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Saturday,
December 29, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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US-64 investors allowed to redeem 5,000 units
Buyback norms notified
One of the worst years for SEBI
New Textile Order eases procedures
5 petro products to be decontrolled |
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Recession rescues Sinha as inflation falls Sugar industry: bags half empty, half full
OPEC to cut production by 1.5 mln bpd
Agri Ministry forecasts 6.9 pc growth rate Bank of
Punjab opens office in Canada
TRAI notifies port charges regulation Re nosedives against dollar
Permanent trade status for China
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US-64 investors allowed to redeem 5,000 units New Delhi, December 28 The CCER decided that the operations of UTI should be similar to any other mutual fund envisaging that investors view taking risk as appropriate. The US 64 investors have, however, been assured that the government will intervene and compensate the UTI for the difference between NAV and the guaranteed repurchase prices. “This (measure) will ensure that any redemptions made at prices higher than the NAV of US 64 between August, 2001, and May, 2003, will not affect those unit holders who remain in the scheme”, Economic Affairs Secretary C.M. Vasudev told newspersons here. Necessary
legislation will be brought about to implement the recommendation of the Malegam Committee on the privatisation of UTI, he said. The ceiling on the number of units have also been raised from 3,000 to 5,000 of the US-64 repurchases at a guaranteed price, “There is a need to review the operation of UTI as a special entity under a special Act. The government will accordingly undertake this review, keeping in the view recommendations of the various expert committees and introduce necessary legislative changes”, the CCER decided. The government would take an immediate legislative step to ensure that a separation of trustee function from asset management function in UTI would be implemented from December 31, 2002. The CCER also decided that the US-64 would be fully compliant with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India by December 31, 2002. The US-64’s term loan portfolio would be cleaned up. |
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Buyback norms notified New Delhi, December 28 The government also relaxed the norms by reducing time limit of buyback of shares from two years to every six months with shareholder approval through the companies (Third Amendment) Bill 2001, passed by the Parliament on December 19. The companies (Amendment) Act 2001 seeks to replace the companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2001 promulgated on October 23 this year. “The liberalisation of this section through amendment follows the advice of the Ministry of Finance to improve the market sentiment,” an official release said. The Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI), industry chambers and financial institutions had favoured the liberal buyback norms. The ordinance was passed a few days after September 11 incidents in the US that had affected the stock markets. Since the promulgation of the Ordinance, the Sensex went up by over 700 points. The company does not require to pass the resolution at a general meeting of shareholders as provided in the earlier Sub-Section (2) of Section 77A of the Companies Act 1956. According to new norms, promoters can buy back up to 10 per cent of the total paid-up capital and free reserves of the company from the market annually with only board approval.
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One of the worst years for SEBI Mumbai, December 28 SEBI has been in the limelight throughout the year 2001 and is yet to complete the “clean up” with the “mess” left behind in the aftermath of the infamous march two crash. The picture was all rosy till mid-February, when the Bombay Stock Exchange sensex was seen zooming past the 4,400 mark and the “dream” budget sent every member on the bourse raising a toast to the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. SEBI continued to reassure investors that Indian markets were safe and a mechanism was in line to check the trading practices of the market participants from brokers to the retail investors. The bubble, however, burst on march two and soon the skeletons of various shady deals started tumbling out of the cupboard. For SEBI Chairman D.R. Mehta the year has been of bouquets turned into brickbats with many including an opposition politician seeking his ouster. Mr Mehta, after a five-year term, was given a two-year extension in February last year and in all likelihood may get another extension, as the search for his successor by the Finance Ministry continues. Moreover, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) which is investigating the March 2 crash is yet to complete its task and SEBI is still to give its final report for the same. A third interim report is being submitted by the year-end. It was also a year when investors seemed to have lost faith in the market regulator and the broking community was up in arms against it, as “screws” were being slowly tightened to “discipline” the market. The March 2 crash left the markets bruised and battered and SEBI, which was once boasting about world class reforms and practices, has found itself at the receiving end. It now appears more a disoriented entity, drowned in probes in the absence of “adequate powers”. BSE President Anand Rathi was asked to step down amid allegations that he was gravely involved in manipulating the markets. SEBI also restrained seven elected broking members on BSE governing board to act as a directors of the historic bourse. This move was a step ahead of the Centre’s decision to segregate trading membership, management and ownership by corporatising the exchanges with a motive to end interference of brokers.
