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Jammu JK Bank to start internet, mobile banking facility soon: M Y Khan Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 6: Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, M Y Khan has said that Bank is starting internet banking....more NEDFI
set to boost KOHIMA, Nov 6: In an effort to bolster the bamboo sector of the north east region.....more Oil price steps back after leap on stock surprise SINGAPORE, Nov 6: Oil prices took a step back on Thursday from a five percent rally sparked when a suprise drop in US refined......more Aurobindo
EGM NEW DELHI, Nov 6: The equity shareholders of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd (APL) have approved.......more |
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RIL forms strategic allinace with BRPL MUMBAI, Nov 6: Reliance Industries limited today announced the formation of a strategic alliance with the public sector Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC)........more List
for trade ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Pakistan has said it has identified the items to be offered to India for trade concessions under South Asian Preferential Trade.....more News
corp Q1 profit SYDNEY/NEW YORK, Nov 6: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Ltd said on Thursday ....more Instanex
Skindia MUMBAI, Nov 6: The Instanex Skindia Depository Receipts (DR) index crashed ....more |
6 more ATMs made
functional in Jammu Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 6: Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, M Y Khan has said that Bank is starting internet banking and mobile banking facility for its customers within next 45 days. Mr Khan after inaugurating six new ATMs at Nai Basti, Shastri Nagar, Talab Tilloo, Subhash Nagar and New Plots here today said that Bank is also starting internet banking facility soon and is not far behind any other modern bank in the country. It already figures among the top ten banks of the country and also among the first 1000 top banks of the world in grading. He disclosed that with the opening of six more ATMs in Jammu the total number of ATMs in Jammu has gone up to 14. Two more are being opened within one month. In the country, the JK Bank has around 100 ATMs at present and by the end of this financial year the number may go around 300. The idea is to provide better services to the customers. The Bank has also tie-up with Master Card and with this the customers will be able to get benefit of 4700 ATMs and 3.75 lakhs such outlets throughout the world. The Bank is also planing to launch credit card facility here. It will facilitate a large number of tourists and Vaishno Devi pilgrims coming to the State. He said the Bank is trying to face all the challenges and tough competition and plans to convert its various branches into financial super-markets. About 100 of its branches have been converted into such markets with additional facilities of Insurance, trading , equity trading, shares etc. The Bank also intended to provide mobile banking facility and it is going to be started soon. Mr Khan said the JK Bank has computerised 335 branches and by the end of this year all the branches will be covered. He said the concept of Vision—2005 was introduced and target of profit was put at Rs 500 cr. The Bank generated Rs 337 cr profit last year and by the end of this year the bank is expecting to cross Rs 400 cr mark. The RBI was closely keeping the eye on the working of the JK Bank and it is progressing very well.The Bank has also launched new schemes like Mehandi deposits, Insurance deposits etc. He said the Bank has grievances cell and anybody can register his/ her complaint with the Bank’s Head office or Divisional Office here. Earlier, the DGM Territorial Mr Sharma gave brief account of the facilities being provided by the Bank and said that customers of Jammu and other coming from various parts of the country will be benefited with these ATMs. He said opening of six ATMs in a single day is a record and with this the total number has gone upto 14 in Jammu city. It will provide 24- hour facility to the customers. General Manager, RBI Jammu Sudhakar Kaza was also present on the occasion. S A Khan, GM J&K Bank presented vote of thanks. |
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NEDFI set to boost bamboo based industries in NE KOHIMA, Nov 6: In an effort to bolster the bamboo sector of the north east region, the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFI) would undertake schemes to boost the bamboo-based industries in the region. According to NEDFI sources here today, the corporation recently held a joint meeting with Mr V S Oberoi, Advisor of Technology Information Forecasting Assessment Council (TIFAC) along with a team of National Mission on Bamboo Applications (NMBA) at Guwahati. The meeting resolved to boost improved variety of bamboo planting material after research and development interventions, empowering farmers to take up bamboo cultivation on commercial basis, organizing special training programmes for entrepreneurs to take up bamboo-based industrial activities among others, sources informed. Besides, sources said, the meeting also decided to introduce environment-friendly charcoal drums in rural areas of the region for production of high-grade charcoal and using bamboo for production of electric power for captive consumption. In connection with this, a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed between the institutions soon to formalize the tie-up, sources added. Sources also informed that NEDFI would finance the projects identified jointly by way of equity participation and term loans on liberal terms and conditions. Four projects involving total project cost of Rs four crore for joint financing by NEDFI and NMBA were also discussed and NEDFI agreed in principle to provide financial assistance by way of equity and term loans. The joint initiative among others envisages arresting bamboo flowering by efficient utilization of bamboo resources and using bamboo as industrial raw material, which would create employment opportunities and in turn economic development of the region, sources added. Entrepreneurs engaged in the field of bamboo industries and other senior officials attended the meeting chaired by Chief Managing Director of NEDFI Mr J P Saikia. (UNI) |
