‘New crop insurance scheme from October’
NEW DELHI, June 29 — Even as the new National Agricultural Crop Insurance Scheme is expected to come into force from October this year, the success of the scheme would be squarely dependent on the participation of the State Governments.

Daewoo targets 1500 crore turnover
CALCUTTA, June 29 — Daewoo Motor India Ltd has projected to move out of the red and cross a gross turnover figure of Rs 1,500 crore during the current fiscal.

BIFR to hear ABCL case on July 9
NEW DELHI, June 29 — The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction will take up the case of Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited on July 9 to decide whether the entertainment company can be declared sick.

• Mico announces buy-back offer
• Sun Earth Ceramics

No mid-term fiscal correction: Sinha

NEW DELHI, June 29 (PTI) — Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today ruled out any mid-term fiscal correction to meet the expenditure on account of the Kargil conflict saying “limited impact of Kargil is well within our managing capabilities.”

He said that impact of Kargil on Pakistan would be many times more compared to that on India as Islamabad was already in ‘deep trouble’ before the conflict started.

“Kargil conflict will not pose any threat to Indian economy as it will indeed do to Pakistan economy, there is no need for any mid-term fiscal correction,” Sinha told PTI in an informal chat.

At the same time he said the government would ‘fully meet’ the defence requirements.

“Whatever will be the requirements of funds by the Ministry of Defence or Armed Forces will be fully met. There should be no doubt either on our willingness or our capacity to meet the requirements of defence,” he said.

India has provided for a total of Rs.45,694 crore towards defence expenditure in the Budget for current financial year, up from Rs 41,200 crore in the previous year.

Pakistan spent a total of Rs.14,500 crore on defence during the last financial year.

Asked about the impact of any prolonged conflict, Sinha said “it is a hypothetical question, as of now the assessment of the government is that the impact will be limited and well within our capabilities.”

No fresh taxes

The government is unlikely to levy fresh taxes to meet the mounting expenditure on the Kargil conflict.

Mr Sinha said that as of now it would not be necessary to resort to additional resource mobilisation. The minister, however, said he could not comment on a hypothetical situation in case there was no “early end” to the Kargil conflict.

Mr Sinha said both the industry and the government were confident that the impact of the Kargil events would not make the situation unmanageable.

Sinha said Indian economy was showing “tender signs” of coming out of the worst ever economic crisis the nation has faced.

“The challenges of 1998-99 were much greater than ever before. Economic crisis in 1991 was largely thrown up by circumstances at home and the Gulf war was just incidental. But the problems of last 15 months were brought about by both domestic and external factors,” Sinha told PTI during an hour long chat.

He said that the economy was showing signs of revival and prophets of doom were proven wrong. “We have tender signs of revival. One has to wait and see if it endures.”

To buttress the argument, Sinha said that tax collections in the first two and a half months was extremely encouraging and way above the revenues during the same period last year.

“It is not a flash in the pan,” Sinha said adding that encouraging information of collections from excise, customs, corporate and personal income tax was flowing in continuously.

Discounting the concerns expressed over the state of economy in the wake of Kargil conflict, Sinha said “despite forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and Kargil conflict, confidence shown by trade, industry and consumer in the economy is going to stay and not going to vanish.”

India may oppose IMF loan to Pak

NEW DELHI, June 29 (PTI) — India is likely to oppose further disbursement of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to Pakistan in view of reported diversion of funds for the Kargil conflict. Next tranches of about $ 250 million of IMF loan to Pakistan is due from July and Islamabad is holding negotiations for the same.

Government sources indicated that India will approach other IMF member countries for blocking the disbursal.

When contacted, the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said India supported the $1.5 billion IMF loan package for Pakistan before the conflict started.

Sinha declined to comment on reports that the United States would oppose the disbursal of the next tranche of $100 million loan to Islamabad till it withdraws intruders from Kargil.

Asked if India would oppose the disbursal of loan, Finance Minister said: “We supported Pakistan before the conflict, but it was misused. We will keep this in mind when our opinion is sought on further disbursal.”

RBI keeps rupee under close watch

NEW DELHI, June 29 (UNI) — Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today said the RBI is keeping a close watch on the foreign exchange market and the decision to intervene rests with it.

Mr Sinha said the Central Bank was doing its duty in this regard.

It was the RBI’s domain to deal with the value of the rupee. It is keeping a watch on the rupee on a day to day basis and it is for the Central Bank to take necessary action.

