Daily Excelsior...Business

Radiation protection
equipment for electronic
gadgets launched

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 10: Ruchi Sales Corporation in a function held here today launched its Green 8, electro-magnetic radiation protection products for Mobile Phones, computers, TVs and other electronic gadgets.....more

Foreign buyers to
throng Indian handicrafts
and gifts fair

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Major buyers from Germany, France and other European Union countries are expected to visit the four-day Indian handicrafts and gifts fair, beginning here from Monday. . ......more

Industry growth down
in Aug, improves
during Apr-Aug

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: An all round poor performance in the key sectors dragged down the industrial growth to 5.2 per cent in August this year as.....more

Inflation rises to 5.3 pc

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: A sharp near eight per cent rise in vegetable prices, coupled with costlier manufactured items and edible oils pushed up inflation for the fifth consecutive.....more

Wazir inaugurates Mobile
Phones Sales Centre

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 10: International Communications Mobile Sales and Service Centre was inaugurated at 47 C/C Green Belt in Gandhinagar today......more

Views of JPC on DTAC
was for Parliament,
not for Court: SC

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Noting the enormous fiscal benefits of Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) between India and Mauritius, the Supreme ......more

SEBI gives CSE directors
7 days time for detailed
submission

KOLKATA, Oct 10: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given the elected members of the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) seven more days for submission of more details in addition to the response ....more

Ambani reiterates:
Rim not violating
licensing terms

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Reiterating that Reliance Infocomm is not violating any licensing conditions as alleged by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani.....more

Toy manufacturers to participate in Spota India ....

Indian, Thai private sectors to work together in food .....

Asia bankers feel pain of competition as fees squeezed .....

Nikkei up 2%, exporters and property firms bought .....

Radiation protection equipment for electronic
gadgets launched

Excelsior Correspondent

Principal Govt Medical College Jammu, Dr H L Goswami was the chief guest on the occasion while former Minister and NC MLA Ajay Sadhotra was the guest of honour. They launched the new products of the Company in presence of several medicos, electronic goods traders and other special invitees.

Executive Director of the Green 8 India, Mr Vikas Sardana in his welcome address introduced about various ranges of the products and also gave on the spot demonstration through projector about the effect of electromagnetic radiations emitted from the electronic gadgets on the human body and its various organs.

He explained that high frequency electro-magnetic radiation has become a high risk for human lives. The people in general are ignorant about the harmful effects of the radiations on the human organs, animals, vegetation and the entire biological system. There has been a dramatic increase of radiation worldwide caused by the ever increasing data transfer for commercial purpose, the internet and by new applications of technology.

Its harmful effect can not been seen, heard or smelt by a common man however, exposure to radiation can create dissonant stress situation like headache, eye strain, redness/ heating up of ears, face pain, trigeminus etc. Long term exposure tends to weaken the immune system which results in pathalogic lack of energy, disturbed sleep rhythm, reduce cell generation, allergies and serious body disorders.

Bauer Biotec of Germany, for the first time has produced total radiation protection solution which is easy to use very effective and act against all radiations induced pain and neutralises effect. The products are also available for the doctors and other professionals working in the High-tech labs where radiations are generally emitted. Those possessing cell phones also need to protect their body from the impact of radiations.

Mr Raman Malhotra from Ruchi Sales Corps proposed vote of thanks.

Foreign buyers to throng Indian handicrafts and gifts fair

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Major buyers from Germany, France and other European Union countries are expected to visit the four-day Indian handicrafts and gifts fair, beginning here from Monday.

As part of its endeavor to boost export of handicraft products from India, Indo-German Export Promotion Project (IGEP) has invited the buyers from Germany and France for the fair.

IGEP is also setting up a lounge for buyers during the mega fair, organised by the export promotion council for handicrafts with the support of Commissioner of handicrafts under the AEGIS of ministry of textiles, to provide them homely comfort.

More than 1,000 handicraft exporters from all parts of the country will be displaying their products during the fair, rated as the biggest in Asia.

IGEP Director D Kebschull pointed out that Indian handicraft industry employs over eight million people, the highest in the world, but total export in the global handicraft market is merely one per cent while Germany accounts for about 11 per cent of the total handicraft exports from India.

Germany, with a total population of over 82 million, is the largest market for giftware and handcraft items in Europe. India is one of major exporters of handicraft products to Germany, which has a total market of about euro 16 billion, he added.

