Business Line articles from April 1999, page 11

Business Line archives from April 1999

India: Bharat Earth Movers agreement with Polish co (181).
April 11, 1999... BANGALORE: The public sector Bharat Earth Movers Ltd has finalised an agreement with Zaklady Mechaniczne Bumar Labedy, Poland, for manufacture and supply of defence equipment to the Indian army. The agreement was signed by Dr. K. Aprameyan,...

India: Central Coalfields gives up hopes of turnaround (622).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau CALCUTTA, April 10 CENTRAL Coalfields Ltd (CCL), the Ranchi-based subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL), has lost all hopes for a turnaround in 1998-99. CCL apprehends that the shortfall in production and despatches in the...

India: Bobcards launches new scheme (180).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 10 BOBCARDS Ltd has launched a new scheme for its card holders to purchase large value consumer durables through their cards. According to a press release, under the scheme, holders of Bobcard Silver,...

MashreqBank spotlight on India (326).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau NEW DELHI, April 10 THE MashreqBank Group has identified India as a top priority market for its global operations, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MashreqBank, Dubai, Mr. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, said here on Saturday....

India: Sundaram Finance revises deposit rates (153).
April 11, 1999... CHENNAI: Sundaram Finance Ltd has revised the interest rates payable on deposits effective from April 1, 1999, a press release issued by the company said. The revised rates for cumulative deposits are 11 per cent for 12-month deposits,...

India: Gestetner desktop product launch in Q4 (378).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau CALCUTTA, April 10 GESTETNER India Ltd (GIL), a 51 per cent-owned subsidiary of Gestetner Holdings and a leading player in the office automation sector, is slated to introduce its 'desktop appliances' in the fourth...

Tatas: Getting sum of parts right (1011).
April 11, 1999... HOW things have changed in the Tata group in the last decade! Time was when Indian industry meant the Tata group and vice versa. Though there were others, such as the Birlas, the Tatas were undoubtedly the leaders. There was nothing they...

India: Advani Oerlikon net declines marginally (112).
April 11, 1999... MUMBAI: Advani Oerlikon Ltd has reported a marginal fall in net profit at Rs. 9.10 crores for the financial year ended March 31, 1999 against Rs. 9.77 crores last year. Net sales stood at Rs. 205.04 crores as compared to Rs. 194.44...

India: Check it our (624).
April 11, 1999... Simpler NRI transactions The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has simplified transactions involving non-resident Indians. NRIs can now lend to resident Indians at an interest rate up to two percentage points over the bank rate. Such loans can...

India: Universal Cables: Low on voltage (765).
April 11, 1999... The company's rights offer is mainly to finance its working-capital requirements and normal capital expenditure. With the slowdown in the economy, there has been a steady deterioration in the profitability. Given the trends in earnings, the...

No near-term worry on rate cut (411).
April 11, 1999... THE Monetary and Credit Policy for 1999-2000 will be announced on April 20. And the market expects the Reserve Bank of India to signal a regime of lower interest rates. This despite the RBI Governor, Dr. Bimal Jalan, categorically denying...

News Notes (396).
April 11, 1999... * The annual rate of inflation, based on wholesale price index, fell below the 5 per cent mark for the first time in five weeks to 4.96 per cent for the week-ended March 20. The rate of inflation fell by 0.18 percentage points from 5.14 per...

India: Good prospects for Subros (510).
April 11, 1999... AS anticipated, political tremors rocked the stock market in the previous settlement. The near-term outlook for the stock market continues to be wobbly with the political haze yet to be cleared. Technically, the Sensex enjoys a strong...

India: Syndicate Bank's deposits up 18 pc (202).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, April 10 SYNDICATE Bank has achieved a record 22 per cent growth in its business during 1998-99 during which period its turnover touched Rs. 30,000 crores. During an year marked by low offtake of...

India: NIC focus on health, education policies (376).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau CALCUTTA, April 10 MR. A. N. Poddar, Chairman and Managing Director of the National Insurance Company, while explaining the objectives of the NIC's 'Amartya Siksha Yojana Policy' at a presentation here, said the company...

India: Frequency spectrum may cost cell operators more (435).
April 11, 1999... Anita Mani NEW DELHI, April 10 FINANCIAL liabilities of cellular operators may increase with the Ministry of Communications (MoC) committee recommending that operators be asked to pay for use of wireless spectrum on a city-wise...

India: UTI: Sticking to old ways (936).
April 11, 1999... THE Unit Trust of India recently accepted the recommendations of the Deepak Parekh Committee on US-64. But the launch on April 5 of yet another assured returns scheme - the Monthly Income Plan 1999 - does raise doubts about the manner and the...

