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Chidambaram announces yet another round of banking reforms NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In a bid to carry forward far-reaching banking reforms, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today ......more Industrial
growth up NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Led by strong recovery in the manufacturing sector, industry grew at 7.9 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal .....more ‘Punjab ready to implement VAT from April one’ CHANDIGARH, Nov 11: Punjab is fully prepared and equipped for smooth transition towards Value Added Taxation (VAT) system from April 1 ......more Talbros automotive to consider bonus on Nov 16 NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Talbros Automotive Components Ltd will consider a bonus share issue in its board meeting on........more |
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KOCHI, Nov 11: At least 100 unauthorised Chinese fishing nets, which was hampering the flow of water in a lake in the nearby fishing village of .........more Crude
futures hover SINGAPORE, Nov 11: Crude futures stayed close to the US $49 mark in Asia today, amid renewed fears that heating oil supplies may not meet......more Bangladesh to get 69 mln ADB education loan DHAKA, Nov 11: The Asian Development Bank is to lend 68.9 million to Bangladesh to help reform the country’s.....more Skindia DR, P/E indices gain premium index crash MUMBAI, Nov 11: The Instanex Skindia Depository Receipts (DR) index gained 0.50 per cent at 1,096.27 points yesterday from 1,091.57 on the .........more |
Chidambaram announces yet another round of banking reforms NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In a bid to carry forward far-reaching banking reforms, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today announced a slew of legislations would be brought in during the winter session of Parliament, including amendments to the NCP Act and regulation of credit information companies. He also threatened to bring in a legislation on lenders’ liability if the banks did not adhere to the reserve bank’s "fair practices" code on keeping privacy of information about the borrowers. "Certain amendments to the securitisation and reconstruction of financial assets and enforcement of security interest act have been necessitated. The bill has been finalised and we hope to effect the amendments speedily," Chidambaram said addressing the bankers’ conference `Bancon’. The proposed amendments were aimed at dissuading borrowers from adopting "dilatory" tactics and enabling creditors to effect speedy recovery, he said. "Along with the strengthening of Sarfaesi Act, we propose to bring credit information companies regulation bill in the winter sesssion of Parliament," he said. Asserting that information was vital to credit quality, Chidambaram said it would not only do away with the hassles for the borrowers but also help banks in speedy appraisals. "A well-established credit information system will also minimise financial frauds, which can become problematic for certain kinds of loans, especially home loans," he said. In order to improve credit climate, the minister said "we propose to bring about a law to provide legal sanctions for collection, sharing and regulated dissemination of credit information." Elaborating on lenders’ liability, Chidambaram feared banks may "intrude" upon citizens’ privacy and said there was an equal obligation to ensure proper customer service. He said many of the borrowers, especially self-help groups and those seeking pmry, were not informed about the interest rate being charged. In many countries, banks are mandated by law to respect the rights and interests of lenders, depositors and the other customers. There is a demand for similar law in India, the Finance Minister said. The Supreme Court in a judgement in Sarfaesi Act made a reference to lenders’s liability. Thus far we have tried to achieve stakeholders’ interest by a guideline. The Reserve Bank has circulated a fair practice code, Chidambaram said. "I am not sure how far it is adhered to. And I think the bank managements should review the position. If Indian banks have to become global players, they will have to respect the fair practice code. "If they fail to show sufficient concerns to customers, there will soon be a clamour for enacting a law. It may be difficult to deny such a demand indefinitely," he said. He also said domestic banks must consolidate to become globally competitive as in the case of manufacturing sector. However, mergers should be based on synergies and not merely creating bank behemoths. "To attain global aspirations and greater banking synergy, banks have to consolidate," he said, adding they have to look and behave globally as is the case with many indian giants like Telco, Infosys, Wipro and Ranbaxy. (PTI) |
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Industrial growth up at 7.9% in H1 NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Led by strong recovery in the manufacturing sector, industry grew at 7.9 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal compared to 6.2 per cent in the same period last year. According to quick estimates of the index of industrial production, the manufacturing sector, representing nearly three-fourths of the weightage of IIP, grew by a whopping 8.2 per cent during April-September 2004 over 6.7 per cent in the same period last fiscal. In September this year, the industrial sector registered a growth of 7.7 per cent as against 7.5 per cent in the year-ago month. In September 2004, growth in manufacturing sector, however, remained stagnant at eight per cent, the same as in September 2003. Besides the manufacturing sector, other areas like mining and electricity generation also witnessed an upbeat trend in the growth pattern during the first half of 2003-04 as well as September. Mining sector grew at 4.9 per cent in April-September 2004-05 over 4.2 per cent in the same period last year. In September, the sector registered a marginal decline in growth at four per cent compared to 4.5 per cent a year ago. Electricity sector registered a 7.7 per cent growth in the first half of the current fiscal as against only three per cent last year. In September, the sector grew by 7.6 per cent compared to six per cent. (PTI) |