When asked will he do anything to curtail it, Mr Sinha said “I don’t have to curtail it.” The decision to do anything in this regard is for the RBI to take.

The rupee has been steadily depreciating against the dollar. It opened on Monday of the previous week at 43.10 - 43.12 and fell to an intra week low of 43.43 before closing at 43.34 after a statement by the RBI Governor Bimal Jalan.

Daewoo targets 1500 crore turnover

CALCUTTA, June 29 (UNI) — Daewoo Motor India Ltd (DMIL) has projected to move out of the red and cross a gross turnover figure of Rs 1,500 crore during the current fiscal.

“We are very much optimistic of having a gross turnover of Rs 1,500 crore and this year we will make profit,” DMIL Managing Director S.G. Awasthi told reporters here today.

Mr Awasthi said the company proposes to market 42,000 units of Matiz, including exports, and 10,000 Cielo, Cielo Executive and Nexia cars during the current financial year.

Besides, the company intends to exports about 70,000 units each of engines and gear boxes and about 20,000 body parts during the current year.

“You will very soon see American cars with engines from India,” he said.

Indian Rayon net dips: Indian Rayon and Industries Ltd., an Aditya Vikram Birla Group company has reported a drop of 101 per cent in net profit during the 1998-99 fiscal to Rs 106 crore as against the previous year’s Rs 213 crore.

The Board of Directors of the company have declared a 40 per cent dividend. The dividend pay-out is Rs 27 crore. The total dividend outgo is almost Rs 30 crore on account of Rs 2.97 crore corporate tax on dividend.

The turnover declined by 19.50 per cent at Rs 1,461 crore from the previous year’s Rs 1,815 crore. The gross profit for 1998-99 was Rs 206 crore from Rs 319 crore last year. The company provided Rs 91 crore as depreciation and Rs 9 crore as provision for tax.

‘New crop insurance scheme from October’
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, June 29 — Even as the new National Agricultural Crop Insurance Scheme is expected to come into force from October this year, the success of the scheme would be squarely dependent on the participation of the State Governments.

Agriculture being a State subject, the implementation of the scheme would primarily rest on the State Governments more so because the corpus fund to meet the losses of farmers will be created with contributions from the Central Government and State/UT governments on a 50:50 basis.

Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Sompal while speaking to reporters indicated that the success of the scheme would crucially depend on the State Governments.

The role of the State Governments would be important establishing the yield levels of the various crops, in collecting the revenue from the farmers, deciding the subsidies and most importantly, the State Governments have to contribute equally in the subsidies.

Mr Sompal said that the adequate infrastructure of the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) may not existing currently to meet the demands of farmers in rural areas and this is where the State Government have a role to play.

The Minister said that the State Governments who choose to implement the scheme would be bound to carry on the programme for a minimum of three years and for all crops.” “The three-year bound has been kept to remove any arbitrariness whatsoever in implementation”, he pointed out.

The scheme would cover all crops, including coarse crops of all pulses and oilseeds and in addition three cash crops — sugarcane, cotton and potato — have been brought under its purview to start with, Mr Sompal said.

It would be optional for farmers who do not avail loans from financial institutions to be part of the scheme but State Governments must come forward to foot the subsidy if their farmers have to benefit from the scheme.

“All remaining crops, including horticultural and commercial crops, will be covered under the scheme within the next three years,” the Minister said.

While the premium for wheat would be 1.5 per cent of the sum insured, for other rabi crops it would be 2 to 2.5 per cent. For kharif crops, which are more vulnerable to various calamities, the premium would be 3.5 per cent of the sum insured.

Mr Sompal said the premium rates would be decided based on the average yield and minimum support price fixed by the government for the crop.

The average yield in a particular area would be determined through a random survey, he said.

“For example, the premia for a farmer cultivating wheat in 2.5 acre will be Rs 270 per annum”. He said, adding for those farmers who required insurance cover over the average yield, the insurance company would charge commercial premia.

The GIC would launch the scheme to begin with before the proposed Rashtriya Krishi Bima Nigam was set up, he said.

The Agriculture Minister said the premia for other crops were being worked out based on the yield data available with the government.

Small and marginal farmers would be entitled to a subsidy of 50 per cent of the premium charged from them. However, the premium subsidy would be phased out over a period of five years when the scheme was expected to be self-sustainable.

BIFR to hear ABCL case on July 9

NEW DELHI, June 29 (UNI) — The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) will take up the case of Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) on July 9 to decide whether the entertainment company can be declared sick.