India: Telecom cables: No longer just stringing along (2293).
April 11, 1999... S. Vaidya Nathan BL Research Bureau AFTER languishing for almost three years, when institutional and retail investors shunned this sector, the stocks of telecom cable companies shot into prominence in 1999. In the past couple of...

India: Nalco: Melting away its woes (1287).
April 11, 1999... PROFITS at National Aluminium Company (Nalco) dipped due to production losses in 1998-99. With a majority of its 480 pots remaining inoperational for most of the year, the aluminium ingot production nosedived from 2,00,162 tonnes in 1997-98...

India: ICICI plans more retail products (235).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau NEW DELHI, April 10 ICICI Ltd has made a foray into the car finance sector. In the past few days it has processed car loans worth Rs. 3 crores. ICICI, to increase its thrust on the retail financing segment, recently...

India: Madura Coats Well-dressed (534).
April 11, 1999... Madura Coats' stock trades at Rs. 47.15, discounting the latest earnings 11.8 times. Over the last couple of months, this stock has attracted attention. This could be attributed to the reasonably good financial performance of the company for...

Unit Trust of India defers income distribution (1034).
April 11, 1999... THE Unit Trust of India has announced that, in view of the various tax implications on payment of income distribution under the various UTI schemes proposed in the Finance Bill, 1999 it has decided to defer payment of income under its income...

India: Sriven Infotech acquires 55% in BOSS Ind (595).
April 11, 1999... Raja Sukumar Cholleti HYDERABAD, April 10 SRIVEN Infotech Ltd (SIL), a Hyderabad-based software development firm, has acquired a 55.28 per cent stake in BOSS Industries Ltd (BIL) along with a group of acquirers. The others in...

India: Target group assets to tackle NPAs: BEFI (495).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau CALCUTTA, April 10 WITH the recovery of non-performing assets (NPAs) being critical to nurse "weak' banks back to health, the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) has recommended to Mr. M.S.Verma, chairman of the...

India: RBI lifts FII buying curbs on Satyam (141).
April 11, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 10 THE Reserve Bank of India has withdrawn the restriction placed on purchase of equity shares of Satyam Computers Ltd in the secondary market as the net purchases by foreign institutional investors have gone...

India: Corpn Bank bags Asian Bank Award (353).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau MANGALORE, April 9 THE Mangalore-based Corporation Bank has received the Asian Bank Awards 1999 for its performance in the 'social responsibility project' involving its 'Self-Help Groups-Banks Linkage Programme'...

India: HCL computer with Dragon software (185).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau HYDERABAD, April 9 HCL Infosystems Ltd has launched the country's first speech recognition-enabled computer from its Busybee 2000 range of PCs. The model is based on the Pentium II 350 MHz microprocessor and is priced Rs....

India: Netlabs to offer Java training (127).
April 10, 1999... CHENNAI: Netlabs, the sister concern and education division of Servion Global Solutions Ltd, a Chennai-based computer telephony integration company, has tied up with Sun Microsystems Inc to offer certified Java and Solaris training. ...

India: Exide CMD returns Was abducted by 'mistake' (380).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau CALCUTTA, April 9 THE CMD of Exide Industries, Mr. Satyabrata Ganguly, returned to the city a week after his disappearance on April 2. Mr. Ganguly, who returned in the morning, said that he had been abducted by mistake....

India: Maruti to launch Baleno in two models by Q3 (598).
April 10, 1999... S. Muralidhar NEW DELHI, April 9 IN a move that could heat up competition in the mid-size segment of the passenger car market, Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) has decided to launch the Suzuki Baleno by the third quarter of 1999, in a...

India: SISL implementing SAP at Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Tamil Nadu Petrochem (393).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau PUNE, April 9 SIEMENS Information Systems Ltd (SISL) has completed 36 SAP implementations in the country and has about 15 orders in hand. It will be implementing the SAP HR module at Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC)...

INDIA-IMPACT: Open offer sentiment (207).
April 10, 1999... THE launch of three new variants of the Matiz, including a stripped-down economy version, may not really do much to perk up the Daewoo Motors stock in the market. To be sure, the economy version is priced attractively, but competition is so...

India: Infosys net up 124%, to pay 75% total (522).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 9 INFOSYS Technologies Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs. 135.27 crores for the financial year ended March 31, 1999, as against Rs. 60.37 crores in the previous year, an increase of 124 per cent. ...

India: Tamil Nadu signs MoU with Dutch institute (475).
April 10, 1999... R. Balaji CHENNAI, April 9 THE Tamil Nadu Government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Netherlands-based Agrotechnological Research Institute to carry out a techno-feasibility study for extensive infrastructure...

