Accountancy
Loose ends
WHEN time stares in the face, truths could emerge. With an approaching deadline, the ICAI president, Mr N. D. Gupta, makes a few admissions:

A rear-view drive
FOR all the sophistication and advances that the US has made in every field of science and technology, an archaic accounting practice is increasingly triggering off corporate bankruptcies and lawsuits in that country. The practice relates to the restatem ent of audited statements of accounts of previous years as also the issuance of proforma quarterly results some weeks ahead of the official results.

Agriculture
Income insurance scheme `orphaned' -- Agriculture Minister rejects grain buy plan to replace MSP model
THE Centres proposal to replace the existing minimum support price (MSP)-based system of procuring foodgrains with a procurement-delinked income insurance scheme (IIS) has run into rough weather, with the Agriculture Minister, Mr Ajit Singh, outrightly r ejecting the plan.

Ministry seeks green light for irrigation reforms
IN deference to the suggestion by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr K.C. Pant, that Central funding in the irrigation sector be used as a vehicle to usher in reforms, the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has forwarded a modified proposal for relaxation in criteria for economic reforms in irrigation sector insofar as Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) goes.

Airlines
Air India -- Bailout instead of disinvestment?
WITH the Air India (AI) disinvestment coming to a grinding halt, it is time for some serious introspection by the authorities and those at the helm of affairs at the airlines, especially as the lifeline the proposed disinvestment may have thrown up has n ow become a distant dream.

Airlines allowed to fly more passengers
THE Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is to be liberal in granting permission to international airlines to change the equipment that they are operating at present, in an effort to ensure that international air passenger are not denied seats du ring the forthcoming festival season.

Polar flights to US mulled
AIR INDIA (AI) is examining the possibility of launching a non-stop flight through the polar route to North America as part of an operational revamp exercise to revitalise the airline.

Jet Airways to operate services on 2 new routes
JET Airways is to offer a daily service between Chennai and Mangalore and a twice-daily service between Chennai and Madurai from December 15.

Automobiles
Kinetic eyes competitive edge with cost cutting
THE Kinetic group is putting in place a cost-cutting programme to ensure competitiveness. It may also look at collaborations with Chinese companies for components in the long term.

GF rides away with honours
PUNE: Automobile magazine Auto Motor & Sport has rated Kinetic's GF motorcycle as the best bike in the performance bike segment. The conclusion was based on detailed tests conducted by the magazine's team on Hero Honda CBZ, Suzuki Fiero and Kinetic GF, a ccording to an official release from Kinetic Engineering Ltd.

New Holland wheels into lower HP segment
AS part of its efforts to participate in the largest segment of the tractor market, New Holland Tractors (India) Pvt Ltd is planning to launch a 35-horse power tractor next year, a top company official has said.

Banking and Finance
New online messaging system for banks
THE Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) is scheduled to launch structured financial messaging system (SFMS) here on Friday to provide a reliable and robust platform for the domestic financial messaging.

Moody's may upgrade SBI deposit rating
THE international rating agency Moody's may upgrade the deposits rating of State Bank of India (SBI) from the current rating of Ba1/Not Prime.

Cartoon
Cartoon
``No, don't switch it on -- daddy wants to watch the TV peacefully!''

Cement
Move to boost liquidity of stock -- Shiva Cement to go in for stock split, bonus
THE Rourkela-based Shiva Cement Ltd has proposed a stock split and a 1:2 bonus issue. The proposal, the management feels, will shore up the company's financials and satisfy a long-standing demand from the ordinary shareholders.

Coal
States lax in checking out coal mafia
Only six out of the 13 States, who were asked for verification of linked coal customers by the coal producing companies at the behest of the Coal Ministry, have send in partial response. The remaining seven have preferred to ignore the Central Government initiative to weed out mafia and ensure proper coal supply to the genuine customers and have not responded.

Commodities
Nov oilmeal exports up
THANKS to a seasonal surge in soyameal shipment and continuing overseas interest in rapeseed extraction, oilmeal exports in November showed a significant increase to register 3.96 lakh tonnes. This takes aggregate oilmeal shipment during the first eight months of the current fiscal to 11.4 lt, up from 11.1 lt during the same period last year.

