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New Delhi, February 29 Expecting a major growth in the in supply chain management industry, leading third party logistics service provider Safexpress has targetted a turnover in excess of Rs 500 crore in the next fiscal year. Janpath could
become India’s Oxford Street Delhi could soon be competing with world capitals by having its own version of Oxford Street with the government examining a proposal to convert Janpath, a linear commercial spine, into a pedestrianised zone surrounded by landscaped courts, water bodies, ampi-theatres and swanky shopping colonnades.
Serving society is also their aim
Bids invited for sale of 11 PTDC properties |
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Market loses further ground
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Safexpress targets Rs 500 cr turnover, says Pawan Jain Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 29 “We will close this year with a turnover of Rs 260 crore and we have plans to double this in the next financial year”, Chairman and Managing Director of Safexpress Pawan Jain said in an interview. Mr Jain said that there is a massive potential for growth in the supply chain and logistics industry in India. “Presently, the express cargo industry is pegged at Rs 1500 crore with very few players and the potential is an astronomical Rs 10,000 crore”, he said. In the last ten years, he said, India has witnessed the entry of all the segments. “Given this it may be said that India is a fair representation of global benchmarks”, he pointed out. Mr Jain said the role of this industry towards the commercial enterprise and society has gained a larger significance with the irreversible process of globalisation. “With trade borders getting reduced and the regime of deregulation gaining momentum there is a huge demand for improved and exemplary supply chain management systems”, he said. Providing a perspective of the domestic as well as global supply chain industry, Mr Jain said that presently, the domestic component of the service forms the most critical component to make India deliverable. “Therefore the global supply chain requires a dedicated management within the country through experienced hands providing synergies through service providers”, he said. This involves the active participation of all the industry segments comprising of integrators, clearing and forwarding agents, supply chain management software companies, warehouse management services, container leasing organisations and shipping liners among others. Safexpress, he said, was present in all industry segments. These broadly include — apparel, footwear, pharmaceutical and healthcare, AC and refrigeration, IT, telecommunication and automotive and engineering segments among others. “We have made massive investments in all areas whether it be infrastructure, IT initiatives or fleet enhancement etc. For us investment in the core areas is an ongoing activity as we are expanding our customer base on a continuous basis and capacities have to be enhanced in pace with the same”, he said. On the new innovations that could possible emerge in the realm of logistics and supply chain management, he said that innovations could take place in the areas of apparel and allied industry, solutions for the pharmaceutical segment and advancements in information technology solutions. Safexpress has set up a Centre for Intelligence and Research Excellence (CIRE). “CIRE is the nerve centre for us and is a major initiative towards knowledge management in the logistics industry. Though the logistics industry has gained a lot of importance and exhibited exponential growth rates in the last few years, it continues to exist in a fragmented state and unlike other industries does not have a regulatory body”, Mr Jain said. He said that with the help of CIRE, the company will be able to provide several “knowledege-based value additions to its customers along with its existing product offerings. These significant value additions will assist companies in remodelling their supply chains for better efficiencies”. The centre has been set up with an investment of Rs 2 crore in setting up in this facility and “a team of trained research analysts will undertake data mining and analysis activities”. Elaborating on the primary differences between ordinary courier companies and express cargo companies, he said that typical document courier companies and express cargo companies operate with different paradigms. “The temptation to enter the others arena is always very strong given the fact that both segment players offer door-to-door service”, he said. Document courier company connotes an organisation
whose prime business is in the field of servicing express documents and
small parcels whereas express cargo company connotes an organisation who
prime business lies in the handling commercial cargo with the requisite
infrastructure as well as third party logistics management capabilities,
he said.
