Friday, October 15, 1999
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B U S I N E S S | Friday, October 15, 1999 |
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Forget
Kargil tax: Sinha |
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Bata India net profit
picks up by 32 per cent
Accent to take on Honda City,
Lancer |
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Forget
Kargil tax: Sinha NEW DELHI, Oct 14 — The new Ministers of the Vajpayee Government today got down to tackle a daunting economic agenda. On their first day, soon after taking charge of their respective departments and posing for the customary photo session with media persons, the Ministers had a quick briefing from the Secretaries and senior officials. Their statements bordered on general remarks as many of the new Ministers sought some time before settling down in their Ministries. Cabinet Minister from Himachal Shanta Kumar appeared confident on the very first day of his appearance in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution and spoke with ease on his subject. He was emphatic on the need to continue with food subsidies for the poor but had an open mind on continuing them for the well-off class. Mr Shanta Kumar also attended his first official function when he went to inaugurate a World Standards Day function, organised by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Mr Omar Farooq from Jammu and Kashmir took charge as Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, without much fanfare. For Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, it was business as usual and he obliged waiting mediapersons with his views on the economy. He said a mid-year review of the economy would be undertaken soon to enable the Government to present the supplementary demand for grants in the winter session of Parliament. He ruled out any mid-term fiscal correction and said the attempt would be to keep the fiscal deficit at the targeted level of 4 per cent of GDP. Asked if the Government would go ahead with the Kargil tax, Mr Sinha quipped: “Can’t we forget the Kargil tax”. His immediate focus, he said would be to impose strict control on expenditure, implementation of financial sector reforms, and expedite the pending Bills in Parliament on insurance and foreign exchange management. A paper on second generation of reforms would also be readied before the winter session of Parliament. The Communications Minister, Mr Ram Bilas Paswan, said telecommunication facilities would be provided to all villages by the year 2001. Mr Sharad Yadav, who stepped into the Civil Aviation Ministry, talked about making air travel possible for a larger section of the public. The Textiles Minister, Mr Kashiram Rana, and Power Minister, P. R. Kumaramangalam, being, old hands, reiterated their general policies. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr Ram Naik, who was a Minister of State in the previous Government, said he would carry forward the reforms in the sector, but with a human touch. He said he would refrain from populist measures. The Rural Development Minister, Mr Sunderlal Patwa, emphasised the need for greater monitoring of rural development programmes so that the benefits reached the intended recipients. The Minister of State
for Food Processing, 31-year-old Syed Shahnawaz Hussain,
spoke about priority for post harvest and processing
infrastructure and introduction of processed foods all
round the year to prevent price fluctuation on account of
excesses and scarcities. |
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ISLAMABAD, Oct 14 (PTI) — The IMF has suspended financial aid to Pakistan until democracy is restored there. IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus said no further financial aid would be given to Pakistan until civilian rule is restored, the Associated Press quoted him as saying on French radio. “We are in a situation which is not rare.... where very serious politicial events occur, and friendly countries decide to suspend,” Camdessus said. Since the IMF cannot carry on alone, aid is suspended,” he said. EU-Pak pact: The new European Union-Pakistan partnership and cooperation agreement appears to be jinxed with the planned signing of the document in Brussels next week postponed for the third time this year following the political developments in Pakistan. While the External Commissioner in the EU, Chris Patten, said the postponement was necessitated because of the European Union’s concerns over the military takeover in Pakistan, an EC official said the agreement will be in abeyance until a speedy return to full, participatory democracy in Pakistan. Currency trading: DPA adds: Pakistan’s Central State Bank on Thursday temporarily suspended currency trading in the open market and money changers were asked to close their businesses until October 20. The instruction came on
the first working day after Tuesday’s army takeover.
A bank holiday was announced for yesterday to avoid a
rush on the banks by the depositors. |
Tap
resources, Punjab urged CHANDIGARH, Oct 14 — The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, said here today that real development could be brought about by involving private investment in a big way rather than the government directly attempting to create government jobs or undertaking building, construction and related activities for providing nucleus for further growth, which is often not viable. Mr Badal was told by experts in Delhi yesterday to attempt a massive decongestion of road traffic in Punjab by improving the road network even by levying user charges. There was need for improvement in telecommunications in Punjab on a priority basis by getting about three lakh pending phone connections released forthwith and going in for further telecom-related facilities. Financial experts have suggested that instead of paying nearly Rs 200 crore per year from the state budgetary Funds, the Punjab Government should consider creating a social security pensions fund corpus and run it independently by raising resources through profession tax or such levies as deemed fit. The Chief Minister is taking up a proposal with Government of India to create a separate corpus of about Rs 10,000 crore over and above the funds which are governed, by and large, under the Gadgil formula for attending to the states all over India facing fiscal deficit on the assurance of specific deficit correctional programme and structural changes in a short span of two to three years. The Chief Minister
called on the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission,
Mr K.C. Pant. The Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit
Singh, the Chief Secretary, Mr R.S. Mann, the Finance
Secretary, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, the Principal Secretary, Mr
R.I. Singh, and the Special Principal Secretary Mr
