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| Develop infrastructure facilities to kindle growth, asks Sisodia Excelsior Special Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 8: Indian Banks’ Association in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited (JKBL) convened a meeting in which representatives of banks operating in Jammu and Kashmir, RBI, NABARD, Financial Institutions....more Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 8: An exporter/customers meet was organised by Punjab National Bank Regional office at Jammu which was attended by some.....more ‘Defined
IPR policy, IPR cell, THRUCHIRAPALLI, Nov 8: In a changing environment with emphasis on patenting gaining momentum, companies must......more China’s
fiscal stimulus BEIJING, Nov 8: China will keep up its policy of fiscal stimulus next year, despite strong economic.......more |
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Canara Bank to expand banking facilities: CMD Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 8: R V Shastri, Chairman and Managing Director, Canara Bank visited Jammu to participate in the Indian Banks Association meeting.........more FIIs pump
Rs 2,114.5 MUMBAI, Nov 8: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were the net buyers in equity and debt markets.....more Foodgrains
exports NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Exports of foodgrains from the central pool have touched 50 lakh tonnes during the current financial....more HK
official backs HONG KONG, Nov 8: A Hong Kong monetary official has backed suggestions that a commercial bank should undertake....more |
Develop infrastructure
facilities to kindle Excelsior Special Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 8: Indian Banks’ Association in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited (JKBL) convened a meeting in which representatives of banks operating in Jammu and Kashmir, RBI, NABARD, Financial Institutions and State Government participated. The meeting was called to review the decisions taken in an earlier meeting held at Srinagar on July 28, 2003 as part of the initiative by the financial sector to facilitate the implementation of the plan to create one lakh employment/self employment opportunities in State over the next 2 years. Mr N S Sisodia, Secretary (FS) presided over the meeting in which many decision were taken. It was decided in the meeting that the State Government will consider the request made by PNB for allotment of land and efforts will be made for identifying a suitable place for the institution in the next 1-2 months. It was further decided that a committee under State Chief Secretary with zonal managers of banks as members to be set up as an interface between Government and banking industry to improve credit flow of areas identified by the task force. Regarding mortgage of land as collateral, banks were asked to review the instructions regarding requirement of collateral security for sanction of loans for purchase of farm equipments etc. Efforts to be made to see that finance is given to the extent possible against the primary security of charge over the assets created without insisting on mortgage of land as collateral. Meeting suggested the State Government to launch special campaign to identify suitable candidates for financing and the bankers to be involved in the selection process. It was further suggested to the banks to issue detailed check list on documents etc to be submitted along with applications. It was further decided that action plan to be formulated and district level committees to take up the issue immediately regarding Artisan Credit Cards and Kissan Credit Cards. Regarding reopening of bank branches closed during disturbances, it was observed in the meeting that out of 35 bank branches which were remaining closed in August 2001, only 3 remained to be reopened now. Meeting asked the respective banks to take steps to ensure that these branches will be opened soon. Earlier in his opening remarks, N S Sisodia, referred to the efforts towards economic revival as a commitment to normalization of life in the troubled state and in the overall fight against terrorism. Pointing towards CD ratio, Mr Sisodia said that low credit deposit ratio is also a reflection of credit absorption capacity of the area. In this regard, he stressed on the need to develop infrastructure facilities to kindle growth. Financial Commissioner- Finance, M S Pandit, in his initial remarks, referred to the low CD ratio of banks in the State and called for greater efforts to lend to agriculture and SSI. He mentioned that KCC scheme had not picked up in the State. He also wanted banks to take up rehabilitation to sick SSI units to unlock hidden economic potential of these units. Mr Pandit also referred to the discussions at RBI at the beginning of the year when it was decided to setup an entrepreneur development institute in the State. In the discussion, which followed his remark, it was decided that J&K Bank would follow up the issue in consultation with other agencies for implementing the decision taken to set up an institute for development of entrepreneurship in the State. Mr V Leeladhar, chairman IBA presented a report on the measures taken by different banks since the last meeting towards reactivating operations in the Valley and also for exploring fresh avenues for lending in the State. Earlier, chairman of the J&K Bank, M Y Khan and convenor of SLBC in the state, welcomed the participants to the meeting. |
