Friday, October 22, 1999
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B U S I N E S S | Friday, October 22, 1999 |
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Critical sectors Y2K
compliant: report
Ex-Accountability
chief under probe |
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Cost of living
highest in Chandigarh Maruti to launch Baleno in
November J&K Bank to diversify into
insurance France intends to double trade |
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Critical
sectors Y2K compliant: report NEW DELHI, Oct 21 — The eleven critical sectors in the country are expected to become Y2K compliant by the end of this month says the final report of the IT Action Force submitted to the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, here today. “India is in a much better position to make the transition into the year 2000 than was the case just a few months ago,” Mr Pant said, adding that “there can be no ironclad guarantees that we will not experience any problems.” The 11 priority sectors were banking and finance, telecommunications, power, civil aviation, railways, ports, petroleum and natural gas, insurance, space, atomic energy and defence. The report said major registrars and share transfer agents, who account for 90 per cent of market-related business, operations of RBI and 77 per cent of financial institutions (FIs) are Y2K ready. However, the report said certain sectors like water supply, sewerage and health which are under the states need greater attention in the next two months. The Chairman of the IT Action Force, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said that Y2K compliance has been achieved within the 3 per cent budgetary allocation of the ministries and the budgetary allocations of the public sector undertakings. Mr Pant said the month of November would be used to “test” the equipment in all the critical sectors. “There is no legal framework existing in the country to handle any special issues relating to the legal aspects arising out of Y2K problem and IT in general, especially in the post-Y2K scenario,” Dr Ahluwalia said. He said “this could take care of the legal disputes which might arise in the post Y2K period.” The major recommendations include review by the Cabinet Secretary in the first half of November of the status of the 11 critical sectors including third party audit and contingency planning. A number of steps are
required to be taken by the State Governments which
include centralised control rooms in the state linked to
districts, Chief Ministers to personally review all Y2K
matters, contingency plans for any law and order problems
arising out of rumours and stray failures and setting up
of a central control room in Delhi which can be linked to
sectoral control room and State control room. The
President of the National Association of Software and
Service Companies, Mr Dewang Mehta, said the export and
small sector private enterprises were still to be Y2K.
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Ex-Accountability chief under probe KARACHI, Oct 21 — A probe has been launched against the former Chairman of Pakistan’s Ehtesab (Accountability) Bureau (EB), Saifur Rehman, and a “gang of legal experts” which used to act as his “agents” to secure kickbacks on his behalf, NNI news agency said quoting sources in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). “The investigators will particularly look into plundering of millions of rupees by the sacked EB chief through kickbacks on account of settlements of Ehtesab cases through his agents”, a senior FIA official said. He alleged that the “gang”, under so-called constitutional cover, had extorted about Rs 500 million, mostly from Karachi-based bankers and businessmen. Sources said through their connections, Rehman and his lawyer agents also successfully secured some cases of the State Bank of Pakistan. He said after reviewing the seized records of the EB, the investigators may question the suspects and punitive action might follow. Rehman had earned
notoriety for first registering corruption cases through
either the FIA or the EB and then
“blackmailing” the targeted people into
negotiating with his network of agents, the sources
claimed. |
Aircraft majors battle for share
of India cake NEW DELHI, Oct 21 — Aircraft majors, Boeing of the United States and the European consortium’s Airbus Industrie, are involved in a no-holds barred battle for a share in the India’s airline market. With both the Indian Airlines and Air India planning to upgrade their ageing fleet, and private operators Sahara and Jet Air looking for expansion of their fleet, the aircraft manufacturers, in a bid to hardsell their product, are leaving no stone unturned. As part of the exercise Boeing flew in its latest product, the 717-200, to New Delhi to perform flight demonstrations for senior Government officials, airline executives, pilots, engineering personnel and other aviation industry representatives as part of a two-week Asian marketing tour. With a new Government in place, the aircraft manufacturer is hopeful that the days of prolonged dithering is over and new orders would follow soon. With the new Boeing in air, its arch rival and competitor, Airbus Industrie was not taking things lying down. It despatched voluminous data on their competing aircraft, A318, to spread word that their product was the best suited for India. Unperturbed by the media hype by their rivals, Boeing officials while hosting decision makers on their test flight to