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NOW KARAT IS LEADING! 

It would seem that there is no issue on which the redoubtable general secretary of the CPI (M) Prakash Karat does not have an opinion. We are now all too familiar with his views on the nuclear deal. After having threatened to withdraw support to the government on the issue, the CPI (M) has now backed down a bit and said that it would do nothing until talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency are over. But Mr. Karat’s pronouncements on cross-media ownership are curious to say the least.After vehemently upholding the cause of a free press in a democratic system of governance, he has suddenly advocated the need for his party to formulate a code of conduct for the print and electronic ‘media. We may be forgiven for thinking that this smacks of authoritarianism and could even be thought of as a form of muzzling the press.As for cross-media ownership, there is no law that prevents anyone with the resources from starting several media ventures. Indeed, India has several media houses that have done so. What Mr. Karat seems to have forgotten is that it is his own party that has a stake in several media concerns in Kerala. His fears that 26 per cent Foreign Direct Investment in the media has made sections of it more pro-Western, anti-political and anti-Communist are uncalled for. Despite all its flaws, the press in India has more often than not said it like it is. At a time when FDI is being invited into most sectors, why should there be different rules for the press? The politically savvy Communist Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his illustrious predecessor Jyoti Basu have been clear that FDI is not anathema to the party and is needed if the state has to develop further. Let us not mince any words; Mr. Karat has overstepped himself here. The party’s plans to have a nation-wide protest against a possible fuel hike are valid. This would indeed make life difficult for the common man. It is incumbent on the CPI (M) as a party of governance to raise these issues.But over the last year at least it appears to have adopted an obstructionist approach to the very government of which it willingly became a part The party has never had such a high profile or so much clout ever and so it is surprising that Mr. Karat has once again raised the option of throwing his lot in with a non-Congress front. The CPI (M) has been sabre-rattling once too often. This is inappropriate coming from such a seasoned political formation and that too from its august general secretary.

This country by law and the Constitution adheres to the principal of free choice. However, by floating the idea of conscription as a possible solution to the manpower crisis facing the Indian Armed forces, a worried Chief of Army Staff Deepak Kapoor has not really served the cause. He was careful, of course, to say that it had not yet come to that, and the government might have to “look at it” in the long run. But the fact is that conscription is an abhorrent idea arid cannot be pushed by any government at the Centre.

The Army Chief need not have wasted a moment on the thought. By mentioning it at all, General Kapoor has attempted to deflect attention away from where the focus should actually be - on the total failure of the government and the armed forces in correcting the officer shortage that has dogged the forces for more than a decade. There have been fancy advertising campaigns, camps of all kinds, tinkering efforts with promotion schemes, some juggling of pay packets and perks. The net result has essentially been zilch.

ear on year, the hard numbers stare us in the face. As per figures presented in Parliament, the Army is short by 11,238 officers, the Navy by 1399 officers and the Air Force by 1528 officers. The numbers have come down only marginally over the earlier years.

In 2006, 811 officers applied for premature retirement, with 464 making it out, along with 87 of their Air Force colleagues. In fact, the conscription idea is all the more foolish, considering that it is officers we are looking for. Year on year, the feeder institutions like the IMA-Dehra Dun, the NDA-Pune, and the OTA-Chennai, only manage to fill the gap, without making much of an impact. The IMA last year boasted about a “highest ever” graduation of 625 cadets, but reports coming in of falling intake are already of great concern.

Hopefully, perhaps, General Kapoor was only throwing in the conscription idea to further spur the Sixth Pay Commission to favourably look upon the demands for large pay hikes for service officers and ranks. There is no doubt a strong case for this, considering the salaries that qualified youngsters are wooed with even as they step out of the portals of their educational institutions.

Slow promotions are an issue, but not as much as unfair methods of assessment, and corruption. There is also need for greater sensitivity towards concerns about family and education of children, but the “tough life” per se is no stumbling block. If anything, it has an appeal of its own to the young. But the armed forces need to get their act together.

Pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy Laboratories reported an almost unchanged consolidated net profit after tax for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007 at Rs 187.8 crore as against Rs 185.9 crore in the same period previous year. Total consolidated sales of the company during the quarter grew 5.11 per cent at Rs 1,795.1 crore as compared to Rs 1,707.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Global sales registered 24 per cent growth. During the quarter, emerging markets like Romania, CIS, South Africa and Brazil were the key drivers of growth which contributed 54 per cent to global sales. For the year ended December 2007, the company’s net profit stood at Rs 790.1 crore, up 53 per cent. However, after excluding foreign exchange gains or losses, net profit of the year was Rs 609.9 crore, up 15 per cent.

To demerge R&D operations
Ranbaxy Laboratories will spin off its new drug discovery research operations to set up a new firm, ‘Ranbaxy Life Sciences Research’, in February. The new entity is expected to get listed in the second half of the year, Ranbaxy CEO Malvinder Mohan Singh said.

HCL profit up
IT firm HCL Technologies today posted a marginal increase in net profit at Rs 266.95 crore for the quarter ended December 31compared to Rs 266.14 crore for the same quarter last year. The total income of the company rose to Rs 1,185.30 crore for the quarter against Rs 1,023.43 in the year-ago period, HCL Technologies said. The board of the company in its meeting held today also declared an interim dividend of Rs 2 per share (of face value of Rs 2).