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Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 8: An exporter/customers meet was organised by Punjab National Bank Regional office at Jammu which was attended by some leading exporters of the State. Mr Harwant Singh who was on a visit to the City of Temples, presided over the meet and spoke about the advantages of CBS banking. He informed the participants that Dalgate Srinagar and Rehari Chowk Jammu branches of PNB have been put on national network of the bank, which will enable the customers to have access to anywhere, anytime banking in 305 branches spread over 60 centres. It also provides them global access through internet banking. The exporter clients sought clarification on IBN code, forex rates, cross currency trading, forward contracts, PCFC and Prime lending rates besides host of other issues. They also demanded opening of more branches at potential centres in the State. Mr Singh gave clarifications and also spoke on vide range of issues on foreign exchange. I K Kilam, Deputy General Manager, Northern Zone, P K Mattoo, Chief Forex Operations at Foreign Exchange office at Delhi, also participated in the deliberations. At the request of exporter clients, General Manager decided to hold a seminar at Jammu shortly to create awareness among the exporters about latest development in export import policy and other related issues. |
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‘Defined IPR policy, IPR cell, people participation needed’ THRUCHIRAPALLI, Nov 8: In a changing environment with emphasis on patenting gaining momentum, companies must have a defined ipr policy, an IPR cell and a mechanism to make people contribute to realising the goal of "patent, publish and prosper," according to a patent official. Mr M S Venkataraman, Assistant Controller of Patents, patent office, Chennai, speaking at the fourth inter-unit patent cooridnators’ meeting yesterday, said in tune with inclusion of the intellectual property rights in the WTO agenda, the country was also giving increased thrust to patenting. He said notably the three changes included changing the patent law in consonance with the WTO, modernisation of patent offices in the next 24 months and providing facilities for research community for interaction with the patent office. Companies must have a defined IPR policy, an IPR cell and a mechanism to motivate people to contribute to patenting, he noted. The ‘Navratna’ Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) had filed 370 patents in the country and about ten in other countries. Of these, the term for 170 patents expired, 18 sealed and 190 under examination or processing, BHEL Hyderabad’s Additional General Manager, Corporate Reserach and Development P V Bhat, said in his address. During 2002-2003, the BHEL had filed 31 patents in India and three in the US and registered four copyrights, which included three software and a German-English dictionary on terms related to power engineering. A study of 326 patents showed that around 120 patented ideas have been used in products and services marketed by the BHEL and around 140 used in prototypes and field demonstrations, he said. Noting that further utilisation was yet to take place, Mr Bhat said around 20 per cent of the patents had lesser probability of use in BHEL’s products and hence could be licensed out. Speaking on the occasion, Mr M Namasivayam, General Manager, Nuclear BHEL said globally, there were over 35 million patents published and in 2002, 1.15 lakh patent applications were filed, ten per cent more than the previous year. As many as 118 countries, of which 64 were developing countries, filed patents. Those filed by developing countries accounted for only five per cent of the total, he said adding that the good news was that of this, 50 per cent of the filing was done by the country. In his address BHEL Executive Director A K Mathur said the company "had the mindset to recognise intellectual wealth of its human resources and was honouring it through suggestion schemes." The next logical step would be to safeguard the intellectual property, he said. Noting that patenting, which had become more complex, should not to be left to technologists alone, he urged for the involvement of cross-functional teams. (UNI) |
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China’s fiscal stimulus policy to continue: Paper BEIJING, Nov 8: China will keep up its policy of fiscal stimulus next year, despite strong economic growth, but will shift focus to addressing the widening rich-poor gap, the China daily said on Saturday. "The Chinese Government has decided to, on the basis of maintaining consistency in fiscal policy, moderately readjust the scale of treasury bond proceeds and where they are used, in keeping with gradual acceleration of private investment," it quoted Vice Finance Minister Lou Jiwei as saying. "The fiscal policy will, while continuing to finance key infrastructure projects, shift to mainly addressing social and economic imbalances and the gap between cities and rural areas," Lou was quoted as saying. Lou did not give the size of a special bond issue for 2004. The Government would increase fiscal support for areas such as agriculture, education, public health, social security and environmental protection, he said. China is well into its sixth year of generous state spending, issuing 140 billion yuan ( 17 billion) in special bonds in 2003 to spur economic growth and help millions of jobless state workers. The Government kicked off the expansionary fiscal policy by issuing special stimulus bonds to build roads, railways and power plants amid of the Asian economic crisis, when China’s economy took a hit from the regional turmoil. Strong economic growth — 9.1 percent between the third quarters of 2002 and 2003 — and overheating investment have sparked debate whether China needed to retain the spending that had pushed up fiscal deficit to around three percent of GDP. Chinese officials have warned that excessive investment, which in September was up 26.5 percent on a year earlier, could lead to economic overheating and inflation. The deficit level is seen as quite manageable, although the recent sharp rise has sparked worries over debt repayment problems in the long term. Chinese officials have pledged to phase out the stimulus policy gradually but have not given a timetable. China’s economy has shown strong growth in the past two decades, but coastal provinces have raced ahead of poorer inland ones, and the cities boom while the countryside stagnates. (AGENCIES) |
