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Saturday,
November 17, 2001,
Chandigarh, India  
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Doha
outcome positive for India: Maran PSU
banks’ capital market exposure falls to 22,730 cr UTI
selects 30 firms for sale of stake Impose 20
pc import duty on cotton: Badal
Nafed to
market Leh berry juice |
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Aviation
security meeting
Tips
slips on corporate governance
Microsoft
launches Xbox
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Doha outcome positive for India: Maran New Delhi, November 16 India has also succeeded in warding off any commitments for negotiations in the important areas of investment, competition policy and transparency in government procurement. Addressing newspersons here after his return from Doha, the minister, however, said India yielded some ground on environment to gain substantially in agriculture on which the European Union was very adamant. “Perhaps for the first time we have something positive to show (from trade negotiations)”, he said, adding that “the fears that India would be isolated proved wrong and we found support and commonality of interests among many developing countries”. On environment “the damage is limited and this is the price we have to pay for something in agriculture. It is a trade-off,” Mr Maran said claiming overall the Doha declaration was “positive” for India. “We have marginally agreed on environment, which to a large extent, is a political acknowledgment of its importance rather than rebalancing of rights and obligations,” he said. Mr Maran said the development dimension of agriculture had received focussed attention with additional flexibility being given for providing domestic support and protection from imports on grounds of food security and rural development. Special and differential treatment for the developing countries in all three areas of agriculture — market access, domestic support and export competition — would now be an integral part of the negotiations on agriculture to enable the developing countries to take care of their development concerns. A commitment for phase-out of export subsidies by the developed countries has
been secured in the declaration. This would facilitate the Indian farmers access to global markets by making Indian agriculture globally more
competitive. Elaborating on Singapore issues, Mr Maran said negotiations could start only if there was consensus and that too after getting reports of the study group in the next ministerial to be held two years later. “I would say that nothing will happen immediately and the negotiations will take their time during which we have to be watchful,” he said adding that if there was one lesson from Doha, it was to push up economic reforms with renewed vigour. Apart from enlarging the scope of agriculture negotiations to address developing countries’ concerns, Mr Maran said a major gain on services was on the issue of movement of natural personnel. Now India has secured the right for a trade off on services. For example opening of a branch of a foreign bank could be made conditional to their allowing specified number of Indian personnel to work there. On contentious core labour standards, he said: “We have kept the labour issue out of the trade negotiations and we saw to it that European Union did not have its way in the launch of a comprehensive round of trade negotiations.” The first victory of Doha declaration was on implementation issues — the unimplemented portions of the previous Uruguay Round agreements. “First our cries were ignored by the industrialised world, later they started denying them by saying that they would reopen the entire Uruguay round understandings,” he said adding that “we got the major players of international trade and the World to accept India’s point of view on implementation issue as correct.”
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PSU banks’ capital market exposure falls
New Delhi, November 16 The PSU banks, including SBI, have increased their investments in shares slightly to Rs 4,089 crore during the first half of this fiscal as against Rs 3,984 crore but their investments in mutual funds and advances against shares have dipped, official sources said today. SBI topped the list of 27 banks in terms of investment in shares to the tune of Rs 1,381 crore till September as against Rs 1,324 crore in March 2001, but it is yet to advance any loans against shares. The SBI and its seven associates invested a total Rs 1,636 crore till September as against Rs 1,564 crore in March. SBI was followed by Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank with over Rs 300 crore investment in shares. Central Bank of India, Canara Bank and Indian Overseas Bank’s investments in shares were over Rs 100 crore. In contrast to shares, SBI and its associates had more or less shied away from debentures. The total investment of the group was a meagre Rs 372.6 crore till September as against Rs 347.5 crore in the end of last fiscal. The PSU banks had a total investment of Rs 10,473 crore in debentures till September as against Rs 10,446 crore in March 2001. SBI had also reduced its exposure in mutual funds and other instruments to Rs 449.76 crore till September from Rs 785 crore in the last fiscal end. The SBI Group’s exposure in mutual funds came down to Rs 1,410 crore at the end of last half from Rs 1,705 crore in March 2001. In case of other PSU banks, some have increased their exposure in debentures and mutual funds significantly in the last half. The total exposure of 27 PSU banks in debentures went up to Rs 10,845 crore during the first half from Rs 10,793 crore last fiscal. Bank of Baroda’s exposure in debentures went up to Rs 3,528 crore in the last half from Rs 3,308 crore in the last fiscal.
PTI
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UTI selects 30 firms for sale of stake
Mumbai, November 16 “We are negotiating to sell our holding where we can get significantly higher price than the prevailing market value” M. Damodaran, UTI Chairman told reporters here today. The multinationals want to raise their holding in their Indian subsidiaries and UTI would use such opportunities to offload its stake, he said adding “some promoters have also approached to purchase our holdings.” Referring to the intermediaries like OTCEI, he said the divestment would be based on OTCEI board’s decision on certain proposals being currently worked out to revive the entity. On the feedback on the Y.H. Malegam Committee report, he said “small investors are not comfortable with the recommendation of distancing government’s association with the fund.” The investors have preference for safety and liquidity coupled with adequate returns and see government association as a comfort in times of difficulty, he added. The employees feel that there was no dearth of fund management talent within UTI and have questioned the benefit of inviting a strategic investor in sponsoring and managing the funds, Damodaran said. They want separation of asset management work from the function of trustees, he added.
PTI
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Impose 20 pc import duty on cotton: Badal Chandigarh, November 16 It is estimated that during the current year around 20 lakh bales have either been imported/contracted all over India. Of this, the imports/contracts by major spinning mills of Punjab, like Vardhman, Nahar and Winsome Group is around 3 lakh bales. The domestic price of cotton in Punjab has fallen from Rs 1830 permound to Rs 1480 per mound and from Rs 1740 to Rs 1425 per mound in Haryana. The drop in prices of LINT in Rajasthan is from Rs 1710 to Rs 1410.
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Nafed to market Leh berry juice New Delhi, November 16 Speaking at the launch of the product (Juice) Chairman of CIL, D.K. Mittal said environment and health related problems are the common concern of people all over the world. The Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), an organisation under the Ministry of Agriculture, has supported this venture in the interest of employment generation in Leh region and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), has extended its marketing support to the venture. Nafed has also planned to market the juice to government institutions like Indian Airlines and Indian Railways. Seabuckthorn is a small, deciduous, thorny, nitrogen-fixing shrub that grows naturally in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and the dry temperate areas of Himalayas. The shrub is also found in Russia, China and Germany. Seabuckthorn, which grows under clean ecological conditions, has accumulated many “physiologically active components, due to which these substances are beneficial to normal metabolic activities, therefore are valuable for human health,” said Sudhir Kumar, Managing Director of SFAC. Priyadarshan Thakur, Managing Director of Nafed said China has a business of about “Rs. 1700 crore” from Seabuckthorn products. Mr Mittal also informed that CIL would be soon launching a variety of food products like jam, jelly, squash, pickles and biscuits made from Seabuckthorn fruit. The product was launched by the Indian Airlines, CMD Mr Sunil Arora.
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Aviation security meeting
New Delhi, November 16 The eminent panelists, drawn from the areas of aviation and security, will discuss, debate and suggest ways and means to improve the safety of aircraft and security of passengers. Dr S.S. Sidhu, former secretary-general of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), says: “The discussion has become necessary in view of the recent terrorist attacks in USA where commercial aircraft was used as missiles to cause
incalculable damage to life and property”.
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