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| Govt invites India Inc to participate in PSU sale and JVs NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Inviting private sector to participate in the disinvestment programme, Finance Minister P.......more Three more
transmission MUMBAI, Oct 28: The Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd would add three more transmission lines in the western.....more Congestion
at ports could MUMBAI, Oct 28: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that the congestion at the JNPT and Nhava.....more Tax: GDP
ratio to cross NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Despite apprehensions of a lower economic growth, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today........more |
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Timeless saree faces threat from dragon nation NEW DELHI, Oct 28: After electronics and consumer goods, the handwoven saree, the quintessence of Indian woman........more Birla Sun
new biz NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Birla Sun Life Insurance has reported 186 per cent jump in annualised new business premium to......more Tax
collection to NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today expressed hope that tax collections would exceed 10 per......more Farmer
suicides not NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Dismissing suggestions that suicides by farmers in some parts of the country were linked to low.........more |
Govt invites India inc to participate in PSU sale and JVs NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Inviting private sector to participate in the disinvestment programme, Finance Minister P Chindambaram today said a Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) would be set up soon. Asking private companies to enter into joint venture partnership with PSUs and bid for ailing Government-owned companies, he said "BRPSE will take up some companies for their restructuring... Some companies will look for private strategic joint ventures ...Some companies will be closed down or sold." "This will provide you (India inc) the opportunity to take up the challenge," he said at CII National Conference. The minister said the proposed Investment Commission would not be a regulatory body but a proactive entity that would attract foreign and domestic investment, which was key to higher growth. Chidambaram said the Government has already announced setting up of a national manufacturing competitiveness council and second to come is the BRPSE. Highlighting the emerging opportunities for private sector in the country, he said when Government commits public funds in social sectors, the space for private sector is actually enlarged in sectors like steel, coal, IT and telecom sectors. Chidambaram said "space (for private sector) has enlarged in the last six months and I want you (India inc) to occupy it aggressively." He also said that India inc needs to step up investment in the social and agriculture sector. "It is in these areas of investment, we have faltered," he said, adding public spending in social sectors was not "subsidy-driven", but was "investment-driven". Urging industry captains to step up investment, he said the Gross Capital Formation (GCF) was at 26.4 per cent of GDP in 1994-95 and further to 27.3 per cent in 1995-96 but declined by 2 per cent thereafter. "We have to raise it to 27.3 per cent and then over 30 per cent," he said. In this context, Government-led efforts to boost investment could be inadequate, he said, adding that industry-led efforts could reap fruits. Chidambaram said the new Commission, which will mark a "sharp departure from past practice", would be headed by and composed of persons from India inc and not by bureaucrats and government servants. "One of you will indeed be the chairman of the Commission," he said and invited young professionals to be part of the Commission for 2-3 years. Chidambaram said there was a need to unlock capital from unproductive assets to spur investment. "India has a huge capital locked up in unproductive assets. That capital has to be unlocked," he said, adding the investment Commission will assist the country in doing so. He said the country requires massive investment in manufacturing, services and agriculture in the next 4-5 years. (PTI) |
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Three more transmission lines in
western MUMBAI, Oct 28: The Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd would add three more transmission lines in the western region by early next year with an investment of Rs 597 crore. The 400 Kv Itarsi-Dhule transmission line at Khandwa substation with an investment of Rs 110 crore would be ready for operation by November this year, a senior powergrid official told UNI yesterday on the sidelines of the four-day ‘sixth international infrastructure business summit and expo’ here. The 400 Kv Raipur-Bhadrawati-Chandrapur transmission line and the Tarapur three and four transmission system will be operational by February next year. An investment of Rs 250 crore and Rs 237 crore respectively has been made for setting up the two lines, he added. The three transmission lines are expected to ease the existing pressure on the transmission system in the western region. The western region comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Goa had blackouts in October