|
|
Jaideep Tiles Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 26: A dealers meeting was held to launch prestigious Jaideep Tiles in the City of Temples. Large numbers.........more FDI
flows in India may NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Despite India emerging as a favourite destination for foreign direct investment, inflows into the .....more Rs 14-cr ropeway system in Sikkim to attract tourists KOLKATA, Nov 26: The Sikkim Government has engaged the Damodar Ropeways and.....more Emerson to scale up operations in India NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Emerson Network Power (India) Private Ltd (ENPI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of emerson electric ......more |
|
Asia crude-IOC seeks Feb-Apr’04 crude in tender SINGAPORE, Nov 26: India’s largest refiner, state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC), has issued a tender to buy low-sulphur crude....more Moody’s
says may MANILA, Nov 26: Moody’s investors service said on Wednesday it may cut its debt ratings for the Philippines on concerns that rising political risk ahead .....more BSNL not blocking calls from Reliance infocomm NEW DELHI, Nov 26: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is not blocking incoming calls from Reliance infocomm network in any circle as ......more National
airlines owe KOLKATA, Nov 26: The national airlines together owe around Rs 20 crore to the city’s...more |
Jaideep Tiles launched in Jammu Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 26: A dealers meeting was held to launch prestigious Jaideep Tiles in the City of Temples. Large numbers of dealers attended the function in which they were informed and educated about Jaideep wall tiles. Jaideep wall tiles are product of Jaideep Tiles Private Limited Morvi Gujarat a concern of well known Patel Group of Industries. Dinesh Patel is managing director of the company while Vinod Gupta is general manager marketing. Addressing the function, Mr Vinod said that it was a historical event that prestigious tiles have been launched in the Jammu. He claimed that export quality tiles, produced with German technology, have been launched in Jammu. With the launching of Jaideep Tiles, Mr Gupta said, Jammuities now get quality tiles in their own city. Highlighting achievements of M/s Jaideep Tiles Private Limited, Mr Gupta said that Jaideep Tiles have so far captured 40 percent of the market of tiles in the country. He said that this company has network all over the country and the tiles are available in almost all cities. Mr Gupta further said that tiles will be available in different ranges and in different colours. M/s Sharad Builders Channi Himmat has been appointed as authorisied dealer for the tiles. Speaking on the occasion, Krishan Dutt of Sharad Builders said that tiles are now available in Jammu. He said further said that Jaideep Tiles known for its quality and ranges will easily available in Jammu. Large number of dealers attended the meeting and showed great interest in the tiles. |
 |
FDI flows in India may drop this fiscal: A T Kearney NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Despite India emerging as a favourite destination for foreign direct investment, inflows into the country may see a dip this fiscal as compared to last year, according to global consultancy firm A T Kearney. A T Kearney INC Managing Director (US) Paul a Laudicina told UNI that many factors, including domestic, would be responsible for the decline from last year’s 3.4 billion dollars. "Globally too FDI flows are expected to be flat at last fiscal’s 651 billion dollars level mainly because of excessive caution on the part of investors. "After the September 11 attacks on the US, nearly one third of global investors view security concerns and terrorism among the most critical risks to their firms as well as operations," Mr Laudicina said. To drive his point, he pointed out to the inflows this year. "In the first quarter of this fiscal, only 350 million dollars came in as FDI against 1.65 billion dollars in the same period last year. "Though FDI picked up in July and touched 180 million dollars as compared to 150 million in July ‘02, but overall I think the bad start is going to weigh heavily on the total inflows in FY 04," he said. In its FDI confidence index for 2003, A T Kearney had raised India’s position by nine points to number six. "However, this elevation does not mean that inflows would be increasing immediately as the corporates we surveyed said they would making these investments over the next three years. "The slowdown we are witnessing now are also because of decisions on investment taken about two years back when India was low down the priority list of foreign investors," Mr Laudicina said. On the domestic front, he listed difficult bureaucracy and slowdown of reforms among the top two problems impeding FDI growth. "Also, poor infrastructure was one of the reasons listed by corporates for shying away from making investments in India," he said. (UNI) |
|
