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Bajaj Hindusthan NEW DELHI, May 11: Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd today said it has raised $100 million through issue of Global Depository .....more Punjab
to have 33 pc CHANDIGARH, May 11: Enthused by better results from BT cotton, one-third of the cotton growers in Punjab are going ......more Par
panel for NEW DELHI, May 11: A Parliamentary committee has suggested that a national gas grid, to link various supply ....more Hyundai to launch new Sonata in July, mulls replacement scheme SEOUL, May 11: Hyundai motors is all set to launch an all-new Sonata in India by July-end, retaining the price at about Rs .....more |
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FDI in retail still under discussion stage: Chidambaram NEW DELHI, May 11: Amid stiff opposition from Left parties, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the proposal......more Jaya
Bachchan concerned NEW DELHI, May 11: Noted film actress and SP member Jaya Bachchan today expressed her concern in the Rajya Sabha.....more Premier
launches MPV CHENNAI, May 11: The Premier Automobiles Ltd, now Premier Ltd, has introduced the country’s first compact Multi......more Inudstry
bigwigs NOIDA, May 11: The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority’s (GNIDA) efforts at streamlining procedural norms for setting up of industry.....more |
Bajaj Hindusthan raises $100 mn through GDRs & FCCBs NEW DELHI, May 11: Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd today said it has raised $100 million through issue of Global Depository Receipts and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The sugar major has raised $100 million through the issue of 20,833,000 GDRs, aggregating $60 million and $40 million through the issue of zero-coupon five-year convertible bonds (both excluding the greenshoe), the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The GDRs and the convertible bonds will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Citigroup acted as the sole book-runner and lead manager to the transaction, it said. "We are extremely pleased with the successful outcome of our capital raising exercise. We believe this capital raising by Bajaj Hindusthan is a clear testimony of the strong faith international investors have shown in our business strategy and growth story. These funds will enable us to augment capacity and strengthen existing position as the pre-eminent sugar company in India," said Kushagra Bajaj, chief executive officer, Bajaj Hindusthan. (PTI) |
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Punjab to have 33 pc cotton under BT variety CHANDIGARH, May 11: Enthused by better results from BT cotton, one-third of the cotton growers in Punjab are going for the genetically modified variety in the ongoing season, according to a top Government official. Two lakh of the six lakh hectares of cotton fields in the state were being covered under BT cotton during the current sowing operations, Punjab Agriculture (cotton) Joint Director Jasbir Singh Bains told UNI here. The total area of cotton cultivation shows a significant increase from last year’s 5.09 lakh hectares covered under the crop in Punjab, mainly because of the good yield, he added. "The farmers are excited with successful initial experiments last year, when over 20,000 hectares were covered under BT cotton without the State Government’s nod," he said. The crop had expectedly remained undamaged by the american bollworm, he pointed out. The month-long sowing exercise will be completed by May 15 in the state’s Malwa cotton belt. Stating that the sowing of BT cotton variety has now got a formal nod from the State Government, the experts, both within the Government and outside organisations, were keeping their fingers crossed to know the results. These incuded the input costs which had gone very high for the want of pesticides to kill the American bollworm and other pests. An official with the pest control and land protection wing of the Department of Agriculture section said introduction of BT cotton would reduce the number of pesticide-sprays "to even half". The cotton production in Punjab had significantly increased last season (2004-05) up to 2,087 bales, with an unexpectedly high yield of 697 kg lint per hectare. "Of course, conducive climatic conditions, which avoided bollworm attack due to dry conditions with less moisture, helped it," the official added. The production was 1,083 bales in 2002-03 and 1478 bales in 2003-04. Monsanto, the only company with its patent rights over the BT cotton seed, has further patented three companies to market this genetically-modified seed. This has been challenged by some environmentalists and other experts. Food and trade policy analyst Devinder Sharma has termed the BT cotton variety as a "biological pesticide" to which the American bollworm would get immune in three years