Business Line articles from May 2000

Business Line archives from May 2000

India: SEBI directive to short sellers.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: THERE will be no incentive for bear operators to short sell henceforth and naked sales are likely to be strictly restricted, if not become a thing of the past altogether. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)...

India: Century Text: Cutting cement exposures.
May 31, 2000... THE indications given by Century Textiles that one of the cement units would be on the chopping block may raise some near term interest in the stock as a restructuring play. The board of directors has decided to sell the cement unit in...

India: United Western Bank: Weighed by equity.
May 31, 2000... THE decision of United Western Bank to announce a bonus offer and a rights offer may not trigger much interest in the stock. The company has proposed to issue bonus shares in the ratio of 1:5 and this is to be followed by a rights offer at a...

India: India Steamship's building to be sold in settlement deal.
May 31, 2000... CALCUTTA, May 30: Come October and State Bank of India will initiate moves to take control of India Steamship Company's historic building in the city as a first step towards selling it off as part of the one-time settlement reached between...

India: Coates of India: Wider prospects.
May 31, 2000... THE indications provided by the top management of Coates of India that some premium products from the global parent's stable would be launched in India may augur well for its business prospects and provide some support to the stock price....

India: Stocks head north on techs' back.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: TECHNOLOGY stocks bounced back on aggressive purchases by local traders and institutional investors towards the end of the session on both the bourses on Tuesday. The BSE IT sector index vaulted 143.76 points to close at...

India: DAE admits to n-arms programme.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is pursuing a focussed programme of research and development (R&D) as well as manufacture of nuclear weapons programme for national security. In perhaps the first admission to such...

India: Zee acquiring 26 pc in Aplab.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: ZEE Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) is acquiring up to 26 per cent equity stake in Aplab Ltd through a preferential allotment of 1.32 million shares by the latter at Rs. 90 per share, aggregating up to Rs. 11.7 crores. The entire...

India: Govt for back-to-back divestment of AI, IA.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Government would favour a back-to-back arrangement for the proposed disinvestment of the two national carriers - Air India (AI) and Indian Airlines (IA). "It would be better if the disinvestment of both the airlines...

India: RBI to hold repo sales daily from June 5.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: THE Reserve Bank of India has decided to conduct repo and reverse repo auctions on a daily basis from June 5 under the first stage of the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) scheme. The central bank had announced its...

India: Asian Paints sets 3:5 bonus, net up 26 pc.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: ASIAN Paints (India) Ltd (APL) cheered up to its investors today with a 3-for-5 bonus and a 100 per cent dividend. But the markets did not take the news favourably. APL shares caved in Rs. 10.10 on the BSE to close at Rs. 415...

India: Rupee dips to another low at close Our Bureau.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: THE rupee continued its downward slide and ended on Tuesday at its third consecutive new low of Rs. 44.56/58 against the dollar - eight paise lower than Monday's close of Rs. 44.48/50. Dealers said importer demand for...

India: SIA won't say anything now.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: SINGAPORE Airlines is keeping its cards close to its chest on whether it will be interested in picking up a stake in Air India (AI). "We are sticking to our policy of not making any comments unless we have something to...

India: Maran proposes 100 pc FDI sans sectoral cap in SEZs.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Government is considering allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) without any sectoral cap in the newly-created Special Economic Zones, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, has said. ...

India: RBI sells T-Bills to suck excess liquidity.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: THE Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday put on sale six 364 Treasury Bills with maturity varying from December to February in a bid to remove the excess liquidity in the system. For T-Bills of December maturity, the yield...

India: Tata Engg to focus on cost cutting.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: TATA Engineering & Locomotive Company Ltd is expecting a 12-15 per cent sales growth in commercial vehicles and a 40 per cent growth in utility and passenger cars. The auto major, which reported a 27 per cent decline in...

India: Dena Bank net slips 42.8 pc.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: DENA Bank has registered a sharp fall of 42.89 per cent in its net profit at Rs. 62.87 crores for the year 1999-2000 as compared to Rs. 110.09 crores in the previous year. According to the bank, it had made substantial...

India: GIC MF recast likely in light of KPMG report.
May 31, 2000... CALCUTTA, May 30: THE report of KPMG, engaged by GIC Asset Management Co to suggest a restructuring package, will be on the agenda for the next meeting of the board of GIC AMC to be held in June. According to informed sources, KPMG will have...

