Handloom and handicrafts exports to grow 20 per cent

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: India today said its handloom and handicrafts exports would grow by around 20 per cent this fiscal to over Rs 14,000 crore, buoyed by new initiatives in the segment as well as stricter quality control and other export-oriented measures.

Union Textile Minister Kanshiram Tana told newspersons here that the Government was paying special attention not only to creating a "brand image" for Indian products but also ensuring that the products flowing out of the country were in consonance with international standards land requirements.

"For this, we have taken measures to first revitalise the industry within the country itself and are providing the artisans and craftsmen with various incentives.

"The roadmap for this growth was declared by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in his speech at the independence day celebrations this year when he announced that the Government would provide a special ten per cent rebate to clear inventory and accumulated stocks of craftspersons," Mr Rana said after inaugurating the 15-day ‘India Weaves 2002’ at the Dilli Haat here.

The union minister said the Government had created a corpus of Rs 100 crore as part of the scheme through which it was providing help to handloom and handicrafts artisans who had huge unutilised stocks.

Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) Tinu Joshi told UNI that exports in the segment, which stood at Rs 10,000 crore, were expected to grow by 20 per cent this fiscal.

"We expect the exports to grow as international markets are recovering from the recession they were in last year.

"Also, our ministry is taking steps to create a brand image for Indian products which would certainly make them appealing and fetch them a greater price," she said.

Ms Joshi said as initial steps in this direction, the country was going in for stricter quality as well as environmental checks for the products, apart from ensuring fair wages to the workers. "As part of this, bamboo and wood products would be cleared by the nodal agency — Indian Institute of Forest Management — before being exported.

"The checks would ensure that the products adhere to international quality and environmental standards, making them more acceptable in the international markets apart from fetching higher prices," Ms Joshi said.

Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) K Rajendran Nair said handicrafts exports, which witnessed a marginal decline last fiscal at Rs 2,065 crore, were set to grow 20 per cent with the recession getting diluted.

India’s major exporting markets in the handloom and handicrafts sector are the united states, canada and european countries, apart from Australia, New Zealand and some African countries.

Mr Rana said to give a boost to the sector within the country and make it more competitive vis-a-vis the powerloom-made products, many steps were being taken.

"We have approved 16 ‘Urban Haats’, on the lines of the Dilli Haat, where the craftsmen can display and sell their products not only to nationals but foreigners as well.

"Also, when all these Haats become operational, middlemen will be reduced from the craftsmen-customer transaction which may also reduce the cost of the products," he said.

The minister said the Government had also opened ‘weaver service centres’ where the artisans were being provided information on modernisation processes, new designs as well as market trends.

"Also, the Government is providing support and grant to NGOs and other people who are organising such handloom and handicrafts fairs," he said.

‘India Weaves 2002’, which expects to record a Rs 2.5 crore business, showcases traditional handweaves and prints of about 120 handloom corporations/cooperatives/primary societies/NGO’s from across the country.

On display are hand-woven fabrics, sarees, shawls, durries, carpets, bed and bath linen, among other products. (UNI)

Haryana Roadways earn profit

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17: The Haryana Roadways has become the most profitable transport undertaking in the country and is providing efficient, comfortable and safe transport services to over 11 lakh passengers daily.

Claiming this here today, Transport Minister, Ashok Kumar Srora said that the Haryana Roadways earned an all time high profit of Rs 105.55 crore before tax during the last financial year in comparison to Rs. 62.83 crore in the year 2000-2002.

He said that the profit of Haryana roadways was only Rs 26 crore in the year 1999-2000 and its profit had enhanced by 300 per cent as a result of efficient management during last about three years.

He said that the Haryana Roadways become a major contributor to the state exchequer as its contribution has increase from Rs 60 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 121 crore in 2001-2002.

He said that the profit was likely to go upto Rs 130 crore during the current financial year despite massive increase in the cost of diesel, tyre-tubes, spare parts, toll tax and insurance, which increased by more than Rs 70 crore annually.

Arora said that in the last two years, 1500 new buses had been added in the fleet of Haryana Roadways in replacement of old buses.

He said that there was a plan to replace as many as 355 buses during the current financial year also.

These buses having ultra-modern design and conforming to highest safety and comfort standards has been designed by Haryana Roadways Engineering Corporation.

The buses of Haryana Roadways were being rated as amongst the best in the country and liked by the passengers.

These buses were also posing a tough competition to the roadways of the neighbouring States.

Arora said that as a result of the consistent efforts made by the State Transport authorities, the rate of accidents had been brought to the level of 1.1 per million km as against the national average of 2.2 per million km, which proved that Haryana buses were the safest in the country. (PTI)

PM to launch nationwide investor education programme on Nov 15

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: A nationwide investor education programme to create awareness among the public on financial aspects will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee here on November 15.

Announcing this, SENI, which is organising the programme, said it would be taken to states by conducting seminar and workshops.

"PM will launch the programme in Delhi on November 15. We have got the confirmation from Prime Minister’s Office," SEBI Chariman G N Bajpai said here on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Invest India Economic Foundation.

The purpose of the programme, which would see the active participation from banks, mutual funds, investment bankers and depository participants, was to inculcate financial literacy, which would enable the regulator in putting institutions for checking stock market frauds in the country.

"Role of education is utmost when institutions are needed for preventing frauds," he said.

Such a massive education programme would trigger the need for being financially educated as there were many advantages in investing in capital markets.

Addressing the seminar on pensions, Bajpai said pension reforms would continue to remain an issue unless financial literacy was achieved and it was a difficult proposition in view of the poor general literacy in the country.

"Pension reforms will always be an issue when literacy itself is a problem," he said.

