IT bigwigs bid for taking over IITs NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — A group of infotech bigwigs including Infosys promoter N.R. Narayanamurthy and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Kanwal Rekhi have made a bid to take over the Indian Institutes of Technology. The group has offered to create a $ 1 billion fund for privatisation of the premier technology institutions in the country.

Priya Reddy shouts in protest at a rally staged by the Seattle Police Guild at Westlake Centre in Seattle on Saturday. The Guild organised the rally to thank merchants for their support during WTO protests. — AP

Pak military govt raises fuel prices
ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 — Pakistan fuel product prices were raised by between seven and 20 per cent today in the first tough economic decision by the new military-led government since it seized power on October 12.

How popular are the Bills on reforms?
NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — Does the passage of the contentious insurance and a couple of other economic Bills suggest that the reform process would pick pace with politics taking the back seat?

‘Policy aims at a more efficient economy’
KOLLAM, Dec 12 — The corner-stone of the new economic policy paradigm was to work towards making the Indian economy more efficient, productive and competitive, noted economist and former RBI Governor M. Narasimham said here.

Punjab to sponsor Infranet ’99 CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 — The Punjab Government has decided to sponsor Infranet ’99 being organised by CII from December 16 to 18 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

Specific venture fund suggested
NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — With venture capital funding not taking off due to continued low availability of funds for projects, PHDCCI today suggested that venture capital funds should be set up to finance joint ventures in certain areas with financial institutions even at the state level promoting such companies.

Reliance group tops in market cap
NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — The Reliance group has emerged as the India’s top business group in terms of market capitalisation, according to data sourced from the Centre for the Monitoring Indian Economy database.

Inflation declines
NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — The inflation rate continued its consistent decline in tune with the drop in the prices of vegetables and fruits and stood at 2.46 per cent for the week ended November 27, down 0.39 percentage points from the previous week.

‘Make FI nominees more active’
NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — SEBI Committee on Corporate Governance should make the role of Financial Institutions nominee directors more active instead of divesting the role of these directors, Institute of Chartered Accountant of India has said.

IT bigwigs bid for taking over IITs

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — A group of infotech bigwigs including Infosys promoter N.R. Narayanamurthy and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Kanwal Rekhi have made a concerted bid to take over the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

The group, which includes hotshots from the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and Indian IT industry, has offered to create a $ 1 billion fund for privatisation of the premier technology institutions in the country.

“We met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee earlier this week and proposed an industry takeover of IITs and the Government has agreed to the idea in-principle,” Kanwal Rekhi, President of TiE told PTI here.

Rekhi said Vajpayee has asked the group, most of whom are IIT alumni, to submit a detailed report on the proposed industry takeover of the IITs within the next 30 to 40 days.

The group, which calls itself “friends of IIT”, is planning to set up a new council, comprising academicians, alumni and industry leaders, to run the five IITs in the country.

”Once we get the final go ahead from the Government, we plan to put IIT alumni like Narayanamurthy and Nandan Nilekani in the proposed council,” he said.

Rekhi said the core group would work towards raising the level of IITs to make them comparable with worldclass institutes like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and Stanford.

“The Government which is attempting to raise the level of IITs to world standard, is under tremendous financial strain. It is about time successful alumni did their bit for these institutes,” he said.

Rekhi said the group was currently in the process of chalking out details of the proposed privatisation.

“Although about 20 entrepreneurs would be members of Friends of IIT movement to start with, the council size would be smaller,” he said.

Other members of the group include Rajendra S. Pawar of NIIT, Saurabh Srivastava of IIS Infotech, Satish Kaura of Samtel and Suhas Patil, founder of Cirrus Logic.

Maharaja — Branson’s friend in need

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — British billionaire and Virgin Atlantic Chief Richard Branson today chose to fly back to London with Air India, his new-found partner, instead with business rival British Airways which, he alleged, had refused to honour his confirmed ticket to the British capital.

Richard Branson, along with his four-member team left here for London by an Air India flight this morning.

In a statement, Air India said though its relationship with Branson and Virgin Atlantic has been only 48 hours old, the Maharaja has proved the age-old adage — a friend in need is a friend indeed.

Branson had yesterday accused his competitor British Airways of putting him on the wait list despite having a confirmed ticket for his flight to London.

However, a British Airways spokesperson charged Branson’s travel agent with having committed a mistake by informing them that he would fly only on the 14th of this month.

Branson before boarding the flight exchanged pleasantries with Air-India officials in his inimitable style and posed for pictures in Air India Maharaja Lounge and Aircraft, the AI statement said.

