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| Sutlej to spend Rs 110 crore for expansion in J&K NEW DELHI, Oct 31: K K Birla group company Sutlej industries is expanding its Kathua facility in Jammu and Kashmir.......more ‘India
needs to guard LUCKNOW, Oct 31: India, that accounts for around eight per cent of the world’s bio-diversity pool with almost 0.12.....more SBI
observing oil MUMBAI, Oct 31: The State Bank of India (SBI) is closely watching the movement of crude oil prices in the international.....more Indian
CEOs BEIJING, Oct 31: Leading Indian CEOs have expressed confidence in competing with China in the manufacturing........more |
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Honda organises parts retailers meet Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 31: Under ‘Reach the Customers’ campaign, Honda Motorcycles and Scooter Private Limited (HMSI) .........more FIIs net
buyers MUMBAI, Oct 31: The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) recorded net purchases of Rs 984.8 crore (US dollar 213.5.....more S Korea
makes serious MUMBAI, Oct 31: South Korea is expecting to attract over 65,000 Indian tourists in the.....more Rupee seen
stronger MUMBAI, Oct 31: Rupee is expected to advance further against the US dollar during the week.........more |
Sutlej to spend Rs 110 crore for expansion in J&K NEW DELHI, Oct 31: K K Birla group company Sutlej industries is expanding its Kathua facility in Jammu and Kashmir with an investment of Rs 110 crore. "The company is planning to expand its capacity in Kathua facility Chenab textile mills by 28416 spindles with the total cost of Rs 110 crore," sources said today. Commercial production of the additional capacity will start by March 2005, the sources said. Of the total outlay of Rs 110 crore for expansion, 25 per cent will come from company’s internal resources while the remaining will be funded by term loan from State Bank of India under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS). Under the TUFS the company will get an interest subsidy of five per cent and total cost of borrowings will come to 2.5 per cent. For expanding Kathua facility, Sutlej will get three per cent subsidy on working capital from Jammu and Kashmir Government apart from sales tax exemption for ten years and refund of permium on insurance. From the Centre, the company will get excise exemption for ten years for expanding in Jammu and Kashmir. The company said it was expanding in Jammu and Kashmir also because the cost of power is at least Rs two per unit lower than elsewhere and its Kathua facility is close to the captive market in Punjab. Sutlej will expand capacity for dyed and melange cotton yarn in Kathua. The company owns two more yarn units - Rajasthan textile mills in Bhiwanimandi in Rajasthan and Damanganga fabrics in village Dehali near Bhilad in Gujarat. Its current installed capacity is 124896 spindles, 672 rotors and 38 looms. Sutlej also runs a processing unit under working arrangement having capacity to process 85 lakh metres cloth per annum. The company exports 50 per cent of its production and in the run up to the elimination of quotas in world textile trade from January 1, 2005 it is renewing machinery and product mix across all units with an estimated cost of Rs 25-30 crore. For the second quarter ended September 30, 2004 the company reported 156 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit to Rs 5.8 crore. The turnover of the company in the quarter grew 5.7 per cent over the same period last year to Rs 143.05 crore. (PTI) |
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‘India needs to guard against bio-piracy’ LUCKNOW, Oct 31: India, that accounts for around eight per cent of the world’s bio-diversity pool with almost 0.12 million species, needs to guard against bio-piracy of its resources. "In an age when herbal formulation is the new buzzword around the world, we need to take immediate steps for systemised documenting and patenting of its bio-diversity," Dr Manju Sharma, former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi told UNI here. "Weak patenting regime in India is resulting in other countries staking claim over plant species and medicinal system that has traditionally been ours," she regretted. She claimed that almost 80 per cent of the world’s population, especially the developing countries, were largely dependent on the traditional system of medicines derived heavily from plants and herbs. "However, the developed world is also turning towards herbal medicines and products and the annual volume of trade in this sector is to the tune of 60 billion dollars and the who estimates it is expected to touch five trillion dollars by 2050," she added. Dr Sharma regretted that despite being the land of ayurveda, the country trades a meagre 550 million dollars annually in herbal drugs and products. She was here yesterday to participate