Dr Kebschull said the handicraft sector is economically important from the point of low capital investment, high ratio of value addition and high potential for export and foreign exchange earnings for India.

The demand for Indian handicraft products in Europe is on the constant increase including candles, Christmas decorations, gift boxes, gift wraps, ribbons, eco-friendly products and nostalgic calendars.

Indian handicraft exports recorded a significant growth of 23.5 per cent in rupee terms and 31.6 per cent in dollar terms during the first six months of the current financial year. (UNI)

Inflation rises to 5.3 pc

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: A sharp near eight per cent rise in vegetable prices, coupled with costlier manufactured items and edible oils pushed up inflation for the fifth consecutive week to tick over five per cent for the week ended September 27.

The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose by 0.31 per cent to 5.03 per cent from 4.72 per cent in the previous week with indices of primary and manufactured products going up and the general price level was contained at 3.28 per cent in the year-ago period.

The WPI rose marginally by 0.2 per cent to 175.5 points in latest reported week as compared to 167.1 points in the previous year period, even as fuel prices remained subdued.

The final WPI and inflation stood unchanged at their respective provisional levels of 173.4 points and 3.96 per cent for the week ended August 2.

The index for primary articles’ group rose substantially by 0.7 per cent to 182.3 points with food and non-food items becoming costlier and the index was 175.1 points in the year-ago period.

Food articles’ group index was up 0.6 per cent to 184.3 points due to higher prices for vegetables (eight per cent), barley (three per cent), masur (two per cent) and gram, eggs, bajra, moong, wheat and maize (one per cent each).

Prices, however, dipped for poultry chicken (eight per cent), jowar (two per cent) and ragi (one per cent).

The index for non-food articles’ group shot up by 0.8 per cent to 182.1 points owing to costlier gingelly seed (10 per cent), soyabean (nine per cent), fodder (five per cent), kardi seed (three per cent), copra (two per cent) and groundut seed, rape and mustard seed and raw cotton (one per cent each).

But prices declined for sunflower (eight per cent) and cotton seed (one per cent).

Fuel, power, light and lubricants’ group index stood firm for the third consecutive week at 252.9 points although OPEC oil cartel had during the week in review shocked oil markets by signalling a cut in production, sending prices surging as iraq returned to the table for the first time since the US-led war to topple Saddam Hussein. The index was 239.2 points in the year-ago period.

The index of heavy weighted manufactured products’ group was up by 0.1 per cent to 155.9 points due to costlier food products, textiles, chemicals, non-metallic mineral products and basic metals and alloys. The index was 148.3 points in the previous year period. (PTI)

Views of JPC on DTAC was for Parliament, not for Court: SC

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Noting the enormous fiscal benefits of Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) between India and Mauritius, the Supreme Court has said the recommendations of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for incorporating built-in safeguards in the treaty to check tax evasion was for Parliament to take note of.

Upholding validity of DTAC, a bench comprising Justice R C Lahoti and Justice B N Srikrishna said in a recent judgement that "in our view recommendations of the working group of the JPC are intended for Parliament to take appropriate action."

Under the DTAC, any foreign company after obtaining a residency certificate from Mauritius could do business in India without being liable to pay tax on capital gains.

Petitioner Azadi Bachao Andolan had alleged that under DTAC, many foreign firms registered themselves in Mauritius to earn huge profits in India through their investments as they enjoyed complete exemption from tax liability.

While considering the causes which led to the stock market scam, the JPC had occasion to consider the working of the Indo-Mauritius DTAC. It noticed that area-wise Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow from Mauritius increased from Rs 37.5 million in 1993 to Rs 61672.8 million in 2001.

Taking note of the facts and the reluctance of the Government of Mauritius in the matter to renegotiate the terms of treaty, the JPC had recommended that though the exact amount of revenue loss could not be quantified "it could be assumed to be substantial."

The JPC working group recommended that "companies investing in India through Mauritius, should be required to file details of ownership with Reserve Bank of India and declare that all the directors and effective management is in Mauritius."

"The committee suggests that all the contentius issues should be resolved by the Government with the Government of Mauritius urgently through dialogue," the JPC report said.

Taking note of the recommendations contained in the JPC report, the Apex Court said "the JPC might have noticed certain consequences, intended or unintended, flowing from DTAC and has made appropriate recommendations.

"Based on them, it is not possible for us to say that the DTAC or the impugned circular are contrary to law, nor would it be possible to interfere with either of them on the basis of the report of the JPC," Justice Srikrishna , writing for the bench, said.