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‘Punjab ready to implement VAT from April one’ CHANDIGARH, Nov 11: Punjab is fully prepared and equipped for smooth transition towards Value Added Taxation (VAT) system from April 1 according to State Finance Commissioner Mukul Joshi. Speaking at an interactive session on Value Added Tax in Punjab’ organised by the Punjab Chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here yesterday, he said."We are in the process of reorganising the entire department of excise and taxation and have already imparted training to the employees to meet the requirements of the VAT system." Mr Joshi also mentioned that the State Government would examine the concerns raised by various stakeholders-industry, traders, while finalising the VAT system. VAT would bring in lot of transparency and efficiency in the taxation system and also would improve compliance and collections, Mr Joshi said. He appreciated the role of CII in creating awareness amongst the industry and the trading community to support the implementation of VAT in the state. He also invited the industry representatives to interact with the senior official of the excise and taxation department for any suggestions or clarification with regard to the implementation of VAT. Earlier, CII Punjab Council Chairman Manish Bagrodia stressed the need to achieve consensus on certain key issues of concern with an overall objective to ensure that vat did not hinder inter-state trade and allowed the development of a common uniform market. "All the stakeholders should be taken into confidence for successful implementation of VAT," he said. (UNI) |
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Talbros automotive to consider bonus on Nov 16 NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Talbros Automotive Components Ltd will consider a bonus share issue in its board meeting on November 16. Besides, the board will also take up the issue of further shares capital, alteration in the memorandum and article of association towards increase in the authorised share capital from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore and consider to classify unclassified share capital of Rs 2 crore into equity share capital. (UNI) |
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KOCHI, Nov 11: At least 100 unauthorised Chinese fishing nets, which was hampering the flow of water in a lake in the nearby fishing village of Kumbalangi, was removed by police following a direction from the Kerala High Court. The nets were removed by the fisheries department with police assistance yesterday. The High Court had few months ago issued an order directing the fisheries department to remove the unauthrosied nets the Kumbalangi backwaters. The court had issued the direction allowing a plea by the Dheevara Vamsodharni Sabha pointing out that traditional fishemen in the area were unable to get good catch due to the presence of the huge nets. (PTI) |
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Crude futures hover around USD 49 mark SINGAPORE, Nov 11: Crude futures stayed close to the US $49 mark in Asia today, amid renewed fears that heating oil supplies may not meet demand for the coming northern hemisphere winter. December delivery crude on the New York mercantile exchange in after-hours Asian trade was at US$48.77 per barrel mid-morning today, down 9 cents from its yesterday closing. Light, sweet had risen by US$1.49 yesterday to close at US$48.86 per barrel after a weekly US energy department report showed commercially available supplies of distillates dipped by 100,000 barrels last week to 115.6 million barrels. The figure is around 13 per cent below year ago levels and was the eight straight week that distillates, which include heating oil, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene, had fallen. Heating oil was up at US$1.4040 per gallon (3.8 liters) today in Asia. While distillates fell, the weekly supply report showed crude inventories rose 1.8 million barrels last week to 291.5 million barrels, or just slightly below year-ago levels. (AP) |
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Bangladesh to get 69 mln ADB education loan DHAKA, Nov 11: The Asian Development Bank is to lend 68.9 million to Bangladesh to help reform the country’s education system which is plagued by high dropout rates and lack of teacher training, an adb statement said late on Wednesday. The ADB’s 32-year loan will cover 63 percent of a 108.7 million Bangladesh plan to raise education levels. The Canadian international development agency will provide 18 million for the project and the Bangladesh Government the rest. Bangladesh will have an 8-year grace period on interest payments, which otherwise will be set at 1.5 percent. "An acute shortage of trained secondary school teachers is hampering the provision of quality secondary education in Bangladesh," the statement said. "Fewer than half of teachers have had any teacher training, and much of the rest are poorly trained." The ABD said 44 percent of secondary school children drop out of school and 38 percent drop out from higher secondary education. Pass rates for the secondary school certificate examinations declined to 36 percent in 2003 from 55 percent in 1999, the statement said. "The high failure rates together with high dropout rates represents a huge wastage of resources - financial and human," the ADB’s senior education specialist, Jouko Sarvi, was quoted as saying. About 100,000 untrained teachers will be trained, while 50,000 new teachers will be trained under the project. All 17,000 head teachers will also benefit from training, ADB said. (AGENCIES) |
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Skindia DR, P/E indices gain premium index crash MUMBAI, Nov 11: The Instanex Skindia Depository Receipts (DR) index gained 0.50 per cent at 1,096.27 points yesterday from 1,091.57 on the previous day. According to a daily update provided by the city-based Instanex Capital Consultants Pvt Ltd, the Skindia DR Index P/E also saw a northerward trend by 0.52 per cent to 19.58 points from 19.48. But the Skindia DR index premium declined steeply by 2.16 percent to 22.74 percent from 23.24 percent during the same period. Out of the 15 GDRs/ADRs, nine gained and four lost while two scrips were unchanged. State Bank of India (GDR), Icici Bank (ADR) and MTNL (ADR) were the top gainers, while infosys tech (ADR), HDFC Bank (ADR) and Wipro (ADR) were prominent among the losers. (UNI) |
