The Tatas replace HCL as top IT group
NEW DELHI, July 15 — The Tatas have wrested the title of number one IT group in India from HCL while Tata Consultancy Service has remained top in individual ranking, a survey has said.

‘They are so foolish...’
NEW DELHI, July 15 — The HCL group has resented its relegation to the second position because it says the ranking does not count the Rs 667 crore revenue of the Bermuda-based HCL subsidiary.

Rebate on khadi till December-end
NEW DELHI, July 15 — The Government today announced a 10 per cent rebate on khadi products sold through KVIC centres.

Low cost ‘attracts’ pupils to Australia
CHANDIGARH, July 15 — “An ever increasing number of students choose Australia” says Mr Nick Kumar, Director of Griffith International College, Australia and Asia Pacific Education Centre, Sydney, which has collaboration with B&B Worldwide Education Services Pvt Ltd based at Manimajra, Chandigarh.

Law on derivatives soon, says Sinha
MUMBAI, July 15 — The Centre will soon bring about legislative measures to introduce derivatives like option and futures in securities trading in order to provide hedging mechanism to investors, according to Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.

Pentafour Software net surges 63 pc
NEW DELHI, July 15 — Pentafour Software has registered a 63 per cent surge in net profit during the first quarter of the 1999-2000 fiscal to Rs 34.4 crore from Rs 21.1 crore a year ago.

CAG study suggests closure of 300 PSUs
NEW DELHI, July 15 — A study commissioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General has recommended the closure of 300 State public sector units — 128 of them on a priority basis for their poor performance.

NIIT net up 40 per cent
NEW DELHI, July 15 — NIIT recorded a 40 per cent surge in its net profit during April-June to touch Rs 60.98 crore as against Rs 43.56 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Tisco’s net profit declines to 24.79 crore
Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd’s net profit declined to Rs 24.79 crore in the first quarter of 1999-2000 from Rs 27.09 crore in the corresponding period of 1998-99.

The Tatas replace HCL as top IT group

NEW DELHI, July 15 (PTI) — The Tatas have wrested the title of number one IT group in India from HCL while Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) has remained top in individual ranking, a survey has said.

The annual Dataquest survey on the industry lauded the Tatas’ performance in emerging as the top group with ample support from its IT subsidiaries including TCS, Tata Infetech, Tata Elxci and Tata Technologies under its fold.

TCS led the Dataquest top 20 club (DQ top 20) followed by Wipro Ltd, HCL Infosystems Ltd and Delhi-based NIIT.

HCL Infosystems, made to the top 20 along with the other new entrants like Korean electronics major Samsung and Mocrotec, by topping the domestic PC market sale though its market share dropped from 15 per cent to 11 per cent in the last fiscal.

HCL displaced NIIT from the third slot to step down to fifth spot even after it recorded a 27 per cent growth from Rs 694 crore to Rs 879 crore. US computer major Hewlett Packard (HP) also fell by a position in the list.

Though Sun Microsystem wrested the number one position in unix server segment from HP, the latter continued to lead the pack with a 33.8 per cent of market share at Rs 474 crore.

The biggest leap was of IBM Global Service which jumped from the 48th position to 15 in the top 20 table by a record growth of 55 per cent at Rs 1652.27 crore from Rs 1065 crore in fiscal 1997-98, the survey said.

The other prominent companies which improved their position include Nasdag listed Infosys Technologies Ltd (up from 16 to 9) and Pentafour Software and Exports India which improved its position to eight from 15.

Other companies figuring in the top 20 list include Compaq Computers, Godrej Pacific Technology, the dissolved Tata IBM Ltd, Redington (India) Pvt Ltd, Tata Infotech Ltd, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, Aptech Ltd, CMC Ltd, Microsoft Corporation, Cognizant Technology Solutions.

‘They are so foolish...’

NEW DELHI, July 15 (UNI) — The HCL group has resented its relegation to the second position because it says the ranking does not count the Rs 667 crore revenue of the Bermuda-based HCL subsidiary.

