Daily Excelsior...Business

Maran justifies need to
hike FDI cap in telecom

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran today justified in the Lok Sabha the need to.......more

Price cuts push PC
sales to 1.71 m in H1

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Led by substantial price cuts and the resultant bouyancy in demand, desktop PC sales grew a record 37 per cent ......more

PSUs become darling
of Govt in 2004

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: The coming to power of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at the Centre has brought about a major turnaround in the Government’s . ....more

HLL’s project Shakti
to roll out by 2006

MUMBAI, Dec 22: FMCG major Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) will roll out its ambitious rural marketing project, "Project Shakti", at all India level by .......more

Modern wool design
Centre set up at
Rambagh silk factory

SRINAGAR, Dec 22: To boost and revive Kashmir’s handloom and silk industry, the Jammu and Kashmir Government.........more

Asiana takes
delivery of
first A-330

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Asiana Airlines of South Korea has taken delivery of the first of six A330-300 aircraft which will....more

Asiana takes delivery
of first A-330

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Asiana Airlines of South Korea has taken delivery of the first of six A330-300 aircraft which will.....more

Shin-Etsu to
invest y100 bln
on wafer capacity

TOKYO, Dec 22: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., the world’s top maker of Silicon wafers used to make microchips, said on........more

Dollar keeps gains against sterling ......

Japan Nov trade surplus down 39.2 pc yr ....

Maran justifies need to hike FDI cap in telecom

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran today justified in the Lok Sabha the need to hike the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in the telecom sector from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, saying substantial infusion of capital was necessary to increase low tele-density in the country.

Answering a spate of supplementaries during question hour, Mr Maran said the FDI was necessary to fuel growth of the telecom sector.

He said tele-density in India was a mere eight per cent and much lower than many countries. Funds to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,500 crore were required in the near future, which would necessitate FDI flows.

The minister said this level of the FDI was already allowed in the telecom sector through indirect route. The Government now wants a bar of 74 per cent through direct route.

Mr Maran said there was security clearance for hiking the FDI cap.

A proposal to hike FDI limits in the telecom sector from 49 per cent to 74 per cent was announced in the budget. The Government has been unable to get the proposal cleared in the cabinet due to stiff resistance from Left parties.

To questions as to why the Government was not relying upon domestic resources to meet enhanced capital requirements, Mr Maran said the demand for infusion of the FDI comes from domestic private players.

The minister said no telecom equipment was manufactured in the country. However, some parties have evinced interest in doing so, he said.

Mr Maran said tele-density of rural areas was far lower than urban areas and the private players now plan to increase their penetration in these areas. The Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund was being used for this purpose, he said. (UNI)

Price cuts push PC sales to 1.71 m in H1

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Led by substantial price cuts and the resultant bouyancy in demand, desktop PC sales grew a record 37 per cent year-on-year to 1.71 million units during the first half of the current fiscal, Mait today said.

Announcing the findings of its industry performance review for April-September 2004, the apex body of the hardware training and R D services sectors of the IT industry said PC sales were expected to touch 4 million units this fiscal.

The increasing consumption witnessed in the second half of 2003-04 in the wake of price drops, high corporate consumption and bouyancy in small towns continued during the first half of the current fiscal, resulting in significant market growth, Mait said. (UNI)

PSUs become darling of Govt in 2004

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: The coming to power of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at the Centre has brought about a major turnaround in the Government’s policy on Public Sector Undertakings.

While the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government had favoured disinvestment of Government holding in PSUs, the present Government, heavily dependent on Left parties’ support, has unleashed all its efforts to preserve their foothold in the industry and ensure that their investments are protected.

When Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan announced Rs 1,000 crore additional investments in India without taking its joint venture with the Government, Maruti Udyog Ltd, into confidence the Government acted with a heavy hand.

A strong letter by the Government, which holds slightly more than 18 per cent in Maruti, brought the Suzuki top brass rushing to India. After negotiations, Suzuki agreed that Maruti would hold 70 per cent stake in its new car manufacturing venture and upto 49 per cent stake in the facility to produce diesel engines.

The change in Government’s PSU policy has been dictated to a large extent by the exigencies of staying in power with support of Left parties and a dominant view in Congress itself that the party lost in 1996 elections because of the policies of liberalisation followed by Narasimha Rao Government.