of its constant sowing. "The last three to four years of its sowing in Andhra Pradesh, parts of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra has shown that the American bollworm insect is ultimately able to attack the BT cotton plant as well," pointed out the Delhi-based Sharma. "The insect will become resistant to bt gene in three years from now in Punjab as well," he said, adding that the farmers would then be in a much bigger trouble. Meanwhile, M G Ranga Agriculture University in Andhra Pradesh has come out with a feedback report on BT cotton plant, stating that the staple length of its flower was far less than expected. This resulted in the low market price of the BT cotton produce in Andhra Pradesh, a loss of Rs 150 to Rs 200 to the farmers. Secondly, the BT cotton variety was not resistant to other seven insects which attacked the cotton plantation, the report said. The ‘variety approval committee’ of the Punjab Agriculture University has given its nod to the sowing of BT cotton seed in the state on the basis of the study conducted by the US-based mansanto itself under the scanner of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, the Committee’s member Gurdial Singh said. (UNI) |
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Par panel for Govt-controlled national gas grid NEW DELHI, May 11: A Parliamentary committee has suggested that a national gas grid, to link various supply sources with the markets in different parts of the country, be built by a Government agency. The Standing Committee on Petroleum & Natural Gas, in its latest report, expressed "displeasure over the fact that even after two decades of conception of the plan of a nationwide gas pipeline network, the Government is still considering it as a concept." "In view of the increasing gas availability from various sources, including LNG, the Committee recommends that the Government should develop a national gas grid on the lines of power grid, under Government control, to ensure regional balance keeping in view the uneven availability of gas in various regions of the country," the report said. State-owned Gas Firm GAIL (India) Ltd is pitching for being nominated the sole agency for building the 8000-km grid. The Government has not yet finalised a policy to facilitate the development of a nationwide network of Inter-Connected Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines. India currently has one inter-state high-pressure transmission pipeline (hbj) apart from some regional pipeline networks by different firms. The Petroleum Ministry, in its reply to the Committee, said "the Government is finalising a National Gas Pipeline Policy which envisages progressive development of a nation-wide gas grid in a competitive environment, involving both the public and private sectors, under the overview of a regulator." "Implementation of different pipeline segments will depend upon achieving appropriate sources of supply and marketing tie-ups." A number of gas discoveries have been reported on the western and eastern coasts and onland in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Besides, Petronet LNG Ltd is importing 5 million tonnes of LNG at Dahej and shell 2.5 million tonnes at Hazira (both in Gujarat). "With increasing availability of gas from various sources, there is a need for development of natural gas pipeline infrastructure to link up various supply sources to the existing and potential markets," the report said. (PTI) |
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Hyundai to launch new Sonata in July, mulls replacement scheme SEOUL, May 11: Hyundai motors is all set to launch an all-new Sonata in India by July-end, retaining the price at about Rs 16 lakh, and may also offer a replacement scheme to the existing customers of the premier Sedan. Disclosing this here, B V R Subbu, president, Hyundai Motors India Ltd, said "quality audit test for the new model is underway. The test has to confirm that cars made in India are same as those produced in the US market." The new model would be available in automatic and petrol versions, he said, adding the price has been retained at around Rs 16 lakh. The company had stopped selling Sonata cars in India about six months back before selling 5,500-5,800 units. Asked whether the company would offer a scheme to the existing Sonata customers to replace their car with the new model, Subbu said "we are looking at some options. Nothing has been finalised. But in all probability, we may offer some replacement scheme." On the main features of the new model, he said it would come with a completely redesigned body and a far more fuel-efficient engine. All safety features are on par with those existing in Europe. The company is targeting to sell about 2,000 units annually and the car would be manufactured at its plant in Chennai, Subbu said, adding six cars have already been produced for conducting audit test. (PTI) |