“We know who is number one. We cannot care less about this survey,” HCL’s Sharad Talwar commented questioning the rationale behind including Tata-IBM’s revenue of Rs 480 crore in the Tatas’ overall ranking. “They are so foolish that they include Tata-IBM revenue (Tata IBM has since split as the latter has taken over the entire equity of the company) and shown us in the negative growth just because we are restructuring”.

Dataquest group Editor L. Subramanyan defended the basis of survey: “How can we take into account the Bermuda revenue which has not accrued to India. So far as the Tata IBM issue is concerned, the split took place much later”.

The survey has taken 50 per cent of the Tata IBM revenue into the reckoning as per the “GAAP norms” since the company was 50:50 owned.

Rebate on khadi till December-end

NEW DELHI, July 15 (PTI) — The Government today announced a 10 per cent rebate on khadi products sold through KVIC centres.

Addressing the newly constituted Khadi and Village Industries Board, its Chairman and Industry Minister Sikander Bakht asked KVIC to start offering rebate for its various products, which was stopped in the last financial year.

KVIC Chairman Mahesh Sharma told PTI after the meeting that the rebate would start from today for which the commission was getting a grant of Rs 200 crore for the current financial year.

Asked if it violated the model code of conduct, Sharma said: “Rebate is our annual feature and there is nothing new to violate the code of conduct.”

The 10 per cent rebate announced today will be available on cotton, woollen, silk khadi polyvastra and reeled and spun silk till December- end.

Low cost ‘attracts’ pupils to Australia
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 15 — “An ever increasing number of students choose Australia” says Mr Nick Kumar, Director of Griffith International College, Australia and Asia Pacific Education Centre, Sydney, which has collaboration with B&B Worldwide Education Services Pvt Ltd based at Manimajra, Chandigarh.

Entry procedures are quick, easy and cost effective, he said at a seminar on immigration here today.

The rate of Indian students going to Australia has increased by almost 200 per cent over the last two years, said Mr Peter Jones, Principal, Griffith International College.

Mr Raj Bhandari, Managing Director, B&B Worldwide, who himself has lived in Australia for 11 years said that with the ever-shrinking government jobs and the private sector only accepting quality people, Australian education has become attractive.

B&B has opened branches in Mohali, Nawanshahar, Amritsar and Noida to cater to the high demand in the northern region.

Law on derivatives soon, says Sinha

MUMBAI, July 15 (UNI) — The Centre will soon bring about legislative measures to introduce derivatives like option and futures in securities trading in order to provide hedging mechanism to investors, according to Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.

Inaugurating the depository services of the Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDS) and the on-line surveillance system of the BSE here today, Mr Sinha said that there was an urgent need to deepen the capital market trading through modernisation and introduction of new product mechanism with greater transparency and surveillances.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Finance Minister held a lunch-on meeting with the RBI Governor, Dr Bimal Jalan, and the chairmen and chief executives of commercial banks and financial institutions in order to evolve certain ideas for allowing insurance firms and pension funds to trade and invest in the capital market in a safe way without getting into “unwarranted risks”.

Pentafour Software net surges 63 pc

NEW DELHI, July 15 (UNI) — Pentafour Software has registered a 63 per cent surge in net profit during the first quarter of the 1999-2000 fiscal to Rs 34.4 crore from Rs 21.1 crore a year ago.

Net sales during the April-June quarter were Rs 143.82 crore, up 50.3 per cent from Rs 95.78 crore in the same period last year.

The company has set September 1 as the record date for its 1:1 bonus issue.

Overseas sales and services accounted for Rs 139.75 crore during the period while domestic sales were Rs 4.07 crore. Other income was up to Rs 1.28 crore from Rs 60 lakh a year ago while total expenditure stood at Rs 89.95 crore.

Business software formed 44 per cent of its revenues during the period, while multimedia formed 56 per cent of the revenues. In view of project milestones, high value multimedia, banking, insurance projects and deferred debt of long-cycle projects, debtors averaged 120 days of sales in April-June 1999.

CAG study suggests closure of 300 PSUs

NEW DELHI, July 15 (PTI) — A study commissioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has recommended the closure of 300 State public sector units — 128 of them on a priority basis for their poor performance.

The study covered 776 State PSUs operating in electricity, manufacturing, transport, services and trading, term lending and promotional institutions, welfare and agro-based industries.