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Oil price steps back after leap on stock surprise SINGAPORE, Nov 6: Oil prices took a step back on Thursday from a five percent rally sparked when a suprise drop in US refined oil products stocks rekindled fears of winter fuel shortages in the world’s largest consumer. US fuel stocks, the focus of the energy market as the northern hemisphere winter sets in, had been rising, helping to offset worries about the impact of an OPEC output cut and pushing oil prices down 12 percent. But weekly government data on Wednesday showed a drop in stocks of distillates, including heating oil, and gasoline and a much smaller-than-expected rise in crude stocks. After rising 1.55 per barrel following the release of the data, the key Ddecember New York crude futures ClC1 contract had reined in 12 cents to 30.18 per barrel in Asia by 0738 gmt on Thursday. London’s brent crude lcoc1 was down 10 cents a barrel at 28.50. Katsunori Watanabe, Director of Research at Japan’s Nihon Unicom Corp., said the US data had provided some relief for the market because a stocks draw down could reduce the threat of another output cut by OPEC this year. "People are somewhat more relaxed now that they see that at the end of October, there has been a bit of a halt in the crude and oil product inventory build," he said. The president of the organisation of the petroleum exporting countries, Abdullah Al-Attiyah, had warned earlier this week that if oil supplies continued to grow as they had been in recent weeks, the cartel might have to cut supplies further when it meets on December 4. The US Government’s Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that heating oil stocks fell by two percent in the week ended October 31, retaining only a slim cushion above year-ago levels. Crude stocks rose by only 100,000 barrels in the week to October 31 to 291.9 million barrels — just above year-ago levels but below 300 million barrels considered comfortable ahead of peak winter demand. Analysts polled by reuters had expected a 1.5-million barrel crude build. A one percent gasoline draw also surprised the market, putting supply below year-ago levels. OPEC implemented a 3.5 percent cut in output on November 1, reducing supplies to 24.5 million barrels per day, on concern world oil stocks will rise in the months ahead as Iraq and non-aligned exporters, like Russia, increase production. (AGENCIES) |
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Aurobindo EGM approves allotment NEW DELHI, Nov 6: The equity shareholders of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd (APL) have approved the company’s proposal to go in for private placement of 38 lakh equity share warrants for raising funds to the tune of Rs 229.52 crore. At an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) yesterday, the shareholders also approved the proposal to increase the investment limit of foreign institutional investors from 24 per cent to 49 per cent of the paid-up capital of the company. Earlier, the APL Board of Directors had recommended the preferential issue for raising Rs 229.52 crore. The share warrants would entitle the allottees to subscribe to equity shares at a price of Rs 604 per share Rs 10. After the preferential issue, the equity capital will increase by 15.70 per cent up to Rs 28 crore. The Hyderabad-based drugmaker, which recorded a 56.67 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 32.15 crore for the second quarter of the current fiscal, proposes to deploy the proceeds from this preferential issue for funding future research and development activities, potential acquisition, working capital, repayment of high-cost debts and general corporate purposes. (UNI) |
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RIL forms strategic allinace with BRPL MUMBAI, Nov 6: Reliance Industries limited today announced the formation of a strategic alliance with the public sector Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) subsidiary Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (BRPL) in Assam. The agreement following an open tender for the alliance was signed in mumbai by Mr R K Hazarika, BRPL Director (operations) and Mr Subodh Sapra, RIL president (polyester business) in the presence of Mr B K Gogoi, CMD of BRPL and Mr Nikhil Measwani, ED of RIL. Under the alliance, RIL will provide technical and manufacturing support for achieving full capacity utilization and quality excellence of the BRPL’s petrochemicals facilities at Dhaligaon in Assam. The facilities consist of 34,200 metric ton per annum of PSF capacity together with 45,000 metric ton per annum of Di Methyl Terephthalate (DMT) capacity which is used as feedstock for PSF production. In addition, RIL will be responsbile for marketing the entire output. According to RIL officials, the alliance would help BRPL to turnaround its petrochemical business which have been closed for the last two years. BRPL will also get instant access to the state-of-the-art technological and manufacturing skills developed by RIL in the past two decades of polyester operations. RIL sells 450,000 Mt PSF annually both in domestic as well overseas markets. This volume would grow further from the alliance and would strengthen RIL’s market position further, they said. (UNI) |
