Andhranews

Mumbai, Oct. 6: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said there was a need �to reform our financial sector further if we are to have a larger debt market.� Dr Singh, who was inaugurating the new Rs 75-crore Sebi Bhavan at the Bandra-Kurla Complex built by the Central Public Works Department, said, �We may currently be lacking a consensus on the needed reforms. However, I am confident that we will soon be able to forge a consensus and take reforms forward.�

Stressing the imperative of a debt market ,�which has not quite delivered on expectations�, Dr Singh said, �We need to promote a widely-held pension fund system, and have a larger insurance sector with a higher capital base and more diverse products. It is these which will generate the necessary long-term funds for investing in the debt market and make available resources for the investment needs in our country.�

He cautioned that unless investments were �of a high order�, India would not be able to achieve the 8-10 per cent economic growth. Stressing the importance of good regulation of the securities markets, Dr Singh said, it will ensure that necessary information is available to the public so that they can take informed decisions about investments.

�Good regulations,� he said, �will further ensure that while the engines of growth are allowed to run at full throttle, there is no space for manipulators in the system.� Dr Singh recognised the need for a suitable investor protection fund and said that urgency is being given to undertaking a comprehensive amendment of the Sebi Act 1992, to create an appropriate fund and empower Sebi to better address the issues impacting investor interests.

Finance minister P. Chidambaram spoke on the need for market participants to be registered with self-regulatory organisations such as Association of Mutual Funds of India, just as stock brokers are regulated by the BSE and Sebi. This would improve the confidence of lay investors in the market.
�Unless every saver is turned into an investor, we cannot achieve the high level of growth that we aspire for. The task of Sebi is to convert retail investors and dispel the irrational character of the capital market,� Mr Chidambaram said.

PM�s agenda for the capital market

* Policy measures to give fillip to the debt market
* Reform financial sector further
* Promote a widely-held pension fund system
* Insurance sector needs higher capital base and more products

New Delhi, Oct. 6: The foreign direct investment (FDI) in India rose by a record 92 per cent during April-July this fiscal to $2.9 billion as against $1.5 billion in the same period last year, said commerce minister Kamal Nath here on Friday. FDI inflows during the month of July went up by a record 259 per cent to $1,163 million, as against $324 million in July 2005. The largest inflow so far this year was by Singapore-based Barclays Bank, which brought in $380 million, said Mr Nath. This FDI inflow has been in the financial services sector and has been received in the month of July 2006.

Other major investors include Global Communication Services Holdings, Mauritius, Aircel Ltd (telecom services); SIERO investment holding, Mauritius, in Orange Realty P Ltd. (Real Estate) as also Flextronics (Computer Software) and Aspen Pharmacare holdings Ltd. FDI inflows into the manufacturing sector and sectors impacting the manufacturing sector continue to show a record growth. FDI equity inflows into manufacturing alone in April-July 2006-07 is estimated at $668.41 million, said Mr Nath.

He pointed out that some of the services sector like design and engineering, air/sea transport, ports, construction activities have a bearing on the growth of the manufacturing sector. The FDI policy rationalisation and liberalisation measures have resulted in the increased inflows into such sectors as well, he said. According to the commerce ministry, in terms of FDI, the 10 top investing countries are Mauritius, USA, Japan, Netherlands, UK, Germany, Singapore, France, South Korea and Switzerland.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: On Mobile, a telecom value-added services (VAS) provider spun off from Infosys Technologies Ltd in 2000, said on Friday it has secured strategic financing of $27.8 million from Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs & Polygon Investment Partners.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Arvind Rao, co-founder and CEO of OnMobile, said the proceeds would be used to expand the company�s marketing infrastructure in the United States, and to develop new products. �Currently, we use the offices of Infosys in the US and the United Kingdom, but we need people dedicated to marketing our VAS to telecom companies in the US and elsewhere,� Mr Rao said.

