Soft drink companies resent order on new label
New Delhi: The soft drink industry is up in arms over the government's stipulation to print `Contains no fruit juice’ label on returnable glass bottles. About 85 per cent of the soft drinks are currently sold in returnable glass bottles with a floating stock of about 100 crore bottles, valued at Rs 600 crore. If the new order is to be implemented in its present form it would mean that they would have to invest in new bottles, which would cost them a substantial investment of over Rs 500 crore. Coke or Pepsi, the soft drink majors say they are in position to do because of sinking profitability in business and so have approached Indian Soft Drink Manufacturers Association and CII for remedial action.
Industry sources say to replace the existing stock of bottles, it would require around 4 lakh tonne of raw materials, for which glass manufacturers do not have the capacity. Instead the soft drink industry has suggested that a seven-year moratorium be extended to the industry so that they can incorporate the change on the glass bottles as and when they are being phased out. The average life of a glass bottle is believed to be about seven years.
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Corporate insolvency laws to be revamped
Mumbai: The government is formulating a series of amendments in the company law pertaining to insolvency of listed companies Mr. Arun Jaitley, union law minister has said. He said that government has appointed a committee to look into the issue and some of the suggestions of the panel like time limit for liquidations are being seriously considered. The move is aimed at simplifying and speeding up winding up procedures in case of insolvency.

The government is also proposing to activate investors' protection fund, set up out of the money remaining by way of unclaimed dividends of listed companies. The entire administration and character of the fund is being designed in such a manner so as to enhance investor awareness through education programmes, seminars etc, Mr Jaitley has said. Besides the protection fund, the government will also set up a centre of corporate excellence in order to encourage better corporate governance and institute awards for companies for the best investor-friendly practices.
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India’s competitiveness ranking goes up
New Delhi: India’s competitiveness has improved during the last one year, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2000, prepared by Harvard University and the World Economic Forum. India’s overall ranking, the report says has improved three places from 52 in 1999 to 49 in 2000. During the same period, the overall indices relating to finance have also seen an improvement from 46 to 39, reflecting the positive impact of various initiatives taken in recent times. In respect of technology transfer - its rank has gone up from 38 in 1999 to 26 in 2000. As far market openness, the ranking is the same as last year—59.

According to the report, India’s current competitiveness index (CCI) ranking has improved from 44 in 1998 to 42 in 1999 and 37 in 2000.Over the three years, its ranking in quality of the national business environment (NBE) has moved from 42 to 43 to 37. The Global Competitiveness Report 2000 covers 59 countries and is based on two basic indices—current competitiveness and growth competitiveness. The current competitiveness index aims to identify the factors that underpin high current productivity.
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CII wants extended tax holidays for infrastructure projects
New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for extended tax holidays for infrastructure projects, in the budget for 2001-02. CII has asked for a 15-year tax holiday for infrastructure projects in power generation, transmission and distribution, roads, railways, telecom, port facilities, transmission and distribution of natural gas and low-cost housing.

The industry body has sought a tax holiday for the first 10 years for civil aviation, tourism and middle-income housing and a 20-year tax holiday for social infrastructure projects.
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D&B ratings Indian business optimism dips
Mumbai: Dun & Bradstreet's India Business Optimism Index for January-March 2001 has continued to decline, with all six parameters including net sales, net profits, selling prices, new orders, inventory levels and employees, recording steep drops. Three of the optimism indices, including net profits, selling prices and inventory levels touched all-time lows in the first quarter (Q1) of 2001 and remaining three including net sales, new orders and employees were at their second-lowest levels.

The negative sentiment is deeper in manufacturing sector, whereas the service sector continues to remain largely upbeat. The index is arrived at on the basis of a quarterly survey of business expectations from a sample of companies that are selected randomly from D&B's commercial credit file. The steep drop in business optimism in Q1 2001 strongly reinforces the negative outlook witnessed in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2000.

The survey says that the decline of business optimism in India is along the lines of the negative trend witnessed globally. The Asian region reported the sharpest drop in Q4 2000 with all five Asian indices retreating.
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