at the second ‘National Interactive Meet 2004’ (NIM 2004) organised by the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) to discuss the opportunity, research and business of medicinal and aromatic plants. Dr Sharma, who is also the chairperson, CIMAP research council, further called upon scientific institutions for setting up field gene banks and well documented herbal gardens to preserve our bio-diversity from extinction and encroachment by other countries. "The need of the day is a holistic and inter-disciplinary approach towards the development of herbal industry and marketing," she observed. She also informed that among the endangered plant species, around 1/3rd were of medicinal and aromatic variety. Giving the example of China for taking lead in herbal industry, the scientist said the Indian companies should also come forward to coordinate with institutes like CIMAP and National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in research and development of herbal formulations. (UNI) |
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SBI observing oil price movement to hike interest rate MUMBAI, Oct 31: The State Bank of India (SBI) is closely watching the movement of crude oil prices in the international market and the inflationary trend to take a call on the interest rate hike which has already impacted the corporate credit growth by 5 to 10 per cent, SBI Chairman A K Purwar today said. At the analyst meet of SBI on the second quarter results of the bank for the year 2004-05, Mr Purwar said here the bank is observing the inflationary trend and the oil price movement. He said that the interest rate hike would depend on the future oil price movement and inflationary trend on a two to six months horizon. Stating that nobody has control over the oil price hike, the SBI Chairman said that the oil price hike has impacted the corporate credit growth from 5 to 10 per cent. It has been reported that the oil bill of the companies have gone up due to oil price hike. It may be mentioned that the oil price went up by 65 per cent now compared to the beginning of this year. Presently, it is hovering between USD 52 to 55 per barrel in the international market. Similarly, inflation too has gone up from 4.6 per cent in the April to 7.1 per cent now. While replying to queries of the analysts, Mr Purwar said that the merger of the SBI Home Finance with SBI has impacted the asset quality and retail asset. The Non-Performing Assets (NPA) is 3.5 per cent now which is 2.5 per cent excluding home loans, he said. Mr Purwar said that the bank’s advances growth of 24 per cent in the second quarter may not be sustainable. However, he said that the credit growth is expected to be in the range of 16.5 per cent to 18 per cent in the next six months. The SBI Chairman said that the advances are going up due to setting up of the retail and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) processing cell on the suggestions of the Mckinsey. He said that 30 to 35 per cent growth in retail is expected in the next three years. In reply to a question, Mr Purwar said that the bank exposure to the infrastructure projects are between Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 16,000 crore. Mr Purwar said that the SBI has computerised a majority of its 9,000 branches across the country. He said that the bank transacts Rs 1,800 crore through 4,400 ATM. The growth of the ATM network is expected to be 7 per cent, he said. The SBI Chairman said the bank gets 95 per cent of its profits from domestic operations. He said that the domestic acquisition by the bank cannot be ruled out. Mr Purwar said that the bank would raise capital if it gets any good opportunity. (UNI) |
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Indian CEOs confident of competing with China BEIJING, Oct 31: Leading Indian CEOs have expressed confidence in competing with China in the manufacturing sector, but saluted the communist giant for its world-class infrastructure, enterprising leadership and bureaucracy. "This has been a learning visit for most of us," Naushad forbes, business mission leader and chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Maharashtra State Council, said here. Forbes, who is Director of Forbes Marshall, said he as well as other CII delegation members were highly impressed by China’s phenomenal economic strides and excellent infrastructure facilities like roads and airports. At the same time, he said most of the members of the delegation, who are visiting China for the first time, have concluded that Indian industry can compete with Chinese manufactureres in most of the sectors. "There was a time when there was a hue and cry in India about Chinese batteries and toys flooding the Indian market and the possibility of Indian industries crumbling in the face of the Chinese onslaught. However, nothing of that sort has happened," he told PTI here. Forbes said the delegation also visited several Chinese and foreign joint venture manufacturing units but were not awed by their operations. "We haven’t seen anything that scared us," Forbes said while being confident that the Indian businesses had the capacity to match the Chinese industries. Concurring with his view, chairperson of Thermax limited, Meher Pudumjee said she was struck by the scale of operations of her Chinese counterparts. The way China has built world-class infrastructure facilities would woo any businessman to invest in the country. (PTI) |