BNP India plans foray into retail banking (628).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau CHENNAI, April 9 BNP India, the Indian subsidiary of Banque Nationale de Paris, plans to enter the retail banking and consumer finance business. The bank will launch a co-branded credit card in a few months and a...

India: Bank not garnishee to unused funds: High Court (365).
April 10, 1999... Sanjay Bhatia BANGALORE, April 9 THE Karnataka High Court has held that a bank is not a garnishee with respect to the unutilised portion of the overdraft or cash credit facility sanctioned to its customer and that such unutilised...

India: Housing Development Finance Corp Bank to add 30 ATMs (236).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 9 HDFC Bank is planning to install 30 more ATMs by the year-end. Currently, the bank has 50 ATMs across the country. To expand its reach, the bank has also tied-up with American Express. This will enable Amex...

India: Bank scrips come under selling pressure (598).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 9 BANK stocks are expected to continue their poor performance on the bourses with political uncertainty having a negative effect on the overall market sentiment. "If the political situation does not...

India Tourism Development Corp launches duty-free shop in Delhi (342).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau NEW DELHI, April 9 INDIAN Tourism Development Corporation has launched its first downtown duty-free shop in the country this week at the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi. According to an official communique, the downtown duty-free...

Indo Gulf board meet on April 23 (561).
April 10, 1999... Board Meetings A. J. Brothers: April 16, Accounts Aftek Business Machines: April 23. Alembic Chemical Works Co.: April 28. Amalgamated Electricity Co.: April 21. Amarjothi Spinning Mills: April 27. American Dry...

India: SCS aiming for Rs 62-cr turnover (204).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 9 SIEMENS Communication Software (SCS), the software division of Siemens Public Communications Networks Ltd (SPCNL), is expecting a turnover of Rs. 62 crores for the current fiscal year (October' 98 to...

India: Sattva Nut ties up with MMTC (229).
April 10, 1999... CHENNAI: Sattva Nut Queen, part of the Sattva Business Group, has tied up with MMTC Ltd, a public sector company engaged in international trading, for setting up an associate cashewnut processing unit at Panruti. According to Mr. S....

Delphi India expands product portfolio (270).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau NEW DELHI, April 9 DELPHI Automotive Systems has added heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) modules and heat exchangers to its existing range of components and systems. These new components are being...

India: Microsoft data warehousing course (120).
April 10, 1999... BANGALORE: Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd has announced the launch of a data warehousing course for corporates, developers, system administrators and database administrators in India. The course, "Designing and implementing a data...

India: Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corp's Jebel Ali plant yet to get gas linkage (525).
April 10, 1999... M. Ramesh CHENNAI, April 9 EVEN four years after it was conceived, the $160 million fertiliser project of SPIC Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (FZE), a subsidiary of the Chennai-based Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation...

India: Madura Coats exports fall 1 pc (471).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau CHENNAI, April 9 MADURA Coats Ltd's exports fell by around one per cent in rupee terms. This reflected both a weak demand in critical markets and the competitive pricing by South-East Asian suppliers, post-devaluation,...

India: Kshema Tech to go for venture cap funding again (201).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 9 THE Bangalore-based Kshema Technologies has decided to go in for a second round of venture capital funding for its Rs. 12-crore expansion plans. Funded by Sivan Securities, Kshema Technologies is...

India: Fresh tenders soon for Devanahalli project (332).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 9 THE Karnataka Government proposes to invite fresh global tenders to lure private investment in the Rs. 1,500-crore airport project at Devanahalli, near Bangalore. Mr. B.L. Shankar, State Minister...

India: 'Small car segment likely to grow 35-40%' (1410).
April 10, 1999... Girish Singhal NEW DELHI, April 9 DAEWOO Motors India Ltd (DMIL) has finally resorted to the numbers game and is now targeting large volumes through stripped- down models of its small car Matiz, instead of marketing only the premium...

India: Usha Intl new products designed for specific market segments (529).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau CHENNAI, April 9 USHA International Limited, the consumer durable marketing arm of the Siddharth Shriram Group, has launched a new range of fans, sewing machines, air conditioners and home appliances. Speaking at the...

India: TI, EID Parry cross-holdings transferred to Parry Agro (473).
April 10, 1999... M. Ramesh CHENNAI, April 9 THE inter-company holdings of Tube Investments of India Ltd (TI) and EID Parry Ltd have been transferred to another group company, Parry Agro Ltd. Sources in the Chennai-based Murugappa group said the move...

