Tuesday, February 2, 1999
today's calendar
|
B U S I N E S S | Tuesday, February 2, 1999 |
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
|
|
Big
public spending needed for revival
|
|||||||||
|
Kar
Vivad Samadhan scheme yields 38 crore
|
|||||||||||||||||
  |
||||||||||||||||||
Punjab to
set up power regulatory panel CHANDIGARH, Feb 1 — The Punjab Government will soon set up a State Electricity Regulatory Commission which will regulate the power tariff in Punjab. This was announced by Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister Punjab, in a pre-budget interaction with CII here today.
He said the Punjab Government had not solved problems faced by industry mainly on octroi and power front. He opposed free power and water supply to agriculture. There should be no freebies for anybody and all should be made to pay something for the benefit extended. Mr Mittal welcomed the state government decision to announce members of the state power regulatory commission soon. The government had also promised an amendment to the Rent Control Act to promote houses building activity in the state. Industry expressed concern
over the declining growth rate in the agriculture sector
and suggested value addition at the farmer level by
promoting food processing units. It also sought drastic
steps for reforming the transportation system in the
state. |
Big public
spending needed for revival CHANDIGARH, Feb 1 — Business is indeed dull. Industry across the board except automobile, information technologies and a few other sectors, is facing the hard pinch of recession. The industrial growth last month was just 3.1 per cent. The Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, who had been promising at least 6 to 7 per cent growth is not even commenting over the sluggishness. The total growth may just be around 5 per cent per annum, most economists predict. Mr Sinha’s forecast that by September 1998 revival would begin has become the butt of jokes in business circles. Take steel. Mandi Gobindgarh, the steel town of north has witnessed worst. Out of nearly 500 small and medium units, 350 are closed, rendering several thousands workers to paupers. And look at giants like SAI, Tata Steel, Essar, Jindals and others. Each one is down. SAIL, showing an upbeat profit till last year, is now down. It has incurred a loss of Rs 900 crore upto December and may add up another Rs 300 crore by the end of the current financial year. Tatas are in the same boat and Essar Steel has incurred a loss of Rs 226 crore till December last. One reason is that domestic steel consumption is not keeping pace and secondly the price of imported steel is cheaper. World giants like the Mittals of the USA are facing a similar trouble. Interestingly, sales at 5.9 million tonnes could have been 16 per cent higher for April to December 1998 period compared to last year, but for poor exports. This brought the growth to 12 per cent. But the steel industry blames the world market and some lopsided Indian policies. But some experts feel that the exports would pick up this quarter. But there are not many chances of small players doing a good business, most industrialists in Mandi Gobindgarh said. There was slow growth in
construction business, particularly in the public sector.
Most states have cut down their target plan expenditure
this year and the Centre too is not in any happy
position. Unless there is a big public spending, steel or
cement growth would not be much. |
Kar Vivad
Samadhan scheme yields 38 crore CHANDIGARH, Feb 1 — The Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme, introduced by Finance Minister in his Budget proposal for 1998-99, closed on the midnight of January 31. Under this scheme, the assessee could opt for payment of 50 per cent of their tax arrears in dispute with the government and could get immunity from prosecution and any other proceedings under the law. The scheme has proved to be a big success in the jurisdiction of Central Excise Commissionerate, Chandigarh-II consisting Punjab , excluding Ludhiana, Patiala, Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts and Jammu and Kashmir. During the last two days ,
declarations of more than Rs 2 crore were received. A
total of 312 declarations involving an amount of Rs 38.36
crore have been received under KVSS-98 in Chandigarh-II
Commissioner. |
Siel
Chemical Complex opens RAJPURA, Feb 1 — Punjab is set to be a power surplus state with the commissioning of the 600 MW Thein Dam.
