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| Gold buyers turn into sellers this Diwali NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Diwali festival, considered auspicious by indians for buying gold, has witnessed over 25 per cent......more Petro
ministry seeks NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The Petroleum Ministry has asked the External Affairs Ministry to expedite the process of.....more SEBI
guidelines for NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Market regulator SEBI will announce next month the guidelines for foreign corporates to raise.....more Fresh
water prawn CHANDIGARH, Nov 14: Fresh water prawn farming is picking up in Haryana with an area of over 70 hectares having........more |
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Dena bank’s second public issue in Jan-Mar NEW DELHI, Nov 13: Public sector Dena Bank will come out with second public issue in the last quarter of this fiscal to.........more Irregularities
in ALLAHABAD, Nov 14: Irregularities in revenue collection have hit Uttar Pradesh hard, with the state’s exchequer.......more Car sales
surge NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The festive season and attractive finance schemes fuelled vehicle buying in the country as.....more Rural
investments in NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Investment from the rural sector in mutual funds has declined by 1.8 per cent since January this........more |
Gold buyers turn into sellers this Diwali NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Diwali festival, considered auspicious by indians for buying gold, has witnessed over 25 per cent decline in demand with prospective buyers ironically turning into sellers because of spiralling prices of yellow metal in the international markets. Normally, the quest for buying gold begins with Raksha Bandhan and reaches its peak during Diwali as around 400-500 kilos of gold and its products change hands between August and November in which ‘festival of lights’ falls. India’s annual gold consumption is over 850 tonnes, of which jewellery accounts for around 85 per cent of the total consumption. Contrary to previous years, this year the demand for gold was 20 to 25 per cent less than the normal as prices in the global market touched a 16-year high of 436.20 dollar per troy ounce in the midweek owing to a steep fall in us dollar against the euro. People mainly from the middle-income group preferred to exchange their old ornaments for new jewellery by paying only the price differential, instead of making fresh purchases. On the other hand, the elite exchange their gold for fashionable diamond jewellery. Confirming the fall in demand by 25 to 30 per cent, a leading dealer of total hall-marked jewellery Mr Ram Chander Soni of R C Jewellers, said just held US Presidential election rendered the dollar weak against the euro that in turn resulted in hike in the gold prices. Mr Sheel Chand Jain, president of the All India Sarafa Association, observed that unprecedented spurt in petroleum prices also fuelled the gold prices globally in the wake of strong euro against US greenback. Though, the general impression is that there will be a fall in prices of precious metals once diwali is over, but dealers do not agree. They say unless there is a fall in the global prices, the domestic prices will rule high. Last year standard gold, which was being traded in the capital at Rs 5,825 per 10 gram during Diwali, had shot up to a high of Rs 6,425 on November 11, showing a whopping spurt of Rs 600 over the previous year. Silver did not lag behind and also shot up to Rs 11,500 per kilo on November 11, 2004 as against Rs 8,030 on the same date last year, showing a huge rally of Rs 2,470 per kilo. (UNI) |
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Petro ministry seeks MEA clearance for drilling at KS-8 NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The Petroleum Ministry has asked the External Affairs Ministry to expedite the process of granting approval for drilling at KS-8 location in the Sir Creek area in Gujarat on the sensitive maritime border between India and Pakistan. Petroleum Secretary S C Tripathy has written a letter to the mea saying the matter had been brought to the notice of former Foreign Secretay but "no positive response on the issue was obtained." ONGC has been alloted a block in the KS-8 location, but so far it could not take up the work because of non-availability of clearance from different Government departments. The oil Secretary had earlier told MEA that the French company total had already drilled on the Pakistani side. If we delay exploration, the oil and gas could migrate to Pakistan, he said. ONGC has appointed leading UK upstream consultant fugro robertson (previously robertson research international) to do a thorough and exclusive analysis of the structures in the Kutch offshore basin. Fugro Robertson is expert in petroleum basin data analysis and equipped to provide in-depth knowledge of various types of plays and traps likely to be present in any given structure. ONGC is expected to re-deploy deep water drillship Belford Dolphin in the Kutch offshore area to complete drilling of a suspended well in KS-1 location. (UNI) |