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Canara Bank to expand banking facilities: CMD Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 8: R V Shastri, Chairman and Managing Director, Canara Bank visited Jammu to participate in the Indian Banks Association meeting. Mr Shastri inspected local branch of Canara Bank, Karan Bhavan, Jammu and interacted with customers as well as the staff of the Bank. As per release, a colourful cultural programme was organised in honour of the visiting CMD to the city of temples. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Mr Shastri said "Canara Bank is a common man’s bank, third largest in the business. Second largest in terms of profit." "The customers’ goodwill has brought the bank on top", he pointed out. Mr Shastri declared that the Jammu branch of Canara Bank will be soon in the network of Anywhere Banking for the facility of the people. He said that one or two more branches will be opened in near future for providing more banking facilities to Jammuites. It is also proposed to extend ATM and other facilities by the Canara Bank, he added. He also spoke about the performance of SCRIPS of the Canara Bank. He said that the bank is looking forward to adding 20 lakh customers from the next year. He asked the employees to work with dedication and devotion to extend best of service to the customers. On this occasion, General Manager, Chandigarh, Y L Madan and Asstt General Manager Sunder Raghvan addressed the employees. While vote of thanks was presented by R C Sidhu, Chief Managar, Canara Bank, Shalimar road, Jammu. |
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FIIs pump Rs 2,114.5 crore in
equity/debt MUMBAI, Nov 8: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were the net buyers in equity and debt markets worth Rs 2,114.5 crore in the first week of November. According to data available from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), FIIs were net buyers on all the five days in equity markets during the November 3-7 week with total net investments of Rs 1,827.3 crore. Their aggregate purchases stood higher at Rs 4110.2 crore against total sales of Rs 2,283 crore during the week and so far in November. In debt markets, foreign funds’ net investment stood at Rs 287.2 crore with a total buying worth Rs 605.8 crore and total sales at Rs 287.2 crore. FIIs were net buyers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in debt markets, while they turned net sellers on Tuesday and Thursday. Foreign funds have injected a whopping Rs 27,292.3 crore in the equity and debt markets since January 1, this year. Mutual Funds (MFs) were the net sellers worth Rs 208.79 in equity markets in the four days from Monday to Thursday where the data is available. Mfs total sales of Rs 979.81 crore exceeded their total purchase of Rs 771.02 crore. However, in debt markets, MFs were net buyers worth Rs 428.01 crore as their aggregate purchases of Rs 865.83 crore surpassed their total sales worth Rs 437.82 crore. (UNI) |
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| Foodgrains exports touch 50 million
tonnes by September NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Exports of foodgrains from the central pool have touched 50 lakh tonnes during the current financial year upto September. A quantity of 68.78 lakh tonnes of foodgrains were lifted for exports and 86.72 lakh tonnes paid for during the same period. However, the total shipment of foodgrains during last four years from 2000-01 upto September 2003 amounted to 225.22 lakh tonnes. Further, as much as 301.42 lakh tonnes of foodgrains were lifted for export and 342.22 lakh tonnes paid for, an official release said here today. The decision to export wheat was taken in Novmeber 2001 while for rice in December 2000. During the current fiscal, the shipment of foodgrains was the highest so far for a single month in September with the export of 11.34 lakh tonnes comprising 6.07 lakh tonnes of wheat and 5.27 lakh tonnes of rice. Total exports of wheat till September was 134.74 lakh tonnes while the quantity lifted was 168.69 lakh tonnes and paid for was 202.14 lakh tonnes. Similarly, the actual shipment of rice during the same was 90.48 lakh tonnes while quantity lifted in the name of export was 132.73 lakh tonnes and paid for was 140.08 lakh tonnes. (UNI) |
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HK official backs commercial banks for yuan work HONG KONG, Nov 8: A Hong Kong monetary official has backed suggestions that a commercial bank should undertake the potentially profitable business of settling yuan transactions when Hong Kong banks are allowed to run yuan businesses here. "It will be preferable and will be much better for a commercial bank to be appointed as the yuan settlement bank because all the commercial banks are in the market doing their business on a day-to-day basis," William Ryback, a Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, was quoted by the south China morning post as saying. Ryback had made the remarks on Friday to reporters in his personal capacity, a spokeswoman for the authority, Hong Kong’s central bank, told on Saturday. His remarks were the first on the subject from a senior official from the authority. "There are always a number of banks that want to do the job," Ryback reportedly said, without identifying the candidates. China has agreed to permit Hong Kong banks to conduct yuan businesses in deposits, remittance, exchange and credit cards. Officials have not given an implementation date. But earlier this week, Monetary Authority Chief Executive Joseph Yam said he hoped that a detailed plan for local banks to run personal yuan businesses in Hong Kong could be mapped out by China’s central bank and the authority early next year. Beijing tightly controls exchange of yuan for foreign currencies, so only one bank — the authority or a commercial bank — would be designated to settle transactions on behalf of all, transferring currency to and from mainland China. Eyeing the potential profits of such business, BOC Hong Kong (holdings) Ltd has expressed interest in being the settlement bank. Newspapers have named HSBC holdings PLC and standard chartered PLC as other candidates. Hong Kong hopes the plan to allow local banks to do yuan businesses will boost the profits of its banks. Analysts estimate that up to US 10 billion worth of yuan is circulating in Hong Kong. Ryback also said he thought local banks should be allowed to receive yuan deposits before moving on to other yuan businesses. (AGENCIES) |
