Exports register 6.09 per cent growth
NEW DELHI, July 1 — Indian exports have shown a turnaround in the first two months of the current financial year clocking in a growth of 6.09 per cent in dollar terms and 13.26 per cent in rupee terms.

Rs 71 crore tax evasion in Ludhiana
LUDHIANA, July 1 — In order to net sales tax evaders, the Department of Excise and Taxation has decided to give rewards to informers and officers for detecting evasion in cases where tax penalty amounting to Rs 5 lakh or more is imposed announced the Divisional Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Mr Daljit Singh, during a press conference here today.

Birla Carpets to sack 350 workers
NEW DELHI, July 1 — In a bid to overcome heavy manpower and trading costs, the sick Birla Transasia Carpets Limited, a part of Rs 800 crore Yashwardhan Birla group, has planned a host of steps including retrenchment of almost two-thirds of its workers, a top official said.

HDFC office at Patiala
PATIALA, July 1 — The Housing Development Finance Corporation inaugurated its 50th office here yesterday.

Sugarcane seed farm near Malout
CHANDIGARH, July 1 — Punjab Markfed would set up a modern sugarcane seed development farm near its sugar mill, Malout to provide good quality sugarcane seed to the farmers.

Union Bank deposits up

PHDCCI pleads for model power sector
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, July 1 — Mr Ashok Khanna, President PHDCCI, while addressing industrialists, said the reason behind the chamber choosing to organise such an important meetings here was basically meant to restrengthen business sentiments and confidence which was known for its secular and entrepreneurial credentials. The business community was contributing to Punjab and national economy with a wide range of business and industrial activities spread around Amritsar, he said.

Making a plea for substantial investment in building infrastructure to boost the industrial activities in Punjab, Mr Khanna, said the state having accomplished a feat in the agriculture sector contributing so significantly to the national and state economy, needed to build infrastructure on urgency basis involving the private sector in this task.

He pleaded for creating a model power sector which was profitable and was in a position to raise funds from domestic and international institutions for generation and upgradation of transmission and distribution system. Mr Khanna called upon the Government to set up an independent state power regulatory commission which would help in balancing interest of the State. He also urged for a joint sector distribution company in industry intensive circle with the PSEB involving up to 25 per cent in the share capital.

He also said disinvestment by the government and privatisation were the order of the day. Accordingly, specific areas for setting up state of the art industrial estates in the joint sector should be undertaken. The contribution of the State as equity may be the land. These estates should be spread over 500 to 1000 acres. The basic infrastructure of roads, power, water, sewage treatment, telecom etc should be provided prior to the allotment of plots.

The State PSUs also needed to be reformed and loss making undertakings be restructured and converted into joint sector companies to be run by an independent professional board of directors. The meeting was presided by Mr RL Singh, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Punjab.

Power Minister sets deadlines for IPPs
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, July 1 — Union Power Minister Mr P.R. Kumaramangalam has sent out a strong message to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that if IPPs failed to adhere to deadlines, the clearances given earlier are liable to be cancelled and thereby enable the State Governments to place these projects on the bidding route.

While granting extension of time to seven Independent Power Producers (IPPs) including two hydro-electric projects for filing their complete detailed project reports with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for techno-economic appraisal, the Minister said that the government is taking a serious view in respect of those power projects which have been cleared by the CEA but are yet to take off.

This was decided at a recent review meeting on the status of power projects which was attended by senior officers of the Power Ministry and the CEA.

In case of the IPPs which have been granted CEA clearance, the Minister prescribed deadlines for submission of financial package.Mr Kumaramangalam was emphatic that these IPPs should make an all out effort to achieve financial closure and and these deadlines will not be extended for any reason.

The Power Minister appreciated the fact that 21 power projects with a total capacity of 4500 MW capacity have been commissioned and 20 private power projects for around 5200 MW capacity have started operating.

He, however, expressed unhappiness that even though CEA has approved 52 proposals for private power projects amounting to 25,000 MW, the actual number of projects that have started generation is not encouraging enough.

Mr Kumaramangalam said that the recent policy initiatives and setting up of the Crisis Resolution Group have started yielding positive results.The banks and financial institutions have started to show a renewed interest for lending to the power sector.

Exports register 6.09 per cent growth

NEW DELHI, July 1 (UNI) — Indian exports have shown a turnaround in the first two months of the current financial year clocking in a growth of 6.09 per cent in dollar terms and 13.26 per cent in rupee terms.

The turnaround was even more impressive in May when exports grew by 11.68 per cent in dollar terms and 18.03 per cent in rupee terms.