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List for trade concessions under SAPTA for India ready: Pak ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Pakistan has said it has identified the items to be offered to India for trade concessions under South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement even as it asserted that the extent of trade concessions it planned to offer would depend on the kind "attitude" New Delhi demonstrated. Pakistan would be offering a list of items for trade concessions under SAPTA at the final round of talks between the SAARC countries to be held in first week of next month at Kathmandu, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Humayaun Akthar Khan said but declined to reveal details. "It depends upon the attitude of India that how much we can offer her in the upcoming round of talks which is going to be held in December," he said in an interview to local daily `The Nation’ today. Khan, son of a former ISI chief and a India hardliner had made statements in the past linking progress of trade talks with India to movement on dialogue on Kashmir, said that Pakistan has already identified items to be offered to India in the final round of SAPTA round in Kathmandu. "We have already identified those items on which we may offer concession in terms of preferential exchange of items in India in upcoming round of talks under SAPTA," he said adding his ministry was in touch with Pakistan foreign office to remove all impediments in this regard to get "desired" results. The SAPTA as well as South Asian Tree Trade Area, (SAFTA) talks which were being held among the SAARC for over seven years have begun making progress in recent months after India warned the slow pace of talks due to reluctance of Pakistan to finalise the trade concessions would have an adverse impact on future of talks. The agreements in this regard were slated to be signed at the SAARC summit to be held here in January next. Without disclosing the contents Pakistan offered a list of concessions believed to be around 74 items in the Kathmandu talks last month. The December talks were expected to clinch the deal on SAPTA and SAFTA. (PTI) |
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News corp Q1 profit surges on DVD sales SYDNEY/NEW YORK, Nov 6: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Ltd said on Thursday its quarterly profit more than doubled, boosted by strong DVD sales of "Daredevil" and "phone booth" as well as growth in newspaper earnings. News corp, which owns the 20th Century Fox Film Studios, the Fox News Channel, scores of newspapers and a Swathe of pay-TV assets, stuck with its previous forecasts for high single-digit to low double-digit earnings growth for the fiscal year. The firm also reiterated its Fox entertainment group, which was hit by cancellation costs for several series and a 20 percent drop in viewer ratings in the first quarter ended September 30, would post operating profit growth in the "mid-teens" over the full year. Shares in news corp, controlled by media Mogul Murdoch, jumped almost three percent to a six-week high at a 13.09 in early Australian trade, bringing gains over the past year to around 15 percent. The stock eased back to a 12.91 by midday. "The result’s a cracker, it looks very good," said James Hogan, manager at BT financial group. News corp earned a first-quarter net profit of 422 million, or 32 cents per American depositary receipt, compared with 162 million, or 12 cents per ADR, a year ago. Stripping out a 36 million gain, mainly from selling a stake in Japan’s skyperfectv, profit was 386 million, or 29 cents per ADR, beating analyst forecasts for 20 cents per ADR. Built from an Adelaide evening newspaper, news corp is a US 45 billion media empire comprised of film, television, newspapers, and publishing businesses, which generates around 75 percent of its revenues and around 80 percent of its operating income in the United States. New corp’s first quarter revenue climbed 22 percent to 4.6 billion from 3.8 billion a year earlier, while operating income, a closely tracked performance indicator for media companies, jumped 31 percent to 719 million. "Our results today are certainly a very positive indication of a solid and well balanced operation momentum that we expect to continue," said Murdoch, news corp’s executive chairman, on a conference call. Operating income from news corp’s filmed entertainment unit more than trebled to 328 million over the quarter, boosted by strong DVD sales of movies such as "Daredevil", starring Ben Affleck as a comic book hero, and "phone booth", partly offset by marketing costs for "league of extraordinary gentlemen." News corp’s newspaper stable, which includes the news of the world, the New York post and the Australian, posted a 79 percent jump in operating income to 102 million, boosted by stronger circulation revenues for Britain’s best selling the Sun tabloid following the end of the vicious cover price war with its rival, the daily mirror. Television operating income was broadly flat at 179 million over the first quarter as rising losses and sliding ratings at its Fox television network offset higher profits for its television stations and its star pan-Asian pay-TV venture. The group said television station advertising revenue was showing high single-digit growth for December, and costs for the division were set to be lower for the fiscal year. The result included a 117 million loss from news corp’s 80.1 percent owned sky Italia pay-TV business, which Murdoch said was currently trading ahead of plan. The Italian venture, which is expected reach its target of 3.2 million subscribers and profitability within 18 months, is forecast to notch up losses of 300 million for news corp over the fiscal year. News corp gave no updates on when it expects regulatory approval for its 6.6 billion cash and stock deal to buy control of Hughes Electronics Corp and its no 1 ranked direct TV satellite business. (AGENCIES) |