An important principle which needed to be kept in mind in the interpretation of the provisions of an international treaty, including one for double taxation relief, was that treaties were negotiated and entered into at a political level and have several considerations as their basis, he said.

Many developed countries tolerate and encourage treaty shopping, even if it was unintended, improper or unjustified, for other non-tax reasons, unless it lead to a significant loss of tax revenue, the Apex Court said.

Moreover, several of them allow the use of their treaty network to attract foreign enterprise and offshore activities, it said. (PTI)

Ambani reiterates: Rim not violating licensing terms

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Reiterating that Reliance Infocomm is not violating any licensing conditions as alleged by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani has exuded confidence that his telecom company will convince "anybody" about its stand on the issue.

TEC had presented a paper before the Group of Ministers on Telecom that RIM is violating licensing conditions.

Mr Ambani told mediapersons after addressing the Annual General Meeting of the Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers Association (CETMA) here last night that RIM is adhering to licensing conditions.

Evading a direct reply on whether RIM will move court if the Government says that the company is violating licensing conditions, he said,"we will convince anybody about our stand."

The telecom industry is embroiled over a tussle between cellular industry and basic industry over the charge that WLL operators, mainly RIM, are violating licensing conditions by offering roaming services.

The cellular industry had gone to an extent of challenging even the legality of WLL services. Though the cellular operators’ petition was rejected by the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal.

However, the judgement asked the authorities to confine WLL services to Short Distance Calling Area (SDCA). The Tribunal also asked the authorities to assess the possibility of imposing entry fee on basic operators for offering WLL services.

When asked whether RIM would pay additional entry fee if imposed by the Government, Mr Ambani said the company would follow whatever is decided by the authorities.

As per the license conditions, calls of WLL (M) should drop once subscriber crosses SDCA. However, cellular operators charge RIM with violating the condition. RIM offers multiple registration facility to its subscriber whereby customer is given a new number once he crosses SDCA and his calls to the old number are re-routed to the new number.

RIM maintains that the facility does not violate licensing conditions as the call of the subscriber drops when he crosses SDCA.

Last month, TDSAT had permitted WLL (M) providers to use multi switiching centres, which allowed them to forward the calls. The Tribunal had, however, also asked the Government to set up a task force to ensure that every operator adheres to the licensing conditions.(UNI)

Toy manufacturers to participate in Spota India

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: More than 50 leading toy manufacturers across the country will showcase their products to foreign buyers, retail chains and departmental stores at Spota India during the four-day Indian handicrafts and gifts fair, beginning here from October 13.

India’s largest exposition of toys, sports, leisure and outdoor products at Spota India will present finest domestic products under one roof organised by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) and supported by the Toy Association of India (TAI), an all-India body of over 700 members of manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers and retailers of toys and games.

TAI president V S Agrawal said the purpose of the fair is to bring together on one platform the manufacturers, exporters and foreign buyers.

Besides, it will give international buyers an opportunity to source a wide ranging collection of products that combine traditional workmanship with state-of-the-art technology, he added.

The exposition, supported by Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council, will witness various different categories of toys and games. (UNI)

Indian, Thai private sectors to work together in food

BANGKOK, Oct 10: India and Thailand’s private sectors have decided to work together in areas of food, information and communications technology to reap the benefits of the historic free trade agreement signed between the two Asian countries here. The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding here yesterday to conduct a joint study on developing a framework under the FTA with plans to release it within three months.

Under liberalised trade, the two trade bodies see the potential of two-way trade between "India and Thailand to jump to five billion US dollars within five years from the current 1.2 billion dollars. They also expect a dramatic upturn in investment flows between the two nations."

ficci chief a c muthiah said the agreement called for closer cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries by working together. The food sector will be among the first priorities for cooperation. (more) pti jb Analysts said India is looking to tap Thailand’s strong food processing and fishery technologies, while Thailand stands to benefit from India’s advanced pharmaceutical industries and abundant national resources.

‘The Bangkok Post’ newspaper said India is the second largest fruit and vegetable producer in the world after China but only two per cent of its crop output was processed compared with upto 60 per cent in Thailand where food preservation technology ismore advanced. In the fishery sector, the 7,500 Km Indian coastline offered tremendous fish resources for Thailand’s strong fishery technology, they said.

Muthiah said Thailand’s biodiversity was of interest to Indian biotechnology firms. India’s strength in softwaree could realise synergies with Thailand’s hardware producers in terms of electoronic facilities operating here.