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FDI in retail still under discussion stage: Chidambaram NEW DELHI, May 11: Amid stiff opposition from Left parties, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the proposal to open up retail sector to foreign players is still under the "discussion stage". "FDI in retail was first mooted by the Commerce Ministry. It is still under discussion stage," he said after the launch of e-payment facility for excise and service tax here. Some of the big retail chains like walmart and metro, which are keen to enter the world’s second largest market, are watching the developments and policy changes in India. Top executives of some of these firms are slated to visit India. However, UPA’s key allies, including Left parties, have been opposing the move to allow FDI in retail. They have also opposed the pension and banking reforms that were announced by chidambaram last year. While the PFRDA bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance after its introduction a few weeks ago, Government is yet to table the bills to amend the Banking Regulation Act and the RBI Act. The cabinet had approved the two banking bills last week and they were slated to be introduced in this session. Chidambaram declined to give details on the status of the banking reform bills but said "we still have a few days (left for the conclusion of the budget session)." (PTI) |
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Jaya Bachchan concerned over
Chinese NEW DELHI, May 11: Noted film actress and SP member Jaya Bachchan today expressed her concern in the Rajya Sabha over the Chinese textiles, particularly silk, flooding the Indian market. She raised her concern during question hour, stating that she noticed during the recent Lakme India Fashion Week that it was only the Chinese silk which was predominant in the market. Answering her supplementary, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said the Indian silk must compete in terms of quality and price in order to survive in the global marketplace. He said India imports silk worth Rs 500 crore. However, if the Government finds that any dumping was being done, it could launch anti-dumping investigation. (UNI) |
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Premier launches MPV ‘Sigma’ and LCV ‘Roadstar’ CHENNAI, May 11: The Premier Automobiles Ltd, now Premier Ltd, has introduced the country’s first compact Multi-Purpose Diesel Vehicle (MPV) ‘Sigma’ and a two-tonner Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) ‘Roadstar’. Addressing a press conference here today, Premier sales and marketing head Atul Akolkar said the company had carried out extensive surveys to identify "an unexplored niche segment". A 18-city-survey revealed the need for a diesel MPV and thus was born Sigma, he said adding that the changing trends in transport of goods also reflected the needs for a two-in-one LCV suited for both inter-city and intra-city transport. Roadstar had been designed to meet this requirement, he added. Both the vehicles had been developed in technical collaboration with China Motor Corporation, Roc-Taiwan, an affiliate of Mitsubishi. The products had been launched two months ago, he said adding the Pune plant capacity was to churn out 10,000 units per annum. This would be enhanced to 15,000 or 18,000 after the next 12 months. To a query, he said Rs 35 crore additional investments had been made while the engine was sourced from Hindustan Motors. An estimated Rs 75 crore investment was proposed taking the enhanced production into consideration, Mr Akolkar said. The import component in the vehicles was 25 per cent, he added. In the first month, 75 vehicles had been sold and the break-even of 350 units per month was targeted by six months. Efforts were on to bring the production capacity to 1,000 units per month by September or October 2005. A total of 750 people were employed at Pune. Responding to another query, he said the company had received enquiries from Nepal and Sri Lanka but would take the offers after six months. While the Bharat Stage II compliant Sigma was priced Rs 3.95 lakh ex-showroom Pune and Rs 4.08 lakh Chennai, Roadstar was priced Rs 3.25 lakh ex-showroom Pune and Rs 3.36 lakh Chennai. (UNI) |
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Inudstry bigwigs heading for Greater Noida NOIDA, May 11: The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority’s (GNIDA) efforts at streamlining procedural norms for setting up of industry in the township are bearing fruit. Several big players including BPCL, Honda scooters and motorcycles and Nissin Koyogo are among those setting up plants and centres in the industrial township and officials attribute this to the easing of entry barriers. GNIDA had introduced a single table process for industrial development, under which clearances were streamlined to cut down on procedural hassles. Also the administration has been continuously monitoring the progress of units, including export oriented units, coming up in the area, officials said. While BPCL is setting up an Industrial Research Centre, a toy city and women entrepreneur park have also been set up. A 25-acre trade mart is also being developed in Greater Noida. (UNI) |
