Hind Lever holds sensex steady
MUMBAI, April 13 — Equities turned weak with majority of scrips showing sharp to moderate losses but the fresh gains in HLL helped the sensex to stay steady on stock market today, that witnessed unloading by operators, mostly in the form of squaring up business.The major factor which cast shadow on the market was the AIADMK Supremo Jayalalitha’s reported statement about her inclination to withdraw support to the BJP-led Government at the centre.

Panipat Coop Bank

FICCI, CII for cut in CRR, bank rates
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, April 13 (PTI) — Amidst reports that the RBI was averse to reducing interest rates any further, the corporate world has launched a fresh initiative to urge the Central Bank to reduce bank rate, the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to enable infusion of more funds to cash-starved industry.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in a communication to the RBI said the present requirement of CRR at 10 per cent is much higher than internationally prevalent rates of 3 per cent.

Banking experts , however, said although cut in the CRR, would increase the liquidity position of commercial banks, yet, unless demand boost comes about, the excess lendable resources may remain idle with banks.

Corporates, on the other hand , are of the view that a cut in CRR in the forthcoming slack season credit policy would create a perceptible improvement in market sentiments.

FICCI said the medium term objective should be to reduce the CRR to international levels which would improve profitability of the banks while releasing funds for the commercial sector.At the present juncture, a reduction in CRR by 1 per cent in two phases needs to be considered.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had earlier this week called for a 1 per cent cut in the bank rate and a 2.5 per cent in the CRR.The government should move towards a 3 per cent CRR in the long run as recommended by the Tarapore Committee.

The bank rate, the rate at which the RBI disburses its own funds to commercial banks, is a reflector of costs borrowing to commercial banks.

Some observers, therefore, feel that a reduction in the cost of borrowing for banks( bank rate) could have the attendant benefit of reducing lending rates.Currently, prime lending rates (PLR) is hovering around 13 per cent.

While the government appears to be in favour of a cut in interest rates for reducing the cost of borrowing for corporates, any move in this regard may be announced in the credit policy if the RBI Governor’s recent statements are any indication.

The RBI Governor, Dr Bimal Jalan,recently said at a meeting of industrialists that a further cut in interest rates was interlinked with deposit rates.

Dr Jalan said with deposits rates at 8 per cent and transaction cost at 3 per cent , the total cost to banks comes to around 11 per cent . Any cut in interest rates would therefore require a reduction in deposit rates.

He had said there is a need to develop new institutions that take deposits for longer durations and this would enable banks to lower deposit rates.

The government, on the other hand, is of the view that current interest rates are high. Finance Secretary, Dr Vijay Kelkar, at a recent meeting with captains of industry had observed that interest needs to move “southwards” as interest rates would become the dominant instruments for revival of growth.

Industry observers feel much depends on the credit policy announcements on April 20. Many experts feel that the stimulants in the Budget may not fructify without a commensurate easing of supply side bottlenecks through cut in interest rates.

It may be recalled that barely 48 hours after the Union Budget was announced, the RBI declared a 1 per cent cut in bank rates. FICCI said the recent reduction in the bank rate from 10 to 9 per cent was a welcome step but was still much higher.

VSNL signs MoU with Silverline

NEW DELHI, April 13 (UNI) —Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Silverline Industries to provide VSNL’s electronic data interchange (EDI) solutions to Indian customers.

According to a VSNL release issued here today, as per the MoU the private sector company will provide customised front-end solutions for VSNL’s Gateway Electronic Data Interchange Service (GEDIS) over VSNL’s existing infrastructure for EDI services within the country.

Similarly, Silverline will be offering VSNL’s EDI solutions to government agencies like ports, customs, excise and industries in the areas of automotive and engineering in the initial phase by simplifying and streamlining business procedures. EDI can help organisation’s control costs, increase efficiency and improve customer service levels and may help save money through decreased safety stock inventory levels and diminished administrative requirements.