Consequent to 3.81 per cent decline in imports in April-May, 1999 and a good going by exports, the country’s trade deficit is estimated at $ 1290.02 million, lower than deficit recorded in the same period last year.

Exports during the first two months of this year are estimated at $ 5301.25 million against $ 4996.97 million in the corresponding period last year. In May alone, exports are valued at $ 2646.12 million against $ 2369.37 million in the same month in 1998. In rupee terms, exports were Rs 11,317.77 crore, up 18.03 per cent.

Imports during April-May, 1999, are estimated at $ 6591.27 million which is 3.81 per cent lower than $ 6852.07 million in the same period last year.

Significantly, imports showed a decline despite 36.17 per cent increase in oil imports. Oil imports in these two months are valued at $ 1252.66 million against $ 919.91 million. It is the non-oil imports that saw a 10 per cent drop in the period under review. Non-oil imports in April-May, 1999, are estimated at $ 5338.61 million as against $ 5932.16 million.

Rs 71 crore tax evasion in Ludhiana
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, July 1 — In order to net sales tax evaders, the Department of Excise and Taxation has decided to give rewards to informers and officers for detecting evasion in cases where tax penalty amounting to Rs 5 lakh or more is imposed announced the Divisional Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Mr Daljit Singh, during a press conference here today. He said that in case the information provided by an informant leads to the successful detection of tax evaded, the informant would be paid a reward upto 10 per cent of the additional demand created.

Mr Daljit Singh also announced the setting up of a state-level committee, to be headed by the Joint Commissioner, Mr H.S. Ghai, to listen to the problems being faced by the traders and negotiate accordingly.

The Commissioner also said that the department was losing revenue because of certain private firms shifting their offices to different places and under this garb were getting exemption from sales tax for the first eight gears of setting up office. The losses thus suffered were around 2 to 3 per cent he said.

Mr Singh announced that sales tax on vanaspati had been reduced from 4 per cent to 1.6 per cent with effect from April 1999 and there was also a proposal to reduce the sales tax on refined oil to 1 per cent.

The Commissioner revealed that the department had detected tax evasion of Rs 71 crore in Ludhiana and out of this Rs 56 crore was detected alone in Ludhiana district I.

Mr Singh also announced that there had been 15 per cent divisional increase in sales tax upto May 31 this year and an overall 10 per cent increase in Ludhiana, with the collections going up to Rs 77 crore.

Mr Singh said that for the year 1999-2000, Ludhiana District I had registered an increase in excise by 18 per cent. Ludhiana District II by 17.26 per cent and Ludhiana District III by 9.38 per cent.

Union Bank deposits up
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 1 — The deposits of the Union Bank of India shot up by 23 per cent to reach the level of Rs 28,382 crore and the advances touched Rs 11,955 crore registering a rise of 11 per cent. The bank recorded a rise in total investment by 33 per cent and attains the level of Rs 12,286 crore. The priority sector accounted for 47.2 per cent of the net bank credit. The net profit of the bank fell by about 36 per cent to Rs 160 crore in the fiscal 1998-99. The export credit stood at Rs 1441 crore i.e. 12.4 per cent of the net bank credit.

Birla Carpets to sack 350 workers

NEW DELHI, July 1 (UNI) — In a bid to overcome heavy manpower and trading costs, the sick Birla Transasia Carpets Limited (BTCL), a part of Rs 800 crore Yashwardhan Birla group, has planned a host of steps including retrenchment of almost two-thirds of its workers, a top official said.

The manpower costs for the carpet major accounted for almost 24 per cent of its total Rs 14 crore sales in 1997-98 which are way above the industry average of 8 to 10 per cent. Mr D K Mittal, whole time Director of BTCL, told UNI.

Justifying the step to retrench 350 workers, over 63 per cent of its 550 staff, he said the company has been facing severe labour problems over the bonus and other issues.

Negotiations are on with workers union over the retirement package and once it is finalised. The company which has been declared sick by the BIFR recently will begin the retrenchment.

HDFC office at Patiala

PATIALA, July 1 (PTI) — The Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) inaugurated its 50th office here yesterday.

The chairman of the Corporation Deepak Parekh inaugurated the office.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chairman said that the Corporation had so far approved loans of over Rs 50 crore in and around Patiala.

The Patiala office of the Corporation will cover the requirements of Patiala as also residents of surrounding areas including Rajpura, Nabha, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mandi Gobindgarh, Sangrur, Mansa and Bathinda.He said that the corporation’s network of 49 offices serves over 2,400 towns and cities all over India. It has one international office at Dubai.

Sugarcane seed farm near Malout
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 1 — Punjab Markfed would set up a modern sugarcane seed development farm near its sugar mill, Malout to provide good quality sugarcane seed to the farmers.

