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| BHEL adjudged as
great value creator NEW DELHI, May 16: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has been adjudged a great value creator and .....more Heg registers net NEW DELHI, May 16: Heg Limited, a subsidary of the LNL Bhilwara group, has reported net profit of.....more Swadeshis lauch NEW DELHI, May 16 : Even as soft drink majors are laughing their way to the banks with mercury....more FICCI suggests measures for streamlining NEW DELHI, May 16: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has....more |
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ASSOCHAM for
creation of defence cell NEW DELHI, May 16: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) ...more Weather conditions, new seed lead to bumper wheat harvest in Punjab CHANDIGARH, May 16: The new PBW-343 variety of wheat grain and heavy rainfall in october led to bumper...more HDFC to raise Rs MUMBAI, May 16: Premier Housing Finance Institution, Housing Development Finance Corporation...more Exports pick up MUMBAI, May 16: The consistently positive growth witnessed on the country’s export front since......more |
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BHEL adjudged as great value creator NEW DELHI, May 16: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has been adjudged a great value creator and placed among the top ten corporate value creators of the 1995-98 period. The evaluation has been made in a research conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The research findings are also based on the calculation of Economic Value Added (EVA) and Return on Net Worth (RONW) of 130 top non-finance corporations listed as group a companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange and 363 non-finance companies of the 500 companies that form the S and P CNX 500 indiex. Significantly, the top 130 group a companies in the survey are the cream of the Indian Blue Chip Corporates, accounting for nearly 50 per cent of the total market capitalisation of all listed companies. Despite operating in a highly competitive and subdued business environment, during 1998-99 fiscal, BHEL has forged ahead with a profit before tax of Rs 944 crore, maintaining its track record of earning uniterrupted profits since the last 27 years. During the same period,its Net Asset Value (NAV) per share went up to Rs 126.9 indicating the intrinsic strength of the company. Its net profit(pat) and Earnings Per Share (EPS) during the year stood at Rs 575 crore and Rs 23.5 respectively. BHEL has managed to achieve this due to various strategic measures taken for increased productivity, better sourcing of material and components, efficient working capital management and reduction in cycle time and cost. Interest costs have been pruned to just around 0.5 per cent of turnover and were the lowest in a decade, bringing BHEL’s debt-equity ratio to as low as 0.06 per cent. In view of this, the ability of the company to leverage financial resources from the market has increased considerably.In fact, BHEL’s strong balance sheet has made it capable of mopping up about Rs 3500 crore in the current fiscal. Any hike in its authorised capital will enable the company to issue more equity and raise corresponding debt.. The company’s outstanding order book stands at over Rs 10,000 crore at the beginning of 1999-2000. (UNI) |
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Heg registers net profit of Rs 36.16 cr NEW DELHI, May 16: Heg Limited, a subsidary of the LNL Bhilwara group, has reported net profit of Rs 36.16 crore in 1998-99, up 18.5 per cent from previous year’s performance. Heg is the country’s largest producer of graphite electrodes. Its sales in last fiscal year totalled Rs 168 crore. Export sales totalled 2,223 tonnes which is 23 per cent of total production. The earning per share has gone up from Rs 7.50 last year to Rs 8.80 now. Heg also makes sponge iron, cotton and blended yarns besides operating three power plants aggregating 30 mw for its captive consumption. (UNI) |
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Swadeshis lauch quenchers to counter Cola-nisation NEW DELHI, May 16 : Even as soft drink majors are laughing their way to the banks with mercury scaling new heights, Swadeshi’ advocates in the capital are promoting alternative thirst quenchers to beat the summer heat as also what they call cultural Cola-nisation. Unlike in the past we are not opposing the foreign colas. We are only promoting swadeshi drinks which are healthier and cheaper. Let the people decide what is best for them, says Umendra Dutt of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM). The home made Swadeshi drinks’, Dutta says, have been in vogue for centuries and are natural’ and not chemical based. Moreover, a whole culture, totally alien, is associated with these foreign colas, a culture whose reflection one finds in incidents like murder of model Kessica Lal, he says. As part of the efforts to promote ‘Swadeshi cold drinks’, ‘Navdanya foods’, part of the Navdanya movement for protecting natural diversity, recently organised ‘Panna - a festival of ethnic drinks’ at the chic ‘dilli haat’ complex here. And if the crowds including an overwhelming number of youngsters who thronged the counters were an indicator, then the ‘swadeshis’ had reasons to be upbeat about. On sale at the counters were not only the still popular ‘Nimbu paani’ (lemonade) but also a variety of ‘sherbets’ such as ‘anar’ (pomegranate), ‘bel’, ‘khas’ and ‘ambi pana’ -traditional thirst quenchers which also possess several medicinal properties. (PTI) |
