Baleno to cost 6.74 lakh NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — Maruti Udyog Limited today launched the 1.6 litre mid-sized sedan, Baleno, thus making its first foray into the premium segment of the category in India. Carrying an introductory price tag of Rs 6.74 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), Baleno, has been positioned as a premium version.

Managing Director of Maruti Udyog Limited Jagdish Khattar with Baleno after its launching in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI

Core sectors post 8.3 per cent growth
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — Six core sectors including power, steel and cement recorded an 8.3 per cent growth during April-October, 1999, up from 2.6 per cent in the corresponding period last year, reflecting an accelerated industrial growth.

Infosys board clears stock split
BANGALORE, Nov 29 — Infosys Technologies Limited today announced spliting of its equity shares into two in the ratio of two shares of Rs 5 each for each Rs 10 share held.

Hind Lever most admired company
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The fast moving consumer good conglomerate Hindustan Lever Limited and Titan Industries have been rated as the country’s most admired marketing companies, an A&M survey said.

Chander Mohan gets IMC medal
MUMBAI, Nov 29 — HDFC has been awarded the 1999 Indian Merchants Chamber Ramkrishna Bajaj Award for setting exemplary quality standards in the services sector.

Vajpayee to open economic meet
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — Atal Behari Vajpayee will inaugurate the three-day “India Economic Summit” beginning here on December 5 that will see convergence of over 500 businessmen and policy makers to discuss the future of India as an investment destination.

Air India asked to pay 90 crore damages

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (UNI) — Air India, already facing a financial crisis, has been asked by the London Court of International Arbitration (LICA) to pay $ 23.4 million (Rs 90 crore) as damages to Caribjet for unlawfully terminating the wetlease of three aircraft in 1996.

The interim order was given last week and under British laws there is no likelihood for an appeal by Air India, official sources said here today.The Government and Air India are keeping their fingers crossed hoping that the final order by LICA will have something in their favour.

Air India had wetleased two L 1011 and one A310 aircraft from Caribjet in December 1995 and January 1996 but the contract was cancelled in September 1996 on the grounds that Caribjet had violated the safety requirements of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Concern was also voiced by DGCA and other authorities at the safety of operations of Carbijet.

Caribjet claimed damages of $ 80.6 million for the termination of the contract whereas Air India made a counter claim of $ 136 million towards loss of future profits and market share.

Sources said when the case was registered with LICA, a three-member committee was constituted by the then Managing Director to prepare a case to plead before the court. But later this committee was replaced, a move questioned by the Government. Also, top officials of Air India had not appeared before LICA, the sources said.

Caribjet based its argument on the statement by a senior Air India official that the airline’s financial health was not good. The West Indies-based leasing company had contested that there had been no flight safety violations by it and Air India had terminated the contract because of financial and commercial considerations. Air India had also not contested the arguments made by Caribjet, the sources claimed.

Y2K strikes in Miami

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (PTI) — In the first known case of the millennium bug attack, the Y2K bug struck early in Miami where some people received summons to attend jury duty in January, 1900.

Officials said the computer, in which the problem has not been fixed, mistook the year 2000 for 1900. The problem has since been corrected.

Baleno to cost 6.74 lakh
Tribune News Service, agencies

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) today launched the 1.6 litre mid-sized sedan, Baleno, thus making its first foray into the premium segment of the category in India.

Carrying an introductory price tag of Rs 6.74 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), Baleno, has been positioned as a premium version.

Speaking to reporters Managing Director Jagdish Khattar said that with Baleno, Maruti will be present in the entire spectrum, starting from the entry level car.

The Baleno is fitted with a powerful 1600cc ,16 valve, Smart-I engine and will be available with multi point fuel injection (MPFI) as a standard fitment.

The Euro-II compliant Baleno will have power steering, power windows, central locking, air-conditioning system and heater.

The vehicle would give a mileage of 12 km per litre in city-driving conditions and maximum speed of about 175 km per hour.

