Tuesday, January 5, 1999
today's calendar
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B U S I N E S S | Tuesday, January 5, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Euro makes quiet debut
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Matiz booking from Jan 6 Pipeline
project for Punjab to get nod PHDCCI
sets up IT cell |
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IFCI
issue mops up Rs 160 crore Panel
to recast Vidyut Board |
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TOKYO, Jan 4 (AP) — The euro, the new common currency that is expected to increase Europe’s economic power and eventually rival the U.S. Dollar on world markets, enjoyed a quiet debut in international trading in Australia and Asia today. The day’s first dealings in the euro had been expected to be cautious and subdued, and that was clearly the case in Sydney, where electronic trading began at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. local time, and in other markets such as Japan’s and Hong Kong’s. It was still dark in the financial district of Sydney when trading started between banks via brokers, but lights could be seen from some of their offices in the skyscrapers. At the Westpac Bank foreign exchange trading room, there was a hum of activity from traders and media taking pictures and television footage of the opening of trade in the euro. Light trading In general, trading in the euro was light and uneventful. “People are just having a small punt so they can say they dealt in the euro,’’ said Wayne Raven, a senior manager of Westpac’s corporate, currency and commodity division. In Tokyo and Hong Kong, where euro trading also began early, Yasuhisa Morikuni, a Bank of America executive, said: “It has been quiet so far. We haven’t seen any surprises this morning.’’ The infant currency was launched at midnight Thursday in Europe, following the announcement of official fixed conversion rates for the euro against the 11 participating European currencies. For example, the rates made the euro worth 1.95583 German marks, 6.55957 French francs, 1936.27 Italian lire and 166.386 Spanish pesetas. today, The euro was expected to start trading around the world at 132.80 Japanese yen, 1.89 Australian dollars, 70 British pence, and 1.16675 U.S. dollars. Asian currencies The euro rose to a high of 1.1795 US dollars in Singapore from its rate of 1.16675 set by the European Union Finance Ministers on New Year’s eve and it stabilised around 1.1750-1.1760, according to dealers in European banks here. Thio Chin Loo, a currency strategist at Banque Paribas in Singapore said against the scenario of euro rising against the dollar, the Asian currencies should also remain quite well bid. This was because Japanese funds would repatriate capital from abroad to make up for shortfall at home, leading to yen demand, Thio said. Stronger yen A stronger yen will keep the other Asian currencies well bid as the Japanese currency had been setting the trading trend for the regional units since late last year. A senior dealer with a European bank said the market perception was that the European central bank would want the euro to make a strong debut against the dollar. “The dollar’s weakness will give breathing space for Asian currencies as the region rehabilitates its economies bruised by financial turmoil,” he said. Asian currencies had plunged since mid-1997 and wreaked havoc on their economies. Britain not ready British Prime Minister Tony Blair today reiterated that the time was not yet right for Britain to join the new euro currency regime. Blair, writing in the
Asian Wall Street journal, said, “It would not have
been in Britain’s economic interest to do so (join)
at this stage because the British and continental
economic cycles are still out of step.” |
First euro option deal in India MUMBAI, Jan 4 (PTI) — The strength of euro witnessed in Asian markets today was also reflected in India’s foreign exchange (Forex) markets, where Standard Chartered Bank struck the country’s first Forex option deal in the Pan-European currency. Euro fluctuated in a wide range from $ 1.17 to $ 1.1913 and closed at $ 1.1790 amidst expectations that the new currency would appreciate against the dollar. In relation to the rupee, euro closed at Rs 50.20. Importers were gripped
with fears of euro appreciating against the us dollar to
end the global hegemony and were in touch with Forex
dealers to get advice on booking forward Euros, said
Forex dealers, who were of unanimous opinion that euro
would strengthen in the short term. |