Sarvesh Kaushal accompanied Mr Badal. |
Bata India net profit picks up by 32 per cent Bata India has registered a 32.13 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 3.64 crore during the third quarter ended September 30, 1999 against Rs 2.76 crore in the corresponding period last year. A Board meeting in Calcutta on Thursday said lower expenditures in the third quarter at Rs 152.60 crore compared to Rs 162.19 crore last year contributed to a higher margin which, after allowing for a higher taxation provision, resulted in an increase in net profit. During the nine-month period of 1999, the company’s net sales increased to Rs 570.18 crore (Rs 549.09 crore) and net profit at Rs 20.98 crore (Rs 26.45 crore last year). Pentafour Software: Pentafour Software and Exports Limited has recorded a 65.2 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 71.20 crore during the first half of this financial year against Rs 43.10 crore the previous year. The company’s sales stood at Rs 317 crore, up 481 per cent from Rs 214 crore the previous year. Ingersoll Rand: Ingersoll Rand India has recorded a 24.82 per cent at Rs 25.65 crore during the first half of this financial year compared to Rs 20.5 crore the previous year. Ingersoll Rand announced an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share. HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank has reported a 63.74 per cent growth in its interest income at Rs 263.85 crore during the six months ended September 30, 1999, while net profits increased by 11.15 per cent to Rs 53.32 crore over the corresponding period last year. Electrosteel: Electrosteel Castings Limited has reported a more than 50 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 23 crore during the quarter ended September 30, 1999 against Rs 15 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The company’s net sales increased significantly to Rs 115 crore from Rs 92 crore while other income came down to Rs 2 crore from Rs 3 crore last year. Vashishti Detergents: Vashishti Detergents Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 1.35 crore for second quarter of this fiscal, reflecting a 9 per cent increase over the corresponding period of the previous year. Hughes Software: Hughes Software Systems Ltd’s retail portion of the public offer at a price of Rs 630 per share has been over-subscribed by nearly 40 times with receipt of applications aggregating Rs 1,098 crore at the close of the issue on Tuesday. NALCO: NALCO reported on Thursday a growth of 54 per cent in net profits to Rs 104.36 crore in the second quarter ending September compared to Rs 67.66 crore in the corresponding period last year. Gross profits in the six
months period increased to Rs 383.95 crore from Rs 320.99
crore, a growth of 19.61 per cent. — agencies |
The party may last awhile It’s party time at the Indian bourses. With the BJP-led NDA alliance decimating the motley opposition crowd of Congressmen and the leftists at the electoral hustings, the markets have turned unmistakable bullish as is evident from the price movements of the pivotals and other second-line shares. Barring the occasional hiccup, this party should last awhile unless of course there are some surprises in the announcement of the Union Cabinet. There is considerable excitement at the bourses as investors and traders alike realise that there is a lot of money to be made at the Indian bourses in the next few months, as also do the FIIs. Traders could consider initiating long positions at the counters of Goodlass Nerolac at Rs 189 (square up at Rs 224), Fulford at Rs 464 (square up at Rs 499 and Bausch & Lomb at Rs 114 (square up at Rs 137). Short positions, albeit highly risk-prone in such a bull market could be considered at the counter of HDFC at Rs 324 ( cover up at Rs 299). The dark horse bet of the week is Canfin Homes, which is tipped to double from its present price level of Rs 17 in the short term. The portfolio pick of this week is Castrol whose share price, after a rough run on account of fund selling, is showing signs of revival. Being a blue-chip the medium to long-term returns from this scrip are quite likely to be rewarding. Finally, a word of
caution. Book profits at triggered levels as an
inevitable correction could well be round the corner
before the next upswing commences. |
Accent to
take on Honda City, Lancer NEW DELHI, Oct 14 — Hyundai Motors today launched three petrol versions of the 1500 CC Accent with the Delhi price tags of Rs 5.35 lakh for Standard model (GLE), Rs 5.6 lakh for standard with power steering and Rs 5.85 lakh for luxury model (GLX) respectively. The company has decided to accept customer orders for the Accent from October 21. It will commence dispatches of the car against customer orders from its Chennai plant on the same date with customer delivery being executed on a first-come-first basis, Mr A.P. Gandhi, Company President, told reporters here. Customer orders will be accepted only against full upfront payment. The price range is lower than rival cars — Mitsubishi Lancer and Honda City. While prices of petrol version of Lancer range from Rs 7.35 lakh to 7.45 lakh, those of Honda City are between Rs 5.90 and Rs 8.4 lakh (ex-showroom in Delhi). Maruti Esteem’s ex-showroom price range in Delhi is between Rs 4.66 lakh and Rs 5.90 lakh. The company has put on hold two diesel versions of Accent, stating that it is waiting for the Supreme Court’s final order on vehicular pollution before launching them. The base model of Accent will have an alpha engine, powered by 1,500 cc, 12 valve, four-cylinder, multi point fuel injection system. The Accent will run about 14 km in one litre of petrol in the city driving conditions, Gandhi said adding that under the ideal test conditions, the car had given a mileage of 24.6 km per litre. Air conditioning and heating system will be a standard feature in all variants but rear and front power windows and central locking systems will be available in the GLS version only. The Accent’s all three variants will have manual transmission with overdrive on fourth and fifth gears and will be available in six colours - noble white, imperial red, Indian blue, amazon green, golden beige and neutral silver. Ford may price Ikon at 4.99 lakh Ford India is likely to price the base model of its mid-size car Ikon just below Rs 5 lakh, undercutting most of the competitors in the segment. The entry level Ikon
will carry a price tag of Rs 499,677 (ex-showroom,
Delhi). Ford will launch three petrol and one diesel
version of the car. Officially the price will be
announced on October 26. |
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| Bullion Gold Std Rs 4930 Gold 22-Ct Rs 4780 Silver Ready Rs 8460 Silver delivery Rs 8405 Forex T&T scheme PNB Gilts Peerless plans Gita shlokas SEBI meeting |
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