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| Newsoft Education Ltd holds awards ceremony Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 7: Newsoft Education Pvt Limited, engaged in imparting computer education, conventional education and career opportunities through its website.......more Planning Commission TIRUCHIRAPALLI, Dec 7: The Union Planning Commission has cleared the setting up of six more ......more Chhattisgarh mulls RAIPUR, Dec 7: The Chhattisgarh Government is considering involvement of the private sector as a ....more Tata Steel bags energy NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Tata Steel has bagged the National Energy Conservation Award for 2002 instituted......more |
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Times music to market soundtrack of ‘Bollywood/Hollywood’ MUMBAI, Dec 7: Times Music, a Times of India Group Company, has announced that it will market ......more Forex reserves up, MUMBAI, Dec 7: The foreign exchange (forex) reserves of the country moved up further by US .......more Gold maintain NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Gold prices continued to rise on the bullion market today on sustained buying by .......more Kelkar to meet NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Dr Vijay Kelkar, adviser to the Finance Minister, will meet the widest spectrum of industry representatives on Monday in Mumbai to discuss his......more |
Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 7: Newsoft Education Pvt Limited, engaged in imparting computer education, conventional education and career opportunities through its website, organised awards ceremony to felicitate those of its associates who achieved their targets under Diwali Bonanza. According to a release, the function organised in this connection was presided over by Mr Arun K. Sharma, the Managing Director of the company while MLA Gandhinagar Mr Raman Bhalla was the chief guest. Mr Bhalla, while speaking on the occasion, emphasised the need of attaining more and more computer knowledge and maintained that the concept of the company was learning as well as earning. It has the special significance for the people connected with the education concept. He offered all possible assistance to the company. The MD while appreciating the zeal of the associates and their commitment in the state and in Jammu city in particular, said that he has been impressed with the response shown by all. He said if the associates kept their commitment no target would be beyond their reach. He maintained that with the global vision to keep pace with the changes one must try to move with the concept in the present situation. The programme was conducted by Mr Ravinder Kapoor and was attended by a large number of people. |
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Planning Commission clears six nuclear power units TIRUCHIRAPALLI, Dec 7: The Union Planning Commission has cleared the setting up of six more nuclear power generation units at the cost of Rs 37,000 crore, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited Chairman and Managing Director V K Chaturvedi said today. The Commission had sanctioned Rs 1500 crore for the proposed units for ordering long-delivery items, Mr Chaturvedi told reporters here. Stating that the country at present had an installation capacity of 2700 mw electric power under nuclear system, he said another 4000 mwe capacity, under construction, was expected to be commissioned by January 2008. He said four of the proposed units would have 700 mwe each heavy water reactor system while the other two would have 1000 mwe each light water reactor system. The Chairman and Managing Director said the Koodankulam nuclear power station was expected to be ready by 2007-08 and the construction works were at least six months ahead of schedule. The unit was expected to generate power at a comparitively cheaper rate than any other thermal power plant. Stating that power could be purchased from the plant from 2009-10, he said the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board had agreed to purchase 1200 mwe of power, Kerala 250 mwe and Pondicherry had expressed its willingness to purchase 50 mwe nuclear power. Mr Chaturvedi said there was a huge outstanding of about Rs 3,000 crore to the Corporation from various State Electricity Boards, especially from the northern states. Earlier, flagging off the first 500 mwe nuclear steam generator for the Tarapur Atomic Power Station at a function held at BHEL complex, he said the Corporation had projects worth Rs one lakh crore, which would be implemented in the next 15 years. Speaking on the occassion, BHEL Executive Director A K Mathur said his company here had planned to modernise its nuclear power unit at an estimated cost of Rs 70 crore. (UNI) |
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Chhattisgarh mulls private water supply to industries RAIPUR, Dec 7: The Chhattisgarh Government is considering involvement of the private sector as a service-provider for supplying water to more industrial units, says a top officer. Principal Secretary (Industries) P Raghavan told mediapersons here that a proposal to engage a private service-provider, for supplying water from the Kharun river to Silchara industrial estate, was being considered. Pointing out that Chhattisgarh could boast of having the country’s first privatised industrial water supply scheme, he said that this 12 million-litre per day scheme was already in place at the Borai industrial growth centre. "The Borai scheme is being augmented to 30 MLD while the ultimate capacity is 180 mld," the bureaucrat said adding that Borai was a place where large water-consuming industries could be located. Fielding queries, Mr Raghavan clarified that M/s Radiant Water was just a service-provider and the company did not have any ownership rights over the Seonath river from where water was being supplied to Borai industrial estate. He said the Industries Development Corporation of undivided Madhya Pradesh signed an agreement in 1998 with radiant water for supply of water to units in Borai industrial area. Now it had been decided to re-examine the agreement and place it before the water utilisation committee. The officer said the Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation would ask the firm to explain how a perception developed that the company enjoyed ownership rights over water in Seonath river. He also clarified that locals had rights for fishing in the river. (UNI) |