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Honda organises parts retailers meet Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 31: Under ‘Reach the Customers’ campaign, Honda Motorcycles and Scooter Private Limited (HMSI) organised parts retailers meet, here last evening. A number of parts retailers of HMSI in Jammu, participated in the meet wherein the company’s Area Incharge (Parts), Avneesh Singh shared future business expansion plans of HMSI in the Indian market and highlighted parts network expansion. The meet was organised by Gupta Scooter Garage, Jammu, stockist of HMSI parts in Jammu. Listing the number of products, being manufactured and marketed by the Honda Motorcycles and Scooter Private Limited, Avneesh Singh informed that the company has 22 stockists and 257 dealers throughout India. He also explained parts distribution flow of the company. "Since maximum work in manufacturing and assembling of parts, is done by robots in our manufacturing unit at Gurgaon, there machinery of our products is defect proof and dust free," he claimed. In the meet, Avneesh Singh apprised the retailers about newly launched ‘Retailers Kit’ by the company which contains 38 parts. "Purpose of introducing this kit is to ensure availability of genuine parts with retailers at minimum rates and these kits are available with our stockist Gupta Scooter Garage," he informed. HMSI Area Manager (Parts) also disclosed that the company was going to hold a service training camp for mechanics in Jammu, very soon. Chairman of Gupta Scooter Garage, S L Gupta and Managing Director Amit Gupta, were also present in the retailers meet. Speaking on the occasion, the Guptas hoped full cooperation of retailers as well as HMSI in ensuring the availability of company parts in Jammu market. They also assured that Gupta Scooter Garage would act as a perfect bridge between the company and retailers. In the meeting, some stockists also asked some queries regarding commission and easy availability of the parts. Avneesh Singh satisfactorily replied all the queries. |
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FIIs net buyers in equities at Rs 984.8 cr, MFs net inflows MUMBAI, Oct 31: The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) recorded net purchases of Rs 984.8 crore (US dollar 213.5 million) in equities for the trading week ended October 29 while Mutual Funds (MFs) were also net purchasers at Rs 265.42 crore. The Foreign Funds were net sellers at Rs 633.1 crore (USD 137.3 million) in the debt market for the period under review, according to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) here. The Mutual Funds were also net sellers in the debt market at Rs 115.53 crore. Overseas funds were net buyers in equities on all four trading days of the week barring October 25 when they loaded equities worth Rs 171 crore (USD 37.10 mn). The foreign funds recorded their highest net inflow of the trading week in equities at Rs 916.20 crore (USD 198.70 mn) on October 29 followed by Rs 90.10 crore (USD 19.50 mn) on October 27. FIIs stayed away from the debt market for two trading days and registered the highest net outflow of Rs 393.20 crore (US85.30 mn) on October 28. MFs were net purchasers in equity market on all trading days. They purchased shares to the tune of Rs 117.52 crore and Rs 83.14 crore on October 28 and 27 respectively. On debt front, MFs were net purchasers at Rs 30.95 crore on October 26. The stock exchange, Mumbai, (BSE) during the week under review saw the sensex gaining 31.21 points to close at 5672.27 points. (PTI) |
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S Korea makes serious bid to attract tourists from India MUMBAI, Oct 31: South Korea is expecting to attract over 65,000 Indian tourists in the coming year (2005), an increase of 18 per cent over the year 2004, following the establishment of the marketing representative office of Korea National Tourism Organisation (KNTO) in Mumbai. According to Jeon Hyo-Sik, the Director of KNTO, the tourism promotional activities would be based on "duo-countries tour route" such as Bangkok-Seoul or Seoul-USA tour packages where the Indian tourists would have more choices to club korea with other sought-after destinations. Currently, Korean Air from Mumbai and Asiana Airlines from Delhi offer three direct flights to