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New Textile Order eases procedures New Delhi, December 28 The new Order, under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1995, has also simplified the procedures for filing information with the government for installation of textile machinery, production and markings of textiles. While diluting powers of the Textile Commissioner to control production and supply, the new Order has retained some powers for discharging his responsibility in respect of yank harn obligation order, reverse twist order and markings on textiles. The new order has also combined procedures of filing of information
memorandum on installation of machines in respect of spinning, knitting and powerloom sectors in one part. It has been made clear that the Textile Commissioner can now insist on markings on the imported textile articles also. The new order has also deleted provisions for requirement of submitting fees. With a view to protecting the industrial units from possible harassment by inspectors, it has been provided that powers of search and seizure would be exercised by an officer not below the rank of the Assistant Director, an official release said. The new Order had been issued in the light of the mandate of the National Textile Policy, 2000, to review and progressively reduce regulations and controls. |
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5 petro products to be decontrolled Pune, December 28 The five petroleum products to be decontrolled are — petrol, diesel, LPG, kerosene and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) — Mr Naik said at a press conference here today. Aviation turbine fuel has already been deregulated with effect from April 1 this year and the remaining four products would be decontrolled with effect from April 1 next year, the Minister said. Mr Naik sought to allay apprehensions that the decontrol regime would lead to an escalation in the prices. Citing the example of ATF he said after lifting of the controls, the price of ATF had, in fact, come down by Rs 2 to Rs 3 per litre. Mr Naik said his ministry planned to introduce five-kilogram domestic gas cylinders costing between Rs 80 and Rs 90 for the benefit of low income groups within the next four to five months. Their initial connection charges will also be around Rs 400-500 as against the present Rs 2,000-2,500 for the large cylinders, Mr Naik added. His Ministry had initiated steps to increase indigenous production of crude oil and petroleum products and thus reduce the import bill. Last year Rs 80,000 crore worth of crude oil and petroleum products were imported to meet the needs of the country, he pointed out.
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Recession rescues Sinha as inflation falls New Delhi, December 28 Though Sinha may have downplayed the market fears, the movement in the retail price segment is not all that rosy as All-India Consumer Price Index (for industrial, rural, agricultural or urban non-manual labour) stood above Wholesale Price Index (WPI), although there cannot be any divergence ‘in-principle’. Although the base for WPI had been changed, it had not been changed for the CPI for the last 20 years, during which the consumption pattern itself had changed to a great extent. Belying the expectations of many including Brettonwoods Sisters — World Bank and IMF — and other leading thinktanks in and outside India, who had predicted an over 5 per cent rate till the end of this fiscal, commodity prices went on downward spree in the last phase of 2001, breaking many lowers at one stroke. It is to be noted that on a year-to-year basis, the latest reported inflation stood in sharp contrast to a near nine per cent mark in the previous year. An average household, especially in the formal sector, might seem rejoicing over falling commodity prices but the worrisome problem had been the price rise for the inelastic primary commodities including fruits and vegetables. Economists have attributed the southward movement of prices to fall in the consumer demand because of lack of purchasing power. Hence, large stockpiles of grains in the warehouses of Food Corporation of India (FCI), fall in global oil prices, apart from the “contagious” domestic recession, which was mostly felt in the manufacturing sector. However, ground reality is something different as voiced by the most vulnerable people in the lowest income group (LIG) without much of a difference even among the people just one step above them. Even as inflation kept on falling, the prices of fruits and vegetables and other commodities like eggs, meat, fish and coconut oil rose, making it difficult for people to make both ends meet. “We know nothing about the change in the price level. It might have fallen to lowest-ever figure, but we find purses going empty within the first few hours of getting the hard-earned income,” rues Rani, a maidservant, who is in the unorganised sector that employs over 70 per cent of the labour force in the country. Going one step ahead to the average Class-IV employees in the government/quasi-government and private sector, the views are not much different, except for the fact that they kept a watch on the inflation since it mattered in the calculation of Dearness Allowance. In this context, the contention of the credit-rating agency ICRA holds good that the annualised inflation in primary foods, other than foodgrains, had been rising sharply, showing an annualised acceleration of 14 per cent.