India: 11.68% cut-off yield for 7-year paper (265).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 9 THE Reserve Bank of India announced a cut-off rate of 11.68 per cent on the on the seven-year Government stock-2006, at an auction held here today. According to dealers, this was in line with the...

Indian Oil Corp, Reliance Petro to set up marketing joint venture (272).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 9 INDIAN Oil Corporation (IOC) and Reliance Petroleum (RPL) have decided to set up a joint venture, subject to Government's approval, to market 48 per cent of RPL's produce after the dismantling of the...

India: Daewoo Motors launches Nexia (312).
April 10, 1999... Our Bureau NEW DELHI, April 9 DAEWOO Motors India Ltd (DMIL) has launched the Nexia, an upper-end luxury variant to their present model, the Cielo. The launch of the Nexia is expected to add to the company's offering in the mid-size...

India: The clouded clauses (2029).
April 10, 1999... K. Srinivasan looks at a few doubtful provisions in the Finance Bill, 1999 WHILE the intentions of the Government are transparent in most of the proposed amendments to the Income-tax (I-T) Act, 1961 some of them are not free from doubt....

Information security - a business necessity (862).
April 10, 1999... K. Kumar THE financial loss suffered by Indian businesses every year due to the lacunae in their computer systems is in the order of hundreds of crores of rupees - a conservative estimate is about Rs. 300 crores per year. This can be...

India: Lafarge chief Collomb meets Ratan Tata (103).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 8 MR. Bertrand Collomb, Chairman of Lafarge, France met the Tata Sons Chairman, Mr. Ratan Tata, here today. Bombay House officials said the meeting was to finalise the Tisco cement unit sale. Officials...

Business Line Editorial: Fisc, out of sync (646).
April 9, 1999... IN BEING out of sync on interest rate cuts, the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India are only airing their deep frustration over a slow pick-up in economic growth in the last two years. Worse, neither has a clue to explain the...

India: Poultry development in North-East discussed (257).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau GUWAHATI, April 8 THE North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFI) has decided to take up poultry development as one of its thrust areas in the region. It organised a meeting of the poultry farmers, experts,...

India: APVAN: A heavy price for people (1248).
April 9, 1999... V. Hanumantha Rao THE Andhra Pradesh Value-Added Network (APVAN) has been withdrawn following protests by government employees and Left parties. But there is a feeling that when political winds turn in his favour, the Chief Minister, Mr....

India: ANZ Grindlays offers investment advisory services (167).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau HYDERABAD, April 8 ANZ Grindlays Bank, the largest foreign bank in the country, has decided to offer investment advisory services. The bank said this is part of its efforts to provide a complete range of products to...

India: Minor ports for captive use in Tamil Nadu (563).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau CHENNAI, April 8 THE Tamil Nadu Government has declared a minor port at Kattupalli for putting up infrastructure facilities for bulk liquids and gases, according to a note on the review of performances of the Tamil Nadu...

India: Procter & Gamble board to meet on April 26 (608).
April 9, 1999... Book closure / Record date / Dividend Company, BC/RD, Date, Purpose Alpic Finance BC April 1 to 5 15% Dividend Caprihans India BC June 9 to 29 AGM Castrol India RD June 1 Bonus issue Esquire Money Guarantees BC August 25...

India: P&G relaunches Pantene (345).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 8 PROCTER and Gamble Home Products today relaunched its shampoo brand, Pantene Pro V. The new product called 'Pantene Pro V Health Activator' is expected to increase P&G's market share. According to Mr....

India: Daewoo Motors launches four Matiz options (527).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau NEW DELHI, April 8 WITH the competition hotting up in the small car segment, Daewoo Motors India Ltd (DMIL) on Thursday announced the launch of four value options of the Matiz in the Indian market. These include a...

India: GE rolls out 10,000th CT scanner in Asia (198).
April 9, 1999... CHENNAI: GE Medical Systems rolled out its 10,000th CT scanner made in Asia. GE manufactured its first CT scanner in Asia over 15 years ago, and now manufactures CT scanners in four countries - India, Japan, China, and South Korea. ...

India: Samsung unveils Vision 2001 (234).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau MUMBAI, April 8 SAMSUNG India Electronics Ltd plans a very aggressive presence in the coming months, according to Mr. K. S. Kim, Managing Director, Samsung India. "We have a Vision 2001, wherein we want to attain a...

India: BFL Software Q4 profit at Rs 7.6 cr (266).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 8 BFL Software Ltd has reported a turnover of Rs. 27.80 crores for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 1999, as against Rs. 15.57 crores in the corresponding period the previous year, an increase of 78.5...