Pak military govt raises fuel prices

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 (Reuters) — Pakistan fuel product prices were raised by between seven and 20 per cent today in the first tough economic decision by the new military-led government since it seized power on October 12.

The increase matched a key concern of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose $ 1.56 billion loan programme was frozen weeks before Gen Pervez Musharraf deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and declared himself chief executive.

A $ 280 million tranche of the programme has been in abeyance for months because of Pakistan’s failure to implement tough economic reforms, including the removal of a consumer cushion from resurgent oil prices.

General Musharraf’s military-led government has said economic revival and a crackdown on corruption are its two top priorities and has promised that it will try to shield the “common man’’ from the worst of painful economic reforms sought by the IMF.

The government has raised the guaranteed prices it pays farmers for the staple wheat in an effort to increase production, but the fuel price rise was the first economic decision which would affect Pakistanis across the board.

Fuel prices have been static since May and have not reflected a near doubling of world oil prices caused by cutbacks in production agreed by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The main categories of fuel to be excluded from the highest price rises were agricultural diesel and kerosene, a government statement said. Prices for these were raised by just over seven per cent.

The Government gained some credibility by launching a tough crackdown against corruption and bank loan defaulters, but some of its steps also sent negative signals to the market, according to analysts.

How popular are the Bills on reforms?

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) —Does the passage of the contentious insurance and a couple of other economic Bills suggest that the reform process would pick pace with politics taking the back seat?

While the BJP-led NDA Government cites a clutch of measures which need political consensus, Opposition Congress under whom the liberalisation began in 1991 says such issues can’t be de-linked from politics. But to the Left the very idea of consensus is anathema.

Even within the ruling BJP, there are suggestions that instead of building political consensus the party should try to explain to the people why reforms are necessary if it does not want to end up the Congress way.

As the Government cites public sector reforms, financial sector reforms, control in government expenditure and rising subsidies as pressing problems needing ‘consensus’, Jairam Ramesh of the Congress says ‘‘There is need for the Government to initiate political dialogue on these issues’’.

But BJP ideologue Jay Dubashi says in politics there’s no need for political consensus. If the Government has the numbers it should go ahead with its plans.

‘‘More important than consensus in Parliament is consensus outside,’’ he says citing that between 1991 and 1996 Congress was able to push through the reforms in Parliament.

‘‘Yet it lost both the subsequent elections because it was not able to convince people that the reforms were in their interest,’’ says Dubashi noting that in a democracy it’s only the people who matter.

‘‘People have to be convinced as to why Government is now opening up the insurance sector and tell them how its economic programme is beneficial to the society as a whole,’’ says Dubashi.

‘‘The Bills in themselves are not enough, what matters is actual implementation,’’ observes Dr B.B. Bhattacharya of the Institute of Economic Growth. ‘‘While there seems consensus on dealing with foreign capital, there’s hardly any action on local issues of import like employment in government sector, demand for goods of mass consumption’’.

Ramesh notes that political parties are by and large convinced that there is need to focus on economic issues but are divided on the ways of getting around the problems and consensus is required on that. ‘‘But it’s for the Government to establish a dialogue for ensuring consensus.’’

But Karat says those talking of consensus are taking an undemocratic position. ‘‘We are opposed to privatisation in insurance and will continue to oppose it everywhere.’’

Dubashi, who’s even critical of Congress for supporting the insurance, FEMA and money laundering bills in Parliament, says ‘‘it’s the business of opposition parties to oppose and they’ll oppose.

‘‘The government, now being stable, should draw a detailed action programme and outline its financial plans for the next five years and ensure honest implementation for the same’’, he says stressing the need to take the debate to the people.

‘‘How serious the Government is will be reflected in its forthcoming Budget speech,’’ he says.

Opening of the insurance sector does spell good money. It is estimated that foreign funds to the tune of 2 per cent of the GDP or Rs 36,000 crore will come in over the next three years. This money is expected to be made available for infrastructure development as also investment in social sector, if amendments in the Bills are adhered to strictly.

While Bhattacharya expresses his doubts over actual implementation citing reforms in the banking sector which made little headway despite successive governments vouching for it, Jagdish Shettigar, who is a member of BJP’s economic cell says there are enough safeguards to ensure that private companies will pump the money in the needed areas.

Right now investment in LIC and GIC is regulated to the extent of 75 per cent. Similar safeguards are there in the bill for Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

At the most private companies would be given the freedom to invest 25 per cent of their resources while putting 75 per cent in infrastructure and social sector, says Shettigar.