How long spell of fog hits crops CHENNAI, Jan 4 (PTI) — The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) is monitoring the effect of the long spell of fog in North India on crop growth and productivity, ICAR Director General, Dr R.S. Paroda said. Several ICAR stations across North India were gathering data on how the prolonged foggy conditions were affecting crop growth, especially that of wheat, Paroda, who is President of the Agricultural Sciences section at the 86th Indian Science Congress here, told PTI. According to inputs available so far, the low temperature due to fog had led to good rooting and tillering in wheat. However, if the fog continues for long, crop scientists fear there might be an outbreak of diseases such as yellow rust, a major scourge of wheat plants. Scientists were keeping a close watch to detect any symptoms of yellow rust in wheat, Paroda said. The cold weather would also benefit flowering in mustard crop in the North, Paroda added. However, scientists at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi fear that prolonged foggy conditions that lead to very short dry sunny spells might reduce photosynthesis by plants and ultimately, production. More than the lower temperature, the reduced sunlight might affect output, they said. Indian scientists are genetically engineering rice to make it tolerant to adverse environment conditions and resist attacks by pathogens. Reports presented at the 86th Indian Science Congress on Sunday point to several advances made in genetic engineering of rice by researchers. A team led by S.K. Sopory from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Delhi have identified two key genes that help plants withstand stress and regulate growth. Sopory reported that introduction of the gene into plants made them tolerant to excess salt conditions. India has considerable stretches of saline lands that are unproductive. Studies by his team have
shown that the gene also makes plants tolerant to excess
zinc in the soil. |
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NEW DELHI, Jan 4 (UNI) — Daewoo Motors India Limited (DMIL) will reopen order books for the 796cc Matiz on January 6 with deliveries commencing from January 15. The second round of order acceptance for Matiz would commence at all Daewoo dealerships simultaneously, a statement issued here today said. Consumers can select and mark their preferences against full payment of the car. Meanwhile, deliveries of the cars against orders received between November 12 and 17, 1998 are getting close to completion. Daewoo had accepted 3,000 orders in the opening round after formally launching the Matiz on November 12, 1998, deliveries against these orders had begun on November 23 last year. According to an internal survey conducted by the company, over 40 per cent of the first 3,000 Matiz customers are first time buyers of any car. “Matiz’s pricing is based on the realistic rationale of cost factor, consumer aspiration and competitive positioning. It is a fully loaded model and offers true value for money”, DMIL Managing Director s.G. Awasthi said. The car, which is offered with several features such as power window, central locking, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, is priced at Rs 3.55 lakh ex-showroom in Delhi. Matiz has already won two
international awards for design and style. It was
declared the best small car at the British international
motor show in Britain and was voted the world’s most
beautiful automobile at the L’Automobile Pin Bella
Del Mondo contest in Italy. |
Pipeline
project for Punjab to get nod JALALABAD (Ferozepore), Jan 4 — The Union Industry Minister, Mr Sukhbir Badal said today that the Central Government would give its nod shortly for gas pipeline project for Punjab. Talking exclusively to TNS, he said that Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal had been actively pursuing the matter and talks between Mr Badal and Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee regarding gas pipeline project were on advance stage. He said that according to the proposal of project, the Punjab Government had asked the Union Government to extend the Gujarat-Haryana gas pipeline to Punjab. He added that gas supplied through this pipeline would be used for setting up fertiliser and other industrial units. Mr Badal disclosed that apart, from gas pipeline, the Punjab Government was also holding talks with the Centre for setting up a petrochemical project in the state to give much needed boost to the industrialisation in this border state. He said that for the current year, the industrial growth target of Punjab had been fixed at 13 per cent against the national average industrial growth of 3.5 per cent. He added that more than Rs 20,000 crore would be pumped in industrial sector in Punjab in the coming two years. He disclosed that two food
processing units with investment over Rs 140 crore were
being set up in Punjab by the multinational companies. He
added that about 23 consultants had been engaged to find
out ways to bring the 33 public sector units (PSUs) out
of red. |
PHDCCI sets