and November last year due to breakdown in transmission. Besides, powergrid is working on setting up transmission lines in the western region of a cumulative length of 9588 km with an investment of Rs 7046 crore by March 2009, he said, adding that most of the lines were expected to be completed by 2007. Presently, powergrid has a 10328-km circuit line in the western region which is expected to go up to 199916 km by 2007. According to the official, powergrid plans to get Government’s approval for setting up four sub-stations at Damoh, Pune, Parli and Pandharpur with a cumulative length of 6844 km. The estimated cost of this project is about Rs 5000 crore, he added. He said powergrid projected its plans on a national scale in the next few years at the infrastructure summit which concluded today. He said it planned to double its transmission strength from the present 50,000 km circuit line. Powergrid, in a joint venture with Tata power, has also commenced work on setting up a hydro-electric project in Bhutan which can be used for transmission of electricity in the northern India. The investment on this project is expected to be around Rs 1374 crore, the official addd. (UNI) |
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Congestion at ports could hurt trade, exports: CII MUMBAI, Oct 28: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that the congestion at the JNPT and Nhava Sheva terminals can hurt trade and exports and turn away international customers. There is a huge backlog of import clearances at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust container terminal and the private Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT) resulting in accumulation of containers and material in buffer yards or other locations at ports, a CII statement said. This has led to led to severe congestion and adversely affected export shipments, it said. The two terminals handled 2.26 million Twenty Equivalent Foot Units (TEUs) in 2003-04, which represents 58.16 percent of the country’s share of containerised volumes. "Primarily, the problem is the result of inadequate infrastructure. At both these terminals, the trade volume has increased multifold in the last couple of years. Available infrastructure, however, has not been able to cope with this increase. As a result, there has been enormous congestion at both JNPT and NSICT", the statement said. Presently, on an average, it takes two-three weeks to process shipments while normally the transaction takes no more than two or three days. This delay is causing enormous concern to international customers and resultantly, the industry’s credibility with customers is being greatly tarnished, the statement said. "CII has been deeply involved in this issue for the last several months. Meetings have been held at all levels in Mumbai as well as Delhi and intense efforts are on to resolve the issue", it added. The congestion, which is several months old, is now showing signs of easing up, but the major area of concern remains the permanent and long-term solution which lies in the rapid expansion of port capacity, it stated. It said that CII has for long been advocating expansion of capacity as soon as ports reached the threshold operating level of 60-70 per cent. Infrastructure development, the CII said, is necessary to attract higher levels of investment - both domestic and foreign. There is a need to improve port related infrastructure and to make Indian manufacturers more competitive if it has to compete successfully in the international market. It said that to resolve the problem immediately, the ministries of Commerce and Industry and Shipping should declare a ‘crisis situation’ and mobilise resources at ports for rapid clearance of import shipments in the next few weeks. For cargo requiring additional time for customs clearance, port authorities and customs officials could arrange to move the pending containers to bonded areas outside the port to create space. This help decongest the ports in a short time, the CII statement said. Finally, it said, for exporters who operate factory stuffed containers, that is containers sealed by the excise department prior to departure from factory, port authorities could create a separate channel for entry into the port and accept transfer directly to the staging and loading area of the respective vessel rather than a buffer yard route. Such fast-track clearance will ensure that traders have no delay in availing vessel service on a weekly basis. It also urged rail PSU Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) to increase the availability of rolling stocks. If required, CONCOR should import additional flat wagons and Government could exempt such imports from import duty at least for some time. It said that CONCOR could charge the same freight rates for movement of containers from ICD to any port in India. This will help direct the cargo to other ports. (UNI) |