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SEBI guidelines for IDRs next month NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Market regulator SEBI will announce next month the guidelines for foreign corporates to raise funds from the Indian capital markets through Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs). "We have been working on the norms for quite some time now. We will be announcing the guidelines on IDRs in a month’s times," Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman G N Bajpai told UNI here. IDRs are instruments in the form of depository receipts created by the domestic depository in india against the underlying equity shares of the issuing international company. SEBI would provide operational guidelines which would enable exchanges to take place on the trading platform, he said. Mr Bajpai said SEBI had taken the initiative for issuing IDR guidelines as it would help Indian investors to share a portion of wealth created by outsiders, as was the case of ADRs and GDRs where wealth created by Indian firms was shared by foreigners. After the SEBI guidelines are drafted, they would be reviewed by internal and external experts and the primary market committee before the final regulation is published. The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) had earlier announced that foreign companies that have pre-issue paid-up capital and free reserves of at least 100 million dollars and an average turnover of 500 million dollars during the three financial years preceeding the issue would be allowed to participate in the Indian stock markets. The eligibility criteria laid down by the DCA allow only robust international companies to avail of IDRs. The norms specify that the company should have been making profits for at least five years preceding the issue and should have declared a dividend of not less than 10 per cent each year during this period. The issuing company should also have a pre-issue debt equity ratio of not more than 2:1. However, the rules on IDRs specify that the scrip need not necessarily be listed in an international stock exchange. Listing on any Indian Stock Exchange would suffice. Also, the issuing company must have an established place of business in India. SEBI has to pre-approve the issue of IDRs because when securities have to be listed, it falls into SEBI’s jurisdiction. The Government had earlier allowed multilateral agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and IFC to raise funds in the Indian debt market. (UNI) |
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Fresh water prawn farming picking up in Haryana CHANDIGARH, Nov 14: Fresh water prawn farming is picking up in Haryana with an area of over 70 hectares having been brought under prawn culture in 12 of the 19 districts in the state. Stating this, Commissioner and Secretary (fisheries) Shakuntala Jakhu said Haryana was the only state in the country which was given subsidy for promotion of prawn culture. She said three projects for prawn farming were being implemented by the fisheries department and 119 farmers had been given subsidy and imparted technical know-how to take up prawn culture during the last financial year. The districts wherein fresh water prawn farming had already been taken up were Yamunanagar, Karnal, Sonipat, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Hisar and Jind. She said the department not only provided technical know-how to the fish farmers for undertaking prawn farming in fresh water, but also took them to a study tour to Andhra Pradesh so as to acquaint them with the practices being adopted there. An area of 70.06 hectares had already been brought under fresh water prawn farming as against the target of 100 hectares of fresh water area by the end of next financial year,she added. She said two other projects to develop water-logged areas into aquaculture estates and utilisation of saline water for fish or prawn culture were also being implemented with 100 per cent assistance from the Union Agriculture Ministry. Under the project for development of water-logged areas into aquaculture estates, 18.7 hectares of area was brought under fresh water prawn culture by imparting training and technical know-how to the farmers in the districts of Gurgaon, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sirsa. She said that under the project for utilisation of saline water, 23.2 hectares of water area was brought under fish or prawn culture by providing benefit to the farmers in the districts of Gurgaon, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Sirsa. Under both these projects, 100 per cent assistance was provided to the farmers at a rate of Rs 2.30 lakh per hectare, which included Rs two lakh for development of area and Rs 30,000 for inputs. As it was a new technology, the sites were identified by the scientists and soil and water were also analysed by the experts before using them for prawn culture, Ms Jakhu said. The seeds of prawn were procured from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the beneficiaries were also sent to Andhra Pradesh on a study tour, she added. (UNI) |
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Dena bank’s second public issue in Jan-Mar NEW DELHI, Nov 13: Public sector Dena Bank will come out with second public issue in the last quarter of this fiscal to fund its retail banking expansion plan. "We will come out with the second public offer during January -March as we have obtainted necessary approval from the Government for a public offer of 8 crore shares of Rs 10 face value aggregating Rs 80 crore," said Dena bank Chairman and Managing Director A K Khandelwal, told UNI. He said the premium on the issue will be decided at a later date. The bank will file the draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India next month. Post-issue the Government’s equity in the bank will be reduced to around 51.18 per cent from the present 70.9 per cent. At present, the minimum permissible Government stake in any public sector bank is 51 per cent. After the second public issue, Dena Bank would be restricted from raising any tier-1 capital in future. He said the bank is focussing on strengthening its retail business and lending to mid-size corporations. "This would help in better reach to people and the recovery is good as far as mid-size corporates are concerned," he said. The bank aims to double its retail banking portfolio during the current financial year for which it intends to have a number of retail finmarts. The bank has in this fiscal merged about 25 loss-making branches. The target for this fiscal is merge 50 loss-making branches. He said the bank plans to improve its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) to about 12 per cent by coming out with a second public issue, from 10.28 per cent as on March 31, 2004. The bank plans to achieve a total business level of over Rs 33,000 crore for 2004-05, by registering a growth of about 20 per cent. The bank will concentrate on recovery in NPA accounts during the current financial year and intends to reduce its ratio of net NPAs to net advances to a level below 5 per cent by March 31, 2005 from 7.8 per cent as on March 31, 2004. (UNI) |