Though the gross profitability of the State PSUs improved in the post-liberalisation period, the profits were not commensurate with the capital employed, the study commissioned in 1997 gave its recommendations in the first quarter of this year.

The study was carried out by the Indian Institute of Cost and Management Studies and Research and the recommendations will be incorporated by CAG in its commercial reports of State undertakings.

NIIT net up 40 per cent

NEW DELHI, July 15 (UNI) — NIIT recorded a 40 per cent surge in its net profit during April-June to touch Rs 60.98 crore as against Rs 43.56 crore in the corresponding period last year. Gross profit grew by around 40 per cent at Rs 71.25 crore over Rs 51.20 crore.

Similar trend was observed for nine months of the company’s financial years ended June 30 last. Net profit of the company stood at Rs 89.49 crore, up by around 44 per cent over Rs 61.95 crore last year.

Tisco’s net profit declines to 24.79 crore

Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd’s (Tisco) net profit declined to Rs 24.79 crore in the first quarter of 1999-2000 from Rs 27.09 crore in the corresponding period of 1998-99.

The Tata group company has attributed the lower net profit to higher depreciation and interest charges due to commissioning of major modernisation of Phase-IV facilities.

The operating profit increased by 3.78 per cent to Rs 236.32 crore as sales went up by 6.65 per cent to Rs 1,427.34 crore compared to the corresponding quarter of last year, Tisco said in a release here today after the Board of Directors took on record the unaudited financial results for April-June 1999.

Interest expenses were up to Rs 85.84 crore during April-June 1999 from Rs 77.64 crore in the corresponding period of last year and depreciation was up to Rs 104 crore from Rs 91 crore.

Tisco said after three successive years of recessionary conditions, the Indian steel market is showing signs of revival. The flat products demand appears to be firming up, although the domestic prices are still lower than the corresponding first quarter of the previous year mainly due to excess supply.

Asian Paints today posted an increase of 11.39 per cent in its net profit at Rs 15.65 crore on the back of a 10.64 per cent growth in sales at Rs 290.34 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 1999.

Net sales of the company showed a healthy 12.4 per cent growth at Rs 273 crore while the profit before tax stood at Rs 23 crore (Rs 19.51 crore).

Sun Pharmaceutical on Thursday said its net profit has gone up by 69.46 per cent to touch Rs 20 crore for the first quarter of 1999-2000, from the previous year’s Rs 11.82 crore.

The company’s gross profits jumped up by 84.8 per cent to reach Rs 25 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 13.5 crore last year.

Ballarpur Industries Limited (Bilt): said it expected to report a net profit of Rs 16 crore on a turnover of over Rs 700 crore in the nine months ending June, 1999.

The company had reported Rs 3.2 crore net profit in the 18 months period from April 1997 to September 1998.

Calculating on an annualised basis, Bilt’s net profit would work out to be in the region of Rs 20 crore.

Voltas International Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Voltas Ltd, has bagged a Rs 75 crore contract for the entire electrical aspects of the phase-I of the “Abu Dhabi Trade Centre”. — Agencies

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Omsons Intl
JALANDHAR, July 15 (TNS) — Omsons International, a Jalandhar-based recognised export house, has been given the Export Excellence Award by the Engg. Export Promotion Council, (Northern Region), Ministry of Commerce. The award was presented to Mr Sunil Mahajan, a senior executive of the company, by Mr P.P. Prabhu, Commerce Secretary, at a function in New Delhi on July 14.

Bhaskarudu
NEW DELHI, July 15 (PTI) — Industry Minister Sikandar Bakht today said the Maruti Udyog Ltd MD R.S.S.L.N. Bhaskarudu is being appointed a member of the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) in view of the expiry of his present tenure in December 1999. “We have offered him a three-year tenure at the PESB. It is a good post for him”, Bahkt said.

Dabur
NEW DELHI, July 15 (UNI) — Dabur India Limited has contributed Rs 11 lakh towards the Army Central Welfare Fund Mr V.C. Burman, Chairman of Dabur India Limited handed over the cheque to Home Minister L.K. Advani at his office yesterday.