Reliance Energy
Anil Ambani-owned power utility firm, Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) said its net profit registered an increase of 50 percent to Rs 301.6 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 201.03 in the corresponding quarter last year. Its total income has increased marginally by 2 per cent to Rs. 1,853.41 crore for the third quarter compared to Rs 1,820.43 crore in the same period last year.

RNRL net soars
Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), a part of the Anil Ambani Group, reported over two-fold rise in its net profit at Rs 23.79 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as against Rs 10.45 crore in the year-ago period. However, net sales of the company declined44.60percenttoRs 40.73 crore for the reviewed quarter compared to Rs 73.53 crore for the same period previous year, the company said in a filing on the National Stock Exchange.

Godrej net up 13 pc
Leading fast moving consumer goods company Godrej Consumer Products Ltd said it has registered 13.21 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 41.47 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 36.63 crore for the same period a year ago. The company’s total income also jumped 15.73 per cent to Rs 231.36 crore from Rs 199.91 crore in the said period.

IDBI profit up 39 pc
Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd (IDBI) said its net profit has increased 39 per cent to Rs 175.84 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 126.79 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Its total income has increased 32 per cent to Rs 2.471.3 crore for the third quarter compared to Rs 1,877.6 crore in the same period last year.

Wipro:
IT major Wipro bucked prophecies of a slowdown in the software sector by posted a profit of Rs 854 crore for the quarter ended December last year to record a growth of 11.57 per cent. The company had posted a profit of Rs 756.40 crore during the preceding quarter last year. Its total revenues increased by 33 per cent year on year-to-year basis to Rs 5,303 crore for the quarter ending December 31, 2007. Revenue in global IT services and products was at Rs 3,616 crore.

NIIT PAT flat:
NIIT Technologies has posted an almost flat profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 34.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, against Rs 34.6 crore in the same quarter previous year. The consolidated revenues grew by 1 per cent and stood at Rs 233.8 crore during the quarter, against Rs 231.5 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago, NIIT said in a statement.

Nicholas Piramal
Nicholas Piramal India (NPIL) posted 30.98 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 72.76 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007, against Rs 55.55 crore in the same quarter of 2006. The total income of the group rose by 13.33 per cent at Rs 736.35 crore for the quarter under review, compared to Rs 649.7 crore in the same period last year, NPIL said in a filing to the BSE.

HCC net up
Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) posted an increase of 14 per cent in net profit at Rs 25 crore for the quarter ended December 31, compared to Rs 22 crore for the same quarter in 2006. The turnover of the company increased by 39 per cent at Rs 753 crore for the quarter -ender December 31, 2007, against Rs 541 crore for the corresponding period during the year-ago period, HCC said in a filing to the BSE.

ITC profit up:
ITC Limited today posted a 15.79 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 830.72 crore for the quarter ended December ended 31, 2007, compared to Rs 717.40 crore for the same quarter in 2006. The total income of the firm increased to Rs 3,595.39 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs 3,184.49 crore for the corresponding period last year, up 12.90 per cent, the company informed the BSE.

HDFC net surges
HDFC has posted an increase of 82.54 per cent in net profit at Rs 648.93 crore for the quarter ended December 31, compared to Rs 355.49 crore for the corresponding period in 2006. The total income of the company rose by 47.81 per cent at Rs 2,154.72 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, the same stood at Rs 1,457.73 crore during the year ago period, HDFC informed the BSE.

PNB Gilts
PNB Gilts has reported more than two fold increase in profit before tax at Rs 27.21 crore for the third quarter, against Rs 13.48 crore in the same period a year ago. While, its total income increased by a 30 per cent from Rs 106.85 crore in the previous year period to Rs. 139.87 crore, the company achieved reduction in expenses from Rs 77 .34 crore to Rs 70.79 crore, a decline of 8.5 per cent, PNB Gilts said in a release.

UTI dividend:
UTI Mutual Fund has announced tax free dividend of 8 per cent to its unit holders registered under the dividend option of UTI Dividend Yield Fund. This was the third dividend of Rs 0.80 per unit on face value of Rs 10, declared by the scheme during the current fiscal. “Pursuant to the payment of dividend, the NAV of the dividend option of the scheme would fall to the extent of payout and statutory levy if any,” UTI said.

The Government is considering the sale of 10 per cent equity stakes in state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) through an initial public offer of shares. Communications Minister A. Raja signalled the intent when he said in response to questions from reporters at a BSNL function that his ministry was open on the idea.”We will look into it. The Department of Telecom (DoT) will discuss the issue and take a decision,” he said. However, the issue is controversial, given political opposition to disinvestment by Left parties and also BSNL’s employee union.

When asked to the Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL, Kuldeep Goyal, he said, “Maybe the ministry is thinking of it.” “It will be good for the company as people will get to know the real value of the company,” he added with a note of caution. However, the CMD also said that an IPO cannot be expected in the near future.

The company has large scale growth plans. It is going to expand its offering on Wireless in Local Loop network (WLL) on the CDMA platform. It will also be soon announcing a 25 million GSM line tender to upgrade its network in the southern India.

Its vendors in the North, East and the West have already taken up the task of up gradation of the GSM line network.

“By end 2008, we hope to retain our number two position in the GSM telephony”, said Kuldeep Goyal. Vodafone Essar had upstaged BSNL from the number two position in 2007. BSNL had lost market share due to unavailability of GSM lines.

The issue is controversial, given political opposition to disinvestment by Left parties and also BSNL’s employee union. The company is going to expand its offering on Wireless in Local Loop network on the CDMA platform. It will also be soon announcing a 25 million GSM line tender