The Chairman and Managing Director of Exide Industries, Mr S.B. Ganguly, laying the foundation stone of the company's new factory at Balwal in Haryana.

LIC to invest in insurance sector
NEW DELHI, July 23 — In a bid to boost the domestic insurance industry, the Life Insurance Corporation will spend Rs 30,000 crore and the General Insurance Corporation will invest Rs 8 to Rs 9 crore.

Exide to set up unit in Haryana
NEW DELHI, July 23 — Exide Industries Limited is constructing a Rs 65 crore production unit at Bawal in Haryana.

Markfed to commission sugar mill in time
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Punjab Markfed’s first sugar mill being set up at Malout will be commissioned well in time by October next year.

Shares nomination
NEW DELHI, July 23 — Shareholders, debenture-holders and holders of deposits in companies will now have nomination facility.

Coop banks, NABARD sign MoU
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Eighteen cooperative banks in Punjab today signed an MoU with NABARD. The MoU envisages various action plans for the banks to emerge as financially viable, operationally strong and organisationaly vibrant rural credit disbursing agencies.

TVS Suzuki net 21.2 crore
Two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Suzuki limited announced a net profit of Rs 21.2 crore, a rise of 10.4 per cent for the first quarter for fiscal 1999-00 as against Rs 19.2 crore for the same period last year.

Colour lab

PMO pushes ahead with telecom package
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, July 23 — The Centre today defended the decision of DoT to issue formal letters to private cellular and basic telecom operators inviting them to switch over to revenue sharing arrangement from the existing licence fee regime.

Denying reports that the Prime Minister’s Office had overruled objections from the Rashtrapati Bhavan in going ahead with the telecom bailout package, official sources said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had replied point-by-point to the queries raised by the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, in this regard.

Virtually vetoing the President’s advice to keep the new telecom package in abeyance till the formation of a new Government at the Centre, the Prime Minister had contended that the basic framework of the policy had not changed. The package merely addresses the issue of migration of the old licenses to a new regime.

The Government had also convinced itself that the new package was not in violation of the model code of conduct issued by the Election Commission.

The sources said it was also the prerogative of the Prime Minister, as the Minister incharge of the Communications Ministry, to direct the Department of Telecommuni-cations (DoT) to issue letter to the private operators. After the earlier incumbent, Mr Jagmohan, was moved to the Ministry of Urban Development, the portfolio of Communications Ministry comes under the Prime Minister.

The PMO had on Wednesday night summoned senior officials of the DoT and asked them to issue letters seeking formal acceptance of the telecom package.

On Thursday the department swung into action and despatched letters to all the existing cellular and basic telephone operators detailing the conditions which have to be satisfied by them before they are allowed to migrate from the licence fee regime to a revenue sharing arrangement. The deadline for operators to convey their acceptance has been fixed on July 29, two days before the cut-off date for migration on August one.

The letter sets withdrawal of all cases from the courts and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) by the telecom operators as a precondition to migration to the revenue sharing system under the new Telecom Policy, 1999. Besides, the telecom package would have to be accepted in its entirety by the telecom operators.

The letter clarifies all the points raised by the telecom operators and insists that operators in future would not raise any dispute with regard to the licence agreement for the period upto July 31, 1999.

As per the letter, the telecom operators are to pay 15 per cent of their gross annual revenue as an interim revenue share until the TRAI comes out with its recommendations on the revenue sharing formula.

The DoT has also stated that liquidated damages as per the existing licence agreement would be paid latest by August 15, 1999. Under the new telecom package, the telecom companies are to pay 35 per cent of the total licence fee dues in cash by this date. Since most of the companies have already paid 20 per cent of the dues, the balance would have to be cleared by the end of the year. All companies would have to keep their financial bank guarantees and encash them by November end.

The licence fee paid by the companies by July would be treated as the entry fee and the extension of the effective date would be adjusted as per the conditions of the existing licence.

These letter were, however, not issued to Koshika Telecom and Aircell Digilink for the circles for which their licenses were terminated.

LIC to invest in insurance sector
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, July 23 — In a bid to boost the domestic insurance industry, the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) will spend Rs 30,000 crore and the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) will invest Rs 8 to Rs 9 crore.

The LIC will invest 50 per cent of its amount in government treasury bills and the rest in housing, infrastructure and social infrastructure programmes.

Mr B. K. Chaturvedi, Special secretary (Insurance), said at a meeting of the PHDCCI that the LIC has already accumulated an increase of Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore in assets.

With this growth of investment, it is now providing support to industry and is also an equity participant in many companies, he said.

The insurance sector is a strong motivator to Indian industry through the stock market and its assets in the market today stand at Rs 1,27,000 crore.

Namibian head visits PAU
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, July 23 — The Punjab Agri Export Corporation has signed on a joint venture with the Namibian Development Corporation for developing an agricultural farm of 1000 hectares with the cooperation of agricultural experts from Punjab Agricultural University.

This was announced by the President of Republic of Namibia. Dr Sam Niyoma, during his visit to the Punjab Agricultural University here today. He said that in this farm called mueses, the new techniques and researches of the university would be put into use to develop the agriculture and make the country self sufficient in food grains. At present, Namibia is totally dependent on imports of food grains from abroad.

This project to be picked up by the Ministry of External Affairs at the cost of Rs 20 lakh for the first year, would require agricultural experts to go to Namibia and study the summer and winter crops grown there and then submit a detailed report.

