‘Super rice’ may raise yield by 25 per cent
NEW DELHI, June 15 — A “super rice” variety, which is expected to yield 20 to 25 per cent more than the conventional varieties and is ideally suited for cultivation in Punjab and Haryana, will hit the Indian market soon, leading agricultural scientists have said.

Alan Durante, Executive Director, automotive division of Mahindra & Mahindra, signed an MoU with Mr Odei Sheshinki, vice-president, international marketing of Plasan Sasa, Israel — PTI

Bullet-proof vehicles by Mahindra & Mahindra NEW DELHI, June 15 — Multi-utility vehicles manufacturer, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. has tied up Israeli designer and manufacturer, Plasan Sasa, to design and develop armoured (bullet-proof) vehicles in the country.

‘Go in for e-commerce’
NEW DELHI, June 15 — The Indian industry should make use of e-commerce without waiting for an appropriate legal framework, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, member, Planning Commission, said here today.

Economy can bear Kargil crisis: industry
NEW DELHI, June 15 — Apex chambers of trade and industry today exuded confidence that the Indian economy was resilient enough to tide over the Kargil crisis but hoped that the border hostilities would be over soon.

Ludhiana likely to be free trade zone
KOCHI, June 15 — Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde today said that the Centre was studying the feasibility of converting Ludhiana city in Punjab into a free trade zone.

PunCom secures 19 crore DoT order
CHANDIGARH, June 15 — Punjab Communications Limited (PunCom) has secured the first position (L-1) in the DoT tender for the supply of VSAT equipment worth Rs 27 crores, which was opened today.

ISO 9000 fever catches on
CHANDIGARH, June 15 — With the opening up of the Indian economy there has been an upsurge in the Indian industries to demonstrate quality of their products and services “ISO 9000 phobia is an outcome of the danger Indian industry is facing from foreign companies”.

‘Super rice’ may raise yield by 25 per cent
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, June 15 — A “super rice” variety, which is expected to yield 20 to 25 per cent more than the conventional varieties and is ideally suited for cultivation in Punjab and Haryana, will hit the Indian market soon, leading agricultural scientists have said.

The Director General of Philippines based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Dr R.P. Cantrell said that field experiments of the new variety have been found to be highly successful.

“The ‘super rice’ variety is one of the first cases of successfully engineering a plant. It has grown out of the need to produce 40 to 50 per cent more rice in the coming decades”, Dr Cantrell said.

The variety, also called the “new plant type”, is being developed by IRRI and is expected to be commercially available in India within the next five years and is ideal for cultivation in irrigated conditions like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Senior scientists of the IRRI and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) said that the new variety is not transgenic and is developed through cross-hybridisation of aptly chosen parent plants. It has a plant architecture that is completely different from all previous plants.

“Field testing is currently going on in China and in the Philippines”, Dr Gurdev S. Khush, who is leading a team at IRRI to develop the variety, said adding that the new variety could break the yield plateau reached by modern high-yielding varieties.

Dr Khush said that IRRI has developed about 400 different varieties of super rice. They will be tested in association with the ICAR, within the next two years to find out which one suits the Indian soil conditions.

The new variety has fewer but sturdier stems and takes 100 to 130 days for growth and maturation.The IRRI is also in the process of developing a “yellow rice” which contains more nutrient contents.

Both the organisations would also collaborate in the crop resource management, socio-economic studies, human resource development and joint publications on rice research.

‘Go in for e-commerce’
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, June 15 — The Indian industry should make use of e-commerce without waiting for an appropriate legal framework, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, member, Planning Commission, said here today.

Speaking at a seminar on “Enabling e-commerce in India”, organised by the CII,GIIC and IL&FS, Dr Ahluwalia said that Indian industry cannot afford to wait for cyber laws.

This being a non-controversial issue ,all political parties should have no objection to it .The draft IT Bill and internet service providers (ISP) policy must also be implemented.

The draft E-commerce Act 1998, must be put in place — whether through an ordinance or by the new government.

He said that due to fast changing technology, any policy would be get outdated every two to three years. Thus the government would need to be very receptive to the suggestions of the industry and the industry would need to adopt a very vigilant and receptive approach.

On the issues that would come up in drafting legislation , he said the major ones were which law would apply in the case of an international e-commerce transaction; issues of encryption and security for credit card transactions, intellectual property rights etc.

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Mr N. Vittal, said that the cyberlaws framework prepared by the Ministry of Commerce, the White Paper on e-commerce and the IT Bill should be synthesised to create an appropriate legal framework and this must then be issued as an Ordinance.

The government should take clear policy decision not to tax e-commerce transactions. As this form of commerce was still in its nascent stages, it could be stunted by inordinately high taxes, and must be allowed to grow.

Economy can bear Kargil crisis: industry

NEW DELHI, June 15 (PTI) — Apex chambers of trade and industry today exuded confidence that the Indian economy was resilient enough to tide over the Kargil crisis but hoped that the border hostilities would be over soon.

The chambers said the Indian economy was better equipped than Pakistan’s to handle pressure that a sustained conflict might impose but expressed fears that the present situation could result in a fiscal imbalance due to an additional expenditure on defence.

