Blog for Jalgaon

Amalner - a city of millionaires, thanks to Wipro :: Wipro :: Business :: Amalner ,Wipro

Link: Moneycontrol India :: News :: Amalner - a city of millionaires, thanks to Wipro :: Wipro :: Business :: Amalner ,Wipro.

Companies are known to make shareholders a part of their growth story. CNBC-TV18’s George Koshy brings the story of a company that's changed the existence of people in a tiny hamlet near Maharashtra.

60 kms from Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Amalner could be any other little town in India, with it's own small-town gossip and lanes and homes that are more than 250 years old, something that demand a historical antique value in itself. And now, add to it a set of millionaires who have this company to thank for their current status. The story of someone like Arvind Ramchandra and his wife Kapila, who's chance discovery of the value of these sheets of paper his father had left behind in their name turning around their debt infested lives, forever.

Arvind Ramchandra, a farmer in Amalner said, "We were truly going through difficult times and a friend of mine told me, ‘hey, you are a rich man’. I couldn't believe my ears. Then a broker explained to me the true value."

And it's not an isolated incident here at Amalner, the city where the Wipro dreams started as a cupboard-manufacturing unit to then go on to become the software giant that it is today. The surprise element is that a large number of residents here are a part of that growth story

Satish T Khanderia a Share Khan Associate at Amalner said, “Of the one lakh families here, at least 7,000 to 8,000 own Wipro shares to the tune of thousands, 2 lakhs and even 5 lakh shares. As and when they need money, they demat it and sell it."

It all started with just 17,000 shares that Wipro issued to the public at Rs 100 each in 1947. In 1971, the company issued one bonus share for every three shares held, in 1981, it was a one for one offer. And this history of bonus shares kept on moving with time.

Kamla Karmuthe a high school teacher said, “I had 1200 shares. Out of them, I sold 600 shares and bought a farmland. The rest are still in my DMAT account.”

A saving grace, a messiah in disguise or a God send boon, the gratitude that these small towners share in unison is something only they may be able to sum-up better.

» No new taxes in Maharashtra’s feel-good budget - Thaindian News

Link: » No new taxes in Maharashtra’s feel-good budget - Thaindian News.

Mumbai, March 19 (IANS) The Maharashtra government Wednesday presented a feel-good budget of Rs.25,000 crore (Rs.250 billion) for 2008-09, focusing on social as well as industrial sectors without imposing any additional tax burdens on the people. The budget presented by Finance Minister Jayant Patil allocated an additional Rs.1,400 crore (Rs.14 billion) for non-plan expenditure and the rest for planned expenditure.

To encourage air travel in state interiors, tax rate on ATF has been slashed from 25 percent to four percent when supplied to aircraft outside Mumbai and Pune.

In 2008-09 the government also plans to commence development of several airports, including those at Nagpur and at Shirdi, Sholapur, Amaravati, Jalgaon, Nanded and Latur.

The state announced bicycles would be provided free of cost to girl students in rural areas to promote education.

The government has also decided to construct one million houses for low and middle income group families under various schemes.

The finance minister said resources would be pulled from existing schemes of both the central and state government for the implementation of the programme.

Existing tax exemptions on essential commodities like food grain, cereals, pulses, turmeric and chillies have been extended till March 31, 2010.

There has been a reduction of tax on road transport passenger services from 17.5 percent to 5.5 percent.

The government has proposed to introduce a bill for imposing a tax on vacant land.

The finance minister also announced an e-payment gateway system via Internet for tax payments.

The state will generate a revenue of Rs.20,000 crore (Rs.200 billion) this year. There has been a surplus of Rs.2,981.96 crore (Rs.29.81 billion) for 2007-08 which is estimated to touch Rs.4,608.96 crore (Rs.46.08 billion) by 2008-09.

M’rashtra scraps octroi in 15 municipal areas

Link: M’rashtra scraps octroi in 15 municipal areas.

Mumbai, Mar 19 Presenting a revenue surplus budget of Rs 964 crore for 2008-09, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday proposed abolition of Octroi Duty in 15 “D” class municipal corporations by replacing account based cess. The annual Octroi Duty collection of these civic bodies are over Rs 1,100 crore.

The state government has assured to compensate revenue loss due to the shifting to account base cess from the Octroi Duty regime. State finance minister Jayant Patil made this announcement in his annual budget in the state legislature. There are in all 22 municipal corporations in the state with the annual Octroi Duty collection of Rs 6,500 crore. Mumbai civic body tops the list with the Octroi Duty collection of over Rs 3,500 crore.

Patil has not touched seven municipal corporations including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Navi Mumbai and Thane. However, the 15 D class civic bodies covered are Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi, Mira Bhayander, Malegaon, Kalyan-Dombivli, Sangli, Kolhapur, Sholapur, Akola, Nanded, Amravati, Jalgaon and Dhule.

Patil’s announcement comes after the state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had announced on January 11 that the government was in the midst of abolition of Octroi Duty as per the recommendations made by several committees.

As reported by FE, Deshmukh had quoted that account based cess was one of the options being considered by the state government to replace Octroi Duty. The account based cess is currently levied in the Navi Mumbai.

A committee chaired by the state finance secretary Subodh Kumar had recommended imposition of profession tax by municipal bodies, levy of additional Vat and increased property tax to compensate for Octroi losses.