OnMobile, which has its development centre in Bangalore where it employs 350 people, will also be investing in the research and development of new products, he said. Mr Rao said Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon had been given minority stakes for their investment. Infosys continues to have a small stake in OnMobile, while Mr Rao, other senior executives and employees hold a 40 per cent stake.

�The funding is a late-stage financing from the investors. We raised about $18 million when the company was spun off from Infosys in 2000,� he said. �Eventually, we may go in for a public issue to enable our investors to exit,� he said. OnMobile provides mobile content distribution, interactive media portals, 1-to-1 direct marketing via mobiles, and M-Commerce in the fast-growing 150 million plus subscribers in the Indian telecom market.

OnMobile was spun out from Infosys to build and deploy innovative software applications for the wireless Internet industry. �Our choice of Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon Investment Partners was driven by the strategic role they will be playing in our drive towards the next level of global growth. There is a significant opportunity to export the innovations and market learnings from our India deployments overseas, and to bring the latest innovations from around the world into India; our new investors are superbly positioned to help us do this,� he added.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., which is bui-lding a new airport here, has awarded the fuel farm operations contract to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). GHIAL will be building the facility which will be managed by Reliance Industries, T. Srinagesh, COO of GHIAL, told reporters here on Friday.

�The awarding of a fuel farm operations contract to RIL will ensure that airlines can refill their planes with Aviation Turbine Fuel from companies of their choice. This is a departure from the practice at other airports where exclusive ATF contracts are with various oil marketing companies,� Mr Srinagesh said.

GHIAL, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd., has signed a contract with RIL, under which it will be setting up an �open access model� fuel farm. The farm will comprise three storage tanks with an initial capacity of 13,500 kilolitres of ATF and hydrant. RIL will operate and maintaing the farm, as well provide �into-aircraft� service, Mr Srinagesh said.

The contract with RIL is for a period of seven years. GHIAL has estimated that airlines flying into the new airport, which is exp-ected to be commissioned in early 2008, will be using 300,000 kilolitres of ATF in the first year of operation. �What the contract essentially means is that if a particular airline uses fuel from a specific ATF marketing company, RIL will be raising the bill with the marketing company,� he said.

According to GHIAL, a joint venture by the GMR group, Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad of Mala-ysia, the Airports Authority of India and the Andhra Pradesh government, the fuel farm would enable airlines to have a choice of suppliers and Hyderabad could be part of their global or pan-Indian supply contracts.

�There will be increased competition among oil companies for supply of fuel, leading to enhanced services and competitive pricing,� a company statement said. Aviation fuel comprises around 30 per cent of the airline�s operating cost. Mr Srinagesh said that both IATA and the Naresh Chandra Committee on civil aviation had recommended the �open access model� for all airports in the country.Meanwhile, work on the construction of the airport is continuing apace, and is expected to commence operations as per schedule by March, 2008, he said.

New Delhi, Oct. 6: IT industry body Nasscom has sought a police probe to get to the bottom of information theft from Indian call centres after a UK-based TV channel, which made these allegations, refused to share the details of date pilferage. �We have taken up this investigation (sting operation by the TV channel) with the Indian police authorities in Kolkata and filed a complaint on behalf of the indian it industry,� Nasscom president Kiran Karnik said in a statement.

The industry body had sought Channel 4�s cooperation, prior to the airing of the programme on October 5 for a prompt action against the criminals but it had refused to provide the information. �We have no further update from them on their intent to share the details of persons shown in the programme who have �sold� the data to Channel 4. We will pursue it further to ensure that criminals, if any, are rightly taken to the authorities concerned,� he said.

�There was no suggestion of customers suffering fina-ncial loss in dispatches report, but that does not diminish the priority we give to the security issues,� Mr Karnik said. The Criminal Investigation Department of the West Bengal police has registered a FIR based on the complaint. Mr Karnik said the investigation was already well underway and the police have said that the main accused Sushant Chandak has been missing along with his family.

