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NEW DELHI, Aug 14: The state-owned Scooters India Limited today announced...more IA ties up with Emery NEW DELHI, Aug 14: In an effort to increase dollar earnings, Indian Airlines.....more Param Vir Chakra for 4 NEW DELHI, Aug 14: Four Army personnel—Captain Vikram Batra, Lt Manoj.....more BSE, NSE witnesses MUMBAI, Aug 14: Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange ...more |
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Massive
structural changes CALCUTTA, Aug 14: Indian corporate sectors must prepare themselves for .....more Bihar suffers Rs 605.09 PATNA, Aug 14: The Bihar Government has incurred a revenue loss to the......more Siemens Nixdorf receives Rs 12 cr order from ICAR NEW DELHI, Aug 14: Siemens Nixdorf India has received a Rs 12-crore order......more NEW DELHI, Aug 14: In thin trade, silver prices rolled down on the bullion market today on ....more |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 14: The state-owned Scooters India Limited today announced its foray into the domestic three-wheeler market with the launch of battery-powered electric vehicle — Vikram-EV, priced at Rs 1.62 lakh. Besides, the company is also working towards introducing a gas powered version of the vehicle — Vikram-PG, Dr A Sahay, Chairman and Managing Director of Scooters India Limited (SIL), told here today. The electric vehicle, which was initially test-marketed in Lucknow and has been under operation in Nepal as Safa Tempo for the past three years, was launched in the capital by Delhi Government Chief Secretary Omesh Saigal. "This marks our graduation from an essentially two-wheeler manufacturer to a three-wheeler manufacturer. We have added one more wheel to our vehicles. Around 200 units of Vikram-EV have already been sold in Nepal over the past three years and we expect to replicate its success in the Indian market as well." Vikram-EV is driven by a DC Motor with power input at 72 volts from special deep discharge cycle batteries. It has neither engine nor gearbox and is a zero-emission vehicle. "Reversing the vehicle is carried out by changing the direction of rotation of the motor and thus no gear shifting is involved. The vehicle is designed to carry seven passengers. Dr Sahay said the company would initially ply these three-wheelers across the city. Regarding the company’s performance, he said, SIL has met all its debt obligations, including pay back of principal and interest due thereon within the specified time. It has also been granted the miniratna status. It has, over the past, increased its production and sales, and also developed four models of three-wheelers — Vikram 750d, Vikram 410d, Vikram 410p and Vikram 600p. (UNI) |
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IA ties up with Emery for cargo movement NEW DELHI, Aug 14: In an effort to increase dollar earnings, Indian Airlines today entered into an agreement with leading air freight transporters Emery worldwide for carriage of cargo from Singapore to India. IA will explore possibilities of allying with other freight transporters apart from Emery for other international routes and markets, Mr Anil Baijal, Managing Director of IA, told reporters here. This agreement of "agreed space at an agreed rate", the first of its kind for the national airline, will be on a trial basis for six months on the ex-Singapore route. "Possibilities of extending to other international routes and markets by tying up with other freight players will be tried out thereafter," Mr Baijal added. IA presently has an average monthly carriage of 5,800 tonnes on domestic routes and 1,100 tonnes on the international routes. The airline expects to earn Rs 280 crore from the cargo sector in 1999-2000 while it registered Rs 270 crore revenues in 1998-99. With this tie-up, the airline expects to earn over Rs one crore in incremental revenue. Similar kinds of alliances with freight transporters will be explored for developing a door-to-door delivery product for domestic network of the airline, Mr Baijal said. He did not rule out a price war in cargo transport similar to the one being witnessed for passengers on the Delhi-Mumbai route. "Cargo movement has become a hardsell market with huge surplus capacities and intense competition," he added. As part of the United States-based Emery worldwide plan to clock Rs 145 crore business by the end of the year 2001, the company has entered into this tie-up. The company which started its Indian operations in 1997 intends to deliver about 300 tonnes of cargo a month between Singapore and India by the end of next year. It presently delivers about 150 tonnes of Singapore cargo a month to India. In terms of the agreement, IA would commit guaranteed space to emery an Singapore-Chennai flights. For onward carriage of cargo from Chennai, the airline would commit space on its flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Calcutta. (UNI) |