The company has already started deliveries of the new model which would be available in the market from tomorrow. There would not be any booking for the car.

This is a first step of the company’s new launches in the near future. Recent Press reports suggest that the next offerings next year will be Suzuki’s Alto model and Wagon R.

Baleno is benchmarked against Ford Escort, Mitsubishi Lancer, Honda City and Opel Astra, while Mitsubishi Lancer’s entry level price is Rs 7.35 lakh ex-showroom in Delhi, Honda City’s 1.5 litre version is available at Rs 7,57,000. On the other hand, Ford Escorts starts from Rs 7,00,431 and Opel Astra is available at Rs 6,77,632.

Driven by 16 valve engine, Baleno is available in five colours: milky white, riviera red, exotique green, atlantic blue and pearl silver.

To a question on why has MUL chosen Suzuki’s model name for the Indian version which is at variance with the company’s policy so far, Mr Khattar said Baleno is internationally known and the company thought it proper to retain that name.

IRA rules in 90 days
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — The regulations in Indian insurance sector will be of international standards and in consonance with those of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, the Chairman of the IRA, Mr N. Rangachary, said here today.

Speaking at a summit on insurance organised by the CII, Rangachary said the IRA has set itself a limit of 90 days to issue guidelines to new companies.

He said the legal and procedural aspects of the IRDA would be separated. The legal aspect would be kept as part of the basic act while the IRDA would work on procedural aspects.

While the Government will be left to issue directions on matters of policy,matters pertaining to grant of registrations, renewal of licences, areas of investment, notifying solvency margins, etc will be dealt with by the IRDA, Rangachary said, adding that the regulator would have a fair degree of autonomy allowing it to have ‘‘an overwhelming’’ influence on the insurance companies.

Although solvency margins provided in the proposed Act might look stringent, Rangachary said there were only the upper limits provided. ‘‘We will take into account the current international trends while fixing these margins’’, he added.

The IRA Chief said an expert committee under the Institute of Chartered Accountants has prepared draft standards for accounting procedures. The Indian regulations will be more or less in line with those in the UK and in other European Community countries.

CGU joint ventures: CGU, the largest UK-based life and general insurance group, announced on Monday that it would target the Indian middle class by offering life and general insurance through two different joint ventures.

Renamed as CGU Life Insurance and CGU General Insurance, the CGU has MoUs with The Hindustan Times group for life insurance and the Mumbai-based Wadia group for the general insurance.

‘‘We will leverage The Hindustan Times group’s name with the global expertise to sell life insurance in India,’’ CGU group Executive Director Peter G Ward said at a media briefing on the sidelines of the insurance summit organised by the CII.

Core sectors post 8.3 per cent growth

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (PTI) — Six core sectors including power, steel and cement recorded an 8.3 per cent growth during April-October, 1999, up from 2.6 per cent in the corresponding period last year, reflecting an accelerated industrial growth.

Accounting for more than one-fourth of the total weight of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), these industries had recorded a 6.6 per cent growth in the first half of the current financial year.

October saw a significant growth rate of 8.9 per cent over the same period last year for the core industries, according to an official release here today.

The high growth was led by petroleum refinery products posting a growth rate of 19.2 per cent during April-October followed by cement growing at 17.5 per cent, steel 11.7 per cent, power 7.9 per cent and crude petroleum at 0.8 per cent.

The coal sector’s performance though improved over the first six months, continued posting the negative growth rate of 2.2 per cent during April-October this year. In the first half it had posted a negative growth rate of 2.7 per cent, official figures revealed.

The steel sector, which started showing the signs of recovery from May this year, has posted an impressive growth rate of 13.2 per cent in October this year.

Despite a high growth rate of 8.3 per cent registered by the six sectors in aggregate, the output of power, steel, crude petroleum and petroleum refinery products declined in October compared to September, while that of coal and cement increased.