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J&K bank Chief Khan demand
settings up JAMMU, Nov 8: Jammu and Kashmir Bank Chairman M Y Khan has requested the State Government to expedite the establishment of debt recovery tribunal to enable banks speed up efforts for recovery of outstanding debts from the defaulting borowers. Addressing a gathering of bankers here last evening, Mr Khan said the need to establish the tribunal had become imperative with the enactment of the "Reconstruction of Debts and Securitisation Act 2002." "Though the act has been made applicable to the whole of India, in our state the banks are handicapped to initiate action under the act in absence of the debt recovery tribunal," he lamented. Expressing concern over low recoveries of bank dues, Mr Khan said increased recovery is the only viability for funding fresh loans. He said that Government functionaries must embark on practical measures for recovering overdues expeditiously. While the Government has already appointed director employment as an authority under land revenue act for determining dues under PMRY and JKSES as arrears of land revenue, yet no such officer has been designated for loans allowed under other sponsored schemes, he maintained. The J&K bank Chairman suggested establishment of the tribunal for giving a further fillip to the recovery of long overdue advances. He said with the enactment of Reconstruction of Debts and Securitisation Act, the need for establishing a tribunal had become imperative as the state is handicapped to initiate action under the act in absence of a recovery tribunal. (UNI) |
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J-K bank set to start internet, mobile banking JAMMU, Nov 8: Jammu and Kashmir Bank Chairman M Y Khan has said the bank is all set to start 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 said the bank is also starting internet banking facility soon and is not far behind from 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 said that with the opening of six more ATMs in Jammu the total number of ATMs in Jammu has gone up to 14. 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, he added. 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. (UNI) |
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Air India board approves fleet acquisition plan NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Air India (AI) today announced its biggest one-time acquisition plan and said it will purchase 10 long-range and 18 short-range aircraft at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore to bolster the fleet size. The mixed fleet will aid its operations to Europe, the United States and many new destinations. The country’s flagship carrier has suffered heavy losses in recent years and had to cut down on many destinations due to lack of planes. The 10 long-range planes recommended by AI board are Airbus 340 while Boeing 737-800 have been chosen for 18 short-range ones. All aircraft will be fitted with engines from CFM, a consortium of companies. The meeting of AI’s full board considered the report of in-house techno-economic negotiating committee which was headed by Director for Operations Capt M K Hathi and cleared the country’s largest-ever fleet expansion exercise in history. (UNI) Gold, silver prices in limelight on firm global advice MUMBAI, Nov 8: After yesterday’s bearish trend in bullion trading, gold and silver prices today recovered smartly on fresh demand by stockists in view of firm advice from global markets, traders at the Bombay Bullion Association (BBA) said here. Standard mint gold 99.5 purity grade and gold 99.9 purity variety prices rose by Rs 20 each during the weekly half trading session from their previous day’s finish. Both the prices today closed high at Rs 5,725 for standard mint gold and Rs 5,765 for 99.9 purity grade per 10 Gms. Traders said that there was improved demand at yesterday’s low levels mainly from jewellers. There was some speculative buying support by big operators in view of firm global advice. Sellers, however, reserved their stocks because of encouraging advice from domestic markets like Delhi, Kolkatka, Ahmedabad and others. Indian rupee was strong against US dollar at 45.25/26 per unit which also partially helped to boost the domestic prices up, traders pointed out. Traders received reports from markets abroad that in London and New York bullion markets, gold was quoted high at around USd 380.55/381.15 per troy ounce from its previous day’s levels, traders added. Similarly, silver .999 fineness grade, also shot up by Rs 90 in a single day to finish at Rs 8,200 per Kg in line with yellow metal prices, traders said. At London, silver was quoted positive at around USd 4.98/4.99 per troy ounce from its last finish, which helped the upward trend in domestic prices, traders added. Following were the closing rates of gold and silver at the bullion market here today: silver (per Kg) .999 fineness grade : Rs 8,200 (8,110), gold (per 10 Gm) 99.5 purity standard mint: Rs 5,725 (5,705), gold (per 10 Gm) 99.9 purity variety : Rs 5,765 (5,745). (UNI) |
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