 
  <br />
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insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003152856.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 148, 'Regulatory steps after stocks scam report: Jaswant', 'The Centre is waiting for the completion of investigations and the court verdicts in several cases related to the stocks scam of 2001 to implement the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary', 'The Centre is waiting for the completion of investigations and the court verdicts in several cases related to the stocks scam of 2001 to implement the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). 
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh told the Lok Sabha today the government was monitoring the developments on a regular basis and there had been good progress in the investigations into the cases taken up by the government. 
The JPC, which was tabled on December 19 last year in Parliament, had asked the government to file an action taken report (ATR) on it every six months till all the agenda mentioned in the report was cleared. The government had tabled its first ATR on May 9. 
In a reply to the demands made by the Opposition, he said the government was ready for a debate on the scam. The minister also said the measures taken by the government after the submission of the JPC report included referring the secondary market transactions made by the Unit Trust of India in 89 companies as identified by the Tarapore committee to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the setting up of institutional mechanisms to keep a regular watch on the financial markets and the establishment of a coordinating mechanism with regulators and investigating agencies. 
The other measures include the setting up of a Serious Frauds Investigation Office as an inter-disciplinary body. Singh said it would be his endeavour to see that pending action was completed quickly. 
He said the amendment to the Securities Contract (Regulations) Act for the corporatisation of the bourses and the amendment of the Banking Regulations Act for better regulation of cooperative banks were pending in Parliament. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003163252.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 149, 'Late surge in buying', 'The stock markets rose for the third straight day on Friday, with the 30-scrip BSE Sensex hitting a 44-month high before ending at 5315.81 points, up 15.85 points. 
', 'The stock markets rose for the third straight day on Friday, with the 30-scrip BSE Sensex hitting a 44-month high before ending at 5315.81 points, up 15.85 points. 
The Sensex opened at 5321.49, went to an intra-day high of 5,343.91 and dipped to an intra-day low of 5283.75. The NSE’s Nifty index also closed up 3.50 points at 1698.90. 
Dealers said there was a lot of volatility during the day with buying and selling coming in spurts. The actual gains in the Sensex, however, came at the fag end of the trading session with some decent buying in index heavy weights. In the last three weeks, the index has gained around 10 per cent. 
Dealers said the expected sell-off by foreign institutional investors was not happening. On Wednesday, FIIs bought around $135 million. 
During this month so far, they have pumped in around $538 million. Their net investments into equities so far this year stands at a record $5.8 billion. 
Dealers said stocks of fast moving consumer goods companies are again making an appearance on the radar screens of funds. 
Scrips which gained during the day’s trading included Tata Steel and HDFC. Banks were also being bought, while cement scrips recorded a rise. 
Tata Steel ended at Rs 378.65, a gain of 3.6 per cent, while Jindal Steel closed at Rs 262.85, up 3.1 per cent. 
Gujarat Ambuja Cements jumped 4.2 percent to Rs 304.10 rupees on rumours that a large US-based fund would be buying 10 million shares of the scrip in the open market. 
IT stocks, meanwhile, tracking the overnight gains on the Nasdaq, made modest gains. Infosys Technologies closed at Rs 5030.75, recording a gain of 1.2 per cent. 
Satyam Computer ended at Rs 343.20 (a rise of 2.2 per cent). On the overseas markets the ADRs of Infosys made a gain of 2.8 per cent while Satyam went up 8.9 per cent on Thursday. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003163238.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 150, 'Dec futures discounted', 'Nifty December futures ended at a discount to the spot for the third day in a row. While Nifty December futures ended at 1,696.05, the NSE S&amp;P CNX Nifty index settled at 1,698.90, up 3.50 points', 'Nifty December futures ended at a discount to the spot for the third day in a row. While Nifty December futures ended at 1,696.05, the NSE S&amp;P CNX Nifty index settled at 1,698.90, up 3.50 points from its previous close. 
Nifty added three lakh shares in the futures segment. The implied volatility saw a sharp fall in Nifty options. 
Volumes were moderate and below Rs 10,000 crore. The most active futures contracts were Tata Motors, Tisco, Reliance Industries and Satyam. 
The turnover on the National Stock Exchange’s derivative segment rose to Rs 9,785 crore on Friday, compared with Rs 9,566 crore on Thursday. 
Meanwhile, the cumulative FII positions as percentage of total gross market position in the derivative segment on Thursday stood at 17.37 per cent. 
Activity continued to remain centered around near-month contracts. Open interest in the December futures of Tata Steel rose by 10 lakh shares to 1.29 crore shares on Friday, from 1.19 crore shares on Thursday. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003163359.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 151, 'ITC, L&T GDRs surge', 'Alike key Asian markets, Indian global depository receipts (GDR) too traded firm on Friday till mid-trading session in London. 
', 'Alike key Asian markets, Indian global depository receipts (GDR) too traded firm on Friday till mid-trading session in London. 
The Instanex Skindia DR Index (ISDI), which tracks 15 actively-traded Indian depository receipts, rose 1.59 per cent to 960.57 on Friday till 5:00 PM IST. 
ITC’s GDR rose 3.00 per cent to $22.65, registering volumes of 10,000 receipts. Larsen &amp; Toubro’s GDR surged 0.85 per cent to $19.56. 
State Bank of India’s GDR climbed 0.17 per cent to $29.95. However, Hindalco’s GDR fell 0.85 per cent to $29. Bajaj Auto’s GDR plunged 0.44 per cent to $22.40 and Reliance Industries GDR shed 0.08 per cent to $24.80. 
On Thursday, the ISDI settled up 1.97 per cent to close at 960.75. While the ISDI price-earning rose 2.03 per cent to 18.61. 
Asian stocks were on the roll on Friday on strong overnight rally in the US markets. In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average gained 0.9 per cent at 10,169.66 and the broader Topix climbed 0.78 per cent to 998.70. 
In Seoul, the Kospi gained almost 2 per cent as blue chips came strongly into focus. Notably, Kookmin Bank surged 5.1 per cent on improved business outlook. 
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng moved up 0.77 per cent near close. And Singapore’s Straits Times index nudged up 0.5 per cent late in the bourse’s trading day. 
On Thursday, the US markets surged on a strong retail sales report. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the 10,000-mark for the first time since May 24, 2003. It rose 86.30 points to 10,008.16. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003113744.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 152, 'Rajshri group plans IPO', 'Rajshri group, the Barjatya family-controlled film production and distribution business house, is planning to go public. 
', 'Rajshri group, the Barjatya family-controlled film production and distribution business house, is planning to go public. 
The company, one of the largest and trusted brand names for wholesome family entertainment, is also charting out its foray into television software business. 
The group houses closely held companies such as Rajshri Productions, Rajshri Pictures and Rajshri International. It would be appointing consultants to design its listing plans on the domestic stock exchanges. 
Kamal Kumar Barjatya, director on board of the Rajshri group of companies, said, “We are planning to go for a domestic listing in the next two years. However, a final plan is yet to emerge and a final call on the issue is yet to be taken.” 
While he was tight-lipped on the financial details of the company, the group turnover, according to industry sources, is estimated to be around Rs 250 crore. 
“We enjoy a special place in the heart of every Indian by the virtue of our excellence in making family drama. We now intend to make television serials. Our foray into television software business would be a logical extension of our existing line of business,” said Suraj Barjatya, director, Rajshri Productions. 
Rajshri Productions has produced around 49 Hindi feature films till date. Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath-Saath Hain — all directed by Sooraj Barjatya are among the biggest box-office hits which had set the group’s cash registers ringing. 
It had recently entered into a film distribution alliance with Zee Telefilms.

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114141.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 153, 'Bajaj Allianz eyes Rs 450 crore income', 'Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, which has entered into a bancassurance tie-up with Mangalore-based Karnataka Bank, expects to earn a premium income of Rs 450 crore during the current fiscal. 
', 'Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, which has entered into a bancassurance tie-up with Mangalore-based Karnataka Bank, expects to earn a premium income of Rs 450 crore during the current fiscal. 
Addressing a press conference Sam Ghosh, chief executive officer, Bajaj Allianz, said, “Our partnership with Karnataka Bank would help us in providing need-based general insurance products to their extensive customer base in Karnataka, Maharastra and the north. We also plan to open an office at Mangalore.” 
Kamesh Goyal, who is to take over as the new CEO of Bajaj Allianz, said, “We expect to earn a premium income of Rs 440 crore during the current fiscal compared with Rs 300 crore earned the previous year. We have thus far paid Rs 110 crore in claims.” Goyal said, “Bancassurance will account for 20 per cent of premium income earned in the next 2 years and 20 per cent of policies sold via banks. This is the 9th Bancassurance tie-up of Bajaj Allianz.” 
Ananthakrishna, chairman, Karnataka Bank Ltd, said, “We want to provide all kinds of financial services to our customer and to be considered as a financial supermarket. We have tied up with MetLife Insurance to sell life insurance and now a tied up with Bajaj Allianz to sell general insurance.” 
Ananthakrishna, said, “We will sell Bajaj Allianz products in 170 bank branches and later extend it to all our 364 branches present in 16 states.” 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114207.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 154, 'Yamaha to display two models at Auto Expo', 'Motorcycle maker Yamaha will showcase two new models at the Auto Expo 2004 to be conducted in New Delhi from January 15 to 20. Both these models will hit the roads later in the year. 
', 'Motorcycle maker Yamaha will showcase two new models at the Auto Expo 2004 to be conducted in New Delhi from January 15 to 20. Both these models will hit the roads later in the year. 
“We will showcase two of our new offerings at the Auto Expo and they will be launched during the course of the year,” said an official at Yamaha, refusing to divulge details about the models. 
Yamaha currently manufactures bikes in the 105-132 cc range. It is yet to make a debut in the high-powered (above 150 cc) bikes segment. Industry observers, though, are sure both offering will be in the entry segment in keeping with Yamaha’s existing product portfolio. 
Sources close to the development revealed that one of the two bikes will be launched at the Auto Expo itself but officials at Yamaha refused to confirm. 
Yamaha’s last bike launch was the 106 cc Libero in October 2002. 
The company has also launched a variant of the Crux (105 cc) which has been its best selling offering. 
Yamaha, whose traditional strength has been the entry segment, witnessed a 24.5 per cent fall in their sales last month. The company is now looking at consolidating its position in the 75-125 cc market. 
The Auto Expo will see some action with Bajaj showcasing the prototypes of their five new scooters which will be launched over the next three years. 
TVS Motors also confirmed their participation in the Auto Expo where they will showcase their long-awaited TVS Centra. TVS hasn’t yet decided on a launch date for the bike. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114317.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 155, 'Bharti may roll out new fixed-line strategy', 'Bharti Enterprises will soon unveil a strategy for its fixed-line services post the governments new unified licensing policy. The company plans to target small enterprises and corporates for its', 'Bharti Enterprises will soon unveil a strategy for its fixed-line services post the government’s new unified licensing policy. The company plans to target small enterprises and corporates for its broadband services. 
Rajan Bharti Mittal, joint managing director, Bharti Enterprises said, “There will not be any massification of fixed-line services. We are strategising for our basic services so as to have specific roll outs in 10 markets across the country. We have huge bandwidth available with us and we will provide services to corporates especially for carrying data traffic.” 
Some of the 10 markets targeted by Bharti for data traffic are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Harayana, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. Mittal pointed out that the company had dual licenses in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Harayana and Tamil Nadu. 
“With unified license, the government should work on a refund mechanism and expect the government to return at least Rs 150 crore”, Mittal added. 
On international long distance (ILD), Mittal said the government should soon clarify the carrier access code (CAC) which will give the customer opportunity to access other carriers. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114437.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 156, 'Swarovski to set up production facility', 'Swarovski of Austria, the leading manufacturer of cut crystal in the world, is going to set up a new production unit in India. 
', 'Swarovski of Austria, the leading manufacturer of cut crystal in the world, is going to set up a new production unit in India. 
The company is looking at developing forward integrated products as embellishment for garments, jewellery and lighting. Swarovski has already taken a plot of land in Pune to set up the base. 
Sanjay Sharma, country manager for crystal component business (CCB) of Swarovski, said the unit would come up as 100 per cent export oriented unit. 
“India will be the global sourcing base for such items which will be sold under Swarovsky brand,” Sharma said. 
The new manufacturing base will come adjacent to the artificial pearl unit that Swarovski had built in Pune four years ago. The unit, a 100 per cent EOU again, is a global sourcing centre for artificial pearl for the company. Sharma could not give exact timeframe for starting the operation at the new unit. 
Cut crystals for such forward integrated items will be sourced from Austria and after the embellishment, re-exported to Austria again. 
Even India will get these items from Austria. Company said heavy duty has forced such an arrangement for the Swarovski India here. 
“The combined duty on cut crystals is as high as 55 per cent. We want to be in the EOU category so that there is some breather on the duty. The extra freight cost of bringing back the product produced here again from Austria is negligible to what we save on account of being in EOU,” he noted. 
The company is of the view that crystal business could explode had the duty been lower. Swarovski has seen over 80 per cent growth in last two years. 
Swarovski is working closely with leading Indian fashion designers J J Valaya, Rina Dhaka, Rohit Bal, Satya Paul among others. The lighting items are made available through Jaquar, Golden Locks, Mars Industries who have used crystal components in bath and décor products. 
The company is also planning to launch LED (light emitting diode) with crystal component shortly. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114443.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 157, 'Consumers spend less on FMCG products, more on travel, insurance ', 'There was nothing unusual about advertisement executive Dipti Tamankar\'s (name changed) shopping three years ago. 
', 'There was nothing unusual about advertisement executive Dipti Tamankar\'s (name changed) shopping three years ago. 
Household essentials comprised a large part of her shopping basket. Her double income-no kid family lived in a rented flat and travelled in the ubiquitous Maruti 800. 
Now, the bulk of her income goes into paying the equated monthly instalments (EMIs) on her flat, car and home theatre system. 
“We needed a mid-sized car and a home theatre. We are also investing heavily in insurance policies. Earlier, we used to spend a lot at a go on holidaying. Now we have tied up with a resort for life-long holidays, and pay EMIs,” she points out. The Tamankars have cut down on food, watching movies in theatres and clothes. 
So what? Tamankar is part of the new breed of the burgeoning Indian middle class, which is splurging on itself as much as on home and family. 
With surging income levels and declining interest rates, priorities, it appears, have changed. No wonder then that the share of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) in the consumer\'s shopping basket has been shrinking steadily to make way for more personal indulgences. 
According to a study conducted by India\'s largest consumer products company, Hindustan Lever, consumers have increased spending on education, consumer durables, entertainment and travel, resulting in a lower share of the wallet for FMCGs. 
Says M K Sharma, vice-chairman, Hindustan Lever: “Earlier, consumers spent about 52 paise of a rupee on dry rations and FMCGs. There has been a 10 per cent reduction in that, bringing it to 47-48 paise. The incremental spending is more on education, consumer durables and car loans.” 
Sample this: in the first half of 2003, sales of monthly passenger cars climbed over 35 per cent, flat TV 14 per cent and DVDs 60 percent. 
GSM mobile phone sales jumped 40 per cent, while Reliance mopped up another 5 million subscribers for its limited mobility services. Also, HDFC\'s retail disbursements shot up 33 per cent. 
A recent study by market research firm NFO-MBL India shows that 30 per cent of the new car buyers in 2003 were buying a second car for their family. Also, 50 per cent of the car owners in the A-segment (below Rs 3 lakh) planned to upgrade to the C-segment (Rs 5-8 lakh). 
Researchers detected three distinct trends in consumer migration. First, the preference for dry rations and perfumes has taken a backseat. 
Second, home, car, mobile and other life-style products are being lapped up, taking the EMI route. And finally, financial assets feature in the consumer basket today, particularly in the form of insurance products. 
S B Mathur, chairman of Life Insurance Corporation, which still holds a 90 percent market share, says the sale of individual risk products rose 28 per cent to Rs 2,502 crore in the first half of the current financial year. 
Individuals have also invested more than Rs 160 crore in pension plans, whose sales grew over 195 per cent. Private life insurers are selling policies like hot cakes, and premium income collection has shot up 150-200 per cent. 
“Individuals are investing more in insurance products these days, especially high net worth individuals, who see greater investment value in such products,” says Abhay Aima, HDFC Bank\'s country head, private banking. 
Adds NK Ambwani, managing director of Johnson &amp; Johnson, “Consumers are not spending less but are spending differently. The FMCG industry today is faced with the challenge of sustenance and growth.” 
Agrees Shantanu Khosla, managing director of Procter &amp; Gamble: “Today, consumers have a lot more avenues to spend.” 
What is driving this change? Consumers now have the advantage of abundant and cheaper credit, interest free loans in some categories, and declining product prices owing to technological innovation, feels Godrej group director Nadir Godrej. 
Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon International, says: “The reduction in taxes and product innovation have brought down prices of consumer electronics products. Moreover, people with higher income are also upgrading products.” 
This scene is replicated in the food industry. Confirms Sanjay Narang, owner of Mars Restaurants, which runs several chains in Mumbai like Roti, Just Around the Corner and Dosa Diner: “The frequency of visits to restaurants has gone up with the desire to try out new cuisine as the number of speciality restaurants across India is mushrooming.” 
With interest rates touching a new low, the credit to the housing finance industry has doubled in fiscal 2003 to Rs 12,308 crore. HDFC saw a 30 per cent rise in disbursements to Rs 5,471 crore in the first half, while the State Bank of India\'s home loan portfolio grew Rs 1,700 crore to Rs 13,850 crore. 
As Hindustan Lever\'s Sharma puts it: “We have crossed the hump. The market will grow bigger.” 
Shopping trends



Preference for dry rations, perfumes has taken a backseat

 
Home, car, mobile and other life-style products are being lapped up, taking the EMI route

 
Financial assets feature in the consumer basket, particularly in the form of insurance products. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114629.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 158, 'Rs 1,500 crore NTPC float blocked', 'The plans of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to raise Rs 1,500 crore through an initial public offer has hit a roadblock with the finance and disinvestment ministries opposing it. 
', 'The plans of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to raise Rs 1,500 crore through an initial public offer has hit a roadblock with the finance and disinvestment ministries opposing it. 
In response to a draft Cabinet note circulated by the power ministry on NTPC’s public float, the finance ministry has said the utility should leverage its “low” debt-equity ratio to borrow more from the market. The disinvestment ministry, on the other hand, is in favour of a strategic sale. 
According to officials, the finance ministry has opined that NTPC’s debt-equity ratio of 0.38, on an equity base of Rs 8,000 crore, leaves scope for leveraging sufficient debt to sustain its capacity addition programme. 
The disinvestment ministry wants a strategic sale to realise better value for the government’s equity in the company. The government, which holds 100 per cent in NTPC, will be the ultimate beneficiary in a strategic sale. 
The power ministry had prepared the draft Cabinet note for the proposed Rs 400 crore public issue in October this year, which was circulated to various ministries for comments. Subsequently, it planned to put up a note to the Cabinet along with the comments received from the other ministries. 
As per NTPC’s plans, the public offer would hit the market in February 2004. The company has sought the government’s approval for increasing its paid-up capital to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 8,000 crore. 
NTPC had proposed to offload up to 5 per cent of its equity and raise about Rs 1,500 crore. The public offer would not only have lent greater visibility to the Rs 20,000 crore power major, but also ensured a smooth fund flow for its expansion. 
The company, which currently has a generation capacity of around 20,000 MW, is planning to double its installed capacity by 2012. 
NTPC had proposed a unique differential dividend scheme, under which retail investors were to receive higher dividend than the government, in lieu of lower voting rights. 
According to NTPC’s estimates, it needs about Rs 80,000 crore investment over the next 10 years to add the proposed 20,000 Mw generation capacity. The company has made out a case for release of about Rs 13,000 crore in the Tenth Plan for implementing its capacity expansion plans. 
NTPC has sought a token budgetary support from the government for the next financial year. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114607.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 159, 'Disinvest or don\'t, but decide fast: SCI chief', '<I>It is an industry that may be in the midst of an unprecedented boom. But its captains are not famed for their communication skills and are by and large media shy. 
', 'It is an industry that may be in the midst of an unprecedented boom. But its captains are not famed for their communication skills and are by and large media shy. 
P K Srivastava, CMD of Shipping Corporation of India, is, however, not the archetypal shipping industry chief. The soft and suave Srivastava, who is also the president of the apex industry body, the Indian National Shipowners Association (INSA), does not duck questions even on the vexed issue of the privatisation of SCI which is now shrouded in uncertainty due to litigation. 
In an interview with Business Standard, he says this is one issue he would like to sort out at the earliest. 
There is a lot of uncertainty over the divestment of SCI. Litigation by the employees has only added to this. How confident are you about the divestment?The divestment of SCI has been in the air since January 2002 and we have gone through the process of due diligence twice. From SCI’ s side, we are all ready. 
Last time, just as the financial bids were about to be invited on November 20, suddenly there was some litigation. The government took the view that it would rather wait for a clarity on judgement. These issues are beyond SCI. 
Personally, I feel that the privatisation of SCI is just a matter of time. We have embarked on the path of privatisation not just for the benefit of SCI alone but for the economy as whole. If the government’s guiding principle is that its business is not to be in business, then SCI will fall in line. 
I will say as a professional that I would want this to happen within a definite time frame. It is very bad to be in a state of limbo for such a long time. It is going to affect SCI’s fortune three years down the line. I have been assured that the government is committed to the policy of privatisation. 
We (the SCI management) have been telling the government that as professional managers we are not bothered about who our owners are as long as we have the freedom to run the company. My feeling is that once the Supreme Court judgement comes this month, there will be greater clarity. 
Our case is similar to that of Jessop where the unions have contended that the bidders are not worthy. Our unions have made such a plea too. It is a matter of perception. 
I want the process to come to a conclusion soon. Either go ahead with privatisation or come out of it so that I can run my company in the best interest of the shareholders — the government of India. 
These are boom times for the shipping industry with the freight markets on a real high. What is driving this boom?In my career of nearly 35 years, I have never seen such a bullish sentiment in the shipping market. In the final analysis, the boom results from an imbalance in the demand-supply position. That is the trigger. 
China is also a key driver. China is importing and exporting so much material that it has created a phenomenal demand for tonnage of any type. 
This perhaps was not anticipated. The new building orders were not synchronising with the demand. Coupled with that, the new international regulations have been coming in force for tanker security and safety. This has forced some of the vintage tonnage into the scrapyard. On the one hand, ship scrapping was expedited. 
On the other, the new building orders were not as anticipated. This imbalance has created such huge demand that if you have a ship today that it is worth its weight in gold. 
This is a very unique situation that is primarily driven by the Chinese economy and supported by the resurgence in the Indian economy. Even the US markets are improving. 
Economic revival is the driving force. If economic revival takes place, it pulls with it all the markets. Shipping is a function of international trade and that is the reason why you see this kind of high market rates. 
How long do you think this boom will last?I agree that such a level (of boom) cannot sustain for long. It is only a question of time before the cycle turns southwards. It is difficult to predict when would it happen. 
When the US went into Iraq, everyone thought it will be catastrophic for international shipping. Actually, it was the other way round. There are hundreds of imponderables. I feel this bullish trend will continue for at least a year. I cannot predict anything accurately beyond that. 
In the past, when the freight markets were booming, the stock markets still did not reward investors. Now we have a situation where the shipping stocks are actually outperforming the Sensex. What is the reason for this?It is very difficult for anyone to find out the real reason for a boom in the stock market. Generally, on a macro-basis, the stock markets indicate the general economic conditions. 
Today there is a feel-good factor in India for any activity — whether it is manufacturing or services. The stock market is reflecting the revival of Indian economy. It so happens that this is coinciding with the boom in the shipping market. 
I would say to some extent the proposed divestment of SCI has also contributed to the interest in the shipping industry. Indian shipowners have come out of the closet. Until a few years back, it was a very secluded industry with hardly any press coverage. 
I think the Indian shipowners have also realised that they have to really present themselves to the investors. 
So it is a combination of factors — the efforts made by the Indian shipowners to make themselves known in the industry, the talk that has been going around about tonnage tax plus the overall economic revival. It is all happening at the same time. Also, the stock markets always have some favourites. 
It was the information technology industry at one time, then it was the FMCG. Every industry has its turn. Another, factor that I see today is that the Indian capital markets are also maturing and looking out for new opportunities. 
How important is tonnage tax in the present context?Tonnage tax has two implications. It has a real financial impact and an emotional impact. In our country, shipping is one sector where 100 per cent foreign direct investment was permitted, but not a dollar came. 
You have to reflect on this. It is not that our taxation laws are bad. Tonnage tax, however, has the advantage of familiarity as it is an international concept. All investors know what tonnage tax is. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114743.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 160, 'SCI to pick up 5% in ONGC marine venture', 'Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has decided to pick up 5 per cent stake in a marine joint venture to be floated by the Oil &amp; Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). 
', 'Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has decided to pick up 5 per cent stake in a marine joint venture to be floated by the Oil &amp; Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). 
“Our board has approved the proposal to pick up a 5 per cent stake. We will pick up equity when the company is formed. ONGC wants to hold 26 per cent stake in the venture,” SCI chairman and managing director P K Srivastava said. 
The company is being structured as a non-government PSU in which all the state-owned companies combined will hold a maximum of 49 per cent. The balance 51 per cent stake will be held by the private sector. 
“Once you are a government company, you have many advantages but you also have many constraints,” Srivastava explained. The marine joint venture is the brainchild of ONGC. 
The joint venture company will own, operate, and charter a wide range of offshore floating units for servicing the oil &amp; gas industry’s requirement s worldwide. 
The joint venture represents further expansion of the co-operation between SCI and ONGC. About a year back, SCI secured the operations and maintenance contract for 16 ONGC offshore supply vessels for two and a half years on a cost plus basis. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114708.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 161, 'GE Shipping drafts Rs 1038 crore capex plan', 'Private sector shipping firm Great Eastern Shipping Company (GE Shipping) has committed a capital expenditure of Rs 1,038 crore to acquire 10 new buildings between January 2004 and September 2005. 
', 'Private sector shipping firm Great Eastern Shipping Company (GE Shipping) has committed a capital expenditure of Rs 1,038 crore to acquire 10 new buildings between January 2004 and September 2005. 
In shipping industry parlance, a new building means a new vessel under construction. 
GE Shipping plans to acquire one Aframax vessel, two Suezmaxes, one MR product carrier, two platform supply vessels and four anchor handling tug supply vessels. 
The ships will be delivered intermittently between January 2004 and September 2005. 
“The company is focused on the energy sector and has strategically expanded its fleet to cater to future requirements,” said Rajat Dutta, general manager of GE Shipping. The company is betting on the energy sector as for more than two decades the biggest growth in global transportation requirements has been in the energy sector, primarily oil. 
GE Shipping has been on an expansion drive since it pulled out of the race for the divestment of the Shipping Corporation of India about a year back. 
Since the beginning of 2003-04, the company has been expanding its crude tonnage and has added six tankers. 
Recently, it has signed a contract for acquiring a 1,52,485 deadweight tonne (DWT) Suezmax carrier. 
The 1989-built ship is expected to join the company’s fleet by the end of this month. Earlier this month, the company had signed a contract for a second-hand Aframax crude carrier. 
After the addition of the Suezmax and Aframax carriers to the fleet, GE Shipping’s crude tanker tonnage will record a 288 per cent rise post-March 31, 2003. 
It has also added two product carriers in the current fiscal. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114836.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 162, 'Tata firm Trent plans food retailing foray', 'Trent, the retailing chain of the Tata group, will endeavour to become one of the largest retail houses in the country. At the centre of these efforts will be Westside, its departmental store chain,', 'Trent, the retailing chain of the Tata group, will endeavour to become one of the largest retail houses in the country. At the centre of these efforts will be Westside, its departmental store chain, and the proposed food retailing project. 
Speaking to Business Standard, Simone Tata, chairperson of Trent, said the company’s food retailing initiative will be going onstream by next year. At present, the economics of the food retailing initiative is being studied by Trent officials. 
While Trent’s entry into the foods business would be spearheaded via a separate brand, Simone Tata refused to divulge the name of the brand. She said, it is being kept under the wraps. 
The Tatas’ entry into the food business would put it in direct competition with established retailing chains such as Food World and Giant. 
Analysts tracking the sector said, entering the food retailing business makes immense sense as the sector is witnessing a 100 per cent growth, year-on-year. Revenues from lifestyle retailing is only a small portion compared with food retailing. 
Simultaneously, Trent will also be pursuing its growth plans for Westside. Simone Tata said that in 18 months, Westside would be a 20 store chain. At present, there are 13 Westside stores across the country. The foundation for the Westside stores will be style, quality and value for money. 
When asked whether Trent would make an entry into the premium segment, Simone Tata said, the premium segment holds a very small pie of the retailing market. 
She said, the firm has no plans for venturing into this segment. An entry into the premium segment, when Trent is in the midst of consolidating Westside, could be detrimental for the company. 
The focus for Westside will continue to be the domestic market. Westside has now expanded from an one-store entity in Bangalore to other cities, such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, New Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Nagpur and Ahmedabad. 
Industry sources said, future plans for Westside include establishing the Westside brand in all large towns with a population of over one lakh. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003114959.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 163, 'MindTree Consulting expects topline to cross $24 m this fiscal', 'MindTree Consulting is back on its high growth path, ahead of the industry. It expects its topline to grow by over 30 per cent in the current financial year (2003-04) to exceed $24 million. 
', 'MindTree Consulting is back on its high growth path, ahead of the industry. It expects its topline to grow by over 30 per cent in the current financial year (2003-04) to exceed $24 million. 
It is also likely to improve its bottomline. Compared with the cash profit it made last year, it is likely to end the current year as profitable in net terms also. 
Sources within the company, which is privately held and VC funded, declined to confirm these numbers but did not seriously dispute them. 
In the next calendar year (2004) MindTree has two major items on its agenda. One is announcing an acquisition early in the year (this was expected in the current year itself) and the other is doubling its people strength in the single year to reach 2000. 
“We absolutely feel that, given the complexities and dynamics of the marketplace today, you have to be open to inorganic growth. We have done 90 per cent of our homework for acquiring a like-minded company whose work is complimentary to ours. So keep watching this space, we should be able to give more good news in the coming quarter,” says Subroto Bagchi, president and chief operating officer. 
Mindtree’s Bangalore facilities, which accommodate 900 people (the rest 100 are strewn all over the world), are full and early next year it will acquire an equal facility. The thousand people to fill it will all come in next year itself. 
“We were very prudent in terms of how we used cash. We are really proud that we built the company from zero to 1,000 with half the $23.6 million we have so far raised. The other half is still in the bank. So you can see how strong the operational cash flow has been right through. We expect that despite the scorching pace we have set, we will be able to manage the company without the need for additional funding for at least two to three years,” asserts Bagchi. 
The company has renamed its two businesses earlier this year. The E-business is being called the IT services business; and the second part, the product realisation service, has been renamed the R&amp;D services business. 
“The verticals in both the businesses have seen significant success. We are very pleased with the breakthroughs that these verticals have achieved,” he adds. 
Two other recent achievements of the company which Bagchi highlights are: becoming the world’s youngest and so far the only company to be assessed at PCMM level V; and coming within the top 25 best employers in the country across industries in a Hewitt survey for 2003. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003115033.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 164, 'Ranbaxy inks pact to buy RPG Aventis, arm, French arm', 'Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, Indias largest pharmaceutical company, has signed an agreement to buy RPG (Aventis) SA along with its fully owned subsidiary, OPIH SARL, in France. 
', 'Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, India’s largest pharmaceutical company, has signed an agreement to buy RPG (Aventis) SA along with its fully owned subsidiary, OPIH SARL, in France. 
The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. The sale is subject to the legal process of consultation with employee representatives. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2004, subject to requisite approvals. 
The sale of RPG (Aventis) in France (the only Aventis generic business) reflects Aventis’ commitment to focus on its core strategic activities. 
Ranbaxy ranks among the world’s leading generic companies and offers real opportunities for RPG (Aventis) to complement its range of products and secure development resources in a rapidly developing market. 
RPG (Aventis) was ranked fifth in the French generic market with sales of 44 million euros for the year ended December 2002. 
“A wide-ranging pipeline of 52 molecules with 18 out of the 20 best selling molecules represents its strong product portfolio. The company is known as a reputed high quality and reliable generic player and develops products strictly comparable to the original drugs (an important factor for pharmacists to convince patients to switch),” a Ranbaxy release said adding: “The major therapeutic areas of the company include cardiovasculars, anti-infectives, gastro-intestinals, rheumatoid/non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, neurology and analgesics.” 
France is the 4th largest pharma market globally with sales of $19.2 billion, growing at 4 per cent annually and constituting 4.8 per cent of the world pharmaceutical market. The generics market in France is about 652 million euros and is the 5th largest after US, Japan, Germany and UK. 
“The market has an excellent growth potential,” the release added. 
Commenting on the announcement, D S Brar, CEO &amp; managing director, Ranbaxy, said: “France is strategic to our European expansion plans. The acquisition of RPG (Aventis) will be a very important move for Ranbaxy as it would place us amongst the top generic companies in the French market”. 
Aventis is dedicated to treating and preventing disease to discovering and developing innovative prescription drugs and human vaccines. 
In 2002, Aventis generated sales of 17.6 billion euros, invested 3.1 billion euros in research and development and employs approximately 71,000 people in its core business. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122508.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 165, 'Stamp duty above Rs 500 may be dematerialised', 'The Centre is expected to amend the Stamp Act to allow all high-value transactions to be registered through the depository mode. 
', 'The Centre is expected to amend the Stamp Act to allow all high-value transactions to be registered through the depository mode. 
In the aftermath of the stamp paper scam, the Centre is exploring the option of doing away with all stamp papers of higher denominations. 
According to senior government officials, for high-value transactions in the corporate sector the participants will instead pay the requisite fees through a depository to the state or the central government. 
The Centre has already held preliminary talks with some state governments who have favoured the suggestion. 
While no figure has been firmed up, it is expected that there may be no paper with a value of more than Rs 500. Even these will have enhanced security features. 
However, the government will ensure that the poorer sections of the society will not have to switch over to the demat mode for their transactions. 
The officials, however, acknowledged that the process of moving over to dematerialisation of stamp paper regime will take far longer than the six to eight weeks promised by finance minister Jaswant Singh last week. 
The amendment to the Central Stamp Act by the department of revenue in the finance ministry will itself take some time. The amendment is necessary to give a legal status to payment of stamp duties through the new method. 
Based on the amendments, the state governments are expected to either change their rules or amend their respective stamp acts. 
The officials said the changes in the Act at the Central level would be enabling provisions which would be applicable for insurance and banking sectors. 
The format will be patterned on the share depository mode. Corporates and high net worth individuals will route their stamp duty payments through a demat account. 
The success of the depository mode in the capital market and its extension for replacement of tax challans have made the option an attractive one for the government. 
Sources said the alternative of asking the companies and others to approach designated bank branches and use a demand draft will be cumbersome. 
The Centre is worried that a repeat of the current stamp paper scam is possible unless the entire method of working of the stamp paper machinery is overhauled. 
The officials also said it makes no sense to have currency notes of a maximum value of Rs 1,000 while such papers range up to Rs 25,000 in value. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003115116.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 166, 'Rising freight rates buoy tonnage', 'The Indian shipping industry has witnesses a rising trend in tonnage. Shipping tonnage stood at 6.62 million gross registered tonne (GRT) on December 1, 2003, up from 6.43 million tonne on July 1,', 'The Indian shipping industry has witnesses a rising trend in tonnage. Shipping tonnage stood at 6.62 million gross registered tonne (GRT) on December 1, 2003, up from 6.43 million tonne on July 1, 2003 — and 6.18 million GRT on March 31, 2003. 
This trend assumes significance as the country’s fleet has been on the decline for a number of years. For instance, the total tonnage slipped to 6.18 million GRT in March 31, 2003, from 6.82 million GRT on March 31, 2002. 
According to figures of the Indian National Shipowners Association (INSA), the total tonnage of 6.62 million GRT consists of 624 ships. The bulk of the tonnage consists of ships that ply overseas — 5.81 million GRT. Ships that ply purely on coastal waters account for 8.05 lakh GRT. 
The shipping companies that have contributed to India’s rising shipping tonnage include the Shipping Corporation of India, Great Eastern Shipping Company and Mercator Lines. 
“The rise in tonnage this year is primarily due to the booming freight markets. The burgeoning freight rates has resulted in many shipping companies placing orders for ships. The introduction of measures like tonnage tax will give a further fillip to this trend,” sources in INSA, the apex shipowners body, said. 
The shipping industry is in the midst of an unprecedented boom with freight rates ruling at record levels. Industry, analysts say this boom is clearly different from that seen in the past. Earlier, one section of the industry would be booming while the rest would be not doing so well. 
This time, the tanker as well as the bulk carrier segments are doing well. Indian shipowners have been clamouring for the introduction of tonnage tax which could result in their paying as little as 2 per cent tax instead of the prevailing corporate tax which is at about 35 per cent levels. 
This, they contend, will make the industry globally competitive as most shipping firms worldwide pay tax at 0 to 2 per cent levels. Further, they have also been clamouring for other fiscal incentives like the enhancement of the depreciation rate to 40 per cent from 25 per cent at present. 
What of the future? Will the trend in ship acquisition continue or be reversed? “It depends quite a lot on the freight markets. If the boom continues, the trend of ship acquisition will accelerate,” INSA sources said. 
Most analysts feel that, although the tanker freight markets have come off the peak levels, the surge in bulk freight markets will continue for a year, largely driven by China’s imports and exports. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003121710.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 167, 'Reliance, Tata Tele may be forced to switch mobile numbers', 'Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices may be forced to change the mobile numbers of their subscribers, with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India likely to recommend that all code division', 'Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices may be forced to change the mobile numbers of their subscribers, with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India likely to recommend that all code division multiple access (CDMA) operators keep 9 as the first digit. 
At present, mobile numbers of Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices subscribers start with 3 and 5, respectively. 
The change, initially proposed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam and the Department of Telecommunications, is being opposed by the CDMA operators, which have a subscriber base of over 5 million. The GSM-based cellular operators are also in favour of the change. 
Trai officials said though a final decision on the issue was yet to be taken, the logic behind changing the number scheme for CDMA operators was to bring all mobile numbers on a uniform platform. 
“Under the unified licence, there has to be some mechanism by which consumers can differentiate between a mobile and a fixed-line service. The numbering scheme is one such way. This is important because different services have different tariffs, and a consumer should know how much he will have to pay before making a call,” an official said. 
Sources in BSNL said the CDMA mobile numbers would have to change for interconnection. “Interconnection for mobile phones is different from fixed-line phones. If we are not able to differentiate between the calls, how are we supposed to offer interconnection,” said a BSNL executive. 
Basic operators, however, argued that the move would affect their subscriber base. They said if Trai were to change the numbers, they would have to take into account the growth in mobile subscription. 
“One cannot change telephone numbers on a monthly basis. Trai has to device a method that will not necessitate a change in numbers even when we have 100 million subscribers. The move being considered now is only a short-term remedy that does not benefit anyone,” said a basic operator. 
Trai officials said as per the telecom department’s report, level ‘9’ could accommodate up to 450 million telephone numbers and, therefore, there was no question of running short of numbers in the wake of phenomenal growth in mobile subscribers. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003121835.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 168, 'India may lose $21bn IT investment', 'Poor infrastructure could result in a loss of $21 billion of investment to other competing countries in Asia and this was a major threat to the realisation of India\'s projected IT vision for 2008, a', 'Poor infrastructure could result in a loss of $21 billion of investment to other competing countries in Asia and this was a major threat to the realisation of India\'s projected IT vision for 2008, a Confederation of Indian Industry paper said. 
India needed to enable the creation of adequate infrastructure in the form of national backbone, integrate telecom policies to roll out data transmission and rationalise tariff structure for bandwidth, the CII paper stated. 
It said adequate long distance bandwidth at competitive rates was critical to the growth of IT-enabled services. 
Immediate connectivity and high levels of redundancy is essential in the it-enabled service business in all customer services and mission-critical applications which require 100 per cent standby power back-ups, mirror data centres and high bandwidth from service locations, the paper said. 
Downtime in indian telecom networks varies from 3-15 per cent against the global benchmark of 0.1 per cent. 
\"Even on india\'s international circuits, the downtime is two per cent against global standard of less than 0.3 per cent,\" the paper said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122016.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 169, 'Vinod Rai to be pension regulator', 'Vinod Rai, additional secretary in the finance ministry, will be the interim regulator heading the new Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). 
', 'Vinod Rai, additional secretary in the finance ministry, will be the interim regulator heading the new Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). 
A notification is expected to be issued by the finance ministry soon, appointing Rai as the interim regulator. 
The move had become necessary as the new pension structure for new government employees will become operational from January 1 next year. 
The ministry has already started the process of getting Parliamentary approval for the initial working expenses of PFRDA through the second supplementary demand for grants, tabled in Lok Sabha last week. 
The ministry will also press for the passage of an ordinance to give a statutory backing to PFRDA. 
While the regulator will now be set up through an executive order, the ministry feels that it is necessary to give a legislative sanction to the new set-up. 
The ministry feels that a statutory backing is necessary to give confidence to the potential investors. 
Government sources said while a bill for the purpose will be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament, there is always a possibility that the same may be referred to a standing committee. 
In that case, the bill is almost certain to lapse as the term of the current Lok Sabha will expire in October 2004. 
All bills pending in Lok Sabha lapse when the House is dissolved for a general election.In such a scenario an ordinance can be used to keep the statute alive. 
The sources said it was only fair that the officials of the PFRDA were involved in the drafting of the legislation for the new sector, which is why it was so necessary to appoint a regulator at the earliest. 
The finance ministry has also appointed some of the staff for the PFRDA. 
Before moving to its permanent office in South Delhi, the regulator may work from the offices of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, which has moved to Hyderabad. 
As per the scheme approved by the Cabinet earlier, the PFRDA will have a chairman, who will be a secretary level officer at the Centre, and will be assisted by two full-time and two part-time members. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122205.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 170, 'Industrial growth stronger in H1', 'The updated Confederation of Indian Industry-ASCON survey for the April-September period indicates continued bullish growth in the manufacturing sector. 
', 'The updated Confederation of Indian Industry-ASCON survey for the April-September period indicates continued bullish growth in the manufacturing sector. 
The survey reveals a significant rise in the number of sectors showing a high growth compared with the previous survey. 
The survey attributes the bullish trend to a revival in the economy and pick-up in overall demand in many sectors that had been registering moderate or negative growth. 
Out of the 133 sectors, against the 134 covered by the last survey, 16 sectors recorded an excellent growth rate of more than 20 per cent as compared with 9 sectors in the last survey. 
While 35 sectors recorded a high growth rate of 10 to 20 per cent against 42 sectors, 59 sectors registered a moderate growth of 0-10 per cent against 55 sectors, in the previous survey. 
“Encouragingly, the number of sectors registering negative growth has come down to 23 from 28 in the last survey, indicating sustained revival in the economy,” the CII release said. 
The position during April-September 2002-03 was: 17 sectors recorded excellent growth, 29 sectors recorded high growth, 59 registered moderate growth and 26 sectors showed negative growth. This was out of the 131 sectors covered. 
According to the CII-ASCON survey, the production trends confirm a continuity of growth in the manufacturing sector seen in the last year and in the first quarter of the current financial year. 
“Although there has been a decline in the number of sectors that showed excellent growth, compared with the corresponding period in the last year, there has been an increase in the number of sectors achieving high growth,” the release added. 
There has also been a decline in the number of sectors registering negative growth compared with the previous corresponding period, confirming a revival in many sectors. 
Machine tools, commercial vehicles, utility vehicles, cars, three-wheelers, aluminium and fluid power components are in the excellent growth sector, while electronic components, ball &amp; roller bearings, paints, sponge iron and soda-ash are in the high growth sectors. 
Forgings, beer and biscuit industry have achieved high growth of 10-20 per cent from moderate growth. Aluminium, utility vehicles, carbon dioxide gas and cars have achieved excellent growth from high and moderate growth achieved in the last quarter. 
The survey also indicates that the overall picture of exports as compared with the previous quarter is rosy. The survey reveals that exports are higher in many sectors and have improved position over the last three quarters. 
The CII-ASCON Survey is based on feedback received from members companies and 96 manufacturing associations. 
Sectoral growth



Of the 133 sectors, 16 sectors have recorded an excellent growth rate of more than 20 per cent as compared with 9 sectors of 134 sectors covered in the last survey 

35 sectors have recorded a high growth rate of 10 to 20 per cent against 42 sectors in the last survey 

