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Wednesday,
November 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Farmers’
organisations blame multinationals for Bt cotton SEBI lacks
powers: Mehta
Vanaspati
industry seeks concession |
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CII
trade fair opens on Nov 9 SBP
honours Punjab toppers
Time not
good for Mukta Arts
Next WTO
chief sees global recession
Morepen
in pact with DrugMax
Sony’s
gift scheme for NRIs
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Farmers’ organisations blame multinationals for New Delhi, November 6 Though the decision to destroy genetically engineered Bt cotton in 10,000 hectares in Gujarat has caused widespread resentment among the farmers there, the alliance said the illegal spread of Bt cotton reflects the government’s failure to regulate and ensure biosafety. The alliance represented among others by Dr Balram Jakhar of Bharat Krishak Samaj and Dr Vandana Shiva of Navdanya said the government should buy and destroy the cotton and cotton seeds in Gujarat. It also demanded that the multinational Monsanto be asked to pay full compensation to the affected farmers since the Monsanto owns the Bt gene which has spread because of the company’s illegal trials and illegal seed multiplication. The organisation said an enquiry commission should be set up with a time-bound programme to establish how the Bt cotton seed spread and where it had been sold and planted. According to Vandana Shiva, from beginning to end the introduction of genetically engineered Bt cotton in India has been illegal. But genes were imported illegally by Mahyco without the approval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee. In 1998, after the Monsanto and Mahyco formed a joint venture and Monsanto also bought a 27 per cent stake in Mahyco, the two companies started 40 open field trials in nine states without GEAC approval. These trials were violation of the Biosafety laws and also in violation of the Constitution of India since agriculture is a state subject and none of the nine states were consulted. She said the uncontrolled spread of GM seed over 10,000 acres in Gujarat was a result of five years of illegal seed production and multiplication by Monsanto and Mahyco. She alleged that the seeds had somehow reached Navbharat seeds, an Ahmedabad-based seed company and the seed was sold as Navbharat 151. “The availability of enough seed to cover 10,000 acres in Gujarat is a result of violation of biosafety laws by Monsanto, Mahyco earlier and Navbharat now,” she added. She said the opposition to Monsanto, Mahyco and Navbharat and the regulatory agencies of the government was on grounds of Bio-safety and Farmers Rights. “We do not want to see our biodiversity destroyed and our farmers ruined because of corporate bioterrorism. We do not want corporations to destroy farmers freedoms and choices through biopollution and IPR monopolies,” she added. |
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SEBI lacks powers: Mehta Mumbai November 6 “SEBI is held responsible for bearish market conditions and also criticised for its alleged non-performance, but how do you expect us to perform in absence of adequate powers”, Mr Mehta said at a seminar on mutual funds organised by FICCI here. “We are being criticised for not exercising powers which do not rest with us,” he said, adding: “Indian companies should raise the quality of their disclosures and instead of accusing the regulator, should work towards the improvement of their performance and further gain of investors’ confidence.” The multiplicity of regulatory agencies had adversely affected SEBI’s functioning, he said, adding that there existed a global trend to move towards one regulator for the securities industry. “There is an overlap in the regulatory role of SEBI, the Reserve Bank of India and the Department of Company Affairs,” the SEBI chief said. On the moribund primary market, he said Indian companies had preferred to raise funds through private placement and international markets over the domestic investors. SEBI mulls amendment
to MF guidelines SEBI would consider an amendment to existing mutual fund guidelines to link an asset management company’s capital base with the quantum of funds managed by the company. The companies are required to have minimum capital base of
Rs 10 crore and in order to gain investors’ confidence, SEBI would look into a suggestion to link capital base with corpus handled by the fund, Mr Mehta said.
