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Vol. 4 :: No. 2 February,
2002 (Magh
- Falgun)
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World Brief
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World Brief |
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Dhukuti.com in US Dhukuti.com, the first e-commerce business to be established in the United States (by a group of Nepalis), has launched the Dhukuti.com Shopping Network, an Internet shopping mail service. The shopping network includes Dhukuti Global, Dhukuti Calling Cards Club and Dhukuti Nepal. Dhukuti Global, according to the company, provides large section of Nepalis products for shipment anywhere in Nepal. It also provides potential customers opportunity to browse through variety of Nepali artifacts and handicraft items. Also, Nepalis, Indian and other South East Asian grocery products can be purchased through Dhukuti Global for delivery within the US, the company further informs. Similarly, Calling Card Club is said to be a prepaid phone card on-line system while Dhukuti Nepal is a website of music as well as movies of Nepali, Hindi, English and other languages. Infosys Posts 23.8 pc Profit India’s second-largest software exporter, Infosys Technologies Ltd., largely weathered challenging times to report a 23.8 percent jump in third quarter net profit. However the 2.0 billion rupee (42.5 million dollar) net profit result was at the lower end of analyst expectations. Total income for the quarter, ending December 31 last year, rose 23 percent to 6.6 billion rupees compared to 5.3 billion rupees in the same quarter in the last fiscal year. Ford for Huge Restructuring Ford Motor Co. announced it is shedding 35,000 jobs, closing five plants and eliminating four vehicles including the once-best-selling Escort in a restructuring that the auto-maker called painful but necessary. Ford said it was taking a US$ 4.1 billion one-time charge against earnings to pay for its plan. The job cuts, including 22,000 in North America, amounts to about 10 percent of Ford’s overall work force, it is estimated. The plants to be closed are in Edison, New Jersey, and Oakville, Ontario, Canada, by 2004: Brook Park, Ohio, near Cleveland in either 2003 or 2004: Hazelwood, Missouri by an undermined date; and Vulcan Forge in Dearborn as soon as possible. In addition, the Escort vehicles being dropped are the Mercury Cougar sports coupe, the Mercury Villager minivan and the Lincoln Continental luxury sedan. The Escort at one time was Ford’s bestselling car, but had been overshadowed by the subcompact Focus, now the world’s bestselling car. The cuts include 12,000 manufacturing jobs and 3,500 previously announced early retirements for white collar workers. Also included in the total were 6,800 jobs already eliminated in North America during the past year, said Nick Scheele, Ford’s chief operating officer. In addition, 8,100 jobs were being cut in Europe, 2,100 in South America, 400 in Asia and 2,500 elsewhere. Ford is said to employ about 345,000 people worldwide. It has 170,000 employees in North America and operates 47 plants there. GM’s Opel Incurs Huge Loss Adam Opel Ag, the ailing German unit of General Motors Corp., posted a record operating loss last year and managers are said to be weighing wage reductions for the unit’s 36,000 staff as part of their efforts to haul the carmaker back into profit, company officials said. Opel lost about 680 million euros (US$ 605 million), company officials said, confirming a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. Last August, the company announced a plan to cut production capacity by 15 percent, or 350,000 units, across GM Europe’s 11 European car plants as part of a restructuring drive designed to end GM Europe’s losses by 2003. Some 2,500 jobs are said to be cut in Germany, the core of GM’s European operation, and Opel has said thousands more may be laid off in other European countries. Still, GM Europe has pledged not to close any car plants outright or make forced layoffs. Officials at the company, which makes the Astra and Omega models, confirmed that cuts in regular pay and the traditional Christmas bonuses enjoyed by many Germans were being weighed. India to Finish Maruti Stake Sale Soon Privatisation Minister Arun Shourie has said that the government would complete the first phase of a planned sell-off of India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Udyog Ltd, by the end of March. Shourie told reporters after a meeting of the privatisation committee that the valuation of Maruti, an equal venture between Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp. and the Indian government, had been completed. The valuations have been completed. And the government will be writing to invite Suzuki to enter into negotiations on the rights issue and the control premium that would be paid by Suzuki, reports said. The Indian government indicated that although the first phase of the privatisation would be completed by March-end. The complete sale will probably happen in the next fiscal year starting in April 2002. The government hopes to reduce its holdings in Maruti through the public offer in March and hand over management control to Suzuki. Analysts say the offer is expected to be worth four billion rupees (84 million dollars), but it is not yet clear to what extent the government’s holding in the company would come down after the share offer. Three years ago, Maruti is believed to have