59 sectors have registered a moderate growth of 0-10 per cent against 55 sectors in the last survey 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122330.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 171, 'Cement firms seek excise duty rollback', 'The cement industry wants the hike in excise duty announced by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in Budget 2003-04 to be rolled back. 
', 'The cement industry wants the hike in excise duty announced by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in Budget 2003-04 to be rolled back. 
The Cement Manufacturers Association, in its pre-Budget memorandum, has asked the government to restore the excise duty on cement to Rs 350 per tonne from Rs 400 a tonne that had been imposed in the Budget. 
The CMA asked the government to continue with the specific duty on the ground that ad valorem duty would be difficult to administer as cement prices varied on a day-to-day basis. 
The CMA has asked the government to encourage the use of Portland Pozzolona Cement (PPC), which uses more than 15 per cent fly-ash, in the ongoing highway construction drive. 
This cement has better features than ordinary cement. Accordingly, the industry body has recommended a cut in the excise duty by Rs 100 per tonne on this type of blended cement. 
The CMA has also asked for the lowering of the inter-state sales tax to 2 per cent with immediate effect. At present, the rates of sales tax differ among states, the maximum being 24 per cent in Tamil Nadu. 
In order to boost exports, the cement manufacturers have asked for improving transportation facilities to Bangladesh by increasing rakes and lowering rail freights from plants to ports. 
Being the second largest cement consumer of the world at 107 million tonnes, the installed capacity of the industry is 150 million tonnes and there exists a huge potential for exports to other countries, the memorandum specified. 
Being a low value and freight intensive good, cement had to be differentiated from high value items like gems and jewellery, it added. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122357.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 172, 'WTO general council meets today to revive talks', 'The World Trade Organisations (WTO) general council meets tomorrow in Geneva to discuss the stalled trade negotiations. 
', 'The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) general council meets tomorrow in Geneva to discuss the stalled trade negotiations. 
The meeting will review the progress made after the Cancun talks failed, identify the key issues and revive the negotiating machinery under the Trade Negotiations Committee of the multilateral body. 
While the atmosphere is more conducive for negotiations now than it was at the time of the Cancun meet, much needs to be done to bridge the differences on the major issues, says an Indian negotiator. 
Even the Chairman of the GC, Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay, has publicly indicated that he will only make a report under his own responsibility. 
The only consensus, as of now, is that talks should continue. Even the recent meet of the G-20 -- the coalition of developing countries -- in Brasilia ended with a resolution seeking to take the trade talks forward. 
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva proposed a free trade area (FTA) for the developing south, an indication that multilateralism may not deliver the goods. 
The meeting, which included informal consultations with EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, issued a joint communiqué stating, “The dialogue proved to be fruitful and positive with both sides explaining their own positions in a business-like manner and acknowledging the importance of this dialogue to achieve progress in the negotiations.” 
The statement said there was “a general agreement that we need to intensify negotiations early next year” with a view to finalising the Doha round of talks by the 2004 WTO deadline. 
Lamy said while the EU was more willing to remove it’s own export subsidies, it wanted to see emerging developing countries make some progress on market access. 
A recent European Commission paper on trade, put up for discussion by EU trade ministers, said on market access the EU wanted emerging developing countries to providing duty-free and quota-free access for least-developed countries to their markets in order to compensate for the erosion of preferences of LCDs in rich country markets. 
Also, the EU is unwilling to unilaterally lower its defences without any similar commitments from the US, the other big provider of subsidies in agriculture. 
With the gap between the developing and the developed countries showing no signs to be bridged, the Brazilian President’s suggestion to developing countries “to carefully reflect” on his proposal of setting up an FTA within the developing south becomes significant. 
Even the US had said after Cancun it would go in for bilateral agreements if multilateralism failed to work. 
On the proposed FTA, however, Lamy said any initiative for free trade among countries and blocs was positive, but that the EU would still give priority to multilateral negotiations. 
As a commerce ministry official says: “Bilateralism cannot be a substitute for multilateralism. A multilateral set of rules, common to all, would need to be the foundation.” 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122434.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 173, 'Deferred SEZ norms confuse traders ', 'The finance ministry has again postponed implementation of new rules and regulations for Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to January 1, 2004, spreading enough confusion in the trade. 
', 'The finance ministry has again postponed implementation of new rules and regulations for Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to January 1, 2004, spreading enough confusion in the trade. 
The latest postponement by a month is the third since the new rules and regulations were notified in July-end for implementation from August 15. 
It appears the finance ministry objected to amendments to ‘Allocation of Business Rules’, restricting any role for it in the SEZs. 
The commerce ministry, in its emotional attachment and zeal to replicate the Chinese SEZ models, wants to create its own kingdoms in different parts of the country, where separate legal framework and judicial system will work. 
Conceptually, the draft SEZ bill envisages that kings (designated as Development Commissioner) will rule over each SEZ under the guidance and inspiration of the emperor (designated as Commerce Minister). 
The draft SEZ bill envisages freedom from all types of taxes for SEZ developers and SEZ units and freedom from any type of interference from any regulatory authorities, save the Development Commissioner. 
The commerce ministry is anxious to introduce the Bill in the current Parliament session and make it effective as early as possible through an ordinance. 
It is also pushing through approvals for twenty-six SEZs in various parts of the country. 
By and large, the trade is oblivious to the possible adverse consequences of the SEZ Bill but there is enough support for the view that a hassle free environment will help boost India\'s exports. 
The Bill comes at a time when the excise and customs officers and labour unions are discredited and the businessman is seen as the savior. 
So, few voices are heard except that of those who represent the trade. The individual entrepreneurs and even corporates contemplating investments, however, want to wait and watch. 
Astute finance managers look at the trade-offs between depreciation and income tax holiday, Cenvat credit and duty free procurement from local units, the industry rates of Duty Drawback and Duty Entitlement Passbook scheme available on deemed imported inputs basis and duty free imports, etc. 
Unlike in the past, when the government used to develop the Export Processing Zones, private parties, whether on their own or in collaboration with state governments, will develop the SEZs. 
Unlike China, the land and infrastructure has to be funded not through tax money but through equity and loans. 
The SEZ units will have to pay for the maintenance and interest costs besides loan repayment obligations and profits of SEZ developers. 
To what extent the costs for infrastructure will offset the other fiscal benefits that SEZs offer is not too clear at the moment. 
Moreover, the benefits of tax exemptions have to be evaluated in the context of falling import duties and other tax rates. 
Meanwhile, the finance ministry has amended the SEZ rules and regulations, appointing ‘officers of Customs’, limiting their jurisdiction to SEZ-related goods within eight kilometre radius and limiting the functions of the security officers to those that are specifically assigned by the Customs officers. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122403.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 174, 'Jet, Sahara to gain, IA to lose on Saarc routes', 'The Cabinets decision to allow private airlines to fly to destinations in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries may see Indian Airlines losing passenger traffic to Jet', 'The Cabinet’s decision to allow private airlines to fly to destinations in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries may see Indian Airlines losing passenger traffic to Jet Airways and Air Sahara. 
Indian Airlines offers 1,736 one-way seats a week on the Chennai-Colombo sector, which sees 90-92 per cent occupancy. 
The four flights it operates weekly from Delhi under a codeshare arrangement with Sri Lankan Airlines have an average occupancy of 80-85 per cent. The five flights from Mumbai and two from Tiruchirapalli also do good business. 
As if losing its monopoly on these routes was not bad enough, Indian Airlines could take a severe hit if the private airlines tied up with foreign airlines for cross-feeding. 
Air Sahara Chief Executive Officer Uttam Kumar Bose said he was talking to a few Southeast Asian airlines for such an arrangement. 
“We will fly passengers from Chennai to Colombo from where they can move on to destinations in Southeast Asia or even to Europe,” Bose said. 
“Our operating margins will improve substantially. Aviation fuel is much cheaper abroad, and landing and parking charges in foreign countries are 40 per cent lower than in India,” Bose told Business Standard. 
Industry analysts are of the opinion that the per seat cost of a one-hour flight in the domestic sector is 10 per cent higher than in the international sector. 
However, Bose said rather than cutting into Indian Airlines’ market, Sahara was looking at ways to expand the market. 
“We are holding talks with hotels to suit various pockets. As flights to Colombo can start as early as Christmas, we will announce the packages available for Sri Lanka in a week’s time,” Bose said. Sahara is also in talks with road transport companies to promote tourism packages. 
Senior Indian Airlines executives were, however, unruffled at the prospect of losing business to rivals. 
“It will only help us trim our losses as these routes are not lucrative. For instance, flights to Pakistan, scheduled to restart on January 1, serve only diplomatic purposes,” they said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003123656.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 175, 'Is BPO the new mantra for future banking?', '<B>The best solution around</B> 
', 'The best solution around 
D SHRIVASTAVA Manager (planning), Bank of Maharashtra


Technology has ushered in deep-seated changes in the functioning of banks. It has facilitated them to change their internal functioning and has also helped in providing better customer service. Technology is set to break all barriers and is encouraging global banking business. 
With continuous innovations in technology and on account of expected opening up of financial services under WTO, it is likely that we will be witnessing many more changes in coming years. 
With branch banking under transformation, many bank functions are being outsourced in order to achieve cost reduction and concentrate more on core competencies. 
Banks are not resistant to the charm of business process outsourcing (BPO). However, managing sensitive financial issues may not necessarily be easy in this sector. 
A new system geared to meet all the financial needs of customers has been invented. One-size-fits-all solution is no longer accepted. 
Customer expectations are high, and banks are competing to providing a new range of services to them. 
Banks taking up varied activities find that this puts pressure on existing manpower and hence BPO is the best solution without diluting the core competencies of the bank. 
Banks thus feel that many of the functions outsourced gainfully do not affect the quality of service. 
The last three years have experienced a momentous rise in outsourcing of IT services by banks. A year on year growth of about 25-30 per cent per has been envisaged in IT services outsourcing in the banking sector. 
When banking giants announced their IT investments, one thing which stood out in the huge plans was outsourcing of their basic requirements to strategic partners. 
This indicates that the outsourcing wave is catching on in a big way. BPO is the future growth area as far as third party outsourcing in the banking segment is concerned. 
The Banknet survey 2003 indicates that 57 per cent of bankers who opted for outsourcing with the intention of cost savings, found that this ‘focus’ on main business improved efficiency benefits overall. 
Areas where BPO can be implemented -

Clearing of local cheques 
ATM outsourcing - 
Collection of customers’ data in CRM format and opening of accounts function’- . 
Loan recovery function - 
Hiring of manpower - 
The third party’s systems will force a certain extent of change in procedures and functions of the banks. This will call for the reengineering of banks’ system, procedures and policies. 
The changes taking place with the outsourcing of any activity have to be aligned with the banks’ overall business strategy. 
At the same time, there are issues. From the security point of view, there are risks involved in outsourcing of services as personnel of service providers gain intimate knowledge of banks’ systems and misusing the same. 
At the same time, the outsourcing agency might take care of the processes and functions, but is not accountable to customers. 
There is always the possibility that banks may lose control over the work process that has been outsourced. Once the outsourcer gains customer information, its bargaining power increases. 
Outsourcings of business processes bring along with them the operational as well as legal risk. The attitude of employees of the service provider can have an impact on reputation of the bank. 
‘Core’ problems remain 
P K ROYFaculty, Staff Training College, Bank of India


Outsourcing has been existing for the past several years and is an important management concept to face the challenge of competition. 
Outsourcing is the strategy of identifying the core competence of an organisation, pointing focus on it and simultaneously transferring the execution and delivery of non-core activities to a service provider. 
Post liberalisation, India has emerged as a major destination for outsourcing information technology-enabled services (ITES) and software solutions. 
India is considered as the biggest supplier of IT personnel to the world market. Payroll outsourcing, the concept of employing an external agency to do all the routine work related to the management of salary disbursement, has been operational in India since 1997. 
There are a good number of players in this arena — ICICI Onesource, Satyam Computer Services’ NIPUNA and Infosys’ PROGEOIM. Other players in the field include Epiccentre, Transworks, 24/7 Customer, Exl Services, and Daksh. 
ABN Amro, a multinational bank, in June 2002, entered into a partnership with EDS, a global services company to launch its credit card in India. 
EDS will handle the entire back end support including application processing, data center activity, network connectivity and interfaces with franchisees such as Mastercard and Visa. 
Pfizer India outsourced 40 percent of its manufacturing, its building maintenance is done by Knight Frank, corporate travel is outsourced to Cox &amp; Kings, payroll to India Life Hewitt and cash management to Deutsche Bank. 
Philips India, a multinational firm has been posting losses for the last few years. The strategies adopted for turnaround are staff reduction through VRS and outsourcing. 
It consolidated its operation, outsourced activities such as service centres, part of human resources and routine operations. The staff on roll is reduced by 26 per cent and a substantial saving on establishment cost is made. 
At the same time, success is just one side of the picture. Very often we come across statements like “our systems are down” and “there is a virus”. 
The world has seen so many failures in outsourcing such as the Airport Project, London Stock Exchange project, as well as in the case of US government projects. 
In India, outsourcing service providers face severe competition both within the country as well as outside. Since it is a capital-intrinsic industry, capacity to infuse capital is a pre-requisite for players to dominate the market. 
Outsourcing demands a high level of trust and a spirit of partnership. It is a costly proposition that bank’s computer personnel can do better than experts, it is desirable to stick to covering competencies. 
Occasional conversations and presentations can not replace continuous involvement of actual users who are in prime position to estimate their needs. 
Therefore, deputation of IT personnel to client outsourcing will be meaningless unless actual users are excluded from involvement as insider users know their business problems and requirements along with dealing with the business and the customer. 
By this way banks are to grow with internal competence to exploit the technology and methodology of a client. 
The prospects of outsourcing are immense, considering that 87 per cent of banking business in India is dominated by public sector banks, which use total branch automation packages or partial automation process packages and some even continue with the manual system. 
There remains problems of core banking solutions owing to cost consideration, difficulties in shifting from existing system overnight, and gradual change in mindset of employees. 
Most banks have started the shift, which may take a longer time roughly of three to four years. Core banking solutions take care of centralised system providing central accounting, customer information, transaction processing function. In future, core banking model will be branch-based having multi-delivery channels. 
Outsourcing will bring to focus point-of-sales devices, internet banking, mobile banking and call centres. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003123821.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 176, 'Irda may spike LIC\'s margin waiver plea', 'The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) is likely to turn down the Life Insurance Corporations (LIC) proposal to take a fresh look at the extra 50 per cent solvency margin requirement.', 'The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) is likely to turn down the Life Insurance Corporation’s (LIC) proposal to take a fresh look at the extra 50 per cent solvency margin requirement. 
Talking to reporters at the sidelines of an insurance seminar, C.S. Rao, chairman of Irda, said, “LIC requested Irda to waive the extra 50 per cent solvency margin that was stipulated on the basis of government guarantee that they enjoy, but Irda does not intend to accede to their request.” 
Rao added, “LIC accounts have been finalised and will be presented to Irda soon. Let it examine the position of the solvency margin achieved by LIC following which Irda may take a decision on the time frame”. 
On when there was a possibility of Irda waiving the extra 50 per cent requirement for LIC, Rao said the question does not arise. Irda will take a decision after the accounts are examined. 
Rao indicated that LIC had earlier asked for some more time for complying to the 150 per cent norm, which IRDA may allow, but the exact time to be provided to them will depend on LIC’s balance-sheet position as of March 2003. According to reports LIC has already provided for Rs 12167 crore till March 2003. 
S B Mathur, chairman LIC, had earlier said that it was very difficult to make the extra 50 per cent provision and had described the norm as not justified. 
The only way out for LIC now was to provide for the margin, but over a larger period of time as mutually agreed by both the regulator and the insurance major. 
Earlier LIC had asked Irda to consider the appreciation in its investment portfolio while specifying the 50 per cent extra. 
LIC had also pointed out that the insurer had off-balance sheet reserves of Rs 50,000 crore by way of appreciation in government securities in addition to unrealised appreciation of Rs 10,000 crore. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003122528.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 177, 'Highway projects rely heavily on borrowing', 'Buoyed by the debt markets favourable response to its highways development schemes, the Centre is targeting a seven-fold increase in market borrowings in the Tenth Plan period. 
', 'Buoyed by the debt market’s favourable response to its highways development schemes, the Centre is targeting a seven-fold increase in market borrowings in the Tenth Plan period. 
Consequently, the government’s investment outlay for the highways sector during the current Plan period envisages more than a 200 per cent hike over the outlay in the previous one. 
The Centre plans to leverage Rs 24,700 crore from the markets during the five-year period of the current Plan (2002-07), as against market borrowings of Rs 3,600 crore during the whole of the Ninth Plan period. 
A substantial portion of the borrowings would be utilised for the ongoing Rs 58,000 crore National Highways Development Project, government officials said. 
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is implementing the National Highways Development Project, raised Rs 1,460 crore from the market through tax-free bonds during 2000-01 and 2001-02 and mopped up Rs 2232.43 crore in 2002-03 for part-funding the first phase of the National Highways Development Project. 
The authority would raise a total of Rs 10,000 crore through market borrowings to fund the first phase of the project and the remaining would be utilised for the second phase, officials said. 
The accruals from the cess on petrol and diesel, being channelised into the Central Road Fund, is expected to be around Rs 10,500 crore in this Plan period, asa gainst Rs 5,270 crore realised during the Ninth Plan period. 
A part of the cess on petrol and diesel, imposed in May 2000, accrues to the Central Road Fund and is kept aside for the upgradation of highways under the National Highways Development Project. 
With the first phase of the NHDP expected to be completed by December 2005 and the second phase by December 2007, the budgetary resources for the project during the current plan Period have also been hiked to Rs 9,664 crore, from the Rs 5,507.39 crore allocated during the Ninth Plan period. 
A substantial portion of the budgetary funding, however, will be utilised for the new highway upgradation projects announced in the Budget for 2003-04. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003123848.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 178, 'Irda favours hike in FDI ceiling', 'The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) is of the view that the 26 per cent cap on foreign holding in Indian joint venture insurance companies needs to be removed. 
', 'The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) is of the view that the 26 per cent cap on foreign holding in Indian joint venture insurance companies needs to be removed. 
C S Rao, chairman of Irda, told reporters today at the sideline of a national seminar on insurance organised by the Merchant Chamber of Commerce, that it might not possible for Indian partners to pump in 74 per cent of the incremental equity required to keep up with the solvency norms prescribed by the authority on a regular basis when the volume of the business increasing. 
So it was necessary for the government to increase the cap on foreign holding from the present level of 26 per cent. 
“The decision needs to be taken by the government, as it might not be possible for Indian companies to keep pumping in most of the equity when the volume of business reaches high levels,” he explained. 
Almost all large global insurance players have their presence in the country in the form of JV partners with Indian companies and all of them are fully operational. The volume of business was expected to keep growing. 
The extent to which the India partners will be able to pump in funds to meet solvency norms will depend on the Indian group’s financial capability as well as the profits earned by the company. Each company had its own road map and targets for breaking even. 
“Hence the demand for raising the cap will be from the industry and we will take a look then,” he explained. 
Insurance industry sources said the foreign joint venture partners of life insurance companies were keen on increasing their stake in the JVs which will also allow them to pump in larger funds in the form of equity. 
German insurance companies had in fact made a formal proposal to the government for allowing them to increase their stake. They had said that German insurance companies were keen on increasing the extent of activity in India but for the cap on holding. 
Rao also said that there had to be some form of intermediation in the Third Party Administrators which has seen a mixture of success and failure. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003123815.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 179, 'October was slack season for non-life risk players', 'The non-life insurance industry is facing a downturn and growth in the segment has nosedived to 8.7 per cent in October against 13.2 per cent in the previous month. 
', 'The non-life insurance industry is facing a downturn and growth in the segment has nosedived to 8.7 per cent in October against 13.2 per cent in the previous month. 
The industry recorded a 11.4 per cent growth in the previous month. The private sector’s market share also seems to have stabilised at 14 per cent. 
According to data provided by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda), accretion of fresh premium in October stood at Rs 96 crore against Rs 142 crore in the previous month. 
Accretion in August was to the tune of Rs 117 crore. Although the public sector non-life players managed to increase their premium income by Rs 40 crore thus recording a 3.9 per cent growth, the private sector players increased it by Rs 56 crore — a 48 per cent growth rate in October. 
Among private players, ICICI Lombard with a fresh accretion of Rs 24 crore topped the list followed by Bajaj Allianz at Rs 14 crore. Iffco-Tokio and Reliance witnessed a negative growth against previous corresponding periods. 
Royal Sundaram and Tata AIG recorded marginal accretion levels of Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore, respectively. Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) on the other hand recorded a Rs 16 crore premium income on a base of Rs 19 crore. 
The slowdown in growth rate for October has pulled down the overall growth rate till the month to 11.6 per cent against 12.4 per cent up to September 2003. 
Out of the total premium income of Rs 950 crore, by October 2003, the public players have contributed Rs 380 crore — a 5 per cent growth on a yearly basis while the figure for private players was Rs 570 crore — a 80 per cent growth. National Insurance alone among the public sector players has contributed Rs 270 crore. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003123947.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 101, 'National Insurance, SBM ink referral pact', 'National Insurance Co Ltd and the State Bank of Mysore have signed an agreement for undertaking bancassurance business under the referral mode. 
', 'National Insurance Co Ltd and the State Bank of Mysore have signed an agreement for undertaking bancassurance business under the “referral mode”. 
This tie-up is expected to benefit NIC by giving it a dependable and vast network of SBM branches all over India and in particular, the state of Karnataka for selling general insurance products. This strategic alliance will help NIC in sustaining their topline growth. 
With the addition of this tie-up with SBM, NIC will have 11 such arrangements in place with major banks such as Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, UCO Bank, Vijaya Bank among others. 
“Even though we have a tie-up with SBI Life, it will not have a conflict of interest with this tie-up as the former is for life cover only. With this tie-up, we will be offering the complete range of products besides life insurance. It will promote the very culture of insurance as a concept. While SBM will provide market access, NIC will look at addressing various needs of the customer,” M Seetharam Murthy, managing director, State Bank of Mysore, said. 
NIC, on the other hand, is confident that it will register nearly Rs 50 lakh per month as a premium, as a result of this tie up with State Bank of Mysore. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003145528.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 102, 'Markets Report', '<B>Money market</B> 
', 'Money market 
Sentiment: Bearish

Yields on government securities ended up amid thin trading as PSBs booked quarter-end profits. 

Prices of medium, long-term securities fell by 8-15 paise. 

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt closed at 5.1987 percent compared with Saturday’s 5.1907 per cent. 

Call money rates ended at 4.25-4.50 per cent, barely changed from previous levels of 4.40-4.50 per cent. 

Subsciptions to one-day and 14-day repo auctions stood at Rs 27,910 crore.
Forex market 
Sentiment: Flat

The rupee ended at slightly lower at 45.5575/5675 per dollar compared with Friday’s close of 45.5450/5550. 

Premiums on forward dollars went up. The annualised premium on the six-month dollar closed at 0.24 per cent.
Outlook


The rupee is expected to open around 45.57 on Tuesday.
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003145746.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 103, 'IDBI board clears VRS', 'The board of the Industrial Development Bank of India has cleared a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its employees. 
', 'The board of the Industrial Development Bank of India has cleared a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its employees. 
The institution may also clean up its balance sheet by transferring its non-performing asset portfolio of around Rs 15,000 crore to an asset reconstruction company. 
The VRS will be targeted at all employee levels. IDBI has around 2,900 employees, of which 1500 are Class III and Class IV employees. 
The VRS, which is structured on the lines of those offered by banks, will be applicable to employees above 40 years or who have put in 15 years of service. They will be eligible for two months’ salary for every completed year of service. 
The IDBI board cleared the proposal with the provision that the chairman can activate the scheme as when he thinks fit. 
The government has, however, not given its approval for the VRS scheme till now. 
“There is a feeling that only around 400-500 officers are needed for running the institution. The VRS could be targeted at the senior management of the institution. IDBI is top heavy,” industry sources pointed out. 
IDBI has around 1,400 officers. It has six executive directors, 25 chief general managers, 65 general managers, 160 deputy general managers and 250 assistant general managers. 
This could come down to one or two executive directors, four chief general managers, 15 general managers and 60 deputy general managers. Around 80 per cent of IDBI’s officers are eligible for VRS. 
It is felt that rightsizing is the only way to prepare the institution for a merger with a bank. Public sector banks have only one executive director and around a dozen general managers. 
The IDBI (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Bill 2002 was cleared by the Rajya Sabha today. A special board meeting of the board has been called on December 19 to discuss steps for conversion of IDBI into a bank. 
Incidentally, even as the Bill was cleared in the Lok Sabha, no commitment has been given by the Government to maintaining its stake in the bank at 51 per cent. The government currently has a 58.47 per cent stake in IDBI. 
The NPAs of around Rs 15,000 crore are likely to be transferred out of the institution as and when a merger with a bank takes place. 
The government’s stake in the FI could come down after a merger with another public sector bank. There have been talks of IDBI being merged with one of the following banks--Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank and Canara Bank. 
Last week NS Sisodia, secretary, financial sector, Ministry of Finance had said that the government is looking at options of merging IDBI with a public sector as a part of its restructuring progress. 
Shedding flab 