Muthiah is part of the business delegation accompaying Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who is in Thailand on a three-day official visit. (PTI)

Asia bankers feel pain of competition as fees squeezed

HONG KONG, Oct 10: Victor Kung does not want for company these days: like most Taiwan executives, he’s very popular with bankers.

The Chief Financial Officer of Fubon financial holding co 2881.TW , Taiwan’s number-four financial group, was spoilt for choice when he met with "five or six" investment banks before his company sold 245 million of convertible bonds last month.

Fubon eventually picked citigroup inc CN and UBS AG Ubszn.VX .

"Taiwan is becoming such a hot issuance market, everyone is trying to come into Taiwan," said Kung. "It is a very crowded market."

That makes life tough for the likes of goldman sachs group INC GS.N , Deutsche Bank AG DBKGN.DE , Citigroup and other banks that are fighting to win mandates in Asia, where profits are hard to come by. Bankers say issuers are squeezing fees for stock and bond underwriting.

"Fees have come down both in sovereigns and corporates," said Darcy Lai, head of Asia investment banking for Barclays capital, referring to Government and corporate debt issues.

Outside of Japan, Asia bond offering volume is up 13 percent this year at 71.2 billion, while more lucrative stock issuance is down five percent at 25.4 billion, according to market research firm dealogic.

Fees from stock deals are down 10 percent at 576 million so far this year, while debt-related fees are up more than 50 percent to 327 million.

That is due to a surge in certain activity, such as more Hong Kong companies issuing bonds in global currencies — a more lucrative business — and more high-yield issuance in Indonesia and India.

Fees in Asia have historically lagged those in the US and Europe. A US IPO typically carries a fee of seven percent, while bankers typically charge a 2.5 percent fee — or 250 basis points — for a Hong Kong IPO. Asian corporate investment grade sales range from 65 to 100 basis points.

But these days, those figures are a pipe dream on some deals.

"You are talking 10 to 15 to 20 basis points on sovereign and Quasi-sovereign deals," Lai said.

Taiwan technology companies issuing convertible debt have pressed bankers particularly hard.

"The fee has been very competitive for the past two or three months, and we’ve noticed that trend is continuing," said a banker for a top US firm, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Taiwan stock sales jumped 32 percent to 11.4 billion in the first nine months of 2003, Dealogic said, but fees only rose 25 percent to 255 million. The country has accounted for more than half of total Asian equity issuance outside of Japan.

You get what you pay for, bankers said. Companies can miss out on good market opportunities by spending too long negotiating on fees, or push for unrealistic deal terms that investors shun.

"They force so much, a deal can go wrong," the banker said. "If they push any further, a deal will not be well received by the market."

Several bankers cited Cathay Financial Holding Co Ltd’s 2882.TW 700 million convertible bond offering last year as a prime example.

Cathay, Taiwan’s largest financial holding company, was viewed as being too aggressive in demanding terms and the convertible fared poorly in the initial aftermarket.

In smaller markets such as Thailand, foreign banks are finding few deals large enough to justify their high cost bases.

"From a big broker’s perspective, the deals worthy of foreign institutional attention are already in the pipeline or already out," said a market source at a foreign bank in thailand.

Bankers, who see some of the fees they bring in back into their annual bonuses, are hopeful fees will rise again.

"At some stage the fees will have to adjust to the service level or the other way around," said Lai of Barclays capital.

Equity deals are picking up as stock markets improve. Hong Kong’s hang seng index .HSI and Taiwan’s Benchmark Taiex .TWII , for example, are up more than 40 percent since the end of April.

"Because the markets coming back ... A lot of issuers want to do deals, so the banks will be more selective," said the banker at a US firm. (AGENCIES)

Nikkei up 2%, exporters and property firms bought

TOKYO, Oct 10: Japan’s Nikkei average rose two percent in Friday morning trade after two days of losses, with a wall street rise and solid US job news spurring buying of advantest corp and other recently sluggish tech shares.

Mitsui Fudosan Co and other real estate stocks were also snapped up on news of a dip in Tokyo office vacancy rates, but analysts warned the bounce-back in exporters could be shortlived with the dollar likely to dip below the 109 yen level again.

At 0127 GMT, the Nikkei average was up 2.06 percent at 10,748.39 after dipping 0.10 percent on Thursday. The topix index was up 1.29 percent at 1,071.41. (AGENCIES)