Delhi and Agra churned out first hand detail about their product. The 100-passenger, twin engine jetliner has already passed major milestones when it received type certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration and Europe’s Joint Aviation Authorities as well as a production certificate from FAA, the officials claimed. Boeing expects to deliver 12 of the new jetliners in 1999, years ahead of any other proposed 100-seat airplane. Delivery of the first 717 occurred on September 23 to launch customer AirTan Airways. “We know that the 717 is the profitable choice for airlines serving the high frequency, quick turnaround regional market, and once the airplane has demonstrated itself in revenue service, we believe airlines also will recognise how successful it is in meeting their high expectations”, Vice President International Sales, Mr Douglas Groseclose, said during the test flight. The 717 is being delivered to customers with better fuel consumption, lower airplane noise and lower weight than original estimates, which now makes the 717 the quietest and lightest new airplane with the lowest fuel burn, he claimed. With the cabin interior arranged in two classes and with its quiet, clean engines, the 717 would display a new level of comfort for passengers who typically fly on short routes served by smaller airplanes, he said. Airbus Industries, however, claimed that their comparable product A318 was superior to the Boeing 717 as it was part of a popular and successful family— the A319, A 320 and A321—with extensive commonality in airframe, systems and cockpit. “The 717 is not part of a family, but a stand-alone ‘orphan’ in the Boeing product line. It has no commonality with other Boeing aircraft”, the European manufacturer claimed. According to Airbus Industries, the A318 has a larger customer base comprising well-respected customers such as Air France and British Airways while in comparison the 717, despite being launched a full four years ago in October 1995, had fewer orders and commitments and a “less prestigious” list of customers. The manufacturer claimed that while A318 was a modern aircraft, the Boeing 717 was based on an old design, that of the DC-9, which was designed in the early 1960s. Contrary to the direct challenge thrown by its rival, Boeing is banking on its traditional fame and goodwill amongst its passengers to push its product forward. It has no qualms about its DC-9 linkage. “Heir to the tough DC-9, the 717 can fly faster, farther and more often than its competitors— at lower cost and with distinctive comfort”, is what Boeing had to say on its competitor’s claim. The two manufacturers
are now awaiting word from the Indian Airlines, Air India
and the private operators.
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Cost of
living highest in Chandigarh NEW DELHI, Oct 21 — The cost of living is highest in Chandigarh among all urban centres in India. The city has recorded the highest consumer price index for urban non-manual employees. According to data made available by the Government, the consumer price index for urban non-manual employees (CPI-UNME) for September, 1999, for Chandigarh stood at 435 — higher by 82 points than the national average of 353. The index for Chandigarh is also much higher than the indices of the four metropolitan cities of Calcutta (332), Chennai(383), Delhi (362) and Mumbai(352). During the last six months, the index for the city has always remained higher with the lowest being 414 recorded in April, 1999 and no other city has recorded such high level of price index. Madurai with an index of 407 during September 1999, is the only other city which crossed the figure of 400. In percentage terms the index for Chandigarh is higher by 9.6 per cent compared to September, 1998, when the index stood at 397. The percentage change in the national average was 3.8 per cent during this period. The CPI-UNME measures the average changes in consumer prices over a period of time ( base 9184-85 = 100) and as such cannot be used for comparison of costliness among different centres. The data released by the Department of Planning and Programme Implementation gives indices for 59 selected urban centres for September 1999 together the indices of the preceding five months. As many 31 centres have lower annual percentage increase as compared to that of the all-India figure of 3.8 per cent and 27 centres have a higher percentage increase as compared to the all-India figure, while one centre (Chennai) has the same percentage increase than the national average. The rise in index for
various centres ranges from -0.6 per cent to 23.2 per
cent with the largest increase being in the case of
Siliguri and the least in the case of Bhavnagar. |
Maruti to launch Baleno in Nov NEW DELHI, Oct 21 (UNI) — Maruti Udyog Limited today announced that Baleno, a luxury sedan from Suzuki, would be launched in the Indian market in the second half of November. Baleno is fitted with a 1.6 litre, 16 value engine which delivers rated output of 98 BHP. The launch of Baleno will further strengthen the company’s presence in the automobile market and take the number of models available in the Maruti stable up to seven. MUL Mangaing Director
Jagdish Khattar, said in a statement here that “the
introduction of Baleno will allow Maruti to cover the
entire spectrum, from the entry level Maruti 800 and Omni
right up to the super luxury Baleno at the top end. It
will also enable existing Zen and Esteem owners to
upgrade within the Maruti family itself.”