In the power sector, the better performance has been attributed to thermal generation, but still the current generation was 7.7 per cent less than the peak level generation in May this year.

Infosys board clears stock split

BANGALORE, Nov 29 (UNI) — Infosys Technologies Limited today announced spliting of its equity shares into two in the ratio of two shares of Rs 5 each for each Rs 10 share held.

The announcement came after a Board of Directors meeting here earlier in the day.

The two-to-one split was in pursuance of Section 94 of the Companies Act, 1956.

The directors have approved the stock split to the shareholders for their approval at an extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) to be held on December 29 here.

With this decision, the company’s American Depository Shares (ADS) listed in the Nasdaq national market in the USA would also be split in the same ratio.

Infosys have 3,30,69,400 equity shares of Rs 10 at par, besides 20,70,000 ADS as on September 30 in its register and with the split the number of shares of both would get doubled.

The company was contemplating to split the shares following its heavy ruling market price which was about Rs 9,000 per share of Rs 10 face value. The split would pave the way for easy mobility and demand from middle class investors.

Hind Lever most admired company

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (PTI) — The fast moving consumer good (FMCG) conglomerate Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) and Titan Industries have been rated as the country’s most admired marketing companies, an A&M survey said.

According to the annual survey which ranks most admired FMCG and durables companies, the Indian subsidiary of Unilever Plc and Titan industries retained their number one position in the FMCG and durable categories respectively.

HLL’s immediate rival in the FMCG category, Procter & Gamble took a knocking at this year’s survey sliding from its last year’s number two position to 12th rank.

Coco-Cola occupied the number two slot in the FMCG overtaking Pepsi Foods which dropped a rank to number four.

Cadbury India climbed back to the number three slot from number eight last year, while Colgate-Palmolive stood at number five.

BPL also retained its number two slot in durable companies category.

Passenger car manufacturer Maruti Udyog moved up a rank to come a close third in the consumer durables category.

Korean Chaebol LG Electronics moved up six slots to move into the top five. Infotech company, Intel Asia Electronics made its appearance in the A&M for the first time finishing as the fourth most admired durables company in the country.

Chander Mohan gets IMC medal

MUMBAI, Nov 29 (PTI) — HDFC has been awarded the 1999 Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) Ramkrishna Bajaj Award for setting exemplary quality standards in the services sector.

Larsen &Toubro’s EPC division, Hindustan Lever Ltd’s Kanhan factory at Nagpur have been awarded certificates of merit by the IMC.

The IMC Juran Quality Medal for individuals has been conferred upon Punjab Tractors’ retired Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Chander Mohan.

Vajpayee to open economic meet

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (PTI) — Atal Behari Vajpayee will inaugurate the three-day “India Economic Summit” beginning here on December 5 that will see convergence of over 500 businessmen and policy makers to discuss the future of India as an investment destination.

The summit, being jointly organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and CII, will also have participants from countries like China, Hong Kong, South Africa and Saudi Arabia for the first time, CII President Rahul Bajaj told reporters.

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FIPB
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (PTI) — The Government has no plans to abolish the FIPB and the setting up of Foreign Investment Implementation Authority (FIIA) is only to facilitate speedy implementation of approved projects, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. In a written reply in the House, Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran said the foreign investment policy was constantly reviewed to make it attractive and investor friendly.

Viren Shah
MUMBAI, Nov 29 (PTI) — Viren J Shah has stepped down as the Chairman of Mukand Ltd as well as from the boards of all the companies of which he is a Director, following his appointment as the Governor of West Bengal. Rahul Bajaj, the current Vice-Chairman of the company, will take over as the Chairman from December 1.

Bajaj Capital
NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (TNS) — Bajaj Capital has introduced the concept of comprehensive financial planning. A team of professionals is brought under one roof to offer free financial planning which includes investment and income tax planning, cash flow planning, assets acquisition planning, retirement planning and risk management advice etc.