CII President Rahul Bajaj and his Assocham counterpart K.P. Singh said that fundamentals of the Indian economy were strong enough to withstand pressures of developments on the Indo-Pak border.

However, a prolonged Kargil situation could adversely impact the economy, though the situation was least likely to go out of hand, representatives of three Chambers, including FICCI told PTI while agreeing with the assessment of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.

Sinha had said yesterday that a war-like situation could collapse the Pakistan economy but India could overcome the pressures economically.

“The situation in Kargil is much more than the usual border skirmishes and will definitely place an additional burden on the country’s fiscal deficit,” Bajaj said.

“If tensions continue for longer, than worsening fiscal deficit might also adversely affect inflation,” Bajaj added.

“A quick analysis by Assocham on the fiscal situation arising out of the conflict and mid-term elections reveals serious disequilibrium,” Singh said adding, that it could ultimately result in an upward inflation rate and fiscal deficit, forcing the country’s economy back into the red.

“The one possible fallout of a sustained conflict between the two countries will be a cut in non-Plan expenditure to fund defence requirements,” said FICCI Deputy Secretary General Y.P. Srivastava.

Pruning establishment expenditure as well as certain subsidies was Bajaj’s potion for avoiding a strain on the non-Plan expenditure.

“Since the public sector undertakings disinvestment target is unlikely to be met, cutting down non-Plan expenditure in certain areas is the government’s only option,” K.P. Singh said.

Ludhiana likely to be free trade zone

KOCHI, June 15 (PTI) — Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde today said that the Centre was studying the feasibility of converting Ludhiana city in Punjab into a free trade zone (FTZ).

Addressing a press conference at the Cochin Export Processing Zone (CEPZ), he said a small committee to work out the details, had been sent to Ludhiana, where a lot of readymade garments were being manufactured.

Mr Hegde said exports had registered a growth of 10.6 per cent till March this year, compared to the corresponding period last year. Total growth last year was 4.6 per cent, which, he claimed, was the highest in the whole Asian continent, including China.

The minister also went round the CEPZ after holding a meeting with entrepreneurs.

Mr Hegde said at present there were seven EPZS in the country and the Centre had plans to increase their number.

“We would like to have FTZS wherever possible, schemes are being worked out,’’ Mr Hegde said.

However, this required a lot of infrastructural facilities like availability of land, water supply and electricity.

PunCom secures 19 crore DoT order
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 15 — Punjab Communications Limited (PunCom) has secured the first position (L-1) in the DoT tender for the supply of VSAT equipment worth Rs 27 crores, which was opened today.

According to Mr A.S. Gill, Managing Director, a total of seven companies — PunCom, PDISL, ITI, GCEL, BEL, Shyam and ISL — bid in the DoT tender for 120 VSAT systems. As per the tender condition, Puncom being the lowest bidder (L-1) should get order for 70 per cent of the tendered quantity worth Rs 19 crore. The balance order for Rs 8.5 crores should go to PDISL.

In the last three months, PunCom bid for major DoT tenders and secured orders of Rs 106 crores. These orders will add up to a total order value of Rs 200 crore.

As against a turnover of Rs 94 crore during the year 1998-99, PunCom has a target of Rs 150 crore for the current financial year. The company is likely to close the year with a healthy profit of about Rs 11.5 crore.

ISO 9000 fever catches on
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 15 — With the opening up of the Indian economy there has been an upsurge in the Indian industries to demonstrate quality of their products and services “ISO 9000 phobia is an outcome of the danger Indian industry is facing from foreign companies”.

Stating this here today, Mr Raj Bhandari Vice-President, Marketing, of International Certifications Limited, a certification body having its office in Panchkula, said ICL focuses on small and medium industries. “There was dearth of good auditors who could perform values added auditing to improve the performance of the industry”, Mr Bhandari added.

Close on the heels of ISO 9000 comes the ISO 14000 environmental standards, which the industry is being asked to comply with the number of certified industries for ISO 14000 is much less than ISO 9000. These standards demand suppliers to identify areas in their processes, which could have a significant impact on the environment over and above those demanded by the regulatory authorities.

Bullet-proof vehicles by M&M
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, June 15 — Multi-utility vehicles manufacturer, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. has tied up Israeli designer and manufacturer, Plasan Sasa, to design and develop armoured (bullet-proof) vehicles in the country.

According to Mr Alan Durante, Executive Director and President of the company, the M and M bullet-proof vehicles would be ideally suited for the use of security forces in counter-insurgency operations as well as on the battle field.

Forex
US $ Rs 43.31/34
Stg £ Rs 69.33/36
Euro Rs 45.05/07
Jap yen (100) Rs 35.93/95

Spice Telecom
CHANDIGARH, June 15 (TNS) — Spice Telecom today announced that it has achieved a 50,000 subscriber base, confirming its position as the largest operator of mobile phone service in North India. It was a surprise offer for Mr Harish Kumar of Ludhiana, the lucky 50,000th Spice subscriber, who wins free airtime on incoming calls until July 31.

Cardamom
NEW DELHI, June 15 (TNS) — Savour India Pvt. Ltd. a food products company, has launched “savour Elaichi” in hygienically packed sachets in Punjab , Himachal Pradesh , Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.