The institution may also clean up its balance sheet by transferring its non-performing asset portfolio of around Rs 15,000 crore to an asset reconstruction compan 
The VRS will be targeted at all employee levels 
The ICAI seeks a review of the operation of certain multinational entities engaged in accounting services in the country 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003145704.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 104, 'LIC turns banker for firms', 'Corporates are knocking on the doors of the cash-rich Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to meet their funding requirements as the corporate debenture (CD) market has dried up and banks are', 'Corporates are knocking on the doors of the cash-rich Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to meet their funding requirements as the corporate debenture (CD) market has dried up and banks are averse to long-term exposure on fears of asset-liability mismatch. 
LIC subscribed to Konkan Railway Corporation’s (KRC) 12-year bond issue of Rs 200 crore at an annualised interest rate of 6.2 per cent. 
This private placement which did not involve any merchant banker, will partly help KRC redeem Rs 883 crore of high-coupon bonds carrying an average coupon rate of 10.5 per cent. 
This follows KRC exercising the put and call option on its earlier debentures in order to bring down the interest burden. 
KRC is one of the many proposals LIC has received since the Securities &amp; Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) has made in mandatory on corporates to list their bonds to protect investors. 
This brought many corporate issuances from IDFC, KRC, Nabard, Exim Bank, Reliance, Hindalco among others to a halt. 
KRC was to come out with a Rs 350-crore corporate bond issue last month, hoping to raise the funds at a coupon rate of 6.1 per cent. 
Corporates have borrowed over Rs 3,800 crore from LIC in the past seven months, reflecting a growth of over 230 per cent over the corresponding period last year. 
Of late, there has been an increase in the number of proposals. “There are many more proposals pending with us,” said LIC chairman S B Mathur in response to whether there have been a greater number of corporates approaching LIC following Sebi’s requirement for listing debentures. 
“Corporates in need of funding are also likely to come with proposals for term loans,” he added. 
Banks too have seen corporates prefer the credit route instead of the earlier investment route. 
“Credit figures have increased in the last six weeks. As investment opportunities are limited for banks, corporates are almost getting loans at similar rates of interest as they would have had they been able to go to the market,” said a senior private sector banker. 
Corporate are also increasingly turning to commercial paper (CPs) to meet their short-term requirements as they have started the ball rolling for listing of their bonds. 
Brokers said that daily volumes in the primary market have risen five-fold to about Rs 50-60 crore, from the earlier Rs 10-15 crore. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003150255.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 105, 'Lac: untapped potential', 'Lac (shellac) is a highly versatile agro-product whose commercial potential is woefully under-exploited. It is a substance not produced in many countries, but thanks to its diversified industrial', 'Lac (shellac) is a highly versatile agro-product whose commercial potential is woefully under-exploited. It is a substance not produced in many countries, but thanks to its diversified industrial applications, its demand is widespread. 
With decades of research effort, India has acquired the potential of being the world leader in the production and export of lac and lac-based value-added products. Unfortunately, at present, much of this potential is going wasted because of limited production and the lack of promotional bid to develop and exploit the domestic and export markets. 
Lac is essentially the non-toxic secretion of an insect (Kerria lacca or lac insect). It lives on a variety of trees and bushes, sucking their sap and secreting a protective covering. It also produces wax and dye. 
The host trees and shrubs, readily available in India, include kusum, palas, ber and a few others. The hardened encrustation is scrapped from the tree twigs and marketed as sticklac. On being crushed and washed, it becomes seedlac. This semi-processed stuff is further processed to produce sheets of shellac and dewaxed and decolourised shellac for various end uses. 
Being tasteless and odourless, lac has found numerous and highly diverse industrial uses. It can be used in the food industry for coating of fruits, chocolates, lozenges and the like; in the leather industry as a coating and top-dressing material; in the electric industry as an insulator; in the cosmetic industry as an additive to eye shadows, lipsticks, nail polish, mascara and alta; in the varnish and printing ink industry as a colouring and polishing agent; in the adhesive industry as a sealing wax and adhesive; in the pharmaceutical industry for coating tablets; and in the jewellery sector for making lac-based ornaments. 
Lac dye, which is natural and non-chemical, has been used for centuries for dyeing silk, wool and other animal fibres and lac wax has been used in floor polishes, shoe polish and making crayons for writing on glass. Recently, a breakthrough has also been achieved in using it as a natural dye for cotton textiles. Its use as a safe and natural colouring agent in processed foodstuff like sauces, ketchup and sausages has been catching up of late even in countries like Japan, opening up new export avenues. 
Indeed, Indian lac has been in great demand in Europe since the late 19th century as a cheap and natural dyeing agent but this export market dried up after the emergence of synthetic dyes which turned out to be even cheaper. But even today, over 85 per cent of the country’s lac production is exported because the domestic market is underdeveloped. 
With some promotional effort, the export of lac and lac-based products can be raised substantially because there is not much competition, barring from Thailand. China has only recently begun exporting lac and that too largely to Japan, which is a rapidly growing market for this natural resin. 
Fortunately, thanks to the new technology developed by the Ranchi-based Indian Lac Research Institute (ILRI), the domestic lac output can be doubled from the present meagre level of 16,000 to 20,000 tonnes a year. 
Such a move will open up huge new avenues of employment, especially for the tribals in economically under-developed states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There is also scope for boosting lac output in states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat where the host trees are available and can even be grown for this purpose. 
Indeed, India enjoys an edge over other countries in this field, thanks largely to the research and development work done by the ILRI in its over-75 years of existence. In the process, it has developed efficient technologies for raising host plants for lac insects, production and processing of lac and discovering new commercial and industrial uses for this natural product. It is also conducting training courses for passing on these technologies to farmers, largely tribal women, and lac-based commercial ventures. 
Of late, it has begun offering consultancy to the industry in preparing and implementing lac-based commercial projects. 
Among the significant initiatives of this institute in this field are the bid to revive the market for lac dye, taking advantage of the growing consciousness among consumers about natural, non-chemical and non-toxic colouring agents. The ILRI technology enables extraction of lac dye from the effluents of the lac-processing industries that are otherwise allowed to go waste. 
The water-soluble lac dye (which is essentially naturally-produced laccaic acid) is recovered from the water used for washing sticklac during its processing. Since this acid constitutes about 1per cent of the sticklac, about 200 tonnes of lac dye can potentially be manufactured from the country\'s total lac production of 20,000 tonnes. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003150209.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 106, 'Food for thought', 'The Trent stock jumped almost 20 per cent to Rs 272 on Monday, to a touch a new 52-week high. The re-rating of the stock, which began in February 2002, has now reached gigantic proportions, having', 'The Trent stock jumped almost 20 per cent to Rs 272 on Monday, to a touch a new 52-week high. The re-rating of the stock, which began in February 2002, has now reached gigantic proportions, having gained 306 per cent in less than two years. Valuations, too, are now pretty high at around 25 times estimated FY04 earnings. 
Lately, the stock has been rising on rumours that the company could be merged with Titan Industries, since both companies are in the retail space. Besides, the company had announced that it would foray into the high-growth food retailing space, which has also helped the stock. But the food retailing plans has got delayed quite a bit, mainly owing to problems finding a good location. 
Against the original plan of starting the food retailing operations early this year, which was later pushed to October, it now turns out that the new initiative will begin only next year. Simone Tata, chairperson of Trent, has said the food retailing initiative will be going onstream by next year. 
Analysts are okay as long as the launch happens in FY04, which means before end-March, but in case the launch slips to FY05, it will surely be a setback in terms of market sentiment. 
Also, the company’s entry into food retailing needn’t necessarily result in windfall gains — Trent hasn’t even disclosed the model on which it will operate, and what its USP will be. Based on fundamentals, there’s nothing really that explains the sharp rise in the Trent scrip on Monday. 
Banks’ lending looks skewed 
Are bankers lazy, preferring to pour money into government securities rather than take the trouble of lending to industry? Or is it true, as bankers have argued, that they don’t lend because there’s no demand for funds, and second-rung businesses are too risky? A paper presented by MIT professor Abhijit Banerjee may finally decide this contentious issue. 
At the recently concluded Bank Economists’ Conference in Mumbai, MIT professor Abhijit Banerjee presented the findings of a study (Bank Financing in India: Abhijit Banerjee, S Cole and E Duflo, April 2003) that showed that banks in India do not lend to smaller firms, in spite of strong demand from the latter, and in spite of the profitability of the firms improving substantially after access to bank loans. In other words, it would make good business sense for banks to lend to such companies. 
Banerjee’s conclusions are based on empirical studies conducted from data obtained from a large public sector bank. In January 1998, the government revised the definition of a small scale industry, raising the limit on investment in plant and machinery from Rs 65 lakh to Rs 3 crore. 
Banerjee took advantage of this change in regulation to observe whether bank lending to firms that had investment in plant and machinery between Rs 65 lakh and Rs 3 crore (the companies that became new entrants to the SSI category) increased. 
The results showed that the credit limited granted to firms below Rs 65 lakh in plant in machinery (small firms) grew by 11.1 per cent during 1997, while that granted to firms between Rs 65 lakh and Rs 3 crore (big firms) grew by 5.4 per cent. 
In 1998, after the change in rules, small firms had 7.6 per cent growth, while big firms had 11.3 per cent growth. In 1999, both big and small firms had about the same growth, suggesting they had reached the new status quo. Moreover, the study showed that firms’ sales as well as profits improved substantially as a result of the bank loans. 
Banerjee accordingly concluded that “These results provide definite evidence of very substantial under-lending: some firms clearly can absorb much more capital at high rates of return. Moreover the firms in our sample are by Indian standards quite substantial: these are not the very small firms at the margins of the economy, where, even if the marginal product is high, the scope for expansion may be quite limited.” 
What are the obstacles to lending to medium and small firms? Banerjee list three reasons. The first is outdated lending practices, where loan limits are calculated without any reference to the firm’s profitability. Secondly, fear of prosecution in case the loan goes bad is another reason for not lending. 
Empirical investigation shows that,” Vigilance activity in a specific bank results in a reduction of credit supplied by all branches of that bank by about 3-5 per cent”. And lastly, Banerjee points to the high fiscal deficit of the government as leading to the “easy life” for bankers, who only have to invest in government securities to make money. 
The study says that that “high rates on government securities tend to hurt firms that are relatively marginal from the point of view of the banks, such as firms in slow growing states and smaller and less established firms”. 
With contributions by Mobis Philipose 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003150449.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 107, 'In a hole', 'A coup or a war is not over until the head of the rival grouping has been beheaded or captured. 
', 'A coup or a war is not over until the head of the rival grouping has been beheaded or captured. 
It has been an embarrassment for the US that, more than two years after the war on terror began, it has been able to get neither Osama bin Laden nor Mullah Omar, nor Saddam Hussein. 
That last embarrassment has now ended and will clearly be a boost for President Bush at home, and a relief for his army in Iraq. 
It will also demoralise the opposition within Iraq, though it is obvious that violence is not about to end. 
It does however make it easier for the US to press ahead with its plan of action in Iraq, and perhaps even pull out the bulk of its forces before the next presidential election. 
In short, the ‘war on terror’ has notched up a major success. And, as predictably as the sun rises in the morning, governments from around the world, whether they supported military action or not, have issued statements saying that Saddam Hussein’s capture is a positive thing. 
But it is sobering that within 24 hours of his capture being announced, there are reports of car-bombings north of Baghdad. 
The coalition will have to put Saddam on trial. Here there is a risk that he will reveal the historical involvement of the various governments who helped arm him and keep him in power during the worst stages of his rule. 
No doubt there will be some who would have wished that he had been caught dead, not alive. Nor have the televised pictures been particularly helpful, as they have only created some sympathy for him, however misplaced. 
The opinion on Arab street makes the form that Saddam’s trial will take vitally important. There are many options. 
The first of these, under active consideration, is to set up an Iraqi tribunal, overseen by international observers; this raises questions about the quality of the tribunal, as it will have no experience in prosecuting such crimes and might give the impression from the start that only one conclusion is possible. 
The wiser option therefore is an international tribunal set up by the United Nations, which is the only organisation that will be seen as being as close to impartial as one can get. 
UN tribunals have extensive experience of prosecuting war crimes and this case is too important for too many people, if things were to go wrong. 
The old issue of weapons of mass destruction will now arise with more verve. The whole reason for going to war in Iraq was Saddam’s possession of WMDs and his propensity to use them. 
But, since his capture, he has denied that he ever had them. There is, of course, no doubt that he had them at some point in time. 
However, whether he had them at the time it was decided to attack Iraq or in such quantities as required an invasion, is questionable. 
The failure of the US/UK task force to find them leads many to believe that military action was contrived for other reasons, such as oil or imperialistic ambitions. Whether the capture of Saddam leads to a cache of weapons is yet to be seen. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003150447.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 108, 'Knowledge capital indeed', 'For a country that seeks to position itself as the worlds knowledge store, it cant be very good to be ranked 45th out of 102 countries in terms of the Networked Readiness Index of INSEAD, the World', 'For a country that seeks to position itself as the world’s knowledge store, it can’t be very good to be ranked 45th out of 102 countries in terms of the Networked Readiness Index of INSEAD, the World Economic Forum and the World Bank. 
And it’s not just about being wired up where India lags behind countries like China — India has a third of the personal computers and telephones that China has per thousand population, and a fifth the number of Internet users. 
When it comes to having enough skilled manpower to meet the world’s back-office needs, there is also a huge shortfall. 
According to consulting firm SKOCH, in the IT industry alone a shortfall of 235,000 professionals is expected by 2008. 
And this is after the great IT meltdown — if the industry had grown as expected, the shortfall would have been many times over. 
If you narrow this down to the number of professionals who are trained in specific domains like accounting in US GAAP for instance, the shortfall is even more alarming. 
Few are talking of it today, but unless India pays serious attention to fixing its education system and dramatically increasing the supply of certain kind of degrees, it could well lose a large part of the advantage being talked of today vis-a-vis other countries. 
Yet, when it comes to allowing in foreign universities so as to augment the number of education-providers of a certain standard, India’s attitude is still ostrich-like. 
When it comes to computing power and the use of the ICT technology, India’s policy framework is largely responsible for the poor state of affairs. 
Today, thanks to a 16 per cent excise duty, a 4 per cent SAD, and a host of other duties like octroi and turnover tax, around a third of the price paid for a standard PC goes into the coffers of the government! 
It’s hardly surprising then, that India should fare so poorly when it comes to PC penetration that, like it or not, what is being seen as a basic tool of education the world over is still a luxury in India. 
In fact, as SKOCH’s analysis has shown, with the industry dropping prices over the years so as to meet the grey market’s competition, the penetration of PCs in the non-metro markets has increased dramatically — so the benefits of lowering duties is obvious. 
You only have to look at what has happened to the cellphone market with lower prices, to realise how the PC market will respond. Apart from the fact, of course, that higher duties mean less revenue for the government. 
When excise duties were 13 per cent and SAD zero in 1997, the grey market was 40 per cent of the total — today, it’s 61 per cent, with the duty levels significantly higher. 
While the situation on telecom is getting better with the penetration ratio increasing rapidly, thanks to faster rollout of mobile telephony, a Gartner survey a few days ago showed that India’s last-mile connectivity, primarily through PSU firms BSNL and MTNL, is considered very poor. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003150549.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 109, '`I went terribly wrong about B2B exchanges\'', 'On paper, Professor Mohanbir Sawhney, one of the earliest dotcom evangelists, has a risumi that is forbiddingly accomplished. Heres a sampler: consulting and speaking engagements with Accenture, Bank', 'On paper, Professor Mohanbir Sawhney, one of the earliest dotcom evangelists, has a résumé that is forbiddingly accomplished. Here’s a sampler: consulting and speaking engagements with Accenture, Bank of America, Dell Computer Corporation, Eli Lilly, Goldman Sachs, Boeing and Microsoft; McCormick Tribune professor of technology; the chairperson of the Technology Management group; and director of the Center for Research in Technology &amp; Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.... 
In person, however, despite reaching the heights of management academia, Sawhney clearly hasn’t strayed too far from his Punjabi roots. As teacher, consultant and writer, he describes himself first in sophisticated terms to explain how there is complete synergy in life. 
“I am an intellectual arbitrageur,” he says. To buttress the point, he adds helpfully, “Idhar ka maal udhar and udhar ka maal idhar.” He may be a guru of the New Economy, but as our meal progresses, I realise he’s also the master of the one-liner. 
Sawhney is in Chennai and Bangalore for two days for a lecture series that, I understand from the organisers, is sold out. A request for a tea appointment gets okayed and then changed to a dinner appointment at the Taj Coromandel’s Chinese restaurant, Golden Dragon. 
As we walk in and settle into a corner table at the crowded restaurant, he tell me that he has not touched Indian shores for close to two years. It helps that close family is in the US. 
“I have travelled 150,000 miles this year — it is unfortunate that I have not visited India in the last two years, though I have criss-crossed Asia,” he says. The reason? “Indian companies find my advisory services costly, I suppose — ‘our cost is in dollars and the advantage in rupees,’ they say. So it does not match up, I guess,” he tells me. 
So are they saying he is too expensive a proposition to afford? “They are saying it and yet not saying it,” he demurs. The waiter comes to enquire whether we’d like to order drinks. We do — Sawhney settles for a glass of white wine, I for a whisky and water. 
He is obviously irritated with the way Indian companies look at what he brings to the table as a strategic advisor. “Do you get value for the money you pay — that is the question. It is the old Hindi saying of ghar ki murgi, dal baraabar that afflicts these corporations. A gora may be incompetent but perceived to be better,” he points out. 
By this time our drinks have been served and the discussion shifts to competition. “What do you compete on — you compete on insights and executing them ahead of competition. Insights need to be competitively advantaged, they are intangible and insights come from unusual places and very often from the intersection of various disciplines,” he says. 
That’s already clear from his own ability to spot common threads from disparate themes. “I accept facts and I have a gift to make ready connections. Ready connections are important when you have to start giving definitions and it helps to give real life examples from folklore and fables, in which my Indian background helps tremendously,” says this Tata Administrative Services alumnus. 
“At a recent consulting assignment I was asked to describe and define competition. I gave them the example of the goat with one eye that was afraid of being attacked when it was grazing. So it decided to graze on a cliff overlooking the sea, thinking that nothing could come and attack it from the sea — which is a wrong notion. This is the same problem that afflicts companies in the sense they do not think about where competition can crop up and challenge their dominance,” he points out. 
For Sawhney, though, it’s time that’s a valued asset. “Time is money and the field is my laboratory.” Time spent in the field with companies is extremely productive, he says. 
He attributes the term he coined — “Innomediary” — to field time spent at Eli Lilly. “Eli Lilly had a division called Innocentive, wherein they posted their R&amp;D problems on the Net and about 20,000 scientists from across the world would get to work on it. Anybody who cracked it would be rewarded. Without realising it themselves they were actually running a B2B market place and I told them that they could actually enable and mediate innovation. Then I came up with the word ‘innomediary’.” 
So what has he learnt from all this? “I am an Indian at heart and I know only one thing — life leads and you’ve got to follow.” 
By this time we have decided on our soups — Sawhney prefers a chicken clear soup while I go in for a spicy seafood soup. Alarmingly, he declines dinner, but kindly suggests that that shouldn’t stop me and even helps me choose Mongolian beef and steamed rice. 
So does the fact that he consults to the Who’s Who of industry and is a renowned world figure get his ego all trumped up? 
“Humility is the natural state — and being a teacher I cannot afford to have an ego,” he says. 
Teaching, according to Sawhney, helps keep his feet firmly rooted to the ground. “There has been a fundamental shift in the role of the teacher. A teacher no longer doles out nuggets of information. The Internet has put paid to that and has also ensured that the student is smarter. I am only a facilitator of information and try to help the student on a self-guided exploration trip.” 
How did it feel to be called the guru of e-commerce? “It felt great that just five years into my academic life I had been invited to the World Economic Forum at Davos to speak on e-commerce and the potential it holds.” 
So can he truly look into the future and predict correctly or has he gone wrong? He’s humble enough to say yes. “It is just not done in the guru world to accept that you went wrong, but I did go wrong. I went terribly wrong about B2B exchanges. In fact, an article on the potential of B2B exchanges got me a journalism award in September 1999. Sixty to 70 per cent of what I predicted in that article never happened. I simply underestimated the inertia of large companies to embrace new technology,” he frankly admits. 
What about the brain drain from India? “The IITs [Indian Institutes of Technology] were ahead of their times in India. The kind of things we learnt at the IITs could not be absorbed by Indian companies then. In fact, both my brother (Amar) and I were recruited by Hindustan Lever Limited [HLL] in the same week.” 
As it turned out, both brothers turned down the HLL offers. At the time, in 1984, Sawhney was at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and Amar was at IIT, Delhi. “Ab to Sawhney khandaan ko blacklist kar diya hain HLL ne,” he jokes. 
In retrospect, it wasn’t such a bad decision, considering his own success. As for Amar Sawhney, he became a polymer scientist who founded his own company Confluent Surgical which develops products based on its platform of in-situ polymerised biomaterials and associated delivery systems. 
So what does he think of dotcoms and the future? “Dotcoms are thriving. There are 80 successful dotcoms in the US and those with a sound business model have survived and are doing very well.” 
What was his biggest failing as an academic? “I tend to pitch better with smart students and am impatient and angry with less intelligent students,” he says frankly, “This is something which I have to overcome as an academic.” 
By this time it is a good two hours since we met and is well past 10 in the night. Sawhney has another early morning lecture the next day and as he stifles a yawn I realise it is time for us to say good night. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003150602.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 110, 'Women CMs and women\'s reservation', 'We have had women chief ministers in seven states, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, UP, Delhi, MP and Rajasthan. It is amazing that in all the states of the Hindi heartland barring Haryana, we have had a', 'We have had women chief ministers in seven states, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, UP, Delhi, MP and Rajasthan. It is amazing that in all the states of the Hindi heartland barring Haryana, we have had a woman chief minister. 
Chaudhury Charan Singh’s soul must be wondering what is happening in his homeland where women were supposed to be in the kitchen. It is remarkable that at least some women are being treated as equal or more than equal. 
Does this imply a sociological revolution? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. We are used to worshipping Goddesses and fearing them too. That has never meant that we treat women generally as equal. 
With five women chief ministers and the sixth one, Mayawati, who can come back any time, do we need women’s reservation? These six but one have been elected on their own strength without the benefit of reservation. 
Yet I think reservation is needed. A true indicator is not how many women chief ministers we have but how many women MLAs we have. The Election Commission’s website provides data on how many women candidates were there. 
In the five state elections held recently, women candidates constituted less than 10 per cent of the candidates. Thus in Chhattisgarh there were 62 women candidates out of 819, in MP 199 out of 2,171, in Mizoram 7 out of 192, in Delhi 78 out of 817 and in Rajasthan 118 out of 1,541. 
The numbers of women elected were 5 in Chhattisgarh, 19 in MP, 6 in Delhi and 12 in Rajasthan. Their success rate was more or less similar to that of men. Yet women have a long way to go. We need greater representation of women because women are mistreated in the country. 
There are issues that concern women that don’t get adequate attention. For example, we don’t have any problem importing petroleum products for automobiles but cannot provide adequate clean fuels to women in rural areas, for want of which they suffer enormously. 
Also had women greater representation, the problem of drinking water would have gotten a much higher priority. Men, no matter how empathetic, cannot fully appreciate women’s problems. For a balanced society that is gender just, we need balanced legislatures. We need more MLAs and MPs who would voice women’s concerns and guard their interests. 
The reservation proposals made to provide 30 per cent seats to women, however, have problems and are not getting through Parliament. The practical difficulties of reserving 30 per cent of seats are considerable. Which seats should be reserved for women? One way would be to randomly select 30 per cent of the constituencies and keep them for women forever. 
Then, the women in the other 70 per cent of the constituencies would not be represented. This would be a discrimination that would not be acceptable to the women of these left out constituencies. At the same time, men in these reserved constituencies would be forever denied a chance to represent their constituency in Parliament. 
Another option is to randomly select at every election, 30 per cent of the constituencies and reserve them for women. This poses its own problem. MPs who perform well and nurture their constituencies may suddenly find themselves deprived of even a possibility of re-election. 
This will take away all incentives from MPs to nurture their constituencies. The uncertainty created, is not likely to be acceptable to most politicians. What is more, it is not in the interest of the people as well. Is there a way we can make reservation work? 
I repeat a suggestion that I had made some time ago. Instead of 30 per cent, let us have 50 per cent reservation. That makes sense as women constitute 50 per cent of the society. Then we can have one woman and one man represent each constituency. Thus, 50 per cent of MPs would be men and 50 per cent women. This does not have the problems of no reward for constituency nurturing and uncertainty introduced by randomness. 
To avoid doubling the size of state legislatures and the Parliament and building a new Parliament House and legislature assembly buildings, we can merge two neighbouring constituencies into one, and let it be represented by a man and a woman. Each voter casts two votes one for a man and another for a woman candidate. The number of MLAs and MPs would remain more or less constant. 
In fact, it may increase by one as the number must be an even number. Of course, this will give women more than 30 per cent of the seats, which is now suggested. That should only be welcome by women. But many more men would have to make space for women. This they would not like to do. 
In any case, I feel reservations are not the best way to deal with the problem of inadequate representation of women. Reservations involve a stigma. A women elected on a reserved seat may not have the same self-assurance as a woman elected on a non-reserved seat. Also reservations create a vested interest. 
One would like to find a way that over time liquidates itself. This should be built into the system so that reservations or affirmative actions do not perpetuate themselves. I repeat another and my preferred proposal. Provide a special advantage to women, which over time, liquidates it self. 
Suppose, we begin by saying that to the votes polled by every woman, 10 per cent of the total votes polled in that constituency would be added. This will give a tremendous incentive to parties to field women candidates. A male candidate can defeat a female opponent but he would have to have a margin of more than 10 per cent. So men are not completely ruled out. 
One may question why 10 per cent? I have no real argument for it. It is just a number picked from air. It could be any number. It should be based on the analysis of election results. For example in Rajasthan, with a handicap of 5 per cent of polled votes, 11 more women candidates would have won and with a 10 per cent 17 more women would have been elected. 
We could say the special advantage will be determined after all the seats in a state are counted and then as much advantage as needed would be provided to ensure that 30 per cent of the MLAs are women. This is an ideal solution. But it creates a practical difficulty. Suppose election results cannot be declared till counting is completed in all the constituencies of the state. 
It can even happen that election in one constituency is declared null and void, in which event, all the results may have to wait till re-election is completed. This is obviously unsatisfactory. So what we should do is to announce a special advantage based on the previous election and accept whatever number of women candidates get elected. If more than 30 per cent women MLAs are elected, then in the next election, the special advantage will be reduced. 
The attraction of such a system is that over time, the special advantage disappears to zero and the whole system becomes redundant. This will happen when women as a class have made progress and have become truly equal not in their potential (which they already are) but in the realisation of their potential. 
In Scandinavian countries, without any reservations, around half the MPs are women. We could and should attain such a state. Then, the stigma of reservation would disappear. Without any special advantage and as a matter of course, women MLAs and MPs would constitute at least 40 per cent of our Parliament and may be half of it. 
This should be the objective of the reservation policy: to give incentive to parties to put up many more women candidates. The system I have suggested does that and what is more, it does not get entrenched but liquidates itself. 
kirit@igidr.ac.in 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003144526.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 111, 'Bhutan cracks down on Ulfa, Bodo militant camps', 'The Bhutan government has launched military operations against the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) and Bodo militant camps located in the country. 
', 'The Bhutan government has launched military operations against the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) and Bodo militant camps located in the country. 
It has informed the Indian government before doing so. This information was given to Parliament by Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha yesterday. 
In an unusual gesture, in the Rajya Sabha, not only was this move applauded by parties cutting across party lines, but also, members demanded that the Bangladesh government take the same step against militants acting on Bangladeshi soil. 
Haryana Vikas Party member and former Mizoram governor Swaraj Kaushal named Paresh Baruah, outlawed militant leader, and said the Bangladesh government should take a leaf out of Bhutan’s book, go after these leaders and proscribe them. 
In his statement, Sinha said the King of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuk informed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the impending action on December 13. 
He said the Army had been deployed on the border to prevent militants reacting to Bhutanese military pressure and running back into India. 
The Assam and West Bengal governments, which were affected by this action, had also been alerted and were cooperating, the minister said. 
“The Royal Government of Bhutan has always assured the Government of India that it will not allow its territory to be used for activities inimical to India’s interests. The launch of operations against Indian insurgent groups in Bhutan has struck a blow against terrorism and terrorist activity in the entire region,” Sinha said. 
The move has come after a long process of politico-diplomatic pressure on the Bhutan government, following repeated complaints by the Assam government, including former Governor Gen SK Sinha, that militants from Assam had sanctuary in Bhutan. 
The Bhutan government had deflected the issue in the past by denying that there were any camps. However, the current move comes after the spate of Bihari killings in Assam by these groups and stepping up of pressure by India to flush militants out. 
Parliament today saw some concern at the possible attacks on Bhutanese vehicles, which ply through Indian territory. There was also concern about the security of the Biharis who might find themselves the target of reprisals. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003144649.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 112, 'NDA partners agree on Pota amendment', 'The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has persuaded the defiant southern allies DMK , PMK and MDMKto fall in line with the governments move to amend the Prevention of Terrorist Act (Pota). 
', 'The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has persuaded the defiant southern allies— DMK , PMK and MDMK—to fall in line with the government’s move to amend the Prevention of Terrorist Act (Pota). 
The amendment, to be introduced tomorrow, will also coincide with the hearing by the Supreme Court on constitutional validity of the law. 
A Division Bench of the Supreme Court will take up the public interest litigation filed MDMK chief Vaiko against the misuse of Pota. 
Significantly, the government is set to introduce the amendment by which the recommendations of the review committees, at the central and the state levels, will be binding on the government. 
Earlier, these recommendations were only advisory in nature and the state governments were free to use the law in an indiscriminate manner. 
What appears to have alarmed the governments is the manner in which the DMK, PMK and MDMK joined hands to protest against Pota and demanded its repeal instead of amending the Act. 
DMK members of the House, at a demonstration opposed the move to bring in the amendment and said they would accept nothing short of the repeal of the law. 
The Tamil Nadu allies’ belligerence was set to cause a major political embarrassment for the government, which had called a joint session of Parliament to enact the law against terrorism. 
Sources in the government said all senior leaders in the government spoke to DMK chief M Karunanidhi and convinced him about the amendment, which would restrain the state from indiscriminate use of the law. 
After the NDA meeting, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said all allies agreed to vote for the amendment. 
In all probability, Vaiko, languishing in jail under Pota charges, would also attend the House and vote on the amendment. 
That the BJP leadership was quite unnerved about the DMK’s resistance to the Pota was apparent when BJP spokesman VK Malhotra said if the Pota remained unamended, it would go against those considered to be “victims”. 
The NDA meeting called at the Prime Minister’s residence this evening turned out to be an exercise to cement ties among all allies as top leaders in the government assured them that their interests would be protected under this political coalition. 
In the meeting, the allies were also briefed about the government’s move to bring a legislation banning political defections and limiting the size of the ministries. 
Meanwhile, as part of their party\'s Tamil Nadu wide agitation, DMK members of Parliament today demonstrated outside the Parliament House demanding repeal of Pota. 
The MPs gathered at gate No. 1 of the Parliament House just before the House met for the day and raised slogans against Pota and demanded its repeal. 
They also demanded that the Tamil language should be included in the Eighth Schedule and resolution of the Cauvery water issue. 
The picketing by DMK activists in Tamil Nadu also figured in the Lok Sabha where C Kuppusamy (MP) said the party had resorted to this action after exhausting all avenues to seek redressal on issues like misuse of Pota by the J Jayalalithaa government. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003144616.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 113, 'BJP flays Sonia\'s Aligarh remarks', 'Congress chief Sonia Gandhis appeal for forging a broad secular coalition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre has provoked hostile political response from the BJP leadership. 
', 'Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s appeal for forging a broad secular coalition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre has provoked hostile political response from the BJP leadership. 
Gandhi had made this appeal while attending a function in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). BJP spokesman VK Malhotra described Gandhi’s utterances as “irresponsible” and intended to provoke communalism in the country. 
Referring to Gandhi’s speech, Malhotra said in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the Congress stood in splendid political isolation along with the Muslim League. 
“If she wishes to forge a coalition with the Muslim League’s secularism, she must go ahead” Malhotra remarked. 
That Gandhi’s attempt to win over the minorities in the country’s largest state has not gone down well with the Samajwadi Party either, which was evident by the remarks of UPChief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav also. 
Though not referring to Gandhi’s speech, Yadav ruled out the possibility of any coalition of secular forces and said his party would extend support on the basis of programmes. 
Obviously, Gandhi’s address in the AMU is seen as a deft move by the Congress to retain its support base among Muslims, by appealing to Muslim intellectuals. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003144739.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 114, 'Naidu for simultaneous polls ', 'Despite Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees assertion that the Lok Sabha polls will be held on schedule, a section of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders seems to be buoyed following the statement', 'Despite Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s assertion that the Lok Sabha polls will be held on schedule, a section of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders seems to be buoyed following the statement attributed to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that he favoured simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly in the state. 
After his meeting with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani today, Naidu said he would like the Assembly polls to be held before March 17 because school examinations would start after that. 
Contrary to the perception that Naidu wants to avoid simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly to avoid double anti-incumbency (the central government and the state government) factor, the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief’s preference for simultaneous polls is being seen as an indication of the changing political equations in the state. 
Though Naidu said he did not discuss the issue with Vajpayee and Advani, the indications are that Naidu’s view found endorsement from a section of the BJP. 
Naidu later had a luncheon meeting with BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu with whom he is learnt to have developed a rapport. 
The Andhra chief minister’s statement is being seen as a reflection of some senior BJP leaders’ wishes, who believe the feel good factor after the party’s victory in three states will be dissipated if the Lok Sabha elections are not advanced. 
Also Naidu will not be able to take advantage of the sympathy wave created after the assassination attempt on him by naxalites. 
Senior BJP leaders say a setback for the TDP in Andhra Pradesh will neutralise the euphoria in the NDA created by the recent Assembly elections and set the clock back for the BJP. 
“This Assembly elections are crucial for the BJP,” BJP sources said. In case of simultaneous polls, the BJP could galvanise its cadre, he added. 
But Naidu is also aware of the aversion among top leaders in the government to advance the Lok Sabha polls. 
This appears to have prompted him to set his house in order and demand 15,000 metric tonnes of rice to ensure proper supply of foodgrain on the eve of polls. He has also sought deployment of additional central forces. 
But some BJP leaders believe that the party is not ready for elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It has been suggested that the BJP should make attempts to telescope the Lok Sabha election process with the Budget - present a good Budget and follow it by snap polls. This way the BJP will maximise its gains, they add. 
This argument, however, has been shot down by the top BJP leadership. “You can either have an early Budget or early Lok Sabha elections. To have an April-May election, you have to make up your mind by the end of December, call a session around January 15 to pass a Budget and immediately after that dissolve the House. Is this possible? The Budget takes time to be passed. Now with the standing committees system, it has to be considered by them. 
“Second, the next Budget is going to be in the new calendar year. There is a parliamentary rule that a new session begins with the President’s address. Third, you can not just summon the Election Commission in January and say you want elections three months later. The poll panel has to be given time to prepare,” said a top party leader. 
Sources said the party too had to be prepared for elections. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003145434.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 115, 'Indians can hedge abroad', 'Taking a further step towards liberalising the capital account, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a circular that Indians who have overseas direct investments may be permitted to hedge the', 'Taking a further step towards liberalising the capital account, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a circular that Indians who have overseas direct investments may be permitted to hedge the exchange risk by entering into forward/option contracts with authorised dealers. 
But this cover will be subject to verification of such exposure and provided that the contracts are completed by delivery or rolled over on the due date. 
The government has already allowed Indian residents to invest in shares of companies listed abroad. This is limited to shares of those foreign entities which have subsidiaries in India. 
Returning non-resident Indians (NRIs) are also allowed to maintain their global investments provided they pay tax on their world income. Earlier their status of ‘resident, but not ordinary resident’ was for a period of seven years. 
During this period, they were not supposed to disclose their investments or pay tax on it. This time period was been reduced to two years on their return, after this years Union Budget was introduced. 
With the rupee strengthening against the greenback, the fluctuation in the exchange rate calls for hedging of overseas investments. 
The rupee closed at 45.5575, against 46.00 a couple of months ago. 
The RBI circular further pointed out that if a hedge becomes naked in part or full owing to shrinking of the market value of the overseas direct investment, the hedge may continue to the original maturity. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003145431.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 116, 'State undertakings feel pinch of Sebi\'s new debt diktat', 'State-level undertakings may no longer be able to raise resources from banks as per the new Securities and Exchange Board of India fiat on private placement of debt and an earlier Reserve Bank of', 'State-level undertakings may no longer be able to raise resources from banks as per the new Securities and Exchange Board of India fiat on private placement of debt and an earlier Reserve Bank of India warning to banks that a state government guarantee is no a substitute for a proper credit appraisal. 
The Sebi decree requiring companies audited results to be no more than six months old and the compulsion to make adequate disclosures for raising funds via debt route could well nigh be impossible to meet for the SLUs. 
With even provisional financials of most of the SLUs not forthcoming let alone an audited one, the Sebi norm regarding audited financial results will never be met, say sources clued-in to the developments. 
In fact, in many cases there is a backlog of at least a couple of financial years as far as balance sheet finalisation of these SLUs goes. 
Most of these entities are reeling under losses. Debt instruments issued by the undertakings are normally guaranteed by the respective state governments. 
Further, the SLUs will also be reluctant to make disclosures on directors (including civil/ criminal actions faced), litigations pending against undertakings, details of previous borrowings, sources said. 
Under these circumstances, the only way out for these entities is to tap provident funds (PFs). This is because the funds are not shackled by the stringent norms pertaining to disclosures, rating and listing for subscribing to debt instruments of SLUs. 
SLUs have raised Rs 1,368 crore in the six months ended September 30, 2003 against Rs 4,389 crore in the previous financial year. 
The undertakings accounted for about 6 per cent of the total funds raised via private placement of debt in the April through September 2003 period. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003144203.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 117, 'Pref preference', 'According to news reports, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked stock exchanges to put on hold, until further notice, the listing of shares that were allotted recently on a', 'According to news reports, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked stock exchanges to put on hold, until further notice, the listing of shares that were allotted recently on a preferential basis. 
This has happened because quite a few companies including Pantaloon Retail and Television Eighteen have recently made preferential issues to promoter groups, who at the same time have sold shares in the market at a higher price compared with the allotment price. 
For instance, in Pantaloon’s case, there was a sale of 8.5 lakh shares in early November at the rate of around Rs 275 per share. But soon after that, the promoter group could acquire shares through the preferential issue route at just Rs 112 per share. 
One argument in the favour of the promoter group for adopting such a route is that there is an infusion of funds into the company without diluting their own stake. But then, because of the price differential, it so happens that the promoter stake actually increases. 
In some extreme cases like that of Pantaloon Retail, since April 2002, promoter holding has gone up from 38.8 per cent to over 46 per cent (by the time preferential debentures are converted into shares). 
According to Sebi regulations, the base date to be used for the calculation of the minimum price is the date of the general shareholders meeting when the preferential issue is approved. 
The company is then given a time of three months to make the preferential issue. It’s because of this three-month time lag that promoters stand to gain, especially with share price on the rise. In order to curb the misuse of preferential allotments, this time lag needs to be reduced. 
Sesa Goa to join the fun 
Iron ore producers are making merry as iron ore prices have increased around 73 per cent over the last one year to current levels of around $45-50 per tonne. What’s more, the increasing shortage of iron ore promises to keep prices high, courtesy China. 
A new factor has further improved the profitability prospects in the near-term as companies like National Mineral Development Corporation consider a change in the pricing policies. 
The norm currently is an annual long-term contract for supply of iron ore. The companies now want a mid-year review of prices on the long-term contracts adding to the worries of domestic steel producers. 
While the companies currently have fixed price long-term contracts for exports, which cannot be changed, companies like the National Mineral Development Corporation intend to recover the higher prices from the domestic steel producers. That, however, may not be an option for Sesa Goa since more than 70 per cent of its sales come from the export market. 
Nevertheless, the benefit of rising global iron ore prices will be seen in the Sesa Goa’s performance as negotiations for 2004 supply are finalised in the near-term. 
The company received a 9 per cent price increase for 2003 and with demand surging, the price increase for 2004 should be higher. 
Higher increase in prices is also possible because exports from Brazil (the second-largest producer of iron ore after Australia) to China have been hindered due to high freight rates. As a result, Brazilian exports have become uneconomical for the Chinese importers. 
India therefore, is now the best source of cheap iron ore. Another opportunity for growth is the acquisition of mining rights, which will result in both volume as well as price growth. 
But these are over the longer term. The growth on a consolidated basis will be greater since the company has two subsidiaries manufacturing pig iron and metallurgical coke, commodities that have seen the biggest jump in prices at the international level. 
With contributions from&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=\"red\"&gt;Mobis Philipose&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=\"red\"&gt;Sameer Ranade&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003144126.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 118, 'Egged on by illiteracy', 'We were two of us for breakfast and Lakshmi, the lady who helps me with housework. Three of us are going to eat so could you make three omelettes with two eggs each please, I said to Lakshmi. Two', 'We were two of us for breakfast and Lakshmi, the lady who helps me with housework. “Three of us are going to eat so could you make three omelettes with two eggs each please, I said to Lakshmi. “Two for us and one for you.” Simple enough instructions I thought. 
I emerged to her shouts of “hurry up, breakfast is served”. I sat down at the table to find three omelettes on the table. “One is for you, so why did you make it now? 
“My egg is in the kitchen and I haven’t broken it as yet,” she answered triumphantly. “Then how are there three omelettes here?” I asked completely puzzled. “You asked for three,” she said, a veiled blame in her voice for creating confusion. 
I didn’t want my omelettes to suffer as a result of all this calculation and I sat down to eat, happy in the thought that at least she had got one part of the instruction right . But as I went to put my plate down in the kitchen sink I found only one egg next to the stove waiting to be cooked. 
“Why is there only one egg here, Lakshmi,” I asked, by then a trifle irritated at having to exercise my brains so early in the morning. “How many should there be then?” she asked completely confused at this ado over breakfast. 
“Two surely,” I said firmly. “Didn’t I tell you to use two eggs each in our omelettes, which means you used up four eggs? So where is the fifth?” this time much more patiently. It was not that I was particularly worried about the fate of the missing egg, but just the thought of the instructions not having hit home was galling. 
Especially because my partner at the breakfast table by then was completely hysterical at this early morning math tuition and was trying to tell me how maybe I could have worded my instructions differently. 
“That’s true,”,said Lakshmi, “where is the fifth egg?” Muttering under her breath she opened the kitchen bin and peered inside to see if she could spot the broken shells of five eggs. She did and that ended this morning saga. 
As I was recounting this tale to my friends a few days later, one of them told me of her experience with omelettes and eggs. She was obviously a more evolved breakfast eater , and had told her house help to serve an egg sunny side up. 
“As soon as the oil in the pan starts smoking, pour out the white and then gently place the yellow in the center” she had instructed. After an interval she came back to find the lady standing staring crestfallenly at the egg she had cracked. 
“No white in this one, only a yellow. Should I check out another one?” It was then that my friend realised how elitist it was — the way in which we prefer our eggs for breakfast. 
In a place like Santiniketan, I suppose the lack of the urban polish also makes the poor seem even more naïve. A conversation I had with Lakshmi one lazy afternoon also brought home to me the curse of illiteracy. 
As she was telling me about her daughter’s pregnancy I asked her how old her daughter was. “She is nineteen years younger to me,” she said. “I was nineteen when she was born,” she explained again. 
“So how old does that make her now,” I repeated. 
“Just calculate,” she said, wondering why I was being so idiotic. “Unless you tell me how old you are, how can I calculate,” I reasoned. “Yes of course,” she said, a little embarrassed. “I am three years younger to my brother and he is three years younger to our older brother.” 
Thankfully the postman arrived and our conversation was interrupted and I did not restart it. I thought it would be better for her to believe that she could calculate her daughter’s age only if she could calculate herself. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003144105.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 119, 'Struggling against statistics', 'Two new woman chief ministers should mean a new look at numbers. As the United Nations Population Fund confirms, India is splitting at the seams because of its high fertility rate which can be traced', 'Two new woman chief ministers should mean a new look at numbers. As the United Nations Population Fund confirms, India is splitting at the seams because of its high fertility rate which can be traced to the female plight. 
I am reminded of a nightmare ride to Tiger Hill. My Australian friend had driven out to Ayers Rock, camped there and got up early to see a pink glow slowly smear the tranquil wilderness. 
I had got up in Darjeeling’s cold dark to see the sun rise over Everest and found the road to Tiger Hill solid with stationary honking jeeps packed with cacophonous humanity. 
It used to be said that India added an Australia every year to its population. No one uses that simile nowadays, possibly because our annual increase exceeds Australia’s population. Nor has one heard much about family planning since Sanjay Gandhi’s rough and ready methods brought down his mother’s rule. Later governments shied away from incurring public wrath. 
But the UNFPA’s latest figures warn that numbers must be controlled, and not just to make Tiger Hill less unpleasant. India will squander the fruits of its technological revolution unless it reduces the birth rate. 
This is one sphere in which we don’t need to surpass China; yet, it is probably the only one in which we shall in the foreseeable future. The world’s largest democracy is doomed to be the world’s most populous nation. 
The problem is not of food though the boast of self-sufficiency sounds hollow when accompanied by the qualifier that not everyone can afford to buy the wheat or rice we grow in abundance. The stark problem is space. 
My wanderings once took me to an abandoned fort near Hyderabad. Surrounded by jungle, the ramparts enclosimg an empty space had niches at regular intervals, in each a stone statue. A grazing cow provided the only movement. Back in the vicinity some years later, I found the jungle gone, huts crowding the empty space, and not a single statue. 
Wherever there is a vacant spot of land, there are people to grab it. Internal migration attracts attention only when it is cross-border and, therefore, offends local chauvinism, like Tamils in Maharashtra. Migration within linguistic states is not politically combustible in the short term but presents as grave a demographic and environmental challenge. A crisis is waiting to happen. 
The more obvious problems caused by movement from village to city do not need reiteration. Basic facilities like housing and transport are grossly inadequate and insanitary overcrowding encourages disease and crime. 
For a long time, union governments succeeded in preserving some kind of order in Delhi. It was the last cantonment, resisting the native hordes. 
Now, Delhi has succumbed to India. It is the future Calcutta, the nightmare result of overflowing numbers, inadequate resources, weak planning and subordination of all pragmatic considerations to political expediency. Population is the root of all evil. 
It is argued nowadays that national strength lies in manpower. Economists quote statistics from the thirties and forties to argue that people are better off. Malthus is scoffed at. But if malaria and smallpox no longer threaten life, the terror of HIV/AIDS lurks round the corner. 
And while engineers and other educated young Indians look on the world as their oyster, their exodus deprives India of the expensively honed tools of future growth. Even our earnings as the world’s back office, on which this column dwelt recently, are in truth a tribute to depressed wages. 
Call centres are the prize for the moderately developed who are still poor but fluent in English. An accountant earns $60,000 in the US, $6,000 here and $3,600 in the Philippines. Sooner or later, the Filipinos will try to seize our lead. 
Enforced birth control, like China’s one-child norm, would go against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s grain. But no responsible government can condone a 960:1,000 male:female ratio which reeks of gender discrimination, female foeticide and selective infanticide. 
The UNFPA hopes to persuade China to switch to a client-oriented approach that stresses the quality of care and gives women the final choice on motherhood. 
This may yield results in a society where Communist rigorousness has already reduced numbers and fertility and established a family role model. 
It will be far less effective in a land where the state does not traditionally impinge on individual actions that are shaped by Hindu thinking with its emphasis on family and male heirs, a preference that economic conditions, especially in villages, still encourage. 
The stated objective of bringing down the fertility rate to 2.1 by 2010 would certainly have an impact. The UNFPA calculates that while a 1.85 fertility rate would mean a global population of 2.3 billion, raising it to 2.35 would increase numbers to 36.4 billion. But how does India intend to attain the lower rate in another six years? Full female emancipation is the answer. 
That means equal treatment within the family, proper education, earning capacity and individual choice. The prescription does not allow of any short cuts. Nor can it be achieved by tokens at the top. 
One Vasundhara Raje is of as little relevance in this context as one Indira Gandhi was, but Rajasthan’s first woman chief minister can, at least, demonstrate intent by exorcising her tradition-bound state of the evil of sati worship. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150206.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 120, 'Cement demand likely to pick up', 'The demand for cement is expected to rise 7-8 per cent during the December-March period of this financial year as construction activities are picking up after a prolonged monsoon. 
', 'The demand for cement is expected to rise 7-8 per cent during the December-March period of this financial year as construction activities are picking up after a prolonged monsoon. 
Cement production during the April-November period grew 4.4 per cent to 75.15 million tonnes from 72 million tonnes in the same period a year ago. Cement dispatches have also gone up by 4.4 per cent to 75 million tonnes from 71.86 million tonnes last year. 
AV Srinivasan, secretary, Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) said production would go up with growth in demand is expected in the coming months. In November, dispatches went up by 5.6 per cent, significantly higher than the average 4.2 per cent rise in the April-October period, he added. 
Cement demand is subject to cyclical phenomenon, depending heavily on monsoons and festival activities. The demand in the monsoon period is usually lower as construction activities take a back-seat, but it picks up in the second half of the year, especially during the festival seasons towards the end of the calender. But the demand has been poor this year even during the festival season due to a prolonged monsoon. 
The 3.2 per cent growth in cement production in November was lower than the 4.5 per cent growth during the April-October period. 
However dispatches picked up to 5.6 per cent in November, over 4.2 per cent during the April-October period. 
Rural demand for cement has a strong linkage with agricultural income. Hence, a good monsoon, which is likely to augment agricultural income this year, should help increase demand for cement in the coming months. “There could be a lag effect of agricultural income which is likely to be higher than last year’s,” Nandkumar, vice-president, marketing, ACC said. 
Housing demand was likely to pick up further in the coming months and this would raise the annual cement growth to 6 per cent, said a Gujarat Ambuja executive. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150310.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 121, 'Bharti to buy 27.5% in Hexacom for Rs 102crore', 'The Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Tele-Ventures has decided to buy a 27.5 per cent stake in Hexacom India Ltd for Rs 102 crore ($22.5 million). 
', 'The Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Tele-Ventures has decided to buy a 27.5 per cent stake in Hexacom India Ltd for Rs 102 crore ($22.5 million). 
The stake was held by Telesystem (Mauritius) Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Telesystem International Wireless Inc, Canada (TIW). 
Hexacom operates a GSM network in Rajasthan under the brand name Oasis and has a 48 per cent market share with over 200,000 customers. 
The acquisition will enable Bharti to get a foothold in Rajasthan and take its nationwide cellular operation to 16 circles. 
The deal is expected to be completed in two months subject to regulatory and shareholders’ approval. 
Industry sources pointed out that Bharti might eventually acquire Telecommunications Consultant of India Ltd (TCIL) and Shyam Telecom’s stakes in Hexacom to take management control. TCIL has already moved a note to the communications ministry seeking approval for exiting Hexacom. 
“It is unlikely that Bharti will have a minority stake in any venture. It is not a strategic investor but a long-term player,” said a source close to the company. 
Telecom analysts said the deal amount was justified. Kobita Desai, analyst, Gartner, said, “The deal amount may seem to be on the higher side compared to the investment required for taking a fresh licence. But when you look at the advantage that Bharti is going to derive from the acquisition, it is the right move. The company gets a readymade network with over 200,000 subscribers and a presence in Rajasthan overnight.” 
Other analysts said while Bharti had shelled out close to $410 per subscriber, an acquisition cost of up to $500 per subscriber was acceptable. They, however, pointed out that in a few recent cases, the buyer had paid only $250 per subscriber. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150549.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 122, 'Bangurs buy 25% in AP Paper for Rs 39cr', 'The Andhra Pradesh government sold its entire 25.36 per cent stake in AP Paper Mills Ltd to the L N Bangur group, the private promoters of the company with a holding of 46.73 per cent. It divested the', 'The Andhra Pradesh government sold its entire 25.36 per cent stake in AP Paper Mills Ltd to the L N Bangur group, the private promoters of the company with a holding of 46.73 per cent. It divested the stake at a price of Rs 130.95 per share aggregating Rs 39.29 crore. 
Though the price paid by the Bangurs is more than today\'s closing price of Rs 113.10 on the BSE and equivalent to the valuation made by the financial consultants, it is considerably lower than the Rs 170 book value of AP Papers\' share as on September 30, 2003. 
The purchase of shares by Bangurs will not trigger any open offer to the public shareholders since it is considered as inter-se transfer between the promoters, and the price paid is not more than 25 per cent of the rate that works out as per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) formula for such transactions. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150556.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 123, 'Winter of content for oil firms', 'The oil refining and marketing companies are celebrating. The winter demand for petroleum products has pushed the refining margins to a record high of $10 a barrel. 
', 'The oil refining and marketing companies are celebrating. The winter demand for petroleum products has pushed the refining margins to a record high of $10 a barrel. 
If the trend continues till the close of the current financial year, the aggregate net profit of public sector oil companies may exceed the Rs 23,000 crore recorded in the last financial year. Reliance, too, will gain but no estimates are available. 
On the flip side, the high international prices of crude and petroleum products have put pressure on domestic petrol and diesel prices. The retail prices of these two petroleum products are likely to be raised during the next revision on December 15. 
After remaining subdued in the first seven months of 2003-4, the refining margins shot up sharply in the last one month. 
The margins, calculated as the difference between the international price of the Indian basket of crude and the global prices of petrol, hovered around $3 a barrel in the beginning of the current financial year. Yesterday, the margins touched $10 a barrel. 
While the price of a barrel of Indian basket of crude on Thursday touched $28.85, unleaded petrol (free-on-board Singapore) was quoted at $38.95. 
The composition of the Indian basket is based on the total industry processing of sweet, including indigenous, and sour crude in 2001-02 and represents published free-on-board prices of average Oman/Dubai crude for sour grade and Brent (dated) for sweet grade in the ratio of 57:43. 
Industry sources said the average refining margins for the last financial year came to $4.3 a barrel. The margins stood at around $7 a barrel in the last quarter of 2002-03. 
For a couple of years before 2002-03, the refining margins were dismal, hovering below $1 a barrel at times. The margins for diesel had turned negative during 2001-02. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150628.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 124, 'Kolkata firm to challenge AP Paper Mills selloff', 'Financial &amp; Management Services Ltd, a city-based corporate advisory firm, has threatened to take legal recourse challenging the Andhra Pradesh governments decision to sell its stake in Andhra', 'Financial &amp; Management Services Ltd, a city-based corporate advisory firm, has threatened to take legal recourse challenging the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to sell its stake in Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills to the L N Bangur group. 
The proposed move follows the Andhra government’s announcement today that it would sell its 25.36 per cent stake in the paper company for 130.95 a share, nearly seven per cent less than corporate advisory firms’ offer, to the L N Bangur group. The Bangurs hold 48 per cent shareholding in Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills. 
Kaushal Kumbhat, managing director, Financial &amp; Management Services Ltd, told Business Standard that the government did injustice by not considering his expression of interest (EoI) to purchase the stake at Rs 140 a share. 
The Kumbhat EoI also proposed to launch a 20 per cent open offer for the minority shareholder, if he was allowed to acquire the government’s stake. 
The Bangurs would not need to launch an open offer as its acquisition of shares from the government would be inter se transfer. Kumbhat said the deal would deprive the government as well as the minority shareholders. 
D K Panwar, chairman of implementation secretariat of Andhra Pradesh, said the government did not consider the EoI of Financial &amp; Management Services for many reasons. 
“First, today’s deal was between the promoters and therefore no outsider bidder was considered. Second, the government has a long standing relationship with the Bangurs for the past 40 years. Had the Bangurs not been given the first right of refusal, it would send wrong signals to other investors. Third, the Bangurs agreed to pay the price, which was derived by the government appointed consultancy firm,” he said. 
He added that if the Bangurs could not match the government’s expectation, it would invite open bidding. In that case, Kumbhat’s EoI “would definitely be considered.” 
L N Bangur, chairman of Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills, did not wish to be dragged into the controversy. He said: “We (the promoters of the company) and the government have signed the deal today. We would offer our best to make the company prosper. I have nothing to say beyond this.” 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150707.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 125, 'Chennai firm buys 48% in Sterling Holiday', 'The city-based Auromatrix Hotels Pvt Ltd, along with its associates, today announced the acquisition of 48.25 per cent stake in the ailing Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Ltd. 
', 'The city-based Auromatrix Hotels Pvt Ltd, along with its associates, today announced the acquisition of 48.25 per cent stake in the ailing Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Ltd. 
The company has also made an open offer to the shareholders of Sterling to purchase an additional 20 per cent stake in the company at a price of Rs 11.15 per share. 
Auromatrix has been joined by its subsidiary Star Logistics Pvt Ltd and Sterling’s president and chief executive officer Steve Borgia in the acquisition, which has been made at a cost of Rs 9 crore. 
Auromatrix also announced that it was in talks with lenders of Sterling for a possible one-time settlement amounting to Rs 150 crore of all outstanding debt. 
The company has already indicated that it was willing to settle the debt for 50 per cent of its present value. Sterling has accumulated losses of Rs 160 crore as of September 30, 2003. 
Kumar Sitaraman, chairman and chief executive officer, Auromatrix, said, “Going by the recent settlements in the market, we are confident that Sterling’s bankers would accept our deal.” 
Additional funding to the tune of Rs 110 crore is expected to come into Sterling, a majority of which would be towards settlement of the debt and a small portion would be as fresh equity infusion. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150846.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 126, 'Govt to de-license spectrum for 2 Wi-Fi tech', 'The government, in what may give a boost to wireless communications, is considering to de-license spectrum for two new wireless technology standards 802.11(a) and 802.11(g). 
', 'The government, in what may give a boost to wireless communications, is considering to de-license spectrum for two new wireless technology standards 802.11(a) and 802.11(g). 
Besides, the government is also planing to allow the use of 802.11 (b), which is now allowed only for indoor communications use, for outdoor commercial purpose. 
“We are considering to de-license two wireless standards 802.11(a) and 802.11 (g) to offer more spectrum for the outdoor use wireless communication which needs more bandwidth and capacity,” P K Garg, wireless advisor, department of telecom, said here at a conference organised by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (Mait). 
Besides, the government is also considering allowing wireless communication at 5 ghtz for commercial purpose. “The earth observing satellites use this frequency. Before opening it for the commercial use, we want to see, whether it would impact the operations of these satellites,” he said. 
He said trials are on to see if such de-licencing will cause any harm to the interfaces present in the network. 
“802.11(a) and (g) would need more bandwidth and if it is found during trials that both these protocols could exist in multiple network scenario, then we can delicense outdoor usage of wireless communication technology. We are considering all these issues with an open mind”, Garg said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150822.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 127, 'Google coming to Bangalore', 'Google Inc, the worlds most famous Internet search engine, has decided to cash in on the low-cost, high quality advantage that India offers. 
', 'Google Inc, the world’s most famous Internet search engine, has decided to cash in on the “low-cost, high quality” advantage that India offers. 
The company has announced that it will open its Indian R&amp;D centre in Bangalore, early next year. Senior officials from the Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore have confirmed that they have already been approached by Google, “which plans to set up an R&amp;D centre in Bangalore”. 
Stating that Google would set up its unit through the STPI schemes, the official added, “We were approached by Google in late November. Yes, we can confirm that they have plans here, but they are yet to be presented to us in a consolidated manner.” 
It may be noted that media reports on Google entering Bangalore had already starting making rounds on Friday morning. Though none of the state government officials were available for comments, STPI has finally confirmed this development. 
Similar to many top Indian and multinational IT companies, Google is likely to avail of the various benefits, including tax breaks, offered to the IT industry in the country when it registers with the STPI. 
US financial daily The Wall Street Journal had reported that Google planned to “hire some 100 engineers with computer science background” in India for its Bangalore centre. The news comes as a boost to the IT industry here which has been seeking to go up the value chain. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003150918.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 128, 'Jaiprakash Inds is a victim of vendetta: Gaur', 'The Taj Expressway, which will link Delhi and Agra with a 160 km road running along the Yamuna, has got mired in political vendatta, according to Jaiprakash Gaur, chairman of Jaiprakash Industries,', 'The Taj Expressway, which will link Delhi and Agra with a 160 km road running along the Yamuna, has got mired in political vendatta, according to Jaiprakash Gaur, chairman of Jaiprakash Industries, the company which was awarded the contract to implement the project. 
“The name of our company is getting maligned in the political witchhunt,” Gaur told Business Standard. 
Though the project was conceived when Rajnath Singh was heading the Bhartiya Janta Party government in Uttar Pradesh, Jaiprakash Industries won the bid when Mayawati became the chief minister. 
Once she resigned and Mulayam Singh Yadav became chief minister, an enquiry commission was set up to go into the award of the contract. 
Jaiprakash Industries filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court against the constitution of the commission. The court have directed the state government not to open the report and take any action on it unless a judgement on the petition has been taken. “My case is very sound,” Gaur said. 
Questions have been raised on Jaiprakash Industries being handed over 6,000 acres of land along the highway. 
“This was a sweetener put in by the state government. There are no major cities along the expressway. It is a risk the company is taking. The total acquisition cost along with interest has been paid for us for this land. We may get Rs 1,500 crore from selling this land, which will be our equity contribution for the Rs 4,000 crore project,” Gaur said. Jaiprakash Industries has already entered into a contract to sell the 597 acres of land allotted to it between Noida and Greater Noida along the Taj Expressway. 
On the charge that the state government had illegally waived the stamp duty for the project, Gaur said the Uttar Pradesh government has a policy of charging no stamp duty on all projects of over Rs 750 crore. “We have done eveything to ensure that all regulations were followed. The contract was awarded to us on the basis of a tender in which we as well as others participated. We being the lowest were selected. 
All legal formalities relating to the tender were duly followed and complied with by our company,” Gaur said adding: “Even if the Uttar Pardesh government calls for fresh bids for the project, we will get the money we have put in acquiring the land back.” 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003151045.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 129, 'Intel bullish on India', 'The worlds largest microprocessor maker, Intel Corporation, has invested $57 million in research and development in India in the last 12 months. 
', 'The world’s largest microprocessor maker, Intel Corporation, has invested $57 million in research and development in India in the last 12 months. 
Besides, the company has also increased the headcount to 1,400 from about 850 in the beginning of the year in the research and development. 
“India is the largest research and development site for Intel outside the US. We are investing in the country to take advantage of the opportunities available,” said Anand Chandrasekhar, vice-president (mobile platforms), Intel, at a seminar organised by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (Mait). Intel has chip design and development centres in India and Israel outside the US. 
Drawing a comparison between India and China, he said, in China the company has invested $50 million and has about 900 engineers. 
Projecting India as a centre of Intel’s core chips development work as against China where only localisation and software development takes place, he said, “We will have the next generation mobile chipset and processors for server rolled out of the Bangalore centre.” According to him, the next generation mobile chipset will be launched next year. 
The chip design team, at its Bangalore development centre, is also engaged in high-end, 32-bit Intel architecture microprocessor design and development for servers and large computers. 
Intel has been adding new product development and design activity in India in the recent times. 
The company is developing its new Intel Xeon processors here. Besides, the company has also established Asia’s first design team to focus on the enhancement and development of next generation Intel Centrino Mobile Technology at Bangalore. 
The company is also raising the profile of its centres in India. The company has planned an investment of $41 million in building a new campus in Bangalore. 
The 43-acre facility, which has an initial capacity to house over 1,000 engineers, would undertake research in the areas of hardware and software design, validation, systems engineering and development for next generation microprocessors, semiconductors and memory technologies. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003151140.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 130, 'Hutchison, BPL offers SMS @30p', 'Hutchison Max Telecom and BPL Mobile slashed SMS rates to 30 paise from the earlier Re 1, triggering a tariff war in Mumbai. The third private GSM operator in Mumbai, Bharti Tele-Ventures, had', 'Hutchison Max Telecom and BPL Mobile slashed SMS rates to 30 paise from the earlier Re 1, triggering a tariff war in Mumbai. The third private GSM operator in Mumbai, Bharti Tele-Ventures, had announced a new tariff plan on December 10. 
But like Bharti\'s offer, the two other operators said this benefit would only be available to post-paid subscribers. The new tariff rates will be applicable from December 15. 
Bharti had announced a steep reduction in SMS rates, from Re 1 per message to 40 paisa, along with a host of value-added features for post-paid customers in the western region. 
Hutchison and BPL have also reduced the incoming roaming rates in the western region and some southern pockets to Rs 2.99 per minute from Rs 6.44 per minute. Subscribers can also send 100 messages free at a monthly subscription of Rs 30. 
“We needed to have a joint discussion with Hutchison Max and Idea to provide our subscribers with roaming services as all the players are not present in all the circles. During the talks, the proposal to reduce SMS rates was also discussed,” senior BPL executives told Business Standard. The new tariff plan was likely to increase the incoming roaming traffic substantially on the BPL network, he said. 
At present, roaming contributes 10 per cent to BPL’s overall revenue and the company is expecting it to go up to 15 per cent by the end of the year. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003151024.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 131, 'Car sales zoom 41% in Nov', 'Domestic car sales jumped 41.3 per cent in November to 58,166 units, compared with 41,146 units in the corresponding period last year. 
', 'Domestic car sales jumped 41.3 per cent in November to 58,166 units, compared with 41,146 units in the corresponding period last year. 
According to a report released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), cumulative sales between April and November 2003 climbed 25.8 per cent to 4,33,840 cars from 3,44,701 in the same period last year. 
Car exports increased to 9,578 units in November 2003, compared with 6,991 units in the same period in 2002, the SIAM report revealed. 
Commercial vehicles sales grew 54.1 per cent in November this year at 21,860 units, compared with 14,183 units in the previous year. Cumulative sales between April and November in this segment rose 34.7 per cent to 1,53,559 units from 1,14,016 units year-on-year. 
Two-wheeler sales were up 5.8 per cent in November to 4,80,054 units, while cumulative sales in the April-November period grew 9.3 per cent to 35,80,384 units. Motorcycle sales were up 5 per cent at 3,77,095 units in November. Cumulative motorcycle sales increased 13.2 per cent to 27,79,820 units. 
Sales of scooters and scooterettes went up 9.7 per cent to 77,469 units in November, while cumulative sales for April-November period was up 1.8 per cent to 5,95,315 units. In the three-wheeler segment, sales were up 25 per cent to 23,201 units in November, while sales in the nine month period grew 11.7 per cent to 1,69,436 units. 
Maruti Udyog Ltd posted a 45.4 per cent rise in sales at 31,044 units in November 2003, while sales of Hyundai Motors surged 20.3 per cent to 11,056 units during the same period. Toyota Kirloskar Motors and Tata Motors posted 41.2 and 32.5 per cent sales each to 2,833 and 2,431 units, respectively, in November. 
In the motorcycle and step-thru segment, Hero Honda Motors grew 26 per cent to 2,01,277 units in November while that of Bajaj Auto increased 7.3 per cent to 85,092 units, the SIAM data showed. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003151918.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 132, 'BSES not to cut supply in Mumbai', 'Reliance group power company BSES has decided not to disconnect electricity supply to consumers who do not pay the additional security deposit. 
', 'Reliance group power company BSES has decided not to disconnect electricity supply to consumers who do not pay the additional security deposit. 
“In deference to consumer requests, the disconnection clause of the bills has been discontinued from the notices issued after December 6. In line with this decision, all consumers who have received prior notice, will receive the same facility,” a BSES statement said. 
BSES had slapped notices on its consumers in Mumbai demanding they pay an additional security deposit equal to three months’ bills and threatened to disconnect their power supply if the order was unheeded. 
The Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, a consumer body, objected to these developments and moved the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). 
In an interim order, the MERC restrained BSES from disconnecting power supply to consumers for non-payment of additional security deposit. The commission observed that the BSES proposal for approval of its annual revenue requirement and determination of tariff was already before it, and the matter of the security deposit might be decided as a part of these proceedings. 
“In the meantime, the commission hereby directs the BSES to refrain from disconnection of supply to consumers for non-payment of additional security deposit, pending any further orders that may be issued after hearing them on this limited issue,” the order said. 
The Mumbai Grahak Panchayat had contended the security deposit was a part of the tariff and hence required a specific approval from MERC. 
“The MGP has sought invocation of section 142 of the Electricity Act, 2003, and urged the MERC to restrain BSES from collecting the additional security deposit. Since BSES have threatened to disconnect the electric supply in a very short time, MGP has also prayed from an immediate injunction,” the MERC order says. 
Meanwhile, the BSES has approved the payment of the security deposit in quarterly installments instead of monthly. The BSES spokesman said “the impact of the additional security deposit requested from a vast majority of residential consumers is at an average of Rs 60 per consumer for three months.” 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003153122.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 133, 'Cable operators evading tax', 'The finance ministry yesterday said the cable television service was prone to tax evasion. The ministry has alerted both the direct and indirect tax departments to take necessary action. This includes', 'The finance ministry yesterday said the cable television service was prone to tax evasion. The ministry has alerted both the direct and indirect tax departments to take necessary action. This includes survey operations by field staff to identify unregistered cable operators for payment of service tax. 
The move is based on the assessments made by the ministry that several cable operators have been under-reporting their client base to evade tax. The introduction of the Conditional Access System is expected to put a brake on this menace. 
The ministry said it had been able to increase the number of cable operators registered with the excise department by 60 per cent. In a drive conducted from April to September this year, the number of cable operators registered by the department has increased from 16,458 to 26,410. 
The ministry said action was being taken to recover the tax dues with interest, and penalty from those who had been detected evading duty. 
As a result, the service tax collected from cable operators has also shot up to Rs 22.14 crore. It was only Rs 8.48 crore in 2002-03. 
Simultaneously, the income tax department has also carried out several surveys and conducted enquiries against cable operators and have detected tax evasion. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003153100.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 134, 'Fuel cess may fetch Rs 9,000crore', 'The government expects to collect nearly Rs 9,000 crore this fiscal from the cess on petrol and diesel, over 50 per cent more than last year. The total collection stood at Rs 5,900 crore in 2002-03.', 'The government expects to collect nearly Rs 9,000 crore this fiscal from the cess on petrol and diesel, over 50 per cent more than last year. The total collection stood at Rs 5,900 crore in 2002-03. 
The increase was largely on account of the 50 paise a litre hike in the cess on petrol and diesel, which was being used to partly finance the ongoing Rs 58,000-crore National Highways Development Project (NHDP), government officials said. 
The collection from the cess on the automobile fuels had touched Rs 2,874 crore in August 2003, officials said. The cess had been increased from Re 1 a litre to Rs 1.50 a litre in the Budget for 2003-04. 
Of the total money accruing from the levy on diesel, 50 per cent goes into the development of rural roads. 
The balance, along with the entire cess on petrol, is spent on the development of national highways under the NHDP (57.5 per cent), the construction of railway crossings and road overbridges (12.5 per cent), and given to the states for the upgradation of their roads (30 per cent). The 50 paise additional cess on diesel, added this fiscal, went entirely to the NHDP. 
Even though the government has till November released around Rs 279 crore from the Central Road Fund (CRF) to the states for road upgradation, they have been lax in utilising this money. 
Of the 30 proposals sent by the states till November, 10 are pending as the states concerned have failed to produce utilisation certificates for the previous disbursements to them from the CRF. 
“The slow pace of utilisation of money accruing to the states from the fuel cess for the upgradation of their roads is worrying,” an official in the ministry of road transport and highways said. 
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Punjab are among the states that have failed to produce utilisation certificates. 
According to the guidelines, when money collected from the cess on the automobile fuels is used to upgrade state roads, the work has to be completed within 24 months of the grant of funds. The states have to send detailed estimates, following which the ministry sanctions the projects. 
Funding wider roads 