Mr G.S. Sandhu, Managing Director, Markfed said that several steps have been taken for early commissioning of Markfed Sugar Mill, Malout and its work was going on war-footing. A high level meeting of sugarcane experts would be held at Malout on July 6 so that good quality sugarcane is grown around the mill.

Experts from the Sugarcane Commissioner’s office, Agriculture Deptt. Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana and from Sugarcane Development Farm, Jalandhar will participate in the meeting.

Confirm payment of insurance premium

A CRUCIAL aspect of any insurance policy being its timely renewal, many an insured has lost the advantage of an insurance cover by forgetting to renew the policy on time. While in such cases the insured has none but himself to blame, there are innumerable instances where an insured has paid a heavy price for someone else’s carelessness. However, where banks take on the responsibility of insuring the vehicle financed by them and fail to pay the premium on time, resulting in the insurance company repudiating the claim, consumer courts have come to the rescue of consumers. The courts have held the banks in such cases liable and directed them to indemnify the loss suffered by the consumer. This week I will give two such cases decided by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

Let me begin with Mr Shatrughan Sharma’s case. On May 15,1991, Mr Sharma purchased an Ambassador car. Since Bank of India (BOI) provided the finance for the purchase, the car was hypothecated to BOI. The bank therefore got a comprehensive insurance cover for the car with the United India Insurance Company. Since the insurance papers were with the bank, the car owner was required to pay the premium amount to the bank, which was required to renew the policy. On May 13, 1992, three days before the expiry of the policy, Mr Sharma deposited with the bank, Rs 4,104 in cash towards the premium. The bank, however, failed to remit the money on time to the insurance company and it was only on May 19,1992, at 10 a.m. that it made the payment.

On May 18, however, tragedy struck Mr Sharma. His wife died and the next morning, while he was proceeding towards his native village carrying his wife’s ashes, a private bus collided with his car, damaging it extensively. This was at 7.50 a.m. on May 19. The insurance company promptly repudiated the claim on the ground that the premium for renewal of the policy was not paid on time and therefore there was no insurance cover for the car at the time of the accident. Following the payment of the premium by the bank on May 19, the policy came into existence again at 10 a.m. on that day, while the accident had taken place at 7.50 a.m.

Mr Sharma filed a complaint before the District Forum in Calcutta, which held the insurance company liable on the ground that the insurance cover, renewed on May 19, should relate back to the midnight hour when the day commenced. Thus, the car was insured at the time of the accident, the Forum said and directed the insurance company to pay Rs 30,000 and the bank, Rs 10,000. This was upheld by the West Bengal State Commission.

The National Commission before which the insurance company filed a revision petition, however, disagreed with the order of the lower consumer courts and held that the insurance company was not liable to indemnify the loss. In support of this decision it quoted the judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of Oriental Insurance Company vs Sunitha Rathi (AIR 1997 SC 257) wherein the apex court had clarified that where the insurance policy only specified the date of commencement of the policy, the risk cover would begin from the midnight hour, when that day began. Otherwise the insurance cover would begin from the time specified in the policy. Here, the policy clearly mentioned the renewal time as 10 a.m. and therefore at the time of the accident, the vehicle did not have an insurance cover, the Commission said.

However, it concluded that there was clear deficiency in the service rendered by the bank in that it failed to remit the insurance premium and thus keep the vehicle duly insured. The bank was therefore liable to make good the entire loss to the insured, which would be Rs 40,000, the Commission said. It therefore directed the bank to pay the amount along with 12 per cent interest from May 22,1992 when the claim was made, till the date of payment. (United India Insurance vs Shatrughan Sharma, November 18,1998).

In a similar case where the City Bank had failed to renew the insurance policy towards a Maruti car that it had financed, the National Commission held the bank negligent and directed it to pay Rs 76,990 plus 18 per cent interest to the car owner. (Pradeep Kumar Jain vs the City Bank, May 19,1995) Here too even though Mr Jain had paid the premium amount to the bank for the renewal of policy for the next two years, the bank had failed to pass on the money to the insurance company. In the meanwhile, Mr Jain met with an accident in which the car was severely damaged. The insurance company repudiated the claim on the ground that the policy was not renewed.

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SBI branch
CHANDIGARH, July 1 (TNS) — The State Bank of India today opened its third NRI branch of Chandigarh Circle and second in Punjab State at G.T. Road Phagwara. The branch was inaugurated by Mr. R.L. Vig, Deputy General Manager of the Bank. Mr Vig said that the branch will suit the requirements of NRI clients from Doaba belt.