The National Common Minimum Programme, which the Congress signed with its supporting parties, called for a strong and effective public sector whose social objectives are met by its commercial functioning.

In its first exhaustive articulation of the direction in economic matters that the UPA will follow, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced in his budget speech in July the formation of Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) and equity support to Government companies in aviation, railways and telecom.

But before the board could be formed, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises started working on a multi-pronged approach to revive and strengthen loss-making and weak public sector companies.

Due to the ministry’s efforts the Government agreed to give Rs 517 crore support to the 24 sick companies under the heavy industry to clear salaries and other statutory dues of their 45,000 employees till July this year.

Officials in the ministry say with the clearance of dues, employees of some of these companies, which were on the verge of closure, have started reporting for work and many are gradually resuming production.

The Government has also asked some other PSUs to approach the Finance Ministry for floating bonds guaranteed by it to raise money for paying the dues of their employees.

To support these companies, the ministry pushed for and got an extension of purchase preference scheme which expired after the second extension on March 31, 2004, till March 2005. The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises had, however, asked for extension of the scheme by five years. The decision on further extension of the scheme will be taken later. (PTI)

HLL’s project Shakti to roll out by 2006

MUMBAI, Dec 22: FMCG major Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) will roll out its ambitious rural marketing project, "Project Shakti", at all India level by the end of 2006, according to the HLL Vice Chairman, Mr N K Sharma.

Addressing a press meet on the eve of the Consumer Protection Day tomorrow, Mr Sharma said, the project which is being operationalised in 12 major states, helped the company to enhance its distribution reach at the retail segment while controlling sales of duplicate products in the name of hll brands. "The project is doing well in localising our brand names while helping the company in curbing the growth of counterfeit goods", he said.

HLL would be consolidating the position of project Shakti next year and would grow from the current 12,500 agents to 25,000 agents by the year 2006.

In fact, HLL is in the process of engaging non-Government consumer organisations at local distribution levels to check the diplicate goods distribution. NGOs and individuals affected by the counterfeit goods, should be encouraged to file legal suits for claiming adequate compensation against the damages caused by illegal activities, Mr Sharma said.

HLL is losing Rs 1,500 crore worth of sales turnover annually due to counterfeit products. It spends annually Rs 10 crore to track and monitor around 400 counterfeiters engaged in manufacturing duplicate HLL products.

The Food and Drug Administrator (FDA) and police authorities must have greater co-ordination in tracking such manufacturers and prevent the losses incurred to the nation, Mr Sharma added. (UNI)

Modern wool design Centre set up at Rambagh silk factory

SRINAGAR, Dec 22: To boost and revive Kashmir’s handloom and silk industry, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has set up a modern wool and woolen design development centre at a cost of Rs 5 crore in the Rambagh silk factory at Srinagar.

In the first phase, raw material for Rs 75 lakh has been purchased for the Centre, which has since started functioning.

This was disclosed by deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma while reviewing the functioning of the Centre.

He was accompanied by Principal Secretary Industries and Commerce Sasa Raman and, Handloom Development Corporation, Managing Director Zihad Hussain.

On the occasion, deputy Chief Minister said the Government was taking all possible steps to improve the lot of weavers and artisans in the State.

By utilizing the wool procured in the State, the handloom sector could be strengthened further, he added.

About 80 weavers and 95 workers are working on 50 looms in the Centre at present and new machinery is being purchased to increase its production. (UNI)

Railways’ earnings from freight go up

NEW DELHI, Dec 21: The railways earned Rs 19355.47 crore from 384.70 Million Tonnes (MTs) of revenue freight during the first eight months of the current fiscal, ended November, compared to Rs 17770.64 crore from 358.27 MTs of such traffic during the corresponding period of the last year, registering an increase of 8.92 per cent.

Of the total earnings, Rs 8135.02 crores came from transportation of coal, followed by Rs 748.77 crore from raw material to steel plants, Rs 958.13 crore from finished iron and steel from steel plants, Rs 917.18 crore from iron ore for exports, Rs 1582.72 crore from cement, Rs 2107.79 crore from foodgrains and Rs 864.48 crore from fertilizers.

The railways also earned Rs 1783.41 crore by transporting 20.76 MTs of Petroleum Oil and Lubricant (POL) and Rs 2257.97 crores from 45.40 MTs of other goods.