India: Britannia net up 29% at Rs 51 cr.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: Britannia Industries Ltd has ended the 1999-2000 fiscal with a 29 per cent increase in net profit at Rs. 51 crores as against Rs. 39.6 crores in the previous fiscal. Net sales were up 14 per cent at Rs. 1,169.8 crores (Rs. 1,030.1...

India: Petronet LNG deal: Shipping cos split on minimum norm.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: DIFFERENCES within the domestic shipping industry has delayed the finalisation of the minimum criteria by the Ministry of Surface Transport for the entry of Indian companies as joint venture partner s in the transportation...

India: Minister takes up port workers' issue with Sinha.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Union Minister of Surface Transport, Mr. Rajnath Singh, has personally intervened with his counterpart in the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, and requested him to "positively consider" the critical issue of...

India: Novartis India net up 38% at Rs 103 cr.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: Novartis India Ltd has posted a 38 per cent rise in net profit at Rs. 103.4 crores in the year ended March 31, 2000 as against Rs. 74.7 crores in the previous year ended March 31, 1999. Net sales (including excise duty) has risen...

India: Eicher net dips.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI: Eicher Ltd has reported a fall of 46.2 per cent in its net profit, 15.7 per cent in its operating profit and 2.2 per cent in its sales for the year ended March 31, 2000. The net profit for the year stood at Rs. 15.7 crores on a...

India: Eicher Motors sales up.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI: Eicher Motors Ltd (EML) has registered a sales turnover of Rs. 352 crores and a net profit of Rs. 15.86 crores for the fiscal 1999-2000, registering a rise of 32 per cent and 103 per cent respectively over the previous fiscal. ...

India: Colgate-Palmolive.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd have announced an increase in net profit of 23 per cent for 1999-2000. Net profit for the financial year was at Rs. 52 crores, as compared to the previous year's net profit of Rs. 42 crores (excluding...

India: 'Source' of answer to all visa queries.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: DID you know that the original visa form is required for Chile, and that photocopies are not allowed? Or, that the Mexican Embassy is closed on the last day of every month? The visa is yet another headache which goes...

India: ICTV pact with Modi group.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: ICTV, provider of solutions for delivery of broadband Internet TV services to digital set-tops, on Tuesday announced an agreement for expanded international deployment with the K.K. Modi group's Modi Entertainment Network...

India: Le Meridien ties up with Cox & Kings.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: LE Meridien Hotels and Resorts has partnered with Cox & Kings to provide pre-paid vouchers for hotel bookings. The tie-up with Cox & Kings offers Le Meridien's customers the benefit of paying in advance for their...

India: PSU workers' wage settlement period likely to be reviewed.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Group of Ministers (GoM) on labour is likely to review its earlier recommendation on maintaining a status quo on the 5- year wage settlement period for workers of public sector undertakings, autonomous bodies and...

India expo to be held in Dubai.
May 31, 2000... ABU DHABI, May 30: THE India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) has decided to holda special 'India Exposition' at the Dubai World Trade Centre in January 2001. The exhibition will be a multi-product exclusive Indian show with the theme...

India: Breakthrough in Indo-EU talks on steel dumping.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: A BREAKTHROUGH has been achieved in the Indo-European Union (EU) negotiations on dumping allegations against Indian steel companies, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Tata Iron & Steel Company Ltd (Tisco) and Essar...

India: Pvt sector urged to manufacture Army supplies.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Chief of Army Staff, Gen. V.P. Malik, has emphasised the importance of greater cooperation between the armed forces and the private sector. Addressing a luncheon meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian...

India: 'New policy for SMEs soon'.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Government will announce a new policy in three months for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the Minister of State for SSI and Agro and Rural Industries, Ms. Vasundhara Raje, has said. ...

India: Thermax Eco Fair from June 3.
May 31, 2000... PUNE: To raise public awareness of environmental issues, Thermax Ltd is organising a three-day Thermax Eco Fair from June 3. The fair, concluding on World Environment Day (June 5), would bring under one roof about 35 participants including...