up IT cell CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has set up an IT (information technology) consultancy cell at its regional office here. A one-day workshop under cell organised by the PHDCCI on “Exploring Internet for global communication here today was inaugurated by Mr N.S. Kalsi, IAS, Special Secretary of Information Technology to the Chief Minister, Punjab. He emphasised the need for updation of knowledge in the field of information technology. Mr Ashok Khanna,
President, PHDCCI said to make information technology a
success, it is imperative to develop human resources. Mr
Piyush Gupta, Mr Kamal Malhotra and Mr Jaswinder Singh
spoke on topics covering Internet, web surfing, e-mail
facilities, commerce and Internet security/privacy. |
Internet
access in Haryana NEW DELHI, Jan 4 — International computer major, Silicon Graphics Systems, has tied up with Palcom, a Haryana-based Internet service provider (ISP), to power an Internet revolution in the State. The Indian subsidiary of the company, Silicon Graphics Systems (India) Ltd (SGI), will supply its Webforce Internet Servers to Palcom, which is setting up its operations in Panipat, said the Country Head, Marketing, of the company, Mr Avinash Fotedar. Palcom, which plans to provide non-stop reliable services to industries and dial up users in and around Panipat and spread operations to Karnal and Chandigarh with the help of the systems supplied by Silicon Graphics, will now be able to provide a complete range of ISP services, including dial-up, e-mail, web hosting, news, proxy, chat and e-commerce. Mr Fotedar said his company is associated with companies like AT and T of the USA, Alestra of Mexico, Retevision of Spain and SaskTel of Canada Palcom will also provide
television-based Internet access. Implemen-tation of the
system will be carried out by Tata Elxsi, one of the key
systems integrators of Silicon Graphics. |
IFCI issue mops up Rs 160 crore NEW DELHI, Jan 4 (PTI) — Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) has mobilised more than Rs 160 crore through its bonds issue now open for subscription, official sources said. The private placement issue is targetted to garner Rs 200 crore, IFCI sources said adding the institution has the option to keep an oversubscription of more than 150 per cent. The issue offers two types of instruments having a maturity period of five and seven years respectively. The five-year tenure instrument offers an interest rate of 14 per cent while the seven-year tenure debt carries an interest rate of 14.25 per cent. According to IFCI officials, the institution was able to mobilise about Rs 3,000 crore during this financial year against a targetted Rs 5,600 crore for the year ending March 1999. “We are confident of
achieving the targetted Rs 5,600 crore during this
fiscal”, an IFCI official told PTI adding that the
institution hopes that the private placement issue would
garner more than Rs 200 crore by tomorrow. |
Panel to
recast Vidyut Board NEW DELHI, Jan 4 — A high-level committee has been set up to recommend measures to restructure the cash-strapped Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB). The three-member panel, headed by Chief Secretary Omesh Saigal, was set up last week and is expected to submit its report within a month, Delhi Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor, said. The committee, which also comprises DVB Chairman Virendra Singh and Director of Administrative Staff College (Hyderabad) T L Shankar, would cover diverse issues including privatisation, he said. About the never-ending power crisis in the city, the Lt Governor said the board has prepared a project, including adding sub-stations, laying of fresh cables and better maintenance, to be implemented by March. Kapoor said DVB was trying to raise the power threshold from 2100 megawatts to 2600 megawatts by next summer. “Till the demand is only 2200 MW, it is fine. But system comes under pressure the moment peak demand goes up to 2400,” he said. Union Power Minister P R Kumaramangalam in a letter to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday asked the city government to appoint a regulator under the provisions of Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 and restructure the Vidyut Board. About Kumaramangalam’s assurance that the ministry would try to convince the Chief Ministers of Northern Grid states of the need for making more power available to the Capital, Kapoor said “greater availability has to be assured”. Kapoor said a letter of credit had been signed between DVB and National Thermal Power Corporation under which DVB has agreed to pay Rs 118 crore to the NTPC every month. DVB owes more than Rs 1500 crore to NTPC, NHPC and Power Grid Corporation and over Rs 6000 crore to the Centre for the power of Badarpur plant. Describing the power system in Delhi as “pathetic”, which was marred by pilferage of about 40 per cent and low realisation to the extent of about 45 per cent of the bills raised by authorities, the minister said his Ministry was ready to extent all possible help to salvage the system. Kumaramangalam in his letter to Dikshit had pulled up DVB for failing to collect enough revenue and augment and modernise its transmission and distribution network. The board collected just 40 per cent revenue for the power it distributed while its transmission and distribution losses were around 43 per cent as against the technically justified limit of ten per cent, he said. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has launched a crisis management task taking up the issue at the highest level. Top level meetings are being held almost daily to review the situation and a white paper may soon be out on the crisis. Delhi, which needs nearly
