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immediate belt tightening fiscal measures NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today cautioned the new ....more
Indian stock market NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Indian stock markets have outperformed other global markets including developed markets in the first half of the current financial year. ...more NDA should concentrate NEW DELHI, Oct 10: London-based NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has said the new BJP-led NDA Government’s top economic agenda should be to ...more Delhi’s power situation NEW DELHI, Oct 10: The power situation in the ....more Inflation rate falls NEW DELHI, Oct 10: After hovering a little over two per cent mark for a couple of weeks, inflation again dropped to 1.88 per cent for the week ended......more |
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 Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Mr Ali Mohd Sagar inquiring about the pace of progress on the second water treatment and filteration plant at sitlee from the engineers on Saturday. Sitlee
project being Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 10: The prestigious Sitlee Water Filtration Project coming up ....more 8 Nationalised banks show BPE above Rs 100 lakhs NEW DELHI, Oct 10: There are 1,77,405 redundant employees in 16....more
Call for reducing NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Two leading business chambers .....more Paulmann gets ICCR BERLIN, Oct 10: Hanna Paulmann has been conferred with ......more |
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Sinha warns of immediate belt tightening fiscal measures NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today cautioned the new Government will have to take immediate belt-tightening measures to tackle widening fiscal deficit even as the economy is poised for a 7 per cent growth. It is not the Kargil operation which has affected the fiscal situation but there are other pressures which are far more worrisome, he said pointing out the mid-year review will have to address these to effect fiscal consolidation. We cannot live with fiscal deficit that is staring at us leaving a negative impact, he told PTI asserting there has to be a trade-off between additional taxes and expenditure control. Sinha, who is widely believed to return to North block, said the Finance Ministry is left with no soft solution but to go for belt-tightening that should be accompanied by expenditure control and fulfilling of disinvestment target. Fiscal deficit is expected to improve to 6.1 per cent of GDP this financial year from 6.9 per cent of GDP in 1998-99 because of an economic revival but it is still way off the target of four per cent of GDP set in the budget. In such a fiscal situation, Sinha said he did not see it would plausible to roll back the steep 40 per cent hike in diesel prices. The Rs 10,000 crore disinvestment programme will start by this month-end, Sinha said adding the core group of secretaries have already worked out the modalities. Saying disinvestment process has been delayed partly due to elections, Sinha said it needed to be restarted immediately, more so due to the impending Y2K problem that will necessitate suspension of electronic dealing towards December end. Admitting fiscal consolidation cannot be brought about overnight, he said serious efforts would have to start now to lower fiscal deficit to two per cent of GDP in the next three to four years. On whether an assessment has been made on the cost of Kargil operation, Sinha said some estimate had been made but it is not as imposing as other factors putting pressure on the fiscal situation. While welcoming US move to lift sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan after the nuclear tests, Sinha said the repeal of pressler amendment would not be in the interest of India as it would lead to resumption of arms sale to Pakistan. But he hastened to add that sanctions were a dead issue and according to a US study sanctions had harmed American investors more than the Indian economy. During his visit to Washington to attend the annual fund-bank meeting, the Finance Minister said American investors complained India has not been able to sell effectively its achievements to foreign investors. Sinha blamed elections for it saying signs of economic revival had started manifesting itself since the beginning of this financial year before the Government got entangled in political uncertainty. (PTI) |