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Param Vir Chakra for 4 Operation Vijay heroes NEW DELHI, Aug 14: Four Army personnel—Captain Vikram Batra, Lt Manoj Kumar Pandey, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav (all posthumous) and Rifleman Sanjay Kumar—have been awarded the country’s highest Gallantry Medal Param Vir Chakra for displaying exceptional valour during Operation Vijay recently. Nine Mahavir Chakra, four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals (UYSM), 53 Vir Chakra, two Yudh Seva Medals (YSM) and 84 Sena Medals including one bar to Seva Medal have also been awarded to the heroes of ‘Operation Vijay’, according to an official spokesman here today. The recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra are : Major Sonam Wangchuk, Assam (Ladakh Scouts), Maj Vivek Gupta 2 Raj Rifles (Posthumous), Maj Rajesh Singh Adhikari, Mech Inf, 18 Grenadiers (Posthumous), Maj Padmapani Acharaya, 2 Raj Rifles (Posthumous), Capt Anuj Nayyar, 17 Jat (Posthumous), Capt Neikezhakuo Kenguruse, ASC 2 Raj Rifles (Posthumous), Lt Keishing Clifford Nongrum, 12 JAKLI (Posthumous), Lt Balwan Singh, 18 Grenadiers and NK Digendra Kumar, 2 Raj Rif. The Army personnel awarded the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal are Lt Gen Krshen Pal, PVSM, VSM, Maj Gen Mohinder Puri, Brig Prakash Chand Katoch and Brig Amar Nath Aul (all Infantrymen). In addition to ‘Operation Vijay’ Gallantry Awards, 182 other Gallantry Awards have also been announced. These include six Kirti Chakra, two Vir Chakra, 26 Shaurya Chakra, 143 Sena Medals including one bar, three Nao Sena Medals (NM) and two Vayu Sena Medals (VM). Recipients of Kirti Chakra are Maj Raman Dada, 11 Sikh (Posthumous), Naib Subedar Jagroop Singh, 28 Punjab (Posthumous), Havildar Rakesh Paul, 16 Dogra (Posthumous), Naik Tikaram Thapa, 3 Assam (Posthumous), Naik Narayan Das, 12 Assam (Posthumous) and Sep Balbir Singh, 22 Punjab (Posthumous) Vir Chakras for other than the heroes of ‘Operation Vijay’ have been awarded to Naib Subedar Rampal Singh, 9 Rajput and Lance Naik Prem Pal, 19 Garhwal Rifles (Posthumous). (UNI) |
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BSE, NSE witnesses downtrend on selling preasure by FIIs MUMBAI, Aug 14: Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange (NSE), the two leading bourses witnessed downtrend on selling pressure by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and squaring off positions by players during the week ended August 13. Although the marketmen discounted the impact of shooting down of Pakistani aircraft by Indian Air Force in Gujarat on Tuesday during the subsequent tradings, the market suffered major setback on the last day of the week as the cautious market players squared off their long-term positions in a big way at the heavy weighted scrips. Reflecting the trend, the 30-share BSE sensitive index (sensex) fell below the psychological barrier of 4500 points and closed at 4487.87, losing 87.43 points from the previous week’s close of 4575.30 points. The S P Cnx Nifty index at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also declined sharply by 24.95 points to 1291.85 points as against the last week’s finish of 1291.85 points. The market experts attributed the ‘downtrend’ to the technical correction, they said the market was headed for such a ‘correction’ after witnesseing a boom in the recent past. Also the market was in overbought position for quite some time and the correction was needed, they said. According to them, the undercurrent of the market is still bullish and the market may react in the next week. The broad-based BSE-100 index dropped by 20.22 points to 1990.10 points from the previous week’s close of 2010.32 points. The S P CNX defty index at the NSE too closed lower by 19.05 points to 1030.65 points from the previous finish of 1316.80 points. The nifty junior however, posted gain of 36.05 points to 2347.50 points from the previous week’s close of 2311.45 points. The market opened on a firm note as the sensex recorded an handsome gain of 64 points on Monday and remain dull and lackluster in most part of the week and suffered sharp