held an 80 percent stranglehold on the Indian small-car market, but that slipped to 60 percent after the entry of global majors such as Hyundai, Ford and Toyota. General Motors Profit Plunges General Motors has reported a 58.1 percent plunge in underlying fourth-quarter net profit as it fought a weaker US economy and turmoil abroad. The performance dragged down the result for the whole of 2001, when net profit slumped 70 percent, the world’s biggest automobile manufacturer said in a statement. Microsoft Announces JV with China Microsoft has signed a joint venture agreement to produce software with two partners from Beijing, in its first such investment in mainland China, the company has announced. The 100 million yuan (US$ 12 million) deal with a telecoms group, Beijing Centergate Technologies (Holding) Co., and a high-tech company, the Stone Group, will make corporate and government software for China and overseas markets, Microsoft said in a statement. The statement, posted on Microsoft’s website, said Centergate would hold a 51 percent stake in the venture, to be called Zhongguancun Software Co., with Stone taking 30 percent and Microsoft 19 percent. The venture will be based in a new high-tech district in Beijing, the Zhongguancun Software Park, it further stated. India’s Wipro Profit Up Wipro Ltd., India’s third largest software exporter, has announced its 2001 third quarter net profits rose by 17 percent to 2.24 billion rupees (47 million dollars) from 1.90 billion rupees. Company revenues grew by 12 percent from 7.82 billion rupees to 8.76 billion rupees for the quarter ended December 31,2001, the company said. The company said 27 new customers were added in the quarter including six Fortune 1000 customers and four new dedicated development centers were started up. The company said that it has seen all round sequential growth across verticals except in telecom and Internet working. IA to Purchase 40 Aircraft Indian Airlines is close to finalising a decision on the purchase of 40 Boeing or Airbus aircraft worth about 90 billion rupees (two billion dollars), officials have stated recently. Air India, which is India’s main international airline, is also learned to have set up a panel to examine a 10-year plan to purchase new planes. Both state-run airlines have started looking at new acquisitions with aircraft prices falling in the wake of the September 11 terrorist atrocities in the United States. Another factor, say reports, has been the lukewarm response to privatisation plans for the domestic and international carriers with many bidders either pulling out or being disqualified by the government. Indian Airlines, India’s largest domestic airline, has already renegotiated the leasing conditions for six aircraft, yielding a saving of 750 million rupees (15 million dollars). The airline has announced that it had already received bids for the sale of the 40 aircraft and a committee was expected to shortly submit its recommendations to the board, which would in turn inform the government of its choice. Both Boeing of the United States and the European group Airbus Industrie have submitted bids for the contract, it is further reported. Among the aircraft under consideration are several 100-and 150-seaters. Indian Airlines’ fleet of about 50 aircraft – out of which about 20 are an ageing mix of Boeing 737-200s and Airbus 300s-desperately needs a revamp, industry experts have said. Similarly, Air India has been finding it difficult to compete with global airlines out of India with its small fleet of about 25 to 30 aircraft and the airline is keen to carve out a bigger share of Asia’s travel market, industry experts have said. Industry sources said the purchase plan for Indian Airlines was likely to take up to a year due to bureaucratic obstacles, while the realisation of Air India’s plans would take even longer. Deutsche Bank in for Major Restructuring The supervisory board of Deutsche bank, Germany’s biggest, meets Wednesday amid widespread reports it will discuss a top-level reorganization that will strengthen the powers of its new chief executive. Officials at Deutsche Bank declined comment, but news reports have said the bank is planning to create a new executive committee led by incoming chief executive Josef Ackerman marking a departure from German management tradition. The plan has already stirred discontent, with board members complaining they have been left in the dark in the run-up to the meeting while reading extensive articles about. A new executive committee of division heads would enable Ackermann to take tighter control as the bank’s struggles to cut costs in a sluggish economy. Ackermann is to take over the top job in May, succeeding Rolf Breuer, who will become the head of the supervisory board. German corporations spread power among the members of a management board, which runs day-to day affairs, and a supervisory board, which names top managers and holds responsibility for general oversight. A new, seven member executive committee would result in the powers of Deutsche Bank’s five member management board being reduced, news reports have said. German media have criticized the plan for concentrating power in the hands of the chief executive along US lines. "An authentic chief executive would completely change the corporate charter in Germany," the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper commented. By Business Age Reporters |
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