PTI
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Vanaspati industry seeks concession New Delhi, November 6 In a representation to the Department of Food, the Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (VMA) said prior to the Budget, the industry was allowed to import crude palm oil, the principal raw material, at a concessional rate of 25 per cent. The cost of raw material has gone up tremendously both on account of a steep hike in import duty on crude palm oil from 25 per cent to 75 per cent and compulsory use of 25 per cent domestic edible oils at uncompetitive prices. Mr
S. Gurumoorthi, Executive Secretary of VMA, said the duty charged on the basis of the current tariff value had also put an extra duty burden to the tune of Rs 1,000 per tonne on the industry. He pointed out that as per the Vegetable Oil Products (Regulation) Order, 1998, the vanaspati manufacturers were required to use a minimum of 25 per cent indigenous edible oils in the manufacture of vanaspati. This stipulation has created an uneven playing field with Nepalese vanaspati manufacturers. The association demanded that in order to encourage domestic edible oil processing industry to use cheaper raw materials to make the product competitive and to enhance the viability of the industry, the government should reduce the minimum indigenous oil usage in the manufacturing of vanaspati from 25 per cent to 10 per cent. |
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CII trade fair opens on Nov 9 Chandigarh, November 6 Lt Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), Governor of Punjab and Administrator, Chandigarh will be the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony. Fifth in the series, this year’s trade fair will have two special pavilions covering infotech and finance. The new innovation ICE 2001 is an exposition of infotech, communication and entertainment, showcasing products of top companies like BSNL, Sharp, Spice, Intel and HP, Pugmarks, Apple Computers and Maya Academy. “Finmart 2001” will focus on banking and finance with participants like Bank of Punjab, HSBC, SBI, PNB and Birla Finance. Four exhibitions will also be held at Chandigarh Fair 2001. Consumer Fair 2k1, Good Health 2001, The North India Auto Show and Decor 2001 ( accessories for stylish homes and offices). An interesting sidelight of the event is the vintage car show displaying beauties on wheels of yesteryear. The fair expects participation of over 100 companies. The organisers expect business inquiries exceed last year’s tally of Rs 10 crore despite economic slowdown, according to a CII release. |
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SBP honours Punjab toppers Jalandhar, November 6 The bank also honoured the principals of their schools. The bank now has a business of more than Rs 19700 crore. For the first half of the current financial year, it earned the operating profit of Rs 293 crore, thereby registering the growth of 41.50 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The bank also has plans to launch anywhere banking and all its branches functioning in Chandigarh will be inter-connected shortly. After that branches at Ludhiana and Delhi will also be inter-connected. Mr
J.R. Devgan, GM (Operations), and Mr S.P. Mittal, DGM Jalandhar Zone, also spoke on the occasion. |
Time not good for Mukta Arts BEING
an unabashed Satyajit Ray Admirer, I tend to look down on most Bollywood offerings for its sheer shallowness of cinematic content. Of course, there is the occasional ‘Lagaan’ that arouses a fair amount of interest and attention, but when compared to what Ray, the genius, had to offer, well, the comparison becomes superfluous. Mind you, I am an even bigger fan of Ray, the writer, and my collection of his books are even more precious to me than the blue chip shares in my portfolio. Though Mukta Arts (MAL) neither figures nor is likely to ever figure in my portfolio, I have often been constrained to opine on the stock, given that several of my cine-buff friends bought into the stock (with disastrous consequences, of course) just prior to the release of its promoter Subash Ghai’s latest cinematic offering, “Yaadein”. Now, their perpetual refrain is to enquire whether this stock can bounce back. Well, any stock can bounce back, but what the chances therefore are, is what matters. For starters, let us zero in on the weaknesses of this company to fathom why its stock price has plummeted so sharply. Firstly, the financial track record of the company has been lopsided, and that is primarily because of the nature of its prime business of filmmaking, which, in case of MAL has a payback cycle of 18 months. This, then, results into sharp upswings and downswings in income and bottomline levels as there will be accounting periods that predominantly reflect expenses, with the revenues flowing in, in a cluster at the culmination of the cycle. Secondly, the payback from the setting up of a training institute may take some while in coming raising doubts about its standing up to the revenue model scrutiny. The project is not likely to yield good returns in the medium term. The only streams of revenue open to MAL are from leasing of facilities, like the studio. Fee income will obviously earned from students, which could help the company meet the operating costs of the institute. Finally, as Ghai and his shareholders found out the hard way following the box-office debacle of “Yaadein”, the fickle nature of box-office fortunes is akin in many ways to those at the bourses, and that again casts a shadow over the company. And so, my friends find it difficult to swallow my advise to simply disinvest from this stock and use 80 per cent of the by now meagre proceeds to pick up a few books written by Satyajit Ray. At least then, their holding would get qualitatively better. As for the balance 20 per cent, I have suggested that they could use the proceeds to subscribe to our hitherto exclusive investment newsletter ‘Lotus Stock Flash’, which we are throwing open to all investors
post-Diwali. |
Next WTO chief sees global recession Kuala Lumpur, November 6 “I would say for the whole next year, we should brace ourselves for a period of global recession,” said Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director-General designate of the Geneva-based trade body. Supachai said inventories of information technology products were unlikely to be exhausted until the fourth quarter of 2002, when demand for electronic products might begin to spur economic recovery.