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Indian stock market outperform global markets NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Indian stock markets have outperformed other global markets including developed markets in the first half of the current financial year. During the period (April-September), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 100 scrip index gained 35.73 per cent from 1,651 on April one to 2,241 points on September 30. Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange composite index came second as it increased by 34.19 per cent from 503 to 675 points during the period. While the BSE 30 scrip index (sensex) gained 29.24 per cent to close at 4,764 from 3,686 points on April one. S&P CNX nifty at NSE was up 32.8 per cent from 1,064 to 1,413 points. India is outperforming the global markets at a time when the country witnessed the fall of the Vajpayee Government in April and during the Kargil conflict in May. Despite these two adverse factors, India outperformed other markets, mainly due to revival of the country’s economy and undervaluation of blue chip stocks compared to stocks in other countries, DBS Securities, Research (head) Subrata Ray said. He said in the last three years, stock markets in the country were adversely affected which made the Indian stocks more attractive compared to other emerging markets in the region. (PTI) |
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NDA should concentrate on social
sectors, NEW DELHI, Oct 10: London-based NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has said the new BJP-led NDA Government’s top economic agenda should be to divest itself of the area of business and make the domestic industry competitive instead of hankering after foreign investment. However, economic reforms should be insulated by tougher regulations to protect the country’s interest, he said and made particular reference to the insurance sector saying business abuse can take place in it without such regulations. I do not believe foreign investment will solve India’s problems ... The solution to the country’s problems lie in competitiveness, Lord Paul said adding It is not the business of the Government to be in business. Stressing that reforms needed to be speeded up, Lord Paul favoured coalition Government saying democracy has become vibrant in the last three years and corruption in high places has been drastically reduced which augured well for the economy. The (industrial) climate in India after the coming into power of coalition Governments has improved. The big corruption has gone down due to this as it keeps every one in their tenterhooks, he told PTI. The Government must concentrate only in three areas -maintenance of law and order, public health and education, Lord Paul said adding software is one example where India has done extremely well because Government had very little to do with it. (PTI) |
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Delhi’s power situation headed for catastrophe NEW DELHI, Oct 10: The power situation in the national capital is headed for a major catstrophe as a massive shortage of 900 mw likely to hit the lives of Delhiites in another three years, a high-powered environment committee warned in a strategy paper submitted to the Supreme Court. By 2002, it is estimated that Delhi’s peak power demand will increase to about 3500 mw but the total availability under the most optimistic of circumstances will not exceed 2600 mw, The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) said in its strategy paper on power sector in Delhi. We are headed for a major catastrophe, it cautioned. Delhi’s present peak power demand is about 2500 mw, the epca said, adding while demand is gallopping, capacity additions have remained relatively stagnant. It said, this is what makes new investment in the power sector absolutely imperative but new investment will just not be forthcoming if Delhi’s power system is not restructured. In the last five years, three new power generation projects with private sector participation had been identified but for various reasons little progress has been made in implementing these projects, the EPCA said. Installed capacity of Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) was about 694 mw but availability was not more than 300-350 mw, the committee said adding the 30-year old Indraprastha Power Station struggles to produce 125 mw, while the Rajghat and gas turbines, long due for overhauling, give another 250 mw. EPCA said the cost of power generation from DVB owned power plants was high due to the relatively low level of capacity utilistation of fuel brought about by the age of the plants. About DVB’s future projects, it said bulk of the capacity additions by the commissioning of Bawana Phase-I (421 mw), Bawana Phase-II (650 mw) and Apollo Power Project (300 mw) would deliver benefits only after five years. DVB’s Pragati power project with a capacity of 360 mw was expected to be commissioned in three years time and the project to replace the IP station was under planning and would take another decade for full completion, it said. EPCA said it was necessary to initiate discussions with NTPC and NHPC as well as states surplus in hydel power like Himachal Pradesh either to put up plants exclusively for Delhi or to enter into agreements for getting power. The power crisis in Delhi is compounded by the manner in which the Northern Grid is managed. Other states not only overdraw power but have also not installed under-frequency relays for load-shedding and capacitors for maintaining the desired voltage profile. This forces Delhi to resort to load-shedding automatically resulting in unscheduled power cuts, it said. Another unique feature of Delhi’s power system is the extraordinary levels of Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses, the strategy paper said. (PTI) |
