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J&K
Bank disburses NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The Jammu and Kashmir Bank. ...more
Haryana targets CHANDIGARH, Nov 11: Haryana has set foodgrains..more
DoT has not prejudice NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The Department of....more |
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New website
on Indian PUNE, Nov 11: Two city-based young management graduates have developed a comprehensive website dedicated to the Indian engineering industry to facilitate....more
NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Ford India Limited today announced that it has....more ASSOCHAM advocates
6-pronged strategy for NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Welcoming the reported move to create a monitoring.....more Punjab Industry Forum to observe hunger strike CHANDIGARH, Nov 11: Punjab Industry and Trade Forum has decided to .....more HC endorses Govt ban NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Delhi High Court today endorsed Centre’s ban on ....more |
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J&K Bank disburses term loan facility of Rs 30 cr in GNFC NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd has disbursed a term loan facility of Rs 30 crore in Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Co. Ltd. (GNFC), a Government of Gujarat undertaking. The facility has been sanctioned to part finance its future expansion and modernisation programmes, involving an expenditure of the order of Rs 400 crore which is being arranged through syndication. The bank had recently announced a 24 per cent rise in its net profit registering Rs 55.11 crore for the first half 1999 - 2000 as against Rs 44.45 crore during the corresponding period last year. The total income showed a 26.2 per cent jump, moving up from Rs 351.44 crore to Rs 443.63 crore as compared to the previous period. Last week the bank, sanctioned a term loan facility of Rs 50 crore to HUDCO for part financing its housing activities in the country. (UNI) |
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Haryana targets 90.50 lakh tonnes foodgrain production CHANDIGARH, Nov 11: Haryana has set foodgrains production target of 90.50 lakh tonnes for the current rabi season as against 89.69 lakh tonnes last year. Haryana Chief Minister Om Pakash Chautala, who reviewed the arrangements for the rabi season here yesterday, directed that seeds, fertilisers, weedicides and pesticides be distributed well in time. He also said sprinkler sets available with the irrigation department should be used effectively in sandy and undulating areas, an official release said here today. Stating that the Central Government had allocated eight lakh metric tonnes of urea to the state, commissioner and secretary agriculture Naseem Ahmad said 4.96 lakh quintals of certified seeds of different rabi crops were available as against distribution of 3.25 lakh quintals of seeds last year. Arrangements had also been made for adequate supply of dap, phosphates and potassic fertilisers. Managing director of Haryana Vidyut Prasarn Nigam, Sameer Mathur said adequate power would be available to the agriculture sector, adding that the Nigam was already supplying 56 per cent of the available power to this vital sector. Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Krishna Mohan said the target for disbursing crop loan during the current rabi season has been hiked by 37 per cent to Rs 1076 crore. (PTI) |
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DoT has not prejudice against TRAI: Paswan NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has no prejudice against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Government is anxious to see that both worked as complementary to each other, Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said. The dispute , if any,is over the question of jurisdiction due to some communication gap, he said here in an interview to UNI here. Mr Paswan said we want to develop a positive relationship between the DoT ,TRAI and the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and to that end I have held a series of talks with the officials of the three organisations to iron out the differences ,if any. The Government, he said, is considering amending the TRAI Act to create a level playing feild for public and private operators. Asked to elaborate on the provisions of the proposed amendment, he said it was still being studied. Stating that the Government’s attitude towards the telecom sector is a positive one and that it wanted a healthy relationship with the private sector, he said the telecom package providing for migration of private telecom operators from the fixed licence fee regime to revenue sharing system is a step in the same direction. In this context, Mr Paswan ruled out the possibility of the telecom package being referred to Parliament for its ratification. The package has already been approved by the new Cabinet, he pointed out and said unless the issue is raised in Parliament ,there is no need for the Government to have the package ratified by Parliament. Asked about the remedy available to people in cases of complaints of excess billing, Mr Paswan said if arrears have been accumulated all that a telephone subscriber must do is to pay the bill. The DoT will not interefere in cases of non-payment of bills and arrears. The DoT can only ensure that no telephone is disconnected without a prior warning. A subscriber gets time of 25 to 30 days if he has not paid his telephone bill, the due date, before his phone is disconnected. Because it takes 25 to 30 days for the Department to compile report of defaulter subscribers who have not paid up even after the due date of payment of the bill is over. Then the defaulter subscriber is informed and warned of disconnection of phone if payment is not made within a week. A phone disconnected without any valid reason is restored within 24 hours if on inquiry it is found to be so, he said. In cases of excess billing, he said, the Department insists on payment of average telephone bill first before it is examined and corrected. Mr Paswan said a grievance cell has been opened under his supervision to promptly attend to the complaints of subscribers who are not getting proper response