Today, the government needs a lot of money for developing roads, ports, power and other infrastructural needs. For every one km long four-lane road Rs 4 crore is needed and for every new Mega Watt of thermal power an equal amount is required.

‘‘All over the world insurance money is used for funding long term projects,’’ he says noting that it was only two months after Prime Minister’s ambitious announcement of the 7,000 km long expressway that the Government said it would open up the insurance sector to generate funds.

‘Policy aims at a more efficient economy’

KOLLAM, Dec 12 (PTI) — The corner-stone of the new economic policy paradigm was to work towards making the Indian economy more efficient, productive and competitive, noted economist and former RBI Governor M. Narasimham said here.

Delivering the key-note address at a National Management Convention organised by the Quilon Management Association yesterday, he said “the liberalisation process would throw up many challenges to the management profession but, as often happens, these challenges could be turned into opportunities.”

Structural reforms were initiated in 1991 against the backdrop of a serious economic and financial crisis faced by the country with inflation at an unsustainably high level and fiscal deficit high and rising. Priority was appropriately given to curtailing the fiscal deficit and other major aspects of reforms pertained to liberalisation of industrial policy, he said.

He said the continuing fiscal deficit, especially on revenue account, had meant large borrowing requirements, which, in turn, and crowned out private investment activity and driven real interest rates up in the economy with obvious adverse effects on investment and production.

The reforms, initiated during the Congress rule, had found acceptance in the common minimum programme of the United Front Government and were now being carried on by the BJP-led Government, Narasimham said, adding the concept of reforms with a ‘human face’ had understandably a strong political appeal.

Subsidies had grown sharply and in a haphazard manner to a level where both implicit and explicit subsidies were almost equal to or perhaps exceeded the tax income ratio causing serious distortions in investment and production, and encouraging waste and inefficiency without adequately meeting the aim of protecting the weak and underprivileged, he said.

There was a need to contain these expenditures and limit subsidies to clearly targeted groups such as low-income households, he proposed.

A programme of debt consolidation as a precursor to containing the growth of debt was clearly needed and it was heartening to see that consideration was being given to enacting legislation in the form of a fiscal responsibility act, he noted.

The State should withdraw from areas where it has no business and use the resources thus saved to concentrate on areas where it has primary responsibility, such as health, education, population control and other aspects of social and physical infrastructure and Kerala has set an example in this regard, Narasimham said.

Specific venture fund suggested

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — With venture capital funding not taking off due to continued low availability of funds for projects, PHDCCI today suggested that venture capital funds should be set up to finance joint ventures in certain areas with financial institutions even at the state level promoting such companies.

To encourage more private sector players in the field, it also recommended that big industrial houses should be attracted to set up venture capital funds.

Exit route for venture capital investors was an important aspect to attract investment, it said adding that since most of the venture capital companies are unlisted, it gave virtually no scope to the investor to exit.

This problem could be overcome by developing an unlisted securities market in India on the lines of that in the UK but with adequate safeguards in place, it pointed out.

There was also a need to explore the possibilities of providing finance at more advanced stages of the projects.

Paul to visit India

LONDON, Dec 12 (PTI) — Lord Swraj Paul, Non-Resident Indian and roving business ambassador of Britain, will be visiting India for two weeks from Thursday.

Lord Paul, Chairman of the £500 million Caparo group, said today that he would be meeting several Indian Ministers in an effort to further boost Indo-British trade, both exports and imports and discuss measures to encourage British investment in India.

He said the climate was now ideal to increase bilateral trade and investment and “there I see my role as British business ambassador to be able to help India, the country I am very proud of and Britain, the country I adopted and I love. During the visit I will try to enhance that role.”

Reliance group tops in market cap

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — The Reliance group has emerged as the India’s top business group in terms of market capitalisation, according to data sourced from the Centre for the Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) database.

The group of four companies — Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Capital and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure — together had a market capitalisation of Rs 33,486 crore on November seven.

Market capitalisation is market price of the company’s stock multiplied by the number of outstanding shares.

Wipro was at the second position with market cap of Rs 28,186 crore followed by the Tata group having 45 companies (Rs 26,987 crore) and Infosys (Rs 26,749 crore).

The analysis was from a sample of 108 groups who had the market cap of Rs 1,24,184 crore last year and have added collectively Rs 1,71,417 crore more during the year.

The other groups in the top 10 list include Essel (ZEE), ranked fifth with market cap of Rs 18,897 crore, the AV Birla group at sixth position with market cap of Rs 13,497 crore.