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Irregularities in revenue
collection cost ALLAHABAD, Nov 14: Irregularities in revenue collection have hit Uttar Pradesh hard, with the state’s exchequer running a loss of Rs 1,547 crores, the Accountant General’s office has said. The Trade Tax Department was the worst sufferer in 2002-2003 with revenue loses touching Rs 1,048.5 crore, it said. A review of working of distilleries under the Excise Department has shown that due to low yield of alcohol from molasses, the Government had to forego revenue of Rs 112.93 crore, the Accountant General’s office said. The Transport Department was not far behind in contributing to the woes of the state’s exchequer, with non-recovery of Rs 65.61 crore in penalties, it said. Anomalies like these have posed a big challenge to the State Government, which needs to be tackled urgently, it said. (PTI) |
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Car sales surge 31.2 pc in October NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The festive season and attractive finance schemes fuelled vehicle buying in the country as passenger car sales surged 31.2 per cent in October. Car sales in the past month drove to 73,770 units from 56,222 in the year-ago month, according to the latest data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said. Sales in the first seven months of the current fiscal rose 22.4 per cent to 4,59,629 units from 3,75,672 in the corresponding period last year. Domestic car market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd set the thrend for the industry by posting 33.7 per cent surge in sales with 37,544 units sold in October. Its rival Hyundai Motor India registered a 17 per cent rise in sales at 13,239 units. India’s third largest car maker Tata motors recorded a jump of 40.5 per cent at 13,233 units. Sales of Honda Siel cars India soared 189.5 per cent while ford India and General Motors saw a rise of 14 per cent at 1,959 units and 6.06 per cent at 1,329 units, respectively. Daimlerchrysler saw 26.43 per cent growth at 148 units in October while the sales of Fiat India continued to withness a decline and dropped by 47 per cent at 485 units. Hindustan Motors’ sales rose 7.61 per cent at 1,115 units In the utility vehicle category, sales of Mahindra and Mahindra grew by 5.16 per cent at 7,366 units while that of Toyota by 26 per cent at 3,049 units. UV sales of Tata Motors and General Motors registered a jump of eight and 99.6 per cent at 3,000 and 1,423 units, respectively. SIAM said sales of commercial vehicles soared 21.1 per cent to 26,658 units in October, up from 22,012 in the same month a year ago. Sales during April-October increased 27.3 per cent to 1,67,274 units from 1,31,438 in the previous year. Motorcycle sales in October rose 10.2 per cent to 4,83,763 units from 438,991 in 2003, SIAM said, adding that sales in April-October recorded a 13.6 per cent rise to 2,728,303 units from 2,402,712. (UNI) |
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Rural investments in mutual
funds NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Investment from the rural sector in mutual funds has declined by 1.8 per cent since January this year, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Rural investment in mutual funds in percentage terms was 3.8 per cent of the total mutual funds investment in the country by early this year which has come down to 2 per cent in the month of August 2004. ASSOCHAM president Mahendra K Sanghi said the rural exposure to the mutual fund industry has declined because of lack of access to rural investors and inadequate awareness to lure rural investments in the mutual fund. "The Mutual Fund Industry has failed to create adequate infrastructure for tapping the vast market size of the rural economy in the last couple of months," Mr Sanghi said. "The rural populace investments flew towards banks and even to bullion markets," he added. In the urban areas, however, out of 200 million households, roughly 14 per cent of them had mutual funds exposure by January 2004 which shot up to 16 per cent by August 2004, thus taking up the urban mutual funds exposure to over 228 million, according to ASSOCHAM. The analysis indicates that the lower middle class are showing greater inclination for mutual funds investments in view of softening of interest rates in the banks and post offices. The chamber hasm therefore, suggested that since mutual funds investment are not becoming popular in the rural areas, the state owned mutual funds industry should take initiative for creating value chain services so that the lower middle class investments are lured towards the mutual fund industry. According to ASSOCHAM, the Mutual Fund Assets under Management (AUM) have grown from about Rs 470 billion in March 1993 to Rs 1,540 billion in April 2004 and will further go up substantially in the next few years provided the common investor is influenced towards this industry. ASSOCHAM has also suggested to the Government that the mutual funds industry should be empowered to manage and regulate the retirement funds of both Government and non-Government employees. The representation points out saying that at present a majority of the population is working and contributing a reasonable amount of their wages towards the pension funds which is managed by the Government. The pension needs improvement for better management which can come through permitting mutual funds foray into it. (UNI) |