Increase on account of 50 paise a litre hike on petrol and diesel 
Money used to part-finance the NHDP 
Collections of Rs 2,874 crore till August this fiscal 
Rs 279 crore from the fund released to states till November 2003 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161336.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 135, 'TMB chief restrained by local court', 'A local court in the Nagercoil district of Tamil Nadu has restrained TamilNad Mercantile Bank (TMB) Chairman R Natarajan from discharging his duties as chairman of the bank. 
', 'A local court in the Nagercoil district of Tamil Nadu has restrained TamilNad Mercantile Bank (TMB) Chairman R Natarajan from discharging his duties as chairman of the bank. 
The Kuzhithurai Principal District Munsif court was acting on a petition filed by the TMB Shareholders Association. 
The association had pointed out that Natarajan was the fulltime chairman of a charitable trust (in his father’s name) in Chennai and this was in violation of the Banking Regulations Act, which prohibits a full time Chairman of a bank from holding any similar position elsewhere. 
The association had also pointed out that Natarajan had failed to declare himself as an interested party in TamilNad Mercantile Bank’s dealings with ICICI Prudential for Group Insurance cover and a software company which provides banking software. 
In both these instances the association said the chairman’s son, N Nagarajan, was an interested party. 
The TMBSA also said the chairman had released funds to a jewellery firm in Chennai, which in turn had released advertisements in the souvenir that the charitable trust controlled by R Natarajan brought out. 
This move the TMBSA said amounted to the bank’s money being indirectly transferred to entities controlled by the chairman. 
In an emailed response to Business Standard TMBSA said, “Our Association has obtained an ad-interim injunction order from the Principal District Munisif Court, Kuzhithurai “restraining Mr.R.Natarajan from functioning as Whole-time Chariman and Chief Executive Officer of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd., till 29th Dec.’03”. 
“Our Association had seeked the intervention of the said Court on receiving many representations from shareholders’ of the bank. The following are the contraventions committed by Mr.R.Natarajan in violation of various of provision of Companies Act 1956, and Banking Regulation Act 1949, seeking Permanent injunction. 
1. He had tampered the records of the bank.2. He is engaged in vocation other than being a Whole-time Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.3. Extending loans to himself, indirectly through one \'GS.Jewellery\'.4. Placing order to himself indirectly through M/s.ICICI - Prudentials for group insurance to staff of the bank.5. Placing order himself indirectly through M/s.Thysys Software.” 
This is the latest in the recent ongoings at the Nadar promoted Tuticorin-based bank. It was in November that the board of the bank had eased the chairman out only to see the RBI intervene and re-instate him. 
The easing out of the chairman by the board was sparked off by a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) letter to the chairman, citing concerns of falling capital adequacy ratios and rising bad loans. 
In a letter to R Natarajan in late October 2003, the RBI specifically stated that the contents of the letter be placed before the board and action taken and a report be submitted to the apex bank at an early date. 
The RBI had in its letter said the adjusted capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the bank is showing a declining trend and this was a “disquieting feature”. The CAR had decreased from 12.41 per cent to 11.20 per cent as on March 31, 2003. 
Voicing concern on the quality of assets, the letter said, “The asset quality of the bank has deteriorated during the year. The gross and net NPAs had increased from Rs 324.73 crore (16.47 per cent) and Rs 117.47 crore (6.66 per cent) as on March 31, 2002 to Rs 340.56 crore (16.06 per cent) and Rs 169.65 crore (8.70 per cent) as of March 31, 2003. The NPAs were showing a rising trend since 1998-99. Incremental NPAs to opening gross advances had increased from 4.64 per cent to 5.75 per cent, indicating poor asset quality. 
The RBI had also pointed out that “The ratio of net NPAs to total equity was at 42.74 per cent compared with 35.29 per cent during the last year which is a matter of supervisory concern. Since there has been an increase in NPAs substantially, the bank needs to intensify efforts to ensure better monitoring/follow up of credit portfolio to accelerate recoveries and reduction of NPAs.” 
R Natarajan, formerly the general manager of Bharat Overseas Bank Ltd, had taken over at the helm of TMB in October 2002 for a two-year tenure. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161402.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 136, 'Govt weighs IDBI merger options', 'The government is looking at different options for the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), including merging it with subsidiary IDBI Bank or a public sector bank. 
', 'The government is looking at different options for the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), including merging it with subsidiary IDBI Bank or a public sector bank. 
“There is a proposal for restructuring of IDBI through merger. We are considering various pros and cons towards this end. It possible that the merger could be with another bank,” said N S Sisodia, secretary (financial sector), Union finance ministry. 
He, however, did not specify on whether IDBI will be merged with IDBI bank or a public bank. The IDBI Repeal Bill was recently passed by the Lok Sabha, paving the way for its conversion into a commercial bank. The Bill is now with the Upper House awaiting its consent. 
“Forbearance is necessary only under certain circumstances. There are options where it would be necessary,” he said. 
The Bill allows for forbearance on Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) and cash reserve ratio for five years. 
On the issue of allowing UTI-I to sell its 33 per cent stake in UTI Bank, he said the government does not have direct control over UTI Bank. UTI-I, into which assured return schemes and development reserve fund have been hived off from the erstwhile UTI, is now under the special adminstrator. 
“If such a permission is necessary then application will have to be made and the Government will take a decision. However, I am not aware if our permission is required in this regard,” the secretary said. 
On the issue of banks returning capital, he said it will depend on the capital adequacy ratio of the banks. 
Earlier, Sisodia said, in the context of banking sector, globalisation raises a host of “software” issues. 
“For instance, is there an issue of appropriate size for the banking entities in a global context, do our laws need to be revisited to facilitate mergers and acquisitions, do we have the regulatory systems in place, how are the human resources to be managed for a globally competitive banking sector and so on,” Sisodia said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161515.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 137, 'AMP Sanmar aims at 200% rise in premium income', 'AMP Sanmar, the Chennai based joint venture between Australia based AMP and Indias Sanmar group, is targeting to achieve 200 per cent growth in premium income for the current fiscal and about 350 per', 'AMP Sanmar, the Chennai based joint venture between Australia based AMP and India’s Sanmar group, is targeting to achieve 200 per cent growth in premium income for the current fiscal and about 350 per cent jump in the next fiscal. 
The company collected a new business premium of Rs 5.98 crore last fiscal and expects to earn Rs 17 crore this year, to be followed by a whopping Rs 75 crore for the next fiscal. 
In the current fiscal, up to the period ended October, the company underwrote a first year premium of Rs 8.07 crore. 
It was ranked lowest in the list of twelve private sector companies in terms of gross premium collected according to the Irda statistics. 
“To achieve the targets, we are planning to increase our countrywide branch network to 70 from the existing 46 in the next six months. 
“Our agent strength will also be ramped up to 5,000 by December end from the existing 4,000 and to 10,000 by end of 2004,” Graham Meyer, managing director of AMP Sanmar said at a press conference here today. 
The company is also planning to increase its capital base from the existing Rs 125 crore to meet the solvency margins. We have not yet taken a decision on how much to infuse afresh, Meyer replied to a query. 
Having grown so far primarily on our own sales network, we are now concentrating on the third party distribution channels for achieving the exponential growth, he added. 
The company has recently entered into a tie up with Chennai based Shriram Chit Funds for distribution of its products and is planning to enter into more tie ups with cooperative banks and regional rural banks in the south. 
Currently the company earns about 15 per cent of its premium through third party distribution channel and expects to increase it to 25 to 30 per cent within a year. 
We have chalked out a strategy to concentrate more on the semi-urban and rural areas, especially B and C class cities where many of the other private sector companies are not present, S Balachander, head (retail distribution) said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161653.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 138, 'Markets Report', '<B>Money market</B> 
', 'Money market 
Sentiment: Bullish

Prices of government securities went up across all maturities on buying interest yesterday. 

Prices of medium- and long-term papers rose by 20-70 paise. 

The yield on the benchmark 10-year paper, 7.27 per cent 2013, slipped to 5.1794 per cent from from 5.2125 per cent on Thursday. 

Call money rates ruled easy to close at 4.00-4.25 per cent.
Forex market 
Sentiment: Flat

The rupee ended steady at 45.5450/5550 per dollar on substantial dollar buying public sector banks. 

Premiums on the forward dollar closed higher. The annualised premium on six-month dollar ended up at 0.14 per cent.
OUTLOOK 
The rupee is expected to open at 45.55 per dollar on Monday.
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161719.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 139, 'SBI to get Rs 200 crore from securities verdict', 'The Supreme Court (SC) approved the settlement between state-owned State Bank of Saurashtra [SBS] and National Housing Bank [NHB] under which State Bank of India will receive around Rs 200 crore lying', 'The Supreme Court (SC) approved the settlement between state-owned State Bank of Saurashtra [SBS] and National Housing Bank [NHB] under which State Bank of India will receive around Rs 200 crore lying in securities with the special court in Mumbai. 
The settlement was brought about by the Committee of Secretaries constituted last year by the finance ministry at the instance of the apex court. 
The court endorsed the provision to go on with the prosecution of guilty bank officers in the terms of the agreement. 
The deal , authorised by a bench consisting of Justice R C Lahoti and Justice Ashok Bhan, brings to a close one part of a slew of suits involving late Harshad Mehta, several public sector banks and some private banks like Grindlays and StanChart. 
The apex court has been insisting on the settlement of the prolonged litigation as it would benefit only the lawyers financially. 
The Committee of Secretaries has since been working on settling the disputes. This is the latest in the series. 
Earlier, the apex court brought about a settlement between NHB and SBI over disputed cheques worth over Rs 707 crore involving the big bull. According to the settlement, NHB must pay half of the disputed amount to SBI. 
Similarly, NHB and ANZ Grindlays had come to an agreement over a dispute involving more than Rs 2,000 crore. 
It was stated that scores of cheques issued by NHB, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India, in favour of SBI found their way to Mehta’s account. Since almost all the banks involved are state-owned, the apex court favoured an amicable settlement. 
In the present case, the SC had earlier directed that the amount lying with the special court be paid over the SBS on their undertaking that on the determination of the suits, SBS will bring in the amount with a 12.5 per cent interest. 
SBI is now entitled to receive the amount withdrawn by SBS with an interest of Rs 196 crore. Since SBS is an associate of SBI, the amount deposited with the special court would be treated as held by SBS on behalf of SBI subsequent to the package approved by the ministry of finance. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161857.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 140, 'Home loan bubble may burst: RBI ', 'Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Vepa Kamesan today warned banks on the rapid increase in home loans. 
', 'Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Vepa Kamesan today warned banks on the rapid increase in home loans. 
“We are happy that the housing loan portfolio of banks has increased. It is, however, increasing too fast. The delinquency rate in home loans at the moment is not a concern. But it may not remain so if banks take to short cuts. Banks should also know their customers properly,” Kamesan said at the Bank Economists’ Conference here. 
Earlier, speaking at a session on retail lending, Oriental Bank of Commerce Chairman and Managing Director B D Narang said non-performing assets in the home loan segment were growing and the current pricing of home loans might not be sustainable. 
“The pricing is based on the anticipation that the rate of default will be 0.5 per cent, but it has already turned out to be 1.5 per cent. The incremental non-performing assets in home loans are around 2 per cent,” Narang pointed out. 
He also challenged the myth that home loans were the most secured assets in a bank’s books as they were fully collateralised. 
“What the banks keep are the sale deeds, and the properties are not mortgaged to them. Sale deeds cannot be treated as conveyance deeds,” Narang said making it clear that home loans were unsecured loans. 
“Such loans are also not capable of being securitised,” he added. Asking bankers to take a close look at their home loan portfolios, he said the current pricing was “less than correct”. 
Kamesan said, “The power of attorney is not a title deed. Banks should not cut corners. If corners are cut, the non-performing assets of banks may rise.” He, however, made it clear that the RBI would not prescribe any standardised document for home loans. 
“Currently, we do not see any need to talk to banks. But if need be, we will take up the issue,” the deputy governor said. 
Over the past two years, the banking sector has only increased its retail assets, and 80 per cent of these are home loans. 
The warnings 

Short cuts will increase delinquency rate 

Banks should not cut corners 

Current pricing is less than correct 

Sale deeds cannot be treated as a conveyance deed 

The power of attorney is not a title deed 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161931.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 141, 'Banks warned about rate hit on gilts portfolio', 'Vinod Rai, additional secretary (banking), ministry of finance, Government of India, today warned bankers against the hit that they may have to take on the gilts portfolio in case of rise in interest', 'Vinod Rai, additional secretary (banking), ministry of finance, Government of India, today warned bankers against the hit that they may have to take on the gilts portfolio in case of rise in interest rates. 
“If interest rates harden, banks will have a problem in their hands,” Rai said on the banks’ high exposure to government securities. 
Rai was speaking on Profit Pools: Emerging Trends at the 25th Bank Economists’ Conference in Mumbai on Friday. He asked banks to be on the lookout for signals on hardening interest rates as it will affect their profits. 
He said intermediation costs of banks are high at around 200- 300 basis points, which is equal to the interest rates in some of the developed countries. 
He also said that food credit for a large number of banks is an assured profit source and this may disappear. 
Rai pointed out that one of the fallouts of the increasing profits of banks was that various industries were asking for hair cuts and wanted interested interest rates of 6 to 7 per cent. 
Banks would be affected if this hair cut continues. Canara Bank CMD R V Shastri said once liquidity disappears, interest rates would rise. 
“The average exposure of banks to gilts is at around 40 per cent of their total assets. As interest rates rise this will be a cause for concern. However, there will not be a further slide in interest rates,” he said. 
Interest rates will continue to be soft for the next three to four years and there is enough liquidity in the system, he said. 
HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri said that banks will have to price products to overcome the loss of float funds on the back of implementation of Real time gross settlement (RTGS). 
“Banks have invested in technology. Unless they get to charge customers, RTGS will kill the profitability of banks. Somebody will have to pay for the cost of technology etc. The banking system needs to price it.” 
RTGS will kick off in January on a standalone basis with full-fledged services to kick off in June. In RTGS banks will be able to get their funds immediately. 
According to The Boston Consulting Group vice president and director Janmejaya K Sinha, corporate banking has destroyed a lot of value. 
“However, the top banks have been making a lot of money. With the large companies banks will have to focus on fee based income, with the mid-sized companies it will have to be disciplined credit management while for small companies banks will have to look at the cost to serve,” he said. 
Sinha also added that for public sector banks, larger corporates are loss-making. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003163137.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 142, 'Wal-Mart order denial hurts Mirza Tanners ', 'Kanpur-based Mirza Tanners hit the 10 per cent lower limit at Rs 88.10, off its high of Rs 109.70, on selling pressure after the company denied rumours that it had won a sizeable export order from US', 'Kanpur-based Mirza Tanners hit the 10 per cent lower limit at Rs 88.10, off its high of Rs 109.70, on selling pressure after the company denied rumours that it had won a sizeable export order from US retailer Wal-Mart. More than 2.43 lakh shares changed hands on the counter through 3,344 trades. 
The scrip has been zooming over the last few days on rumours that the company had bagged an order from Wal-Mart. 
In a communication to the stock exchange, Mirza Tanners said: “The company has exported substantial quantities of footwear in the last few years to reputed companies like Rockport, Value America and Aldo Group. However, we have not entered into any specific large contract recently.” 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003163120.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 143, 'Proprietary trades in derivatives by brokers constitutes 47% of volume', 'Proprietary trading by brokers in the derivatives segment amounts to more than 47 per cent of the total trading volumes in the market. Trading on clients behalf, however, still forms the majority of', 'Proprietary trading by brokers in the derivatives segment amounts to more than 47 per cent of the total trading volumes in the market. Trading on client’s behalf, however, still forms the majority of the trading at 51.4 per cent. 
According to data furnished by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to the Ministry of Finance, proprietary trading volumes in derivatives were at 47.04 per cent of the total turnover in August 2003, while this has marginally declined to 46.84 per cent in September. 
However, trading on behalf of clients actually saw a decline from 51.38 per cent in August to 51.05 per cent in September. 
In fact, proprietary trading has been declining over the months. In July, it made up 48.15 per cent of the total traded volumes, while in the case of client trading, it was slightly more than 50 per cent. 
Sebi has done an analysis of the trading pattern in the derivatives markets by the participants and contrary to popular perception, the participation of foreign institutional investors is considerably low. 
There has been a slow increase however over the months. From 1.55 per cent in July, the share of the FII trades in the total trading volumes has increased to 1.58 per cent in August and to 2.11 per cent in September 2003. 
According to Sebi, the major share of the volumes in the derivatives market is on account of trading by retail investors and proprietary trading by brokers. 
“Like FIIs, it would be reasonable to infer that the retail investor positions and the proprietary trading positions of brokers include arbitrage transactions,” Sebi said. 
In the absence of an arbitrage opportunity, says the Sebi analysis, there may be withdrawal of funds by FIIs, retail clients or brokers from the arbitrage activity. 
Navneet Bansal, associate vice-president (derivatives) at Kotak Securities, said, “Most of the day traders (in the cash segment) have moved into the derivatives segment in a big way.” 
Ashok Mittal, who heads derivatives at SSKI adds, “It is the reverse case in the derivative market. The retailers are creating the market for institutions.” 
A secular stock trend in the last six months is getting traders higher returns in the derivatives market at a smaller outlay than in the cash markets. 
Net gain from the arbitrage business, playing for differences between the cash and derivatives markets, is estimated at 8-9 per cent. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003152343.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 144, 'Industry grew 5.4% in Oct', 'Even though most multilateral and Indian institutions have raised Indias gross domestic product growth forecast to around 7 per cent, industrial growth in October 2003 slipped to 5.4 per cent in', 'Even though most multilateral and Indian institutions have raised India’s gross domestic product growth forecast to around 7 per cent, industrial growth in October 2003 slipped to 5.4 per cent in October 2003 against 7.0 per cent in October 2002. 
The growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was also lower than the 6.5 per cent growth reported in September 2003. 
Quick estimates of the IIP, released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) today, reveal that sluggish growth in the manufacturing, electricity and mining sectors have pulled down the industrial growth. 
The manufacturing sector, which accounts for almost 80 per cent of the IIP, reported 6.2 per cent growth during the month, against 7.3 per cent in October 2002. 
The growth is, however, way below the 6.8 per cent reported in September 2003. Production of electricity was up only 1.6 per cent against 7.1 per cent in October 2002, while mining production went up 2.1 per cent in October 2003 against 4.2 per cent in October 2002. 
The average growth in industrial production between April-October 2003 was 5.9 per cent compared with 5.6 per cent registered in the first seven months of the previous year. 
In the same period, the manufacturing sector grew 6.5 per cent against 5.8 per cent in 2002-03. The mining sector showed a growth of 3.9 per cent in April-October, while growth in electricity output was down to 2.8 per cent from a level of 4.0 per cent last year. 
As per the use-based classification, consumer durables grew at a rate of 7.5 per cent against an 8 per cent fall in production in October last fiscal. 
Consumer non-durables grew 7.4 per cent in October 2003 against 14.4 per cent in the corresponding month last year. Capital goods showed a growth of 4.6 per cent per cent for October 2003 against 17.5 per cent growth in October 2002. 
Basic goods grew by 4.7 per cent for the month and by 4.6 per cent for the period April-October 2003-04. Intermediate goods grew 4.2 per cent for the month opposed to an average of 4.6 per cent for the first seven months of the fiscal year. 
Twelve out of the seventeen two-digit industry groups showed positive growth in October 2003 as compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003152537.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 145, 'PM moots single currency in S Asia', 'Greater economic cooperation among South Asian countries could lead to a single currency in the region, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said here today while inaugurating Peace DividendProgress', 'Greater economic cooperation among South Asian countries could lead to a single currency in the region, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said here today while inaugurating “Peace Dividend—Progress for India and South Asia,” a conference of the Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative. 
“As we develop greater economic stakes in each other, we can put aside mistrust and dispel unwarranted suspicions. Once we reach that stage, we could not be far from mutual security cooperation, open borders and even a single currency,” Vajpayee said. 
Setting out the agenda for economic cooperation among countries in the region, Vajpayee said: “If we provide legitimate avenues of free commercial interaction, we can eradicate the black market and underground trade. We could jointly tackle smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering and other transnational crimes, which today flourish in our region because of mutual rivalries and inadequate coordination. 
The Prime Minister pointed out that in the post-Cold War era, countries around the world were increasingly focusing on regional economies for trade and development. 
“By most estimates, trade within regions accounts for three-fourths of global trade. Yet, in spite of our geographical proximity, shared economic characteristics and similar development infrastructure, intra-south Asia trade is less than five per cent of our total foreign trade,” he added. 
Allaying fears that India would dominate free trade in the region, Vajpayee said: “Our free trade agreements with Nepal and Sri Lanka have resulted in narrowing the trade deficits of both these countries with India. In fact, the success of the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement has inspired us to expand its scope to cover services and investment in a comprehensive economic partnership agreement.” 
Taking the example of energy as an area of economic cooperation, Vajpayee said while Bhutan was sitting on 10,000 Mw of hydroelectricity and Bangladesh had promising natural gas reserves, India was the most viable buyer for energy in the region. 
“There is obvious scope for win-win arrangements,” he added. 
Vajpayee also talked about the strategic importance of the region in transporting oil and gas from central Asia and west Asia to the fast-expanding markes of east and southeast Asia. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003152712.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 146, 'World Bank to raise aid to $3 bn by 2007', 'The World Bank is all set to double its annual aid to India to $2.5 to $3 billion in a couple of years. It also plans to raise $100 million from the domestic market through bonds. 
', 'The World Bank is all set to double its annual aid to India to $2.5 to $3 billion in a couple of years. It also plans to raise $100 million from the domestic market through bonds. 
“We have already discussed with the government, which wants the bank to increase its lending. Our funding to India will increase substantially in the next 2-3 years,” World Bank Country Director Michael Carter said, after launching a Country-level Development Marketplace initiative here. 
Indications are that the World Bank will step up its loan sanction to $2.5-3.0 billion by 2007 from $1.7 billion during July 2003-June 2004. 
At present, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Assistance (IDA) loans are in same proportion. The increase will be in the IBRD loan since the IDA loan is constrained by allocation,” Carter said. 
The increased lending of the World Bank will be aimed at infrastructure, human development, rural livelihood and support to states for fiscal and restructural reform. 
The bank is in talks with the Tamil Nadu and Punjab governments for the grant of structural adjustment loans, while Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are already recipients of it. 
The World Bank’s announcement of hiking loan sanction comes a day after the Asian Development Bank expressed willingness to increase its lending to $1.7 billion from next year. 
“We are planning to sanction loans to 10 new projects a year,” Carter said. “Our assessment is that what is needed in rural development is a substantial increase of investment in rural roads, electrification, irrigation and research and development. 
Carter said talks on replenishment finances for IDA-14 -- the loan under IDA for fiscal 2006-08 -- would take place in April next year. He said he did not foresee any reduction in the rate of interest on IBRD loans as it was already in the low band of 1-2 per cent. 
The World Bank will host the first India Country-level Development Marketplace (IDM) on 15 April, 2004. 
Under the scheme, a total of $250,000 would be awarded as start-up funds to innovators like non government organisations, academic institutions and the private sector for pioneering work in the field of rural services. 
The IDM will be hosted in partnership with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and DFID, and would be supported by Assocham. 
The bank would accept proposals detailing a creative approach to address development issues till January 31, and make a shortlist after careful perusal. 
The finalists would make a presentation of their proposal on April 14 at a Knowledge Forum, a gathering of experts in the field of rural service. 
An independent jury, not finalised as yet but a likely mix of government and non-government agents, would decide the proposals to be awarded. 
Each award would be for $ 10,000-15,000, so in the final tally a total of 25 proposals are likely to be funded. 
The Bank might exceed the total fund amount for the IDM and is in talks with agencies like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the same. 
The eligibility criterion for the award includes among others sustainability of the scheme beyond the grant period of a year and work to be done in partnership with another agency. 
“The motivation behind the country-level development marketplace is catalysing new ideas for development and fostering cooperation among the agents as they go about the task,” Carter said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003152845.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 147, 'Inflation rises to 5.25% despite cheaper food', 'The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rose marginally to 5.25 per cent in the week ended November 29, which saw a sharp 9 per cent fall in vegetable and lower edible oil prices. 
', 'The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rose marginally to 5.25 per cent in the week ended November 29, which saw a sharp 9 per cent fall in vegetable and lower edible oil prices. 
Inflation was at 5.24 per cent in the previous week and 3.4 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago. 
Inflation in the week ended October 4, based on the final index, was 5.32 per cent compared with the 5.08 per cent reported on the basis of the provisional index. 
A 1.3 per cent fall in prices of food items and a 0.3 per cent drop in non-food article prices pulled down the index for primary articles, while the indices for fuels and manufactured products remained unchanged compared with the previous weeks’ levels. 
The index for food articles fell on account of a 10 per cent fall in marine fish prices, 9 per cent drop in vegetable prices and a 4 per cent dip in barley prices. 
The index for non-food articles fell due to a 6 per cent fall in prices of raw silk and 3 per cent fall in prices of gingelly seed and raw skins. 
Soyabean and raw rubber prices fell by 2 per cent each. Sunflower was costlier by a steep 11 per cent during the week. 
The manufactured products index was unchanged despite falling food products prices, textiles and machinery. 
Within this major group the index for food products fell by 0.5 per cent owing to a 4 per cent drop in prices of khandsari and rice bran oil and 3 per cent fall in prices of oil cakes. 
Prices of solvent extracted groundnut oil, salt and coconut oil fell by 2 per cent each while those of imported edible oil, rape seed oil, mustard oil and groundnut oil fell by 1per cent each. 
The textiles group index was down by 0.4 per cent due to a 7 per cent fall in prices for woollen yarn, 4 per cent for tyre cord fabric and 3 per cent for cotton yarn-cones. 
The index for machinery and machine tools\' group fell by 0.3 per cent due to an 18 per cent decline in the price of excavators. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152234.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 243, 'Go for bull-spreads', 'Our perspective is that the market could move up till around the Nifty 1730-1740 mark before seeing any correction. 
', 'Our perspective is that the market could move up till around the Nifty 1730-1740 mark before seeing any correction. 
The first support level on a correction would be around the 1680 level, which is not too far below current spot at 1699. It is quite likely that the week will start with a rise and there will be a correction towards the weekend. 
This view implies that the derivative trader should be focused on the 1680-1740 range. The Nifty put-call ratio is around 0.39, which is a neutral zone. 
In the recent past, it has tended to be oversold at around 0.45 while it has tended to be overbought at around 0.25. 
The trader should be primarily interested in bull-spreads in this situation. There is too much support close to spot for the trader to find bear-spreads very interesting. 
As far as the option chain is concerned, there is little liquidity above 1720 – neither puts nor calls are available above that point. What’s more, by the week-end, settlement pressures will be seen and time decay will pull down most December option premiums. 
It’s very tempting to be a seller in these circumstances. It’s easy enough to construct bull-spreads by selling puts that are close to the money and buying puts that are further away. That’s probably the most paying strategy in this situation. 
The other thing worth considering are straddles and strangles. We are considering a position where, within settlement period, large movements away from spot don’t look likely. This suggests a seller is more likely to be successful with straddles or strangles. 
A standard call-based bull-spread would involve something like buying 1700c (23.8) and selling 1720c (14) for an outlay of 10 and a possible return of 10. A smaller range of buying 1700c (23.8) and selling 1710(19) costs nearly 5 and returns a maximum of 5. Not great risk-reward ratios. 
If the trader sells the 1690p (23.25) and buys the 1670p(16), he collects 7 and could lose a potential 13. If he comes closer to the money, selling 1700p (28) and buys 1680p (19), he collects 9 and could lose a potential 11. The wider spread has a poorer risk-reward ratio but the chance of it being adversely triggered is also less. 
A 1700p+c position costs a total of 52. That means it would start showing profits only outside the range of 1650-1750. We don’t anticipate either side of that range being breached by settlement day (December 24). It’s possible to sell that position and cover the downside with say, a 1660p (12) and 1720c (14). 
This would yield a maximum of around 26 and limit potential losses to around 14. It’s also possible to wait for liquidity to develop at around the 1730-1740 level before covering the upside of that position. 
This position can be improved on however. Suppose the trader sells a 1690p (23.25) and also sells a 1710c (19). He collects 42 and incurs a potential loss outside 1640-1760. 
Another key factor is that the return is flat inside the range of 1690-1710 as opposed to the 1700c +1700p position where the initial return is higher but the return drops as the price moves away from 1700. 
If this short position of 1690p + 1710c is taken, and covered by long 1660p + 1720c, the initial return is 16.25 and the losses are limited to below 14. The two positions can be compared in the given Nifty graphs. 
In the Futures segment, December Nifty is trading at a slight premium to January Nifty and February Nifty. By the weekend, it may be worth buying January and selling December hoping that this situation will reverse by settlement. 
Among F&amp;O stocks, BPCL, HPCL, Gujarat Ambuja, HDFC, HDFC Bank, L&amp;T, ONGC and Tisco look quite bullish. Infosys also looks as though it may have bullish possibilities. 
The December futures are worth buying in each of these stocks. There isn’t enough liquidity to trade options in HDFC and HDFC Bank. In several cases, bull-spreads are really cheap offering high reward-risk ratios. 
In BPCL, the stock has the potential to move till around the 415-420 mark. A long 400c (6.7) coupled to a short 410c (4.7) would cost 2 and offers a potential return of 8. 
In HPCL, a position of long 410c (9.8) versus short 420c (6.8) costs 3 and could yield a potential 7. In ONGC, a position of long 700c (11.55) versus short 720c (8) would cost 3.55 and yield a possible 16.45 for a terrific risk-reward ratio. 
In Gujarat Ambuja Cement, a long 310c (7.15) versus a short 320c (4) could pay a maximum of 6.85 for a cost of 3.15. In Larsen, a long 440c (8) versus a short 450c (4.5) would cost 3.5 and offer a possible return of 6.5. Out of all these, the energy stocks look to be offering the most in the way of potential returns. 
In Tisco, the technical perspective is more mixed. If Tisco’s closing price breaks 380, it could move till around 410. If the resistance at 380 holds, the stock could slip back till the 355-360 level. 
Tisco, in fact, has a wide daily range of 360-380. It may be worth taking a bear-spread with a long put at 370p (5.5) and short 360p (3.15) for a cost of 2.35 and a potential return of 7.65. It may also be worth a bull-spread of long 390c (6.35) and short 410c (2) for a cost of 4.35 and a potential return of 5.65. 
In effect, this combination is a long straddle of 370p+ 390c and a short straddle of 360p + 410c. It costs 6.7 and it could pay a maximum of 13.3. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2004/03/23032004/news2303200400159152501.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 244, 'IOC may get Cairn crude', 'The petroleum ministry is expected to uphold the Indian Oil Corporations claim for the purchase of crude oil from Cairn Energys recent discovery in Rajasthans RJ-ON-90/1 block. Hindustan Petroleum', 'The petroleum ministry is expected to uphold the Indian Oil Corporation’s claim for the purchase of crude oil from Cairn Energy’s recent discovery in Rajasthan’s RJ-ON-90/1 block. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation is also bidding for the crude. 
IOC is learnt to have argued that since it has two running refineries -- Mathura and Panipat -- in the north and its crude pipelines are barely 150 km away from the discovery, it should be allowed to buy the crude. 
It has also stressed that the Bhatinda refinery of HPCL is still under implementation and will take time to start production. 
IOC has informed the ministry that the Cairn crude can be transported to Mathura or Panipat refineries by using its existing Salaya-Mathura or Mundra-Panipat crude oil pipelines, which are barely 150 km from the Cairn discovery. 
On the other hand, HPCL is of the opinion that since the field lies quite close to the Bhatinda refinery, it will be cheaper to lay a pipeline from the find to the refinery instead of a pipeline from the Gujarat coast for imported crude. 
Moreover, HPCL has argued that the oil will start flowing out of the well only in 2007 and by that time the refinery will start operating. Early this month, Cairn Energy had announced its second big oil discovery this year in Rajasthan. In January, it had found India\'s largest oil field in more than two decades. 
The latest discovery was made in exploration block RJ-ON-90/1, where it drilled the N-A-1 well 8 km south of the Mangala oil discovery. The well is estimated to have in-place reserves of 100-460 million barrels and preliminary recoverable reserves of 20-70 million barrels. This discovery is expected to produce around 0.5 million tonnes of oil per day. 
The discovery is about a third of N-B-1, now named Mangala, which is estimated to hold 450-1,100 million barrels of in-place reserves, of which 50-200 million barrels are estimated to be recoverable. The Mangala find can produce an estimated 2.5 million tonnes of crude oil annually from 2007. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2004/03/23032004/news2303200400157152528.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 245, 'Bangalore\'s benchmark builder aims for global impact', 'The Sobha group, one of the leading builders in Bangalore which has established a reputation for quality, is formulating plans to become a serious international player in the next five years,', 'The Sobha group, one of the leading builders in Bangalore which has established a reputation for quality, is formulating plans to become a “serious international player in the next five years,” according to P N C Menon, group chairman. 
The strategy is to form an international company here and take it out in order to win large international orders in partnership with other international companies. Korean and Chinese companies are already doing this, as is Larsen and Toubro. 
Menon, who came from Oman in 1994 to set up the group in India, feels that his initial goal of making world class buildings in India has been largely achieved. Infosys chairman N R Narayana Murthy, while inaugurating the Hyderabad campus of Infosys built by Sobha, said India has not seen a builder like this in a hundred years. 
The desire to go global has arisen from the way in which the processes and information systems of the company have forged ahead of that of many global players and design and engineering skills have been acquired. 
Menon now wants to “benchmark my group globally” by competing globally. The Sobha group is targeting a turnover of Rs 500-600 crore in the current year and wants to double the annual output from the present 5 million sq. ft. of built up space to 10 million in five years. What is significant is that this is projected to translate into a three-fold rise in turnover to Rs 1,500 crore. 
In the next five years, Menon sees the average cost of floor space going up by 50 per cent in the metros, mainly on the back of a hundred per cent rise in land prices in the periphery of metros. 
There will be no shortage of demand at these prices. But the calculation could go haywire and prices could rise faster, affecting demand, if steel prices keep going up the way they are, cautions Menon. Significantly, Menon does not see property prices going into a depression after a period of rapid rise as happened before and after 1995. 
“The rise in incomes currently taking place, and the unlikelihood of massive satellite townships coming up in the next 5-10 years, will lead to metros expanding radially” and ensuring a balance between demand and supply, he explains. 
Menon is confident of growing rapidly in India and venturing out overseas because of several reasons. 
First, the Sobha group runs a positive bottom line, making a net margin of 6-7 per cent in Menon’s words but popularly seen to be doing much better. 
Second is the process and design capabilities and quality standards achieved. 
Third, the world outside India is not new to Menon as he began his business in West Asia, with current annual revenues of $ 20 million, before starting out in India. 
The difference between the earlier and proposed overseas foray is that while earlier Menon’s outfits executed contracts with given specifications, now they are in a position to evolve specifications and formulate detailed designs so as to comprehensively handle projects. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152357.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 246, 'Smart People', 'It\'s raining MIPs at the moment, and Reliance is the latest to offer its brand of monthly income scheme, keeping booming equities in mind. 
', 'It\'s raining MIPs at the moment, and Reliance is the latest to offer its brand of monthly income scheme, keeping booming equities in mind. 
Amitabh Chaturvedi, who took over as chief executive officer of Reliance Mutual Fund just a few months ago, does not quite agree that Reliance\'s MIP is just another me-too product. 
\"The equity component of our MIP is relatively higher than most other MIPs and it is so for a specific purpose. The fund\'s higher equity component will act as a kicker in providing regular returns on a periodic basis,\" says Chaturvedi. 
The scheme proposes to invest up to 20 per cent of its net assets in equity instruments, with the overall allocation between debt and equity depending on the fund manager\'s outlook on the equity markets. 
Chaturvedi expects the benign economic scenario and FII inflows to keep the stock markets buoyant in the near future. 
He also dispels notions that interest rates are on the rebound. The fallout of the monetary policy and adequate liquidity in the economy should augur well for a soft interest rate regime, he feels. 
A whizkid in his early thirties, Chaturvedi has a degree in chartered accountancy. Before joining Reliance Mutual, he had a productive stint with ICICI Bank, where he rose to the level of general manager. 
Missing from his CV is a B-school stint. But then, those who earn their stripes from the laboratory of real business situations don\'t need an MBA. 
Mehraboon Irani, who had recently joined Darashaw, a broking and investment banking firm, as vice president - equity, makes an interesting observation on the markets. 
He says that after the rapid-fire rally of the last eight months, there is a sense of complacency among stock market players. One rarely comes across a person who doubts the endurance of the rally. 
But if you jump to the conclusion that Irani is a bear in waiting, think again. His observations do not make him an exception to this rule either! 
Irani expects the Sensex to touch 6,000 some time next year. He says although 6,000 may seem psychologically challenging, it merely represents a 13 per cent appreciation from the current levels. 
On the other hand, there is a whole bundle of stocks, especially among mid-caps, which look set to appreciate by 50-75 per cent in a year. 
However, identifying the right cherries won\'t be easy, he says. \"One should keep in mind the value proposition, quality of management and future potential of the company.\" 
Irani\'s best picks currently are Nahar Spinning, Mahavir Spinning, Man Industries and Essar Shipping. 
Starting off in the accounts division at Philips, Irani evolved from a stock watcher to stock writer to fund manager for private clients at one of the oldest broking and investment houses in India. It has been almost a month since Irani joined Darashaw and he feels that he should have done this five years ago. 
A commerce graduate from NMIMS, Mumbai, Irani, 40, went on to do his MBA in finance from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. Irani loves Hindi movies and cricket. 
Not necessarily in that order! A prolific cricketer in his Philips days, he was quite an aggressive batsman, inspiring fear in bowlers whenever he represented Philips in the Times Shield matches. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152448.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 247, 'Smart Quiz', '
<OL type=1>
<LI>This semi-pro baseball player-turned-financier formed a partnership with a soda fountain equipment businessman and started an investment bank with the philosophy of \'bringing Wall', '

This semi-pro baseball player-turned-financier formed a partnership with a soda fountain equipment businessman and started an investment bank with the philosophy of \'bringing Wall Street to Main Street.\' Who was he?

Charles Schwab 
Marcus Goldman 
Morgan Stanley 
Charles Merrill
The Reserve Bank of India became a state-owned institution in?

1952 
1949 
1954 
1947
ABN Amro and State Bank of India were involved in establishing a feat on January 1, 1999. What was it?

First Euro transaction 
First online fraud 
First money transfer to the moon 
First online money transfer
Which of the following companies acquired Ezee, Trilo and Key from Cussons India?

Godrej Soaps 
Nirma 
Hindustan Levers 
Proctor &amp; Gamble
Which English economist wrote \'The general theory of employment, interest and money\' which theorises that government spending should increase during a slow economy and decrease and pay off debt during a good economy?