setback on Friday when the sensex crashed by 66 points, closing below the 4500 mark. Barring select scrips, most of the major counters witnessed decline during the week under review. Excluding Dr Reddy and Sun Pharma Wockhardt all the prominent scrips from the pharma counters reported fall in the pharmaceuticals, while barring marginal gain by NIIT Infotech counters posted a major fall, the automobile and autoancillary too declined sharply while FMCG witnessed a mixed trend during the week. Among the issues, Apollo Tyre rose by Rs 28.35 tio Rs 150, Bank of Baroda Rs 2.50 to Rs 83, BHEL Rs 4.2 to Rs 205.10, BSEs Rs 15 to Rs 168, Colgate Rs 10 to Rs 274, Dr Reddy Shot by Rs 138 to Rs 1206, Godrej Soaps Rs 12.15 to Rs 61.70, IDBI Rs 0.70 to Rs 33.60, Ind Rayon Rs 20.30 to Rs 78, L & T Rs 2.45 to Rs 332.45, P & G Rs 15. to Rs 1190, Sun Pharma Rs 68.60 to Rs 642.05, TATA Power Rs 1.90 to Rs 76.90, TISCO Rs 4.85 to Rs 137.85 and Wockhardt Rs 432.05. Britannia and Nestle gaines by Rs 15 and Rs 12 to Rs 168 and Rs 576 respectively. Among the losers ACC fell by Rs 7 to Rs 224, ITC Rs 47 to Rs 935, MTNL Rs 9 to Rs 182, Reliance Rs 8,.45 to Rs 166.75, TATA Tea Rs 8 to Rs 397 , BPL Rs 47.50 to Rs 482. From the automobile and Auto Ancilliary Bajaj Auto held steady at Rs 472.10, Mah & Mah down Rs 22.45 to Rs 391, TELCO Rs 10.40 to Rs 247.60. Among the banks, BOI declined Rs 0.70 to Rs SBI Rs 2.95 to Rs 234.55. In the pharmaceuticals, borough wel down Rs 35.95 to Rs 639, Dabur Rs 14 to Rs 811, E Merck Rs 24.25 to Rs 564.90 Germ Reme Rs 23 to Rs 956.35, Glaxo Rs 41.50 to Rs 661.50, Novartis 37 to Rs 980, Parke Davis Rs 7.70 to Rs 335.55, Pfizer Rs 70 to Rs 950, Ranbaxy Rs 12 to Rs 986, while in the IT Stocks Infosys tech tumbled by Rs 292 to Rs 5168, Pentafour Software Rs 164 to Rs 1188.25. The FIIs continued their selling throughout the week on Indian bourses. According to Securities and Exchange Board of India, the FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 104 crore during the period August 2-12. Total turnover comprising of BSE and NSE during the week stood at Rs 23306.46 crore as against their last week’s combine turnover of Rs 24346.00 crore. (UNI) |
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Massive structural
changes CALCUTTA, Aug 14: Indian corporate sectors must prepare themselves for undertaking massive structural changes as per the global standard to remain competitive internationally during the next millennium. This view was expressed by Mr B.V.Bhargava, chairman, CRISIL, the country’s leading credit rating agency, while addressing the members of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) during a specially convened meeting here today. Expressing concern at the performance of some of the major players in Indian corporate sector this year in spite of the increasing signs of a turnaround of the national economy, Mr Bhargava said even as the GDP growth rate was showing signs of crossing the six per cent mark and the rate of inflation moving below one per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal, a persistent lack of lumpsum investment since 1996, mainly due to political instability, was holding back the recovery process. The 18th quarterly investment survey had clearly shown a fall in fresh investment proposals in 1998-99 for the third consecutive year, Mr Bhargava said. Terming its magnitude as alarming , he pointed out that in absolute terms it had come down from a healthy 11.5 billion dollars to less than 4.9 billion dollars last year. Mr Bhargava said the most important factor in international business climate during the next century would be the wide application of internet and other forms of information technology which would in turn help improve the quality of service and product and allow them to compete internationally. But at the same time these companies should also be able to select the right kind of technology for them, the CRISIL chairman pointed out. Referring to the increasing role of credit rating agencies like CRISIL to enable the Government as well as the industries and the common investors to judge the health of each company, Mr Bhargava said following the strict regularity steps being enforced by the SEBI on such agencies their credibility had also gone up manifold. Such corporate governance and strict application of code of conduct would also help the industry in both long and short terms, the CRISIL chairman observed. About the growth potential of particularly the banking industry and insurance sector in the coming years amidst increasing