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Tax: GDP ratio to cross 10 pc after two decades: FM NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Despite apprehensions of a lower economic growth, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today hoped that a robust revenue collection would help attain a higher tax:GDP ratio of 10 percent this fiscal after a gap of 20 years. "This fiscal, if all goes well and all of you pay your taxes by October 31 and continue to pay taxes in the remaining part of the year, we hope to cross tax:GDP ratio of 10 per cent once again," Chidambaram said addressing a CII conference here. The projection on tax collections comes four months ahead of the budget for 2005-2006, which is expected to spell out major tax reforms. India’s tax:GDP ratio, an important parameter to judge the financial health of the government, was as high as 10.11-10.61 per cent during the second half of 1980s. "But in 1990s, tax:GDP ratio dipped and came down to 8.2 per cent in 2001-02 due to sharp cuts in tax rates —income tax, customs and excise duties," he said. Last fiscal, tax:GDP ratio was at 9.2 per cent mainly due to robust revenue collection backed by impressive economic growth of 8.2 per cent. The higher tax:GDP projection from the Finance Minister comes amidst reserve bank’s warning in the credit policy that economic growth may be lower at 6-6.5 per cent mainly due to oil price pressures and inadequate monsoons. RBI, however, saw a silver lining in the corporate sector, whose results have been good this year. This means higher corporate and income tax collections. A rise in tax:GDP ratio assumes significance in the wake of the fiscal responsibility and Budget Management Act, which imposes self-discipline upon the Government in managing its resources. After the UPA Government assumed office in June this year, Chidambaram said "we walked the talk by notifying the FRBM Act three days before the budget. We did that to signal to the world that we are serious about fiscal discipline and responsibility." Even after the FRBM Act, which imposes a great deal of fiscal discipline on the Government, Chidambaram said the Centre adopted a large number of schemes for rural India and social sectors meant to generate more jobs. He said the food-for-work scheme intends to utilize the "mountain of food grains" while ensuring more jobs for the masses. The scheme to restore all water bodies was intended to double the water storage capacity in the country by 2014 and ensure that the farm sector did not depend on the uncertain monsoons, he said. The setting up of national manufacturing competitiveness council and upgradation of Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) was also undertaken to create world class technicians who could improve India’s competitiveness in the global arena. The FM also outlined the UPA’s commitment towards the backward classes of the population in providing universal education under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and medical care. (PTI) |
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Timeless saree faces threat from dragon nation NEW DELHI, Oct 28: After electronics and consumer goods, the handwoven saree, the quintessence of Indian womanhood through five millennia, is under threat from cheap Chinese textile imports, much to the distress of the weavers. "The textured and hand woven saree is facing a difficult and challenging time due to the onslaught of cheap chiffon, crepes, chinon and satin imports from China," author Rita Kapoor Chisti told UNI at a talk on the saree, organised by the Delhi crafts council here. The Chinese synthetic material was available at a mere Rs 9 to Rs 16 per metre, making it almost impossible for our weavers to compete with this mass produced cloth, Ms Chisti said. Sixty grams of Chinese crepe is selling at Rs 80 per metre. The same quality of our crepe sells at Rs 160 per metre. Some of the capital’s glamourous and successful women graced the occasion draped in exquisite six yards of silk from the various states of the country. Among them were designer Meera Ali, Danseuses Madhvi Mudgal, Leela Samson, Aditi Mangaldas, Aditi Jadeja, Geeta Chandran, businesswomen Vidhi Singhania, Pia Singh, Alpana Gujral, Raseel Gujral, Sunita Kohli and Bindiya Jain. The Delhi Crafts Council is holding an exhibition ‘saree 2004’ that gets underway today and will feature sarees created by 25 master weavers and printers representing the finest skills from across the country in Bandhej, Ikat, Uppada, natural dye block prints, Mangalgiri, Jamdani, Chikan embroidery among others. The three-day exhibition, into its sixth year now, aims to promote this unique heritage represented by sarees that are a part of the world renowned Indian textile heritage and present infinite variations in texture, design and colour, said Delhi Crafts Council member Ms Uma. The skill of our weavers who create such intricate and exquisite designs on sarees could be lost forever if it is not nurtured. But, unfortunately, not many efforts are forthcoming at the Governmental level too, said Ms Chisti, who is putting finishing touches to the third volume of her book documenting the history of the saree. Market demand, she said, was turning weavers into embroiderers. "we have moved away from textured drapes to shiny, smooth and fitting clothes... That is the look we are promoting and weavers are merely embellising cloth with different types of work." We are the only country that can produce varying textiles, so why should we only produce cloth that has a smooth and shiny finish. When we have variety, which is our strength, why should we opt for the unifrom and standardised stuff that is done everywhere, she queried. She said it was unfortunate that such a beautiful and colourful garment, which dated back 5000 years and found mention in the Vedas, was thought to be dull and passe. Foreign travellers had documented the garment that could be sensuous or sensible as required. After all, Rani Laxmibai, Belawadi Mallamma and Kittur Chennamma fought enemy troops on horseback, wearing the saree. Dastkar chairperson Laila Tyabji noted that the saree was a very versatile garment that could be worn as shorts, trousers, flowing gown-like or convenient skirt-wise — all without a single stitch. ‘The unstiched sari is a very flexible garment and can be draped in various ways as against the stiched western wear.’ Sarees are never featured in elle, cosmopolitan or are associated with unsuccessful women who don t have attitude, while nothing could be farther from the truth, Ms Tyabji noted. She narrated an incident when she was in the Philippines, a Filipino woman came up to her and complimented her for her attire. She told her never give up the traditional garment like the Filipinos had done, taking to western wear which was not suited to their form or climatic conditions. Ms Tyabji said the saree’s strength was that it becomes the person who wears it, lending itself to the wearer’s shape, size and personality. She too echoed Ms Chisti’s concern that the skill of India’s craftspersons and weavers was slowly being lost. The economics behind the saree is making it unviable to sustain the weavers, she said and recalled that in December last year some Chinese textile businessmen took four of the best weavers from Varanasi to Beijing to replicate and mass produce the Benarasi sari. The result is that thousands of Indian weavers in the powerloom sector are now out of business. Estimates varied but of the 15-20 million craftspeople in India, 10 million-odd were weavers, dyers, block printers who were facing rough times, Ms Tyabji said. However, Ms Chisti, who plans to introduce courses next year on the various ways of draping the saree, refused to ring the death-knell for the six-yard wonder or for the weavers. Even if saree wearing is going down, the skill of the weavers and printers can be effectively channelised to make other products like fabrics, other garments or furnishings. Patterend fabric is our strength and we should capitalise on that. We should plan markets and business strategies for the weavers so they become independent and capable of facing competition. Styles in wearing saree vary from region to region. Gujarat style and Bengali style are different as are the Mangalorean, Kannadiga, Kodava, Tamilian, Malayali, and so on. The saree is worn in at least 10 to 15 styles throughout India, though the way of draping it is today standardised. (UNI) |
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Birla Sun new biz premium up 186
pc, to NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Birla Sun Life Insurance has reported 186 per cent jump in annualised new business premium to Rs 238 crore as on September 30, 2004 on the back of fast growth in unit-linked plans. The premium revenue for the period stood at Rs 310 crore, registering a growth of 207 per cent, Birla Sun Life CEO Nani Javeri told newspersons here. "Birla Sun Life promoters will inject around Rs 40 to 60 crore additional capital this fiscal as per the growing business requirements," he said. Birla Sun Life recently increased its capital by Rs 25 crore to Rs 315 crore. The company is a 26:74 joint venture between the Birla group and the US-based Sun Life and has covered over 6,50,000 lives since inception. Its total Sum assured has crossed Rs 17,900 crore. Mr Javeri said for the first half of this fiscal, Birla Sun Life achieved a high persistency ratio by premium of around 96 per cent. Birla Sun Life opened 5 new branches till September 2004 this fiscal and plans to add 6 more branches in the current year, taking the total strength to 44 branches spread over 33 cities. A branch will also be opened in Dehra Dun today. (UNI) |
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| Tax collection to exceed 10 pc of GDP
this year, hopes FM NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today expressed hope that tax collections would exceed 10 per cent of GDP this fiscal against 9.2 per cent last fiscal. It is a matter of concern that over the years, the tax-GDP ratio declined because of lowering of tax rates, Mr Chidambaram said during his address at the CII annual conference here. The ratio declined to 9.2 per cent last fiscal against the average 10.61 per cent in 1990s, he said. "I hope that if you continue to pay taxes, the tax-GDP ratio will exceed 10 per cent this fiscal," he said, addressing to delegates in the conference. Direct tax collections were up about 33 per cent to Rs 44,143 crore till September 28 this fiscal, while indirect tax collections rose 12.23 per cent at Rs 74,500 crore. Income tax mop up was at Rs 24,320 crore during April-September this year, almost 70 per cent higher than Rs 14,404 crore during the year-ago period, according to latest figures. On the indirect tax front, customs duty mop-up rose 8.84 per cent to Rs 23,167 crore, while excise duty collection went up 10.11 per cent to Rs 44,494 crore. Service tax collection registered a whopping 70 per cent growth at Rs 4,700 crore. The Government had expressed concern at a just 10 per cent growth in excise collection despite a robust industrial growth in the country during the first half of this fiscal. The Finance Ministry is soon expected to work out an institutional mechanism to improve the excise collections from various sectors. The administrative task of the Finance Ministry was to check tax evasion by striking a balance between cohesive methods like raids and seizures and persuasive efforts, a Finance Ministry official had said. The ministry has already constituted a committee headed by Chief Economic Adviser Ashok Lahiri to look into the entire duty structure for petroleum products. A similar exercise may be carried out for other relevant sectors as well. (UNI) |
