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Banking laws to be changed as per WTO norms: FM Ceiling for loans in credit scheme raised to Rs 1 cr
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While stressing the need for extending more cooperation between the Himachal Pradesh government and the industry, the Additional Chief Secretary (Industries), Ms Renu Sahni Dhar, said this was mandatory to develop quality infrastructure in the state as it was attracting big industrial houses after the announcement of new industrial package.Chandigarh, August 28 LG Electronics plans to tap the rural market by opening more remote area offices in the country. To meet the requirement, the company already has a Rs 500-crore plant in Noida spread over 47 acres and made another one at Ranjangaon (Pune) functional this month. |
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India has 27m jobless: Ola Aviation
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transferred by NRI non-taxable Securities transaction TDS and seniors Investor
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More IA flights to Gulf Bangalore airport Aviation outlay
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Banking laws to be changed as per WTO norms: FM
Mumbai, August 28 Addressing the annual general meeting of the Indian Banks Association, Mr Chidambaram said Indian banks would have to prepare for the challenges under the WTO and Basel II norms. While the WTO norms come into force next year, the Basel II norms will become applicable in 2006. “We need to prepare a regulatory regime to deal with them. The government is aware of the need for suitable amendments in laws,” Mr Chidambaram said. The Finance Minister also noted that the government was keen on banks merging to acquire global scales and added that the government welcomed merger proposals. “Consolidation is the name of the game in virtually every sector. Consolidation alone will give us the strength, the muscle, the size and the scale to act like world-class banks,” the minister said. Acknowledging the poor condition of cooperative banks in the country, Mr Chidambaram said there was an urgent need to put in place a new regulatory regime for them. “We must put in place a single-tier regulatory regime for cooperative banks.” Mr Chidambaram also made use of the occasion to urge banks to disburse more rural credit. He noted that agricultural credit to the tune of Rs 1 trillion would help farmers cope with the problems caused by the erratic monsoon this year. Regarding the government’s efforts to curb inflation by reducing duties, Mr Chidambaram noted that the country’s finances had been badly hit by reduction in customs and excise duties. Inflation has fallen to 7.94 per cent from 8 per cent despite rising oil prices as lower duties made imports and locally produced steel cheaper. Mr Chidambaram added that interest rates were likely to be stable in the near term. |
Ceiling for loans in credit scheme raised to Rs 1 cr New Delhi, August 28 Minister of Small Scale, Agro and Rural Industries Mahaveer Prasad told newspersons here today that a special feature of these awards will be the presentation of the National Award for Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the year and the National Award for the Outstanding SC/ST Entrepreneur of the year. The period from September 2003 to August 2004 is being celebrated as the golden jubilee year of the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO). Mr Prasad said the ceiling for loans under the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme had been raised from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1 crore. The rate of subsidy under the scheme has also been raised from 12 per cent to 15 per cent. The scope of the scheme has been enlarged by adding more sub-sector and technologies eligible for assistance. He said SSI units were being encouraged to obtain credit rating. |
HP to develop infrastructure Solan, August 28 Addressing an interactive session, organised by the CII at Baddi today, Ms Sahni urged the CII to bring such issues to the notice of government. On the long pending demand of industrialists to construct a link road between Baddi and Chandigarh, she said the matter would be taken up with the Punjab government. Mr B.S.Nainta, Director, Industries, while endorsing the concern of the industry for better infrastructure development in the region said the government was appropriately planning in the matter. He informed that as many as 367 new industries had been registered and an amount of Rs 5367 crores had been invested in the state after the announcement of special incentive package. Others present on the occasion included the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Kumar, Chief Engineer, Housing Board, Mr S.K.Kanwal and Industrial Adviser to Himachal Pradesh, Dr Rajinder Chauhan. |