Milton Friedman 
John Stuart Mill 
Paul Volcker 
John Keynes
ANSWERS

Charles Merrill 
1949 
First Euro Transaction 
Godrej Soaps 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152424.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 248, 'Smart Quotes', '
', '
It (private banking) is like going to a five-star hotel. Even though you have to pay a price for it, their demands are not unrealistic. 
U Ragunath Rao, head, personal and privatebanking, Deutsche Bank, in Business India Let PSUs have a corporate regime rather than a conventional vigilance set-up. The idea is for the PSUs to be managed by their boards rather than be tied to the apron strings of ministers. 
P Shankar, chief vigilancecommissioner, in Fortune India Ordinary investors fuel rumors time and again because popular sentiments are sustained by rumors and not based on correct information. 
GN Bajpai, Chairman, Sebi,in Business Line To most people exchange rates simply determine how much cash they have to spend when they holiday abroad. But the dollar\'s exchange rate against the euro is surely the world\'s single most important price, with potentially much bigger economic consequences than the prices of oil and computer chips, for example. 
The Economist, in an editorial titled ‘The not so almighty dollar’. If Asian companies don\'t globalise, their turfs will be raided by global giants. 
Rajat Gupta, McKinsey executive,in Fortune India 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152556.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 249, 'Contracting size', 'The Indian derivatives market is almost three years old with a product portfolio consisting of index futures, index options, stock futures and stock options. 
', 'The Indian derivatives market is almost three years old with a product portfolio consisting of index futures, index options, stock futures and stock options. 
In the last couple of months, volumes have seen tremendous growth and India has joined the league of international markets where the derivatives market is much bigger than the underlying cash market. 
In India, the average daily volume in the derivatives segment is much higher than the cash market volume of the NSE and the BSE combined. 
If we look at the Indian experience, growth in the derivatives segment accelerated after futures were introduced on individual stocks in November 2001. 
On an average, stock futures contribute almost 60-65 per cent of the total derivatives volume. Index futures contribute roughly 25-30 per cent of the volume. Stock options come next with about 8 per cent volume and index options contribute the balance 2 per cent. 
Again, if we segregate the market with regard to institutional and non-institutional participation, more than 80 per cent of the business is from the non-institutional side. 
This includes the business contributed by high net-worth individuals (HNIs), retail investors and brokers\' proprietary business. 
Of this, almost 10-20 per cent of the volume is contributed by arbitrageurs as the cost of carry is much higher than yields available from alternative short-term instruments. 
Reduction of contract size to Rs 1 lakhThe Dr L C Gupta committee had suggested before the introduction of derivatives in India that derivatives, being leveraged instruments, carry more risk as compared to underlying instruments and hence only the informed (read big) investors should be allowed to trade in derivatives in the beginning. 
To discourage very small investors from participating in the derivatives market, a minimum contract size of Rs 2 lakh was suggested by the parliamentary committee of ministry of finance with a scope of further revision at a later date. 
However, the market has changed in the last few months as some of the stocks have moved up quite drastically. For example, a Tata Motors future contract with lot size (multiplier) of 3300 shares is worth Rs 14 lakh today. 
Similarly, a Ranbaxy future contract with lot size of 800 shares is worth Rs 9 lakh. Sometimes the bloated contract size becomes a deterrent even for medium-sized investors to take positions in these stocks. 
This is the right time to reduce the contract size to Rs 1 lakh as decided by the regulator. It will enable retail participants to take positions in derivative contracts, imparting additional liquidity to the market. 
It will also lead to better price discovery and reduction in cost to market participants. In the long run, it will definitely have a positive impact on the market as a whole. 
Settlement of derivatives contracts through physical deliveryIndia experimented with the idea of having individual stock futures and options as cash-settled against the international practice of physical delivery settlement. 
The idea, probably, was to test the market with new products and avoid complications that come with the physically-settled contracts at the initial stage. 
Let us try to analyse the impact of physical delivery-based settlement on the futures market. Physical delivery will take place only for the positions open on the expiry of the contract. 
Any market participant who has taken a future position to express his view on the market and does not want to get into the system of delivery can always square off his position in the futures market itself. So, it will not have any significant impact from the speculator\'s perspective. 
Let us look at the other set of participants who may have taken cost and carry arbitrage positions. They will have a long cash-market position and short futures position on the equivalent number of stocks. 
In the cash settlement-based environment, these arbitrage positions are either rolled forward (squaring off near month future and selling of next month future) or squared off by buying the future and selling the cash-market holding. 
This leads to additional cost for the arbitrageurs at the time of squaring off. If the settlement is through physical delivery, the arbitrageurs will tender their stock for settlement of the futures position and thus save the cost of squaring off. 
In a nutshell, the physical settlement will be a big relief for arbitrageurs and will make the arbitrage business more efficient. 
One more interesting impact on the market will be in terms of movement of basis (difference between cash and futures price) during the last half-an-hour on the triple witching day (expiry). 
In the cash settlement- based market, if the cash market is directional and the stock is showing a big move in either direction, the futures price will adjust itself with the expected closing price of the cash market as this will be the settlement price for the futures positions. 
However, in the physical settlement scenario, this price will lose its relevance for the settlement of derivatives positions and the cash and futures price will move exactly in tandem. 
If not, there will be an arbitrage opportunity emerging. On the whole, it will reduce volatility in the market during the last half-an-hour of the market on the expiry day. 
Now, let us try to analyse the effect of physical settlement on the options market. The impact on options will be directly linked to the way the issue of exercise and assignment is handled by the exchanges. 
It is clear that the moment an option position is exercised and assigned to a counter-party, the positions of both the parties shift to the cash market. 
Now, these positions are to be handled the way the exchange and clearing corporation/house manage any other cash-market position. Therefore, meticulous interaction between the cash and derivatives segments of the exchanges would be extremely crucial. 
Let us take a look at the settlement of a deliverable individual stock option contract. In India, all assignment notices are taken on record by the clearing corporation/house only at the end of the day. 
Now, in case of a call option, the writer would come to know about the assignment of option and his obligation only after the closure of business hours on the current day. What will happen if he does not have shares to deliver? He needs to buy the shares from the market - which he can do at the earliest - the next business day. 
In the rolling settlement-based environment, how would the transaction be settled as the positions of the call option seller would be accounted for in different trading days? This is a crucial question to be addressed by the market before taking the plunge to physically-settled option contracts. 
There may be two solutions. One is to merge the settlement of options exercised and assigned on a particular day with the next day\'s cash settlement. 
This will enable the seller of the call to buy the stock from the market on the next day to fulfill his obligation - i.e. settlement is on a T+3 basis. 
The other alternative is to have the settlement of assigned positions on a usual T+2 basis along with the development of a strong mechanism for stock and money lending and borrowing. 
As a short call American option may be exercised by the buyer any time during the currency of the contract an option seller may need the stock lender to support him. 
Similarly, the seller of the put option may require the help of the financier to fulfill his obligation arising from the options contract. 
Therefore, the availability of stock lenders and financiers would be imperative for the success of the market in the deliverable environment. 
To summarise, reduction in the contract size will attract increased participation from a wider variety of investors and provide an impetus to the derivatives market. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152611.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 250, '`I expect primary issues worth $3 billion in \'04\'', 'If this year belonged to the secondary market, next year may well belong to primary issues. The spectacular run in the secondary market is, after all, alluring a whole lot of private companies to go', 'If this year belonged to the secondary market, next year may well belong to primary issues. The spectacular run in the secondary market is, after all, alluring a whole lot of private companies to go public after a long wait. 
Not just that, even some of the existing public companies are contemplating another round of public issues to meet their fund requirements in order to achieve faster growth amid an economic recovery. 
This year, almost all primary issuances have done extremely well at the bourses, prompting retail investors to flock to IPOs. All recent IPOs, including the latest one by Indraprastha Gas, were oversubscribed manifold, showing the growing appetite for primary issues. 
With a primary issue pipeline of more than Rs 30,000 crore waiting to bombard the equity markets, retail investors are keenly looking forward to making money through the IPO route. 
While investing through IPOs is considered relatively safer than investing via the secondary markets, one question that may be haunting everyone is about the dynamics of the primary market this time around. 
Ravi Kapoor, head, equity (capital markets), DSP Merrill Lynch, speaks about the various legs of the current primary market boom and why he thinks it is sustainable. 
Kapoor has 15 years of investment banking and capital market experience and has worked on many landmark domestic and international equity and equity-linked deals. 
Recent issues handled by DSP Merrill Lynch include the secondary ADR offering by Infosys Technologies, the foreign currency convertible bond issue by Tata Motors, and the domestic public offers by Uco Bank, Indian Overseas bank and Vijaya Bank. 
Can you explain the various legs of the current boom in the primary market?The recent upturn in the primary market is the result of a combination of factors. Firstly, the secondary market has been buoyant and that encouraged primary issuances. 
Secondly, over the past two-three years those corporates that were not able to raise equity may now want to approach the market for more capital. 
Thirdly, investments made by a lot of private equity investors in recent years have matured and these investors may be looking at exit opportunities or listing their entities. 
This is evident from the fact that in many of the recent issues like Divi\'s Labs, Indraprastha Gas and forthcoming issues like TV Today, private investors are offering to sell their stakes as well. 
The fourth trigger for the primary market could come from the government\'s decision to sell its residual stake in companies which have already been privatised. 
After the success of the Maruti IPO, the government is planning to sell its remaining stake in companies like VSNL, CMC, IPCL, IBP and Balco which have already been privatised. 
Since the controlling stake has already been transferred in these companies, it makes sense to divest the residual holding at a decent price. Besides, cross holdings amongst public sector oil and gas companies could also get offloaded into the market. 
We haven\'t seen too many IPOs this year despite a sharp run-up in the secondary market. How do you explain this?Though a buoyant secondary market acts as a strong catalyst for primary issues, the reason we have not seen many issuances this year is that it takes a company about four-five months to hit the market with an IPO. 
However, IPO pipeline is building up and companies are now having concrete discussions to raise capital. Next year could be a potentially good year for the primary market. 
Of the Rs 30,000 crore primary issue pipeline, how much do you expect in 2004?I expect about $2.5-3-billion issuances in the market. On a conservative estimate, it could be about $2 billion. 
The fact that foreign institutional investors are positive about India and retail investors are back in the equity markets should enhance the level of issuance. 
Which sectors have you seen major private equity participation in the last couple of years? Is this a good time for tech firms to approach the market?Private equity investors have come in essentially in the new economy sectors - technology, media, telecom and pharma. On whether this is the right time for tech companies to approach the market, I would say, yes, this is the best time. 
Tech companies are coming out of their tough times. The pressure on margins is stabilising and volumes are looking up. 
The growth in the US economy was buoyant in the third quarter and if the fourth quarter growth is at 3-3.5 per cent, there should be some surge in technology spending which will benefit Indian IT companies. This optimism has been reflected in the stock prices of tech companies over the past one month or so. 
The way interest rates are poised today, do you think it makes sense for companies to approach the market for more equity?It depends on the company. For instance, some telecom companies, which could not raise capital in the past, may need capital now. Many of them may be already quite leveraged so equity may be the most viable funding option. 
In fact, in some cases a public issue may be necessary in order to unlock value for existing shareholders. Bharti has set the precedence and we could expect more telecom issues. 
Also, there is another window of opportunity for Indian companies now to raise capital or get listed in the international market. With increasing attention given to the emerging markets in general and India in particular there is a lot of institutional interest for India paper. 
Today, a company can choose to do a plain vanilla equity offering like ADR/GDR or an equity- linked offering like the FCCB (foreign currency convertible bond) issue we did for Tata Motors, or a sponsored secondary GDR/ADR offering like the one we did for Infosys Technologies. 
Don\'t you think disinvestment of residual paper in certain public sector companies by the government could lead to a liquidity overhang and depress secondary market prices?Not really. There is still a lot of demand from institutional investors for incremental paper. Most counters are witnessing sharp increase in stock prices today on account of weak liquidity. 
If you have additional paper, you won\'t see prices going up so sharply. Since index calculation in some indices is on a free-float basis, the weightage of these stocks in those indices will go up and they will attract more attention from investors. 
What\'s you view on the secondary market?
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152743.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 251, 'Playing safe', 'The fund of funds (FoF) concept may be new in the Indian markets, but it has been around for years in the American and European markets. An FoF is essentially a mutual fund that invests in other', 'The fund of funds (FoF) concept may be new in the Indian markets, but it has been around for years in the American and European markets. An FoF is essentially a mutual fund that invests in other mutual funds. 
The rationale: it may be far too difficult for lay-investors to choose the best performing fund from the plethora of schemes in the market-place. 
So an FoF with a portfolio of probable winners managed by a professional manager could reduce risk and increase the chances of delivering superior returns. 
Besides, FoF managers will undertake a systematic portfolio re-balancing to phase out non-performing funds from time to time. 
The Indian version of FoFs is, however, not quite the same. Indian FoFs, managed by domestic mutual fund houses, are offering to invest in a portfolio of schemes under their banner. 
So a Prudential ICICI FoF would invest in a chosen set of schemes managed by Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund, a Franklin Templeton FoF would invest in an assortment of schemes managed by its own fund managers and so on. What is the logic? Fund houses feel that they have the necessary diversity in their own portfolio to suit their investors\' needs. 
Players and productsAs of now Prudential-ICICI AMC and Franklin Templeton have launched their FoF products. Birla Sun Life (BSL) has got clearance from Sebi for its FoF and HDFC AMC is likely to come out with a similar product within the next two months. 
Prudential ICICI\'s PruICICI Advisor Series offer five different plans and have growth, dividend payout and dividend reinvestment options under them. 
All the plans have a minimum investment of Rs 5,000, and the minimum additional investment is Rs 500 and multiples thereof. The plans have entry loads ranging from zero for the PruICICI Very Cautious Plan to 1.5 per cent for the PruICICI Aggressive Plan. 
Templeton has also launched its FoF scheme and has two plans lined up for its investors. There is a Life Stage Scheme and a Dynamic P/E Ratio Fund. The former is a combination of different plans keeping in mind the risk appetite of various age groups which are broadly 20-30 years, 30-40 years and 40-50 years and so on with different mixtures of equity and debt. 
However, a young at heart 50-year old is welcome to invest in the aggressive plan for the younger age groups to whet his risk appetite. The Dynamic P/E Ratio Fund benchmarks itself with a particular index like the Nifty 50. 
BSL is planning to launch the products within a month. According to Jayashankar Madhavan, head of portfolio risk management at BSL, the company’s FoF would have three plans - conservative, moderate and aggressive. 
Madhavan says the target group for its FoF would be aggressive investors - in the age bracket of 25-40 years - who can withstand two business cycles. 
So, is the FoF just a glorified asset allocation plan? Yes. It is an asset allocation plan with a dash of dynamism. An asset allocation plan has pre-defined allocations of equity and debt. An FoF, on the other hand, has the flexibility to change its asset allocation within a specified band. 
\"The fund manager of an FoF scheme can take advantage of the economic scenario for optimum debt-equity allocation, which brings in an element of dynamism in FoFs - the main differentiator which is lacking in an asset allocation plan,\" says a vice president of a prominent AMC. 
A fee for laziness or discipline?An FoF is essentially for the lazy investor. Nimish Shah, chief executive, Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services, puts it differently, \"Buying an FoF is an exercise in not taking part in the management of the fund. Investors do not take the time or effort to do research on the stocks or funds that they are investing in.\" 
Lazy investing always comes at a cost. In FoF, it comes in the form of additional investment management fee. Mutual funds are allowed to charge upto 0.75 per cent as asset management fee for managing a FoF scheme. 
This obviously is on top of the asset management fee charged by the AMC for various fund schemes in which the FoF invests. So fund managers simply charge for rebalancing fund portfolios periodically. 
What if you do it on your own? If one invests in funds directly, rebalancing cost may work out to be higher at times. Every time an investor gets in and out of a fund scheme, he is charged an entry and exit load. Frequent rebalancing may mean higher costs in the form of loads. 
Says Hemant Rustagi, who has started his mutual fund distribution company after resigning from ING Mutual as its chief marketing officer, \"One positive aspect is the tax benefits and cost savings that an investor could make in case of portfolio rebalancing. If investors do the rebalancing under normal mutual fund schemes, they would be paying costs and capital gains tax. In case of the funds being under the same family, an FoF scheme would offer the twin benefits of automatic portfolio rebalancing done by experts and with zero tax liabilities in the sense that the result of the portfolio rebalancing would not have the customer exit the scheme.\" 
There is also a positive way of looking at this. An FoF does bring in an element of discipline in investing which even many seasoned investors may lack. Since FoF schemes have to maintain their asset allocations within the defined limits, they don\'t run the risk of getting carried away in overheated markets. 
Rustagi says ultimately it is the discipline of systematic asset allocation that is the main allure for FoFs. FoF schemes would entail ideal asset allocation in various market conditions, increasing the equity component when stock markets are looking good and decreasing it to the minimum when the markets look overheated. 
One could also take solace from the fact that there are not many investors possessing the knowledge or discipline to stick to an asset allocation plan. 
So, for a new investor who has a limited knowledge of the financial markets and still wants more returns, FoFs offer the best alternative. 
For a slightly higher cost, he can avail the benefit of having experts manage his portfolio according to his risk profile and have the satisfaction of following the discipline of systematic asset allocation. 
You can choose an asset allocation and stick to it, with no need of constantly monitoring your investments, saving time and nerves. 
The broad asset allocations that are currently available should also suit most people. The choice of a fund house is also simpler than choosing a mutual fund scheme which need a lot of expertise. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152713.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 252, 'Ensuring transparency', 'As one engaged in the business of advising companies on corporate governance and value addition, I can state with fair conviction that hardly a handful appreciate the term \'corporate governance\'. 
', 'As one engaged in the business of advising companies on corporate governance and value addition, I can state with fair conviction that hardly a handful appreciate the term \'corporate governance\'. 
By investing in a company, the investor accepts a limited partnership with the management and is well within his rights in expecting the management to fulfill its obligations with honesty. 
Many a time there is a wide gap between expectations and reality. Managements, being closer to the kitty, have many opportunities to separate shareholders from their legitimate gains. 
Does the management talk freely to investors about its affairs when things are going well but \'clam up\' when troubles and disappointments occur? 
As in life, for a company too, good days as well as bad days don\'t last forever. Economic and business downturns and upswings are part of a company\'s life. 
Even the best-run companies will face unexpected difficulties, profit squeezes, and unfavourable shifts in demand for products. In recent times, one has seen seemingly infallible companies like Infosys and HLL biting the dust. 
When the sailing is smooth and brisk, many companies shower shareholders with various announcements and bonus shares and extra interim dividends but when things are on a downward slide, communication to shareholders simply does not happen. 
Results for a year may show no topline or bottomline growth and this may be understandable. But, shareholders expect the management to explain the problems the company is encountering and its game-plan to tackle the same. 
Companies are often scared about discussing these issues. In some cases, the management does not wish to ever accept that it grossly miscalculated something. 
There are laws to protect investors\' interest. For those who are serious about corporate governance, these laws are superfluous. They have their own value system and investors respect them for that. 
For those who are not serious, the laws just act as a deterrent and, given half a chance, they are circumvented and the shareholder is robbed. 
By far, the most important intangible asset any company could possess is management quality. Having a great idea or a good product is just part of the organisational story. Having the ability to carry it forward and make a first-rate organisation is another one that requires vision, competence and integrity. 
Corporate governance extends beyond corporate law. Its fundamental objective is not mere fulfillment of the requirements of the law but to ensure commitment of the board in managing the company in a transparent manner for maximising long-term shareholder value. 
As competition increases and technology pronounces the death of distance and speeds up communication, the environment in which firms operate also changes. In this dynamic environment, the systems of corporate governance also need to evolve. 
More people are recognising that corporate governance is indispensable to effective market discipline. 
In an age when capital flows as quickly as information, a company that does not promote a culture of strong, independent oversight risks its stability and future health. 
The link between a company\'s management, directors and its financial reporting system has never been more crucial. Strong corporate governance is indispensable to resilient and vibrant capital markets and is an important instrument of investor protection. 
A profit warning is a candid disclosure that inevitably leads to turmoil, but companies should not flinch from announcing it when necessary. 
This will enable shareholders to know where the companies in which they have invested stand. 
A company should ensure timely disclosure of material and price-sensitive information, including details of all material events that have a bearing on the performance of the company. 
A statement that the company\'s next quarter profits will fall has its effect on the scrip. A fall in stock prices reflects a return to sanity and a shift in perception. 
An important aspect of corporate governance relates to issues of insider trading. It is important that insiders do not use their position of knowledge and access to inside information to take unfair advantage over uninformed stockholders and other investors transacting in the stock of the company. 
To achieve this, corporates are expected to disseminate price-sensitive information and ensure that till such information is made public, insiders abstain from transacting in the securities of the company. The principle should be \'disclose or desist\'. 
This calls for companies to devise an internal procedure for adequate and timely disclosures, reporting requirements, confidentiality norms and code of conduct for its directors and employees with regard to their dealings in securities. A couple of companies that come to mind here are Crisil and HSBC. 
There are some Indian companies, which have established high standards of corporate governance but there are many more whose practices are a matter of concern. 
There is also an increasing concern about standards of financial reporting and accountability which can be avoided with better and more transparent reporting practices. 
Investors have suffered on account of unscrupulous management of companies which have raised capital from the market at high valuations and have performed much worse than the reported figures, leave alone the financial projections at the time of raising money. 
In recent times, financial reporting and accounting standards in India have been upgraded. 
This, however, is an ongoing process and we have to move speedily towards the adoption of international standards. This is particularly important from the angle of corporate governance. 
A company should draw up, and ensure compliance with, a detailed list of parameters on which its financial performance and figures must be disclosed to all shareholders. 
As corporate India\'s present disclosure norms are inadequate, companies could establish their governance credentials by conforming to international standards such as the US GAAP norms instead of revealing only what the law demands. 
Governance has assumed greater relevance because of the increase in the amount of funds being raised as well as the concomitant rise in international investment which means that ownership and management are further detached from one another. The higher the quality of disclosures, the more loyal are the company\'s shareholders. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152819.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 253, 'Beating the benchmark', '<B>Background:</B> HDFC Top 200 aims to deliver returns superior to those of the BSE 200 while maintaining a risk profile which is lower than that of an actively managed fund. 
', 'Background: HDFC Top 200 aims to deliver returns superior to those of the BSE 200 while maintaining a risk profile which is lower than that of an actively managed fund. 
 
The fund maintains around 60 per cent of the portfolio in matched positions with the BSE 200 to record returns which are in line with those of the index. 
 
This means that the per cent allocation of individual stocks in the index will represent the minimum that the scheme will commit in its portfolio. The scheme was launched in September 1996 and carries a 2 per cent entry load for investments upto Rs 50 lakh. 
Performance: In its initial years HDFC Top 200 was an average performer. In 2001 and 2002 the fund stormed into the first quartile of its category. With year-to-date returns of 108.95 per cent, the fund will be making it to the top quartile of the category for the third year running. 
The spectacular performance is also reflected in the fund’s trailing three- and five-year returns which stand at 32.11 and 27.17 per cent respectively. 
Portfolio: The fund benchmarks its portfolio against the BSE 200. This allows the fund the maneuverability of investing in large-cap stocks as well as mid-caps. 
As its sector allocation closely matches that of the BSE 200, the fund was one of the earliest to take exposure to energy sector stocks such as ONGC in 2002. 
The fund management maintained that even non-disinvestment stocks would be re-rated as a result of the improving valuations of stocks such as HPCL and BPCL. 
Thus GAIL and SBI were also early entrants into the fund’s portfolio and it has benefited from these stocks rising manifold since. 





Top holdings


As on Nov 30, 2003

Value (Cr)

Net assets (%)


Oil &amp; Natural Gas Corp

49.40

8.54


Grasim Industries

44.96

7.77


Reliance Industries

38.62

6.68


SBI

33.86

5.86


Infosys Technologies

23.13

4.00


Concor

20.34

3.52


ACC

18.12

3.13


Maruti Udyog

17.23

2.98


Bharat Electronics

15.81

2.73


ITC

15.43

2.67


Wipro

14.92

2.58


Bhel

14.45

2.50


Gujarat Ambuja Cements

14.02

2.42


SAIL

12.21

2.11


Century Textiles

12.19

2.11


Bank of Baroda

11.65

2.01


Sun Pharmaceutical

11.38

1.97


Corporation Bank

11.29

1.95


GAIL

11.01

1.90


Tisco

10.83

1.87
In the previous market surge of 1999-2000, the fund was not a top performer despite high exposure in FMCG, pharma and technology stocks. 
At the same time avoiding momentum technology stocks prevented it from being badly hurt when markets crashed. As a matter of discipline, the exposure to the tech sector has come down gradually. 
While healthcare and FMCG stocks dominated the portfolio till 2002, banking and energy stocks - the best performers in recent times - have been its top holdings so far this year. 
Outlook: With exposure to both large-caps as well as mid-caps and a well-diversified portfolio, HDFC Top 200 is an ideal investment destination for long-term equity investors. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152956.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 254, '`The markets are moderately undervalued\'', '<B>Prashant Jain</B>, Head (Equities), HDFC Mutual Fund, speaks on market outlook and his funds\' performance. 
', 'Prashant Jain, Head (Equities), HDFC Mutual Fund, speaks on market outlook and his funds\' performance. 
How is HDFC Top 200 different from other equity-oriented schemes like the HDFC Growth and HDFC Equity Fund?The investment strategy is such that it positions the fund between an actively managed fund and an index fund. The objective of the fund is to deliver superior returns over the index in the medium to long term without moving too far from the index. 
The way we deliver this is by placing nearly 60 per cent aggregate matched positions with the BSE 200 index. The fund endeavours to combine the best of both active and passive management for investors. 
In its eight-year history, the fund has consistently delivered better returns than the benchmark. 
Given that index stocks have moved up substantially in the recent rally, would you agree that index-based funds run the risk of underperforming the peer group if the wave turns in favour of medium- and small-cap stocks?There are hardly any gaps between price-earnings multiples of large- and mid-cap stocks anymore. Irrespective of whether a stock has large or small capitalisation, over longer periods of time what matters is valuations and earnings growth. 
That seems to be intact even for large-caps stocks currently. 
What is your outlook for the market? Steep undervaluations of the kind that we saw till about six months ago no longer exist. The market appears to be moderately undervalued and should deliver reasonable returns over the medium to long-term aided by decent growth in the economy and corporate profits. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003152929.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 255, 'Momentum weakens', 'After a short correction on Monday and Tuesday, the market surged through the rest of the week. The Sensex ended at 5315.81 points for a gain of 3.59 per cent while the Nifty gained 3.23 per cent to', 'After a short correction on Monday and Tuesday, the market surged through the rest of the week. The Sensex ended at 5315.81 points for a gain of 3.59 per cent while the Nifty gained 3.23 per cent to close at 1698.9 points. 
The Defty gained 3.40 per cent with the rupee contributing a little by its strength. Breadth was fairly positive. Advances outnumbered declines though not by a huge margin. 
Volumes were highest on Wednesday and on the low side on the other four sessions. Mid-caps showed a lot of strength - the BSE 500 gained a disproportionate 4.41 per cent. The Nifty put-call ratio ended the week at a neutral 0.39. 
Outlook: The uptrend probably has a little steam left in it although momentum was visibly weakening on Friday. 
Projections based on the V-shaped formation of this week would suggest possible Nifty tops at around 1730 and Sensex levels of 5400 before this uptrend ends and the next correction starts. 
So, we can expect at least one or two sessions of further bullishness. If there\'s a correction, the first support levels would come into play around Nifty 1680/Sensex 5220. 
Rationale: While the breadth indicators weren\'t very strong, they remained positive and the strength in mid-caps underlines the strength in the big indices. 
In every upmove since May, chart projections have been either met or exceeded. Even the momentum indicators remain net positive despite the weakening noted above. 
There\'s no reason to believe that this upmove won\'t meet its targets. 
Counter-view: An optimist would expect this surge to continue past the projected target of 1740/5400. A pessimist would expect an immediate correction. 
In my opinion, the pessimist has slightly more ammunition in his favour. This is because there is usually turmoil in the F&amp;O settlement week and historically, December tends to see weak closings as the FIIs take their Christmas break. 
Bulls and bears: This week it was the index and industry leaders such as ITC, Infosys, RIL, Dr Reddy’s and HLL, which lagged the generally bullish movement. Smaller stocks did well. 
Among sectors, refiners looked to be in much demand from the bulls. BPCL, Castrol, HPCL, Chennai Petro and Kochi Refinery all did well and look poised to do better. 
Tourism related stocks like Thomas Cook and East India Hotels also did well. There was also a late surge in cement stocks - out of these, Gujarat Ambuja looks the best bet for next week with L&amp;T also fairly strong. 
Other winners were scattered across both new and old economy. Aptech, Aurobindo Pharma, Bharat Forge, e-Merck, Essel, Gujarat Gas, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Hinduja TMT, LML, Oriental Bank, Sawpipes, Tata Chemical and Tisco all saw committed investment. 
MICRO TECHNICALS 
AUROBINDO PHARMA Current price: 394.5 Target price: 445 


The stock made a breakout last week and consolidated at higher levels with expanded volumes. The target projection after the breakout would be in the range of 445-450. This may take three-four weeks to achieve so a buyer would have to take delivery. 
Over next week, the stock will probably continue to consolidate inside the range of 370-400. Try and accumulate towards the lower end of that range and keep a stop at 365. 
CHENNAI PETROLEUM Current price: 87.25 Target price: 105 


The stock is testing resistance around its previous highs of 85-90. It has seen expanded volumes in the last week. If it makes a breakout by closing above 90, it will probably shoot to 105 very quickly. 
So, it makes sense to buy, and keep a stop at 83 rather than waiting for the breakout to occur. 
GUJARAT AMBUJA CEMENT Current price: 304Target price: 315 


The stock surged on Friday with a sharp volume expansion. It has an immediate target of around 315 and a probable target of around 340 within 8-10 sessions. 
Ideally a trader would like to go long and keep a stop at about 295. The one danger is that GAC has a fairly wide daily trading range and could be quite likely move down to 285 levels on an intra-day basis. 
Perhaps the trader could (a) try to buy toward the lower end of the range or (b) buy a put at 280 to cover the position rather than keep a conventional stop. 
HDFC BANK Current price: 360Target price: 375 


The stock surged with high volumes on Friday. The projected target would be around 375 in the immediate future. There will probably be a high intra-day range, with the high-low separated by around 15. Go long and try and keep a stop at about 345. 
Unfortunately there isn\'t enough liquidity to use options to play the stock. It appears to be bullish in the long-term so consider taking partial profits only at 375. 
LML Current price: 68Target price: 80 


The stock has seen a strong volume expansion in the last couple of sessions. It is testing resistance around the level of 69 and it is likely to breach that resistance quite soon. 
If LML closes above 69, it will probably hit 80 inside the next session. Go long and keep a stop at about 64. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003161553.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 256, 'No substitute to proper risk control: RBI', 'The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said there is no substitute for appropriate risk management by all agents especially the financial intermediaries, who face both direct and indirect risk in', 'The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said there is no substitute for appropriate risk management by all agents especially the financial intermediaries, who face both direct and indirect risk in regard to forex exposures, even as it focuses on managing foreign exchange volatility without any fixed target. 
“The direct risk faced by the financial intermediaries is managed through fixing open position and gap limits and reviewing the actual positions on an ongoing basis. As for the indirect risk the RBI’s prescription is that all banks should have a policy for looking at such exposures on an ongoing basis and prescribing covenants for hedging while taking on credit exposures on or off the balance sheet,” Usha Thorat, executive director, Reserve Bank of India, said. 
Authorised dealers (ADs) can swap residents’ forex liabilities into rupee liabilities acting as counter-party to the transaction subject to the gap limits. 
In case of such swap of rupee into forex liability, ADs can act as counter-party up to only $50 million at any point of time. 
This is specifically intended to minimise creation of dollar denominated assets without corresponding liability. 
Banks also have specific limits on borrowing at 25 per cent of their capital with exceptions for accessing line of credit for pre and post shipment export credit. 
While there are no limits on investing overseas, the regulations specify that such investments must only be in top rated sovereign papers and liquid money market instruments. 
“Such exposures would no doubt help banks to lend in forex to their constituents, which is the most preferred currency for borrowing today, but it would bring in its wake the systemic risk of unhedged forex exposures,” said Thorat. 
Liberalised access to forex loans from banks in India, trade credit and external debt has enhanced the forex exposures of Indian corporates and this is a source of indirect risk to banks that have an exposure to such corporates. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/13122003/news13122003163432.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 257, 'Gland Pharma to raise $25m, eyes public issue', 'Gland Pharma, a city based liquid injectibles manufacturing company, is planning to raise $25 million to meet its fund requirements for manufacturing capacity expansion, marketing support and a foray', 'Gland Pharma, a city based liquid injectibles manufacturing company, is planning to raise $25 million to meet its fund requirements for manufacturing capacity expansion, marketing support and a foray into regulated markets. 
The company is evaluating various options, including an initial public offering (IPO), private placement of equity and going for fresh debt from the institutions to raise the funds. 
“We will take a decision on the IPO with in the next two months. Our debt equity ratio at 0.8:1 also makes us comfortable to go for a higher gearing,” PVN Raju, chairman of Gland Pharma said at a press conference here. The company presently has a paid-up capital of Rs 9.68 crore. 
Gland Pharma today announced that it has received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its injectibles facility at Dundigal near the city. 
The approval was obtained for some of the products that the company will manufacture for Apotex Corporation, a US based pharmaceutical major. 
The company has posted a net profit of Rs 5 crore on a turnover of Rs 50 crore last fiscal. 
The company expects to clock a Rs 65 crore turnover this year. 
Contract manufacturing contributed Rs 10 crore to last year’s turnover of Rs 50 crore, while exports contributed another Rs 8 crore. 
The balance came from domestic sales of injectibles, YVG Krishna Rao, general manager (corporate finance) of the company said. 
In the current year, we are expecting an exports volume of $5 million and targeting much bigger export volumes in the ensuing years, Krishna Rao said. 
Our foray into the regulated markets will fetch us 20 to 25 times the current price realisations in exports, Srinivas Sadu, vice president (exports) said while justifying the company’s projections on export revenues. 
The company has pioneered Heparin technology in the country and set up its manufacturing facility in collaboration with Vetter group of Germany. It has a leadership position in the GlycosAminoGlycans (GAGS) range of molecules. 
The company manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and injectible formulations for niche segments such as Osteoarthritis, anti-coagulents, gynaecology and opthalmology. 
Promoters of the company currently hold about 60 per cent stake in the equity, while Vettor group holds 16 per cent stake. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003132343.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 258, 'NCDEX flags off futures in 10 commodities', 'National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) Ltd. kicked off futures trading in 10 commodities here today. 
', 'National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) Ltd. kicked off futures trading in 10 commodities here today. 
The 430-odd NCDEX members did trades in gold, silver, mustard seed, mustard oil, soya bean, soya oil, long staple cotton, medium staple cotton, RBD palmolein and crude palm oil (CPO). 
Trading was inaugurated by S B Mathur, director of NCDEX and chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Some other directors of the NCDEX board were also present at the ceremony. 
“We have set for ourselves global benchmarks in our performance, technology and risk control measures; all our operations would be transparent”, said P. H. Ravikumar, managing director and chief executive officer of NCDEX. 
“To achieve this, we have built a state-of-the-art technology platform and have tied up with well known names in the areas of clearing and settlement banks, depository participants, warehouses, vaults, certifying and assaying agencies, price collection, verification and dissemination agencies. We propose to add more commodities in the coming phases and open up further rounds of membership empanelment shortly,” he added. 
NCDEX has granted membership to 430 entities out of the 500 applications it received. The exchange has adopted best-of-trade models for different commodities from different overseas exchanges like OTC market of London, London Metal Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Malaysian Exchange. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003132412.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 259, 'Better selling & quality urged to save Darjeeling tea', 'Tea Board of India has started work on a new package for the Darjeeling tea producers. The package would take up quality issues. 
', 'Tea Board of India has started work on a new package for the Darjeeling tea producers. The package would take up quality issues. 
Speaking at the annual general meeting of Darjeeling Planters’ Association (DPA), A Sengupta, additional secretary in the ministry of commerce and industries, also pointed out that Darjeeling tea was not being marketed well. 
He said planters had to realise that it was not enough to focus on domestic consumption. 
To take up the overseas marketing case, Tea Board was planning to launch a generic promotion for Darjeeling tea and speciality tea for the UK and US markets. Das said, US was emerging as one of the fastest growing markets. 
K S David, chairman DPA also raised the issue of marketing. He said, whilst the dwindling Darjeeling crop was a matter of concern , the industry had done little to market Darjeeling as a brand. 
“Members who are unwilling to contribute a part of their earnings to promote the MARK have thwarted efforts made in this direction by my predecessors. The situation has become so depressing that even normal subscriptions are not being paid and it has been my unpleasant job to delist some defaulting producers” he said. 
However, DPA plans to conduct roadshows to promote and educate consumers on Darjeeling tea. The organisation had already collected a small corpus and urged the Tea Board to assist with a matching sum. A delegation would be visiting the US, Japan and Germany in May 2004 to hold the roadshows. 
In a parallel development, Tea Board has approached UNESCO for development of Darjeeling region, said N K Das, chairman of Tea Board. 
UNESCO was already working on development of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and now Tea Board has urged the organisation to take up development of the region as a whole. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003132537.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 260, 'Gold selling down despite price rise', 'Gold prices have shot up but selling pressure has been limited unlike earlier years. 
', 'Gold prices have shot up but selling pressure has been limited unlike earlier years. 
The lack of sellers is in contrast to events in the recent past - consumers rushed to sell gold at every price rise last year. Sellers are scarce, says industry watchers, because of an optimism that prices will go up further. 
Besides, good rains have eliminated the need to encash gold in the countryside, while high volatility in the gold prices and shift in preference for light jewellery has dampened demand. 
Consumers are willing to wait and watch before either buying or selling gold. Some pockets in the country are witnessing recycling of gold, but volumes are less compared to the rush witnessed in the price run during December 2002. Sale of rural gold has all but stopped. 
Internationally, the gold price has been fluctuating between $395-407 per ounce in last one month, with similar fluctuation in domestic prices. 
Domestic price of gold is currently Rs 6070, lower than landed cost of imported gold which works out to Rs 6170 per 10 gram, if the international price of $ 403 per ounce is converted. The weaker price is a result of low domestic demand. 
Fresh local demand has come down from last year because people were choosing to replace their old gold ornaments with the new ones instead of buying fresh jewellery owing to high price of fresh gold. 
“The recycling of gold for cash is happening only at Zaveri bazaar. In suburban zones, the recycling of gold is restricted to replacement only,” said Arvind Kumar, proprietor of Choksi Arvind Jewellers, one of the largest old ornaments buyer at Zaveri Bazaar. Even at Zaveri Bazaar, the rush to sell gold jewellery is a fraction of last year’s. 
“People are waiting for gold to stabilise before taking any decision,” Bhargava Vaidya, bullion analyst at B N Vaidya and Associates said. 
The gold price has been volatile in last couple of months, with fluctuations at times going beyond four per cent a day against traditional fluctuation of just two per cent. 
In rural Maharashtra, for example, recycling of gold is limited. Demand for fresh gold is down but has not completely dried up. 
The demand due to marriages is intact. Demand for gold for investment purposes has however declined. In rural areas, farmers buy gold after the harvest and hold on to that gold. 
“In fact, currently the rural community is holding on to whatever gold they have as beginning June they will need to sell gold to buy seeds and fertilisers and other inputs for next kharif season,” Sushil Shaha, partner at Saraf Motilal Hirachand, Daund of Pune, said. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003121937.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 261, 'Frauds office gets its fourth case', 'The Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) has bagged its fourth case within two months of coming into existence. 
', 'The Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) has bagged its fourth case within two months of coming into existence. 
The case relates to two Gwalior-based companies — Design Auto Systems Ltd and Bonanza Biotech Ltd for allegedly colluding to manipulate share prices. 
The companies have been charged with fraudulent allotment Rs 100 crore worth of shares to each other in 2002, and trading them at a premium in the secondary markets. The proceeds from the transactions could not be traced either, an official said. 
Moreover, the share allotment was much above the companies’ authorised capital of Rs 13 crore. 
The fact that the case has been referred to SFIO is interesting because as per the mandate of SFIO it is supposed to intervene only when the nature of fraud is complex and the amount involved is more than Rs 50 crore or the number of affected individuals exceed 5,000. 
While Bonanza Biotech Ltd, a plastic processing company, has suffered a loss till March 2003, Design Auto Ltd, that deals in silencers and sheet metal parts, falls under ‘Z’ category of shares, which means the company has violated the provisions in the listing agreement of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. 
The SFIO is investigating the Dawood case and will start working on the DSQ Software case soon. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155457.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 262, 'Stage set for Vibrant Gujarat sequel', 'After the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit - 2003, the Gujarat government is looking for its share of investments by cashing in on the central governments Pravsi Bhartiya Divas', 'After the ‘Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit - 2003’, the Gujarat government is looking for its share of investments by cashing in on the central government’s ‘Pravsi Bhartiya Divas’ celebrations being held in New Delhi from January 9 to 11. 
The government has organised a ‘Vishwa Gujarati Parivar Mahotsav’ from January 12 to 14 to rope in non-resident Gujaratis (NRGs) who will attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas celebrations, along with other NRGs who have been specially invited. 
Stating that the ‘Vishwa Gujarati Parivar Mahotsav - Uttaryan 2004’ is the second part of the Global Investors’ Summit organised earlier in September, state chief secretary P K Laheri said, “We are just continuing from where we left.” 
In other words, the government is attempting to seek in more investment in addition to the Rs 66,000 crore investment commitments, for which memorandums of understanding (MoUs)were signed at the global investors’ summit. 
The state government has roped in Essar as the sponsor for the event. 
The state government had already send 50,000 e-mails to the NRGs in various countries. 
Even advertisements of the event have been published in leading airlines journals of Air India, Jet Airways and others, said Arvind Agarwal, commissioner, cottage and rural industries. 
Apart from display of large hoardings and banners in prime locations across New York and London, the state government is marketing the event through various embassies of the country and advertisements in the print and electronic media, the official said. 
The celebrations scheduled to be held from January 12 to 14 will include an international kite festival, convention, seminars and cultural programmes. 
As Gujaratis constitute a large chunk of the non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs), the state governments expects a large number of NRGs to participate in the event. 
The international kite festival is organised at the Police Stadium, Shahibaug, Ahmedabad, on January 12, 2004. 
More than 70 kite fliers from across the world including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Austria, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Chile and Columbia and about 75 kite fliers from different parts of India have confirmed their participation, officials said. An exhibitions on kite manufacturing will be organised at the venue of the international festival. 
A book and documentary film on kites and the people involved in the sector is being prepared, which will be released during the festival. The book and film will cover a brief history of kites, the manufacturing process, the craft persons, the economy and the social harmony it generates. 
Around five lakh kites are being specially made carrying the logo ‘’Uttaryan 2004’ and various other messages. 
These will be distributed to the school children to fly during the festival. 
The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Gandhinagar, is designing prototypes of souvenirs and memorabilia for the event. 
The festival on January 13 will be attended by the prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, officials said. 
Prominent NRGs will be felicitated at the convention. 
Two books and CDs on ‘Historical migration of Gujaratis since the Indus Valley civilisation’ and ‘Present Gujarati Diaspora across the world’, will be released. 
There will be 12 theme pavilions showcasing the Gujarat Diaspora and development themes will be of special interest to the visitors. 
On January 14, the NRGs will participate in the kite flying from the roof tops. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155414.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 263, 'Policy for craftsmen on the cards', 'The Gujarat government is looking at framing a policy for the economic development of craftsmen, including kite makers, and for the betterment of the industry as a whole. 
', 'The Gujarat government is looking at framing a policy for the economic development of craftsmen, including kite makers, and for the betterment of the industry as a whole. 
The policy is expected to be announced at the Vishwa Gujarati Parivar Mohatsav, Uttarayan - 2004, the international kite flying festival, that will be organised in Ahmedabad from January 12 to 14. 
The government hopes to transform the state’s Rs 150-crore kite-making industry from being part of an unorganised set up to being part of the organised sector. 
Anil Patel, minister of state for industries, said the state government is keen on developing the industry on a fairly large scale. 
The new policy is expected to be framed based on a special survey commissioned by the Gujarat government on various aspects — making, trading, and retailing — of the kite industry. 
The survey was carried out by three leading consulting agencies, including Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation (GITCO), A C Nielsen-ORG Centre for Social Research and Institute of Environment and Social Development (IESD). 
It quizzed about 15 per cent of persons engaged in each aspect of the kite-making industry in different towns of Gujarat. 
The survey revealed that around 70 per cent of the workforce engaged in the kite making are women. 
According to the GITCO study, the production of kites continues for 10 months, starting from March to January, which involves 50 per cent females and 10 per cent child labour. 
The rapid survey of kite industries done by ORG centre suggests that the annual profit made by a single kite manufacturer from the kite business is less than Rs 50 thousand per annum, while the study conducted by the IESD reveals that the kite business is primarily seasonal and the annual turnover is less than one lakh per annum for a single kite maker. 
The Government of Gujarat, in association with the Swadeshi Academic Council (SAC), Chennai, is organising a one-day workshop ‘Gujarat Patang Udyog Karyashibir’ at Gandhi Labour Institute on Drive-in Road in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. 
Over 300 people from the kite industry, including manufacturers, artisans, wholesellers, NGOs, designers, and financial institutions, will participate in this workshop. 
The workshop is expected to highlight the need for organising kite manufacturers’ cooperative societies, self employment for women, institutionalised channels for the development of kite makers and upgrading skill, design and indigenisation. 
The workshop will also discuss development of export potential and ways to make ‘Gujarat’ the ‘Sivakasi’ of kite manufacturing and arranging finances. 
“The aim of the workshop is to act as a forum for generating innovative and creative ideas and to facilitate interactions between manufacturers, artisans, wholesalers, NGOs designers and financial institutions,” said Arvind Agarwal, commissioner of cottage and rural industries, Gujarat state. 
The kite-making industry in the state is mainly located in about half a dozen clusters in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Cambay. 
In Ahmedabad alone, the market for kites is estimated to be Rs 12 crore. The total market, including allied products like manjas (the coloured thread) and firkees (the spool), is estimated at Rs 43 crore. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155547.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 264, 'Idea cuts roaming incoming, SMS rates', 'Idea Cellular Ltd has offered lower incoming roaming rates and national SMS charges to its customers in the post-paid segment. 
', 'Idea Cellular Ltd has offered lower incoming roaming rates and national SMS charges to its customers in the post-paid segment. 
Now, Idea customers will be able to send local and national SMS at 30 paise per message and get a 50 per cent reduction in the incoming roaming rates in Gujarat. 
The roaming rates on incoming calls have been reduced to Rs 2.99 from Rs 5.99 and would be applicable to all Idea subscribers for roaming to other circles of the region, the company said. 
The new rates will be applicable from Monday. Recently, Idea had introduced tariff plans like Buzz99, Buzz249, Buzz499 (which offers 400 minutes of cell-to-cell talk time free) and pre-paid rates were at Rs 1.49 per minute. 
Commenting on the announcement, Vikram Mehmi, CEO, Idea Cellular Ltd, said, “With the continuously increasing trend of mobile usage among our customers, we want to offer them the best value.” 
The company has recently achieved financial closure with a project cost of Rs 5,000 crore. Idea Cellular Ltd is a three-way equal joint venture between Tata, Birla and AT&amp;T. 
Hutch, the leading cellular service provider in Gujarat with over 7.50 lakh subscribers, had also announced a new tariff for its post-paid subscribers. 
Reducing the rate of incoming calls while roaming in western and southern India, Hutch provided 2,000 free SMS for all new post-paid subscribers for a period of two months and has reduced the national SMS charge to Re 1. 
Hutch’s new tariff plans and SMS charges will be applicable for post-paid subscribers with effect from Monday. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155508.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 265, 'The chemistry of success', 'Beginning with the trading of water treatment chemicals over a decade ago, Hasmukh Shah incorporated Maxroth Chemicals in 1996 with an initial investment of Rs 30 lakh. 
', 'Beginning with the trading of water treatment chemicals over a decade ago, Hasmukh Shah incorporated Maxroth Chemicals in 1996 with an initial investment of Rs 30 lakh. 
Six years down the line, the company has posted a turnover of Rs 2.5 crore in the first-half of this fiscal, and targets to record a Rs 4 crore turnover by fiscal ending March 31, 2004. 
Though the company, engaged in the manufacturing of construction chemicals and specially tile adhesives, took three years to break even, Shah did not lose hope and continued improving quality through research and development. 
At present, apart from having a country-wide presence, the company is planning to export its products to various parts of the world including the US, UK and Gulf countries. 
Shah pumped in Rs 2 crore in the last two years as part of brand building and producing export quality goods. 
The company’s products have presence in states such as Andra Pradesh, Goa, Pune, Maharastra and Punjab. 
According to Hasmukh Shah, chief executive officer, Maxroth Chemicals, “We see tremendous business opportunities in Gulf countries. As the construction industry is booming, its ancillary industries will also benefit from the trend. We manufacture and market quality products such as water proofing chemicals, plasticisers, tile joint fillars, cement colours, crack fillars, and bonding joints. We anticipate significant market share in these countries in the near future.” 
Maxroth Chemicals has recently launched polymer-based white cement, which claims to be 20 per cent stronger than any other cement in the market. 
Shah plans to set up another manufacturing plant in Banglore with an investment of Rs 1 crore in the next financial year. He had procured land for the plant. At present the company has a plant in Ahmedabad. 
With the help of exports, Shah hopes to post a turnover of Rs 6 crore by fiscal ending 2005. 
According to Shah, the turning point of the company was the signing of a memorandum of understanding with an Italian company called Italia Glass Private Ltd in 2000 for supply of tile adhesives. 
The jump in demand for construction materials after the earthquake in Gujarat also aided its business. 
Shah attributes his success to his brother and family, who helped him in all possible ways to keep his cool during crisis days. 
Hasmukh Shah is married to Manju Shah, house wife, and has a son Sikhar and a daughter Sikha. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155621.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 266, 'State finance commission for balanced development', 'The Gujarat Finance Commission will give priority to balanced development of the state, newly appointed chairman of the commission Dhirubhai Shah said. 
', 'The Gujarat Finance Commission will give priority to balanced development of the state, newly appointed chairman of the commission Dhirubhai Shah said. 
Speaking at a felicitation function organised by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) in Surat, Shah said the commission would also study the expenditure incurred by the different departments of the state government. 
Besides, the commission would work for fully computerising the panchayati revenue records, so that several important documents, especially those related to land records, can be accessed online, he said. 
Lauding the role played by the south Gujarat region in the overall development of the state, Shah said south Gujarat’s contribution was 42 per cent in the overall industrialisation of the state. 
Shah, a former Speaker of the Gujarat state legislative assembly, underlined the need for making strong the local self-government bodies. 
“We also have to work for more financial aid to the self government bodies from the central government,” he said. Earlier, SGCCI chief Ashok Shah welcomed Dhirubhai Shah. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155637.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 267, 'Modi pins big hopes on Kutch district', 'The Kutch district will emerge as the most prosperous district of the country in the next five-ten years, claimed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. 
', 'The Kutch district will emerge as the most prosperous district of the country in the next five-ten years, claimed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. 
He was in Kutch to dedicate the international container terminal at Mundra port and the rail link between Mundra and Adipur. 
According to Modi, soon Kutch will become a model which other districts in the state and the country will strive to follow. 
“Although this district has been devastated by natural calamities such as cyclones, earthquake and even droughts, the people of Kutch are special. Perhaps even now, this is the only district anywhere in India that has three airports, two special economic zones and two sea ports,” Modi said. 
He said that within the next five to ten years, Gujarat will be the most prosperous district in India. 
Modi said while water - for drinking and irrigation - was the only issue that was hampering the development of the district, the Narmada canal project, which is at present being implemented by the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board, will ensure rapid economic development of the district. 
“The entire Kutch district will have ample drinking and irrigation water in the next decade,” Modi said. 
Kutch member of Parliament Pushpadan Gadhvi said the response from the industry to the tax holiday announced in Kutch district, as part of its re-building, has been encouraqging. 
“The total pledged investment in the district has exceeded Rs 5,000 crore,” Gadhvi said, adding that he has been taking up the pending issues of industries operating in Kutch with concerned departments at the state government and central government level. 
The Central government has announced a tax holiday for central excise for all industries setting up units in the district for the first five years after commissioning, and the state government has extended the tax holiday for sales tax as well for five years. 
However, several issues, including the delay on the part of the railways in converting the Gandhidham-Palanpur rail line into broad gauge and the need for the state government to come out with a specific and clear SEZ policy were raised by industrialists operating in Kutch, during the visit of Union railway minister Nitish Kumar and Modi. 
While Gautam Adani and others sought the quick completion of the gauge conversion so that containers could be transported right from Mundra to Punjab by rail, P&amp;O Ports director, south Asia, Jimmy Sarbh asked for bypass roads for quicker movement of container trucks. 
“If the railways allocates the remaining funds for gauge conversion on the Gandhidham-Palanpur line, then it will provide a huge boost to the business opportunities in Mundra,” said Adani. 
Jimmy Sarbh, while stressing that P&amp;O was in Mundra to stay and expand its operations, there was a need for a wider draft, more trains on the route and by-pass routes for container trucks. 
“We need more trains to be run on this route and this should happen quickly. Also, there ought to be by-pass routes for huge container trucks, so that the regular road traffic is not affected,” he said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155613.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 268, 'Bumper paddy harvest grounds Surat farmers', 'The increase in paddy production this season helped by good monsoon has filled the godowns in various parts of the district with the produce and sent the prices tumbling. The farmers in the district', 'The increase in paddy production this season helped by good monsoon has filled the godowns in various parts of the district with the produce and sent the prices tumbling. The farmers in the district are not getting remunerative prices for paddy. 
Rough estimates have put the paddy production at 30 per cent more than that in the last year. This has resulted in the godowns overflowing with 12 lakh bags of paddy. 
“With the high produce of paddy, the farmers are not getting remunerative prices and the godowns are overflowing,” former state minister Bhagubhai Patel, also a paddy farmer in Olpaad taluka, said. 
Among the 15 talukas of Surat district, Olpaad has registered the highest production of paddy. Over 70 per cent of the paddy produced this year is of the ‘Gujarat Kolam-17’ variety. 
With heavy to very heavy rainfall in Surat district during this year’s monsoon, most of the farmers could not plant cotton and they turned to paddy. All the farmers had a rich harvest and as the commodity started arriving in the markets, prices declined, affecting the farmers. 
Bhagubhai said in Olpaad taluka alone, more than seven lakh bags of paddy has been stockpiled in different co-operative societies. Last year, the paddy farmers received Rs 170 for a ‘maun’ (20 kgs). This year, the paddy traders are prepared to shell out just Rs 125 for 20 kg. 
“However, the farmers are not ready to sell their produce at these rates as they cannot even cover their production cost,” Bhagubhai said. 
“Some traders are mixing good quality paddy with the poor quality commodity. The Gujarat government has to intervene and declare support prices in the interest of the farmers,” Bhagubhai said. 
While the government is yet to announce remunerative prices for paddy, the production cost has gone up by 30 per cent this year. “If the government does not intervene then we will be in trouble,” a paddy farmer of Olpaad said. Paddy had claimed a major share in the sowing operations this year. 
While sowing of paddy had taken place in 63,796 hectares in Surat district, jowar was sown in 23,359 hectares, tuver in 31,612 hectares and moong in 2,860 hectares, sources said. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003155437.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 269, 'VH group for culling of birds', 'Venkateswara Hatcheries group has taken steps to reduce the supply of day-old broiler chicks in order to restore the balance between supply and demand and ensure a remunerative price to the farmers.', 'Venkateswara Hatcheries group has taken steps to reduce the supply of day-old broiler chicks in order to restore the balance between supply and demand and ensure a remunerative price to the farmers. 
In a press release issued here on Monday, Anuradha J Desai, the chairperson of V H group, said that instructions had been issued to all the group hatcheries and integrators to cull the broiler parents of 60 weeks and above immediately. 
“After more than two years of low broiler prices and high feed costs, the industry has just started recovering, and at this stage, over production of day-old chicks could once again derail the process of recovery,” she said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003160555.htm', 'The Strategist', 'normal', 'F', 270, 'The art of the makeover', 'In the 1980s, Onida, the consumer durables brand, relied on envy as a selling pitch. By the nineties, it was about the technological superiority of its products. 
', 'In the 1980s, Onida, the consumer durables brand, relied on envy as a selling pitch. By the nineties, it was about the technological superiority of its products. 
Now, Onida has changed tack again: “envy” is back, though without the trademark devil of 20 years ago. 
Like Onida, there are several brands re-assessing their identities as competition transforms markets with chameleon-like regularity. It would be no exaggeration to say that repositioning has become the Indian brand managers’ most potent marketing weapon. 
“As competition increases, brands have to be more sharply defined,” says Pranesh Misra, president and chief operating officer of ad agency, Lowe India. Take the toilet soap category, for instance. 
In 1998, there were 148 toilet brands in the Indian market. Now, this number has increased to 235-odd brands. It’s no surprise that the bigger soap brands like Lifebuoy and Cinthol have repositioned themselves in recent times. 
More competition is one part of the story; the other is the manner in which brands can remain relevant with changing market conditions. 
“What the brand stands for needs to keep reflecting the times,” says Bharat Puri, managing director, Cadbury India, which altered the positioning of its best-selling Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM). 
If marketers believe that frequent repositioning is crucial for a brand to stay alive, they don’t always know what works. Consider the biggest challenge a brand under repositioning faces — retaining its core values. 
“While repositioning a brand the eternal values should not change at any cost,” says Shripad Nadkarni, vice-president, marketing, Coca-Cola India. 
Onida is a brand that managed to stick to these ground rules. Even as the other big Indian brands in the television segment — Videocon and BPL — are struggling for market share, Onida has clawed its way back to number three after being lower down the order in the mid- to late- nineties. 
When Onida was launched in the mid-1980s, colour televisions were a luxury, giving customers a sense of pride. Onida’s positioning reflected these sentiments and hence the baseline “Neighbour’s envy, owner’s pride”. 
To profile this, Onida came up with the mascot of a devil (played on TV by model co-ordinator David Whitbread) whose arrow-tipped tail became the signature on Onida ads. 
For a while, this worked and the strong brand recall kept Onida among the top three TV brands. As penetration of colour televisions increased substantially, pride of ownership was no longer an engaging proposition. 
As the communication was no longer relevant, it was reflected in the market share, which plunged to 15 per cent in 1996-97 from 20 per cent in 1991-92. 
Clearly, Onida needed something new without jettisoning its plank of wicked humour. 
Thus, in the late nineties, Onida commercials emphasised product attributes like sound clarity (crucial because Indian consumers play their TVs loud). The ad of a man enjoying a song-and-dance routine on television while his wife decamps with the chauffeur was one such. 
The ads, though widely recalled, failed to provide Onida with leverage. There were two reasons. 
First, product parity was an emerging issue in the consumer durables industry. Merely talking about technology wouldn’t work unless the brand acquired a premium image. 
Second, the previous commercials were for individual products like the KY Thunder or Black series. So, Onida needed to project a single benefit to bind the individual propositions. 
Also, the new proposition needed to be extended to other durables like DVDs and air-conditioners. This was crucial from a competitive viewpoint too; Samsung and LG had managed to achieve these objectives with their “Digitall” anD “health” propositions respectively. 
In mid-2003, Onida dug into research for an answer. Interaction with 15 - 20 focus groups indicated that while “envy” was still associated with Onida, its definition had changed from the 1980s, when it was an in-your-face attribute. 
In the current context, the consumer did not like to be projected as seeking envy. But if envy was a by-product of the brand it did not matter. Hence, Onida’s modified positioning — “Onida may cause envy”. 
But there were risks associated with this new stance. Says V Chandramouli, vice president, sales, marketing and service, Mirc Electronics, “The consumer could assume we were going back to the past because we were unable to compete in the present.” 
To mitigate this perception the company showcased its new-age products like DVDs and flat screen televisions in its commercials. According to the research, if brands caused envy in the 1980s, it was products that did so in the 1990s. 
So, Onida made its products the centrepiece of every ad. For example, in an ad for Onida DVD players, a dog starved for attention, scratches the CD to prevent its owner from viewing it. 
“The key distinction was to not show the protagonist as seeking envy,” says Chandramouli. The strategy has helped Onida. With a market share of 11.5 per cent, Onida is the third-largest player in the Indian CTV market, up from the fifth slot in the late-1990s, when it did away with the devil. 
If Onida’s devil enjoyed star status initially, the music channel MTV got it wrong in its first shot at the Indian market. When MTV was launched as a stand-alone channel in the mid-1990s (prior to this, it was aired on a two-hour slot on Doordarshan), a limited number of viewers favoured an all-international music channel. 
This contradicted the dynamics of the media business where numbers are crucial to attract ratings and hence, advertising revenues. MTV realised it was out of tune with India. 
“We were not connecting with the youth. So we decided to relook at the entire composite mix of the channel,” says Vikram Raizada, vice president-marketing, MTV Networks, India. 
As a result, in 1997 everything from music to promos to the veejays was overhauled — 70 per cent of the music played was converted to Hindi and the channel promos sported the made-in-India label. 
For instance, series like the “lift man” or “Gaseous Clay” overshadowed internationally acclaimed promos like Beavis and Butthead. 
MTV also used the baseline “Enjoy” as opposed to other previous aggressive appeals like “I want my MTV”, “Do you get it?” and so on. 
The result — a TAM media research report across the six top metros (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad) rates MTV as the number one music channel for 229 weeks out of the 249 weeks (January 1999-October 2003) in the age group of 15 to 34 years. 
MTV’s makeover worked because it was simply rectifying bad mistakes it made at the beginning. But what do you do when there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with your positioning but the market stagnates? 
This is an issue that Cadbury struggled with Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM), its flagship brand. CDM was always positioned as an expression of parental love. 
By the early 1990s, the chocolate market started stagnating. For Cadbury, this was a serious issue because chocolates account for 74 per cent of the company’s turnover (and CDM would constitute roughly half of that). 
Says Puri, “Category stagnation was the trigger for repositioning CDM. Being the leader we had to take the call and induce freshness by repositioning the brand.” 
In 1995, CDM expanded its target audience from children to adults. From encouraging adults to buy a CDM pack for their children (“Cadbury says it better than words”), the brand was repositioned as the “Real taste of life”, which addressed adults in a different way: it talked about setting free the child in you. 
Puri also points out that in the process, the core essence of the brand — the pure pleasure of eating chocolate — never changed. The result? Between 1995 to date, CDM nearly doubled its market share from 16 per cent to 28 per cent, with the market registering 6 to 8 per cent growth rates. 
While many brands have managed to get their repositioning right the first time, some brands are still trying to strike the winning combo. One example is the toilet soap brand, Cinthol. The biggest repositioning of the brand took place in 2001, when it started to face perception problems. 
Says R K Sinha, vice president (soaps division), Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), “While Cinthol was positioned as a family soap, it gained a masculine image over the years.” 
This was mainly because of endorsements by macho male celebrities like Vinod Khanna and Imran Khan in the 1980s. 
“Though we never positioned Cinthol as a macho brand, our use of icons perhaps strongly suggested that. This image was limiting the consumer franchise,” says Sinha. 
But back in the 1980s this made sense as the man was the decision maker for buying products like soaps. When this responsibility shifted to the woman in the 1990s, GCPL was caught on the wrong foot. 
As a result, Cinthol’s market share slipped from 4.4 per cent in 1997-98 to 2.3 per cent in volume in 2001-02. 
To be sure, Godrej’s efforts at softening the image had begun in the mid-1990s, when Ambience D’Arcy (now Ambience Publicis), creative agency for the brand till 2001, shifted the brand communication to “body confidence”, extending it to female users. 
To squarely target female users, GPCL also launched the Scent Fresh range of soaps with floral extracts in 1997. However, after a lacklustre response, the range was withdrawn. 
In 2001, Cinthol was repositioned as a unisex brand to bring urban women into the fold, followed by launching a variant — Cinthol Skin Fresh, with orange extracts. 
To reinforce the brand’s new proposition, a female mnemonic was added to the packaging. This created a new — and opposite — problem for Cinthol in that it alienated male customers. Then, the brand was extended to deodorants, again targeted at women. 
Analysts say the brand tried to do too much in too little time. As a result, even the new extensions like deodorants suffered (see The Strategist Brand Derby, September 17, 2002). 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003133156.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 271, 'Sensex surges 75 points, oil prices fall in global markets', 'The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex surged 75.07 points to a new 44-month closing high today as stocks jumped and oil prices fell in global markets following the capture of Saddam Hussein. 
', 'The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex surged 75.07 points to a new 44-month closing high today as stocks jumped and oil prices fell in global markets following the capture of Saddam Hussein. 
The Sensex gained 1.41 per cent to close at 5,390.88 points, its best since April 12, 2000. The index has gained 5.1 per cent in the last five days. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&amp;P CNX Nifty gained 25.05 points at 1,723.95. 
Today\'s rally was led by technology stocks, which are expected to gain from a stronger dollar. The Satyam Computer scrip gained 5.23 per cent at Rs 361.15, off its new 52-week high of Rs 363.30 in intra-day trades today. 
The Wipro scrip surged 3.81 per cent to Rs 1,668.50 and Infosys Technologies climbed 2.25 per cent to Rs 5,154.95. Media major Zee Telefilms vaulted 3.65 per cent to Rs 143.40 on news that the company\'s board will meet to consider a restructuring proposal. 
Buying interest was spread across the board, with gainers outnumbering losers three to one in brisk trades. Elsewhere, old economy companies were driven up on hopes of robust growth in the current quarter earnings. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003133115.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 272, 'BSE-500 is a world beater', 'The Bombay Stock Exchanges broad-based BSE-500 has doubled from its 52-week low of 1,055.03 on April 25, 2003. The index closed at 2,158.99 , marking a 105 per cent appreciation in the last eight', 'The Bombay Stock Exchange’s broad-based BSE-500 has doubled from its 52-week low of 1,055.03 on April 25, 2003. The index closed at 2,158.99 , marking a 105 per cent appreciation in the last eight months. 
More importantly, the BSE-500’s relentless rise puts it right on top of the global performance chart. The BSE 500 outperformed the 30-scrip BSE Sensex, which gained 84.36 per cent during the same period, and the National Stock Exchange’s S&amp;P CNX Nifty (86.51 per cent). 