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Sitlee project being launched by Jan Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 10: The prestigious Sitlee Water Filtration Project coming up at a cost of Rs 11.95 crore under Core Area Short Term Project is being commissioned by ending January 2000 to augment water supply to the Jammu city. This was stated by the Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Mr Ali Mohd Sagar during his inspection of 54 lakh gallons per day capacity Sitlee Water Filtration Plant here last evening. The Minister said that an amount of Rs 10.15 crore has been spent so far on the intake structure, filtration plant and construction of a service reservior with the capacity of 25 lakh gallon water at Manda. The Managing Director, JKPCC, Mr Safdar Mir assured the Minister that JKPCC will complete all the works allotted to the Corporation by November 7, 1999. He said that out of Rs 5.20 crore allotted to the Corporation, Rs 5 crore has been spent so far on the project. The Chief Engineer, PHE, Mr SK Kotwal informed the Minister that the works undertaken by the PHE Department on this project will be completed before the end of January, 2000. The Superintending Engineer, PHE, Mr IC Jandial also informed the Minister that with the commissioning of 10 tubewells during the current financial year an additional 30 to 40 lakh gallons of drinking water per day would be supplemented. With this, the people of Bakshi Nagar, Roop Nagar, Gujjar Nagar, Bathandi and Sainik Colony would be benefitted, he added. |
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8 Nationalised banks show BPE above Rs 100 lakhs NEW DELHI, Oct 10: There are 1,77,405 redundant employees in 16 Nationalised banks including State Bank of India, going by the benchmark that business per employee (BPE) in the banks should be Rs 125 lakh according to a study undertaken by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). In the sutdy titled " Staff Contributions to Nationalised Banks’’ the Chamber maintained that such a thresholl is not a stiff benchmark since as many as four Nationalised banks have achieved the target of Rs 125 lakh BPE in 1998-99. These are— Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce. At least 22.30 per cent of bank employees working for 20 Nationalised Banks and SBI are redundant going by the Rs 125 lakh BPE criteria. Howerver, this figure comes down to 7.46 per cent if the benchmarking is reduced to Rs 100 lakh BPE. SBI needs to reduce the staff strength by 15,205 in order to achieve a BPE ratio of Rs 100 lakh and 57,978 employees to attain Rs 125 lakh BPE. Out of the 20 Nationalised Banks as many as eight Nationalised banks have shown BPE of more than Rs 100 lakh these included among other Canara Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Union Bank of India. The study also attempted to find the profit per employee in the Nationalised private and foreign banks. There has been no significant reduction in the operating cost to total assets and the payment to employees have gone up by more than 15 per cent in several banks. These are indicative of structural imbalances caused by high expenses on employees. The seriousness of the problem of over staffing can be gauged by a comparison of the per cent employee profit of the Nationalised banks vis a vis the new private sector banks and the foreign banks. The categories of banks which have shown higher profit per employee during 1998-99 was Corporation Banks (Rs 1.89 lakh) Oriental Bank of commerce (Rs 1.60 lakh) Dena Bank (Rs 0.76 lakh) Allahabad Bank (Rs 0.60 lakh). Banks of Baroda (Rs 0.95 lakh) Andhra Bank (Rs 0.69 lakh) Punjab National Bank (Rs 0.57 lakh) and Union Bank of India (Rs 0.59 lakh). The profit conditions of three Nationalised Banks are at a precarious condition. Two of these- UCO Bank and Indian Bank have incurred losses in the year ending March 31, 1999 and the third bank United Bank of India has earned a meagre profit of Rs 7000 profit per employee event the State Bank of India has not fared well in terms of profit per employee. The bank has seen a sharp drop in profit per employee from Rs 77000 in 1997-98 to Rs 43,000 in 1998-99.(UNI) |
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Call for reducing lending rates NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Two leading business chambers have called for reducing the lending rates by effecting a steep cut in capital reserve ratio and bank rates. In separate communication to Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan, ASSOCHAM president K P Singh and PHDCCI president Ashok Khanna have called for inclusion of reduction in CRR, bank rate and realignment of credit controls in the RBI credit policy for busy season. Mr Singh has suggested regulations in line with the International Settlements (BIS) and permission for investments abroad by individuals initially upto 2.5 lakh dollars per year as a part of the phased opening of the capital account for residents. Mr Singh called for deregulation of lending rates below Rs 2 lakh and administered rates in respect of