Rs 14-cr ropeway system in Sikkim to attract tourists KOLKATA, Nov 26: The Sikkim Government has engaged the Damodar Ropeways and Construction Co Ltd (DRCC) for starting a ropeway service in Gangtok to boost tourist inflow. Constructed at a cost of Rs 14 crore, the ropeway between Deorali bazar to the secretariat building via the assembly house would be functional soon. Built in association with Swiss company Doppelmayr and to be operated by DRCC, the ropeway would act as a tourist attraction and provide the city with an environment-friendly mode of transportation apart from decongesting roads, DRCC managing director C L Chamaria said here yesterday. The ropeway, constructed within 24 months of Commissioning, comes in the wake of the ropeway accident at Darjeeling in which four people died and 13 were injured. "The ropeway will have a fully computerised safety mechanism of international standards which will take care of the possible snags like mechanical and electrical failure and high velocity wind among others," he said. It will have two cabins with a capacity to accomodate 24 passengers each and would cover a distance of around one Km at a level difference of about 200 meters in six minutes time. "The ropeway is designed to carry 250 passengers per hour," he said. Mr Chamaria said the ropeway terminal buildings having five floors each would also be developed as tourist hubs with videogames among other entertainment products to attract tourists. The Rs 10-crore DRCC, specialising in ropeway construction, has already constructed passenger ropeway systems at Delhi, Naina Devi at Himachal Pradesh and in Auli (Joshimath) in Uttaranchal. (UNI) |
|
Emerson to scale up operations in India NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Emerson Network Power (India) Private Ltd (ENPI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of emerson electric USA, will expand operations in India through an initial budget of over Rs 30 lakhs. The Indian subsidiary set up in September 1993, has seen an annual growth rate of more than 30 per cent over the last seven years and is an established market leader in the power protection solutions and precision air condition segment. It manufactures and markets Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems climate and environmental systems (PAC) DC power systems Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS) and power distribution. Sri Lanka, which accounts for 30 per cent of total ENPI exports, will also be part of the company’s expansion plans. Currently exporting its climate and environmental systems-Precision Environmental Conditioning (PEC) products, ENP will now ramp up its portfolio to include Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems DC power systems Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS) and power distribution units to meet the network uptime solutions market opportunity. "Among the more mature and promising markets in the region with private industry participation in it, ENPI solutions plans to collaborate with the industry and support them," Shrikant Bapat, country champion - uptime solutions, emerson network power (India) said. Mr Laxman Aglawe, corporate champion-international business, emerson network power added, "players across industries are expanding their networks and teledensity is on the rise. ENPI is confident that network uptime solutions will revolutionize the way these companies plan their networks and business continuity." (UNI) |
|
Asia crude-IOC seeks Feb-Apr’04 crude in tender SINGAPORE, Nov 26: India’s largest refiner, state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC), has issued a tender to buy low-sulphur crude for February, March and April, 2004, traders said on Wednesday. The logistics portion of the tender closes at 8.00 AM local time (0230 GMT) on December 3, while the price portion closes at 9.00 AM local time (0330 GMT) on December 4, traders said. Validity is until 9.00 PM local time (1530 GMT) on December 5, they said. In a term tender for January to March, trading house Arcadia was awarded a contract to supply a very large crude carrier of Nigerian Forcados FOE-E each month. IOC issued a tender seeking one-year supplies between April 2004 and March 2005, but traders said IOC has not made any awards since the tender closed on Friday. (AGENCIES) |
|
Moody’s says may downgrade Philippine ratings MANILA, Nov 26: Moody’s investors service said on Wednesday it may cut its debt ratings for the Philippines on concerns that rising political risk ahead of elections next year will worsen the already fragile economy. In a statement, Moody’s said it had placed on review for possible downgrade the Philippines’ long-term foreign and local currency ceilings and ratings. This is largely a technical move following a cut in the country’s outlook in late September. "In view of the tensions that have accompanied political cycles in the past, the nation’s fiscal policy could be handcuffed and capital outflows become more volatile as may’s Presidential election approaches," the ratings agency said. "We have been saying for some time that there has been a 60 percent probability of a one notch downgrade before the middle of next year," said Tim Condon, Chief Economist for Asia at ING financial markets. "The market has priced in a downgrade by Moody’s and I think there would not be a great deal of market impact." Moody’s cut its outlook on the country’s huge foreign borrowings on September 30, sending the peso lower and widening spreads on sovereign bonds. Philippine markets were closed on Wednesday for a public holiday. (AGENCIES) |
|