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Starbucks profit up 47 pct, extra week helps LOS ANGELES, Nov 11: Starbucks corp. sbux.O , the world’s largest coffee shop chain, yesterday said quarterly net profit rose 47 percent, helped by its aggressive store expansion and an extra week in the period. Net income climbed to 103 million, or 25 cents per share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct 3, from 70 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same period last year. Wall Street analysts had expected the company to report earnings of between 24 cents and 26 cents per share with an average view of 25 cents per share. An extra week in this year’s fourth quarter added 3 cents per share to starbucks’ net profit for the period, the seattle company said in a statement. Net revenue rose 34 percent to 1.5 billion. For its fiscal year 2005, starbucks expects to earn between 1.12 and 1.15 per share excluding any impact from expensing stock options. Revenue is forecast to rise about 20 percent for the year. Starbucks shares fell more than 2 percent to 54 in after-hours trading on the inet electronic brokerage system following the announcement. The stock closed at 55.29 yesterday on Nasdaq. (AGENCIES) |
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Infy in research pact with Australian outfit BANGALORE, Nov 11: Infosys technologies has signed an agreement with Australia-based smart internet technology cooperative research centre for joint research and development in the banking, commerce health and entertainment segments. Under the agreement infosys would invest Australian dollars 800,000 over the next four years to support the initiative, according to a smart internet press release made available by infosys here. Smart internet, a joint venture between industry, universities and the Australian Government, would work with the software engineering and technology labs of infosys in Bangalore for research in mobility, pervasive computing, agent technologies, security and digital rights management, the release said. "This is the first significant commitment by an Indian IT company to undertake R D with an Australian Research Organisation. The agreement reflects mutual respect and recognition of the complementary strengths of both organisations and is a great example of the substantial bilateral benefits that will flow from greater cooperation between the ICT industries of India and Australia," the release quoted smart internet CEO Darrell Williamson as saying. (UNI) |
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Talbros automotive to consider bonus on Nov 16 NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Talbros Automotive Components Ltd will consider a bonus share issue in its board meeting on November 16. Besides, the board will also take up the issue of further shares capital, alteration in the memorandum and article of association towards increase in the authorised share capital from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore and consider to classify unclassified share capital of Rs 2 crore into equity share capital. (UNI) Chidambaram unveils legislative support measures for banks NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today unveiled legislative support measures like changes in the securitisation act to the Indian banks asking them to set their NPA portfolio in order and improve their peformance at homeground before nursing global ambitions. Addressing the ongoing bankers’ conference here, Mr Chidambaram stated that the securitisation and reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 had empowered banks to enforce securities interest against defaulters without intervention of courts and debt recovery tribunals. This was challenged before the Supreme Court and while the constitutional validity of the act has been upheld, sub-section (2) of section 17 was struck down. "This has made certain amendments in the act essential. These have been finalised and we hope to be able to effect the amendments speedilym" Mr Chidambaram said. He said the proposed amendments would aim at dissuading the borrowers from adopting dilatory tactics and enabling creditors to make speedy recovery by enforcement of securities. Along with the strengthening of the Securitisation Act, the Government proposed to introduce credit information companies (regulation) Act, 2004 in the winter session of Parliament. It would help banks in making speedy appraisals and credit decisions. "Given the importance of information for improving credit climate, we propose to bring about a law to provide legal sanction for collection, sharing and regulated dissemination of credit information and setting up of credit information companies," the Finance Minister said. While assuring all the legislative support, Mr Chidambaram warned the banks to follow "fair practice code" in regard to lenders’ liability. "If Indian banks aspire to be global players, they will have todisplaygreater respect for this code. If they fail to show sufficient concern for customers, there will soon be a clamour for enacting a law," he said adding that there had a demand for ensuring protection of individual privacy. Exhorting the banks to be prepared for the full force of global competiton on their homeground before nursing global ambitions, he indicated the Government would follow "gradual approach" to competition. The Finance Minister said international trends suggested that consolidation had reduced the chances of credit risks. He said consolidation has tobe addressed not merely to create large behemoths but to benefit from the synergy created by mergers. The strategy should be for public sector banks to analyse consolidation with entities which miximise synergies and create larger banking entities. "The entire process should be market driven and based purely on commercial and economic considerations." The Finance Minister denied IMF deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger’s suggestion that the Government was directing credit. "We are certainly not attempting to direct credit," he said. However, there was a potential and opprtunity in a variety of sectors within the country. (UNI) |
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