While the Ranbaxy group with four companies was ranked seventh having market cap of Rs 11,461 crore, the HCL group with four companies was placed at eighth position (market cap Rs 11,035 crore), L & T with two companies (market cap Rs 10,608 crore) was ranked ninth and Cipla with two companies market cap Rs 7,916 crore) was ranked 10.

by J.C. Anand
Many scrips scale ‘new high’

THE stock market has done well during the last fortnight. The Sensitive Index moved up by 1.77 per cent and the NIFTY by 2.9 per cent. Many scrips attained a “new high”. Infosys Tech’s Rs 10 face value scrip crossed Rs 10,000 mark, and created a record for the stock exchange. No Rs 10 face value scrip has previously crossed the Rs 10,000 mark. It may even do better when the scrip is cut into two shares of Rs 5 face value each.Many other scrips also scaled up to “new high” market rates: Global Tele at Rs 944, Cyber Tech at Rs 726, TVS Electronics at Rs 182.62 and Framstone Co at Rs 166.33. Many of these scrips had been recommended in this column when they were being quoted at low levels. In most of these cases, the appreciation is 300 to 500 per cent. In general, the software shares are now the favourite among investors and traders.

The market’s good performance was rather unexpected for December, the FIIs keep away from the market. It has also been observed in the past that the market remains subdued when Parliament is in the session. But the market has done well largely because of the improved market sentiment due to the passage of the Insurance Bill, the Derivatives Bill etc. It was also encouraging to note that these Bills were supported by the Government and the Congress.

The FIIs also made large investment, encouraged by the Government’s legislative measures and, even more so, by the government’s intention to follow pro-reform policies and modernise the economy. The latest data released by the Central Statistical Organisation may also have been an encouraging factor. While the Index for Industrial Production for April-October is up from 3.4 per cent (as for April-October, 1998) to 6.9 per cent, it is 8.7 per cent for October, 1999.

The market has done well during the last fortnight but it is not expected to maintain this buoyancy during this fortnight. It may rather decline. The second-half of December is usually the “rest time” for both FIIs and the market. The Xmas holidays cannot sustain any stock market.

There is a lot of good news. Tata Tea has formalised its deal for the acquisition of Tetley (the UK) for £ 270 million. For sometime, Tata Tea may have to suffer from strained financial resources, but the acquisition of Tetley has transformed the company into a major global player in Tea, for Tetley is the world’s largest bagging company with a widely acclaimed brand. Hindustan Lever, too, is in the process of acquiring a large tea plantation company from the Modis. The two major global companies in the tea trade are Tetley and Unilever.

Sterlite has also acquired India Foils. This would add to the strength of Sterlite in the long run as well as contribute to the revival of India Foil. There was also a report of income tax raids on the various offices of Sterlite Industries during the fortnight, but the company’s scrip moved up again after a slight dip in the market price.

The Cost Inflation Index for 1999-2000 is 389. Now long-term capital gains can be calculated in the case of equity shares either by using the Cost Inflation Index for determining the cost of shares or by ignoring the index and calculating the L.T. Capital Gains otherwise. In the first case, the long term capital gains will be taxed at 20 per cent but in the second case the tax would be at 10 per cent of the L.T. Capital Gains. A tax payer can use either of the two ways of calculating the L.T. Capital Gains.

I understand on the basis of enquires from some depositories that the “nomination” done by a depositor in his (her) account with the depository will be valid and on the death of a shareholder the share will be transferred to the nominee on the production of death certificate and other relevant documents. This right to nominate a successor was recently embodied in the Companies Act recently, but the “nomination” was to be filed with the company concerned on a prescribed form. Now, that the “nomination” made in a depository account is valid, it appears that there would not be any need to file “nomination” with the company in which share are held. In case, this information is valid and correct, it would avoid much botheration and correspondence to the shareholders. This is a step in the right direction.

I further understand that it is now possible to open more than one account with the same depository in one name, and a shareholder can make nominations for one person in one account and for another person in other account.

Punjab to sponsor Infranet ’99
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 — The Punjab Government has decided to sponsor Infranet ’99 being organised by CII from December 16 to 18 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

A spokesman of the Punjab Government said that Punjab would be the principal co-sponsor to Infranet ’99. He said that the Malaysia has confirmed to be a ‘Partner Country’ and Rajasthan will be partner State at Infranet ’99. This event would give a valuable platform to the participating states for attracting investment into the infrastructure projects.

Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab has directed a high level delegation under the chairmanship of Mr R.S. Mann, Chief Secretary, Punjab to attend the conference and seminars during these three days.

Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, Principal Secretary, Finance would make a presentation on the State on December 17 to the investors to put forth the opportunity for the private sector in infrastructure projects.

Inflation declines

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — The inflation rate continued its consistent decline in tune with the drop in the prices of vegetables and fruits and stood at 2.46 per cent for the week ended November 27, down 0.39 percentage points from the previous week.

The prices of food articles recorded a sharp decline resulting in a 0.4 per cent fall in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities for the week-ended November 27 to 366.9 (provisional) compared to 368.3 (P) a week ago.

by K.R. Wadhwaney
Get clearance before rushing to runway

A SERIOUS accident at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) averted the other day when a police jeep crossed the main runway 28 as British Airways flight was readying to take-off.

The Dhaka-bound BA flight (Boeing 747-400), cleared by tower with all engines in full thrust, was about to take-off when a commander found the jeep crossing the runway. The commander had no option except to delay his departure.

The Assistant Commissioner (Police) reportedly had gone across the runway to attend an emergency landing of an Alliance Airways. The aircraft had a hydraulic failure and an emergency landing was said to be essential.

Whatever may be the reasons for the police official to cross the runway, he should have taken precautions for the safety of the passengers and the aircraft.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have initiated a probe into it. Maybe, the authorities have to issue fresh instructions to the staff concerned that before rushing to main runway, all officials must get clearance from Air Traffic Controllers.

There was another near-mishap near Nagpur. There was a possibility of a mid-air collision. The man had erred. But sophisticated equipment threw signals and two pilots took immediate measures from fatal accident taking place.

Reputation: “Nothing succeeds like success”, it is said. In the case of India, “nothing succeeds like reputation”. The Indian aviation’s reputation is such that, despite assurances and preparedness, no airline is willing to trust the Indian authorities. All preparations for the Y2K have been made to handle flights on December 31 and January 1, but some over-cautious carriers have cancelled their flights for a few days.

Whatever may be the apprehensions of the foreign carriers to land in India, Air India and Indian Airlines, have geared up to accord the VIP treatment to passengers. “Apart from according them traditional welcome, there will be a lot of fanfare on board the flights and also on airports,” said airline officials.

The Indian authorities may be ready to deal with the Y2K situation but one is not sure about operation of flights in dense fog.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chaman Lal Gupta has said there will not be major disruptions because of fog. But his assurances do not convince pilots and engineers who feel that the category II is just not the right gadget to help aircraft landing in near-zero visibility.

Tatas refusal: Karnataka and Punjab have formulated their own aviation policies with a view to providing much-needed thrust to their States. Punjab is keen to become an international airport sooner than expected. Karnataka has already taken a measures of having a dialogue with the foreign firms. The Tatas having been disillusioned, have refused to join the bandwagon. “Once bitten, twice shy”. This is what the Tatas seem to feel. They have reasons to feel so because the Government have not treated them well in matters pertaining to the aviation.

‘Make FI nominees more active’

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — SEBI Committee on Corporate Governance should make the role of Financial Institutions (FIs) nominee directors more active instead of divesting the role of these directors, Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI) has said.

In a note to the committee headed by industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla, ICAI said “financial institutions’ nominees in past have been very passive and it might rather be necessary to make their role more active”.

The apex accounting body has suggested that “divesting the role of FIs nominees on the Board of Companies will have far reaching ramifications, oppositions and it may be counter productive”.

“FIs nominees should permit nomination of independent professionals to represent them on board with a clear-cut directive to take active part on the corporate governance besides keeping confidential matters of the company to themselves”.

The suggestions on FIs nominees’ role follows the draft report of the committee divesting the role of these nominee directors saying that they might pass on price sensitive information to the institutions, which are also active in the stock markets.

ICAI said once the code of conduct for insider trading is in place and there is a Chinese Wall between the nominee directors and the investment decision makers, the misuse of any unpublished price sensitive information by these directors can be suitably avoided.

It also said that institutional investors maintain an arm’s length relationship with the company and do not seek participation at the board level.

In regard to corporates governed by families and in case of retirement or death of one generation, the Board of Directors should ensure proper governance in respect of succession, specially when there are more than one contenders to control the management.

“Board of Directors have to play an important role in the succession plan and to define duties and responsibilities most appropriately and the role of independent directors have become very important in this regard.”

The institute suggested that the corporate governance committee may address the issue of succession in the family run companies as number of corporates’ top management are trying to develop a trust mechanism to address the issue of succession in the event of death or retirement of one generation.