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FICCI suggests measures for
streamlining NEW DELHI, May 16: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has suggested a number of measures for streamlining the demerger process of companies in order to do away with the cumbersome and time consuming procedures. In note prepared by FICCI on "demerger", it is pointed out that transfer of demerged companies should be permitted through the approval of shareholders under Section 293 (I)(A) of the Companies Act. Presently, the provisions governing demerger process are Section 391 and the sanctioning order by the court which is a lengthy and cumbersome procedure. Flexibility should be to the granted corporates for expediting the process of demerger, the note suggested. Another area pointed out by FICCI is relating to practical difficulties in transferring the common assets of the company and the undertaking. It is stipulated that all the properties and liabilities of the undertaking should be transferred to the resulting company. Properties are owned by the company and not by the undertaking and as such there could be legal problems in the transfer. Transfer of liabilities unlike transfer of assets is not a unilateral act but involves consent of the other parties like financial institutions who may not even agree to this. The stipulation may not find favour even with the non-residents and for that matter even with certain domestic companies taking over the undertaking thereby making the process of demerger difficult. It is therefore suggested that only those assets and liabilities relatable to the undertaking which are mutually agreed upon for transfer should be required to be transferred. At least to mitigate the hardship and to provide some flexibility, 75 per cent of the assets and liabilities of the undertakings be required to be transferred. Another irritant is the insistence on transferring the properties and liabilities of the undertakings at the book value. It could go against the parties since the book value can be higher or lower than the market value. According to FICCI, there should be flexibility in deciding the modem of payment of consideration to the shareholders. It may be desirable to provide that the consideration may be paid by the resulting company by way of issuance of equity shares, preference shares, debentures etc to the shareholders of the demerged company. Resulting company should have the freedom to decide as to what should be the optimal mix of debt and equity that they would like to have and issue shares accordingly. Also, FICCI is of the opinion that it is desirable to provide that consideration may even be paid to the demerged company instead of the shareholders. Such allotment to the demerged company would not make any difference to the value of shareholders of the demerged company. (UNI) |
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ASSOCHAM for creation of defence cell NEW DELHI, May 16: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has mooted a proposal for creation of ‘defence cell’ in the Commerce Ministry for promotion of exports of non-combat artaicles to the Defence Ministries of various countries and particularly to the members of G-77. The introduction of proposed cell has been recessitated as Defence Ministries and Police Department of these countries do not effect purchase unless there is a strong persuasion at the highest levels between the Government. In a note submitted to the Government ASSOCHAM president M K P Singh has stated that all the Latin American, African, Middle East, CIS and ASEAN countries have huge purchases of articles like textiles, packed food, utensils and varieties of white goods. The Chambers has also suggested waving of the stipulation of callateral security for the genuine exporters having confirmed Letter of Creidt (LCs). According tot the Chamber, exporters are experiencing serious impediments in getting export credit from banks both at pre shipment and post shipment stages, even if they have cofirmed export orders backed with l/CS for hundred per cent value payable at sight issued by ‘A’ class foreign banks unless they give callateral security to the banks. (UNI) |
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Weather conditions, new seed
lead to bumper CHANDIGARH, May 16: The new PBW-343 variety of wheat grain and heavy rainfall in october led to bumper production of the crop in North West plains and procurement of the grain touched a new high of 76.5 lakh tonnes in Punjab. The timely sowing in the beginning of november also helped farmers to get a higher yield, Punjab Agriculture Department Director Mewa Singh Soner said. "Tremendous rainfall in October, which broke the backbone of paddy growers in Panjab, however, proved to be a blessing for wheat cultivators as it moistened the soil which was ready by the beginning of November for sowing", he explained. The bumper production has laid to rest apprehensions arising from a report in the economic survey of Punjab, 1998-99, that the rotational sowing of wheat and paddy crops had led to serious degradation of the soil due to overexploitation of micro-nutrient wealth as well as a fall in ground water levels. Dr Soner said a good amount of rainfall could any time raise the ground water level. He also claimed that "sometimes the floods caused by heavy rainfall prove useful for the next seasonal crop as it helps in moistening the fields and