India: Euro-II compliance eats into Leyland's forex earnings.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: IMPORTS of CNG engines and other capital equipment needed to make engines Euro-II compliant have eroded Ashok Leyland's foreign exchange earnings last year. The company's imports under the head 'raw materials' increased...

India: Zydus Cadila plans for Recon.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: ZYDUS Cadila Healthcare Ltd has drawn up plans to make its newly acquired Recon Healthcare Ltd to a Rs.100-crore company in the next couple of years. Mr. Ganesh Nayak, President, Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd, told Business...

India: Terumo Penpol plant set for operations.
May 31, 2000... THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, May 30: TERUMO Penpol, a joint venture of the $1.2-billion Terumo Corporation of Japan, a major in healthcare products, and the Kerala-based Penpol, a leader in blood bag production in the country, has readied its upgraded...

India: MMTC, STC pay dividends to Govt.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE super star trading house, MMTC, and State Trading Corporation (STC) today presented dividend cheques to the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, amounting to Rs. 9.93 crores and Rs. 5.46 crores...

India: MUL plans to borrow Rs 300 cr.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: MARUTI Udyog Ltd (MUL) has obtained ratings for two of its proposed borrowing programmes - a Rs. 200-crore long-term non-convertible debenture (NCD) programme and a Rs. 100-crore commercial paper (CP) programme. ...

India: Money market fund from Canbank MF.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: CANBANK Mutual Fund will be launching its 'Money Market' Fund shortly. The mutual fund has already filed the documents with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and is awaiting its approval, according to Mr. K....

India: Hyd Bottling allowed more stake in Suvarna Cement.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has approved the transfer of an additional 46 per cent stake in Suvarna Cements Ltd (SCL) to Hyderabad Bottling Co. Ltd (HBC), which already holds 23 per cent in...

India: Cummins launches new gensets range.
May 31, 2000... PUNE, May 30: A NEW range of gensets under the brand name 'S series' has been launched by Cummins India Ltd (CIL). The engine is a collaborative effort between Telco and Cummins, according to Mr. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Cummins India Ltd....

India: 'Dresscode' to merge global textile practices.
May 31, 2000... CALCUTTA, May 30: INDIA will be participating in a global project titled 'Dresscode' to integrate various global business practices, electronic data interface (EDI) standards and processes in the textile sector. EAN India, the nodal agency...

India: EEPC to hold tech fairs in Cairo, Buenos Aires.
May 31, 2000... CALCUTTA, May 30: THE Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), which has now been permitted to organise trade fairs independently, has planned to organise two India Tech exhibitions - one in Cairo this September and another in Buenos...

India: Tata Yodogawa net down.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: TATA Yodogawa Ltd has reported a 12.5 per cent decline in its profit after tax at Rs. 4.68 crores for the year ended March 31, 2000 as compared to Rs. 5.35 crores in the previous year. The board has not recommended a final...

India: Visa gives Citibank leadership award.
May 31, 2000... BANGALORE: Citibank India has been awarded 'the overall leadership' award by Visa International in the Indian credit card market. With a customer base of 1.2 million members, Citi is the largest credit card issuer in India with a 52 per cent...

India: Philips bags BVQi ISO 9002.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI: Philips India Ltd's consumer electronics division has received the Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQi) ISO 9002 certification for its manufacturing, sales and marketing, and after-sales service systems. BVQi is a London-...

India: New site for admissions.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI: IEC Web Drome, part of IEC Softwares Ltd, has launched duadmissions2000.com, an information getaway to admissions in Delhi University colleges. The portal will provide information related to the Delhi University campus,...

India: Online ads in Asia, Pacific to exceed $1 b.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: ONLINE advertising in Asia-Pacific is expected to exceed $1 billion by 2004, according to a study by the International Data Corporation (IDC). Companies are increasingly beginning to view Internet as a viable means to...

India: Tata Elxsi lures Bollywood stars.
May 31, 2000... BANGALORE, May 30: TATA Elxsi, an IT company offering systems integration solutions in the Indian market and part of the $10-billion Tata Group, is eyeing Bollywood stars these days. The reason: Many Bollywood artists are increasingly...

India: Tide, Ariel duo to build P&G share.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: PROCTER & GAMBLE'S (P&G) recent introduction of Tide - the single largest brand from its 334-strong global portfolio - comes into India at a time when its 'well-entrenched sibling' - detergent brand, Ariel - consolidates...