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FIIs net buyers in equities at Rs 1,319.5 cr, MFs net sellers MUMBAI, Nov 14: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) made net purchases in equities with investments of Rs 1,319.5 crore (US dollar 286.9 million) for the trading week ended November five while Mutual Funds (MFs) were net sellers at Rs 133.79 crore. The Foreign Funds were net purchasers at Rs 83.8 crore (USD 18.4 million) in the debt market for the period under review, according to the data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) here. The Mutual Funds were also net buyers in the debt market at rs 407.4 crore. Overseas funds were net buyers in equities on all four trading days of the week. The foreign funds recorded their highest net inflow of the trading week in equities at Rs 585.10 crore (USD 126.90 mn) on November eight followed by Rs 295 crore (USD 64 mn) on November nine. FIIs were active all four days in the debt market. They registered the highest net inflow of Rs 98.80 crore (US 21.60 mn) on November 11. MFs were net sellers in equity market on all trading days. They sold shares to the tune of Rs 92.05 crore and Rs 23.79 crore on November eight and nine respectively. On debt front, MFs were net buyers at Rs 211.76 crore on November nine. In the week upto November 13, the BSE benchmark 30-share index breached the psychological 6000-barrier during moorat session on Friday before ending the week at 5964.01 as against last weekend’s close of 5891.36, a net rise of 72.65 points. (PTI) |
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Rupee seen firm vs dollar on
bunched-up MUMBAI, Nov 14: The rupee is expected to stay firm against the dollar during the week on bunched-up inflows of the US currency, accumulated during the extended weekend holidays and dull import demand in the backdrop of stable oil prices. Banks, which remained closed on Friday on account of ‘Diwali’, will also be closed on Monday for ‘Id, thus extending the weekend holidays to four days. Notwithstanding the moderate rebound in dollar after the US federal reserve raised interest rate by a quarter percentage, the sentiment continued to be bullish with strong foreign fund inflows, record forex reserve and increased speculation about a revaluation of the Chinese yuan, forex dealers said here. Foreign funds have bought over USD 6 billion worth of local shares so far this year, after a record USD 6.7 billion in the whole of 2003. Expectation of huge dollar inflows in the coming weeks on account of the fund rising by domestic corporates by way of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) ADR/GDRs and preference allotments, also boosted the sentiment. The soaring forex reserve, which jumped by USD 1.046 billion to a record high of USD 122.224 billion during the week ended November five, also support the local currency, they added. (AGENCIES) |
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Agricultural investment comes down to 1.3 pc of GDP NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Agricultural investment in the country has come down to 1.3 per cent of GDP during 2001-02 as compared to 1.6 per cent in 1993-94. According to a study, the resource allocation to farm and allied activities has also remained stagnant at 5-6 per cent of total expenditure of the Centre and the States during the post-reforms period, a PHDCCI study said. There has been a consistent dip in the combined spending of the Centre and States in agriculture during this period, the study said, adding the share of investment in agriculture as a percentage of GDP had also declined. South India has been the hardest hit, witnessing a deceleration in fund allocation to agriculture and allied activities from 7 per cent in 1996 to almost 5 per cent in 2003, it said. Other three regions also experienced a dip in agricultural spending during the nineties. An overwhelming majority of the workforce still depends on agriculture for livelihood, the study said, adding in Madhya Pradesh 71.6 per cent of total workforce is employed in the sector. The level of workforce engaged in agriculture stood at 66 per cent each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, 62 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, 77 per cent in Bihar and 65 per cent in Orissa, the study said. However, the relatively prosperous state of Punjab has only 39 per cent of its population depending on agriculture for its livelihood. (PTI) All Delhi Govt schools to have computer labs by March NEW DELHI, Nov 14: All Government schools in the capital will have fully equipped computer laboratories by March next year, a senior official said. "At present about 450 Delhi Government schools have already been provided with computer laboratories. All schools will be covered by end of 2004-05 fiscal," Chief Secretary of Delhi Government S Raghunathan said yesterday at an award function organised by Varindia, an organisation dedicated to the spread of it. He said all nine departments of Delhi Government will also be completely computerised having online modules by this year-end. "The departments will be using wide area networking for better coordination that will help Government improve various services and civic amenities as well as allow people accessibility to all Government records at click of a mouse," Raghunathan said. He said Delhi Government’s single portal has been further upgraded for single window service. "Apart from getting vital Delhi Government information now citizens can pay their telephone and power bills and taxes through the website," Raghunathan said. He urged the it industry to propogate computerisation in private trade as in capital most of the wholesale markets were yet to be computerised. Raghunathan said adoption of it in the capital would help in stopping unplanned urbanisation and industrialisation that has already taken a heavy toll on the city. (PTI) |
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