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Janpath could become
India’s Oxford Street New Delhi,
February 29 The conceptual proposal, a copy of
which is with The Tribune, elaborates the redevelopment plan of Janpath
into a major recreational, leisure and cultural node, commencing from
Central Avenue, widening at Windsor Place and concluding at outer circle
of Connaught Place, bestowing varied experiences to a visitor. “The
requirement is to rejuvenate the area to make it dynamic and vibrant
from late evening till mid-night to a place which is presently dead
after office hours”, Chairman and Managing Director of HUDCO P S Rana
told The Tribune. Under the proposed plan, the entire 1.5 km of
Janpath from Windsor Place till outer circle of Connaught Place is to be
pedestrianised. Linear shopping with uniform series of colonnade is
proposed along the street by giving regular and uniform space to
existing “small, shabby and irregular shops”. Besides, a high-rise
commercial hub is proposed around Windsor Place incorporating two
existing five star hotels — Le Meridien and Kanishka (now Shangrila) in
the hub. The hub will have facilities such as shopping malls,
multiplexes, restaurants, fast food joints, offices etc. The presently
existing green round-about is proposed to be completely restructured
with a deck above it connecting buildings around it through radial
bridges. This is proposed to be supplemented by a multi-level parking
facility underneath the Windsor Place Green Island. A cultural plaza
has been proposed between the two court buildings — Eastern Court and
Western Court. While one of the Court buildings could be converted into
a museum of modern Indian history the other one could be converted into
modern world class business centre essentially catering to the PIOs and
NRIs. Between the two buildings, a cultural plaza is proposed to give
an “opportunity to new and struggling artists from all over the country
to display their artefacts directly to consumers”. “This place will
attract people who are art lovers and children who want to know in
detail about national and international history and culture. All the
activities related to art and music such as live bands, open-air
exhibitions of handicrafts and paintings can be carried out here”, it
said. A Delhi-based town planner, however, struck a note of caution
saying that “the materialisation of the idea needs strong political will
and cooperation of shop keepers and office owners”. |
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Serving society is also their aim Tribune News Service
Mentally challenged Hunny Saini,
who had won a gold medal in Badminton at Special Olympic held in Dublin in June,
2003. Take the example of Gujarat Ambuja Cement
Limited. In 1993, it set up the Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF), a
non-government organisation. Headed by the Chairman, Mr Suresh Neotia,
the Foundation has teams that work hand in hand with communities in 298
villages in seven states. It spent Rs 2.8 crore last year. It has many
projects to its credit. The foundation established the Ambuja Manovikas
Kendra at Ropar in 1998 to take care of the mentally challenged
children. Initially, the school was started by a philanthropist at
Morinda with 24 students on its roll. The school was on the verge of
closure as it faced acute shortage of funds. The foundation pitched in
and took over it. The school was shifted to Ropar in 1999. The number
of children attending the school has been consistently rising and has
reached 52. Besides making them self-reliant in everyday chores like
brushing their teeth, bowel habits, bathing, etc, it also imparts
vocational training to them. Now many of them have learnt to make
candles, greeting cards and other handicraft items. Many of them have
started earning Rs 1,000 or so a month. A 16-year girl, Hunny Saini,
brought laurels for the foundation as well as the country when she won a
gold medal in the Special Olympic held in Dublin in June, 2003. She won
a gold medal in the mixed doubles and a silver medal in the doubles
event in badminton. She was the only participant from Punjab. The
Ministry of Petroleum honoured her with a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Emboldened by the encouraging results, the ACF now proposes to get 2
acres to set up a school building. Plans are afoot to open more branches
in the satellite areas of Ropar. With a cement plant located at
Darlaghat, near Bilaspur, in Himachal Pradesh, the ACF is also
determined to address issues involving drinking water, education,
healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, etc. To alleviate the health
problems of rural communities, the ACF has launched mobile health
services in 1998 which provides treatment in 40 villages around
Darlaghat village. The ACF has organised two camps so far in which 429
physically impaired have been provided callipers. Besides, a Primary
Health Centre and a 12-bed Ambuja Dispensary were also opened. Patients
are given free treatment and medicines. The ACF had encouraged women
to form self-help groups to make them independent. Now 70 such self-help
groups are working. Each group consists of 12 or 14 members and every
member contributes Rs 100 p.m. Mrs Indu Sharma, Sarpanch of Rori
village, is the driving force behind the formation of these groups. She
says, “we give loan to our members at 2 per cent interest. Now our group
has saved Rs 25,000. We are planning to generate more money through
mushroom cultivation, pickles and dairy products. The ACF lays
emphasis on providing suitable infrastructure and facilities for
educational institutions in villages. It has constructed 11 classrooms
in five schools. Among them is Saraswati Vidya Mandir which came up in
1999 with six classrooms. It also releases an aid of Rs 5,000 p.m. to
the school. The DAV Ambuja Vidya Niketan at Rauri village is also
providing quality education to children from nearby villages. A bus has
also been provided to facilitate their commuting. Besides, the Arts
College at Arki has come about with the financial assistance of the
foundation. To meet the drinking water needs, six storage tanks of a
total capacity of 55,000 litres have been constructed. Two ‘bawadis’, —
step-wells — have been renovated to supplement the drinking water
resources. Pipelines are also laid to supply water in six villages. To
alleviate water scarcity and practise sustainable agriculture, a
Watershed Development Programme has been initiated by the state
government. The ACF was selected in July, 1999, as the support
organisation in Hamirpur. To meet agricultural needs of villagers and
stop soil erosion, a check-dam was constructed last year across a nullah
which gets flooded during the rains and remain dry for the rest of the
year. Villagers did karseva for the project. All this helped the
Foundation to win a prestigious award jointly instituted by the Business
World magazine and Ficci.
