unit remains strongly positive owing to healthy dollar inflows from exporters.

In generally quiet and range-bound trade at the interbank foreign exchange market here this morning, the rupee is currently quoted at Rs 48.36/37 per dollar, mildly lower from Thursday’s finish of Rs 48.3575/3625. The rupee opened at Rs 48.3600/48.3750 per dollar.

Light dollar demand from banks at sharply lower levels weakened the rupee marginally but sentiment for the currency remains upbeat owing to sustained dollar inflows from export proceeds and Non Resident Indian (NRI) remittances, a forex dealer said.

The rupee is currently hovering around over eight-month peak against the US currency backed by strong dollar supplies from exporters and inward remittances.

In cross currency trades, the euro was quoted at Rs 47.71/73, pound sterling at Rs 75.86/89 and Japanese yen (100) at Rs 39.37/40. (PTI)

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