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J&K
Bank to diversify into insurance NEW DELHI, Oct 21 — Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Bank has planned to diversify to the insurance sector once it is opened up. “We are discussing the matter with a couple of foreign investors and hopefully in a month the plan should take a concrete shape”, the Chairman of the bank, Mr M.Y. Khan said here today. “Considerable progress has been made with one of the partners”, he added while refusing to divulge the name of the potential partner. Announcing the bank’s half yearly financial results , Mr Khan said that the bank has recorded 24 per cent rise in its net profit registering Rs 55.11 core for the first half of 1999-2000 as against Rs 44.45 crore during the corresponding period last year. The total income showed a 26.2 per cent jump moving up from Rs 351.44 crore in the last year to Rs 443.63 crore in the current fiscal year. Deposits of the bank
have increased to Rs 6,721 crore from Rs 5,286 crore in
the previous year and capital and reserves increased to
Rs 428.62 crore as against last year’s figure of Rs
344.05 crore during the corresponding period. |
France
intends to double trade NEW DELHI, Oct 21 — France intends to become one of the top five investors in India,the French Ambassador to India, Mr Claude Blanchemaison said here today. “ We are looking at areas of priority for the Indian economy with keen interest. So far we have worked with the Indian Government and the private sector in areas of Railways, telecom, oil exploration and information technology. This initiative expresses our wish to become India’s technology partner in the new millennium”, Mr Blanchemaison said while addressing newspersons to announce the launch of France India 2000 exhibition here. France sees a lot of investment opportunities in India and intends to become one of the top five foreign investors and double its trade with India by 2005 he said. France India 2000 exhibition is being organised by the Agency for the International Promotion of French Technology and Trade and the French Embassy in India. The exhibition, to be held in New Delhi between December 6 and December 19,1999, will showcase French technology in various priority sectors in the Indian economy — energy, aeronautics and space, telecommunication, water and environment, agro-industrial equipment and packaging, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, banking, insurance, education and tourism. Another France India
2000 — labelled event will be the exhibition of
up-market fine French goods to be held in Mumbai between
December 13 and December 15,1999. |
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Mirza Tanneries Ltd has posted an increase of 23.6 per cent in net profits touching Rs 3.66 crore during the second quarter of 1999-2000 (July-September) against Rs 2.96 crore in the same period in the previous fiscal. The company’s net profit in the first half of the current fiscal is Rs 7.19 crore against Rs 5.85 crore, again a increase of 23 per cent, a company statement said here. Mirza Tanneries, which is one of the largest exporter of shoes, achieved a turnover of Rs 34.76 crore during July-September 1999 as against Rs 27.56 crore recorded during the corresponding period of 1998-99. Gross profit before depreciation and taxation at Rs 4.32 crore has shown a growth of 29 per cent over Rs 3.35 crore achieved during the same period in the previous fiscal. The gross profit in the first half of 1999-2000 is Rs 8.46 crore against Rs 6.59 crore in 1998-99, it said. The company’s income in the second quarter also increased from Rs 27.57 crore to Rs 34.76 crore, an increase of 26.7 per cent, it added. Orchid Chem: Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals on Thursday announced a 34 per cent jump in its revenue for the second quarter of 1999-2000 at Rs 95.23 crore with the post-tax profits going up Rs 10.13 crore, a 12 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the company’s revenues rose 33 per cent to Rs 175.36 crore from Rs 131.64 crore a year ago, while profits jumped 9 per cent to Rs 19.21 crore. Giving details of the second quarter results after an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the company here, its Managing Director k Raghavendra Rao said share-holders also gave approval to a private placement proposal and an employee stock option scheme. Tisco net dips: Tata Iron & Steel Company Ltd’s (Tisco) net profit dipped by a marginal 6.37 per cent to Rs 90.18 crore in the first half of 1999-2000, from Rs 96.32 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net sales were, however, higher at Rs 3,134 crore compared to Rs 2,817.53 crore during April-September 1998. The drop in profit for
the first half was largely on account of lower
profitability during July-September, 1999. The net profit
during the second quarter of 1999-2000 was down to Rs
65.39 crore against Rs 69.23 crore in the same period of
1998-99. — Agencies |
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