Saturday, February 13, 1999
today's calendar
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B U S I N E S S | Saturday, February 13, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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IRA Bill to be reviewed Andrew
Yule unit privatised |
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CRRID trains bank managers Internet
"helped improve communication" |
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Forum
backs market sales of hot plates |
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NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI)
— The Insurance Regulatory Bill will be reviewed to
consider a greater role for insurance professionals
(actuaries) who assess the financial effect of future
events in the insurance sector, Special Secretary
(Insurance) B.K. Chaturvedi said here today. The
“government will also consider necessary legislative
and administrative changes for the development of
actuaries profession”, Chaturvedi said at a global
conference on actuaries organised by FICCI and the
Actuarial Society of India. |
Andrew Yule
unit privatised NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — The Minister of State for Heavy Industries, Mr Sukhbir Badal’s, initiative in converting sick public sector units into joint venture companies instead of closing them down has borne results. In what could be a trend-setter, the belting division of Andrew Yule and Company Ltd, Calcutta, has been spun off as a separate joint venture company in tie-up with Phoenix AG of Germany. The new company, Phoenix Yule Private Limited, would have 74 per cent equity participation by the German company and 26 per cent would be held by Andrew Yule and Co Ltd. With the transfer of assets of the belting division on February 1, this year, the new company has started operating. Phoenix AG, which has its headquarters in Hamburg, is a leading international player in the field of conveyor belts and it would be providing its latest technology and marketing information to the new company on continuous basis. According to Mr Badal, this is the first case of one of the divisions of a PSU under the Industry Ministry being spun off into a new joint venture company and this would ensure that the interests of the employees of the sick PSU are protected. All the employees who were working in the erstwhile belting division of Andrew Yule and Co Ltd have been transferred to the new company and their service conditions would remain protected. The Minister said the Government has accorded in principle approval for conversion of 23 units under the Industry Ministry into joint ventures as a part of long term strategy to make them strong and viable. Financial Advisers or Consultants have been appointed for 16 units so far and action for appointment of consultants is underway for three more units. Mr Badal said the success
in the case of Andrew Yule Co Ltd would give a clear
signal to the prospective investors regarding the
Government’s policy of strengthening the potentially
viable PSUs through joint venture route. |
CRRID trains
bank managers CHANDIGARH, Feb 12 — Mr S. Rajagopal, Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank of India, visited the Centre for Research in Rural & Industrial Development (CRRID), and met the faculty today. CRRID is conducting a “management development/special training programme” for the bank managers. The training module was explained to the chairman. Mr Rajagopal stressed the need for research and association of educational institutions with the banking system. He said it is becoming vital in view of the third tier of democracy having been mandated through the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution. It was, therefore, now becoming imperative for the bank managers to act as developers of ideas and collectors and analysts of information. Mr J.P. Gupta, Principal
Adviser to the programme, brought out important factors
pertaining to the devolution of financial and
administrative powers, which are now finding priority
with the 11th Finance Commission. |
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NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI)— Industry Minister Sikander Bakht said today more measures were in the pipeline to revive the domestic automotive sector, reeling under demand recession for the past two years. “Some steps such as high depreciation for commercial vehicles and scrapping of 15 years old vehicles in Delhi are expected to help both the industry and the consumer.” Inaugurating Automechanika ’99 here, the minister said India’s capabilities for manufacturing components were very strong and the country was set to become the most favoured automotive destination in Asia. He said the government was likely to liberalise industrial legislation, including labour reforms in the near future. Inaugurating a seminar on Indian Ocean Rim Investors Forum at the ongoing Indian Engineering Trade Fair here, the Industry Minister said some of the likely reforms in the near future could include enlargement of automatic approval to foreign investment and consolidation and simplification of industrial legislation and labour laws. Earlier, speaking at the
seminar Minister of State for Tourism Omang Apang offered
India’s full cooperation with Indian Ocean Rim
countries for developing tourism industry in the region. |
More cars to follow Indica: Ratan Tata NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — Inspired by the overwhelming response to Indica, Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata today said that Telco would roll out more passenger cars. “Indica is not the end of the story. There will be more offerings from the Tata stable,” he told reporters in a video conference here. Tata said he was surprised by the response to Indica. “We had initially hoped to receive only about 25,000 to 30,000 bookings,” he said. He said the company would
be in a breakeven position with an annual sale of 60,000
units. However, he said the performance of Indica was not
likely to considerably alter the Telco balance-sheet this
year following the accrual of revenue from the Indica
bookings. |
Toyota car NEW DELHI, Feb 12 —
Toyota Motor Corporation today announced plans to roll
out an eight-seater family Sedan. The multi-comfort
passenger car, the first model to be rolled out by the
company, will have a diesel engine. Sales are scheduled
to begin in January 2000.