Korea. KNTO would also consider opportunities to undertake joint promotional activities with other south east Asian countries like Malaysia, Hong Kong or Singapore to improve the arrival of foreign tourists in Korea which provide similar leisure, adventure and business tourism like any other tourist destinations in the world, he said. Mr Jeon said that his organisation would undertake focussed marketing to promote Korea as a premier location for Bollywood producers and directors. "KNTO will encourage Indian filmmakers to select Korea as the shooting location for their movies, television or non-commercial films", he said. The Korean Government is working on developing a package for foreign filmmakers to shoot their films in Korea. Similarly, Mr Jeon revealed that the winter promotion plan would include snow, ski and shopping packages since the country has several ski resorts and snowboard rental available at low cost. Till recently, majority of Indians visiting Korea comprises of sailors, merchant navy engineers and people engaged in shipping and port related activities. According to the lastest statistics, in January-September period, about 41,659 tourists from India had visited korea which was 15.3 per cent higher over the same period last year. On the other hand, about 20,000 Koreans arrived India as tourists in the current year which might go upto the 30,000 next year. (UNI) |
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Rupee seen stronger on easying oil prices, FII inflows MUMBAI, Oct 31: Rupee is expected to advance further against the US dollar during the week, with the drop in international oil prices, weakening dollar in overseas and sustained foreign fund inflows, keeping the sentiment upbeat, forex dealers said. The plunge in crude oil prices by more than 8 per cent last week, would continue to be a big boost for the rupee, as India imports about 70 per cent of its oil requirements and the oil bill constitute nearly one third of the total import bill. China’s surprise decision to raise interest rates, also have a positive effect on rupee with players expecting some shift in that country’s currency policy after the interest rate hike. The slippery dollar in global markets which fell to multi-month lows against the yen and euro amid worries about the strength of the US economy, could also provide support for the rupee as it propels heavy export dollar inflows. Foreign funds inflows also continued as they invested a net usd 438.60 million in equities in October, after pumping USD 556.30 million in September. The ever-increasing forex reserves which surged by USD 980 million to USD 120.616 billion during the week-ended October 22, maintaining its growth on eight straight week, is also considered a positive factor, they added. Forex reserves have risen by a whopping USD 3.094 billion in the last eight weeks from a low of USD 117.522 billion touched during the week-ended August 27, is now nearing its its record high of USD 121.106 billion hit in the week-ended July 16. Further, dollar demand is likely to be thin in the beginning of the month, with importers staying on the sidelines on the back of the weakening dollar and easing oil prices, they added. (UNI) |
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Agmin moots Rs 10 hike in wheat MSP to Rs 640/quintal NEW DELHI, Oct 31: Government is considering hiking the minimum support price for wheat by Rs 10 per quintal for the current rabi season to Rs 640 a quintal to promote sowing and production of the staple crop. "In line with the recommendations of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) we have a proposed a Rs 10 a quintal hike in the MSP of wheat for this rabi season from Rs 630 per quintal," Agriculture Ministry sources told PTI. They, however, said a final decision on the issue will only be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) which is scheduled to meet later this week. If cleared, the wheat MSP hike will follow the freeze in the support price last year. Sources said an erratic monsoon had hit the kharif rice output and to make up the loss, Government was keen to encourage sowing of wheat by promising "maximum" possible returns to the farmers. Rice output in the kharif season 2004-05 is estimated to fall to 71.1 million tonnes, down 3.81 per cent from 73.92 million tonnes in 2003-04 kharif season. They said at the same time it was to be ensured that the increase in MSP of foodgrains like wheat will not discourage the sowing of oilseeds and pulses in which the country was deficient and had to resort to imports to meet the domestic demands. "The proposals sent to the CCEA aim at striking a balance. Of course the recommended increase in the MSP of pulses and mustard is proportionately more than wheat", they added. (PTI) |