India: Media-Internet go-between site launched.
May 31, 2000... BANGALORE, May 30: THE Microland group has launched media2india.net, a media solutions entity for the Internet industry. This is part of the company's focus on "opportunities thrown up by the Internet", according to group Chairman and...

India: Discovery sets July date for health, travel blocks.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: DISCOVERY Communications India today announced that beginning July 8, it will begin airing two additional blocks on the Discovery Network itself under the titles Discovery Health Channel and Discovery Travel & Adventure....

India: Wipro to sponsor chess championship.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: AS a step towards driving corporate branding strategy, Wipro today announced its intention to sponsor reigning Women's World Champion in the under 18 category, Arthie Ramaswamy, and 14-year-old Harikrishna, the youngest...

India: Hind Lubricants to launch more products.
May 31, 2000... MANGALORE, May 30: EXPECTING a further boom in the Indian automobile industry, Hindustan Lubricants, part of Amaso of Kuwait, plans to introduce its range of lubricants throughout the country by the end of the year. The company has...

India: Bengal PCB plan on unsafe waste disposal.
May 31, 2000... CALCUTTA, May 30: The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) proposes to work out some institutional arrangement involving all stakeholders to arrive at a consensus on disposal of hazardous waste, according to Mr. K.S. Ramasubban,...

India: Mecon to study T&D loss in Karnataka farm sector.
May 31, 2000... BANGALORE, May 30: THE public sector, Mecon, has been appointed as technical consultants to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) for carrying out studies on the actual agricultural consumption and transmission/distribution...

India: Headless TN power panel frames norms.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: IT is more than a year since the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission was constituted by a Government order, but the commission continues to remain without a chairman. Meanwhile, the two members of the commission have...

India: MAHARASHTRA: Drive against Hepatitis B.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: Mr. Kirit Somaiya, the Member of Parliament, representing the North-East constituency of Mumbai, has started a Hepatitis B vaccination campaign to free Mumbai of the disease. She told Business Line that the target was to get about...

India: S&T thrust sought for backward areas.
May 31, 2000... HYDERABAD, May 30: THERE is an urgent need to bridge the wide gaps between the underdeveloped and well-developed areas in the application of science and technology, speakers at a national conference on the application of science and...

India: Inflation watch.
May 31, 2000... THE annual rate of inflation measured in terms of the wholesale price index (WPI) on a point-to-point basis rose further marginally to a 74-week high of 6.38 per cent for the latest recorded week ended May 13 from 6.31 per cent in the...

India: Indian cos missing out on 'in' thing.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: THE Web site address (or URL) of the German company Siemens Ltd. is www.siemens.de. That of Marks & Spencers in the UK, is www.marks-and-spencer.co.uk. The URL of Japanese company Hitachi is www.hitachi.co.jp. But...

India: Mantra Online's new tariff plan.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: MANTRA Online has unveiled a new tariff plan designed to attract more customers for lifetime usage and unlimited access to the Internet. A company release issued here said that it would provide customers with an...

India: eNamaskar launches Telugu domain names.
May 31, 2000... HYDERABAD, May 30: ENAMASKAR.com, the e-division of the Hyderabad-based SynfoSys Business Solutions Ltd, in technical collaboration with the Silicon Valley-based International Domain Names System (i-DNS), launched Internet domain names...

India: Experts find shortcomings in IT Bill.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: THE IT Bill '99, which was recently passed by Parliament without much debate, may actually be flawed, and some sections of the Bill call for serious relook and amendments, according to experts in e-commerce and legal issues...

India: NeST plans cyber campuses abroad.
May 31, 2000... KOCHI, May 30: KOCHI-BASED Network Systems and Technologies (NeST) is setting up cyber campuses in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and various African states. Talks are on in this regard with representatives from these countries and a...

India: ESS unveils Ebizframe.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: EASTERN Software Systems (ESS), a company providing and implementing ERP for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), on Tuesday unveiled a new product, Ebizframe. The components of Ebizframe include Web site building...

India: Satyam Info, VeriSign pact.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: SATYAM Infoway, an Internet and e-commerce solutions provider in India, and VeriSign Inc, one of the leading Internet trust services providers in the world, have announced a partnership to provide managed digital...