The ABCL case has been assigned to a Bench comprising two members - Mr N.P. Bagchee and Mr N.P. Singh - following its reference to seek protection under Section 3(1)(0) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985, BIFR sources told UNI.

Launched by film star Amitabh Bachchan, the first entertainment company had planned to notch up Rs 1,000 crore by the year 2000. It had sought to market products and services covering the entire gamut of the entertainment industry - from film production and distribution, audio cassettes and video discs, production and marketing of television software, media buying to event and celebrity management.

However, following the fiasco of Miss World contest in Bangalore and several bombed films, the company accumulated losses of Rs 70.82 crore, well above its Rs 60.52 crore net worth as on September 30, 1998. The company’s board, in February this year, passed a unanimous resolution that “in view of the accumulated losses being in excess of the company’s net worth, based on the audited accounts for the year ending September 30,1998, the company has prima facie become a sick company.”

Among the half a dozen suits filed in the Mumbai High Court by the frustrated creditors against ABCL, Canara Bank has been specifically told a few days back to seek the consent of BIFR before appointing a court receiver and launch proceedings against ABCL to recover its Rs 10 crore advanced loan.

Canara Bank had approached the court to seek permission for attaching the properties of the Bachchans’ under the guarantors’ clause.

Meanwhile, a worried Canara Bank has decided to oppose ABCL from being declared sick as it would prove extremely difficult for creditors to collect their dues. The Bachchans have been alleged to have taken out the entire Rs 15 crore profit the ABCL earned in the first year and extended it as loans and advances to friends and two of their privately-held companies. The star duo are also said to have placed 87.5 lakh shares of the company with friends at par while two private placements were done at Rs 70 and Rs 95.

Sun Earth Ceramics
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, June 29 — Sun Earth Ceramics Ltd (SECL), a company of the Rs 300 crore Motwani group, has acquired the wall tiles unit of Madhusudan Ceramics Ltd. This unit has a capacity of 20,000 tpa and is situated at Bharuch in Gujarat.

The acquisition will take SECL’s capacity to 75,000 tpa. With a 12.5 per cent share of the industry capacity of 6 lakh tpa, SECL has emerged as a leading player in the ceramic tiles industry with estimated sales of about Rs 110 crore for the year ended June 30, 1999.

Mico announces buy-back offer

MUMBAI, June 29 (PTI) — Motor Industries Company (Mico), has announced a buy-back offer on proportionate basis for 5.3 per cent of its paid-up capital through a tender offer, following which the promoter’s holding in the company would increase to 54 per cent.

Robert Bosch GmbH does not intend to participate in the tender offer for buy-back of 200,000 shares of face-value of Rs 100 at a price of Rs 4,200 each, the company said in a public announcement today.

However, this would not amount to a change in management as the parent already holds 51 per cent of Mico’s paid up capital of Rs 38.05 crore, it said adding that the company had applied to the FIPB seeking its approval “for the said consequential increase in the percentage holding of Robert Bosch in the company”.

Kawasaki
CHANDIGARH, June 29 (TNS) — The sale of Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber has crossed the figure of one lakh within 12 months from the date of launch.

Export award
CHANDIGARH, June 29 (TNS) — Bharat Engineering Corporation, Phagwara has been given Award for Export Excellence for 1997-98 sponsored by the Engineering Export Promotion Council. The award was presented to the Company’s Managing Partner Mr S.K. Uppal by the Union Minister. of Commerce, Mr Ramakrishna Hegde.

Bacardi
CHANDIGARH, June 29 (TNS) — US liquor major Bacardi, has launched its white rum Carta Blanca in Punjab. The company entered India in March 1998 through its Indian subsidiary Bacardi-Martini India Ltd, Bacardi is now available in Chandigarh also.

Maruti donation
NEW DELHI, June 29 (TNS) — The employees and the management of Maruti Udyog Limited have contributed Rs 50 lakh to the Army Central Welfare Fund for war widows and dependants of soldiers killed in the Kargil action. Mr Jagdish Khattar, Joint Managing Director of MUL presened the cheque to Dr (Mrs) Ranjana Malik, President, Army Wives Welfare Association here last evening.

Global Bank
CHANDIGARH, June 29 (TNS) — Global Trust Bank Ltd and its 800 employees have donated Rs 21 lakh to the National Defence Fund for the armed forces engaged in action in Kargil. A cheque was presented by Mr Ramesh Gelli, CMD of the bank, to the Prime Minister.