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'Reformist' Budget Gives
CII Unalloyed Pleasure (Go
To Top) NEW DELHI: Ashok Soota, president of the CII, has wholeheartedly praised the maiden Union Budget presented by finance minister Jaswant Singh. "We at CII expected a growth-oriented, reformist budget from the finance minister. But we couldn't imagine the extent to which he would take the reform process forward", said Soota. "This Union Budget 2003-04 takes into account almost all of CII's recommendations, and in fact has exceeded all our expectations", he added. Soota's praise was echoed by Anand Mahindra, vice-president of the CII, and Tarun Das, its director-general. "Not only does this Budget set a sensible, reform-driven fiscal framework for sustained economic growth, it is also written in simple, no-nonsense, and wonderfully constructed language", commented Mahindra. "I am delighted to see so many reform measures - covering direct as well as indirect taxes, infrastructure, reduction in interest rate on small savings, and several other areas. Personally, the automobile industry is delighted that excise duty on motor vehicles and MUVs have been reduced from 32 per cent to 24 per cent." A delighted Tarun Das said, "This budget is a class act. It balances economic and political needs; creates an environment for entrepreneurial growth; and is sensible as it goes forward on tax reforms and rationalisation". The CII is happy with virtually all the key elements of this Budget. In particular, it is delighted, among other items, with: a) halving the corporate surcharge - with the hope that the remaining half will become history in the next Budget; b) eliminating the dividend tax in the hands of the recipient, and instead levying a 12.5 per cent dividend payout tax in the hands of the corporates - more or less as it was before last year; c) eliminating long-term capital gains tax on listed securities; d) giving importance to manufacturing by helping consolidate recent gains through a creative fiscal package; e) the major fiscal reform package for textiles, apparels, garments and made-ups; f) reduction of duties on tyres, aerated waters, PFY, airconditioners and motor vehicles from 32 per cent to 24 per cent, and g) reducing the peak rate of customs duty from 30 per cent to 25 per cent. The CII is also delighted with this Budget's reforms on the personal income tax front. "Eliminating surcharge on people earning taxable income up to Rs.8.5 lakh is a step in the right direction", said Soota. 8.63
Million Tonnes of Gold Ore Found in Andhra (Go
To Top) NEW DELHI: The Geological Survey of India has estimated a deposit of 8.63 million tonnes gold ore in Dona sector in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. This information was given by the minister for mines, Ramesh Bais, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Regarding gold mining at the discovered sites, the minister said that as per national mineral policy, 1993 the exploration/exploitation of the gold deposits has been thrown open to private sector participation, both domestic and foreign. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation), Act 1957 was amended in December 1999 to make the provisions more investor-friendly. Inflation Rises to 5 Per
Cent (Go To Top)
NEW DELHI: The country's inflation crossed the five per cent mark and stood at 5.04 per cent for the week ended February 8. The point-to-point price change, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, rose by another 0.18 per cent for the latest period from 4.86 per cent a week ago, mainly due to costlier primary and manufactured products. The WPI rose by 0.2 per cent to 168.7 from previous week's 168.4. Prices of both food and non-food articles went up. A one per cent rise in the price of non-food articles and 0.2 per cent in food articles, pushed up primary articles' group index by 0.3 per cent to 176. CII to Open 10th Overseas
Office in Kuala Lumpur (Go To Top)
NEW DELHI: The Confederation of Indian Industry has sent a 25-member senior level business delegation to Kuala Lumpur to participate in the NAM business forum meeting to be held on February 23 and 24. JN Godrej, former CII president and chairman of CII ASEAN committee, is leading the CII team, which includes Tarun Das, director-general, and Dilip Chenoy, deputy director-general, besides other key industry leaders. CII will also formerly announce the opening of its 10th overseas office. It now has four of its 10 overseas (Afghanisatan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa) offices in NAM countries, says a release. 18 MNCs Get Show-cause Notice
for FERA Violation (Go To Top)
NEW DELHI: Show-cause notices have been issued to 18 multi-national companies for alleged violation of foreign exchange regulations involving an amount in excess of Rs 170 crore. These include Samsung, Sony, Nokia, Ericsson, Mitsubishi, Deutsche Bank and Bank of Tokyo. The others are Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, Hyundai Motor, Daewoo Motors, Merubeni, Motorola, LG Electronics, Sanwa Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Sakura Bank and Fuji Bank. Official sources said on Friday that following investigations under FERA, it was found that 18 MNCs paid salaries and perks abroad to their employees working in India without obtaining the necessary permission of the Reserve Bank of India. IOC, ONGC, GAIL Not To
Be Privatised: Shourie (Go To Top)
NEW DELHI: The Government has ruled out privatisation of Indian Oil, ONGC and GAIL, at the same time assuring that all security concerns would be taken care of while divesting BPCL and HPCL, two oil PSUs. "The Government has decided not to privatise IOC, ONGC and GAIL, which will remain as public sector undertakings," disinvestment minister Arun Shourie told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday while winding up a short duration discussion on the subject. He said that about 80 per cent of retail trade of oil will remain with the Government even after privatisation of HPCL and BPCL. Shourie added that all necessary provisions were being incorporated in the share-holders agreement of the two oil PSUs to ensure that national security concerns were fully addressed. Kinetic Launches India's