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Tata Steel bags energy conservation award NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Tata Steel has bagged the National Energy Conservation Award for 2002 instituted by the Power Ministry in the integrated steel plants sector. The award will be given away by Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on December 14 at Vigyan Bhavan here. The energy cost of Tata Steel is about 30 per cent of the cost of steel production. It is imperative to reduce the energy cost for competitive steel-making, a company release said. Since the oil crisis of 1973 worldwide, the company has adopted a systematic approach to identify potential areas of energy saving for short-term and long-term action plans. Based on its structural 10-year energy plan, adopted in 1980-81, the energy-saving measures and technologies implemented progressively at Tata Steel has yielded good results. The reduction in the plant energy consumption was achieved at 1.1 per cent per annum, that is from 11.710 GCAL/TCS in 1973-74 to 8.717 GCAL/TCS in 1996-97. (UNI) |
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Times music to market soundtrack of ‘Bollywood/Hollywood’ MUMBAI, Dec 7: Times Music, a Times of India Group Company, has announced that it will market the sound track of Bollywood/Hollywood a romantic comedy written and directed by Deepa Mehta. The film set in Toronto is about a diverse group of Indian Canadians, living in a Hollywood saturated environment, who are nostalgic of their homeland. According to a Times Music release here, the film has songs sung by Alisha Chinoy, Sonu Nigam, Sunita Parthasarathy, Rajesh Krishnan and Somia Rao and the background score is composed and programmed by Pravin Mani. Times Music, which has close to 800 non-film album releases to its credit since 1998, had earlier launched the soundtrack of Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Makdee’. (UNI) |
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Forex reserves up, at record high of USD 66.9 billion MUMBAI, Dec 7: The foreign exchange (forex) reserves of the country moved up further by US Dollar (USD) 337 million to a new record high of USD 66,925 million during the week ended November 29. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, the foreign currency assets, which rose by USD 337 million to USD 63,640 million during the week, contributed the entire growth in the total forex reserve. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and the gold reserve, however, remained steady at USD seven million and USD 3,278 million respectively. The country’s foreign exchange reserves, which continued rising in the last few months had shot up sharply by about USD 18,813 million during the calendar year of which the foreign currency asset contributed the lion’s share of USD 18,389 million. Gold reserve and SDRs also rose by USD 422 million and USD two million since January 2002. RBI’s intervention in the forex market to check the rupee’s appreciation for better export competitiveness, coupled with appreciation of the non-US currencies held in the reserve were the main reason for the rise in forex reserves, market experts said. The loans and advances to the Central Government stood at Rs 101 crore as on November 29 as against nil in the previous week, while that of the State Governments dropped by Rs 1,694 crore to Rs 4,157 crore from the previous week’s Rs 5,851 crore. (UNI) |
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Gold maintain upward march on sustain support NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Gold prices continued to rise on the bullion market today on sustained buying by local parties and registered further moderate gains. Silver, on the other hand, turned easy on lack of follow up support and surrendered fresh ground. Marketmen said constant buying in gold by local parties and stockists mainly maintained an upward march while silver was weak for want of support. They said a firm trend in international markets also influenced the trading sentiment to some extent. Standard gold and ornaments gained another Rs.10 each at Rs.5310 and Rs.5160 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign held unchanged at Rs.4200 per piece of eight gram. Silver ready was down by Rs.5 at Rs.7675 per kilo while weekly-based delivery lost Rs.10 at Rs.7700 per kilo. Silver coins continued to be asked at last level of Rs.11,800/11,900 per 100 pieces. The following were today’s quotations: Silver ready 7675 and delivery 7700. Silver coins buyer 11,800 and seller 11,900 standard gold 5310, ornaments 5160 and sovereign 4200. (PTI) |
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Kelkar to meet industry