increasing the micro-nutrient value of the soil,". According to Agriculture Scientist R K Grover of the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), the yield in the previous season was comparatively low because of delayed rain which forced farmers to solely depend on canal and ground water irrigation. The sowing could be undertaken only late in december at that time. But the weather god seem to have made amends for the current season. According to the Meteorological Department here, there had not been a single instance of hailstorm or rain accompanied by strong winds during the time when the grain was ripening in the fields. The new variety PBW-343, developed at Punjab Agriculture University and approved by the Central Seed Commission of the Union Ministry of Agriculture two years ago, has proved to be a success during this season. According to figures released by the Punjab Agricultural Department this seed variety was used in at least 80 per cent of the the total 33 lakh hectares of sown area. Agriculture Department Joint Director J P S Bedi explained the advantages of the new variety over the 343 and HD-2329. The germination of the PBW-343 occurred on time without being adversely affected by the phalaris-minor weed. This specific wheat grain had ripened prior to April 13, the day of Baisakhi when farmers of Punjab and Haryana traditionally begin the harvest. According to official statistics, the previous record was in 1993-94 when 75.35 lakh tonnes of wheat had been procured. But in the subsequent years, the market arrivals had fallen to 73.91 lakh tonnes in 1994-95 and 59.84 lakh mt in 1995-96. Though the figure shot up to 64.51 lakh tonnes in 1996-97, it again dropped to 62.95 lakh tonnes last year. . The wheat flooding the grain markets of Punjab has created a glut. The neighbouring Haryana has also recorded a bumper procurement of 38.20 lakh tonnes against the previous record of 34.54 in 1993-94. The Haryana Agriculture Department has also confirmed bumper yield of wheat crop during this season. An area of 22 lakh hectares out of a total 37.5 lakh hectares is under wheat cultivation in that state. Haryana food and supply officials claim that the procurement would touch 39 lakh tonnes by this month end. The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the Centre’s nodal procurement agency, has lifted a record of more than 24 lakh tonnes of wheat from Punjab which is more than 60 per cent of the crop procured from rest of the country from states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. The FCI in Punjab had procured as low as 18.27 lakh tonnes of wheat in the last season, 19.94 lakh tonnes in 1997-98, 16.70 lakh tonnes in 1996-97, 22.90 lakh tonnes in 1995-96 and 23.96 lakh tonnes in 1994-95. The FCI has identified a few abandoned air strips and some godowns from private parties in Punjab to store the procured crop, according the corporation’s senior North Region Manager D P Reddy. (UNI) |
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HDFC to raise Rs 500 cr via bonds MUMBAI, May 16: Premier Housing Finance Institution, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) is planning to mop up Rs 500 crore via bonds in the current fiscal as part of its resource mobilisation programme for the year. The first tranche amounting to Rs 150 crore would be issued to subscribers via the bookbuilding route this month itself, a top HDFC official said. "We will come out with the bonds to raise Rs 500 crore and the first tranche of Rs 150 crore will be offered in May. We are starting the marketing this week itself," HDFC management services Chief Conrad D’Souza told here. The first issue would have a greenshoe option of Rs 75 crore, enabling HDFC to collect Rs 225 crore, he said. With minimum subscription set at Rs 10 lakhs, the issue would primarily target mutual funds, banks and other financial institutions, he added. D’Souza said the bonds to be issued this month would be of tenures ranging from one to three years with interest rates linked to the tenures. "We do not want the rates on the bonds to be very different from our deposit rates, which range from 9.5 per cent for one year to 10.5 for three years," he said. The issue would be concluded by the last week of May. For the total Rs 500 crore bond issues for the current fiscal, the tenures would range from one to five years, D’Souza said adding the bonds were likely to be offered in three tranches. (PTI) |
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Exports pick up show highest growth of 98-99 in March MUMBAI, May 16: The consistently positive growth witnessed on the country’s export front since November last peaked in March at 10 per cent, the highest in the fiscal year 1998-99. However, the pace of recovery in the last five months of fiscal 1998-99 was not sufficient to yield a positive growth in 1998-99 as a whole, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) monthly review for May. Exports in the year remained lower at US dollar 33.6 billion as against USD 34 billion in the previous fiscal, the review said. On the imports front, there was a growth of two per cent in March after three consecutive months of decline prior to that, CMIE said. Fiscal 1998-99 ended with imports worth USD 42 billion, showing a growth of three per cent as compared to a six per cent growth in the previous year. Trade deficit in 1998-99 stood at 8.2 billion dollars compared with 6.8 billion dollars in 1997-98, according to CMIE. (PTI) |
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