Costliest Two-wheeler (Go To Top) MUMBAI: Kinetic Engineering on Tuesday launched the 250 cc 'Aquila' at a price of Rs 1.45 lakh, making it the costliest two-wheeler in the country. Though the Pune-based company had planned to sell 100 motorcycles, brought from the stables of Korean collaborator Hyosung Motors, it now intends to double the imports and sell them at five selected cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune and Bangalore. "We had planned to sell 100 but the demand for Aquila has been such that we intend to roll out double the number", Sulajja Motwani, Joint Managing Director, told reporters here. This v-twin oil coiled engine bike would be available in the market in 60 days. The company also intends to roll out under the GF brand name a sports version of the 165cc bike, and 'Velocity' for urban commuters. 'Aquila' is the fourth offering from Kinetic in the motorcycle segment after 'Challenger', 'GF 125' and 'Boss'. Orange Production in Nagpur
Hit by Untimely Rainfall (Go
To Top) NAGPUR: Orange farmers in Nagpur suffered huge losses due to untimely hailstroms which hit the region on Sunday. Nagpur in western Maharashtra State is known as the orange basket of the country. "All the oranges are destroyed. All of them have fallen and are squashed. Most of the yield is destroyed," said Shriram Apte, a farmer. Farmers, who were hoping to sell their yield in the market from next month, have been left gasping due to sudden rains. The standing crops of wheat, gram and vegetables have also been hit. The Nagpur variety of tangarines, popularly known as the Mandarin orange, is widely marketed within India and abroad with an annual turnover of 10 million US dollars. Oil, Gas Struck off Mumbai
Coast (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has struck huge oil and gas reserves west of its gigantic Bassein gas field. However, the reserves are yet to be tested and a formal announcement is likely only next month, according to sources. India Not in Need of Any Assistance:
IMF (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that India has "comfortable" foreign exchange reserves and does not need any assistance from it. "India does not need any financing from IMF considering that the country had 73 billion dollars of forex reserves", said James Gordon, the Washington-based multilateral institution's representative in India, at a seminar on the Role of IMF in India organised by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management here. With a foreign exchange reserve of 73 billion dollars within one decade, he said "something must have been done right". Considering that reserves could sustain 15 months of import, Gordon added that the situation is extremely comfortable. India had last borrowed from the IMF during the balance of payment crisis in the early 1990s and since the country had fully repaid its loans, the IMF's role had been considerably scaled down. Gordon also said that as of now, IMF's role in India was that of surveillance. Maruti Vehicle Sales Jump
18 pc in Jan (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: Maruti Udyog's vehicle sales went up by 18.1 per cent year-on-year in January due to surging exports, company reports said on Thursday. Total sales in January rose to 37,748 vehicles from 31,958 in the same month the previous year, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Exports vaulted more than 12-fold to 4,026 vehicles from 281 in the year-earlier month. Domestic sales went up 6.46 per cent to 33,722 vehicles. Nasscom 2003 a Unique IT Event
(Go To Top) MUMBAI: "When one possesses the desire and the commitment to do something, the world conspires to make it happen". The words might have been different, but, this was the theme of NASSCOM 2003, inaugurated by NR Narayanamurthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies. In the past years, NASSCOM - the apex industry association of IT software and service companies in India - has come to be regarded as the giant that it has indeed become and this annual gathering is its flagship event. In a unique session of interaction with Kiran Karnik, president of NASSCOM and Peter H Sutherland, Canadian High Commissioner to India, Narayanamurthy stressed the importance of visionary leadership and his dream for India 2020. While speaking to colleagues in the industry, he outlined some points for building trust in corporations. At a press conference held prior to the inauguration, Arun Kumar (chairman of NASSCOM) revealed the performance of the Indian software and services Industry. According to this the IT sector has grwon to about Rs. 25000 crore, a 20 per cent increase from last year's, while the IT-enabled sector has shown a 61 per cent increase to reach Rs 8000 crore. He said that despite a slowdown in IT spending globally, increased interest by customers and aggressive foray by Indian vendors led to larger offshoring contracts to India. Indian Firm Wins Omani Gas
Pipeline Project(Go To Top) -by Ioannis Solomou NICOSIA: Dodsal, an Indian firm, has won the contract for a 48-km long gas pipeline linking Mahda at Sohar in Oman to Buraimi on the border between Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The contract, worth about 18.5 million dollars, was awarded by the Oman Gas Company. It comes on the heels of another contract awarded to Dodsal by the Dolphin Energy Company for the engineering, procurement and construction of the 182 km-long pipeline that will convey Omani natural gas to the desalination plant which Dolphin is constructing at Qidfa in Fujairah in the UAE. It is estimated that before the end of the year, the pipeline will start transporting about 120 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to the desalination plant. Forex Reserves Touch $ 73.5
Billion Mark (Go To Top)