BSNL not blocking calls from Reliance infocomm NEW DELHI, Nov 26: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is not blocking incoming calls from Reliance infocomm network in any circle as reported by a section of the media, officials of both the companies said today. BSNL CMD Prithipal Singh said, "we are not blocking any calls from Reliance networks." Reliance infocomm spokesman Amit Khanna told UNI from Mumbai that: "We have not received any report of BSNL blocking our calls." Putting at rest the speculation regarding blocking of calls in some circles, Mr Khanna also denied that Reliance infocomm had approached the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the issue. A section of the media today reported that BSNL had decided to block incoming calls from Reliance unless TRAI changes the existing BSNL-Reliance interconnection norms in line with the new unified access licence regime. Reports also said BSNL circles in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (east) and Bihar had already blocked incoming calls from Reliance networks, prompting reliance infocomm to seek TRAI intervention. (UNI) |
|
National airlines owe Rs 20 cr to NSCBI airport KOLKATA, Nov 26: The national airlines together owe around Rs 20 crore to the city’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose international airport. Of the total Rs 25.13 crore debt to the airport, the national airlines owed Rs 19.69 crore till the end of September 2003, according to figures available with the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Indian Airlines owed over Rs 14.93 crore followed by Alliance Air with Rs 3.99 crore. Air India and Vayudoot were also among the debtors. The debts are mostly for landing and parking charges and the airport sufferred a loss of about Rs five crore in the last fiscal. Airlines which have closed their operations at the airport, such as the union of Burma airways and Iraqi airways, also owe several lakhs of rupees as some foreign consulates and High Commissions. Thirteen scheduled foreign airlines also figure among the debtors. Airlines with court cases or which have gone for arbitration owed Rs 74.72 lakhs. Bengal Air, a joint venture with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation that never took off, owed the airport authorities Rs 32.16 lakhs. Bengal Air’s lone aircraft is still parked on the isolated bay since its arrival. Several State and Central Government organisations, like customs, immigration and CPWD, as well as some Public Sector Undertakings owed substantial ammounts to the airport for using various facilities. A senior aai official here admitted that IA and AI were among the debtors and added that airlines often had to stagger their payments because of working capital problems. With an increase in the number of flights, both domestic and international, from Kolkata recently, the loss of the NSCBI airport is likely to go down substantially in the future, the official hoped. (UNI) |
|
German supply metro cash carry forprays into India NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Supply chain management major Metro Cash Carry (MCC), a part of the 51.5 billion dollar metro group headquartered in Germany, has forayed into India with opening of its two distribution centres in Bangalore involving an investment of Rs 176 crore. The company will also use India as an export hub for supply to neighbouring countries and to its Centres worldwide. Metro is present in 26 countries globally including India, China, Japan and Vietnam in the Asian region. Metro got FIPB approval in December 2000 to set up its wholly-owned subsidiary metro cash carry India Pvt Ltd. Giving nod to MCC, FIPB had asked metro to ensure that sales are made to retailers with a sales tax number and not to consumers. This was in line with the Government’s policy of currently not allowing FDI in retail trading. MCC has a international model of business-to-business sales which allows only registered business customers to purcahse at metro. During the enrolment process, an agreement is signed between MCC and the customer organisation under which all purchases will be for business purposes, said Mr Harsh Bahadur, managing director, metro cash carry India Pvt Ltd while briefing mediapersons here last night. Metro buys food and non-food products directly from manufacturers and sells them to businesses and not to consumers. The clients include wholesalers, retailers, hotels, restaurants and enterpreneurs. Mr Bahadur said, provisions of the agricultural produce marketing act do not allow metro to sell notified agricultural commodities from its distribution centres. The infrastructure and systems employed by MCC and the direct contact between producers and business customers, reduces costs and ensures the best possible prices, he said. The small retailers will particularly benefit from this supply chain model in India, Mr Bahadur added. (UNI) |
|