The authorities are in the process of locating Mr Chandak and gathering evidence relating to the allegations, he added. After a 12-month undercover investigation, Channel 4 aired a programme (dispatches) on the criminal networks in India which were allegedly involved in selling British consumers� bank account details and other commercial information for huge profits.

Following the airing of some parts of the programme on Star News in India last week, Nasscom had taken up the matter with the police in Kolkata. Nasscom vice-president Sunil Mehta said the programme made it clear that data security is an international issue that is not unique to any one country.

�But in India we are seeking to lead the way to even more stringent standards.� He said India is setting up a national registry of employees in the IT software and services industry, promoting the sharing and implementation of best practices in member companies.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The business process solutions division of Perot Systems will be ramping up its life insurance practice, even as it is planning to set up a third centre in India, a senior company official said on Friday. According to Mr Vardhman Jain, head of the BPO division of Perot Systems, life insurance and some financial services had emerged as key growth sectors for the division. �We started our BPO operations focusing on healthcare, but have since added financial services and life insurance. Eighty per cent of our business is from third-party clients, with the balance coming from Perot Systems,� Mr Jain said.

The BPO division has 2,200 employees at its centres in Chennai and Coimbatore. Perot Systems has its IT services centres in Bangalore and Noida, employing over 3,800 people. �India is an important base for Perot Systems, both for the BPO and IT services, and it now accounts for more than 30 per cent of the company�s global workforce. In the BPO space, more than half of the total workforce of 4,500 is in India,� Mr Jain said.

The growth in the healthcare, financial services and life insurance BPO business had made it imperative for Perot Systems to set up a third centre in India, he said, adding that Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Pune in Maharashtra and Kochi in Kerala had been shortlisted, all so-called �Tier II� cities. �We expect to take a decision on the third centre in the next six months,� he said.

Mr Jain said the Coimbatore centre, opened two months ago, was involved in some financial services and call centre work. It has over 100 employees. The BPO division had accounted for $415 million of Perot Systems� revenue of $1.99 billion in 2005.

New Delhi, Oct. 6: Trai on Friday issued a set of regulations on the quality of service standards that broadband service providers would have to maintain. According to it, if the broadband service is available in the area, then the service providers are required to provide the customer the service within 15 days of receiving the payment of installation charge and security deposit. If service provider fails to do so, then he will detect Rs 10 per day for the period of deduct in the first bill.

On the repair and restoration of the broadband service, the Trai directive says that service providers would have to fully restore it within three days. If the service provider is not able to restore it within seven days then, he would have to give the customer rebate for seven days or provide equivalent quantity. If the fault restoration takes more than seven days but less than 15 days, than the rebate equivalent to 15 days of minimum monthly charge or equivalent usage allowance of MB has to be given. For any delay of more 15 days, the service provider would have to give the customer a rebate equivalent to one month of minimum monthly charge.

About the billing complaints, Trai has made it mandatory for the service provider to resolve it within four weeks. The broadband service provider is required to refund the deposits to the customer within two months after the closure of the service. On bandwidth, the Trai regulations say that if on any link route bandwidth utilisation exceeds 90 per cent, then network would be considered to have congestion.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The Office of Generic Drugs in the United States Food and Drug Administration has adopted a new information technology system for reviewing and archiving abbreviated New Drug Applications (generic drug applications or ANDAs) electronically.

�OGD recently began using the division file system (DFS) as a repository for Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) review and regulatory documents in order to improve the efficiency of the generic review process,� the FDA said in a posting on its website on Friday.

The new system is expected to give a fillip to Indian pharmaceutical companies who filed ANDAs regularly with the FDA, for generic versions of patented drugs in the United States. �This version of DFS, which has been used by the Office of New Drugs (OND) within the Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) since October of 2000, provides document management, tracking, archiving, and electronic signature capabilities for internally generated review documents and search and retrieval capabilities for final versions of internally generated review documents,� the FDA said.

This system will now allow electronic archiving of ANDA documents for better tracking and search capabilities. It will also enable reviews to become part of the official electronic record for a specific generic drug application, it said.