Additional levy hits TN edible oil trade
EDIBLE oil trade in Tamil Nadu has been affected following the State Governments decision to levy additional sales tax on the commodity based on the business turnover.

Corporate
HLL meet clears hike in FII cap, bonus debentures
NOTWITHSTANDING their apprehensions, the shareholders of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) - the company with the highest market capitalisation in India - today approved an increase in the ceiling of FII (foreign institutional investor) equity holding in HLL to 49 per cent.

HLL board okays transfer of seed business
THE board of directors of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) on Wednesday approved the transfer of its seed business to its subsidiary, Paras Extra Growth Seeds Ltd.

Haldia Petro shuts plant; may resume tomorrow
THE mother naphtha cracker unit (NCU) at the joint venture Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), which was shut down owing to some mechanical faults, is expected to resume production shortly.

Secretarial standard on board meetings
THE Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has formulated a Secretarial Standard on meetings of board of directors as part of its efforts to improve the efficacy of corporate governance. This is the first secretarial standard that ICSI has form ulated in its overall efforts to integrate, harmonise and standardise diverse secretarial practices.

Reliance non-committal on Dabhol unit bid
RELIANCE Power Ltd appears to be non-committal regarding a separate bid for the Dabhol Power unit (DPC) despite the fact that BSES, in which Reliance holds a substantial stake, has already expressed an interest in DPC.

Vikram Amin is Essar Steel ED
THE Essar Steel Ltd (ESL) has appointed Mr Vikram Amin as its new Executive Director.

Birla Electricals, Italian co in marketing pact
BIRLA Electricals Ltd on Wednesday said it has tied up with DeLonghi of Italy to launch consumer home appliances such as heaters and kitchen appliances in the country.

Reuters market data over Net for Indians abroad
REUTERS India Online SA (ROSA), a Swiss entity of the Reuters Group, is planning to introduce Reuters Market Monitor Services (RMM) for Indian subscribers from outside India directly through the Internet.

Meet okays HLL FII limit, bonus debenture
THE shareholders of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) today approved an increase in the ceiling for equity holding by foreign institutional investors in the company to 49 per cent.

Kolkata's business spots on the block
IT'S a garage sale of the corporate kind. Top properties at Dalhousie, Kolkata's business district, are said to be on the block and several eager real estate hawks in the city are trying to get them.

Sandvik AB makes open offer at Rs 850
SWEDISH high-tech engineering firm Sandvik AB is to make an open offer to acquire 10.70 per cent of its Indian subsidiary Sandvik Asia Ltd (SAL) at a price of Rs 850 per share.

IOC divests stake in Indo-Mobil
INDIAN Oil Corporation (IOC) has sold its 50 per cent equity stake in Indo Mobil Pvt Ltd to its partner, Mobil Petroleum Corporation Inc, for a consideration of Rs 22 crore.

Cussons seeks waiver on divestment clause
CLOSE on the heels of soft drink major, Coca-Cola India, another foreign joint venture company, Cussons India has also sought a waiver of the mandatory entry level clause relating to disinvestment of shares to Indian entities.

Ear to the ground
MERC order may trip Tata Power
THE recent order passed by the MERC on standby charges is expected to have a negative impact on Tata Powers bottomline. According to analysts, Tata Power may have to take a hit of around Rs 65-Rs70 crore in the profits in fiscal 2001-02. Based on these d evelopments some of the analysts have lowered the EPS by Rs 3.5 to Rs 20.3. Following this, some of the broking firms find limited upside in the share price of the company. On Wednesday, the share ended marginally lower at Rs 131.65, down 1.53 per cent f rom Tuesdays close.

Economy
ADB to grant $411.5 m loan for core sector
THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a string of loans for the road sector in West Bengal and the infrastructure development programmes in four reform-minded States. It will also undertake a study to prepare an integrated urban development proje ct in Madhya Pradesh. The programmes in all amount to $411.5 million.