IOC to buy govt stake in IBP

NEW DELHI, April 13 (PTI) —The state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has approached the government to buy latter’s 33.58 per cent stake in IBP limited in a bid to have a strategic partnership with the marketing company.

“IBP was a subsidiary of IOC in the early seventies. We have expressed our views to the Petroleum Ministry and given a chance we would like to pick up stake in the company,” IOC Chairman and Managing Director M.A. Pathan told PTI.

The IOC chief said the corporation was facilitating IBP through product availability and there was a possible synergy between the two companies.

Interestingly, the IOC offer is contrary to the recommendations of Nitish Sengupta committee report, which suggested that government should divest its stake in excess of 26 per cent in IBP to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

The disinvestment commission had also suggested to the government to sell 33.58 per cent of its equity in IBP to a strategic buyer. Government at present holds 59.58 per cent in the marketing company.

IOC has been on a buying spree to consolidate its position as the largest petroleum refining and marketing company in the country.

The corporation has already taken 10 per cent stake in the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and 5 per cent in Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), the leaders in petroleum and gas exploration, respectively.

Indian Oil has also offered to buy government stakes in Engineers India Limited (EIL) and Lubrizol India limited, apart from plans to pick up equity in the Shipping Corporation of India.

The Sengupta Committee had recommended BPCL as a strategic partner for IBP for continued supply of petroleum products, marketing back up and necessary financial support.

However, IOC Chairman Mr Pathan said, the corporation could be best suited to IBP especially in Northern India for providing petroleum products.

Incidentally, the Sengupta Committee had suggested that IBP should be assured of the required products from Mathura and/or Panipat, both refineries of IOC.

The committee had also recommended that Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) should continue with BPCL and IBP, majority shareholders in the refinery along with Government of Assam, with IBP continuing its separate corporate entity for the time being.

BA donates 40,000 to Teresa’s Home
by Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 13 —As a goodwill gesture during the tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa Panth British Airways will contribute to a deserving charity in Punjab.

Mr Simon Ratcliffe, General Manager, South Asia, British Airways told this reporter in an exclusive interview “we will donate Rs 300 for every ticket purchased in Punjab from today and the donation will continue for next three months and will ultimately go to a deserving charity.”

A British Airways team also visited Mother Teresa’s home at Jalandhar this morning and presented a cheque of Rs 40,000 for the benefit of children staying there. The airline organised a free bus service from Jalandhar to Anandpur Sahib and langar today to mark the tercentenary celebrations of Khalsa Panth.

The airline today allowed visitors to its offices at Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh to make a free three-minute call to their relatives or friends in the UK, the USA, and Canada to wish them “Happy Baisakhi”, the Punjabi new year day.

Mr Ratcliffe was accompanied by Mr Alok Sawhney, Sales and Marketing Manager for South Asia. Mr Ratcliffe said he would be visiting all his agents and travel shops in the next six weeks.

About large scale offloading of passengers at Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi by all international airlines, including British Airways, he says. “Normally airlines make 95 to 98 per cent reservations as there are always 2 to 3 per cent passengers who do not show up. But we make sure that passengers once offloaded were booked on the next available flight and taken provided hotel accommodation.”

“We will impress upon both the Central and Punjab governments to help us expand our operations as more flights will pave way for economic development of the State. We share Punjabi community’s desire for new future expansion and development plans. We also continue to look for new openings,” he added.

Siel to offload 43 pc stake in Siel-Tizit

NEW DELHI, April 13 (UNI) — The cash-strapped Siddharth Shriram group is offloading 43 per cent holding in a machine tool manufacturing joint venture Siel Tizit Limited (STL) in favour of its Austrian partner Plansee Tizit.

With this, Siel Limited’s holding in the joint venture would be reduced from 48 per cent to a mere 5 per cent, sources told UNI here today. Plansee Tizit’s stake would effectively be hiked from 52 per cent now to 95 per cent.

The company had yesterday also bagged the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) nod for going ahead with the sell-off.

According to the application placed with the FIPB, the joint venture company was planning to raise an additional Rs 10 crore capital over the present capital of Rs 36 crore.