The Siel Chemical Complex was started when militancy reigned supreme and few looked at Punjab as a destination for investment. Siddharth Shriram recalled what he had told fellow industrialists then as the CII chief: “Agar Dilli ka baniya yahan aa sakta hai, why not you?” In the same vein he continued: “We had our roots in Delhi, but the Supreme Court order got us uprooted.” Among those he thanked for the success of this project while addressing a distinguished gathering were, in his own words, “the long-suffering shareholders”. Also present were officials of the UK-based ICI, which has supplied eco-friendly membrane cell technology for the Chlor Alkali Plant to manufacture caustic soda, chlorine and bleaching powder. Conspicuous by his presence was Dr Charat Ram, after whom the Siel Industrial Estate at Khadauli was named. He inaugurated “Charatrampur”. Thirtyfive years ago the “DCM family” had established “Shrirampur” at Kota. The Rs 250 crore complex
is the first project to take off in the Siel Industrial
Estate, being developed in a phased manner over 686
acres. The Industrial Estate with ancillary units is
expected to attract an investment of Rs 2,000 crore with
a potential to generate employment for about 40,000
people. It will soon have a DG-based thermal power plant. |
|
NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (PTI) — The government is considering a processed food sector development fund in association with IDBI to augment availability of capital to various projects, a senior official said here today. “We are considering the creation of the fund along with IDBI and SIDBI to ensure the easy availability of funds to projects in thrust areas of the processed food sector,” Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MFPI) P.S. Bhatnagar said. Stating that the government was keen to maximise the availability of finances to the sector, he said the MFPI may channel its own plan funds through banks to projects. “There is a need to develop a special package for this sector to suit its peculiar requirements,” he said inaugurating a workshop on institutional finance for food processing industries. While the bank credit had grown to Rs 300,000 crore as on March 31, 1998, Mr Bhatnagar said the credit for food processing sector had grown only to a meagre Rs 4,000 crore. He said since the food
processing sector was a significant contributor in the
development of the economy and employment, it needed a
larger share of the available credit.
|
Titan net up 57 per cent Titan Industries Limited recorded a 57.5 per cent increase in its net profit for the third quarter (Oct-Dec 998) of the current fiscal compared to the same period the previous year. The company’s net profit rose to Rs 1.37 crore as against Rs. 0.87 crore in the third quarter of 1997-98, though the sales turnover declined marginally to Rs 105.85 crore from Rs 112.37 crore. But for the first nine months ended December 31, 1998, sales turnover increased by about 5 per cent from Rs 296.90 crore to Rs 311.36 crore. Net profit after tax had increased by 21.5 per cent from Rs 7.48 crore to Rs 9.08 crore. Gujarat Alkalies: The sales turnover of Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL) has registered an increase of 25 per cent, according to its Chairman C.R. Patil here. The uptrend in sales scenario was the result of commissioning of Rs 19 crore caustic soda plant and Rs 31 crore power project. Gestetner India Limited: Gestetner India Limited, one of the world’s leading office automation companies, has achieved a turnover of Rs 61.44 crore which is an increase of 18 per cent over the previous year’s sales of Rs 52.10 crore. The company’s net profits for the year were Rs 3.29 crore as compared to Rs 3.25 crore in the previous financial year. The small increase in net profits was attributed to high expenditure on training and advertising as well as exchange losses due to exchange rate fluctuations. Apollo Tyres: The
ratings assigned to the non-convertible debenture (NCD)
and commercial programme of Apollo Tyre have been
downgraded from “AA-” to “A+” and
from “P1+” to “P1, by CRISIL.
— Agencies |
National
expressway authority on anvil NEW DELHI, Feb 1 — The government will set up a national expressway authority of India for identification, planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of expressways, the Union Minister for Surface Transport, Mr M. Thambi Durai, said here today. The government is also proposing to levy a cess on petrol and diesel the Minister said while speaking at conference of French know-how in transport infrastructure and urban development organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. Stating that Indo-French
relations were based mainly on large projects, Mr Thambi
Durai said the French and Indian Governments would sign a
protocol of intent today signifying cooperation in roads
sector. |
Tata Donnelley CHANDIGARH, Feb 1 —
Tata Donnelly Limited has got awards in major categories
of The National Awards for Excellence in Printing,
announced recently by the All-India Master Printers
Association. |
| H |
|
||
| BSE Sensex Today’s close 3265.91 Previous close 3315.57 Bullion (Delhi) Forex rates Penalised Leela Hotel |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Editorial | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