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Sugar industry: bags half empty, half full New Delhi, December 28 First the half-full part, illustrated by lifting of quantitative ceiling on exports, doing away with registration cum allocation export certificates, go-ahead for futures trading, switching over to quarterly domestic release quota, clearance for export subsidies and concessions, amongst others. The bag was half empty because cane pricing structure needs reform, post-decontrol levy mechanism has to be devised, large-scale ethnanol manufacture and cogeneration of power is yet to become a reality, cane price arrears are substantial and raw sugar exports nil. Being a “political economy”, factors other than economic ensure that cane price is divorced from reality and the government referred the matter to the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices. The commission began working on a suitable formula which takes into account profit sharing with farmers and sales price realisation but it will remain a contentious issue, as fixing the final price is state government’s discretion. However, millers and farmers are striking individual deals in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu where, in a season of lower output of 168 million tonne, farmers are likely to benefit. In 2001 India made its presence felt in the international market by exporting over a million tonne sugar and once the transport subsidies are provided the enterprise can pick up momentum. The prospects however remain bleak for raw sugar exports at present. A lot of what happened in 2001 related to exports. The government registered nearly one million tonne for shipment against exporters but many, including ones marked against European Union, were unlikely to be executed due to a quota system prevalent there.
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OPEC to cut production by 1.5 mln bpd
Cairo, December 28 “We are going to announce a 1.5 million barrel a day cut for six months,” said Nuaimi, speaking of the period from January 1 to June 30. He was addressing reporters at the start of a ministerial meeting of the 11-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “It is true, the reduction will be of 1.5 million bpd, now we should focus on implementing this agreement,” United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Obaid Bin saif al-Nasseri said. The expected cut represents 6 per cent of OPEC’s total output of 25.5 million bpd, with Iraq’s production included. OPEC’s official ceiling excluding
Iraq is 23.2 million bpd, representing one third of the world’s total oil production. Nasseri pointed out the decision was made possible by the pledges of non-OPEC producers to slash their production by nearly half a million barrels. Oil experts consider that the cartel regularly exceeds declared output limits by 20 to 30 per cent.
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Agri Ministry forecasts 6.9 pc growth rate New Delhi, December 28 “Overall agriculture and allied sector is expected to register an impressive annual growth of about 6.9 per cent during 2001-02 compared to the last year,” the Agriculture Ministry said in its projections which was forwarded to the Union Finance Ministry. The total foodgrain production is expected to be around 210 million tonnes while production of sugarcane is expected to remain more or less static, according to the ministry. The Agricultural Ministry said, “though the year had its own share of climatic aberration and overall monsoon rainfall was weak... there was a much improved spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall”. |
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Bank
of Punjab opens office in Canada Chandigarh, December 28 According to Mr Tejbir Singh, Executive Director, it will advise the NRI on trade services to facilitate the ever-growing trade between India and Canada apart from providing information in respect of investment opportunities available in India. The bank offers among the fastest fund remittance service from any part of the world to India. The bank also offers home loans to NRIs desirous of investing in India and investment advisory services as well as travel-related services to the NRIs, including foreign currency exchange and traveller cheques. Bank of Punjab also plans to open representative office at centres in the USA, the UK, and Dubai to cater to its NRI clients. |
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TRAI notifies port charges regulation New Delhi, December 28 The Regulation pertains to the port charges payable by the interconnection seeker to interconnection provider for terminating the interconnection links on the network interface of the interconnection provider. These notification includes specification on charges based on directly attributable incremental costs, a reporting requirement, the possibility for the authority to review and alter the port charges notified by it, and for the suppliers of ports to provide their ports at prices below those specified by the authority in the Regulation. |
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Re nosedives against dollar Mumbai, December 28 The rupee plunged to 48.29/32 per dollar in late morning deals after nervous operators scrambled to cover dollar position, as continuous nervousness gripped the interbank foreign exchange (Forex) market, a dealer said.
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Max hospital SBI Hous Fin Ranbaxy syrup ST- 38 SBI facility Live-in |
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