from their telephone exchange. The CGMs have also been directed to activate their own grievance cells. He said to prevent cases of operators not answering calls or being rude, the operators are being trained to be polite and responsive to the subscribers. "We ourselves keep checking occa-sionaly to see that telephone services like unmetered calls are provided satisfactorily and promptly", he added. Asked whether there was any proposal to reduce the registration fee for a new telephone connection to Rs 1500 as done for a month for the special occasion of Diwali, the Communications Minister said there was no such proposal. Only for festive occasions, the CGMs can request the TRAI for reduction of registration fee and reduce it with its approval . Replying to a question, Mr Paswan said the target of providing 45,000 new telephone connections in the rural areas fixed for the current financial year could not be achieved because of the delay in the supply of equipment, shortage of manpower and tendering process. He hoped that the DoT would be able to provide at least 35,000 connections in the rural areas before the current financial year is out. About the restoration of the disrupted communication links in cyclone affected Orissa, he said all affected districts have been relinked with STD communication services. (UNI) |
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New website on Indian engineering industry to improve productivity PUNE, Nov 11: Two city-based young management graduates have developed a comprehensive website dedicated to the Indian engineering industry to facilitate transactivity, disseminate allround information, bridge gaps in the industry, improve productivity and benefit the industry in every conceivable way. The website, indiaengineering.com, which is the first ever vertical portal (source of comprehensive classified data bank) to help the engineering industry countrywide with all necessary informations, was created by two young directors of Pune-based accord solutions — Mr Nitin Pangam (30) who specialises in web product development and twentynine year old Vidhadhar Sarfare with specialisation in marketing. There are over 2.7 million Small Scale Engineering Industrial (SSI) units registered in India besides nearly 100,000 medium scale and about 30,000 large scale engineering companies which have put in massive investments. The recent economic slowdown has created several problems in the industry, with many of them facing closure while others are confused with their spare manufacturing capacity. Machinery buyers do not know where it is available. People with technology but not the money are looking at those with manufacturing facility. There are companies, including the new players in the engineering industry, looking for qualified engineers as per their requirements. The new website will answer the problems facing by the industry and with all relevant information, will help them to improve the productivity. Talking to UNI Mr Pangam and Mr Sarfare said that looking at the Indian scenario where the PC penetration having crossed over 2.8 million and the Government realising the importance of the internet revolution has issued 128 licences to provate Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), the engineering industry portal would command attention of millions of Indian internet users. "Since the registeration to the portal is free, this site would be of immense use to the industry as a whole," Mr Pangam said. Mr Pangam said they are in the process of registering about 8,000 engineering industries and effort would be to rope in maximum number of them with all their details of their manufacturing capacity, spare capacity, if they have, needs of buying and selling and all other details pertaining to the industry and its needs. The site, Mr Pangam said, addresses nine different modulessidle times on machinery, the markets— for products, equipment, machinery and stocks/raw materials to facilitate on-line bidding, engineering jobs with resumes of atleast 1,500 engineers, tenders to help one browse through, news letter, information technology, free E-mail addresses of engineers in India, consultancy forum and database of the engineering industry. A team of eleven people— seven software professionals and four product executive— have been on the job to reach the industries across the country. Accord solutions, which has created the portal, has already spent about Rs 70 lakh on the software, specially created and would need another Rs 4 to 5 crore to fully develop the site, which they hope to launch by this year end, Mr Sarfare said. He said the company, to begin with, intends to have a few monitoring offices in the major cities before spreading countrywide. When asked about further expenditure on building the site, Mr Sarfare said they could raise money from within as well as from outside. Although the registration to the site is totally free, the company hopes to do a lot of business as the E-commerce is taking roots in the country under the new it policy and the increasing use of internet. The revenue for the company could come from advertising and brokerage on the actual transactions that takes place on-line with the system fully developed. Mr Sarfare said his company hopes to do a business of Rs 2.5 to Rs 3.5 crore in the first year of operation of the site, around Rs 12-15 crore in the next financial year and target about Rs 100 crore in the third year. (UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Ford India Limited today announced that it has received 3,728 order receipts for its mid-size Ikon in the very first week of order taking. "We are delighted that consumers have welcomed the Ford Ikon with such enthusiasm," said Phil Spender, managing director, FIL, in a statement. With the Ikon, FIL launched a new order taking programme at 35 Ford dealership outlets in the country. Customers will be informed of the probable date of delivery within ten days of placing the order. The initial advance amount for the Ford Ikon is pegged at Rs 4.5 lakh for the petrol version and Rs 5.5 lakh for the diesel version. Ford Motor Company’s global president and CEO Jacques Nasser will hand over the first cars to customers, starting in Chennai on November 22, 1999. Customer deliveries from dealerships across India will begin on November 25, 1999, the statement added. (UNI) |