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Bids invited for sale of 11 PTDC properties Chandigarh, February 29 Mr Jagjeet Puri, Managing Director of PTDC, said bidders would have to submit their expression of interest (EOIs) till March 2. These properties are Amritsar International Hotel, Amritsar; Coral Tourist Complex, Madhopur; Kachnar Tourist Complex, Shambu; Chandni Tourist Complex, Nidampur; Lajwanti Tourist Complex, Hoshiarpur; Kaner Tourist Complex, Moga; Silver Oak Tourist Complex, Malout; Maulsari Tourist Complex, Aam Khas Bagh, Sirhind; Surajmukhi Tourist Complex, Khanouri; Queen’s Flower Tourist Complex, Neelon and Neem Chameli Tourist Complex, Wagah. A few of these tourist complexes were running into major losses and the employees working in them had not been paid salaries for months together. Of the eight complexes, only three
located at Madhopur, Nidampur and Sirhind were profit making.
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by Lalit Batra Market loses further ground
In continuation of the trend witnessed previous week, unwinding of
positions in the secondary markets in wake of a slew of IPOs hitting the
Indian markets caused of the meltdown in the indices last week. The
Sensex lost 3 per cent for the week to settle at 5,667.51. The Nifty
lost 52.35 points to 1,800.30. Market conditions looked grim till the
Divestment Minister raised an alarm that a beer cartel was acting in
concert in pulling down the prices of companies in the line for
divestment. As per the minister, some people were manipulating the
markets in anticipation of the government announcing a 5 to 10 per cent
discount on the last closing price of these divestment companies while
deciding upon the floor price. Small investors also resorted to selling
in the secondary market to raise funds to subscribe to a number of
public issues that have been bunched between mid-February 2004 to
mid-March 2004. Expiry of derivatives contracts also added to the
volatility in the market. Derivatives contracts for February 2004
expired on Thursday last. Going forward, the indices are likely to
continue in a volatile fashion in the short-term considering the
liquidity overhang as a result of IPOs. However, we feel that the
long-term outlook continues to remain promising for India, the temporary
blips in markets provide investors with good opportunities to build a
sound portfolio for long term.
Gillette Shaving products major,
Gillette India, reported its December quarter and annual results on last
Wednesday. Though the topline showed a negative growth, the bottom line
showed a significant turnaround as a result of restructuring. Gillette’s
grooming business continues to do well showing over 20 per cent growth
year on year. Oral care business (OralB) has also reported nearly 30 per
cent growth last financial year. The company seems to have benefited
from the renewed focus on its kay businesses, as a result the company
has declared highest ever profit before tax at Rs 80.8 crores. At Rs 638
Gillette trades at a P/E of over 47, the stocks seems richly priced but
at the same time one must not forget that Gillette has just started to
show its restructuring benefits. Gillette is also aiming to wean away
consumers from the traditional double edged razor segment to twin blade
system through the mid-priced offering ‘Vector Plus’. If successful, the
company could achieve a new growth trajectory. Investors looking for
long term gains can buy the stock on declines.
GlaxoSmithKline GlaxoSmithKline
Pharmaceuticals (Glaxo) recently announced its quarterly and yearly
results. While the topline grew by 8 per cent in the forth quarter year
on year, the company did well to turn out profits after the losses that
it had incurred in the same period of last financial year. The growth
in topline was a result of the company’s pharmaceuticals business
growing by 6 per cent year on year. On the profitability front, Glaxo
has been able to improve its operating margins by substantial measures.
And this is mainly a result of decline on the material consumed and
other expenses fronts. The improvement in Glaxo’s margins would have
been better but for the fact that the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing
Authority (NPPA) revised downwards the prices of Ranitidine formulations
in the third quarter. This affected the margins of Zinetac, one of the
important products of Glaxo. At the current price of Rs 627, the stock
is trading at a P/E 27, though the valuations seem at the upper end of
the spectrum, further benefits during the patent regime post 2005 should
keep the stock in demand, specially for the long term investors. |
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Expecting a major growth in the in supply chain management industry,
leading third party logistics service provider Safexpress has targetted
a turnover in excess of Rs 500 crore in the next fiscal year.
G