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Air India badly needs new aircraft to meet growth BEIJING, May 11: Air India, which is expanding at a rapid pace, badly needs more aircraft to fly to new destinations like Beijing as dry leasing option has almost reached a saturation point, a senior official said here. "We badly need the new fleet," Commercial Director of Air India V K Verma said without going into the lingering controversy over the national carrier’s recent decision to buy 50 aircraft from boeing, arch-rival of airbus. "We have grown at the rate of 30 per cent every year in the past three years by dry leasing aircraft. We have almost come to the saturation point by dry leasing aircraft. We need new aircraft to be inducted," Verma told PTI in an interview here. Verma, who was elected as one of the six new vice presidents of the International Badminton Federation (IBF) at its annual general body meeting here, said Air India hopes to start flying to Beijing in 2006. "Beijing should be on Air India’s map by late summer of 2006", he said noting the delay is due to the fact that the next batch of aircraft which have been ordered by Air India on dry lease would be delivered only in the summer of 2006. Air India started flying to Shanghai, China’s commercial hub, in December 2003. "Air India’s flights to Shanghai is doing well, though not entirely based on the China traffic. India-China traffic is about one-third and the other two-third is made up by India-Bangkok and Bangkok-Shanghai traffic," he said. Air India has increased frequency of the flights to Shanghai from twice a week to four services a week. "However, considering that the India-Shanghai flight is just over a year old now, we are reasonably satisfied with the results," Verma said. "Our attempt would be to increase the Shanghai operations to a daily flight and commence Beijing operations to four times a week and thereafter take it to a daily flight. Our master plan is to have a daily flight from Beijing and Shanghai to Delhi and Mumbai, crossing over at Bangkok," he added. Air India is going to increase its capacity to southeast Asia, he said, pointing out that from July 7 the airline will launch flights to the South Korean capital Seoul. "We are going to start four flights to Seoul via Hong Kong. We are increasing operations to Osaka, Japan. We are starting non-stop flights from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. All these flights will start from July seven," Verma said. Commenting on the Air India Express, the country’s first budget airline, Verma said it has proved to be "a great successful experiment." "It has made travelling reasonable and honest for the public and the response has been phenomenal," he said. Air-India Express with a fleet of three Boeing 737-800s aircraft at the time of the launch on May 3, will operate 40 services a week from five points in India - Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi and Mumbai to four destinations in the Gulf - Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Al Ain. (PTI) |
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Reliance, Tatas caused Rs 184 cr
loss to NEW DELHI, May 11: Private telecom companies Reliance Infocomm and Tata Tele Services Ltd have caused a loss of Rs 184 crore to three state-run insurance firms between 2002-05 on risk cover for mobile handsets and default payments, the Comptroller and Auditor General has said. National Insurance Company has suffered a loss of Rs 126.58 crore, Oriental Insurance Rs 16.05 crore and General Insurance Corporation a loss of Rs 41.37 crore, CAG said in its report tabled in Parliament last week. These losses are on the basis of paid and outstanding claims and expenses. The losses on account of policies issued to Reliance Infocomm and its associates total Rs 180.66 crore while that on policies to TTSL was Rs 3.34 crore. Going into details of the policies issued, CAG noted that the Mumbai Divisional Office of NIC issued two policies in 2002-03 and 2003-04 to Reliance and one to Tata tele in 2004-05. OIC Divisional Office also issued a policy during 2004-05 to Reliance to underwrite risks associated with mobile handsets and default payments without careful evaluation of the risk involved and other technical aspects. Pulling up the insurance companies, CAG said Divisional Offices of NIC and OIC failed to comply with regulatory norms while offering "tailor-made" risk covers to Reliance and Tata that led to the losses to the general insurers. The two firms did not ensure compliance of guidelines issued by regulator