Right at the top



Apr 25, 2003

Dec 15, 2003

% Chg

BSE 500
1055.03
2158.99
104.64

Thailand SET
368.53
689.05
86.97

S&amp;P CNX Nifty
924.30
1723.95
86.51

BSE Sensex
2924.03
5390.88
84.36

Jakarta Composite
435.05
658.52
51.37

Karachi Composite
2859.31
4269.08
49.30

Hang Seng
8409.01
12520.17
48.89

Seoul Composite
566.63
822.16
45.10

Taiwan Weighted
4233.54
5924.24
39.94

DAX
2838.23
3907.02
37.66

Nikkei 225
7699.52
10490.77
36.25

Strait Times
1281.33
1743.17
36.04

Nasdaq
1434.54
1949
35.86

Sri Lanka All Share
817.80
1106.02
35.24

CAC 40
2866.74
3510.79
22.47

Dow Jones Industrial
8306.35
10042.16
20.90

S&amp;P 500 Index
898.81
1074.14
19.51
Among Asian Indices, Thailand’s stock index SET rose 86.97 per cent from its level on April 25, while the Jakarta Composite gained 51.37 per cent and the Karachi Composite 49.30 per cent. 
The Hang Seng climbed 48.89 per cent from its April 25 level, followed closely by the Seoul Composite (45.10 per cent) and the Sri Lanka All Share (35.24 per cent). 
Other Asia-Pacific majors like the Singapore Strait Times, with a 36.01 per cent gain, and the Nikkei-225, with a 36.25 per cent gain, were way behind the Indian index. 
Among other indices, Germany’s DAX appreciated 37.66 per cent, followed by Nasdaq (35.85 per cent), France’s CAC-40 (22.47 per cent), S&amp;P 500 (19.51 per cent) and the Dow Jones Industrial (20.90 per cent) during the same period. 
The BSE-500’s whopping gains came from 310 stocks, whose prices appreciated over 100 per cent each in this period. Only nine scrips in the BSE-500 lost in the rally. The prices of 491 scrips appreciated between 6 per cent and 738 per cent. 
Of the 500 stocks that make up the index, the prices of eight climbed over 500 per cent, 40 between 300 per cent and 500 per cent and 262 between 100 per cent and 300 per cent. 
CESC, the Kolkata-based power company, was the largest gainer, posting a 738 per cent jump from Rs 16 on April 25, 2003, to Rs 134 on Friday on the BSE. 
Metal stocks such as Sterlite Industries, Man Industries and Hindustan Zinc gained more than 500 per cent each. The price of the Sterlite Industries scrip increased eight-fold, from Rs 157.90 to Rs 1,208.25, in this period. The Man Industries scrip jumped from Rs 20.60 to Rs 142 and that of Hindustan Zinc from Rs 17.05 to Rs 105.80 on the BSE. 
Textiles and mid-cap pharmaceuticals stocks are among the other big gainers during the period. Abhisek Industries, Alok Industries, Pantaloon Retail, Welspun India from textiles, and Divi’s Lab, Elder Pharma, Lupin, Matrix Labs, Shasun Chemicals from the pharmaceuticals sector gained more than 300 per cent each. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003140812.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 273, 'Tata Steel up on advance tax payment buzz ', 'Tata Steel hit a 52-week high of Rs 392.90 before closing at Rs 391.80, up by 3.47 per cent. More than 47.89 lakh shares were traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). 
', 'Tata Steel hit a 52-week high of Rs 392.90 before closing at Rs 391.80, up by 3.47 per cent. More than 47.89 lakh shares were traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). 
The counter surged up on talks that the company has paid a large advance tax in the second instalment. 
The counter has attracted good buying interest in the last few days on market talks that the company has paid a big advance tax for the second instalment. 
This and expectations that steel makers will hike prices to offset rising input costs has led to the buying interest, according to market sources. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003140709.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 274, 'Sebi to wind up Samir Arora case by Dec-end', 'The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has said that it will complete the investigation into the alleged insider trading by Samir Arora by end of December, while it is likely to release the', 'The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has said that it will complete the investigation into the alleged insider trading by Samir Arora by end of December, while it is likely to release the final report by March 31, 2004. 
This was the assurance given by Sebi’s lawyers to the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) at the Samir Arora hearing today. The former chief investment officer of Alliance Capital Mutual Fund (ACML) had applied for interim relief. 
At the hearing, his lawyer said Arora should be granted permission to access the market till the Sebi investigations are over, even if they do not want him to take part in any mutual fund activity till then. 
Incidentally, Arora’s proposed joint venture with Rana Talwar of Sabre Capital to form an asset management company also has been put on the back burner due to the investigations against Arora. 
Sebi’s lawyer in his turn said the market regulator’s interim order was passed as a measure of grave emergency and he was stayed from starting a mutual fund and accessing the market. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003140829.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 275, 'Gains on Saddam arrest', 'Key indices rose on Monday buoyed by news of the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein which, brokers said, eased concerns about global security. 
', 'Key indices rose on Monday buoyed by news of the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein which, brokers said, eased concerns about global security. 
The 30-share BSE sensitive index (Sensex) surged 75.07 points, or 1.41 per cent, to close at 5,390.88, its best close since April 12, 2000. 
The Sensex touched an intra-day low of 5,351.01 and a high of 5,399.08. On the National Stock Exchange, the NSE S&amp;P CNX Nifty Index rose 25.05 points to 1,723.95. 
“In fact, markets across the region got a boost from the news (of Saddam’s arrest) and the local market took the cue from them,” brokers said. They added that the mood was also upbeat on signs of continued foreign demand for local shares. 
Monday’s rally was led by technology stocks as Nasdaq futures traded firm, indicating a higher open at the Wall Street. 
Satyam Computer rose 5.23 per cent to Rs 361.15, off its new 52-week high of Rs 363.30 hit in intra-day trades today. 
Wipro surged 3.81 per cent to Rs 1,668.50 and Infosys Technologies climbed 2.25 per cent to Rs 5,154.95. Media major Zee Telefilms vaulted 3.65 per cent to Rs 143.40 on news that company’s board will meet to consider a restructuring proposal. 
Old economy companies were driven up on hopes of a robust growth in current-quarter earnings. Tata Steel gained 3.47 per cent to Rs 391.80 on a firm trend in international as well as domestic steel prices. 
FMCG gaint, Hindustan Lever jumped 3.26 per cent to close at Rs 193.10. Cigarette major, ITC vaulted 3.07 per cent to Rs 994.65. 
Reliance Industries edged up 1.69 per cent to Rs 499.10. But ONGC fell 0.64 per cent to Rs 686 as global crude oil prices eased. 
Meanwhile, HDFC eased down 1.96 per cent to Rs 353.40 and ICICI Bank fell 1.41 per cent to Rs 275.55 o profit-taking. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003140852.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 276, 'Ranbaxy GDR up 2.97%', 'Like most global market, Indian global depository receipts (GDR) traded firm till the mid-trading session on Monday in London. 
', 'Like most global market, Indian global depository receipts (GDR) traded firm till the mid-trading session on Monday in London. 
Key Asian stock markets reverberated with fresh hope that the global terror threat will subside and economic recovery will go unobstructed following the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. 
The Instanex Skindia DR Index (ISDI), which tracks 15 actively traded depository receipts, rose 1.38 per cent to 973.84 till 5:00PM IST. 
Ranbaxy’s GDR rose 2.97 per cent to $26 registering volumes of 30,700 receipts traded. ITC’s GDR climbed 2.21 per cent to $23.15 with volumes of 20,762 receipts traded. 
State Bank of India’s GDR edged up 1 per cent to $30.25 with volumes of 9,050 GDRs. However, Reliance Industries GDR remained flat at $24.80 with volumes of 87,000 receipts traded. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003141943.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 277, 'Radhakrishna Foodland gets nod for FDI', 'The government approved 32 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs 263 crore on the recommendation by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), an official statement said. 
', 'The government approved 32 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs 263 crore on the recommendation by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), an official statement said. 
The bulk of FDI, Rs 240 crore, pertains to the Thane-based Radhakrishna Foodland Pvt Ltd which will engage in wholesale trading of food and non-food items. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003141900.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 278, 'Cable blackout in south Delhi', 'Most residents of Delhi could not watch the thrilling fourth day of the India-Australia Test match on Monday. 
', 'Most residents of Delhi could not watch the thrilling fourth day of the India-Australia Test match on Monday. 
Cable operators in south Delhi, the first zone in the Capital where CAS was being implemented, switched off the pay channels to subscribers who had not acquired set-top boxes (STBs). 
By the evening, however, cable network companies decided to air Star Sports on Tuesday as a special case, giving in to the heavy demand from viewers wanting to watch the last day of the Test match. 
According to the last estimate, only about a few thousand homes had acquired set-top boxes in the 4,00,000 cable homes in south Delhi. 
Under CAS, subscribers require set-top boxes to watch pay television channels, while the free-to-air channels can be watched normally. 
“We have switched off the pay television channels from midnight in the south Delhi zone’s non set-top box homes. We are now taking steps to ensure that set-top boxes are available to the customers,” said a Hathway spokesperson. 
Multi-system operators, including Siti, Hathway and others, have switched off pay channels in south Delhi -- the first zone notified for CAS implementation -- from midnight so that only free-to-air channels were available to consumers without a set-top box. 
Government officials, monitoring the implementation of CAS, said cable network companies had witnessed an increased demand for set-top boxes. 
“Around 2,500 set-top boxes are already installed and the cable network companies have seen an increased demand for another couple of thousand,” said the official. 
The government has asked the cable operators to come out with the prices of the pay channels to educate the consumers. 
An official said the information and broadcasting ministry would monitor the implementation closely and a team would be constituted to asses the situation on the ground. 
Market sources said the cable network companies and operators are meeting to decide on the future course of action during the switch-over phase or till set-top boxes are available to the subscribers. 
The cable network companies have also announced various offers for set-top boxes. An outright purchase of such a box from Siti Cable will cost the consumer Rs 2,990, while a Hathway box will cost Rs 3,025. 
On a rental basis, a Siti Cable box will cost about Rs 2,600 (refundable), plus a monthly rental fee of Rs 18. This is besides the cost of the smart card and the activation charges. 
In the case of Hathway, which has two rental schemes, the early bird scheme is a refundable deposit of Rs 999 with the monthly rental of Rs 40, while the regular rental scheme envisages a refundable deposit of Rs 2,600 with a monthly fee of Rs 28. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142159.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 279, 'BSNL, VSNL to share assets', 'Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has agreed to lease infrastructure from the Tata-controlled Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) to offer international long-distance services. 
', 'Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has agreed to lease infrastructure from the Tata-controlled Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) to offer international long-distance services. 
In return, VSNL will charge BSNL only for the leased capacity, as opposed to its existing settlement rates for minutes of calls routed in and out of the country. 
“It will take time for us to set up our own international long-distance infrastructure. We want to launch our services early next year and, therefore, have decided to use VSNL’s network,” Prithipal Singh, chairman and managing director, BSNL, told Business Standard. He added that the commercial terms were still being negotiated. 
The agreement between the two companies gives VSNL a lifeline because it is now assured of international long-distance traffic from BSNL’s fixed-line and cellular subscribers, which account for almost 70 per cent of the total Indian telecom market. 
VSNL executives said the agreement would also ensure the two companies did not compete over international long-distance calls. “It will mean that the international long-distance infrastructure is not replicated in the country. Its a win-win scenario for both VSNL and BSNL,” a VSNL executive said. 
The two sides have been negotiating the deal for over a year. VSNL had earlier offered two options to the ministry of communications, including selling its entire international long-distance infrastructure to BSNL. 
As per the existing agreement, BSNL has to route its international long-distance traffic through VSNL till March 2004. However, the rate charged from BSNL is steep, prompting it to explore other options, including severing ties with VSNL. 
Had BSNL moved away, it would have dealt VSNL a death blow. Around 90 per cent of VSNL’s international long-distance revenue comes from BSNL’s 40 million fixed-line subscribers. 
Good deal 



Deal bails out VSNL, whose profits have been dipping 
VSNL may end up as ILD infrastructure provider, more than being an operator 
BSNL saves on setting up new ILD infrastructure 
BSNL also benefits from not paying settlement rate to VSNL 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142027.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 280, 'IA, A-I seek free hand at hiring', 'The governments decision to allow private airlines to operate in the Saarc countries may have cheered up private operators, which until now accused the Centre of favouring state carriers, but it has', 'The government’s decision to allow private airlines to operate in the Saarc countries may have cheered up private operators, which until now accused the Centre of favouring state carriers, but it has left national carriers Air-India (A-I) and Indian Airlines (IA) sulking and demanding a level playing field. 
Sources in A-I and IA told Business Standard that both carriers are often under-rated compared with the private operators in terms of product and services, one fails to realise that the national carriers are burdened with social obligations. 
“There is a 49.5 per cent reservation for scheduled caste/ scheduled tribe and other backward class as employment criteria. This is a root cause for inefficiency and the product quality suffers. Private airlines, unlike government carriers, hire employees on basis of merit and are on contract terms,” sources said. 
Also, besides the parliamentary consultative committee which keep the airline’s CEO and top executive level busy, the government officials are subjected to scrutiny by Comptroller &amp; Auditor General (CAG) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). 
“This leave little room for strategising and freedom in terms of decision making and implementation which essentially is the prime job of the airline’s top executive level. Moreover, for a simple expansion plan, the airline has to go through complex approval procedures, while private airlines sign aircraft acquisition deals in air-shows and exhibitions,” sources added. 
The long pending aircraft acquisition plans of A-I and IA is yet to see the light of the day. The mode of financing the over Rs 20,000 crore fleet acquisition plans are yet to be finalised. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142034.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 281, 'TCL beats Baron in FIPB war', 'The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has allowed Chinese consumer electronics firm TCL Electronics to set up a 100 per cent subsidiary in India and overruled objections raised by its local', 'The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has allowed Chinese consumer electronics firm TCL Electronics to set up a 100 per cent subsidiary in India and overruled objections raised by its local partner, Baron International. 
The FIPB approval, which is subject to clearance by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, comes more than a year after TCL put in its application to manufacture and market colour televisions and home appliances in the country. 
This is the third significant proposal the FIPB has cleared in the last five months after overruling objections by local partners. 
Saudi Arabia’s Amiantit was allowed to transfer technology to another Indian firm despite objection by Graphite India, and Kennametal was permitted to raise its stake in Widia India despite objection by the Yash Birla group. 
Baron had objected to TCL’s plans saying a joint venture agreement was still in force. TCL, however, contended that the joint venture was not functional and Baron was not responding to its request for a termination of the agreement. 
The Chinese firm also alleged that Baron had wrongly used TCL designs for its own brand, Bush, even as Baron said TCL directors on the board of TCL Baron, the 50:50 joint venture, had siphoned funds from the company. 
The FIPB, however, kept off the allegations and counter-allegations by the companies. Sources said the FIPB members decided to give TCL the go-ahead as they found merit in TCL’s argument that the joint venture was not functional for almost two years. Baron representatives even failed to turn up for the meetings convened by the finance ministry. 
A senior government official said the provisions of Press Note 18 should be used only to protect local firms having a sound financial track record, and which have the potential to grow into large domestic or multinational companies. 
As per the NoC clause, any foreign firm intending to set up a new company in India is required to produce a no-objection certificate from the existing or erstwhile local partner. 
But owing to representations made by several foreign investors, the government has been reviewing the policy. 
In fact, senior government officials now clarify that the policy does not make it mandatory for the foreign investor to produce an NoC. 
Instead, the policy seeks to bar such companies from taking the automatic approval route. “It is left to the FIPB to find out if the proposal triggers the provisions of the NoC clause,” a government official explained. 
Objections under Press Note 18 overruled 



Saudi Arabia’s Amiantit allowed to transfer technology to another firm despite objection by Graphite India 
Kennametal allowed to raise stake in Widia despite the Yash Birla group’s objection 
TCL allowed to set up wholly owned arm overruling Baron’s objection
Why TCL got the green signal 



TCL served notice for termination of JV; Baron did not pay heed to it 
TCL said JV was not functional for almost two years
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142205.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 282, 'Tata Tea to foray into US market', 'Tata Tea has started retailing its flagship brand Tata Tea in the US, in a bid to cater to the needs of the Indian diaspora. 
', 'Tata Tea has started retailing its flagship brand Tata Tea in the US, in a bid to cater to the needs of the Indian diaspora. 
Percy Siganporia, deputy managing director, said the company has appointed a distributor in the US and the brand is being retailed through this channel. 
The company had also stepped up its marketing in the Middle East. Siganporia said, while Tata Tea had a presence in the Middle East, the company was now developing growth plans for its brands—Tata Tea and Kanan Devan. 
Tata Tea had also plans of launching the brand in the UK. But, Siganporia said, the company will have to chart out a different strategy for the UK as Tetley was a very strong brand in the UK, compared with the US. 
Meanwhile, the brand “Tetley” had been launched in Russia. At present, the packaging is being done out of the company’s Cochin facility under Tata Tetley. 
However, Siganporia said, once volumes picked up the company would consider the option of establishing another packaging unit in Russia or the around the region. 
Tata Tetley was now handling production for a variety of Tata Tea and Tetley markets including Poland, Khazakhstan, the Middle East and Russia. 
Formerly a factory with 11 tea bag packing machines, serving five markets, Tata Tetley now had 35 machines, packing both black and flavoured string and tag, round, square, drawstring tea bags, packet tea and bulk tea for 11 different markets. 
Tata Tea spruced up the Tata Tetley facility after consolidation of Tetley operations across the globe. The company moved from a wholly owned to different supply models. 
The company now has only one wholly owned production facility at Eaglescliffe. The other factories were joint ventures—Marietta in the US, Dhaka in Bangladesh. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142324.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 283, 'ITC brewing fresh plan, eyes organic tea', 'ITC is looking at tea in its organic form to add to the baskvet of commodities being handled under its international business division, better known for its e-choupal network. 
', 'ITC is looking at tea in its organic form to add to the baskvet of commodities being handled under its international business division, better known for its e-choupal network. 
“Extensive groundwork is under way in the field of organic tea which has a bright future in international business and the company would be exploring opportunities in the field”, S Sivakumar, division chief executive of the international business division of ITC, said. 
Sivakumar said ITC will not be in the market to acquire any gardens growing tea or factories. Instead it would be looking for alliances and partners which will conform to its standards for organic teas and produce and package the commodity to the specifications laid down by ITC. 
The process would take some months, he added. ITC would be looking for the best quality in organic and bio-dynamic teas. 
There are several small growers of organic tea in northern India mostly in the Darjeeling region. The producers cater mostly to overseas buyers who prefer the organic leaf to normal black tea grown through use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. 
Existing producers are small but the total tonnage produced by them will run into several million kilos. 
The unit price of organic tea was much higher than the normal variety and production cost was also somewhat lower, though yield per acre was also considerably below chemically treated and processed tea. 
Producers essentially depended on private sales and exports. ITC”s entry would bring in the marketing muscle that the sector lacks, tea industry sources said. 
Revenues from ITC’s internationa business and e-choupal initiatives would exceed all other sources by 2010, Y C Deveshwar, chairman of ITC, had announced recently. 
This implies that e-choupal would pip even revenues from sale of cigarettes which accounted for 80 per cent of the company’s revenues in the last fiscal. 
ITC’s agri-business group, under which the e-choupal business was run, accounted for revenues of Rs 734 crore out of gross sales of Rs 5611 crore in six months ended September 2003. 
Cigarette sales generated Rs 4,575 crore in the same period but the gross figure included the high incidence of taxes on cigarettes.Deveshwar also charted out the expansion of choupal network. 
In the next five to seven years, ITC will have 20,000 choupals. To explain the coverage of the choupals, each choupal spanned around five villages, which meant that the company would have access to one lakh villages. 
Each choupal served around 550-600 farmers. The company was reportedly adding five to six choupals a day. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142355.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 284, 'Wipro buys lease rights of Chandrika soap', 'Wipro has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with SV Products to acquire the long-term lease rights of the soap brand Chandrika for use in India and SAARC nations. 
', 'Wipro has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with SV Products to acquire the long-term lease rights of the soap brand “Chandrika” for use in India and SAARC nations. 
This is Wipro’s second such acquisition under its consumer care division after Glucovita early this year. 
However, Wipro has neither disclosed the total sum paid as royalty to SV Products nor specified the actual term for which this lease agreement would last. 
The deal also concludes the long drawn battle between SV Products, Marico and Wipro to own and market the Chandrika brand. 
As part of the settlement, Marico has been paid in cash in an out-of-court battle. Once again, both officials 
from Wipro as well as S.V. Products has not disclose the terms of settlement with Marico, siting contractual obligations. 
The Chandrika family partnership will retain export rights to the brand in other countries and will also continue to manufacture Chandrika soaps for Wipro. 
Wipro has also said that it will enter into a separate manufacturing agreement with the Chandrika family partnership for the manufacture of the soap. 
The transaction is currently anticipated to close by March 31, 2004. 
According to Vineet Agrawal, president of the Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting division, “The acquisition of Chandrika brand will definitely have a substantial impact on our topline. It is a good heritage brand and has the potential to grow. We intend to combine our existing distribution strengths with the strong Chandrika brand to consolidate our presence in core states in India and expand into new markets.” 
Prior to this agreement, Wipro had signed for distribution rights of Chandrika with SV Products in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in June 2003. 
Chandrika’s annual sales during the last fiscal was Rs 28 crore and this includes Rs 4 crore in exports. SV Products had spent about Rs 2 crore on marketing this brand. 
As it would take more time to actually close the transaction, Wipro is yet to finalised its marketing plan for Chandrika. 
Sidha shampoo, another product from the SV Products stable is one other commodity, is likely to be taken over by Wipro. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142327.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 285, 'Progeon to ramp up headcount ', 'Progeon, the business process outsourcing arm (BPO) of Infosys Technologies, is on a hiring spree. 
', 'Progeon, the business process outsourcing arm (BPO) of Infosys Technologies, is on a hiring spree. 
Notwithstanding the backlash on Indian BPO units in the US and UK, the company is adding close to 500 employees at its centre in Bangalore and Pune. 
Progeon had 1,038 employees at the second quarter September 2003. 
The company expects the total headcount to touch 1,500 by March, 2004. At present, the company has 1,300 people on the roll but it is scouting for more heads to service clients. Presently, all the 1,300 employee are located at Progeon’s two units at Bangalore. 
The Pune unit, which has 350 seat capacity is yet to start operation. Progeon, which is active in domain areas such as banking, securities and brokerage, insurance, telecom, finance and accounts, had eight clients by the end of September quarter. 
During the second quarter the company added three new clients. 
Observers believe that the new recruitment points out to the fact the Indian BPO sector is ready to weather the temporary phase of backlash from the West as foreign companies will finally see the economic benefit out of outsourcing to low-cost-operation countries. 
Progeon has achieved a break-even in the fourth quarter of its operations. It registered a profit of Rs 0.90 crore on a revenue of Rs 20.85 crore. 
However, on a yearly basis, Progeon posted a loss of Rs 3.1 crore. For fiscal 2004, Progeon’s income is likely to be in the range of Rs 76 crore and Rs 85 crore. 
While the Pune facility is likely to be operational during this fiscal, Infosys recently reached an agreement with the government of Mauritius, to establish a 1,500-seat facility there. 
The decision was made to mitigate country risk. In the event of a disaster, the government of Mauritius will provide air charters and visas on arrival to 1,500 personnel. Progeon is an integral part of this plan. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142452.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 286, 'GAIL lines up Rs 200cr foreign investments', 'Public sector GAIL India Ltd has earmarked Rs 200 crore as overseas investments for the next two-three years and will buy equity in foreign gas exploration and production (E&amp;P) projects, a top', 'Public sector GAIL India Ltd has earmarked Rs 200 crore as overseas investments for the next two-three years and will buy equity in foreign gas exploration and production (E&amp;P) projects, a top company executive said today. 
“We are also considering moving from gas distribution to gas transmission in overseas markets,” Proshanto Banerjee, chairman and managing director, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here. 
Some of these projects may be implemented in alliance with Royal Dutch Shell group of companies, the world’s third largest energy major, with which GAIL has entered an MoU for joint participation. 
“We have told Shell that we will like to act as a complementary company to them,” he said. 
Banerjee said GAIL has already picked up a 22 per cent stake in Shell CNG, a city company in Cairo, and an 18 per cent shareholding in Fayum Gas Company, another city gas company which operates in the Egyptian city of Fayum. 
GAIL has invested close to Rs 20 crore for picking up the stake in the two companies in which it will also provide technology assistance. 
“We are also in advanced discussion with Natgas and Nyle Valley Gas companies in Egypt which also provide city gas in Egyptian cities, especially along the upper Nyle and lower Nyle regions, for a strategic investment,” Banerjee said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003140932.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 287, 'RPG Aventis deal buoys Ranbaxy Labs', 'Ranbaxy Laboratories hit a high of Rs 1,082 before closing at Rs 1080.85, up by 0.77 per cent. 
', 'Ranbaxy Laboratories hit a high of Rs 1,082 before closing at Rs 1080.85, up by 0.77 per cent. 
More than 2.07 lakh shares were traded on the BSE. The counter saw its price rise on the bourses on good buying interest after the company announced the acquisition of French pharma firm RPG Aventis SA over the weekend. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003145552.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 288, 'WTO will seek to remove FDI cap in insurance', 'As a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India will have to lift the cap on foreign capital in the insurance sector sooner or later, said Ashwin Parekh partner at the consultancy firm', 'As a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India will have to lift the cap on foreign capital in the insurance sector sooner or later, said Ashwin Parekh partner at the consultancy firm Deloitte &amp; Touche Tomatsu. He made a presentation at the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce today. 
Member countries of General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) do not believe in imposing limits in terms of foreign capital. 
Today, the government has imposed an upper limited of 26 per cent on foreign equity in insurance. This is even as other financial sector players like banks and mutual funds have a far higher ceiling of 49 per cent and 75 per cent respectively. 
Speaking to Business Standard in Mumbai later in the day, Parekh said: “WTO has strong reason to put up a plea before the Indian government to open up tariffs as well.” The Indian insurance market continues to operate on uniform pricing even after the opening up of the sector. 
The provisions of WTO will take effect from 2005, thereby bringing about greater degree of competition in the Indian insurance sector. 
It might however be recalled that the Cancun talks failed earlier this year as developing countries were not agreeable to uniformity in foreign investment, as this would infringe on respective countries’ rights. 
However, Parekh stated that there is a cost to foreign capital deployed, which needs to be protected when pricing is uniform. 
This is especially of importance when the Indian government has artificially imposed minimum limits on capital for private sector companies, which is higher than in the case of the state-owned insurer. 
“Under the WTO protocol there should be no artificial caps if one were to ensure a level playing field. This is especially so when in most cases management control rests with the foreign partner who also brings in the best international practices,” said Parekh. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003123922.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 289, 'FII inflows hold key for forex mart', 'The rupee is likely to remain in a range of 45.40-60 against the dollar for this week. The major factor that markets will watch out for is the flow of funds from foreign institutional investors and', 'The rupee is likely to remain in a range of 45.40-60 against the dollar for this week. The major factor that markets will watch out for is the flow of funds from foreign institutional investors and action taken by public sector banks on the back of it. 
The rupee closed on Friday at 45.5450/5550 against the greenback, off its intra-day high of 45.5150. 
The rupee moved in a range of 45.47- 58 in the last week. This was against a close of 45.6050 on December 5. 
According to dealers, public sector banks have been aggressively mopping up dollars. On Tuesday, the rupee opened at 45.49 before moving to 45.47/49. Public banks started mopping up dollars and the rupee closed the day at 45.53/54, but not before touching 45.56/57. 
There have been major inflows through FIIs. Forex reserves in the country touched a new high of $97.520 billion on December 5 against $96.071 on November 28, a rise of $1.44 billion. 
Dealers attribute this rise to increasing FII investments and also revaluation of reserves as the euro and sterling have moved up against the dollar. 
FII inflows last week was more than $500 million. According to dealers, the forex reserve is likely to top $100 billion by the end of December. 
Both the euro and sterling have been gaining against the dollar. 
The euro closed at 1.228 against the dollar on Friday against a close of 1.2170 against the dollar on December 5. The sterling closed at 1.7470 on Friday as against 1.7295 the previous week. 
Public sector banks have been continuously mopping up supplies which are hitting the market. 
They are not allowing the rupee to go below 45.50. This is likely to continue. However, if the rupee breaks 45.50, dealers feel it will touch 45.40. 
Forwards to stay grooved
Forwards are likely to move in the same range this week too. On Friday, the six month annualised forward closed at 0.14 per cent, while the one-year forward closed at 0.33 per cent. 
The six-month forward, on December 5, closed at 0.08 per cent and one-year at 0.27 per cent. 
According to dealers, the six-month forward will move in a range of 0.10-0.25 per cent and one-year will move in a range of 0.30-0.45 per cent. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124010.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 290, 'Robust run for rupee, gilts static, bonds flaccid', 'The gilts market saw rangebound trading last week despite banks being flush with liquidity. The market has become cautious as the outlook on interest rate has turned neutral. 
', 'The gilts market saw rangebound trading last week despite banks being flush with liquidity. The market has become cautious as the outlook on interest rate has turned neutral. 
The rupee strengthened on account of foreign institutional investors stepping up investments in the stock market. 
The benchmark 7.27 per cent 2013 gilt hovered in the 5.16-5.21 per cent yield band last week. 
On Friday, the market witnessed a small rally as the inflation rate, at 5.25 per cent in the year through November 29, 2003, turned out to be lower than what the market expected. The 8.07 per cent 2017 gilt, in fact, gained by almost 70 paise on positive inflation data. 
Trading in the corporate bond was, however, lacklustre. The spread between the best rated five-year corporate bond and the corresponding maturity five-year gilt continues to be at 80-90 basis points. This spread was at 50-60 basis points about a month-and-a half ago. 
The Reserve Bank of India, on Wednesday, gave banks a one-year breather to regularise their investments in debt schemes of mutual funds. 
The RBI said investments by banks in such schemes will continue to be outside the purview of non-statutory liquidity ratio investments till December 2004. 
The rupee gained ground against the dollar during the week on the back of steady foreign fund inflows, but a late round of dollar short-covering by banks, possibly on behalf of the central bank, arrested a ten-session strong rally. 
The rupee finished the week at 45.5450/5550 per dollar, higher from the previous Friday’s finish of 45.60/61. 
It hit three-week peaks of 45.5150/5250 on Wednesday in mostly quiet and range-bound trade at the interbank foreign exchange market. 
Barring a three paise downward correction in the last two sessions, the rupee has appreciated by around 44 paise since November 27, driven-up by robust trade and capital inflows and a lingering weak dollar against major global currencies, particularly the euro. 
Foreign institutional investors investments in the stock market coupled with exporter remittances gave the rupee firm underlying support. 
However, last minute rush to cover short-dollar positions by state-run banks, possibly on behalf of the central bank, put capped the rupee’s rise. 
Foreign institutional investors have pumped in over Rs 612 crore ($ 134 mln) on December 10 in equity, one of the highest ever investment on a single day. 
Meanwhile, India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped by over $ one billion for the second time within a month and crossed $97 billion. 
During the week ended December 5, the foreign reserves jumped by $1.449 billion and stood at $ 97.520 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly statistical supplement. 
During the previous week ended November 21, forex reserves had increased by $ 1.710 billion. 
The robust growth in reserves was mainly on account of foreign currency assets rising by $1.331 billion and gold reserves increasing by $118 million owing to revaluation. 
As of December 5, foreign currency assets stood at $ 93.479 billion and gold reserves at $4.038 billion. Special drawing rights remained unchanged at $3 million respectively. 
Reserve tranche position with the international monetary fund increased by $5 million at $1.224 billion. 
The RTP may change, from time to time, owing to India’s transactions under financial transaction plan with the IMF. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124155.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 291, 'Selling by banks to dent gilts', 'The liquidity overhang in the system will continue to remain, despite tax outflows of Rs 7,000-10,000 crore this week. 
', 'The liquidity overhang in the system will continue to remain, despite tax outflows of Rs 7,000-10,000 crore this week. 
With an average of Rs 26,968 crore having been mopped up by the daily repo market last week, the market is more than comfortable in terms of liquidity. 
However, as there has been no direction given and December generally being a bad month in terms of trading, activity this week continues to look bleak. 
Despite some talks of corporates locking in at current interest rates in expectation of some hardening, excess liquidity and continuous presence of RBI sterlisation as foreign reserves cross $97.5 billion, dealers do not see any tightening in rates for the next three to six months. 
Interestingly, some market players continue to expect a repo rate cut. However, the current lacklustre environment is not expected to change before January, and yields will remain ranged. 
The 10-year paper is expected to hover around 5.22-17 per cent levels, with there being no trigger points. 
Some listed public banks are likely to sell some part of their government securities portfolio to show profits from treasury in the third quarter. Their unlisted counterparts are also likely to follow suit. 
Most private banks, however, chose to book profits prior to the credit policy announcement as they were not as confident of a 25-50 basis point rate cut. 
Interest in the market has waned since the credit policy announcement since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has failed to give any indication to the market. 
Call seen at sub-repo levelsOvernight call money rates will continue to remain easy on the back of excess liquidity and no government securities auction in the near future. 
Tax outflow of about Rs 10,000 crore is not expected to make any impact to the market on the back of continuous inflows following RBI’s sterlisation process. 
Moreover, with banks and primary dealers sitting on the sideline and mutual funds equally not interested in picking up stocks, there is no demand for funds. 
Much of overnight borrowing is taking place at about 4 per cent, and call rates continue to be artificially pegged at repo levels. 
Inflows to add to liquidityThe money market will see net inflows of Rs 1,051.2 crore this week on the back of interest coupon payments on central and state borrowings. 
This, however, does not take into account tax outflows, which are expected to be in the region of Rs 7,000-10,000 crore. 
Gross inflows during the week amount to Rs 1,551.2 crore, with an outflow of Rs 500 crore in terms of 91-day treasury bill auction slated for Wednesday. 
T-bills yields at sub-repo levelsThere continues to be appetite in the marker for treasury bills, as players are not keen to lock up funds for long-term. 
Yields, thus, continue to rule at sub-repo levels, with 3-month T-bill at 4.15-18 per cent levels and 365-day T-bill currently quoting at 4.3 per cent. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124118.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 292, 'Bond yields seen range-bound', 'Yields on corporate bonds will be rangebound this week. Though inflation rate, at 5.25 per cent in the year through November 29, 2003, turned out to be lower than what the market expected, it still', 'Yields on corporate bonds will be rangebound this week. Though inflation rate, at 5.25 per cent in the year through November 29, 2003, turned out to be lower than what the market expected, it still remains a cause for concern. 
The market is a bit cautious on the interest rate front too. The underlying reason is that if the uptick in inflation continues and credit offtake from banks gathers pace, then interest rates could edge up. 
The yield differential (spread) between the best rated five-year corporate bond and the corresponding maturity five-year gilt continues at 80-90 basis points. About a month-and-a-half ago, this spread was hovering at 50-60 basis points. 
Banks are seeking to realign their portfolio to comply with the Reserve Bank of India guidelines on holding unlisted corporate bonds. 
The guideline is that banks holding of unlisted non-SLR bonds should not exceed 10 per cent of the total non-SLR portfolio after December-end 2004. 
They may either offload their excess unlisted bonds or increase their investment in listed bonds so that the proportion of unlisted bonds comes down. 
Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) are preparing their offer documents to tap the market with listed bond issues. 
Last week, JNPT, in fact, raised Rs 225 crore through non-convertible bonds of three months tenor at a coupon rate of 4.60 per cent. 
It also raised Rs 150 crore through non-convertible bonds of six months tenor at a coupon rate of 5.15 per cent. 
The trust is likely to raise anywhere between Rs 125 crore and Rs 150 crore via a non-convertible debenture issue of two to four years duration. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124249.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 293, 'Gilts to stay ranged', 'Government securities are also expected to stay ranged, notwithstanding the fact that the system is flush with liquidity. The market expects the interest rates to be netural for some time. 
', 'Government securities are also expected to stay ranged, notwithstanding the fact that the system is flush with liquidity. The market expects the interest rates to be netural for some time. 
Yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt, which closed last week at 5.19 per cent, is seen hovering in the 5.14-5.20 per cent range in the coming week. 
Inflation and interest rate concerns will see banks realigning (churning) their portfolio. They will hold more of treasury bills, short and medium tenor gilts compared to long-dated gilts. As yields increase, banks will also try to bring down their average holding cost of their portfolio. 
While foreign institutional investors are unlikely to take fresh exposures on account of year-end considerations, mutual funds will be actively buying and selling. Daily average volumes in the gilts market are seen hovering in the Rs 3,000-4,000 crore in the coming week. 
The yield curve, which has been flat for the last few months, has got realigned a tad last week after the auction of the 6.01 per cent 2028 gilt. 
The RBI announced a higher cut-off yield of 6.25 per cent for this gilt. The yield differential between the benchmark 10-year gilt and the one-year residual maturity gilt is still very low at around 90 basis points. In the US, the yield differential is almost 200 basis points. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124843.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 294, 'Sebi investor rule to hit 21 funds', 'The Securities and Exchange Board of India\'s (Sebi) diktat to mutual funds to regularise schemes that have just one or a handful of investors is going to hit at least 21 of them. 
', 'The Securities and Exchange Board of India\'s (Sebi) diktat to mutual funds to regularise schemes that have just one or a handful of investors is going to hit at least 21 of them. 
On September 30, 2003, these 21 funds had around 92 schemes where a single investor or at most a handful of investors contributed to their entire corpus. 
According to data culled by the Business Standard Research Bureau from fact sheets published by mutual funds, even public sector funds have schemes catering largely to single investors or where a single investor holds more than 25 per cent of the corpus. This includes the SBI Mutual Fund, which had nine such schemes in operation in September 2003. 
The UTI Mutual Fund had three such schemes, Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund six and Canara Bank Mutual Fund 11. 
But Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund has the largest number of such schemes so far, 17. In 10 of Cholamandalam Asset Management\'s schemes, a single investor held more than 25 per cent of the portfolio. 
In another 10 schemes, a single investor holds 100 per cent of the corpus, though it is not clear who or what this single investor is. 
This includes the Gilt Series, Liquid Cumulative and Liquid 2006 schemes from Cholamandalam Mutual Fund, Fixed Maturity Plan-Yearly Series-6 from Prudential ICICI, Fixed Term and Capital scheme from ING Vysya, Select Debt-5 from Sundaram Mutual Fund and Yearly Fixed Monthly Plan-4 from Sun F&amp;C. 
The Sebi circular issued on Friday said any scheme or plan issued in future should have a minimum of 20 investors and no investor could hold more than 25 per cent of the portfolio. 
Existing schemes have been given three months to comply with the requirement. Sebi said if the mutual funds failed to comply with the deadline, they would be wound up. 
The new fixed maturity plans to be launched will have to comply with the requirement, but existing ones have been exempted “considering the nature of the schemes and in the interests of the investors”. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124812.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 295, 'BJP to shelve hard economic choices', 'The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken a conscious decision to put all controversial economic issueswhether they be privatisation, or disinvestment or increasing foreign direct investment (FDI)', 'The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken a conscious decision to put all controversial economic issues—whether they be privatisation, or disinvestment or increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) caps or labour sector reforms —on hold till the general elections. 
“No controversies. Absolutely no controversies. We have done well in the Assembly elections. I have no doubt we will get a good Budget. Everything is going our way. We should do nothing to rock the boat,” said a top BJP leader credited with engineering the party’s victory in some of the four states that went to the polls recently. 
“The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has an annual retreat. While he was minister, Pramod Mahajan used to be a star speaker at CII bashes. When he ceased to be a minister, they dropped him. After a gap of nearly a year, he was invited to speak to captains of industry at the CII retreat in Goa last week. The tide is turning in our favour. We should do nothing to obstruct its course,” the leader explained. 
The government’s strategy will be to showcase for the next nine months, all that it has managed to do despite being a coalition of 20 parties, instead of directing the spotlight on areas where it has tried to bring about change but has failed. 
“There is no dearth of things we have done. In virtually every speech made during the Assembly election campaign, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has emphasised the importance of the Golden Quadrilateral and how it will change the lives of those who live in villages. 
“The communication revolution is here to stay. Even if telecom reforms are postponed for the moment, the momentum of the reforms process is such that a temporary slowdown will not affect the lives of the people. We should do nothing on which unanimity—both within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the government and the Opposition— is absent,” said the leader. 
Unanimity on economic reforms is missing from even within the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is another reason for the BJP to postpone a push for reforms. 
In the Sangh Parivar, there are few takers of the interpretation that the BJP\'s victory in the Assembly elections of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh should be equated with approval of economic reforms. 
“If reforms are all that that saleable, why did the BJP lose Himachal Pradesh or Delhi?” asked another senior BJP leader who felt the BJP’s victory should not be seen as an endorsement for reform or liberalisation. 
Senior BJP leaders say the BJP gained the most in these elections because of local issues. 
There is also tough posturing by the RSS-backed Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM). “We do not see this victory as approval for reforms,” said Mulridhar Rao, convenor of the SJM. 
“If that were the case, the Congress should have won because it has a better track record than the BJP,” he pointed out while making it clear that the SJM would oppose any move to widen the scope of foreign direct investment in crucial sectors like telecom. 
Sources in the RSS also warn that it would be politically imprudent for the government to fiddle with the contentious issues like disinvestment and FDI with the Lok Sabha elections barely 10 months away. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124934.htm', 'General', 'normal', 'F', 296, 'BJP likely to replace Katiyar', 'The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to be up for a leadership change on December 25, when the central party office-bearers meet. The BJP is concerned about toning up', 'The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to be up for a leadership change on December 25, when the central party office-bearers meet. The BJP is concerned about toning up the party in the politically-crucial state. 
Former state BJP chief Kalraj Mishra and Vibhuti Nar-ain Singh, currently incharge of the party panchayati raj cell, were front-runners for taking the reins of the party from Vinay Katiyar, sources said. 
Besides these organisational changes in Uttar Pradesh, the party is also likely to work out a firm alliance in Bihar to prevent the repeat of what happened during the last Assembly elections in the state, which led to the return of the Laloo Prasad Yadav-led Rash-triya Janata Dal to power, BJP sources said. 
Even after their division, these two states together account for 120 Lok Sabha seats. If party chief Venkiah Naidu is to be believed, the BJP will win 300 seats on its own in the next general elections. So the party needs to be in working order in these states, at the very least. 
The party could retain the same organisational team deployed for the Assembly elections for the next Lok Sabha polls as well. 
The team, which enabled the party to oust the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, was led by the party president and included general secretaries Pramod Mahajan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh. 
The December 25 meeting was also expected to discuss the broad outlines of the strategy for the Lok Sabha polls as also the agenda for the Hyderabad meeting, which included finalisation of dates for organisational elections, sources said. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003124910.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 297, 'NDA motion unlikely to dent Laloo\'s base', 'The no-confidence motion against the Rabri government in Bihar to be tabled by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) tomorrow is certain to fall through and will only strengthen Rashtriya Janata Dal', 'The no-confidence motion against the Rabri government in Bihar to be tabled by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) tomorrow is certain to fall through and will only strengthen Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav\'s position to take advantage of caste cleavages in the state politics. 
The sacking of Director-General of Police DP Ojha has already taken a casteist angle in the state. Yadav was quick to brand Ojha as a sympathiser of the outlawed “Ranveer Sena”—a private army of upper caste Bhumihars in the state. 
Since Ojha belongs to this caste, the message seems to have gone down well among social groups, which form Yadav’s support base. Yadav has again used the controversy to address to his formidable OBC-Muslim support base and consolidate his position. 
Yadav announced today that he would hold a maharalla (huge rally) in response to all the legislative action against him by the Opposition. This is apparently to touch base with his sympathisers. 
“We command full majority in the House. We are least bothered about the no-confidence motion, which is bound to be defeated,” Yadav said in Patna before leaving for Ranchi to address a party rally. 
The Opposition should have brought the no-confidence motion earlier, he said claiming support of the Congress and Independents sharing power with the RJD in Bihar. 
He also ridiculed Ojha’s warning that his life was under threat, adding the ousted police chief had “lost his mental balance.” 
The murder of Satyendra Dubey, an engineer working with the National Highways Authority of India in Gaya, could not be taken up as an effective issue to mobilise the fractured Opposition in the state. 
There are contradictions within the NDA comprising the BJP, the Samata Party-JD(U) combine, which led a Bihar minister to comment that the legislative move was just the response of a “debating society”. 
“The Bhumihars are with us (the NDA). The Yadavs and the Muslims are with Laloo. In between, it looked as if the Muslims were confused. But after the Gujarat riots they will go with Laloo. So there is no political confusion. Everything is as before,” he said. 
Given the current churning in the BJP about cranking the party up for the Mission 2004 (Lok Sabha elections), there is a view that the leader of the BJP in the state and the leader of the legislature party should be changed to present a more OBC-friendly face. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003135904.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 298, 'Maharashtra plans special courts to tackle power theft', 'Impressed by the performance of Andhra Pradesh, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) has decided to set up special courts as well as police stations to exclusively tackle cases of pilferage', 'Impressed by the performance of Andhra Pradesh, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) has decided to set up special courts as well as police stations to exclusively tackle cases of pilferage of energy. 
Several states like Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have also studied the methods of reducing energy losses and curtailing theft of energy. 
This was disclosed by APTransco (Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh) chairman and managing director Rachel Chatterjee. 
She also urged various government departments like police, commercial taxes, revenue, and mining departments to help the Transmission Corporation in its efforts to the incidence of power pilferage, said a release here. 
Chatterjee informed that several measures had been undertaken to involve the public by implementing a special incentive programme. 
As an incentive, 5 per cent of the amount collected from the theft of energy cases would be given to the informers who will intimate and co-operate with the electricity engineers and staff. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003140030.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 299, 'Youth empowerment policy soon: Naidu', 'The state government will soon come out with a new youth empowerment policy based on the feedback and recommendations by the four-day Youth Employment Summit (YES) that began here on Sunday. 
', 'The state government will soon come out with a new youth empowerment policy based on the feedback and recommendations by the four-day Youth Employment Summit (YES) that began here on Sunday. 
Announcing this at the inaugural ceremony of YES, the chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, said that the proposed youth empowerment policy would be implemented as a model for th rest of the world to emulate the agenda and the practice. 
“I am a strong believer in youth power. We can do wonders in future, if the power of youth is tapped for the betterment of the society. Skilled employment is so important that the ultimate goal of eradicating poverty is solely dependent on employing and empowering the youth as they are the biggest asset the country has,” he said. 
The chief minister stated that the education policy would also be reoriented to suit the needs in the present environment. “ India will become the back office for the rest of the world as Indian human resources are cost-effective when compared to other countries,” he said. 
Naidu also expressed his willingness to provide more incentives to the youth under the self-employment programmes including interest subsidies. 
He quoted Swami Vivekananda that, “all power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders and know that you are the creator of your own destiny.” 
Sahib Singh Verma, the union minister for labour, who was the chief guest at the function, said that India was lacking in capacity-building and skill development among the youth when compared to other countries. 
“To overcome this drawback, the central government is planning to create National Skill Development Fund very soon,” he informed. 
Saying that the government jobs were no solution to unemployment problem, Verma said that self-employment and employment in other sectors were the largest contributors in eliminating the unemployment problem. 
In his keynote address, Hafiz Pasha, the assistant secretary-general of United Nations, opined that action plans should be chalked out for creating employment for the youth. “Creating decent employment for youth should be one of the key targets of all nations,” he said. 
Naina Lal Kidwai, the vice-chairman and managing director of HSBC, said India should utilise the business process outsourcing (BPO) opportunities coming from the developed world to create wealth as well as employment to the youth. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003142731.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 300, 'Golden quadrilateral completion by 2007 ', 'The entire Golden Quadrilateral Project (GQP) including the recently taken up 10,000 km length would be completed by the year 2007, B C Khanduri, the union minister for road transport and highways', 'The entire Golden Quadrilateral Project (GQP) including the recently taken up 10,000 km length would be completed by the year 2007, B C Khanduri, the union minister for road transport and highways told media persons. 
The government had originally proposed to take up a total of four lane highways of 14,500 kms with Rs 60, 000 crores, but recently the government had decided to extend this project for another 10,000 km with an additional investment of Rs 40 crores. The whole project would be completed by 2007, the minister revealed. 
Around 90 per cent of the initially proposed 14,500 km four lane highway work will be executed by the end of 2004, the minister added. 
Except for a few stretches of Mumbai- Chennai and New Delhi-Kolkata sections of the Golden Quadrilateral, the project would be completed by December 2004, he added. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003142745.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 301, '?Nod for policies will fasten growth projects\'', 'In the second part of the interview, T Chandrasekhar, project director of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), talks about projects which will change the face of Mumbai. 
', 'In the second part of the interview, T Chandrasekhar, project director of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), talks about projects which will change the face of Mumbai. 
What are the fresh initiatives the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) is undertaking as part of the vision plan for Mumbai’s development? 
The World Bank-aided MUTP, Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP), the metro railway project, western freeway (linking Bandra with Worli and Worli with Nariman Point through a sea link), Mumbai transharbour link and the Mumbai-Pune expressway are the salient projects which will change the face of Mumbai. 
Mumbai city is a 434 sq km region. Of this 134 sq km falls under the coastal regulation zone, 100 km is taken up by the Sanjay Gandhi National Park besides no-development zones and green zones. This leaves around 25 per cent of this area available for meeting the commercial and housing needs of the city. 
Nearly 2003 hectare of locked up land can become available for the developmental needs of the city if the policy initiatives which are currently under the consideration of the state and Central governments are cleared. 
This area comprises the salt pan, locked up mill land and surplus ceiling land (needs the repealing of the urban land ceiling Act). 
On the salt pan land it has been mutually agreed by the state and Union government to share the land equitably. 
Your comments on the finances for major infrastructure initiatives for meeting the housing requirements of Mumbai city. 
Already many prominent developers like the Lok Group and Mantri Builders have evinced keen interest to finance various housing development projects which are being initiated to transform the Dharavi region (known as the largest slum pocket in South Asia) into development model being adopted in Mumbai. 
For instance, while the existing slums in the Dharavi area will be rehabilitated into housing projects undertaken in 12 segments, our endeavour is to rehouse the existing residents of the region. 
The developers in turn will be given transfer development rights to develop in other regions so that no additional load on water and other civic amenities are imposed on the region post-development. 
Some commercial units (offices) will be permitted to be created in the region that will ensure employment opportunities for the people in the region without imposing an additional burden on the civic infrastructure. 
How is the transport infrastructure going to benefit Mumbai’s residents? 
You must understand the requirements of the city first. Mumbai has 12 million people commuting daily across the city’s length. Of this, 48 per cent use the railway network of the western, central and harbour line railways. 
Forty-four per cent of the commuters use the BEST bus service, while the remaining eight per cent use private means of transport. 
Under the MUTP allocation of Rs 4,526 crore, Rs 3,030 crore is reserved for the rail transport component, Rs 829 crore is for the road transport component, Rs 468 crore will be utilised for rehabilitation and resettlement of the project affected persons and Rs 199 crore would go towards taxes, duties and front end fees. The World Bank has provided Rs 2,602 crore of this total corpus. 
How is the rail component of the project going to provide better facilities for city residents? 
Currently bids have been called for supplying 180 new trains. The rail component of the MUTP will result in a 30 per cent reduction in train overcrowding and a 35-50 per cent increase in the train network. 
Additional track laying has already commenced on all three railway corridors of Mumbai. 
In addition, a fresh pair of railway lines on the Borivali-Virar segment will be laid, the fifth and sixth line between Kurla and Thane, the fifth line between Mahim and Borivali, widening of track centres to enable running of electric motor unit services on the Virar-Dhanu road section and 12 car rakes will replace nine care rakes on the suburban lines. 
Also the optimisation of the central, western and harbour railway lines will provide relief to Mumbai’s commuters. 
Mumbai has the only railway network that enjoys profits among city rail networks in the country and the rail component of the MUTP will see the city’s railway network being spruced up on international standards. 
Could you spell out the road infrastructure projects that will be undertaken under MUTP and the status of it?
Work has already commenced on the Rs 168 crore Jogeshwari-Vikroli Link Road and the Rs 187 crore Santacruz-Chembur link road as well as the Rs 171 crore rail on rail bridges at Jogeshwari and Vikhroli. The MUTP includes the purchase of 500 new buses (Rs 113 crore) and 30 pedestrian subways (Rs 73 crore).