Roots of recession
THE anthrax scare and the Afghan war aside, the main worry is of the world slipping deeper into a recession. The September 11 incident was merely the trigger, the recession was happening much before that. And analysts do not see the end of the tunnel, no twithstanding the recent look up in indices.

Industrial growth slumps to 1.9 pc in Oct
THERE are few signs of the ongoing recessionary trends in the economy `bottoming out', with the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) estimating overall industrial growth at 1.9 per cent during October, as against 6.8 per cent in the same month the prev ious year.

Move to give more teeth to money laundering law
THE Union Cabinet is set to consider official amendments to the legislation on prevention of money laundering (PMLB) at its next meeting, following the Law Ministry approving the modifications proposed by the Finance Ministry.

Editorial
Go gasohol
THE CENTRE SHOULD be complimented for deciding to permit blending of petrol with ethanol. It makes economic sense for the country, a major producer of sugarcane and molasses, to promote the blend which though unfamiliar here is a proven fuel elsewher e in the world. The commercial and ecological arguments for using ethanol (ethyl alcohol) are well known.

Education
Sinha to inaugurate CA South chapter meeting
THE Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, is to inaugurate the golden jubilee regional conference of the southern chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Clicking on an idea for hi-techs future
PUT on your thinking cap for a minute and imagine youre back in school. Not to study, but to teach. And in a surely innovative manner. Imagine youve been asked to design a lesson; not one of those boring old lessons, but one that appeals to children.

Fertilisers
2.2 lakh t urea imported so far
THE Government has so far imported 2.2 lakh tonnes of urea during the current fiscal, as against zero imports in 2000-01, according to the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr S.S. Dhindsa.

Food & Dairy Products
National animal feed meet in Bangalore
MUMBAI: A national seminar to popularise the use of oilmeal in compound cattle, poultry and aqua feeds will be held in Bangalore on February 2, 2002. The seminar will discuss recent trends in feeds, animal health and nutrition, quality control, taxation and marketing challenges.

Foreign Trade
Tajikistan keen on trade with India
INDIA and Tajikistan have agreed to intensify cooperation to realise the full potential of bilateral trade and investment.

Hotels
ITDC staff protest
Employees of ITDC hotels play cards during a day-long strike against privatisation in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Impact
Sierra Optima : Termination of orders
THE Sierra Optima stock, which has risen 46 per cent in the recent rally in tech stocks, may be headed for lower levels.

Sandvik Asia: Mop-up operations
THE Sandvik Asia stock may show firm trends ahead of the likely open offer and imminent delisting.

Hindustan Lever: An irrelevant seedling
THE move of Hindustan Lever to transfer its seeds business to a subsidiary may be of marginal significance as far as its stock valuation goes.

Information Technology
Bangalore to host meet on cyber laws
THE 29th national convention of company secretaries on `Developments in corporate and cyber laws — International perspective' will be held in Bangalore on December 13 and 15 to deliberate, ascertain and evaluate the directions and magnitude of deve lopments in corporate and cyber laws and their desired orientation in the corporate sector.

WeP works 20 days a month
THE economic slowdown and consequent fall in IT investments has forced WeP Ltd (formerly Wipro ePeripherals) to cut production at its Mysore factory.

Pruning at IBM Global
FOR the first time in India, IBM Global Services has laid off people. While the company refused to give out the exact number of employees affected, sources put it at anywhere between 50 and 100.

GTL top brass agree to 25 pc pay cut
AS part of its strategy to beat the slowdown, the top brass of GTL Ltd, formerly Global Telesystems Ltd, has decided to forgo part of their pay and commission.

Infrastructure
Leveraging on capacity
DIG trenches only to fill them up! Behind the surface joviality, this Keynesian precept is pregnant with grave implications. The Centre, which seems to be hamstrung by policy paralysis, having run out of ideas to prevent the economy from slipping into a coma, would do well to heed Keyness advice. At a time when sentiments are negative and outlook bleak, there is no point in our political leadership preaching and pontificating from lofty pulpits. The Government has no option but to walk the talk and lead from the front.