SEBI chief said the need for financial literacy among the pensioners had become imperative considering their need for leading a comfortable standard of living. (PTI)

No looking back on liberalisation: PM

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: Assuring foreign investors that differences in disinvestment or any other domestic economic policy were only the democratic process of reconciliation and achieving consensus, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said there would be no looking back on liberalisation process.

"I assure our European business friends that such hiccups as they may see in our liberalisation are only the process of reconciling divergences and achieving consensus. Our reform process continues to target high growth with balanced and equitable development", he said.

Vajpayee who was inaugurating the first India-ASEAN business summit here said India’s GDP growth target of 7 per cent "exhorts us to stay on this path. There can be no looking back". (PTI)

Witness Systems enters Indian contact centre market

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: US-based Witness Systems, global leader in performance optimisation software and services, today announced its entry into the Indian contact centre market which is the fastest growing in the Asia-Pacific region.

Witness Systems has partenered with capital-based Futuresoft India, a leading provider of IT solutions and services, whose current customers include Hinduja TMT, Motof, Phoneix Group and Spectramind.

Witness, whose client base includes IBM, Compaq, Vodafone, Nokia, Worldcom, Bellnew York Life, Merc-Medco and Daimlerchrysler is also contemplating on setting up a 100 per cent subsidiary in India.

"Indian outsourcing agencies, in partcular, are looking to quality monitoring solutions as a means of establishing a clear service differentiator, increasing their competitiveness as they vie for business and other international contracts," said Robert Horwood, Regional Director of Asia for Witness Systems.

India, he said, is attracting worldwide attention as one of the most popular contact centre locations due to its low operating costs, well educated talent pool and potential high return on investment, mr horwood said at a press conference here.

Witness, which offers integrated multimedia customer interaction recording, performance analysis and e-learning management solutions, has experienced a growing demand from contact centres in India as they strive to improve service quality, heighten sales/services standards, build customer satisfaction and loyalty and maximise revenue opportunities, Mandeep Singh Puri, director, Futuresoft said. The call centre market is one of the fastest growing sectors within the it software and services industry. In 2002-01, the call centre and back office services industry contributed Rs 900 crore in terms of revenue and employed 15,000 personnel. The Nasscom-Mckinsey report estimates this market will grow to Rs 20,000 crore by 2008.

A recently conducted study on Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) indicated there are currently more than 150 call centres operating in the country. According to various international analysis reports, including those from IDC, compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the Indian contact centre industry is expected to be between 42 and 45 percent over the next five years.

"Together with the support of our new partner, Futuresoft, we are even better positioned to address the growing needs of customer-focused companies in India," Mr Horwood said.

He said that savings which accrue on account of outsourcing are typically 25 to 50 per cent while more complex the outsource project, the higher the value and greater the savings to the outsourcing entity.

"India is very attractive expecially with the Government recognising needs to improve the telecom infrastructure," Mr Horwood added. (UNI)

India to remove hurdles for increasing FDI

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: India will further remove bottlenecks in the way of Foreign Direct Investment with a high level Government committee soon coming out with concrete measures, simplifying the procedures for the increasing FDI inflows.

"Ninety-three per cent of the investors relate to the downstream implementation at the State levels. The committee which was appointed to streamline the procedures at the State level will soon submit its report," secretary in the Industrial Policy Department and Chairman of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) V Govindarajan said at the India-ASEAN business summit here today.

He said while the worldwide FDI inflows were declining, India has registered a 70 per cent increase in the inflows in the first seven months of the current calendar year with four billion dollars.

Addressing the sectoral session on ‘trade, investments, finance and tourism’, Mr Govindarajan said India would offer a very liberal regime for repatriation of the capital. "With foreign exchange reserves of 63 billion dollar, we have no reason to retain your capital," he said. FDI is allowed in most of the sectors excepting a small negative list.

Mr Govindarajan offered to hold a special meeting for the foreign investors from the ASEAB region in the foreign investment implementation authority of which he is the chairman.

Commerce Secretary Dipak Chatterjee said India and Malaysia would co-chair a task force for finalising the draft trade and investment agreement between India and ASEAN. "Over and above we can offer significant concessions like the ones provided in the agreement with Sri Lanka," he said.

Mr Chatterjee said India was committed to bring down its tariff level to the ASEAN level in three years.

Ironically, however, said former ASEAN secretary general, Ajit Singh that ASEAN would bring its tariff practically to zero by then.

Tourism Secretary Vinay Rathi Jha said she was hopeful of the Government coming out with an ‘open sky’ policy in the near future. "Ministers have met...We are hopeful something will happen," she said.

She said in the backdrop of the terrorist attack on Bali and the resultant security environment, more and more tourists would prefer short-haul destinations. India could offer these destinations, she said. (UNI)

Hyderabadi food festival on board Jet Airways

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: Choice delicacies from the royal kitchens of the erstwhile Nizams of Hyderabad will be served on select flights of Jet Airways, the private carrier announced today.

The menu of the Jashn-e-Hyderabad food festival on board has been specially designed by Bawarchi Tolla, a food consultancy company owned by the renowned Indian cuisine expert Jiggs Kalra and Marut Sikka.

Under the supervision of chefs from Bawarchi Tolla, the culinary innovations of the Asafjahi dynasty will be recreated by the Oberoi flight kitchen for Jet Airways. The menu will include Hyderabadi Biryani, Murg Ki Chaap Kebab, Charminar Seekh, Paneer Kurchan Roll and Arvi Ka Kebab.

Jashn-e-Hyderabad, a unique offering from India’s biggest private airline, will be on till October on flights leaving Delhi for Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore.

Subject to passenger response, Jet Airways will organise similar food festivals from differect parts of the country on a periodic basis, according to Nandini Verma, vice president, corporate affairs and public relations. (UNI)

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