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003142916.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 302, 'Modi seeks state help to link Damanganga with Sabarmati', 'Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sought the co-operation of the Maharashtra government to link river Damanganga, flowing across Maharashtra, with Sabarmati river in Gujarat. 
', 'Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sought the co-operation of the Maharashtra government to link river Damanganga, flowing across Maharashtra, with Sabarmati river in Gujarat. 
Addressing the inaugural function of the MahaExpo-2003, Modi said both the Gujarat and the Maharashtra governments should work together in various development projects, in spite of their political differences. 
“Only around 45 years back, Gujarat and Maharashtra were a single state. Though now it has been divided to two separate states, both will have to work together in building a strong industrial infrastructure and launching developmental projects. I will request Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde to co-operate with the Gujarat government in its initiative to link Damanganga river with Sabarmati which will benefit both the states,” Modi said. 
Modi said once the Damanganga river is linked with Sabarmati, it will help the entire western region develop farming and irrigate the parched lands. 
Modi earlier held a meeting with Shinde to discuss various issues involving both the states. 
Talking about how both the states can work together to tide over the power crisis, the chief minister said, “Construction work on the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river is now in full swing. We have already built the dam up to the level of 103 metres. Once the Maharashtra government completes the rehabilitation of the project-affected people, we can raise the dam height up to 110 metres as allowed by the Supreme Court. This will lead to the revival of our 1,500 MW power plant in Narmada district.” 
The power plant, which is all set to operate, need to wait till the height of the dam is raised up to at least 110 metres. 
The Gujarat government is at present spending Rs one crore every month to maintain the machinery of the plant and pay salaries to the staff. Shinde promised his Gujarat counterpart that the rehabilitation work will be completed in the next one and half months. 
“Once this power plant starts operation, Maharashtra stands to gain more than Gujarat,” Modi said. 
Modi said Gujarat will record a 10.2 per cent growth, exceeding the target. Modi said by the end of the current fiscal year, Gujarat will record a double-digit growth rate and the government is confident about meeting the expectations of the Planning Commission. 
“With the new investments in the gas and oil sector, Gujarat now can be called the petro capital of the country. We believe that the upcoming gas projects will benefit other states, especially Maharashtra, a lot,” Modi said. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143038.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 303, 'Mundra Port to get Rs 3000 cr more', 'The international container terminal at Mundra Port, handed over to the multinational container handling company P&amp;O Ports, and the 57-km Mundra-Adipur railway line, the longest railway link to be', 'The international container terminal at Mundra Port, handed over to the multinational container handling company P&amp;O Ports, and the 57-km Mundra-Adipur railway line, the longest railway link to be constructed by the private sector in India, were formally dedicated to the nation at Mundra in Kutch district of Gujarat on Saturday. 
Attended by Union railway minister Nitish Kumar, chief minister Narendra Modi (the state government is a partner in the development of the Mundra port) and Jimmy Sarbh, director, South Asia and Middle East, P&amp;O Ports, the function gained significance as India’s first private special economic zone (SEZ) will come up at Mundra in 2004. 
Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani group which promotes the Mundra Port, said the port will become a part of the SEZ and the Adani group plans to invest an additional Rs 3,000 crore on the port over the next five years. 
“We have already spent around Rs 2,000 crore on the project and with the SEZ set to come up in 2004, the group will invest an additional Rs 3,000 crore in the next five years,” he said. 
Jimmy Sarbh said while the company has already invested Rs 1,000 crore in the project, it will invest another Rs 1,000 crore at Mundra in the second phase. 
“We are here to stay and we have grown at all places where the company has ventured before. But there are a few things that the state and the central government must consider. To thrive, there ought to be an efficient rail network connecting ports and an equally good road network, only then will container traffic prosper,” he said. 
Chief minister Narendra Modi said the Mundra SEZ, which will come up in 2004, will be the only SEZ that will be connected to a port, airport and the rail network. 
However, Gautam Adani said the government is still not clear on the SEZ Act and the group is waiting for the government to finalise provisions of the Act before large-scale investments can be made for the proposed special economic zone. 
Nitish Kumar said the first experiment of a private sector player laying a railway line has been attempted with success at Mundra. 
“We will run the trains on this rail and the revenue will be shared. I assure Gujarat that any proposal for port connectivity will be given immediate clearance by the railways,” Kumar said at the ceremony. 
R K Singh, chairman of the Railway Board, said container traffic is most efficiently run through the rail network and the railways will expedite the Gandhidham-Palanpur gauge conversion work so that containers from Mundra and Kandla can be transported more efficiently through the rail network. 
Mundra Port in Kutch, promoted by the Adani group, commenced operations about four years ago and is poised to become one of India’s top five ports, according to Gautam Adani. 
The port is projected to handle 38 million tonnes of cargo by 2008-09 and about six million tonnes of cargo during the current fiscal. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/17122003/news17122003115901.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 304, 'Lehman snaps deal with Wipro', 'Lehman Brothers Holdings has stopped outsourcing internal computer helpdesk work to Wipro Spectramind on the ground that it is not happy with the quality of services offered. 
', 'Lehman Brothers Holdings has stopped outsourcing internal computer helpdesk work to Wipro Spectramind on the ground that it is not happy with the quality of services offered. 
The New York-based financial services firm had last year hired Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro to manage some of its information-technology operations, including handling employee reports of computer problems. 
The financial impact of the development could not be assessed. Wipro Spectramind is the largest Indian IT-enabled services company. Owned 100 per cent by Wipro, it employs close to 8,500 people. A Wipro spokesman, on being contacted, said, “We do not comment on specific customer relations matters.” 
Added a TCS spokesperson, “TCS continues to do work with Lehman Brothers and the decision by Lehman Brothers, as reported in the media, does not impact the TCS-Lehman engagement in any manner.” 
Wipro Spectramind, one of the county’s leading BPO operations that has been ramping up rapidly, has had problems with the Lehman Brothers deal for some time. As a result this business has not seen the sort of ramping up that was initially envisaged. 
Unlike the cancellation of a $15 million contract with TCS by the Indiana government last month, Nasscom as well as the Indian government has distanced itself from this development. Nasscom president Kiran Karnik told Business Standard: “It is a company specific issue and this has happened in isolation. According to Nasscom, this will not have an impact on the ITES sector.” 
Added an IT ministry official: “One company pulling out is not an issue. But the most important issue for the Indian companies is to keep themselves aware of the needs of the customers and train their manpower accordingly. We have also been asking companies to maintain a high level of quality levels and train the manpower to meet the needs of the customers.” 
‘Relationship with Wipro to grow’ 
Lehman Managing Director for Information Technology Charlie Cortese denied that there was any setback in the company’s relationship with Wipro. The relationship was likely to “continue and grow”, Cortese told Business Standard. 
The IT helpdesk, which was a small call centre and constituted only 5 per cent of the total offshoring by Lehman, was being ended. This particular part of the project did not do well, but Cortese emphasised that Lehman had no problems of quality with Wipro. 
BPO backlash



Dell moves some call centre work from India to the US on account of low customer satisfaction 

Indiana government cancels $15 million contract to TCS 

Lehman Brothers stops offshoring to Wipro Spectramind over quality issues 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143007.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 180, 'More FTZs needed to boost economy: Mukesh Ambani', 'India must have many more free-trade zones (FTZs) to strengthen its economy and increase the countrys share in global trade, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the Rs 65,000 crore Reliance Industries Ltd', 'India must have many more free-trade zones (FTZs) to strengthen its economy and increase the country’s share in global trade, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the Rs 65,000 crore Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), said here on Sunday. 
Talking at the inaugural function of the MahaExpo-2003, Ambani said, “There is an urgent need for a strong industrial infrastructure and more free-trade zones like special economic zones (SEZs). I wonder if it is possible to declare the entire country as a free-trade zone to boost the economy and attract more industrial investments.” 
Ambani expressed optimism that with the surge in global trade and India’s increasing participation in the textiles segment, more opportunities will be come up in near future. 
Lauding the initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat to boost industries, Ambani, who has his highest investment in Gujarat, said, “Nothing deters Modi from making Gujarat a strong industrial hub. This effort should continue for a long period.” 
Ambani said WTO must provide a framework for further development of the developing countries and more active participation in the global trade. 
Speaking on the occasion, Jaswant Singh, Union finance minister, said Gujarat and Maharashtra should work together for the development of the two states as well as the country. 
“The finance ministry will support all development projects, particularly those in the power sector, taken up by these governments. The power situation in these states needs to be improved urgently,” Singh said after inaugurating the seven-day industrial exhibition. 
Expressing concern over the debt position of Maharashtra, Singh said, “It is a matter of serious concern that a progressive and developed state like Maharashtra has a debt of Rs 90,000 crore. While the central government will try to do its best to help the state come out the huge debt, the state also will need to take initiatives of its own.” 
Maharashtra had a total debt of Rs 93,000 crore one year back, which now has come down to Rs 90,000 crore. 
Singh said his ministry is working out a system to provide farmers loans on easier terms and at lower interest rates. 
“We are trying to work out a lower rate of interest from the existing 9 per cent for the farmers. We are also planning to introduce a new system that will help the farmers get loans easily. We will soon announce a policy in this regard,” he said. 
“I have been saying for the last few days that India needs a second Green Revolution and it is very much possible as no other country in the world has this much of irrigated land for farming. The second Green Revolution will boost the economy,” he said. 
The minister said the work on development of the Delhi and Mumbai airports will start soon as the group of ministers is expected to finalise the master plan. The plan will be implemented under the supervision of the finance ministry. 
Rajkumar Dhoot of Videocon, Narendra Gupta, president of the Chamber of Marathwada Industries and Agriculture (CMIA), also spoke. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143145.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 181, 'GAIL`s AP pipeline third phase to start next fiscal', 'Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is planning to take up the third phase of natural gas distribution pipeline laying work in Konaseema area of East Godavari District during the next fiscal. 
', 'Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is planning to take up the third phase of natural gas distribution pipeline laying work in Konaseema area of East Godavari District during the next fiscal. 
“Actually we are ready with pipelines and other materials to take up this work, but the gas supply has not increased as expected, and also some industries are not ready to take the gas supply. Owing to these reasons, we have not yet started the third phase work. However, the company is likely to start the works during the next fiscal,” R C Arora, the GAIL deputy general manager, Rajahmundry, told Business Standard. 
GAIL has proposed to lay 66.2-km long pipeline in the third phase with an investment of about Rs 80 crore. The pipeline laying works would take six months to complete, he said. 
To evacuate the natural gas generated from Ravva field in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, GAIL had already laid 414.1 km long 4-18 inch pipelines in two phases with an investment of Rs.533.5 crores. 
With these infrastructure support, the company is at present supplying 7.24 million metric standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD) gas to 27 industrial consumers in this region, he revealed. 
“If we complete the third phase work, we will be able to supply gas to eight new industrial consumers in Lingalapalli-Kaikalur and Mandapet sections,” he disclosed. 
During the last fiscal GAIL supplied on an average 7.45 MMSCMD of gas to industries, and during this fiscal the average supply is at 7.24 MMSCMD. 
“During the last fiscal ONGC supplied on an average 5.41 MMSCMD gas, but now the gas supply has fallen to 5.14 MMSCMD and Cairn Energy is supplying 2.1 MMSCMD,” Arora revealed. 
In order to meet the industrial demand in this region GAIL will need at least 8-9 MMSCMD of natural gas. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143135.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 182, 'US economic policies and the dollar', 'In recent weeks, we have seen the euro registering new record highs against the US dollar. Given the presidential election due in less than a year from now, both President Bushs re-election politics,', 'In recent weeks, we have seen the euro registering new record highs against the US dollar. Given the presidential election due in less than a year from now, both President Bush’s re-election politics, and economic forces, will influence the exchange rate. 
Bush is nicknamed “Dubya”. One is not sure whether the origin is in the word “dubious”, with which Bush has had a long and well-documented connection — the dubious way in which he earned his fortune, the dubious way in which he got elected (remember the Florida scam), the dubious, if not completely false, justifications for the aggression and regime change in Iraq and so on. 
He would hardly have forgotten the general consensus of the pundits that his father lost the re-election campaign because of a weak economy. 
He, perhaps, sees winning the re-election as the fulfilment of a filial duty — like the removal of the Iraqi president from power, also a job left unfinished by Bush senior. 
As far as the economy is concerned, Bush junior is on a strong wicket. GDP grew at a China-like 8.2 per cent annual rate in the third quarter of 2003 — a 20-year high. 
Corporate earnings, equity markets, consumer confidence, productivity and so on are all high. The weak point is, of course, jobs — under Bush’s stewardship 3 million jobs have been lost, with few signs of picking up. 
Even The Economist, a loyal supporter of Bush, acknowledged: “Poverty has grown worse, median household incomes are falling, the number of Americans without health insurance is soaring.” 
With huge tax cuts for Bush’s wealthy supporters, there has been a turnaround of 6 per cent of GDP in the fiscal balance in just about three years — from a surplus of 2.3 per cent in 2000 to a deficit of 3.6 per cent in the current year, which works out to be more than $ 600 billion. 
The spending priorities are evident by a defense budget equal to the fiscal deficit (defense against whom?), $ 100 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, and $ 100 million for aid for Africa’s malaria eradication programme — as one US commentator pointed out, if terrorists killed 3,000 people in the attacks on the World Trade Centre, more African children die of easily preventable malaria every day, no less tragically, if less spectacularly. 
One wonders whether there is a hidden agenda to the fiscal policy — as professor J Bradford DeLong argued, “The aim clearly has been to sharpen the financial crisis of the social-welfare state and bring about a permanent reduction in government wealth redistribution,” in other words, increase the fiscal deficit to such an extent as to frighten the legislators into cutting social programmes even more drastically. 
The true scale of the fiscal deficit is, of course, much higher than the projected number of $ 400 billion. Like most governments, the US budget numbers are calculated on a cash basis, not accrual basis like corporate accounts. 
If Bush was a thinking man, he would be frightened at the true extent of the shortfall in resources — in particular, the present value of the pension and social security obligations. 
Economists Jagadeesh Gokhale and Kent Smetters of the American Enterprise Institute, a right wing think tank, estimate that “the money the government is promising to spend outstrips the taxes it can expect to collect by $ 44 trillion — 20 times that of today’s federal budget, and four times more than America’s GDP.” 
But, of course, he is not a thinking man; he is a man of faith, whose inner voice, or a communication directly from the Almighty, gives him the answers, leaving it to others to find justifications, however convoluted, to support the decisions already reached at. 
The best example is, of course, the justifications for the change in the Iraqi regime. First, it was weapons of mass destruction (none found), then its supposed connections with the attacks on the World Trade Centre (allegation since retracted by Bush himself), and now, it is the institution of democracy in the country (with the help of great democracies like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia). 
As Jeffrey Sachs wrote in the Financial Times a couple of months ago, the true objective is “to create a long-term military and political base to protect the flow of Middle East oil…. 
Decade after decade has seen these two powers (the US and the UK) oppose democratic rule, topple popular governments and side with autocratic and corrupt rulers, always in the interest of oil.” 
Would all the blatant lies, the jobless recovery and the transfer of resources from welfare to the super rich create problems for Bush’s re-election? 
It seems unlikely — with the massive resources being collected for the election campaign ($ 200 million), the candidate will be “sold” to the voting public following the tried and tested methods of marketing soaps and fast food. 
As Gerard Baker acknowledged in the Financial Times, Bush’s re-election in the face of his economic record, would be a “travesty of unusual proportions”. 
Is there a weak point? Yes, the issue of unemployment. Scapegoats will have to be found. One of the more popular candidates will surely be China, and the exchange rate of the US dollar. But more about that next week. 
Email: avrco@vsnl.com 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143211.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 183, 'A `rupee area\'', 'Poet, orator, consummate politician, visionary. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a man of many parts but few would have suspected him of having the ability to put the cart before some 20 horses.', 'Poet, orator, consummate politician, visionary. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a man of many parts but few would have suspected him of having the ability to put the cart before some 20 horses. 
His suggestion that South Asia should think of working towards a common currency begs so many questions, and ignores so many prior requirements, that it can only be described as a pipe-dream. 
We should do what the EU has done, said Mr Vajpayee, rather overlooking the fact that it took Europe 300 years of practically continuous warfare and revolution and 40 years of economic integration, to accept the idea. 
India and Pakistan are still at each other’s throats, not to speak of tensions with Bangladesh. And even though two years have passed since the euro was born, Britain and many other countries have chosen to not join Eurozone. 
The reason is simple. For currencies to unite, many pre-conditions need to be satisfied and a clear set of benefits need to follow. 
The basic pre-conditions are at least two. First, there must exist a huge amount of trade between those proposing to join the union because different currencies increase transaction costs for firms. 
This is what had happened in Europe by the end of the 1980s and it was one of the main arguments at the Maastricht meeting (which resulted in a Treaty) where the then 12 members of the EU endorsed the idea — with a deadline that was nearly a full decade after economic integration in other ways (common standards, for instance). 
Second, investments between the countries must also be huge because then the same reason comes into play. Trade and investment thus reinforce each other in the push towards a single currency. 
These two requirements mean a level of economic integration where a coordinated fiscal policy becomes possible. 
But Pakistan has not even given India most favoured nation status when it comes to trade (which therefore takes place via Dubai!), and despite the passage of years, the proposed South Asian free trade area is nowhere in sight. 
There are no official capital flows between India and Pakistan. Even in integrated Europe, the agreed fiscal limits have been breached and now raise questions about what is to be done. 
In the South Asian context, therefore, it is nothing more than a flight of fancy to talk in such terms, and certainly provides no roadmap for action on the ground. 
Likewise, the stream of benefits must also be clear. One obvious benefit is that a large and unified ‘domestic’ market makes it possible to reap the benefits of scale economies without having to depend on exports and foreign investment to make up for shortfalls in domestic savings. 
Second, it becomes possible to move financial resources across boundaries without arbitrage adding to costs and volatility. 
Third, it allows a region to compete more effectively against the rest of the world, both in political and economic terms. 
But South Asia is light years away from all this. A region that can’t even get a free trade zone going should not begin talking about a currency union. 
Mr Vajpayee should have paused to consider the consequences of making improbable suggestions. The short point is that there is a time and place for everything. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143339.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 184, 'Financing the food bill', 'While interest rates have dropped substantially in recent years, the debt servicing cost of the huge amount of food credit, met through the exchequer by way of the food subsidy, has not fallen at all.', 'While interest rates have dropped substantially in recent years, the debt servicing cost of the huge amount of food credit, met through the exchequer by way of the food subsidy, has not fallen at all. 
The reason is that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is contractually bound to borrow the entire money needed for its mammoth food management operation from a consortium of 54 banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), and the banks are unwilling to cut the interest rate on such credit. 
The average interest charged by the five major lending banks comes to 10.95 per cent, when bond yields are barely half that level. 
Under the circumstances, FCI’s move to float government-guaranteed bonds for raising part of its resources is only logical. 
But despite Reserve Bank approval, the move remains a non-starter because of the banking consortium’s reluctance to let FCI off the hook and allow it to borrow elsewhere. 
This may be within the consortium’s contractual rights, but the government, as the affected party which also owns the banks in the consortium, should step in. 
There are, of course, many other ways in which the food subsidy bill of Rs 27,000 crore can be reduced —and some of these are within FCI’s ken, for they include needlessly high grain stocking norms; open-ended procurement at arbitrarily determined support prices; sale of government stocks at prices below even FCI’s acquisition cost to the trade, industry and exporters; high transit and storage losses; and heavy administrative overheads. 
Fortunately, the FCI’s board of directors has finally woken up to the need for cutting costs, paving the way for corrective action in some of these fields. 
As a result, FCI has begun exploring the possibility of getting insurance cover for losses during storage and transit, downsizing its staff strength, and seeking ISO certification to improve operational efficiencies. However, considering the past record of FCI, judgement must be reserved till the results show. 
The root cause of the problem is of course the government’s role in the foodgrain purchase and sale business, when it would clearly be cheaper and perhaps better to bring private companies into the picture. 
FCI needs to concentrate primarily on maintaining the minimum foodgrain buffer, so as to ensure food security. The size of the buffer, too, needs to be scaled down — as suggested by several expert committees. 
Running the public distribution system (PDS) is already a state subject. As such, the states should logically arrange to procure the stocks they need, in case they want to continue the PDS. 
The central food subsidy would be sharply reduced, and vast sums of money saved, if some of these fairly simple measures could be taken. 
A good harvest year is the right time to make these departures, since grain prices are low in the open market. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143444.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 186, 'The real disaster', 'Did you know that, in just the decade of the 90s, natural disasters affected 2.1 billion people and caused a damage of $ 687 billion? While that figure is itself alarming, the picture gets a lot more', 'Did you know that, in just the decade of the ’90s, natural disasters affected 2.1 billion people and caused a damage of $ 687 billion? While that figure is itself alarming, the picture gets a lot more frightening when disaggregated by region, by country. 
Between 1975 and 2000, low-income countries lost 11 per cent of their GDP due to natural disasters, and even high-income countries lost 2 per cent of GDP. 
In terms of countries, Mongolia lost 1.5 times its GDP in the forest fire of 1996, Armenia lost 1.2 times its GDP in the 1988 earthquake, Tajikistan lost a full year’s GDP in the 1992 flood. China lost between 3-6 per cent of each year’s GDP in annual floods between 1989 and 1996. 
Rich countries like Japan lost $120 billion in the Kobe earthquake of 1995, and natural hazards from 1995 to 1997 cost the US about a billion dollars a week. 
A host of such figures flitted across the screen, putting a horrible perspective to the terrifying pictures of disaster zones, at a seminar on disaster management in Kobe last week, bringing to life a subject few professional economists pay attention to, despite its obvious importance. 
Because, as preparing for the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (ADRC) seminar, and then attending it showed, most of these disasters were either avoidable or, most certainly, the damage could have been sharply reduced. 
In the case of China, for instance, as Wan Hongtao of the China Institute of Water Resources said, the country’s floods reduced after 1998 when land previously reclaimed for agriculture, was returned to the lake by demolishing the ‘polders’ used to block the water. 
And, in the case of Gujarat, where around 15,000 people died in the 2001 earthquake, as Anil Sinha who used to be the executive director of the National Centre for Disaster Management in the Ministry of Home Affairs pointed out, the country’s hazard map shows Gujarat is in the highest seismic zone, yet the state was completely unprepared for it. (With 10 lakh houses restored, 1.2 lakh new ones built, 42,000 school classrooms repaired and 6,000 new ones built, the state has clearly done a magnificent job of reconstruction, but we’re talking of mitigation here.) 
But how do you avoid a flood, or an earthquake, given that solutions like reforestation and other ecological corrections take decades at the least? 
Well, did you know that when the initial reports suggested the ‘Orissa cyclone’ was going to hit West Bengal, the Prime Minister himself had to call the chief minister to get the state government to evacuate possible victims! 
And when the cyclone shifted direction, towards Orissa, it was found the state hardly had any cyclone shelters, despite being a cyclone-prone area. 
And, as Amod Mani Dixit who is the executive director of the National Society for Earthquake Technology in Nepal showed during his presentation, an earthquake solution lay very much in India. 
Professor Arya of the Roorkee University’s designs to retrofit buildings by either strengthening the side columns or by inserting L-shaped ‘stitches’ in the wall-corners, are being used extensively to earthquake-proof buildings in the Himalayan kingdom. 
And yet, while the ADRC conference was full of references to Arya’s work, it was only after the Bhuj earthquake that one began hearing of Arya’s low-cost designs in his home country. 
Imagine the irony, the government spent over Rs 10,000 crore to repair the Gujarat damage, while just a fraction of this (Arya’s design costs between 4-8 per cent of the original cost of building), if used in earthquake-proofing, could have reduced both the disaster and the damage. 
It is, of course, a different matter that, forget earthquake-proofing, as various reports in The Indian Express showed, builders in the state flouted even basic design specifications, with (bribed?) local authorities turning a blind eye to it. 
After floods ravaged Bangladesh in the 1990s (one of which cost the country a fourth of its GDP in that year), according to Akhtar Hossain who is the managing director of the Dhaka Water Supply &amp; Sewerage Authority, the country developed a climate forecasting model in 2002, which could give even a 5-10 day advance warning of a flood, and more accurate long-term forecasts. 
While Hossain claims the model is working well, he says a serious problem is that India does not give Bangladesh data on the flow in various river basins (it provides data sporadically, usually only when the rivers are overflowing in India) throughout the year. 
The reason for this is simple: India does not want Bangladesh to have all data on water flows as this could cause a problem on the issue of sharing waters. 
In fact, it is not just India which doesn’t give flow data to Bangladesh, China doesn’t provide this to India either, and similar issues apply to most major river basins across the world. 
Yet, the fact remains, that sharing data and harnessing a river’s potential together (as in the case of the Mekong River Commission between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam) is the only way to prevent/mitigate disasters like floods and, for whatever reason, this is not happening in India. 
Our neighbours, like Bangladesh and Nepal, blame India’s attitude, but since I am no expert, I don’t wish to comment except to say this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. 
So how do you get governments and the citizenry to shed their lethargy, and actively ready themselves to tackle such disasters? 
Countries like Nepal have annual disaster day march pasts and drills, while in the Philippines, the authorities simulated disaster drills in some towns, and even had radio broadcasts telling citizens what to do — they were then flooded with calls from neighbouring towns, to figure out just what was happening! 
A more practical way, perhaps, would be to involve insurance companies in the exercise, and since towns/areas with disaster reduction strategies would have to pay lower premia, an external stakeholder gets created. 
Turkey, and this is an interesting lesson in external stakeholders, has got private firms to approve and inspect building code and construction practices, to avoid the Gujarat type of occurrence one presumes — these firms are then insured, and are financially responsible for the collapse of any structure within twenty years of the construction. 
Postscript: The lethargy, by the way, doesn’t apply only to natural disasters. In the early 1990s, the law was changed to make the use of speed governors mandatory in commercial vehicles, but it was only after the terrible tragedy in which a speeding bus crashed through a bridge killing scores of children three years ago, that the government in Delhi began taking action. 
Naturally, there was litigation on the matter, and it is just about emerging from the country’s courts! 
suniljain@business-standard.com 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143417.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 187, 'Can private consumption be India\'s growth engine?', 'The falling cost of credit has triggered a boom in the retail finance market. Population demographics support an increase in private consumption. 
', 'The falling cost of credit has triggered a boom in the retail finance market. Population demographics support an increase in private consumption. 
Households are transiting from low income to high-income categories. The prices of consumer goods have either come down or stayed low. 
Does this imply that a consumption boom is in the offing and that private consumption will become a key trigger of economic growth? Many analysts are quite gung-ho on the role of private consumption in shaping the future growth trajectory in India. 
An analysis of National Accounts data up to 2001-02, however, provides a somewhat cautionary backdrop to these very optimistic projections. 
In the context of the role of consumption vis-à-vis other drivers of growth in the economy, it would be useful to examine the behaviour of the components of GDP from the aggregate demand side. 
The table “GDP growth trends” compares the growth performance of the Indian economy from the demand and the supply side in the 1980s and 1990s. 
On the average, private consumption has improved its growth performance in the 1990s vis-à-vis the 1980s but its growth stayed below the rate of growth of government consumption. The growth patterns, however, change once we focus on the trends in the 1990s. 
For the 1990s, we focus on the two phases: the high growth phase (1993-94 to 1996-97) and slowdown (1997-98 to 2001-02). 
Viewed from the production side, all the three sectors — agriculture, industry and services — witnessed deceleration in the slowdown phase vis-à-vis the high growth phase. The demand components of GDP, however, show differential growth patterns. 
The growth in overall consumption expenditure declined marginally from 6 to 5.8 per cent between the high growth phase and the slowdown. 
Within consumption expenditure, while the Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE) notched up its growth from 4.5 per cent a year to 8.4 per cent, Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) growth slid from 6.2 per cent to 5.3 per cent. 
Both exports and imports boomed during the high growth phase. The slowdown, however, saw a slackening in the growth of imports but sustenance of export growth rates. 
External demand has, therefore, been a key contributor to GDP growth in the slowdown phase. With the growth of gross domestic capital formation falling from 10.6 per cent in the high growth phase to 5.3 per cent in the slowdown phase, the slowdown in investment activity contributed significantly to the overall growth slowdown. 
The National Accounts provide disaggregated data for 37 consumption categories. Although the overall PFCE is available for 2001-02, the disaggregate data is available only up to 2000-01. 
The highest growth (less than 10 per cent per annum) took place in those PFCE categories that have a relatively low weight. 
In the high growth phase, 14 PFCE categories with a weight of 20.1 per cent in the overall PFCE grew at more than 10 per cent a year. 
In the slowdown phase, only 11 PFCE categories with a weight of 17.8 per cent registered over 10 per cent annual growth. 
Thus, the high growth in PFCE was restricted to a few sectors to begin with and has become more concentrated in the recent years. 
The nine PFCE segments that were able to maintain their high growth performance include communication, refrigerators, washing machines and so on, hotels and restaurants, beverages, LPG, coffee and tea. 
The number of PFCE categories that registered growth between 5 to 10 per cent a year increased from 12 to 14 between the high and the low growth phase but their weight in aggregate PFCE fell from 33.6 per cent to 29.4 per cent in the corresponding period. 
Purchase of transport services, electricity, education, sugar and gur, spices, potato and tubers, oil and oilseeds are the key consumption categories that continued to grow at 5 to 10 per cent a year throughout the post 1993-94 period. 
The PFCE categories that transited from zero to 5 per cent growth category to 5 to 10 per cent growth category include footwear and glassware, tableware and utensils. 
Cereals and bread, fruits and vegetables and pulses (with a combined weight of 24 per cent in total PFCE) moved from zero to 5 per cent growth category to negative growth category between the high and the low growth phases. 
This resulted in an increase in the share of consumption categories witnessing negative growth from 2.3 per cent in the high growth phase to 26.8 per cent during the slowdown. 
The growth resilience in some consumer categories and growth deceleration in others is a consequence of a number of factors. 
The negative growth in cereals and bread, tobacco, pulses and fruits and vegetables reflects the change in consumer preferences away from these items. 
However, within food items, a shift has taken place from cereals, pulses and so on to beverages, coffee, tea and other processed foods that have higher income elasticity. 
Two conclusions can be drawn from the above analysis. One, on the positive side, a low-share, high-growth combination bodes well for sustained growth, because of the low levels of current penetration. 
On the negative side, the sheer bulk of the slow-growing segments will keep the role of private consumption as an engine of growth somewhat restrained. 
In contrast to PFCE, GFCE notched up its growth in the slowdown phase. Within GFCE, both salary and wages and purchases of goods and services witnessed a sharp rise in growth. 
Despite a favourable shift in dependency ratios, rising income levels, growing middle-class, falling prices and a kick from the rise in salaries and wages of government employees, the growth in private final consumption expenditure fell from 6.2 to 5.3 per cent between 1994 to 1997 and 1998 to 2002. 
Within the overall PFCE, some consumption categories like white goods, beverages, transport equipment, communication witnessed double-digit growth rates and maintained their growth resilience from 1993-94 onwards. 
However, the overall growth in PFCE slid because some categories with high weight, particularly cereals, pulses and so on witnessed a decline in consumption expenditure. 
A sharp pick-up in GFCE in the past six years indicates that government consumption has played a key role in propping up the overall GDP. 
While factors such as access to cheap credit, favourable demographics, low prices and attitudinal changes will keep the consumption ticking in some categories, a boost from government consumption should not be expected. The impact of rise in salaries and wages has already petered off. 
Against this backdrop, the role of aggregate private consumption as a key growth driver needs to be carefully thought. 
Despite a significant notch up in their growth rates together with other factors such as lower prices, both India and China, in the past few years have witnessed a declining share of PFCE in the overall GDP. 
In the Chinese case, investment and net exports have clearly dominated the process, while in India, it appears that government spending and exports have provided the momentum. 
Even with the growth buoyancy in the high-growth consumption categories continuing into the future, the overall PFCE growth in the next five years is unlikely to exceed the overall GDP growth. 
From the perspective of consumption spending, the reason for this is that the fastest growing items of consumption have such a small share of the basket that it will take quite some time before their contribution to growth picks up. 
These products will become true drivers of growth only when their share becomes significant and their penetration reaches saturation point. 
(Dharmakirti Joshi is a senior economist and Gunjan Gulati is a trainee economist at the Centre for Economic Research, Crisil) 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143643.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 188, 'The man behind unified licensing', 'Industry pundits credit Dr <B>D P S Seth</B> for the good things that are finally happening in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) ever since the new team took over under Pradip Baijal.', 'Industry pundits credit Dr D P S Seth for the good things that are finally happening in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) ever since the new team took over under Pradip Baijal. 
“Amidst bureaucrats and economists, finally there is someone in Trai who is passionate about technology and has been so close to the Indian telecom industry for over 35 years,” says a cellular operator. 
It’s only been a year since Seth joined as a member in Trai, but when it comes to making a sound policy on telecom, he is the favoured adviser to many — from Communications Minister Arun Shourie to senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office. 
Seth is also seen as the behind-the-scenes architect in designing the new unified access regime that has ended the three-year-long turf war between cellular and basic operators over WiLL limited mobility. 
Though Shourie and Baijal are clearly responsible for pursuing the policy on unified access, despite fierce opposition, it was Seth who had initially propagated the theory. 
Two years ago, as chairman and managing director of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Seth was among the first few who said that a single licence was the way forward despite the fact that the department of telecom was then opposed to the concept. 
A modest Seth says, “It’s true that I visualised a single licence regime way back, but there were many others. It is unfair to give me the credit; we work as a team in Trai.” 
A graduate from the Indian Institute of Science, Seth is an Indian Telecom Services, 1965, batch officer. 
Having taken a PhD in microwave technology from Liverpool University, Canada, Seth spent 18 years of his initial career in research and development, a stint that has helped him to not just survive but thrive in a tough sector. 
“I learnt a lot in Canada and during my years in research. I learnt how one has to be receptive to new ideas and the importance of discussions in arriving at any decisions,” says the 5-foot-2-inch tall technocrat. 
Not that Seth has always enjoyed ringing success. His low point came when he was forced to unceremoniously give up the chairmanship of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). 
Industry rumour mills blame Seth’s exit to differences with Pramod Mahajan, then minister for communications, but Seth chose to play down the past. 
“There is nothing in it, it’s best not to talk about it.” For the record, the initial planning of BSNL’s cellular network, which has become the second largest operator today, was done during Seth’s tenure. 
Following his exit from BSNL, the next one year was that of indifference, though he was finally re-surfaced as member, Telecom Commission, the apex telecom policy making body in the country. 
Seth, who suffered a near-crippling leg injury in a car accident in 1969, is now giving Baijal the ammunition to push through with major telecom reforms, including a full merger of all telecom licences and a revamp of the dying Internet and broadband services providers’ market. 
An avid reader with special interest in geography, Seth has two more years to go in Trai. His biggest job, however, is to remove the tag of Trai being biased towards basic operators. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143615.htm', 'Opinion & Analysis', 'normal', 'F', 189, 'An excessive nostalgia', 'Five years in the making metaphorically, this handsome book that continues Roli Books tryst with the maharajas dates back sesquicentenially to a period when the first black and white photographs', 'Five years in the making metaphorically, this handsome book that continues Roli Books’ tryst with the maharajas dates back sesquicentenially to a period when the first black and white photographs found royal patronage. 
And here it is — nostalgia laced with pomp, glamour and extravagance, the Karan Johar equivalent of celluloid drama frozen into the remarkable faces and excessive jewels of portraits of rajas and maharajas long consigned into the annals of history. 
Make no mistake, even though the book (you could build muscles just holding it up for a few minutes every day) nods technically in the direction of ‘one hundred and fifty years of photography’, it does not mar with either photographic terms, or knowledge. 
Instead, it sticks to Roli’s tried and tested formula of romancing the maharajas, indisputably India’s single-largest selling export in the pictorial books trade. 
And it does so with breathless extravagance. Collected, collated and copied from sources that include European museums and private collections, the vintage photographs —many original — have now found an archival resource that must be the largest any publisher could hope to have of the abundance and ostentation of princely India. 
Here were a chosen people who were born to rule, and whose every minutiae was recorded for posterity by a British Raj that was to the manor born. 
The celebrity photographer replaced the court artist, and realistic images first began to be created. In studios, or in their palaces, the princes took to being photographed almost instinctively. 
The likes of the homegrown Raja Deen Dayal were allowed access into zenanas, one reason why the British encouraged the blue-blooded Indian photographer to ply his craft since it was their only view into these hotbeds of intrigue over which they had absolutely no control. 
It was out of interest in Raja Deen Dayal’s works that the book under review was born. For photo editor and publisher Pramod Kapoor, Paul’s suggestion of a book on the Raja’s collection grew to an overwhelming interest in black and white photography. 
That spurred him to travel and invest considerably in acquiring portraits that offered vignettes into India’s erstwhile magnificent royal life. 
And so a quest began, to put together the largest and most comprehensive assembly of royal pictures into a single volume. 
That Kapoor has succeeded is evident. The book is an album that dips into a century and a half of splendour. 
Here are images — many familiar, some rare, others being published for the first time — of the magnificence of the durbar, of large residences, of pearly eyed royal maids, of courtiers, caparisoned elephants and glittering chandeliers, of visiting blue-bloods and shikar trips, of stately saloons and viceroys who fade into insignificance besides their bejewelled subordinates. 
From imposing noblemen to stately parades, from horse races to gun salutes, from rivetting sport pictures to endearing images of little princes and princesses swathed in brocades and emeralds, or crossover portraits of Indian princesses posing in trendy western court dresses, the images are a reflection of yesterday’s page three people in all their glory. 
Large captions tell stories, several of which are anecdotal, that humanise both the book and the subject of the portraits. 
Alas, similar claim cannot be made for the text that is sketchy in its extent, and therefore no more than a thrifty introduction that does not get under the skin of the book. 
Given Paul’s penchant for writing — he has penned several books for Roli after retiring from a corporate life — this is especially disappointing. 
A detailed text would have been a welcome addition, since it is unlikely that a book of a similar nature will be published in a hurry. 
While the captions breathe some textual life into the book, a solid text would have added greatly to its value, and Paul could have easily contributed much more than allowed by the constraints of the limited pages allocated to him for the purpose of churning out pretty prose. 
And if the captions are any indication of Paul’s research and erudition on the subject, the loss to the book is indeed immense. 
There are some gripes with the publisher too. For one, there is no map of princely India included in the book. 
For the 21st reader who is a ‘commoner’, therefore, the references to the princely states and their feudatories can be confusing, since they are less likely to be primed about either their location or their relationships with each other. 
The book would also have gained considerably had it used some of the standard indices for further reference — the main princely clans, their antecedents, their spread, the gun salutes awarded to them, their titles and similar information would have made the book more easily digestible to rootless urban readers. 
There are some lacunae too in the identification of palaces and princes, who are glossed over by their titles rather than their names, but these are minor grouses. 
In totality, the book is one of the handsomest to come out of the stable of Indian publishers, with a strong thematic content that matches the size and scale of the tome. 
While the maharajas themselves may have become a cliched nomenclature for India’s past, the pictures the book presents allow a peek into an India that is now the stuff of wallowing nostalgia. 
It is at the same time an immense sweep (and an immense task) compressed impossibly into a single volume that will become the standard bearer for coffee table books for some time to come. 
THE UNFORGETTABLE MAHARAJASOne hundred and fifty years of photography 
Photo research &amp; editing: Pramod KapoorText: E Jaiwant PaulLustre Press/ Roli Books
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143727.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 190, 'Strict reading of penal provisions', 'The Supreme Court in the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax vs Velliappa Textiles case, 2003 (157) ELT 369 (SC), reiterated the principle that the penal statute should be construed strictly. 
', 'The Supreme Court in the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax vs Velliappa Textiles case, 2003 (157) ELT 369 (SC), reiterated the principle that the penal statute should be construed strictly. 
The court elaborated that if the allegation against the accused did not fall within the parameters of the offence against the statute the accused could be held liable. By imagining the intendment it cannot be concluded that the accused is responsible. 
This has been described by the Supreme Court as a basic principle, which is a settled doctrine, and yet it needed to be reiterated again and again considering the number of judgments on the subject. 
Strict interpretation is the opposite of purposive interpretation. When the Supreme Court says penal provision has to be interpreted strictly, it means that when a judge or an adjudicator penalises an alleged offender by either imposing a penalty on him or by prosecuting him, he has to keep in mind what exactly is written in the law. 
If the law is hard he has to give a hard penalty. If the law is soft he has to give a soft penalty. He cannot go by the intention behind the law and impose a soft or hard penalty. 
The court must see that the person to be penalised comes fairly and squarely within the plain words of the enactment (Maxwell on Interpretation of Statures 12th edition page 39). 
And above all, if there is a lacuna in the drafting of the law so that there are two reasonable meanings of that language the interpretation which avoids the penalty is to be adopted (Crates on Statute Law 7th edition SGG Edgar, page 534). 
The judge has to read the law as it is and he cannot correct any mistake in the drafting of the law. 
It is to be also clarified that the strictness in a fiscal statute is not as much as in the case of criminal laws, as held by the Supreme Court in the Gujarat Travancore Agency vs Commissioner of Income Tax case, AIR 1989 SC 1671. 
The court made a significant observation that the penalty imposed for a tax delinquency was a civil obligation, remedial and coercive in its nature and was far different from a penalty in a criminal case. 
Even confiscation of goods under the Customs or excise law that is not usually regarded as penalty, is to be viewed as a penal action and any judgment given will have to follow the same strict approach. 
The Supreme Court in the MF Patel vs Commissioner of Central Excise case, AIR 1970 SC 829, ruled that if some confiscable tobacco was mixed with other tobacco then only the confiscable proportion could be confiscated and not the whole amount. 
This approach has been confirmed by the Supreme Court in the Goodyear India vs State of Haryana case, 1990 (76) STC 71 SC, and JK Synthetics vs State of Rajasthan case, 1994 (94) STC 422 (SC). 
Thus the penal provisions in fiscal statutes have to be interpreted with strict adherence to the language used and no one can be penalised unless he falls fairly and squarely under the plain words of the statute, though penalising a fiscal offence is a civil obligation and does not envisage the strictness required in a criminal case. 
smukher2000@yahoo.com 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143848.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 191, 'Market fees not applicable on seed producing firms', 'The Supreme Court has declared that seeds are not agricultural produce and therefore, seed producing companies should not be charged market fees as if they are selling foodgrain. 
', 'The Supreme Court has declared that seeds are not agricultural produce and therefore, seed producing companies should not be charged market fees as if they are selling foodgrain. 
This brings to an end nearly a decade of sparring between the seed producers and the market committees in Uttar Pradesh. 
A Bench headed by Chief Justice VN Khare ruled that the authorities had no power to levy market fee on the sale and purchase of wheat by seed processing units. 
“Wheat seed converted into certified seed is unfit for human consumption and, therefore, levy of market fee is impermissible,” the judgment written by Justice AR Lakshmanan said. 
In another but concurring judgment, Justice SB Sinha said the seed companies couldn’t be said to be traders of agricultural produce as in the ordinary course of business. 
Since they were not traders in agricultural produce, no market fee could be demanded from them. The market committees couldn’t interfere in the business of certified seeds, either before or after the required process, he added. 
According to seed companies, their business is to purchase “breeder seeds” from agricultural institutes to produce “certified seeds”. The breeder seeds are distributed to the scheduled farmers. 
The breeder seeds are sown and germinated under strict supervision of the statutory seeds certification agency, set up under the Seeds Act. 
The harvest is collected carefully under the supervision of the agency. The standardised seeds thus obtained are called “foundation seeds”. 
The farmers again sow the seeds under the supervision of the agency. After the entire process, the bags containing the seeds are marked poison and then marketed. Despite these submissions, the authorities insisted on levying market fee on the seed bags. 
Authorities argued that what was purchased by the companies was nothing but wheat and the entire transaction was within the market area. 
Therefore, the seed companies were liable to pay the market fee. Rejecting the argument of the state authorities, the Supreme Court held that seed was a separate commodity from grain. The processing of wheat resulted in the loss of its basic characteristic of being a cereal. 
The court said seed was an essential commodity within the meaning of the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143806.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 192, 'Consumer laws aimed at fast remedy', 'The Supreme Court held last week that consumer forums could deal with complaints of deficiency in service even if there were other remedies provided under the state legislation. 
', 'The Supreme Court held last week that consumer forums could deal with complaints of deficiency in service even if there were other remedies provided under the state legislation. 
In this case, the dispute was between a co-operative agricultural credit society and one of its members. The member, M Lalitha, had pledged paddy bags for obtaining a loan. When the society demanded return of the loan, she raised a dispute before the district forum. 
It held that there was deficiency in service and negligence on the part of the co-operative society. The society appealed to the Tamil Nadu state consumer commission. 
It held that the complaint of Lalitha was not maintainable because disputes between the co-operative and its members should be decided by the mechanism provided in the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act. 
Therefore, she moved the National Commission. It set aside the state commission’s order and restored the district forum\'s order. Therefore, the co-operative society moved the Supreme Court. 
The Bench comprising Justice Shivaraj Patil and Justice DM Dharmadhikari discussed the earlier judgments of the Supreme Court and upheld the view of the national commission. 
The consumer legislation was intended to provided a speedy remedy and therefore it should be interpreted liberally and purposefully, the court emphasised. 
On the TN Co-operative Societies Act, the court said: “Merely because the rights and liabilities are created between the members and the management of the society under the Act and forums are provided, it cannot take away or exclude the jurisdiction conferred on the forums under the Consumer Act expressly and intentionally to save a definite cause in terms of the objects and reasons of the Act.” 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003143933.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 193, 'Section 80RRA benefits can be claimed without going out', 'Section 80RRA permits deduction for remuneration received for services rendered outside India from income on a percentage basis for service outside India on these basis:<BR>
<UL type=square>
<LI>The', 'Section 80RRA permits deduction for remuneration received for services rendered outside India from income on a percentage basis for service outside India on these basis:

The assessee is a citizen of India;
Remuneration has been received in foreign currency from any employer (being foreign employer or an Indian concern) and brought in India within the stipulated time;
The remuneration must relate to services rendered outside India;
If the assessee claiming the deduction is a government employee, his service outside India must be sponsored by the government; and
In case of non-government employees, they have to be technicians (as defined in explanation to Section 80RRA) and their terms and conditions are to be approved by the central government or the prescribed authority.
The deduction stands reduced and ultimately eliminated from the assessment year 2005-06 as under:-But the benefit is relevant till 2004-05. 
An important issue concerning such tax benefit came up for consideration of the Karnataka High Court in the AS Mani vs Union of India case, (2003) 131 Taxman 717 (Karnataka). 
The assessee before the high court was a petroleum sector marketing expert. A foreign company entered into an agreement with the petitioner for consultancy services. 
An application was made to the government for approval of the agreement. The agreement was approved to condition that benefits in terms of Section 80RRA would be available only in the event of a physical outside service by the petitioner. 
The condition of being outside India physically was challenged by the assessee before the court. The petitioner argued that to claim exemption under Section 80RRA, it was unnecessary for a technician to be physically outside India for the deduction. 
These days, one can render service without physically going outside India in terms of Section 80RRA. Section 80RRA only provides for deduction for any service rendered outside India. 
Rendering service outside India need not be physical outside service. No narrow interpretation was possible in such cases. 
Any narrow interpretation would result in the country’s losing foreign exchange along with the services of the person claiming the benefit as technician whose service was otherwise available to the country notwithstanding rendering service outside India. 
The revenue department argued that the section made it clear that the benefit was available only in the event of a physical outside service by a government servant or a technician. The court did not accept the department’s view. 
Referring to Sections 80-O, 80-R and 80RRA, it said a combined reading of all these provisions would show that deduction was permissible in certain circumstances. 
Section 80-O(iii) provides for services rendered or agreed to be rendered outside India and includes services rendered from India but does not include services rendered in India. 
This means that service outside India cannot take into its compass the service rendered in India. 
In case of professionals under Section 80R, deduction is permissible in the event of services rendered during the stay outside India. In case of professional income of artists deduction is permissible out of the income derived by them from the government of a foreign country. 
As far as Section 80RRA is concerned, it is seen that deduction is permissible in respect of an individual who is a citizen of India for the remuneration received by him in foreign currency from an employer for any services rendered by him outside India. 
According to the court, travel outside India for earning the income to claim deduction is not necessary. Referring to the decision of the Supreme Court in the Aditya V Birla case, 170 ITR 137, it was observed that there was no warrant in Section 80RRA to limit the benefit to only salaries received by employees. The coverage of the section is much wider. 
The court also referred to the Bombay High Court order in the Taru Jethmal Lalvani case, 185 ITR 418, where it was held that Section 80RRA did not require service outside India as a technician, and the Delhi High Court order in the Mehendra Raj’s case, 257 IATR 569, where it was held that the benefit under Section 80RRA was not restricted to employees alone. 
The court said in these days of technological development, one could render service without physically going outside India in terms of Section 80RRA. Section 80RRA only provided for deduction for any service rendered by him outside India. Rendering service outside India need not be physical outside service. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/15122003/news15122003151612.htm', 'Banking & Finance', 'normal', 'F', 194, 'The biggest mover of them all', 'Guess which of the BSE\'s sectoral indices recorded the maximum gains over the last one year? If you answered banks, petroleum, IT or pharma, think again. 
', 'Guess which of the BSE\'s sectoral indices recorded the maximum gains over the last one year? If you answered banks, petroleum, IT or pharma, think again. 
The answer is the BSE Capital Goods Index (BSE CG Index) which outperformed all the other sectoral indices by a mile over a one-year period. 
While the BSE CG Index appreciated by nearly 152 per cent (2109.72) to reach an all-time high, the next best was the BSE PSU Index (3313.68), lagging way behind with 115 per cent. Ditto for other big indices like the BSE Healthcare Index (2398.04) and the BSE IT Index (1884.70) which posted gains of 99.81 per cent and 14.97 per cent respectively. 
For the record, the Sensex itself appreciated by only 60.67 per cent over the last year. The secular bull run has seen gains across sectors for the better part of this year, but none more than the capital goods sector. 
While it can be argued that the CG Index\'s market capitalisation at Rs 35,564.85 crore (which includes 38 scrips) is still well below that of other indices such as IT and PSU, analysts say that the sector is poised to play a more significant role in market dynamics going forward. 
Most of the scrips that constitute the CG Index have - not surprisingly - also been among the biggest gainers at the bourses over the last one year. 
While Bhel, which has a weightage of more than 31 per cent in the index, gained 168.63 per cent over a one-year period (Rs 454.65 on December 10, 2003), other biggies like Bharat Electronics (up 222.34 per cent at Rs 557), Siemens (up 207.03 per cent at Rs 860) and ABB (up 144.52 per cent at Rs 611.80) have also caught investors\' fancy. And the story is not limited to the frontliners alone. 
B1 group scrips like KEC International (up 370.67 per cent at Rs 70.60), Gammon India (Rs 420.25, up 281.35 per cent) and Greaves (Rs 47.30, up 382.65 per cent) have also proved to be hot this year. 
\"Stock prices of capital goods companies have moved up mainly because of two factors - the reforms in the power sector and the growth witnessed in industrial production,\" says Sanjeev Zarbade, research analyst at Mumbai-based Fortis Securities. 
While a hike in stock prices does point to improving fundamentals of these companies, analysts view the upsurge more as a result of positive changes in the country\'s infrastructure development and reforms in core sectors. 
The government\'s focus on infrastructure development, especially in the road sector, has given a boost to major engineering and construction (E&amp;C) companies, which have seen a surge in orders. 
Industry watchers also point out the policy changes in the power sector as another positive factor. 
\"If India has to achieve a GDP growth of 7-8 per cent, infrastructure has to do well. Opportunities in the future and the bulging order-book positions of companies have triggered the upsurge in prices,\" notes Amod Gore, equity analyst with domestic securities firm Sushil Finance Consultants. 
Increasing opportunities in the export markets and value-added services markets like equipment management and engineering solutions have also contributed to the improved outlook on the sector, note industry watchers. 
The good news is also a function of the overall improvement in the economic environment. The country\'s industrial sector is showing signs of an upturn which is reflected in the improved performance of companies in this sector in fiscal 2002-03 and the first half of fiscal 2003-04. 
\"The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) turned positive in the last fiscal after recording a negative growth in FY02. The growth rate is expected to sustain for this fiscal, too. The country\'s manufacturing sector is also expected to do well for the next four to five years, which bodes well for firms in the capital goods sector,\" notes Zarbade. 
Capital goods production has recorded a healthy growth of 8.6 per cent y-o-y in the first half of FY04, driven by an increase in demand and capacity utilisation. 
Industrial production has also registered a rise of 5.8 per cent during April-September 2003 compared to a 5.4 per cent increase in the corresponding period of 2002. 
Recovering from the lows of 1997-98, the capital goods sector managed to take small steps forward during the subsequent years. 
However, things took a turn for the worse in 2001-02 as shrinking industrial investments pushed growth rates down to a negative 6 per cent. 
The outlook for the sector brightened up significantly beginning FYO3, as investments in the roads and construction sector picked up and reforms in the power sector gathered momentum. According to analysts, new road projects provided a lifeline to the struggling sector. 
The 2003-04 Budget added further fuel to the growth story by announcing 48 new road projects, spanning 10,000 km with an estimated outlay of Rs 40,000 crore. According to estimates, close to Rs 55,000 crore are likely to be spent on roads in the next few years. 
Power sector reforms were the other big catalysts behind the revival in the capital goods industry. The Electricity Act 2003, the securitisation of state electricity board (SEB) receivables and the Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (APDRP) were mostly responsible for the upturn in fortunes of companies like Bhel, ABB and Alstom Projects. 
According to Zarbade, the power sector has been the traditional demand driver for capital goods companies. 
\"The reforms that have taken place in the power sector, especially the introduction of the Electricity Act, are expected to contribute significantly to revenue generation. Moreover, companies like the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) have made significant investment plans for the future which will yield a windfall for many companies in the power equipment sector. Another driver is the connected investment in transmission and distribution (T&amp;D) facilities, which will also have a positive impact for the sector,\" he adds. 
The resurgence of the auto industry and investments in oil and gas sectors has provided further stimulus for sectors like industrial machinery, drilling equipment and auto ancillaries. 
\"Another factor that has contributed to the interest in the sector is that big oil companies like ONGC and several steel companies have announced major capex plans for the coming years. The capital goods industry reaps the benefits,\" adds Zarbade. 
As an intermediate industry, capital goods derive their impetus from the expected growth in end-user sectors like cement, steel and auto. 
Even more so when you consider the fact that most of these end-user sectors already have high capacity utilisation levels. 
Capacity utilisation levels in the cement industry is close to 90 per cent already, and this could mean even more demand for the capital goods sector as cement companies build up capacities. 
Same is the case with autos and auto components which have utilisation levels of more than 80 per cent currently. 
Domestic demand and growth are only part of the story. More and more Indian companies are now looking at emerging markets such as Latin America and Africa. 
While the upsides from exporting are a real opportunity, these companies are also aiming to derisk their business from the volatility of local demand. 
Traditionally, low labour costs and skill sets have made Indian capital goods competitive in the export market, say analysts. Low manpower costs are estimated to give Indian companies a cost advantage of more than 7-8 per cent over big international competitors. They have also recorded improved financials with exports starting to play an ever increasing role. 
\"Most companies are cost competitive at the moment and are looking at export markets in a big way. The export potential is also anticipated to improve by leaps and bounds,\" says Zarbade. 
Gore agrees that there is a huge opportunity in exports. \"Currently, the percentage share of exports in total sales is very low. However, the export boom has just begun as far as the sector is concerned. Going forward I expect a tremendous increase in exports,\" explains Gore. 
The dynamics of the export scenario is undergoing a change, too. Till now, technological constraints had made Indian companies confine themselves to low-end machinery. 
However, technology tie-ups with leading international companies and the contract manufacturing window have opened up new vistas for these players. It is estimated that the industry\'s combined export revenues may touch the $10-billion mark by 2006 from the current level of $6 billion. 
But it\'s not roses all the way. Delays in capital inflows in infrastructure development and ever increasing raw material prices in items like steel and the pressure on margins have many analysts raising their eyebrows. 
\"The risk factor is that even if reforms are happening in the power sector, capital investments are not (yet) taking place in a big way. The big question is how soon will investments take place in the power sector - as it is happening in the roads and construction sectors,\" says Gore. 
Even though the order-books of many companies are swelling, there are definite pressures on margins. \"The pressures are mainly due to overcapacities and increasing competition for the available business,\" says one analyst with a prominent research firm. 
The industry has been coping with the problem of overcapacity in the past, too. 
\"If you look at companies like Siemens and ABB, they already had capacities. Capacities have been in existence for more than five years now but there were no orders coming through. It was more a case of waiting for the right opportunities,\" notes Gore. 
With the situation improving now, capacity utilisation is also expected to improve. Most analysts expressed optimism that companies in the sector will be able to meet the big surge in order flows going forward. 
\"I don\'t expect any significant capacity additions for the next two to three years, even with the surge in order flows,\" affirms Zarbade. 
The companies have also undertaken restructuring measures to improve operating efficiencies. 
\"Fundamentals of companies in the sector are very strong. Most of them are debt-free and have managed to reduce their working capital and operating costs. Companies like Bhel and ABB are expected to post a 15 per cent topline growth in the coming year, while Siemens and Crompton Greaves are likely to grow by 10 per cent per annum,\" says Zarbade. 
According to market watchers, valuations are quite attractive even after the current run-up in prices. 
\"As far as valuations are concerned, Bhel (18.94x) and ABB (28.42x) are undervalued at current levels. Siemens (20.45x) and Crompton Greaves (23.77x) also look to be undervalued. Ingersoll Rand and Alfa Laval are also good picks in the sector,\" claims Zarbade. Gore agrees. 
\"Valuations of most of the firms in the sector are still cheap. Scrips like Siemens and ABB are still lying low and have further scope for appreciation. Other picks in the sector are Gammon India, Lakshmi Machine Works and Dredging Corp. Bhel also has good potential, considering the kind of growth envisaged in the sector,\" he adds. 
With the sector is all set to improve growth figures, marketmen are optimistic. 
\"The climb in stock prices is expected to sustain, considering that the sector is likely to grow by around 6 per cent for the next three to four years. The outlook is very positive for the next two years at least,\" says Zarbade. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003140958.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 195, 'Stocks waiting for the news', '<B>Indian Overseas Bank</B> has informed the BSE that its board will hold their meeting of December 23, 2003 to consider an interim dividend for 2003-2004 and to fix the record date for the same. 
', 'Indian Overseas Bank has informed the BSE that its board will hold their meeting of December 23, 2003 to consider an interim dividend for 2003-2004 and to fix the record date for the same. 
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has informed the BSE that its board, at its meeting to be held on December 26, 2003, may, interalia, consider a proposal for declaration of interim dividend for 2003-2004. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003141020.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 196, 'SC notice to Shriram over MF rule violation', 'The Supreme Court issued notices to Shriram Mutual Fund and its asset management company on an appeal of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) raising question of imposing penalty on', 'The Supreme Court issued notices to Shriram Mutual Fund and its asset management company on an appeal of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) raising question of imposing penalty on mutual funds under the strict liability rule. 
This is reportedly the first time such a penalty has been imposed on a mutual fund. 
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) had ruled in this case that if there was no intention to violate the regulations on the part of the mutual fund, it should not be imposed a penalty. 
Sebi argues that the intention is not necessary. Once it is conclusively established that the mutual fund has violated the terms of the certificate of registration and the Sebi (Mutual Funds) Regulations 1996, the company becomes liable to penalty. 
In this case, the companies have allegedly admitted the violation of the regulations during a continuous period of two-and-a half years in 12 instances, covering six quarters. 
Regulation 25 (7) (A) provides that an asset management company shall not, through any broker associated with the sponsor, purchase or sell securities which is an average of five per cent or more of the aggregate purchases and sale of securities made by the fund in all its schemes. 
The limit shall apply for a block of three months. Therefore there has been a repetitive violation of the regulation and the terms of the registration, Sebi argues. 
Sebi appointed an adjudicating authority to enquire into and decide alleged contravention of the Sebi Act and regulations. 
After an enquiry, a penalty of Rs 5 lakh was imposed on the asset management company and Rs 2 lakh on the parent company. They appealed to SAT which set aside the penalty. 
“SAT invented its own tests which are not found in the regulations,” counsel for Sebi, P Chidambaram, submitted before a bench consisting of justice Y K Sabharwal and justice S B Sinha. 
The counsel stressed that the ‘intention’ to violate a regulation is not necessary in civil law. It is a concept in criminal law. 
The penalty clauses in regulations 15-D and 15-E do not speak of the intention to violate the regulations. 
In this case, the companies had grossly exceeded the permissible limits of 5 per cent for certain quarters. In one quarter, the percentage of business done through its associate broker Springfield Securities was 91.68 per cent. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003141045.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 197, 'Bonuses soar as market booms', 'Brokers and backoffice staff at brokerages are popping the champagne to celebrate their year-end bonuseswith the stock market booming, they are certainly hefty this year. 
', 'Brokers and backoffice staff at brokerages are popping the champagne to celebrate their year-end bonuses—with the stock market booming, they are certainly hefty this year. 
The average performance-linked bonus at the middle level is Rs 5-7 lakh. At higher levels, the bonus can get you a decent D-segment car (Rs 15-25 lakh), cash down. That is still small beer, compared with what foreign brokerages are forking out. 
The average performance-linked bonus at foreign brokerages is between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 50 lakh at the middle level, and close to Rs 75 lakh at the top level. 
The average performance-linked bonus in the industry is almost 100 per cent of the fixed component of the annual salary. 
Motilal Oswal, chairman and managing director, Motilal Oswal Securities, told Business Standard: “The average bonus in our firm this year varies between 50 per cent and 100 per cent of the fixed salary. Also, we are planning to hike a dealer\'s average salary by 10-15 per cent in the coming months.” 
Adds Paresh Khandwala, director, Khandwala Securities, “Certainly the stock market has seen a big turnaround this year, and this is reflected in a big jump in performance-linked bonuses to employees.” Several domestic brokerage houses have even announced interim performance-linked bonuses. 
Notes Kamlesh Gandhi, executive director, Centrum Finance, “Year-end bonuses are a common practice in the US to keep traders and key employees committed to the organisation.” He adds, “Performance-linked bonus is essential because it rewards the effort a trader puts into his job, which determines the profit of the organisation.” 
But dealers and fund managers who have got fat bonuses have not been splurging, though many admit to be spending more on travel and holidays. 
A dealer at a foreign brokerage said after having been on his feet for the last six months, he hoped to take a break for Christmas and take his family to Switzerland and Venice. A fund manager said he was buying the latest HP Beanstalk for his son. No one is indulging in ostentatious spending. 
“Most of those who have got their bonuses are planning to travel or to invest in some fixed asset such as a house,” said a dealer at a domestic brokerage. 
Big foreign institutional brokerages have flourished this year, with the biggest of them bagging most of the foreign institutional investor (FII) business. Stock market indices have shot up too. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex has added 2,013.60 points, or nearly 59.63 per cent, in the calendar year so far, to close at 5,390.88 on Monday. 
The wealth effect 



Average bonus at the middle level is Rs 5-7 lakh 
At higher levels, it is Rs 15-25 lakh 
At foreign brokerages, bonus is Rs 40-50 lakh at the middle level and close to Rs 75 lakh at the top level 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003141019.htm', 'The Smart Investor', 'normal', 'F', 198, 'MFs exit FMCG, auto, pharma, PSU counters', 'A comparative analysis of the portfolios of equity-oriented mutual fund schemes on November 30, 2003 and on October 31, 2003 shows that fund houses have quietly exited leading stocks in two-wheelers,', 'A comparative analysis of the portfolios of equity-oriented mutual fund schemes on November 30, 2003 and on October 31, 2003 shows that fund houses have quietly exited leading stocks in two-wheelers, large-cap pharmaceuticals, FMCG and PSU segments. 
For instance, in the two-wheelers segment, Bajaj Auto is out of the portfolios of as many as 29 schemes while 35 schemes have exited the Hero Honda counter in the last one month. 
Some of the leading funds that have sold off Bajaj Auto holdings in this period are HDFC India Top 200, JM Equity, Alliance Equity Fund while funds like Birla Advantage Fund, DSPML Top 100 have offloaded the Hero Honda stock. 
Among auto stocks, Mahindra &amp; Mahindra was out of favour with 32 fund schemes, while Maruti Udyog was offloaded by at least 50 schemes. 
Fund managers say an exit out of the auto segment was largely to realise profits. Funds which had invested in the Maruti public offer were sitting on at least 100 per cent profits, which they need to encash. 
Some of the leading funds that have sold off Maruti Udyog in the last month were Franklin India Bluechip Fund, Reliance Vision and Tata Pure Equity Fund. 
Ashok Leyland, another automobile major, was also out of the portfolios of 25 funds during the period. 
Similarly, the funds seem to have exited the PSU stocks en masse. Dealers said this was due to “fatigue, as funds cannot hold on infinitely to the disinvestment story when there are better profit opportunities in the market.” 
As a result, 65 schemes cut their exposure in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, 49 schemes offloaded their holdings in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, 26 schemes in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, 36 schemes in GAIL India Ltd, 29 schemes in Steel Authority of India Ltd, and 20 schemes in the Shipping Corporation of India. 
Fund managers cut their exposures to FMCG stocks due to lower-than-expected revival in the sector. About 52 schemes reduced their holdings in Hindustan Lever Ltd and another 75 schemes opted out of ITC. 
Other FMCG scrips that went out of favour with funds include: Glaxo SmithKline Beecham Consumer Care (20 schemes) and Dabur (15 schemes). 
Many fund managers have sold off these stocks to take fresh positions in December, according to industry sources. 
Profit booking was apparent in bank scrips too. As many as 82 schemes offloaded their holdings in the State Bank of India, 36 schemes sold off the Oriental Bank of Commerce stock and at least 16 schemes pared their exposure in Canara Bank. 
Market sources said the next big trigger in banking stocks is expected with the December results, but banks may not be able to report such high trading profits as they have done the past. 
The high valuations in large-cap pharma counters has also prompted funds to realise gains. Examples of such stocks are Dr Reddy’s Laboratories from which 48 funds exited in November, and Ranbaxy which was shunned by as many as 80 funds. 
Other scrips from which mutual funds made significant exits were index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies. 
Digital Globalsoft and HCL Technologies also came under the selloff wave due to corporate actions which lead to sharp spikes in share prices and consequent expectations that such realisations may not be sustained. 
Data source: mutualfundindia.com 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003141821.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 199, 'IT, ITES firms hike pay in 2003: survey', '
', '
Forty-eight per cent of infotech and IT-enabled companies have positioned compensations above the market median, according to a survey by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) and Hewitt Associates. 
A whopping 91 per cent of the IT companies and 97 per cent of the IT-enabled services (ITES) firms have benchmarked their compensations against the market, with Mumbai becoming the costliest city in India in terms of compensation for ITES companies, while Bangalore being the most expensive city in terms of IT services , the study said. 
In an environment marked by high employee attrition and turnover, almost half of Indian IT and ITES firms position their compensations above the market median as a means of attracting and retaining employees, the second annual Nasscom-Hewitt survey on Total Rewards Management 2003 said. 
“A jump in average salary increased from 12.1 per cent in 2002 to 15.4 per cent in 2003 for ITES companies and from 12.9 per cent to 14.5 per cent in the it companies for the professionals, supervisor, technical level,” the survey said adding both the sectors are currently on a high-growth phase. 
IT and ITES companies have a high cash-to-benefit ratio of 75:25 with cash based components such as base salary, cash emoluments and variable pay having gone up from last year whereas benefits like loan, conveyance and housing have gone down, the survey said. 
While there was an 18 percentage point rise in variable pay plans this year when compared to last year, performance-based rise in the IT industry rose 23 percentage points compared with last year. 
However, there was a 7-14 percentage point reduction in the allocated budget for recruitment, hiring and orientation. 
Other major highlights of the survey on the people practice segments are that 41 per cent of the IT companies saw a significant workforce reduction while for ITES companies IT stood at 11.5 per cent. 
ITES organisations are focusing on a more long term orientation for employees and the industry reported a 4.3 per cent increase in the training hours over the last year. However, for the IT industry, the training hours decreased by 13 per cent. 
Stock options are losing their charm in the infotech industry. A 10 percentage point drop was reported in the prevalence of stock option programme between 2002 and 2003. 
Sunil Mehta, vice president, Nasscom, said, “Today the Indian it industry employs 6.5 lakh people and therefore it is essential that companies in the it sector devise right compensation and rewards mix to attract and retain talent”. 

');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142427.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 200, 'Fiat\'s growth engine starts knocking', 'Trouble seems to be brewing yet again at Fiat India. Even after replacing its country head and launching a new Palio in August, the Italian majors sales are falling in India. 
', 'Trouble seems to be brewing yet again at Fiat India. Even after replacing its country head and launching a new Palio in August, the Italian major’s sales are falling in India. 
The B-segment Palio, with its more fuel efficient version, sold 2,089 units since its launch in August, a 41 per cent fall when compared with its sales in the corresponding previous period. This at a time when other car makers are seeing a sharp spurt in sales. 
Under-utilisation of the Kurla car plant, poor after-sales service and high inventory of the older Palio with dealers are the reasons for the company’s poor show, according to dealers. 
Ananda Mohan Gupta, director-commercial at Fiat, said production was demand-driven and was more or less in line with sales. 
“There is some pipeline stock of old Palio still left with dealers, and we are not holding back the supply of Palio NV.” 
“We are soft peddling our products now, the Palio NV has brought the customers back into our showroom and we have received a very good response so far,” reasoned Gupta. 
Fiat’s other offering the Uno, the Siena and the Adventure have sold around 750 units in the same September-November period, a marginal improvement over their sales in the previous year, mainly fuelled by Uno’s price slash. But this is still minuscule compared with rivals’ products. 
Fiat dealers, however, told Business Standard that the company has been rolling out fewer cars every month. 
Fiat India was showing signs of recovery around May-June 2003 under its new chairman and managing director Alberto Montanari, just before the Italian parent’s troubles began. 
In an attempt to resolve the problem and quash rumours of an impending exit from India, Fiat announced some changes in its after sales service contract and slashed the prices of its spares in August. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/05122003/news05122003160003.htm', 'Economy & Policy', 'normal', 'F', 201, 'Vedanta lists on LSE, oversold ', 'The Sterlite groups holding company, Vedanta Resources, has raised $1 billion on the London Stock Exchange at #3.9 per share. The open offer, which closed today, pegs the market value of the holding', 'The Sterlite group’s holding company, Vedanta Resources, has raised $1 billion on the London Stock Exchange at £3.9 per share. The open offer, which closed today, pegs the market value of the holding company at over $2 billion. 
Vedanta would start trading from tomorrow, and was angling to become a part of the FTSE-250 index, a source close to the development said, noting that the Vedanta issue was the third largest in the world from a mining company. 
Vedanta’s $700 million initial public offer of 110 million shares was oversubscribed almost 5 times, raking in bids of close to $4 billion. 
The company had decided to retain 36 per cent of the oversubscription, and would now issue 150 million shares, sources said. 
“After the public offer, Sterlite group chief Anil Agarwal’s holding in the company will come down to around 52 per cent,” a source told Business Standard. 
While 50 per cent of the subscriptions came from the US, about 40 per cent came from the UK, and the balance from the rest of Europe and Asia. Existing Sterlite shareholders will have the option of converting their shares into the Vedanta stock. 
The Sterlite scrip closed at Rs 1,545.20 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday - a one per cent increase over Wednesday\'s close. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/05122003/news05122003140334.htm', 'The Strategist', 'normal', 'F', 202, 'New Honda City is BS Motoring car of the year', 'The Business Standard Motoring Awards, Indias longest-running automotive awards, were announced today for 2004. These awards recognise overall product excellence across various attributes and', 'The Business Standard Motoring Awards, India’s longest-running automotive awards, were announced today for 2004. These awards recognise overall product excellence across various attributes and celebrate the best of the new cars and two-wheelers launched in the current year. 
The new Honda City, from Honda Siel Cars India, drove away with the highest honour, winning the coveted Business Standard Motoring Car of the Year 2004 Award. It had tough competition in the form of bigger and better performance-oriented cars like the Toyota Corolla and the Chevrolet Optra. 
The exclusive COTY rating system rewards automobiles that are priced competitively and offer better fuel consumption. 
The competition between the three finalists proved intense. The Toyota Corolla fared well in the performance parameters and the Chevrolet Optra showed what a value for money proposition it was. Though the City lost points in sheer performance parameters to bigger engined cars, it more than made up for it by creating a new benchmark for fuel efficiency and competitive pricing. In addition, it won high marks for design integrity, cab-forward styling, ride quality over Indian terrain, handling, ergonomics and other thoughtful features. 
The Chevrolet Forester, brought into India by General Motors India as a completely built-up unit (CBU), was voted as the Business Standard Motoring Import Car of the Year 2004 for its brilliant on- and off-road behaviour, quality of build and overall driver involvement. And a price correction along the line helped. 
The Suzuki Grand Vitara, Maruti Udyog’s only CBU offering in the country, effectively proved that the Maruti-Suzuki brand can straddle two extremes, from a tiny 800 cc commuter to this, a V6-powered flagship. Besides, the Grand Vitara’s power-packed performance combined with the four-wheel drive system also worked in its favour to be given the Business Standard Motoring Jury Award 2004. 
Among two-wheelers, the two main contenders for the top honours were the Kawasaki Bajaj Wind 125 and the performance-oriented Hero Honda Karizma. 
The Wind 125 had an advantage with price and fuel-efficiency getting higher weight in the rating system. But in addition, the Wind 125’s top-notch build quality and refined performance from the 125 cc engine make it the best offering in the growing executive commuter segment in the country. It won the Business Standard Motoring Bike of the Year 2004 Award. 
The Honda Eterno built by Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India won the Business Standard Motoring Scooter of the Year 2004 Award for making Indians take a long, hard second look at geared scooters. 
The Eterno is superb to ride, well put together, safe, comfortable and reliable too; it is now a benchmark among all scooters sold in the country. 
The Business Standard Motoring Award winners are selected after extensive driving/riding evaluations and after subjecting the machines to an exhaustive list of parameters. 
The awards have been announced since 1995, and previous Car Of The Year winners include the Mahindra Scorpio (2003), Fiat Palio (2002), Maruti-Suzuki Alto (2001), Ford Ikon (2000) and Hyundai Santro (1999). 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/11/05112003/news05112003130150.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 203, 'Bad news about candidate selection', 'Few in India know it but the affinity between India and Italy goes beyond Sonia Gandhi, not to mention Octavio Quatrocchi. The Italians, too, have been trying to cope with the problem of rampant', 'Few in India know it but the affinity between India and Italy goes beyond Sonia Gandhi, not to mention Octavio Quatrocchi. The Italians, too, have been trying to cope with the problem of rampant political corruption and the need to get good, honest folk into the business of running Italy. 
Now, as befits economists worth their salt, two Italians Matthias Messner and Mattias Polborn have a come up with a model that offers some more bad news. In a recent paper* they argue that not only “bad candidates are more likely to run for office than good candidates”, but also that more often than not “only the least qualified candidate runs.” 
The starting point of their analysis is the not so unreasonable assumption that the decision to run or not depends on the financial rewards. As in India, public service as a reward in itself matters not at all. 
Their model assumes two things, again not unreasonably. One, that potential candidates will incur private costs and two, that only they know these costs. So “entry decisions depend on their private cost parameter and their ranking among the other potential candidates in the eyes of the voters.” Candidates differ in their competence only and it is assumed that all voters know the value embedded in this competence. 
The fact that the opportunity costs for the bad candidates are less than those for the good ones has an interesting side effect: it allows, say the authors, candidates to free-ride on the bad ones. The reason is that once the good candidate declares his willingness to run, he knows that he will be elected. The reputation of the bad candidate reduces the costs of the good candidate somewhat. Not in India, though, where competence has never been critical in elections. 
Another interesting insight is that “the expected quality of running candidates might actually decrease as the official remuneration increases.” This has important implications for the argument that you can get better politicians if the pay for elected office is increased. But, though appealing, this is not always true because if the pay is higher all other candidates will be more willing to run. 
In such an event, “the higher probability that other candidates run makes it more attractive for a competent candidate (who would choose to run if there were no one else to fill the job) to try to free ride on them, and so an increase in the remuneration might induce some competent candidates not to run.” To overcome this indirect effect, it would be necessary to increase the official remuneration to a sufficiently high level. Readers will recognise the Ricardian theory of rent here. 
Although there is a lot in this paper that is applicable to the Indian situation, there is a paper by a couple of Finnish economists as well that may be worth reading. P Poutvaara and T Takalo argue that if after a candidate decides, there is another selection stage, as happens in India with the distribution of tickets, the chances are high that the good candidates will be “crowded out” because a very large number of bad candidates chose to enter as their opportunity costs are lower. “The chance of a high-ability candidate to be admitted to the final election decreases and so does his incentive to enter the race and spend the campaign costs.” 
Another important reason for reading this paper is the rich bibliography. It shows how closely foreign economists, as opposed to their Indian counterparts, are involved in studying the political process. For example, several important political leaders in India are now on record as saying that, eventually, what matters is “winnability”. 
Some Indian economist should extend the arguments in this and the papers that it cites to account for this “winnability” factor. The Europeans and the Americans, for instance, would never allow candidates with criminal records to run or election. 
');<br>resource(5) of type (oci8 statement)
<hr>insert into tbl_fltxtsearch (filepath, section, type, flag, autono, heading, summary, body) values ('/usr/local/apache/htdocs/content/news/htm/2003/12/16122003/news16122003142558.htm', 'Companies & Industry', 'normal', 'F', 204, 'Designing a dazzling career', 'The countrys growing domestic and export potential for gem and jewellery has opened up new vistas for designers. While the country did not have many institutes offering jewellery designing courses,', 'The country’s growing domestic and export potential for gem and jewellery has opened up new vistas for designers. While the country did not have many institutes offering jewellery designing courses, most of them were either in-house divisions of large exporter houses or part of fashion designing curriculum. 
However, recently, the first Indian Institute of Gems and Jewellery (IIGJ) was inaugurated in Mumbai. IIGJ offers courses that help students develop proficiency and expertise to meet international standards where the focus is on designing, technology and manufacturing in the jewellery industry. IIGJ is ready to offer more than 25 courses, both short term and long term, by ear