ICICI plans home loan scheme for Non-Resident Indians (482).
April 9, 1999... Anindita Dey MUMBAI, April 8 ICICI Ltd proposes to launch a separate home loan scheme for non-resident Indians. This is part of the range of personal finance products to be offered by the financial institution to the retail segment....

INDIA: KPC plans to launch Powersoft (511).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 8 THE Karnataka Power Corporation proposes to float a subsidiary to launch Powersoft, which will offer software and engineering expertise to other power utilities in the country. KPC is already offering...

India: sales tax-CMS to raise $100 m from offshore market (396).
April 9, 1999... Abhijit S. Basu MUMBAI, April 8 ST-CMS Electric Company Ltd is to raise $100 millions from the offshore loan market to part finance its 250 MW power project at Neyveli (Tamil Nadu). This will be the first counter-guarantee...

India: Oil PSUs asked to submit individual revamp plans (441).
April 9, 1999... Manash Goswami NEW DELHI, April 8 FOLLOWING strong rebuttal of the recommendations made by the Nitish Sengupta Committee, which looked into restructuring of the domestic oil companies to prepare them for the post-decontrol scenario,...

India: Wipro, Acer end joint venture (599).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 8 THE four-year old Wipro-Acer joint venture has been called off, in deference to "current PC market conditions". Announcing the change in relationship at a news conference here today, the two...

India: HMT prunes net loss to Rs 14.94 cr (288).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau BANGALORE, April 8 HMT Ltd has achieved a sales turnover of Rs. 838 crores during 1998-99 as against Rs. 912 crores in 1997-98. However, the company has improved its bottomline and incurred a net loss of Rs. 14.94 crores...

India: Balco achieves record turnover (225).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau NEW DELHI, April 8 BHARAT Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) has achieved an all- time high turnover of Rs. 885.23 crores, an increase of 4.3 per cent over last year's turnover of Rs. 848.51 crores. Mr. S. K. Ghosh, CMD,...

India: IOC divestment: Final round talks begin (494).
April 9, 1999... Manash Goswami NEW DELHI, April 8 THE Centre has initiated discussions to take a final view on the proposed disinvestment of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). This is being done following the last-minute withdrawal of the offer of...

India: Ucal Fuel net profit up (228).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau CHENNAI, April 8 UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd has turned in higher turnover and net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 1998, as compared to the same quarter of last year. The company's turnover rose to Rs. 24.14 crores...

India: Wooing companies Sahara style (506).
April 9, 1999... Girish Rao NEW DELHI, April 8 SAHARA Airlines is tapping the recession-hit corporates with cheaper fares. It is wooing some 500 corporates in Delhi to boost its special incentive fares programme to Mumbai, Chennai and a few other...

India: SEBI tells Hyderabad Stock Exchange to look into Satyam 'delays' (720).
April 9, 1999... Raja Sukumar Cholleti HYDERABAD, April 8 THE Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is learnt to have advised the Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE) to look into the alleged delay by Satyam Computer Services Ltd (SCSL) in promptly...

India: Bharat Heavy Electricals to tie up with Stein Muller (474).
April 9, 1999... M. Ramesh CHENNAI, April 8 THE public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has finalised a tie-up with Stein Muller for supercritical boiler technology. A formal technology agreement is to be signed soon, it is learnt. Now that...

India: Travancore Cochin Chem losses down by Rs 2 cr (480).
April 9, 1999... G. K. Nair KOCHI, April 8 THE Kerala State public sector Travancore Cochin Chemicals Ltd (TCC) has brought down its losses during the last fiscal to Rs. 10 crores from the previous year's Rs. 12 crores. Speaking to Business Line...

INDIA-IMPACT: Interest in the cement major (177).
April 9, 1999... THE possibility of Lafarge picking up a stake in Associated Cement Companies (ACC) could spark some interest in the stock. The French Cement major has already acquired the cement units of Tisco at a price of Rs. 550 crores, and it may want to...

Daewoo parent plans full control of Indian arm (583).
April 9, 1999... Girish Singhal NEW DELHI, April 8 DAEWOO Motors Company of Korea is planning to take total control of its Indian subsidiary, Daewoo Motors India Ltd (DMIL), in which the former currently has a 92 per cent holding. The company is...

India: Alfa Laval to invest Rs 25 cr for expansion (392).
April 9, 1999... Our Bureau PUNE, April 8 ALFA Laval Ltd, based here, is to make an investment of about Rs. 25 crores for expansion purposes during 1999-2000. This would include an investment of Rs. 15 crores for implementation of the ERP (enterprise...