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Star’s DTH project all set to see light of day NEW DELHI, Oct 31: The ambitious Rs 1,600 crore DTH venture of rupert Murdoch’s star network and Tatas is all set to receive a final clearance by the Government, heralding competition with lone player Zee’s ‘Dish TV’ now and Prasar Bharati’s venture shortly. The Star-Tata application, which had been pending with the Government for quite some time now, is expected to be cleared by the year-end, highly-placed official sources said here. "The venture had a problem earlier. However, as almost all stipulated clearances have been given, it will be cleared shortly, before the end of this calender year," the sources told PTI. The Star-Tata venture, in which the Indian partner holds 80 per cent equity as per Government guidelines, is called ‘Space TV’ and when launched will be the third player in the segment, considering that public broadcaster Prasar Bharati’s DTH platform will be on air by that time. The Government is also studying several aspects related to the segment with the number of players set to rise, the sources said. "These include things like tackling the free availability of pornographic material through the DTH platforms," they said, adding that broadcast regulator TRAI’s recommendation on the matter would also be considered. Notable among TRAI’s recommendations was the issue of DTH players sharing content with each other on a non-discriminatory basis. (PTI) |
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ONGC’s pilot project on coal gassification this fiscal LUCKNOW, Oct 31: Oil and Natural Gas Commission Ltd’s (ONGC) pilot project on underground Coal Gassification (CG) would commence within this fiscal in the run-up to its commercial production by 2009. ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha said the company had earlier shelved this project during eighties due to severe forex crunch. "It would first be launched as a pilot project within this financial year," he told reporters on sidelines of IIM-Lucknow’s (IIM-L) annual day celebrations on its campus last night. The company revived the CG project last year. "In fact Moscow-based Stochnisky institute set up by Stalin in 1927 to find ways of CG in the former USSR has tied up with ONGC’s institute of reservior studies, Ahmedabad for the project," he informed. According to Mr Raha, while CG would reduce several overhead expenses, it would also help the country control emission of carbon under the Kyoto convention. "Once we are able to check carbon emission, we can earn points...These points could in turn be sold to countries," he said explaining about the ‘carbon credit.’ Explaining the technique, he said oxygen would be pumped down minefields over a kilometer using compressors. "We would then ignite oxygen to burn coal and collect it in the form of gas," he added. ONGCL is the only operator in the world to use the maximum amount of compressed air to extract oil from off-shore fields. He claimed under the conventional technique, coal mining could be done upto a few hundred feet. "While only 1/3rd of total coal is extracted, the rest is used underneath to maintain pillars that support the mine. Out of that too, 40 per cent is discarded as ash during coal washing," he explained. He said substantial expenditure is incurred in dumping the ash and carrying coal to distant locations. "The gassification technique would bring down such costs...Moreover, we can leave the ash underneath as filler and pump back carbon to check emission," he added. Under the new technique, ONGCL claims to produce 300 cubic meters of gas per day when it becomes operational. (UNI) Maran for task force on
high-speed trains NEW DELHI, Oct 31: Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up a task force for introducing high-speed trains to sustain the phenomenal growth in the IT sector. In a letter to the Prime Minister, he said the task force should be established to introduce in India trains on the lines of bullet trains of Japan and TGV of France on the Chennai-Bangalore-Hyderabad sector in the south and Delhi-Chandigarh-Agra/Jaipur sector in the north. The present tempo of IT development can be retained only if there is a corresponding development in other spheres of infrastructure, especially transport, Mr Maran said. Citing that time for air travel on the above sector goes up by up to 4 hours if the check-in and check-out time is included, the minister said there is an urgent need for high-speed trains to sustain the IT boom. He said TGV trains are capable of running at 250-300 km per hour and have transformed France and Europe, connecting 70 metro towns and 13 regions in just 2 to 4 hours. The minister, citing the analogy of the success of Delhi Metro, said the proto-type of TGV trains can be considered before transfer of technology at a later date. Such a step would also lay a strong foundation for the overall growth of the economy, he added. (UNI) |
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