2400 mw of power daily, gets the maximum from the
Northern Grid and has currently a shortfall of 400 MW. |
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Bull charge lifts sensex 62 points MUMBAI, Jan 4 (PTI) — Equities rallied further lifting the sensex by another 62 points on the opening day of the new account on the stock market today in the wake of sustained buying from bull operators coupled with good purchases by foreign funds and domestic institutions. Bulls provided all-round support further enlarging their commitments and particularly accumulated textiles shares. As a result these scrips rose sharply to hit the price bands during the trading. Foreign institutional investors reportedly were net buyers in pharmaceutical and multinational scrips while financial institutions and mutual funds picked up small lots of shares of MTNL, United Phosp, Hind Lever, SBI and others. Dealers said bulls had tightened control over the market despite high badla of 24 per cent per annum at the turn of the account and were all set to push the sensex to 3240, considered to be a strong resistance level. The current week would be of crucial importance as the trading during it is likely to decide the medium-term trend of the market and if the resistance was broken the market will continue the rally further, they added. The BSE sensitive index opened with a wide gap at 3113.62 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 3148.07 before closing at 3122.04 as against last Friday’s close of 3060.34, netting a gain of 61.70 points. The BSE-100 index also shot up by 29.19 points to 1391.42 from previous close of 1362.23. For the first time in the last one year, B1 scrips also attracted sizeable buying support from operators leading to several shares hitting the daily upper circuit breaker. The support to the B1 scrips could be an indicator to the belief that the market has bottomed out and also rising confidence in the investors. In the specified list, Apollo Tyre, Ballarpur, Bank of India, BPL, Carrier Aircon, Ceat, Colgate, Escorts, Exide, Guj Alkali, Hotel Leela, Nocil, Rhone Poule, Siemens and Titan Ind exHausted the daily upper limit and hit the price band. The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted remarkably up at 321.99 and 126.11 compared with last weekend close of 314.49 and 123.28 respectively. Pentafour Software clocked the highest turnover of Rs 246.96 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1504.04 crore. Other active scrips were ITC (Rs.229.56 crore), Satyam Computer (Rs 167.59 crore), RIL (Rs 97.07 crore) and SBI Rs 72.81 crore). The market leader
Pentafour Software rose to the high of 786.50 before
closing at 756, a net gain of Rs 15. ITC spurted by 30.50
to 784.50, Satyam Computer by 4.75 to 744, RIL by 2.90 to
124.40 and SBI by 4.30 to 161.90. |
Pakistani officials have recorded a Rs 2.76 billion ($ 60 million) deficit in bilateral trade with India during the 1997-98 financial year. Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) officials have told NNI news agency that Pakistan sold goods worth Rs. 4.15 billion ($90 million) to India and imported from it Rs. 6.90 billion ($150 million) worth of products. Pakistan sold 25 items to India and purchased 26 items in 1997-98. Sugar, fruit and vegetables were the major exports and they fetched Rs. 3.45 billion ($75 million). Pakistan and India conduct two-way trade by sea and by rail. EPB officials noted that the two countries are yet to tap the full potential of bilateral trade. They share a common border, which gives them the advantage of having low freight charges and quick passage. Each consignment from distant countries reaches Pakistan after two months, that too at a huge freight cost. Goods going from India to Pakistan or vice versa reach within two weeks and transportation costs very little. — IANS Euro deals Pakistan has included the euro in its list of authorised currencies, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said. Dealing in the euro commenced in Pakistan from January 2. The central State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed the banks to open and euro accounts for transactions related to exports and imports and remittances. As activity in the currency picks up, the government will make more decisions regarding the euro’s role in Pakistan, Dar