`FDI in townships less than 100 acres likely'
THE Government is considering allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the development of integrated townships of less than 100 acres, according the Union Minister for Urban Development, Mr Ananth Kumar.

Miscellaneous
Worldwide trade in women
TRAFFICKING in women generates a whopping revenue of $ 5-7 billion a year, and women are trafficked for a variety of reasons, including prostitution, labour or marriage, says Ms Pamela Shifman, Associate Director of Equality Now, an international human rights organisation based in the US focussing on the rights of women and girls. She spoke to Business Line on the problem and its ramifications worldwide.

Off the ticker
Block deals in Venky's India
EVEN as the market remained range-bound select counters witnessed hectic activities on Wednesday. The following are a few such stocks.

On the hedge
Positive outlook on VSNL, Reliance Petro?
THE sentiment in the derivatives segment was somewhat optimistic, with dealers demanding out-of-the-money index calls and at-the-money equity calls. Here are some of the pointers:

Petroleum
EU move to promote use of bio-fuel
THE European Commission has outlined a strategy to achieve, by 2020, a target 20 per cent substitution of alternative fuels for diesel and gasoline in the road transport sector. It had announced an action plan last month to foster the use of alternative fuels for transport, starting with the regulatory and fiscal promotion of bio-fuels.

IOC seeks review of pact with RPL
INDIAN Oil Corporation (IOC) officials on Wednesday met the Petroleum Minister, Mr Ram Naik, seeking a review of an earlier agreement under which it was to pick up the entire produce of controlled petroleum products from Reliance Petroleum Ltd from April 1, 2002, Ministry sources said.

ONGC well not yet capped
THE exploratory well (SK 108) of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in north Gujarat's Mehsana district, which went out of control last weekend, was yet to be capped on Wednesday.

Pharmaceuticals
Dr Reddy's joint venture to make India processing hub
PATHNET India Pvt Ltd (PIPL) - a diagnostic joint venture company between Australia-based Gribbles Group Ltd (GGL) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) - is exploring the potential of making India a data processing hub for its international operations.

Plantations
Cardamom rules steady
CARDAMOM prices ruled steady on a balance in demand and supply position at major auction centres in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Pepper prices move up on buying support, short supply
PEPPER prices continued to increase on buying support and short supply at the terminal market here on Wednesday.

Power
PTC seeks nod to sell surplus power of SEBs
THE State-owned Power Trading Corporation (PTC) has approached the Union Power Ministry with the proposal that it be authorised to sell the entire surplus power available with the State Electricity Boards, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and ca ptive power plants. The objective of the proposal is to increase PTCs volume of business throughout the country.

Securitisation of WBSEB dues cleared
THE West Bengal Government has cleared the issue of securitisation of the dues of the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB).

Radio/TV
Panel to formulate regulatory code for broadcasters
THE Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) decided to form a committee to formulate a code of programming for broadcasters at its annual general meeting held here today.

Rubber
Rubber market steady
KOTTAYAM: The rubber market was steady on Wednesday with RSS 4 firming up slightly on low arrivals. Most of the growers kept off the market expecting STC to commence price support procurement.

No cess on rubber used for export
THE Central Government has exempted all the rubber produced in the country and procured for export production by export-oriented units (EOUs); units in the export processing zones (EPZs) and also units in the special economic zones (SEZs) from the rubber cess.

States
Bengal jute TUs to go on strike
THE indefinite strike called by 18 central trade unions of the jute industry in West Bengal is likely to push this age-old and ailing sector into a major crisis during the first fortnight of next year.

CNG dispensing system in Delhi
NEW DELHI: Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the supplier of compressed natural gas (CNG) in Delhi, is launching an efficient CNG dispensing system to cut down on the waiting time at CNG stations.

Kerala to sign MoU with Centre for funds
THE Kerala Government has announced a series of fiscal reform measures, which, among other things, commit itself to signing a reform-linked memorandum of understanding with the Centre to avail precious funds in the medium term.