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ASSOCHAM advocates 6-pronged strategy for PSU revamp NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Welcoming the reported move to create a monitoring cell in the PMO to guide the future rounds of PSU disinvestment, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has advocated a six-pronged strategy for PSU revamp through corporate governance, financial, business and technology restructuring. In a note to the PMO, ASSOCHAM President K P Singh said, the basic aim of the exercise is to look upon public sector restructuring not as a series of ad hoc disinvestment transactions driven by budgetary compulsions, but as a continuing programme and as a long term socially credible process. The restructuring process, Mr Singh said, should involve the following steps: Restructuring of corporate governance in all the PSUs in order to distance them from the Government and assess them on commercial criteria. For this purpose, graded autonomy may be granted to them, i c, maximum autonomy to strong performers, somewhat less to the moderate and minimal degree to the weak performers Strengthening of strong and moderate performing PSUs through financial and business restructuring to promote greater competitiveness, profitability, dividends and share value. Strengthening of marginally profitable weak units through business and technological restructuring so as to impart economic viability and reduce their future drain on the budget and prepare them for disinvestment. This would involve inviting a strategic patner with open bids and pre-qualifaction regarding the stregnths complementary to those of a given PSU. This synergy would impact long term economic viability. Closing down of totally unviable weak units while fully compensating the workers in the concerned units Disinvestment of shares in profit-making undertakings which ought to be delinked from the budgetary compulsions so as to take due account of the capital market conditions. Often, the size of the issue may be large for the domestic capital market and the market for global depository receipts may have to be accessed Workers at the enterprise level ought to be taken into confidence by the PSU management, especially for work force restructuring. If the current levels of excessive overstaffing are to be maintained, the concerned PSU may eventually have to be closed down in the absence of continued budgetary support and all the workers would lose their jobs. Alternatively, the ASSOCHAM chief said, jobs of a smaller size work force can be maintained on a long term basis with workforce restructuring so as to make it economicallyviable in a competitive environment. This choice would be faced most acutely in the presentlyloss-making, but marginally profitable PSUs. However, it may also be present with less severity even in moderate and strong performing PSUs. Needless to add, appropriate safety nets and well-designed Voluntary Retirement Schemes with stable and attractive terms have to be developed so as to protect the interest of workers and employees. A sound and credible disinvestment programme would enable the Government to contain the long term fiscal deficit and choose and change its portfolio of equity investment to serve public purpose much more effectively and responsibly than has been the case in the past, so that public sector restructuring becomes a self-financing and effective vehicle of channelising public funds into neglected core functions of the Government, namely, effective governance, social infrastructure like basic health and primary education and physical infrastructure like public utilities. (UNI) |
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Punjab Industry Forum to observe hunger strike CHANDIGARH, Nov 11: Punjab Industry and Trade Forum has decided to observe a 24-hour hunger strike in Ludhiana on November 15, as part of its first phase of agitational programme to oppose "wrong economic policies of the State Government". The Forum president Harish Khanna said: "Trade and industry have embarked upon this agitational programme against the wrong economic policies of the State Government and we will stand by our resolve to sit on a hunger strike on November 15". Commenting upon the statement of the State Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, to the effect that tax evasion in the state is due to trader-official nexus, he said it only showed the Govt’s frustration of having not been able to effectively handle the economy of the state and check corrupt practices in the Government Departments. Thrusting more and more of financial burden on traders and industry is not the solution to the vexed financial problem, he said. He blamed the populist measures like grant of free electricity to the agriculture section for the loss of revenue to the tune of Rs 1200 crore per annum. (PTI) |
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HC endorses Govt ban on recycled plastic bags NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Delhi High Court today endorsed Centre’s ban on using ‘recycled’ plastic carry bags and containers for packaging and supplying food stuff. Disposing of a Public Interest Litigation in this regard, a division bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice D K Jain said since the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest in a notification of September 2 had banned the use of recycled plastic carry bags and containers for food items, the petition did not survive. The court did not agree with the contention of petitioner advocate B L Wadhera that the ban should also be extended to use of such bags for carrying vegetables, fruits, cereals, rice and the like. This was also opposed by ‘Recycled Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association’ counsel Balmiki Mehta, who said the recycled plastic might have ill effect on prepared food items packed or served at a particular temperature. It did not have any adverse effect on dry food items according to the experts’ report, he claimed. Central Government counsel H S Phoolka told the court that the ministry had considered all these aspects before issuing the notification under the Environment Act. (PTI) |
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