India: RBI's game plan for long-term.
May 31, 2000... A VERY mild degree of (controlled) volatility with respect to the rupee's exchange rate but no automatic transmission of the pressures (on the exchange rate) on to the domestic interest rate markets. In other words, domestic interest rates...

India: RBI prefers devolvement to higher rates.
May 31, 2000... THE Reserve Bank of India's acceptance of the devolvement of as much as 98 per cent of its latest 11-year gilt issue is a clear signal of the continuation of its low interest rate policy for the time being. With clouds of uncertainty...

India: Australia, New Zealand currencies in doldrums.
May 31, 2000... CONDITIONS will not be favourable for financial assets in Australia and New Zealand in the next few months. The coming monetary squeeze in the US and accompanying slowdown in the economy implies that financial assets leveraged to global...

India: Towards greater facility in liquidity adjustment.
May 31, 2000... IN an important move to improve its presence in the money markets, the RBI has worked out the details of a liquidity adjustment facility (LAF). Effective June 5, the RBI will provide unlimited liquidity at variable interest rates to primary...

India: Hugar to head selection institute.
May 31, 2000... MANGALORE: Mr. R.S. Hugar, who completes his term as Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank on May 31, is to head the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) in Mumbai from June 1. Mr. Hugar has been appointed to the post...

India: Call eases to 6.75-7.05 pc at close.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: The call rates closed at 6.75-7.05 per cent in the interbank market on Tuesday, lower than Monday's close of 6.90-7.10 per cent. According to dealers, the call rates opened at 7.05 per cent and then hovered in the range of 6.75...

India: Vysya Bank revises FCNR(B) rates.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: Vysya Bank Ltd has revised the interest rates on FCNR(B) deposits on the US dollar and euro. For the US dollar, for deposits of one year and above but less than two years, two years and above but less than three years, and three...

India: Bonus-cum-rights from United Western.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: The Satara-based United Western Bank has decided to issue bonus shares in the ratio of one share for every five shares held. The bank has also proposed to go in for a rights issue in the ratio of one share for every two shares...

India: Sundaram Home cuts rate on individual loans.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: SUNDARAM Home Finance Ltd has dropped interest rates to 13 per cent for all loans to individuals. The company was earlier charging 13.25 per cent for loans up to Rs. 10 lakhs and 14.25 per cent for loans above Rs. 10 lakhs....

India: Birla Home Fin trims rates.
May 31, 2000... NEW DELHI, May 30: THE Rs. 4,500-crore K. K. Birla Group's retail home finance company - Birla Home Finance Ltd - has announced a reduction in interest rates by between 100 and 25 basis points. The company has reduced its interest rates...

India: Indian Overseas Bank net drops 27 pc.
May 31, 2000... CHENNAI, May 30: THE Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank has reported a 27 per cent decline in net profit for the year ended March 31, 2000, over the previous year. The decline has been attributed to the sharp rise in provisions. IOB's net...

India: Canara Bank records Rs 923-cr operating profit.
May 31, 2000... BANGALORE, May 30: CANARA Bank has reported an operating profit of Rs. 923 crores during the year ended March 31, 2000. On the face of it, the profit is lower as compared to the previous year's figure at Rs. 957 crores. But, during...

India: Cocoa meet in London next month.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI: The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has lined up a series of meetings of its various committees and of the International Cocoa Council in London during June 5-14 at which the draft for a Sixth International Cocoa Agreement...

India: Food labelling will protect consumer rights.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: AT a time when consumer is said to be king and his rights have taken centrestage, it is somewhat strange if not incongruent that certain sections of food manufacturers should oppose introduction of labelling norms for all...

India: HP Education unveils e-learning services.
May 31, 2000... BANGALORE, May 30: HEWLETT-PACKARD Education on Tuesday announced the launch of its e-learning services in India. E-learning is a part of HP Education Services which includes integrated, end-to-end solutions. Announcing the launch of...

India: 'Old private banks to remain independent'.
May 31, 2000... MUMBAI, May 30: OLD private sector banks such as Federal Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank and others will continue to be independent entities and will not go in for mergers, according to Mr. K. P. Padmakumar, Chairman of the Old Private Sector...