Steel
New US import curbs on steel in the offing
THE Bush Administration plans to strengthen protection for the US steel industry with a range of stiff tariffs on l6 product lines before the end of February 2002, even as America's steel-makers are forging a survival strategy in a world of over-capacity and low prices.

OECD steel meet next week
MUMBAI: OECD Governments are scheduled to meet in Paris next week to explore options for dealing with excess capacity and resulting market distortions affecting the world steel industry. This follows a high-level meeting at the OECD in September, when th e Governments agreed to consult the steel producers in their countries and then return to discuss the outcome of these consultations. As part of the consultation process following the September high-level meeting, the Governments were called upon to eval uate the long-term economic viability of their steel facilities and to identify economic, social and regulatory practices that could hinder the closure of unprofitable production facilities.

Stocks
Chips up for top-rung IT stocks in dull trade
IT was yet another day of listless trading at the bourses. The cut in interest rates in the US did not have any significant repercussions in the market. After two days of selling pressure, buying interest returned to some of the top-rung technology stock s. But the market ended the day on a negative note, pulled down to partially on account of selling interest in select cement shares.

Overseas listing plans fuel rally in Orient Info?
THE Mumbai-based Orient Information Technologies Ltd has revived its plans of an international listing through a Global Depository Receipts (GDR) issue and a listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The company expects to be listed by mid-February, 20 02.

SEBI and market
The SEBI chairman, Mr D. R. Mehta seems to be waxing eloquent of the new instruments introduced to improve the market. These steps, are, indeed, welcome. But the irony is SEBI is still groping in the dark about the problems of the market.

Public sector banks
The Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India should reschedule various savings schemes in nationalised banks, to benefit both the banks and the depositors. Many private banks have imitated `Corpclassic' scheme of the public sector Corporation Bank.

Technical Analysis
Bears dominate
RIGHT from the initial hours of Wednesdays trading, the bears were in total control of the days proceedings. The sentiment reading of the tradable counters stands mildly in favour of the bulls. Bull domination on Thursday is likely to strengthen the prev ailing bullish sentiment. On the contrary, the sentiment reading is likely to neutralised.

Technology
Park culture
THE Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, has a talent for innovative ideas. From populist programmes, such as Janmabhoomi to Deepam, to carving out a Cyberabad with information technology and Hi-tech industries.

Biotech catching on
WITH biotechnology seen as the new growth engine, several corporates and institutions are eyeing the education sphere in this emerging sector as the demand for skilled professionals is set to grow.

Telecommunications
Opening up international long-distance telephony -- For VSNL, the party is over
In AUGUST 2000, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had declared that both basic telecom (within the country) and international long distance (ILD) services would be thrown open to competition from April 1, 2001 and 2002 respectively. Such de-mo nopolisation was inevitable consequent to almost all major countries, including India, acceding to the WTO and signing in 1996 the Information Technology Agreement. But the issue is when, and under what conditions, would the services be opened up for com petition.

Terrorism
Poto problems
The main objection to the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance is that it could be misused. Almost any law can be misused and that cannot be a reason to oppose a law which, in the present security environment, is necessary.

Textiles
Indian yarn to figure in global index
THE International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), which has attempted indexing yarn and fabric production status from this year, has included the Indian yarn data/inventory so as to perfect its world index.

3 NTC units in TN suspend operation
TEXTILE units owned by the National Textile Corporation's Tamil Nadu/Pondicherry subsidiary have suspended operations following NTC's recent move effecting voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for workers in these units.

Cotton textiles, yarn exports register negative growth
EVEN as apparel exports from the country have suffered a setback during the first 11 months of the calendar year, exports of cotton textiles to quota countries and yarn to non-quota countries during the same period also logged a negative growth of 12 per cent.

Transport
SER to run 5 winter specials
IN addition to the 10 pairs of Kurla-bound superfast winter special trains announced earlier, South Eastern Railway (SER), in a bid to clear the extra rush of passengers, has decided to run 5 pairs of premier superfast weekly special trains between Howra h and Lokmanya Tilak terminus (Kurla) between December 16 and January 15, 2002.

Source:Business Line