Crisis in tea garden continues in dooars JAIPAIGURI, Nov 26: The crisis in tea gardens in dooars continued as ingdong tea estate planned to sack about 400 plantation workers next month to arrest loss, union sources said. The Kolkate-based tea estate with about 1100 labourers told its affiliated union leaders — INTUC and CITU — that about 400 workers would be retrenched and wages would be paid for three days against six days’ work to the remaining workers for the next five months with effect from December, said INTUC leader Turikul Munda. The tea estate has two affiliated unions, INTUC managed national union of plantation workers and CITU’s tea gardens Mazdoor Union. Mr Munda claimed that the company wanted feedback from the union leaders on the retrenchment and curtailment of wages by December 6 or else the estate would be closed. Mr Munda, however, said the union would not bow down under the pressure of tea estate management. Meanwhile, an FIR was lodged against the managing director of Buxadooar Tea Company Ltd for non-payment of dues to the tune of several crores of rupees. Enforcement officer of employees’ provident fund organisation lodged the FIR with Kalchini Police Station on November 20. The company owned three tea gardens — Dima, Raimatang and Kalchini. Elsewhere, INTUC-affiliated national union of plantation workers had called on Union Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi recently and sought his intervention for reopening of closed tea estates. NUPW state general secretary Prabhat Mukherjee said Mr Jaitley had assured them that the matter would be discussed after assembly elections in four states. The delegation to Mr Jaitley was headed by Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee. Jalpaiguri Divisional Commissioner Balbir Ram has invited tea garden unions and all associated with the gardens to meet at Siliguri on November 30 when West Bengal Commerce Industries Principal Secretary Sabyasachi Sen arrived to take stocks of tea crisis in the region. Mr Sen’s visit was prompted by Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya’s assurance to look into the issues for which the gardens and its labourers were facing problems. (UNI) |
|
Air Siliguri robbed of equipment worth Rs 80 lakh SILIGURI, Nov 26: Transmission equipment worth Rs 80 lakh approxmimately was burgled from the All India Radio Centre at Siliguri last night, disrupting transmission since this morning, official sources said today. The Siliguri station of air is situated near Salugora on the national highway under Bhaktinagar Police Station in Jalpaiguri district. An FIR was lodged with the Bhaktinagar Police Station this morning and officials including additional Superintendent of Police Jalpaiguri, Dilip Banerjee was investigatting details of the theft. The burglary came to light when the officials of the air switched on the morning transmission and found that the system was not working. However, a temporary transmission was resumed at 1200 hours with an FM channel, which has a range between 50 to 60 Kw, air sources said. (UNI) Bangalore based software company acquires Italian company NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Bangalore-based Xalted Information Systems Ltd, a broadband company funded by three venture capitalists of Silicon Valley, has acquired 52 per cent stake in Italian telecom integration and software company, Systeam. A reference to this will be made by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi tomorrow when he arrives at India for a three-day visit, a key Xalted official told UNI here today. The acquisition will be leveraged by the Bangalore-based company to enter into European market where Systeam has important clients like Telecom Italia, Vodafone, Orange, Hutch and BT Wireless, Xalted chairman Pratap S Kondamoori said. Besides, it would also be used to deploy Systeam’s Fraud Management Software in India to detect loopholes in interconnect arrangement between telecom operators as well as trace calls of any anti-national and anti-social elements, Mr Kondamoori disclosed. Xalted, funded by the 400 million-dollar charter ventures, alliance ventures having a fund of 250 million dollars and the 300 million-dollar empire capital, is also close to acquiring two Nasdaq-listed US firms. Refusing to disclose the names of the two companies, the Xalted chairman said one of them is engaged in wireless infrastructure for both GSM and CDMA networks and the other is into optical networking solutions. Like Systeam, these acquisitions will also be used for deploying these companies’ back-end operations for the front-end operations of Xalted. Xalted, which offers its hardware and software solutions to US-based Cox Communications and other leading telecom companies in the United States and Europe but does not have any client in India right now, has set a target to be a 400-500 million-dollar company by the next five years. The company is expected to earn Rs 70 crore of turnover in its first year of operation during 2003 which is targeted to rise to Rs 280 crore next year. The company may tap Indian capital market or Nasdaq in 2005 to fund its expansion, Mr Kondamoori said. However, the current system of 20 per cent of double capital gains tax in India and US may come in the way of offering an IPO in the Indian market, he said. The company is talking to Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Televentures to sell its broadband solutions and has bid for BSNL and MTNL tenders. The company has four products at present—a multi service access platform 7x, 3x which is voice DLC, 5X, an optical CWDM, XMS, a software for next generation management. The company would also launch upgraded version of 7X, that is 7X BLX TM in January next year to offer video, data and voice delivery. (UNI) |
|
|