MUMBAI: The country's foreign exchange reserves touched 73.5 billion dollar mark during the week ended January 31, it was reported on Sunday. The rise was attributed to revaluation of the Euro vis-a-vis the US dollar and gold stock. The forex reserves rose by 378 million US dollars, the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement released here said. According to the weekly supplement, the foreign currency assets increased by 134 million US dollars, while gold reserves swelled by 244 million US dollars. Special drawing rights (SDRs), however, remained unchanged at seven million US dollars. ADB to Extend Two-billion-dollar
Loan to India (Go To Top)
NEW DELHI: The Asian Development Bank said on Friday that it will extend a two billion dollar loan to India, 70 per cent of which will be for infrastructure projects. "We are ear-marking 2 billion dollars this year for India and 70 per cent of the funds will go for infrastructure projects," ADB's infrastructre divisions chief, Albab Akanda, said here while addressing a CII seminar. He said that the bank has already extended over 10 billion dollars for more than 60 projects till November 2002. Referring to the immense need of the country and its fast growing economy, Akanda said the main areas of focus will include national highways, State roads, inland waterways, power, rural electrification, renewable energy and hydropower. The official further stated that the ADB would focus on connectivity in States of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and the entire North-east. Gold Peaks at Rs 6000 per 10
Gram (Go To Top)
MUMBAI: Heavy panic purchase by investors fuelled by fears of US war against Iraq pushed gold prices on Wednesday to an all-time high of Rs 6,000 per ten gram in the bullion market here. The anxiety has been all the more acute since the US Secretary of State Collin Powell is to make a crucial presentation at the UN Security Council to convince the members that Iraq is hiding its weapons of mass destruction. On Tuesday itself, gold rose to a seven-year high of 380 dollars per ounce on waves of fresh buying. Fresh Bids for Disinvestment
of FACT Invited (Go To Top)
NEW DELHI: The ministry of disinvestment has called for fresh expressions of interest for disinvestment of 51 per cent share-holding in the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited. Interested parties can submit them either individually or as a consortium. FACT is the largest manufacturer of ammonium phosphate sulphate (a complex phosphate fertiliser) in India with integrated plants for the production of sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and ammonia. The company also manufactures urea and ammonium sulphate. It is one of the only two manufacturers in India of Caprolactam, a petro-chemical product which is the basic monomer for the production of polymer nylon. While the company has performed well in the past, its financial performance has been affected in the last four years primarily on account of high interest rate loan and increasing raw material prices. Keeping in mind the long-term sustainability of the firm, New Delhi has provided financial assistance in terms of waiver of outstanding interest amounting to Rs.2, 268.80 million during the year ending March 31, 2002. The Government, with the intention of inducting a strategic partner to hold 51 per cent of the equity in FACT, had earlier invited EoI in November 2002. It has since taken a number of policy initiatives relevant to the nitrogenous fertiliser industry. FACT, incorporated in 1943, was set up as the country's first large-scale fertiliser plant on the banks of the river Periyar in Ernakulam district of Kerala. It became a public sector company in 1960 and by 1962 the Government of India became the major share-holder. At present the Centre holds 97.38 per cent of the total paid-up equity. Stanchart to Open 23 New Branches
in India This Year (Go To Top) LONDON: Standard Chartered Bank said on Wednesday that it would open 23 new branches in India this year as the region, along with China, remained one of its biggest opportunities. The Bank said in a statement that the new branches would span cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Kolkata. Though Standard Chartered is London-based, it makes most of its money in Asia, where its main rivals are HSBC and Citigroup. Hong Kong counts for around one-third of group revenue, while India - where it has the largest presence of any foreign bank - counts for about 10 per cent. RBI Comfortable With Current
Level of Inflation: Jalan (Go
To Top) MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan said on Tuesday that the Central bank was not worried about a recent rise in the rate of inflation and was comfortable with the current level. When asked if rising oil prices could impact inflation, Jalan said, "We will wait and see. It depends on oil prices and on how the drought situation evolves, but there are no worries". The inflation rate, as measured by wholesale prices, shot up to 4.42 per cent on January 18 from 3.72 per cent a week earlier. Bond yields have bounced off lows in recent weeks as traders fear that a war in the Middle East could push up prices of crude oil, India's biggest import item, hurting the rupee, fuelling local inflation and putting pressure on low interest rates. New Gas Reserves Found in Rajasthan (Go
To Top) NEW DELHI: New oil and natural gas reserves have been found in Rajasthan, it was announced here on Tuesday. The credit goes to Cairn Energy Plc of Britain. According to initial estimates, reserves contained 155 million barrels of crude oil. That of gas has not been divulged. Peroleum minister Ram Naik had said on Sunday the country expected exploration firms to announce more natural gas discoveries in two months. He named Reliance Industries Ltd, Cairn Energy and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation as among the probables expected to report new discoveries. Last October, Reliance said it had found an estimated seven trillion cubic feet or 200 billion cubic metres of gas - the country's largest discovery in decades - in the Krishna-Godavari basin. India imports 70 per cent of the crude oil processed in its refineries. Its natural gas output of 65 million cubic metres a day meets only half the demand. -ANI & India Overseas |
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