“However, given the cash flow constraints, Siel expressed its unwillingness to contribute to the capital hike. So, the entire amount is being raised by the Austrian company. This additional equity infusion would alter the equity distribution from 52-48 at present to 67-33 in favour of Plansee Tizit. Of the hiked capital base of Rs 46 crore, Siel share would be Rs 15 crore,’’ the sources said.

Besides, under the restructuring programme which the Siddharth Shriram group has undertaken, it was planning to reduce its holding in the joint venture to 5 per cent.

Hind Lever holds sensex steady

MUMBAI, April 13 (PTI) — Equities turned weak with majority of scrips showing sharp to moderate losses but the fresh gains in HLL helped the sensex to stay steady on stock market today, that witnessed unloading by operators, mostly in the form of squaring up business.The major factor which cast shadow on the market was the AIADMK Supremo Jayalalitha’s reported statement about her inclination to withdraw support to the BJP-led Government at the centre.

In lacklustre activity, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index opened lower at 3445.84 and moved in a narrow range of 3485.74 and 3437.55 before closing at 3464.52 as against yesterday’s close of 3463.77, netting a minor gain of 0.75 points. The BSE-100 index, however, dropped by 7.12 points to 1508.36 from the previous close of 1515.48.

While operators turned sellers in line with squaring up on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) which had the last day of the current settlement, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were reportedly buyers in key scrips like Castrol, Rhone Poul, NIIT and HLL. Indian Financial Institutions (FIs) too were selective buyers and said to have picked up shares of MTNL, BHEL, Bajaj Auto and some others.

A section of operators seemed to have discounted any adverse impact of the political fallout, relying on no major change in the economic policy which, they felt, was irreversible.

Dealers said the market was resisting further downwards movement even after Jayalalitha’s reported resolve to withdraw support to the government indicating that it will move in a narrow range before a decisive turn.

Satyam Computer announced a liberal bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1 but showed a marked fall as the scrip had already gained sharply after the bonus meeting was fixed.

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted slightly down to 344.99 and 134.48 from their last close of 346.99 and 135.29 respectively.

The total volume of business was higher at Rs 1442.14 crore from Rs 1332.55 posted yesterday. Satyam Computer was the most actively traded scrip with a turnover of Rs 389.97 crore followed by Pentafour Software (Rs 282.30 crore), ITC Rs (60.23 crore), Digital Equipment (Rs 60.20 crore) and Ranbaxy (Rs 47.77 crore).

Panipat Coop Bank
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — Panipat Urban Cooperative Bank has declared 10 per cent dividend for 1997-98, which is the maximum under the rules of the Cooperation Department. According to Mr O.P. Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of the bank, the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Haryana, has been requested to increase the dividend payment limit from 10 per cent 20 per cent as is the case in other states.

The RBI reference rate was Rs 42.71.

Silver falls
NEW DELHI, April 13 (PTI) — Silver prices rolled back on the bullion market today on reduced offtake against easy availability of stocks and closed with heavy losses. Gold also reacted to some offerings and yielded small ground. It was easy in overseas market and moved down by 20 cents at 282.75 us dollar an ounce. The quotations: Silver .999 (ready) 7415, delivery 7445, coins buyer 10,300 and seller 10,400. Standard gold 4345, ornaments 4195 and sovereign 3750.

Travel agents
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, April 13 —— Mr Umesh Kapoor and Mr Kanwaljit Singh Cheema (Grand Travel Planners) and Mr Mohinder Singh Bajaj (Bajaj Travels), both of Chandigarh, are among the top 10 agents honoured by British Airways at their annual sales and marketing meet held last night. Others felicitated were Mr B.N. Sharma (Akash Travels), Mr Jagmohan, Mr K. Chopra (Chopra Travels), Mr H. Chhabra, Mr Saini, Mr T. P. Sondhi, Mr G.P. Saggar and Mr Kuljit Singh and Mr Mohinder Singh.