Earnings in Net Tonne Kilo Metres (NTKMs) in millions increased by 7.78 per cent from 245374 million NTKMs to 264475 million NTKMs in the current financial year.

Earnings per million tonnes increased from Rs 49.50 crore to Rs 50.31 crore, registering an increase of 1.44 per cent.

Earnings in paise per net tonnes kilo metre went up from 72.42 paise to 73.18 paise, recording an increase of 1.05 per cent, a Railway Ministry Spokesperson said today. (UNI)

Shin-Etsu to invest y100 bln on wafer capacity

TOKYO, Dec 22: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., the world’s top maker of Silicon wafers used to make microchips, said on Wednesday it would invest about 100 billion yen ( 957.9 million) to boost output of 300mm wafers by 67 percent.

Shin-Etsu said the investment would lift its production capacity of the cutting-edge wafers, which yield more than twice as many microchips as the standard 200mm variety, to 500,000 units a month by Autumn 2006, from 300,000 wafers now.

The expansion follows a string of similar announcements by rival firms and reflects rising demand for 300mm wafers as semiconductor makers upgrade to help boost yields and reduce manufacturing costs.

Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Corp, a joint venture between Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd and Mitsubishi Materials Corp t , announced a plan earlier this year to double its production capacity to 300,000 units a month.

Sumitomo Mitsubishi is the second-biggest player in the 6.3 billion global silicon wafer market, ahead of Germany’s siltronic, US-based memc electronic materials inc., and fifth-biggest Komatsu electronics metals co of Japan.

Shin-Etsu also said it planned to build a 300mm silicon wafer production line in the United States in or after 2007, raising its global capacity to 700,000 units a month and helping it retain the world’s top share of the 300mm market.

The company did not say how much the US line would cost. Tokyo-based Shin-Etsu was the first to begin mass production of 300 mm wafers in 2001, giving it a head start on its rivals.

The company predicted that global demand for 300 mm wafers, currently 700,000 per month, would total 900,000 units a month by the end of 2005, climb to 1.1 million by the end of 2006 and reach 1.4 million a month by the end of 2007.

Shares of Shin-Etsu were up 2.22 percent at 4,150 yen as of 0403 gmt, boosted by the expansion news. That was better than the benchmark nikkei average’s 0.74 percent gain. (AGENCIES)

Dollar keeps gains against sterling

TOKYO, Dec 22: The dollar held on to recent gains made against sterling on Wednesday as dealers hesitated to move aggressively in thin, pre-holiday trade.

The US currency edged up against the euro but hardly moved versus the yen, with the market dismissing falls in Japan’s trade surplus in November and the tertiary sector index of service industry activity for October.

On Tuesday, the British pound fell nearly one percent against the dollar after a survey showed a drop in UK house prices had accelerated to its steepest rate since the recession of the early 1990s.

"The numbers were not enough to set a new trend (for sterling/dollar)," said mitsuru sahara, vice president of the forex dealing group at UFJ bank.

"I suppose the steep fall was accelerated due to thin trade."

at 0050 gmt, sterling fetched around 1.9280, compared with Tuesday’s low of 1.9251 and late New York’s 1.9274.

The dollar bought 104.35 yen, up slightly from 104.25, while the euro traded at 1.3355 compared with 1.3372.

Japan’s trade surplus in November fell 39.2 percent from the same month a year earlier to 602.0 billion yen ( 5.77 billion).

That was far lower than the market forecast for a surplus of 1.0039 trillion yen, or a rise of 1.4 percent from the previous year, though some economists blamed more expensive oil imports, which could be temporary.

Separate government data showed the tertiary sector index fell 0.1 percent in October from a month earlier, compared with economists’ expectations for a flat reading.

The US Government is due to release its final reading for third-quarter gross domestic product at 1330 gmt. A poll of economists produced a median forecast of 3.9 percent growth, unchanged from the Government’s previous Q3 estimate. (AGENCIES)

Japan Nov trade surplus down 39.2 pc yr

TOKYO, Dec 22: Japan’s trade surplus in November fell 39.2 percent from the same month a year earlier to 602.0 billion yen ( 5.78 billion) and was up 16.2 percent from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The surplus was much lower than a consensus market forecast of 1.0039 trillion yen, or a rise of 1.4 percent from the previous year, Government figures showed on Wednesday. (AGENCIES)