AP US firms cut 242,000 jobs in Oct WASHINGTON:
US companies announced 242,192 layoffs in October as the September 11 attacks devastated economic activity, according to a private survey. The survey by Challenger Gray and Christmas, released yesterday, said that over the past two months 490,524 job cuts were announced — with 90 per cent of them coming after September 11. October was the second-highest month for job cuts after the September figure of 248,332 and was the third time in four months that the total exceeded 200,000, the firm said.
AFP AG objects to Microsoft deal BOSTON:
Massachusetts’ Attorney-General (AG) said his state would not sign on to a proposed settlement in the anti-trust case against Microsoft as it did not protect competing software makers. “Microsoft will use this agreement to crush competition,” Attorney-General Thomas F. Reilly said today. He said Massachusetts would not approve the proposed agreement between the software giant and the US Department of Justice without “major changes”. He also said he did not expect those changes to happen before a deadline tomorrow, set for Massachusetts and 17 other states taking part in the case to respond. He said he expected to press for changes in the settlement before US District Court Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kottelly. AP BPL ties up with German firm BANGALORE:
BPL today announced its strategic alliance with the German Loewe AG to launch its high-end television under the BPL-Loewe in India. Speaking to newspersons here, BPL Chief Operating Officer Ajay Baijal (Entertainment Electronics business group) said the tie-up was a part of the company’s efforts in bringing the best and latest in international technology to India. He said the BPL-Loewe brand televisions would be available in six models with screen size ranging from 29 inches to 33 inches with flat tubes. Each model was integrated with eight bit digital 100 Hz technology for crystal clear pictures, full picture in picture, digital noise control and satellite upgrade options.
UNI
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Morepen in pact with DrugMax
New Delhi, November 6 Under the joint venture, Morepen will form a special purpose vehicle with DrugMax in which Morepen will hold majority stake. As per the agreement the new entity will be the marketing arm for the US generic operations and Morepen will undertake the manufacturing of all the products in India as per the USFDA guidelines.
TNS
Radico Khaitan net up 56.3 pc
Liquor maker Radico Khaitan Ltd today reported a 56.3 per cent rise in its third quarter net profit at Rs 2.96 crore over Rs 1.89 crore in the year-ago quarter. Net profit for the nine month period ended September 30 was Rs 10.91 crore, up 59.3 per cent over Rs 6.85 crore in the year-ago period, a company statement said.
PTI
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Sony’s gift scheme for NRIs New Delhi, November 6 Sony-Sambandh, a B2C (Business to Customer) initiative for NRIs has been inspired the fact that India abounds with festive occasions and that Indians love to give and receive gifts, Mr Teruo Ishil, Managing Director Sony India Pvt Ltd said. Under the scheme NRIs can now gift Sony products to their loved ones in several cities like Chandigarh, Lucknow, New Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Noida and Hyderabad.
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Royal Sporting Mining lease HSBC UTI Bank SBP branch |
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Bangalore
IT.Com 2001—largest IT fair of the country—ends amid hopes
of revival of the IT sector in India.
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