told the offical Associated Press of Pakistan. — AFP Railways A report prepared by the World Bank has said that $ 1.5 billion or Rs 76.5 billion is needed for privatising Pakistan Railways. The privatisation process, however, cannot take place immediately as 69 per cent of the railway network’s infrastructure is in a collapsed state and 90 per cent of its haulage stock is obsolete. The privatisation process has been on since March, 1997. Originally it was to be completed within a year, but this has not been achieved because of several factors. According to the World Bank report, the process of railways corporatisation is now at its most intricate phase — that of transforming its account books in accordance with rules and regulations of corporate sector. Lack of expertise is apparently coming in the way of completing this difficult phase — ANI Exports The committee on exports has almost finalised the proposals for doubling of the country’s exports by the year 2000. The proposals are likely to be presented to Nawaz Sharif early next month, says Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Vice-President Maqsood Ismail. Pakistan exported merely $ 8.7 million worth goods last year because it lacked cost competitiveness as compared to its competitors like India, China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Exporters in the country were buying expensive raw material, which has increased their production costs, creating problems of matching competition, especially in the non-quota markets of the world. Pakistan exports can be increased substantially if the government helped in making the input cost of the exports production less expensive and provides the required quantity of industrial infrastructure in the country, says Ismail. — ANI Debt problem The national debt at Rs 2.518 billion or 91.2 per cent of the GDP and its servicing has become a major national problem, says the State Bank of Pakistan annual report for 1997-98. To overcome this problem, the report suggests, dependence on foreign debt be reduced by encouraging the inflow of direct foreign investment and substituting short-term loans with the medium-term debt instruments. The report however, presents a positive picture of the economy saying the economy performed well in 1997-98 as compared to the previous years. “The real growth rate of 5.9 per cent in 1997-98 was very close to the target. Agriculture recorded a growth rate of 5.9 per cent, industry grew by 6.2 per cent and the services sector by 4.8 per cent. — ANI Defaulters Defaulters in Pakistan still owe Rs 91 billion to various banks in the country, though they have recovered a little over Rs 17 billion from their debtors during 1998. This was revealed to members of the National Assembly by the Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Kamil Umar, who said the recovery campaign launched by the government this year has not been impressive or effective. He, however, told members
of the Assembly that the Nawaz Sharif government would be
taking stringent steps to improve the position of
recovery. — ANI |
JAIPUR, Jan 4 (PTI) — Bajaj Electricals has targeted a Rs 1,000 crore turnover by year 2000 and proposed to manufacture a wide ranging electric power tools and appliances of export quality in collaboration with US multinational Black and Decker Corporation, Managing Director of the company Shekhar Bajaj has said. Bajaj said the sales and other income of the company of the company has grown Rs 314.53 crore during end of March 1998 from Rs 261.93 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year registering an increase of 20 per cent. K-Gilt scheme becomes open-ended MUMBAI, Jan 4 (PTI) — Kotak Mahindera Mutul Fund’s (KMMF) K-Gilt scheme has been made open-ended (continuously open) from today as the initial subscription to the open offer has closed. The K-Gilt units that were offered at a par value of Rs 10 each, during the initial offer period, would henceforth be available at net asset value (NAV) related prices. During the initial offer, the scheme attracted close to Rs 85 crore worth of investments mostly from individual investors, a statement from Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Ltd said. Reliance Ind results on Jan 18 NEW DELHI, Jan 4 (PTI)
— Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will announce its
third quarter (Oct-Dec) results on January 18. A notice
to this effect has been sent to the stock exchanges
today, an RIL statement said. In the first half RIL has
reported sales of Rs 7,374 crore, an increase of 16 per
cent over the corresponding year and net profit of Rs 921
crore an increase of 10 per cent. |
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| Forex rates MUMBAI, Jan 4 (PTI) — The Following were interbank forex and RBI rates (in rupees per unit): U.S.$ Rs 42.56/58 The RBI reference rate was Rs 42.51. Gold rises Kisan card |
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