representatives NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Dr Vijay Kelkar, adviser to the Finance Minister, will meet the widest spectrum of industry representatives on Monday in Mumbai to discuss his indirect tax proposals as well as pre-budget issues. Some of the key industries that will be represented at this meeting include automobiles, capital goods, cement, chemicals, electrical goods, electronics, fertilisers, steel and textiles. The meeting has been arranged under the aegies of CII’s Manufacturing Council, comprising 115 heads of sectoral associations affiliated to the Confederation and head of CII divisions. The interaction between Dr Kelkar and CII is expected to result in a deeper mutual appreciation of the important issues of taxation and finance that affect industrial competitiveness. CII is committed to raising the competitiveness of India Inc in the next few years and this half day meeting with Dr Kelkar is an importnat milestone in that long journey , a spokesperson of CII said. (UNI) Indian Bank takes over Chennai hotel NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Indian Bank has taken over a hotel property in Chennai for the recovery of their dues to the bank, under the new securitisation and reconstruction of financial assets and enforcement of security interest (second) ordinance. The property of hotel Srilekha Pvt Ltd at Anna Salai was taken over as the hotel owed the bank Rs 5.67 crore with interest. The bank had given notice earlier for adjusting dues. The bank had already issued notices under this ordinance to about 200 borrowers in Chennai and more than 600 borrowers all over India. According to Mr Krishnamurthy Kota, General Manager (Recovery), the bank proposes to takeover many such assets as the borrowers have failed to settle dues. Various assets like hotels, hospitals, theatres, and residential and commercial buildings are identified for takeover very shortly, he said. (UNI) India, Ethiopia have potential
for business CHANDIGARH, Dec 7: In a world of business, there is great potential for fostering new partnerships between Ethiopian and Indian companies. This was stated by Dr Teketel Forssido, Ambassador of Ethiopia to India, while interacting with members of CII at a session that concluded here yesterday. Ethiopia and India, though geographically far away from one another, enjoy long-standing relations which extends over centuries. The trade contacts between the two countries are further enhanced by exchange of cultural experiences in the form of art, literature and craftsmanship through the medieval times and subsequent centuries. Considering these facts, he said, India and Ethiopia industrial and trade cooperation can further be strengthened. He said Africa is changing industrially and economically and ethiopia is promising an attractive investment destination for agri-business, automotive components, information technology and pharmaceuticals, healthcare and education and training. Ethiopia, one of the largest markets in Africa, is a predominantly agricultural economy which accounts for about 50 per cent of Ethiopia’s GDP, 65 per cent of total exports and 85 per cent of employment. Agriculture is supplemented by manufacturing, mining, trade, tourism, construction, services, making up for the remaining 50 per cent of GDP. Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr S K Bijlani, Chairman, CII Northern Region, highlighted CII’s initiatives in fostering partnerships between Ethiopian and Indian companies and institutions. (UNI) L&T Board meet ends
abruptly, no decision MUMBAI, Dec 7: The Larson & Toubro Board meeting today failed to arrive at any concrete decision on a proposal by private equity fund CDC to invest in the company’s cement business. Even as the L&T Board members, including financial institutions, were apprised of the CDC proposal well in time, the meeting in which both nominees of Aditya Birla Group (Mr Kumaramangalam Birla and his mother Rajshri Birla) were present, failed to arrive at any consensus on the issue, according to an L&T spokesperson. Consequently, the meeting failed to arrive at any conclusion on the crucial issue of demerger of the cement business and ended abruptly within 65 minutes. The meeting started at 1400 hours and ended at 1505 hours. (UNI) Sabre Capital Worldwide keen on
infusing MUMBAI, Dec 7: Scotching all speculations, Centurian Bank Chairman and Managing Director V Janakiraman today announced that sabre capital worldwide has shown interest in infusing additional capital into the bank. In a statement, Mr Janakiraman said Sabre had commenced an exclusive due diligence on the bank beginning today and the firm would make its offer by the second week of January, 2003. The due diligence is likely to be completed in the next three weeks. Sabre capital worldwide, a financial outfit recently set up by a group of experienced international bankers led by former Standard Chartered Group Chief Executive, Rana Talwar, has firmed up certain plans to invest in and help manage financial services business in emerging markets like India. Centurion Bank, a tech-savy first generation private bank, has a capital adequacy ratio of 4.16 per cent, much lower than the stipulated level of 9 per cent. The bank ank needs infusion of atleast Rs 150 crore to sustain its business growth at the current level. In the past, public sector Andhra Bank had shown an interest in acquiring equity stake through infusion of funds in the bank but the deal did not take place due to lack of support from the authority concerned in terms of providing compensation against the erosion of networth of the bank. However, the bank, under the chairmanship of former State Bank of India Managing Director Janakiraman, did make a turnaround in the current financial year and is expected to achieve operating profits. It has an NPA level at 6.6 per cent on advances as on March 31, 2002. (UNI) |
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