savings bank accounts. The ASSOCHAM chief said the issue which needs utmost attention in the forthcoming policy was reduction in the general rates of interest. In this context, he said, prime lending rates relating to five major banks were ranging between 12.75-13 per cent in September 1998 as compared to 12.12.5 per cent in September this year indicating a decline of about 0.5 per cent. A cut in CRR from ten per cent to seven per cent will enhance liquidity by Rs 12,000 crore and give banks a gross return of about Rs 700 crore in a full year and this should lead to a corresponding reduction in the interest rates. PHDCCI president Ashok Khanna called for cutting transactions cost, resort to ECBs, Euro-bond routes, libor rates foreign loans, forex risk coverage by risk fund creation and reduction of NPAs through "Samadhan scheme". Budgetary support for priority sector lendings and effective marketing of credit would soften the lending rates, he added. Interest rates should be based on some rational norms and have relationships with funds cost/inflation rates with a spread level of 2-3 per cent, as per international standard. SMEs be provided bank finance at PLR, particularly for good rated SMEs. Floating rate of interest would be helpful in making project more viable. (UNI) |
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Paulmann gets ICCR award for promoting Indian culture BERLIN, Oct 10: Hanna Paulmann has been conferred with this year’s prestigious Gisela Bonn Award, instituted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), in recognition of her accomplishments and exemplary contribution in promoting Indian culture in Germany. The award, instituted in memory of late journalist Gisela Bonn, was given away to Paulmann, a prominent member of German-India Friendship Society, by Indian Ambassador to Germany Ronen Sen at a function in Stuttgart on Friday night. Paulmann is the third recipient of the award consisting of a trophy, a citation and a two-week trip to India. The previous recipients are Martina Wuetz, editor of Indo-Asia magazine and Dr Margot Gatzlafs, Professor of Hindi and Urdu and writer of several books on modern Indian languages and literature. Paulmann, who was chosen from ten nominees, had been one of the most active office-bearers of the detusche-indische gesschelshaft (German-Indian Friendship Society) and during the course of her chairmanship of the Darmstadt-Frankfurt chapter had put the society in the forefront for promoting Indo-German ties in various spheres. (PTI)
Inflation rate falls below 2pc again NEW DELHI, Oct 10: After hovering a little over two per cent mark for a couple of weeks, inflation again dropped to 1.88 per cent for the week ended September 25, mainly on account of a decline in prices of manufactured products. Annual rate of inflation, based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI), declined by 0.14 percentage points to 1.88 per cent (provisional) from 2.02 per cent (p) in the previous week. In comparison, inflation rate was sharply higher at 8.84 per cent during the same period last year due to a spurt in prices of agricultural produce. Thanks to a record agricultural production this year, prices have been ruling much below last year’s levels. Inflation, however, is expected to move up sharply in the next couple of weeks due to the 35 per cent hike in diesel price effected this week. Analysts expect it to go up by about two percentage points in the next few weeks due to direct and indirect effect of the diesel price hike. During the reference week, inflation rate fell to 1.88 per cent after staying over two per cent mark for two weeks. The overall index (base: 1981-82=100) also moved down by 0.1 per cent to 363.8 (provisional) as against 364.0 (p) in the previous week. The inflation rate based on the final index for the week ended July 31, stood at 2.1 per cent as against 1.2 per cent on the provisional index. The final overall index for the week stood at 359.3 as against 357.7 calculated provisionally, compared to WPI, inflation rate based on Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) stood at 3.1 per cent in August, down from 3.2 per cent in July. Of the three major groups in WPI, indices for primary articles and fuel, power, light & lubricants remained unchanged at the previous week’s level, while index for manufactured products declined by 0.1 per cent. Commodities which witnessed major fluctuations during the week were poultry chicken (down 9 per cent), jowar (down 5 per cent), raw silk (down 6 per cent), magnesite (up 12 per cent), rice bran oil (down 5 per cent), woollen cloth (down 5 per cent) and crockery (down 10 per cent). Though index for primary articles remained unchanged at 398.2, food articles’ rose by 0.1 per cent to 471.9 from 471.3 in the previous week. From food articles, prices of vegetables and condiments & spices (2 per cent each) and rice, bajra, barley, gram, masur and eggs (1 per cent each) moved up during the week, while that of poultry chicken (9 per cent), jowar (5 per cent), maize (2 per cent) and urad and milk (1 per cent each) eased. (PTI) |
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