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Internet
"helped improve communication" CHANDIGARH, Feb 12 — The government considers information technology (IT) as an agent of transformation of every facet of human life which will bring about a knowledge-based society in the 21st century. This was stated by Dr R.S. Khandpur, Director-General, Centre for Electronic Development and Training Institute( CEDTI), New Delhi, while delivering his presidential address at the inaugural session of the two-day conference on Sharing Information Resources through Networking at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), in Chandigarh here today. He said as a first step in this direction the Prime Minister had formed a National Task Force to look into the development and upgradation of IT. The task force has suggested far-reaching recommendations covering both bottleneck areas and broad promotional measures crucial for boosting information technology in the country. Commenting on the importance of Internet, he said it enabled technical institutions to improve communications, distribute information and lower operating costs. In research work, data collection and analysis are drawn and retrieved. The developments in networking are responsible for the operational changes in the newspaper and publishing industry. Printing and publishing newspapers and journals are now becoming more individualised with the developing tends in IT. He also stressed that there was need for network security as organisations were getting increasingly connected to the outside world. Therefore , it is important to protect the information from copyright infringement. Dr N. Vijayaditya, Deputy Director-General, National Informatics Centre, New Delhi, in his keynote address said we were living in historic period of a technological change brought about by developments in the field of IT. The changes are faster than anything we have seen before. However, there are two challenges to get full benefit of sharing IT. First is to build knowledge and raise awareness of potential of work organisation in productivity growth and secondly to modernise the conceptual frame work of working life to find ways and means to reconcile flexibility and security. Dr Amit Ghosh, Chairman of the local organising committee and Director, IMTECH, presented mementoes to Dr N. Vijayaditya and Dr S. Malik, president of the Society for Information Science. Dr Naresh Kumar coordinated the proceedings and proposed a vote of thanks. The Raizada Memorial
Lecture and valedictory function will he held tomorrow. |
BIS to test
gold quality CHANDIGARH, Feb 12 --- The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in collaboration with the World Gold Council is all set to officially test and "hall mark" the quality of gold, a press note of the BIS, said here today. It said that the scheme is proposed to be launched in four major towns by middle of this year for regulating the purity of gold sold in the national market, besides facilitating international trade as jewellery was one of largest exports of the country. The gold jewellery
certification on a voluntary basis is proposed to be
undertaken by the BIS, under the BIS Act, 1986.
Certification of purity of gold jewellery will be in
accordance with the Indian Standard 1417 - grades of gold
and goldalloys. |
Kerosene
price CHANDIGARH, Feb 12 —
Mr R.K. Rao, District Magistrate, has fixed the wholesale
and retail price of kerosene to be sold in Chandigarh at
Rs 2,627.20 per kilolitre, exclusive of sales tax and
other local taxes, and Rs 2.97 per litre, inclusive of
sales tax and other taxes, respectively with immediate
effect. |
Forum backs
market sales of hot plates CHANDIGARH, Feb 12 —Purchase of hot plates from LPG dealers is not mandatory, the Consumers Forum Chandigarh, has said in a press note here today. Several dealers had been charging exorbitant rates for the hot plates. Consumers often ended up paying nearly Rs 2000 for plates which cost Rs 500 in the open market. If dealers deny gas
connections on refusal to buy hot plates, the consumers
should contact the gas company concerned or the forum,
the note added. |
NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — Adtiya Birla’s Hindustan Aluminium Company (Hindalco) has recorded a growth of 20 per cent in aluminium production in the first nine months of current fiscal over the corresponding period last year. While public sector national aluminium company (Nalco) production has dropped by 32 per cent during the period. Nalco produced 99,523 tonnes on metal between April-December 1998 compared to 1,46,702 tonnes in the corresponding period of last fiscal, while Hindalco produced 1,78,377 tonnes compared to 1,48,857 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. The total production by five aluminium manufactures in the first nine months was 3,96,612 tonnes compared to 4,09,008 tonnes in the same period last year, a drop of 3 per cent, production figures provided by the government said. Tisco to cut 5,000 jobs next year NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tisco) plans to slash its workforce by 5,000 during next fiscal under voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), Managing Director, Dr J.J. Irani said here today. The target last year was to bring down the workforce to a level of 60,000 which has already been achieved, Irani said adding the target next year is to bring down the level to 55,000. Meanwhile, Irani said that Tisco has deferred the Gopalpur unit for establishing cold rolled (CR) mill. Originally the plan was to establish two units — one at Gopalpur and the other at Jamshedpur, he said adding that unfortunately, the Gopalpur unit project could not fructify due to various reasons. HC summons Rockland CMD NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) —The Delhi High Court today directed Chairman and Managing Director of Rockland Leasing Ltd J.M. Chawla to appear before the court on May 3 following the company’s failure to implement an order. Earlier on September 23, Justice Anil Dev Singh had directed the company to file a list of its properties and provide details of matured deposits within three weeks. In his ruling today, Justice C.M. Nayar also directed the company to file the list of properties and matured deposits along with an affidavit before the next date of hearing on May 3. The court order came on
petition filed by Rockland challenging a RBI circular
which prohibited the company from accepting any deposit. |
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