Exide to set up unit in Haryana
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, July 23 — Exide Industries Limited is constructing a Rs 65 crore production unit at Bawal in Haryana.

The factory with a capacity to manufacture one million storage batteries is expected to be commissioned in 2001, Chairman and Managing Director of the company, Mr S.B.Ganguly, said here today.

The factory, the foundation stone of which was laid yesterday, is the only production unit of Exide in Northern India.

With the acquisition of the industrial undertakings of Standard Batteries Limited in 1998, Exide Industries has eight factories at present spread over West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Mr Ganguly said manufacturing batteries in the organised sector, which presently has a market share of 32 per cent, was very important for the environment of the country as the recycling of lead-containing batteries in the unorganised sector, that too in open bhattis (furnace) without adequate pollution control mechanism, was known to be cancer causing.

Markfed to commission sugar mill in time
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Punjab Markfed’s first sugar mill being set up at Malout will be commissioned well in time by October next year. This was disclosed here today by Mr Kirpa Shankar Saroj, Additional Managing Director, Markfed after reviewing the different works of the project at Malout. The mill will have a crushing capacity of 1750 MT per day.

Mr Saroj was quite sure that as advance planning has been made for development of the sugarcane, so the mill being set up by Markfed would be viable and financially on sound footing. Not only fertilizers and pesticides were being supplied by Markfed to the farmers on credit arranged through state Cooperative Bank, even farmers were being helped in providing technical know-how and in supply of quality sugarcane seed etc.

Shares nomination

NEW DELHI, July 23 (UNI) — Shareholders, debenture-holders and holders of deposits in companies will now have nomination facility.

The Government has notified the form for filing of the nominations under the latest Amendment of the Companies Act.

Earlier, holders of shares and debentures were required to obtain succession letter from the competent authority. “The nomination facility is intended to make the company law in tune with the present-day economic policies of liberalisation and de-regulation’’, an official release said.

The facility would also promote investor confidence in the capital market and promote the climate for inter-corporate investment.

Coop banks,NABARD sign MoU
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Eighteen cooperative banks in Punjab today signed an MoU with NABARD. The MoU envisages various action plans for the banks to emerge as financially viable, operationally strong and organisationaly vibrant rural credit disbursing agencies.

Mr Sukhbir Singh, Officer in-charge, NABARD, said the cooperative banks should update themselves by introducing computerisation, rationalisation of Management Information System, inproving upon the banker-borrower relationship by way of adopting the extension in banking.

Mr Singh said the cooperative banks in 1999-2000 had planned a credit flow of Rs. 3194 crores in Punjab.

Colour lab
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 23 —Gretag Imaging of Switzerland and Sattyam Equipments, its partner in North India, displayed premium range of mini colour labs, which have recently been launched in the country, at the CII here yesterday.

TVS Suzuki net 21.2 crore

Two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Suzuki limited announced a net profit of Rs 21.2 crore, a rise of 10.4 per cent for the first quarter for fiscal 1999-00 as against Rs 19.2 crore for the same period last year. The company’s net sales moved up Rs 365 crore compared to Rs 274 crore for the period under review.

Voltas Limited posted a marginal Rs 3 lakh net profit for the first quarter of its financial year 1999-2000, as against Rs 7.1 crore for the same period last year.

The company achieved a net sales of Rs 217 crore for the April-June quarter this fiscal against Rs 295 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.

Crompton Greaves Limited registered a whopping increase in its losses to touch Rs 13.8 crore for the first quarter of fiscal 1999-2000 as against Rs 16 lakh for the same period last year.

Pharma major Wockhardt Ltd’s net profit fell by 16.9 per cent to Rs 58.8 crore during the year ended June 30, 1999 from Rs 70.8 crore in the previous year.

ICICI Bank has shown a 21 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 20.25 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 16.74 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The total income increased by 83.4 per cent to Rs 222.20 crore in the April-June 1999 period compared to Rs 121.16 crore in the same period last year, according to the bank’s unaudited financial results released here today.

The bank’s interest income soared 94.22 per cent to Rs 198.92 crore in the quarter ended June 30, as compared to Rs 102.42 crore in the same quarter last year. Other income also increased 24.22 per cent to Rs 23.28 crore from Rs 18.74 crore last year.

BPL Limited has recorded a 18.75 per cent during the first quarter of 1999-2000 fiscal at Rs 25.46 crore from Rs 21.44 crore in the same quarter last year.

BPL stated that it expected to complete Y2K compliance by September 30 for which it was likely to incur a total expenditure of Rs 21 crore.

Indian Rayon and Industries Ltd has reported profits of Rs 9.76 crore on a turnover of Rs 275 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 1999.

Khaitan Chemicals and Fertilisers (KCFL) has reported a net profits of Rs 1.91 crore during the first quarter ending June, 1999, a modest increase from previous year’s Rs 1.88 crore. The turnover for the period rose to Rs 23.13 crore from the 1998-99 figure of Rs 21.93 crore.

Birla Corporation Limited Showed no signs of any recovery in performance in the first quarter of current financial year as net loss jimped to Rs 10.29 crore from Rs 1.54 crore in the corresponding period previous year. —Agencies

NABARD
CHANDIGARH, July 23 (TNS) — NABARD sanctions Rs 6892.70 lakh to Government of Punjab for construction and upgradation of rural roads in various districts of the State out of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund. This is third tranche of assistance sanctioned to Goverment of Punjab for development of rural roads in the State. The project will be implemented by the PWD (B&R) in three years.