VSAT licence fees may be slashed

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — TRAI is likely to slash licence fees for VSAT operators, for which it will begin the consultation process on tariff structure within three months.

According to sources, the current annual licence fee of Rs 50,000 is considered to be on the high side and the proposed revision is in accordance with the VSAT industry’s long-standing demand.

‘‘A comprehensive consultation paper on the tariff restructuring for VSAT operations will be prepared by TRAI within the next three months,’’ Joint Secretary in TRAI Anita Soni told PTI here today. After addressing a meet on ‘‘Use of VSAT in convergence’’.

Asked if the licence fees were being slashed, she declined to comment, saying the issue of tariff restructuring was still under consideration.

Expressing his discontent at the state of the Indian VSAT industry, the General Secretary of the Global VSAT Forum David Hartshorn appealed, to the Government to de-regulate this sector.

‘‘The Indian VSAT industry is being stifled due to governmental interference and exorbitant licence fee structure. The Government must stop exercising control,’’ he said.

The Rs 50,000 fees per installation entails a minimum payment of Rs 1 crore in the first two years (equivalent to having a 200 VSAT network) and goes up to Rs 1.5 crore from the third year onwards, industry sources said.

Member of Telecom Commission R.N. Goyal said the commission would hold a series of meetings next week to discuss the gamut of issues related to the VSAT industry.

Can Fin sanctions 1400 crore loans

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — Can Fin Homes Ltd, a housing finance company sponsored by Canara Bank, has so far sanctioned loan totalling to Rs 1400 crore under its various housing schemes.

The growth in all parameters for the six months ending September 30, 1999, had been very good for the company as its total sanction during the period had been Rs 116.5 crore, an increase of 44 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year, Manager of Can Fin Homes Ltd H. Meenakshi told PTI.

Total disbursements for the first half of the current fiscal had been Rs 95 crore, an increase of 35 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year, she said adding the cumulative disbursements of the company had crossed Rs 1157 crore.

Can Fin Homes net profit increased from Rs 3.33 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 1999 to Rs 9.13 crore for the half year ending September 30 registering a growth rate of 174 per cent, Meenakshi said.

Nokia: Nokia today said it would approach the Finance Ministry along with other handset manufacturers like Motorola, Ericsson, Alcatel, Siemens and Samsung seeking a cut in import duties on mobile phones from the present high level of 49 per cent in the forthcoming Budget.

“Only a sharp cut in import duty would help increase spread of mobile phones in India and we want the country to move towards a realistic duty structure,” Parikshit Bhasin, Director of Nokia India told PTI here.

Currently there is an effective duty of 49 per cent on the shipment cost, including basic customs duty, ad veloram and surcharge. The effective duty has been brought down by about 5 per cent in the last Budget and there has been consistent cuts in the last few years from about 70 per cent level.

Tube Investment: Tube Investment of India Ltd (TIL), part of Chennai-based Rs 3,000 crore Murugappa group, plans to acquire more companies in the field of steel tubes and metal forming and will invest Rs 150 crore during the next three years, a top company official said today.

“We are currently scanning the horizon of automotive components to acquire companies to consolidate our position in the area of metal forming,” TIL President V A Raghu said.

As part of the company’s growth strategy, TIL would prefer to acquire companies engaged in manufacturing of door frames for vehicles and metal roll forming, Raghu said.

He said a total of Rs 60 crore would be spent on acquisition of companies and the remaining Rs 90 crore would be channelised into the existing units of the company over the next three years.

Parle Agro: Parle Agro Limited, manufacturers of the popular flavoured drink ‘Frooti’, will invest Rs 25 crore to double the manufacturing capacity of its Pathalganga plant in Maharashtra to 5.4 million case, a top company official today said.

“We plan to raise the capacity of the Pathalganga plant to 5.4 million cases next year to retain our market share of about 75-80 per cent,” company Chairman Prakash Chauhan said.

The Pathalganga plant currently manufactures about 2.5 million cases (of 27 packets) of Frooti and the capacity expansion would be completed by May 2000, he said.

BHEL
NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (UNI) — An exclusive manufacturing facility for the production of long modules used in the manufacture of heat recovery steam generators, the first of its kind in the world, has been established by BHEL.

General Motors
TOKYO, Dec 12 (PTI) — General Motors will invest $ 1.4 billion in Japan’s Fuji heavy industries as part of its acquisition plans in the cash-strapped company which manufactures Subaru cars.