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Instanex Skindia DR, P/E premium indices dip on profit taking MUMBAI, Nov 6: The Instanex Skindia Depository Receipts (DR) index crashed yesterday by 0.23 per cent to 910.49 points from the previous day’s close at 912.56 points. According to the daily update provided by city-based Instanex Capital Consultants Pvt Ltd through a release, Instanex Skindia DR Index P/E also eased by 0.25 per cent to 17.94 points from 17.98 points on earlier days. Similarly, the Instanex Skindia (DR) Index premium dropped steeply by 2.80 per cent to 23.04 per cent from 23.71 per cent during the same period, the release stated. Out of 15 ADRs and GDRs, there were 4 (13) gainers and nine (two) losers, while two scrips (nil) were unchanged. Ranbaxy labs (GDR), VSNL (ADR) and L T (GDR) were the top gainers, while HDFC bank (ADR), Satyam Computer (ADR) and Dr Reddy’s Lab (ADR) were the major losers, the release added. (UNI) |
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GSK consumer healthcare board to consider interim dividend NEW DELHI, Nov 6: Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Healthcare Ltd will announce the second interim dividend for the current calendar year on December 11. The Board of Directors of Glaxo Smithkline consumer healthcare will meet on December 11 to consider declaration and payment of second interim dividend for the year ending December 31, 2003. The company has fixed December 16 as the record date for that purpose. (UNI) |
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Sri Lanka stocks open steady despite politics COLOMBO, Nov 6: Sri Lankan stocks were up 0.56 percent in early trade on Thursday two days after the President suspended Parliament, jeopardising a peace bid with Tamil Tiger Rebels that had led to an economic recovery. The benchmark Colombo all-share index was up 6.45 points, at 1,167.77 points, in early trade, after plunging 12.98 percent on Wednesday, wiping off about 400 million of the value of the market. (US 1= 95.50 rupees) (AGENCIES) |
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Intel says chip industry watching IBM cancer suits SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIC, Nov 6: Cancer lawsuits filed against IBM have caught the attention of the chip industry and demonstrate the threat posed by aggressive lawyers looking to take on wealthy businesses, Intel corp. Chief Executive Craig Barrett said on Wednesday. "Since Dow Corning and breast implants, and asbestos, I mean, it’s on everybody’s mind," Barrett told reporters. "It’s really what could potentially happen when you start to take the plaintiff’s bar and give them some ammunition, real or not." The suits against international business machines corp. Involve more than 200 former and current employees who blame exposure to chemicals in chip and hard drive plants for giving them cancer and their children birth defects. The cases have raised fears of a broader liability for the electronics industry. While declining to give his views on the validity of the cases against IBM, Barrett said such suits showed the risks to business from a lawsuit-hungry US society. "From a general standpoint, it’s just the litigious nature of the US — class action lawsuits, and the plaintiffs bar go after everybody," he said. "They’re interested in not wealth creation but wealth redistribution." Barrett said he did not believe intel, the world’s largest chip maker, was a party to any litigation similar to the IBM cases. "We’re watching it to see what happens," he said. "Right now it’s an issue between IBM and their former employees." As electronics production increasingly moves to countries with regulations on worker health weaker than in the United States, Barrett said investment by big US chip makers would ease the problem of unsafe working conditions.’’ "We export the toughest environmental standards wherever we go around the world," he said after a press conference with New york govt. George Pataki on state support for the chip industry. (AGENCIES) Maruti announces new wage settlement with employees’ union NEW DELHI, Nov 6: Maruti Udyog Limited today said it has entered into a new wage settlement with its employees’ union to reduce costs and simplify the wage structure. The new wage settlement, to be effective for five years beginning November 1, 2003, provides for an annual wage growth of 3.5 per cent against 9 per cent in the existing settlement. Besides, the one-time increase owing to the new wage settlement is 5.9 per cent. In the earlier wage settlement effective since 1996, the increase on this account was 27.18 per cent. The new settlement also provides for a one-time lump sum payment of Rs 40,000 to each workman. Maruti said in a statement that with this wage settlement, its normally-high wage bill will be aligned closer to the market. The dearness allowance has been delinked from changes in the consumer price index and basic pay and a fixed increase in DA has been built into the new settlement. By severing the link between consumer price index and employee compensation, the new settlement brings the wage structure in tune with market competitiveness. Further, allowances have also been delinked from changes in the basic pay and dearness allowance. Instead, they have been merged to form a consolidated perquisite basket which will simplify the wage structure. (UNI) |
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