LG to tap rural market Chandigarh, August 28 Stating this after a familiarisation tour of LG’s Noida plant for journalists from north India, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Kwang Ro Kim, said the Pune plant, which currently manufactures colour TVs and refrigerators only, would be fully functional by 2006. “We already are market leaders in the colour TV, microwave oven, refrigerator and washing machine categories, according to an ORG market survey. Our vision is to have a $ 2.5 billion turnover by 2007,” Mr Kim says. The company’s present turnover is Rs 7,000 crore ($ 1550 million). Interestingly, the company believes in hiring sons of the soil as merely 16 Koreans have been employed in this Korean company that has total staff strength of more than 2,000. For sourcing its products, LG has 30 per cent dependency on Korea and the rest on India. The Pune plant is spread over 50 acres and currently has a capacity to manufacture one million CTVs and an equal number of refrigerators per month. A Rs 80-crore compressor plant has been set up on the Noida campus. The company follows the digital manufacturing system technology, enabling the production of various products on the same line. The company is also into PCs, GSM mobile phones, air-conditioners and vacuum cleaners, wherein it has been a rather late starter thereby losing the opportunity of taking the early-bird advantage. However, Mr Kim points out: “The strategy has worked well for us. Latecomer means latest technology as the company intends to move in step by step, product by product.” Among its products, refrigerators have shown the maximum growth of 63 per cent against the market average of 9 per cent while the company holds 43 per cent market share in microwave ovens. The company’s main thrust market is in north where it has found greater brand acceptability. The market distribution is the least in the east. In the IT segment, the company makes PCs, notebooks, monitors and optical drives. “We plan to launch 40” LCD TFT and optical rewritable DVDs by September,” a company official says. LG also intends to make CDMA phones by 2006 and has come out with a Micom display for refrigerators through research and development innovations. LG’s R & D cell also has patents in linear compression technology and golden eye technology in refrigerator and CTV product categories, respectively. In the projection TV category, it intends to come out with digital light processing technology and LCD projection TVs. When asked about the price reduction in the plasma TV category, the market being price sensitive and not driven by volumes, a company official denied any immediate price cuts. The company has earmarked a budget of Rs 2.5 lakh per month for philanthropic activities and has tied up with NGOs like HelpageIndia and Prayaas. |
India has 27m jobless: Ola
Kolkata, August 28 “We need an industrial and production policy, which can provide employment to lakhs of people and at the same time take the economy forward,” Mr Ola said here while speaking at a national conference on Strategies to Leverage Employment Generation: Unleasing Sectoral Potential’ organised by Ficci. The government was examining the possible labour reforms under the UPA’s policy of globalisation with a human face. There was need to stress on the unorganised sector because about 93 per cent of the total workforce was employed there.
— PTI |
by K.R. Wadhwaney More IA flights to GulfTHE Indian Airlines will launch several more fights to the Gulf, a very lucrative destination. In view of high-load and huge demand, the IA will operate from December this year daily flights to Sharjah from Trivandrum, Bangalore and Mumbai. The airline has already started operating additional flights on the Lucknow-Sharjah sector and the Amritsar-Sharjah route. The Indian Airlines operates the maximum flights to Gulf and has successfully been handling the ethnic traffic on this busy route. The national carrier has embarked upon several other schemes which will be put into operation as soon as the fleet acquisition is achieved. The IA board has cleared a proposal to buy Airbus aircraft and is now awaiting government clearance. Similarly, the Indian Airlines subsidiary, Alliance Air, is planning to lease Airbus A-319. As soon as these aircraft arrive, the ageing Boeing 737s will be replaced. Bangalore airport
Work is progressing satisfactorily at Bangalore International Airport, which is India’s first, private-sector led national airport at Devanahalli. Designed to meet international standards, it will accommodate at least 20 aircraft of different types. The budget estimate for building this airport is Rs 1300 crore. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, has gone on record saying that the clearance for the airport took longer than it should have because it had an altogether different conception.
Aviation outlay
Judging from the outlay approved for civil aviation for the first two years of tenth Plan, it appears that the government does not attach the importance that this vital sector requires it. The experts feel that the progress will be slow in modernising airports and it will affect promoting aviation and tourism in the country. The Parliamentary Standing Committee has raised several objections against the authorities concerned. It has also criticised the Airports Authority of India for delays in projects which are running behind schedule. |
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