IRDA, General Insurance Public Sector Association and their respective head offices, CAG said. "Insurance policies were devised primarily to suit the requirement of the insured (Tata and Reliance), without safeguarding the insurer’s interest owing to non-adoption of prudent guidelines. Failure on part of NIC and OIC to extend special contingency policies on mobile handsets without risk analysis and reinsurance protection resulted in a loss of Rs 65.79 crore and liability of Rs 118.21 crore on account of pending claims, it added. The two insurance companies received claims for risk cover on handsets and default payments far in excess of the premium paid during the period upto October 2004. Giving details, CAG said against a premium of Rs 27.39 crore during December 2002 to October 2004, NIC received claims for Rs 91.23 crore upto October 2004. Of this, claims for only Rs 24.69 crore were settled and the balance for Rs 66.54 crore were pending. On the basis of paid and outstanding claims, NIC suffered a loss of Rs 49.70 crore and GIC Rs 14.14 crore. In the default policy issued to Reliance in June 2003, NIC recieved claims for Rs 152.34 crore against the premium of Rs 55.71 crore up to October 2004. Of this, it settled claims for Rs 120.6 crore and claims for Rs 31.74 crore were pending. In the default policy issued to TTSL in April 2004, NIC recieved claims of Rs 9.54 crore against premium of Rs 6.20 crore up to October 2004. Out of this, it settled claims for Rs 3.42 crore and the balance for Rs 6.12 crore were pending. Oriental insurance also recieved claims much more than the premium paid. In the default policy issued to Reliance for handsets, OIC recieved claims totaling Rs 63.53 crore against the premium of Rs 17.02 crore. The insurer settled claims for Rs 19.64 crore, repudiated claims for Rs 30.08 crore and balance claims for Rs 13.81 crore were pending. (PTI) |
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Air-India to introduce flights to Birmingham and Toronto MUMBAI, May 11: National carrier Air-India is all set to introduce new flights to Birmingham and Toronto from May 15. The thrice-a-week Delhi-Amritsar-Birhimham-Amritsar-Delhi— flight would be operated with standarised timings with the state-of-the-art, fly-by-wire, Boeing 777-222 Er aircrafts, an official Air-India release said. The first class seats in the Boeing 777S are of the "flat bed" type with privacy partitions. The executive class has been provided with slumberettes. There is also an "in-arm-video" system with LCD displays, while "multi-channel" audio systems are available in all the three classes. With the launch of these new flights, Air-India will provide to the people of Punjab, direct and convenient services to Birmingham and Toronto. These services, which are a part of Air-India’s sustained drive to expand its network, will take the number of flights operated by the airline to the United Kingdom from 18 to 21 per week. The flights would depart on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, while the arrivals would be on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays. AI-187 would depart from Delhi at 0730 hrs and reach Toronto at 1615 hrs local time, while on return AI-188 from Toronto would depart at 1110 hrs local time and arrive in Delhi at 0350 hrs local time. (UNI) UK finds banned substances in Indian chilli powder NEW DELHI, May 11: The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency had found banned substances in chilli powder exported from India, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, E V K S Elangovan said in a written reply to the upper House that the agency has named some Indian exporters who allegedly exported the contaminated chilli powder. He said the chilli powder claimed to have been used in the manufacture of recalled products in UK, was exported in 2002, before the introduction of the mandatory testing regime of the spices board for chilli powder/chilli products. Spices board has started conducting compulsory sampling of all chilli products export cosnignments from India and testing it for Sudan I,II, III and IV and Aflatoxin. With effect from March ten, 2005, no consignment of chilli, chilli products or other food products containing chilli in whatever form shall be exported unless a certificate is issued by the spices board certifying that the consignment does not contain Sudani to IV and Aflatoxin beyond acceptable levels. Major chilli producing states had also been advised to initiate and sustain action with specific objective of preventing use of Sudan 1 by the food industry. However, all these have not affected export of chilli products from India, the minister said. He said the total export of chilli from India was 1,38,000 tonnes (valued at Rs 499.01 crores) during 2004-05 as compared to 86,575 tonnes (valued at Rs 366.88 crores) in 2003-04. (UNI) |
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