competition from private sectors, Mr Bhargava said unless all of them woke up to the need of the hour by introducing state-of-the-art information technologies like banking through internet, there was very little scope for them to expand. On the contrary, he said, the private players in both these sectors had already started gearing up to meet the future challenges. The necessity for sharp reduction of NPA to bring them down to less than five per cent was another major factor to remain competitive, the CRISIL chairman observed. Earlier, ICC president and noted industrialist K.K.Bangur highlighted some of the problems being faced by the industry in credit rating their performances and sought a redressal from the CRISIL chief. (UNI) |
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Bihar suffers Rs 605.09 lakh revenue loss PATNA, Aug 14: The Bihar Government has incurred a revenue loss to the tune of Rs 605.09 lakh following under assessment, non-realisation of licence fee, delayed settlement of excise shops and unauthorised concessions by the State Excise Department. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report, dated March 1998, said test check of records of the excise offices conducted in audit during the year 1997-98, revealed under assessments and loss of revenue. The report said during 1997-98, the Excise Department accepted under assessments and other irregularities in 857 cases involving Rs 150.95 lakh. Of the cases, 141 involving Rs 92.25 lakh were pointed out during audit in 1997-98 and the rest in earlier years. The Government charged licence fee for grant of exclusive privilege for wholesale supply of country spirit in all the nine zones of the state. The licence fee was payable by each grantee at the rate of rs one per London Proof Litre (LPL) on the annual consumption in the preceding financial year. Further if the supply of liqour was in excess of such annual consumption, the licence fee was to be enhanced to the same extent. London Proof Litre is the measuring device for liquour. The report said 21 grantees in seven zones failed to deposit the differential licence fee of Rs 65,49 lakh on the excess consumption of 21.14 lakh LPL of the country spirit during 1996-97. When the report was pointed out, the Excise Department said it would reply to the matter after due verification. (PTI) |
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Siemens Nixdorf receives Rs 12 cr order from ICAR NEW DELHI, Aug 14: Siemens Nixdorf India has received a Rs 12-crore order from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for installing 1400 siemens scenic Pro Pcs, notebooks, primergy servers and peripherals. These systems will be installed at various icar institutions, State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), State Departments of Agriculture, Public Research Organisations, NGOs and Private R and D organisations, spread over 200 locations across the country. The contract is part of the information systems development module of the National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP). The module aims at facilitating ICAR scientists towards developing technologies to resolve problems related to agricultural productivity, management of natural resources like land, water, biodiversity and environment, and exploiting them usefully for meeting challenges of food security, sustainability and rural poverty, and for bringing overall national prosperity, according to a press release here. (UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 14: In thin trade, silver prices rolled down on the bullion market today on reduced offtake in the face of easy inflow of fresh stocks and closed lower. Marketmen said some profit selling by stockists at the higher levels in silver mainly reduced the prices. They said trading in gold and coins was restricted on lack of support and remained unchanged. The volume of business was small. Silver .999 (ready) lost Rs.40 at Rs.8010 per kilo and weekly delivery by Rs.45 at Rs.7995 per kilo. Silver coins were traded at previous levels at Rs.10,600/10,700 per 100 pieces on scattered trading activities. Standard gold and ornaments were unchanged at Rs.4100 and Rs.3950 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign was traded at last level of Rs.3650 per piece of eight gram. The following were today’s quotations: Silver .999 (ready) 8010 and delivery 7995. Silver coins buying 10,600 and selling 10,700. Standard gold 4100, ornaments 3950 and sovereign 3650. (PTI) |
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