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Farmer suicides not linked to
low returns NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Dismissing suggestions that suicides by farmers in some parts of the country were linked to low returns from grain cultivation, the Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said the unfortunate incidents mainly took place in cotton growing areas. "If you look at such incidents which have taken place in states like Punjab, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, it is clear that these have been due to failure of cotton crop (`Kapas’)", Pawar said on the sidelines of a conference here. He said it was unfortuante that expensive and spurious insecticides and seeds had been sold to some gullible farmers and this had taken its toll on them. Either the Kapas crop failed or it was sold at throw away prices due to its quality leading to huge losses for the farmers who in despair took the extreme step, he added. The minister said a new seeds bill will be introduced in parliament shortly to ensure availability of quality seeds to farmers. (PTI) |
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IMF sees S Korea economic recovery from early 2005 SEOUL, Oct 28: South Korea’s economy is undergoing a period of adjustment, but the Government’s decisive measures and sound fundamentals should enable it to begin recovering from early 2005, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday. The IMF also said in a statement following a recent visit by its officials that South Korea’s large companies were highly profitable and its banking system was healthy. (AGENCIES) |
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Dow Jones Asia weekly goes monthly, costing 80 jobs NEW YORK, Oct 27: Dow Jones Co is changing its unprofitable far eastern economic review magazine to a monthly from a weekly, resulting in the loss of a tenth of the company’s jobs in Asia and a fourth-quarter charge. The publisher of the Wall Street journal said on Wednesday it will cut 80 jobs following the change to the Asian current affairs magazine and take a fourth-quarter charge of about 3 million, or 2 cents a share. The magazine, published in Hong Kong since 1946, has lost money for the past six years, chairman and chief executive Peter Kann said in a statement. The monthly review’s business model will rely mostly on circulation though it will still accept "select" advertising, he said. The first issue of the monthly far eastern economic review will be published in December. (AGENCIES) |
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China says to speed up drafting of anti-trust law BEIJING, Oct 28: China will speed up work on a long-awaited anti-trust law that is expected to address concerns over both foreign and Government monopolies, state media said on Thursday. A draft of the law had been handed to the state council, China’s cabinet, and sent to other Government offices for review and comment, the China daily quoted Shang Ming, head of the Commerce Ministry’s anti-trust office, as saying. "The draft anti-trust law contains articles regulating monopoly agreements abuse of dominant market status, large-scale consolidations and administrative monopolies," Shang was quoted as saying. Shang gave no timetable for the law, which has been in the works for a decade, but China has voiced increasing concern over possible abuse of market position, particularly by foreign companies. But shang also took aim at Government monopolies, saying that local protectionism threatened China’s efforts to create a market economy. "Administrative monopolies are a problem that more attention should be paid to in the anti-trust law," Shang said. (AGENCIES) EMC is top vendor in Indian storage market: IDC NEW DELHI, Oct 28: EMC corporation, global leader in products and solutions for information storage and management, has performed better than the Indian palyers to reach the top position in the second quarter of 2004 by consistently growing its market share over the last five quarters, IDC has said. According to IDC’s quarterly disk storage tracker, EMC’s market share in the total external storage market increased from 3.5 per cent in second quarter of 2003 to 34.6 per cent in the same period this year in revenue terms. On a worldwide basis, IDC reported that revenue from EMC’s family of external disk storage systems grew faster on a year-over-year basis than external disk storage systems from any of the next four largest suppliers — Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Hitachi — during the first half of 2004. The IDC quarterly establishes EMC as the only vendor in India to successfully double its market share on a quarter-on-quarter basis and emerge as the fastest growing external storage vendor in the India. (UNI) |
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