Network of terrorist in Jalgaon, Training in religious programme

Link:http://www.viamedianews.com/?p=165

Sunday March 09, 2008 “Network of terrorist in Jalgaon, Training in religious programme” Marathi Daily spews venom 

Legal action must be taken instead of presenting memorandum in case of baseless accusation By Sayed Ali Anjum Rizvi The famous “Marathi Daily” news paper created tension and terror on large scale in the whole district. It should be noted that Marahti Daily printed a most disturbing headline on its front page “Network of terrorist in Jalgaon, youths are trained Programme, ATS investigated, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) may be involved” on February 20, 2008. This sensational news of Marathi Daily distressed Muslims on a large scale. Particularly Muslim streets of Jalgaon seem to be quite silent. Marathi Daily printed the news in bold letters on front page as follows:

“Maharashtra youths are instigated to commit terrorist attack in the name of Ijtema (Religious Programme) in India.  In this regard the arrival of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in Jalgaon to examine the situation is good news”. To consider Jalgaon as the den of SIMI and terrorist act of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) once again has been the topic of discussion. Marathi Daily, coinciding with the religious programme of Muslims as the “centre of terrorist’s activities and training camp of youth” shocked Muslims. The newspaper further writes: Some educated and sharp minded youths possibly had slipped into the city on the occasion of recent Ijtema (Perhaps paper meant Malegaon Ijtema).

Similarly some youths were assembled from Jalgaon,Aurangabad,

Malegaon, Woodnir, and Khakurdi by secret sources. Leadership was experimented to commit destruction in the country. It is also learnt that some youths may be sent to Pakistan to get training. It is also learnt that some youths of Jalgaon will join this training camp. Having gone through this news, police has been alert in the area. Police initiated investigation as well to know the reality of the news. Police neither verified this news nor denied it”. According to this “Marathi Daily” Jalgaon is the target of terrorists. ATS indicated Jalgaon to be alert. The publication of this news not only created fear and horror in Muslim community but other communities are also afraid and feeling themselves unsafe. Newspaper further writes “According to concrete sources, ATS took the initiative to move towards Jalgaon to instill a sense of confidence and security in people. Meanwhile a Malegaon doctor is believed to be the real culprit. A thorough probe would be carried out harshly and speedily”, sources said. A doctor’s arrest naturally will create trouble among doctors. In addition to that, newspaper did not reveal the name of doctor which may create further tension. According to the said news paper, Jalgaon police have been alert in the wake of serious situation in the city.    

The newspaper writes “local police administration became alert as soon ATS informed the dangerous situation of the city. The chief of terrorist is started revealing the information about their planning.  Local police verified it. On one side Marathi Daily writes that police did not confirm the investigation but on the other side, the newspaper reported that police has confirmed that the chief terrorist is being investigated. In the end of the news Marathi once more mentioned that ATS did not say anything regarding investigation. The paper writes under the title of “No comments by ATS” that in this regard when superintendent of ATS, Bawaskar was contacted, he said, “No comments” in this sentence he kept something secret”.

Similarly many ambiguous statements are there in the news. The most shocking news is that educated people are involved in terrorist activities and are being trained to commit destruction.

Paper further writes that ATS have doubt that besides doctors of

Malegaon there are professors and many other educated people to be trained. By the way, investigation has been initiated by secret meetings. What kind of information will be revealed and who are involved in the case, Police along with people are waiting.      The news of involvement of doctors, professors and educated people created terror in educated group of people. After publishing the news the well-known people of Jalgaon city proved their awareness by presenting a memorandum to district administration and police department. Likewise they have words with the administration of Marathi Daily News paper. The memorandum was printed on second day on February 21, 2008. The title of the news was “Muslim community is ready to face any kind of enquiry”. This news covered the statement of MLA Suresh Jain of Jalgaon that Collector of the district should investigate the case.

Paper further writes that “Muslim community will lead to investigate the network of terrorist; Muslims of the Jalna city along with Muslims of whole district will face the investigation of ATS”. Such courageous step was taken by the social leaders on Wednesday.

Marathi Daily moreover writes that the head of Muslim delegation met with the editor of the newspaper and presented him a memorandum in which they expressed their opinions. The delegation discussed with the editor and said that no particular community should be targeted. According to newspaper, in memorandum Muslim delegation assured that Muslim does not have any kind of objection on investigation and they readily will face it. Any Muslim of the city or district have not committed any mischievous deed; yet every Muslim will co-operate with the police definitely. How to maintain peace and harmony between two communities is responsibility for all citizens.    (Translated from Urdu by Sadre Shaikh Qasmi)  

Hero Ultra Electric scooters

For some farmers, loan waiver is a bitter-sweet deal

Link: For some farmers, loan waiver is a bitter-sweet deal.

Jalgaon, Maharashtra: "All agricultural loans disbursed by scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative credit institutions up to March 31, 2007 and overdue as on December 31, 2007 will be waived off under a scheme of debt waiver and debt relief for farmers."

These words of Union Finance Minister P Chadambaram in his Budget Speech have already brought some cheers across the countryside.

And bankers, too, can relax. For, it's not a write-off on their books. In fact, they stand to regain some money, which they had given up as lost forever.

"The advantage here is that most banks had written off many of these loans as bad debts. Now this could be corrected. Besides, the FM has formidably made it clear that banks would be compensated well," HDFC Bank MD Deepak Parekh says.

But while some farmers are celebrating their 'gains', there are others who feel they made a mistake by being honest.

"What the Government has done is not correct. What about those of us who've already paid back our debts? How is this fair on us? In this case, the government should deposit our money too in our accounts," a farmer in Chopada-Jalgaon, Bhushan Birari Patil, demands.

The Union Finance Minister's intentions may have been noble, but with banking tied up in procedure and moneylenders going on the back foot, Chidambaram's farm loan waiver has come as a bitter-sweet boon for the farmers in North Maharashtra.

For the average honest farmer, it's the worry of a new kind — a 'regret' of having paid back the entire loan amount and a 'fear' of having lost his only access to emergency money. For, with money lenders now shying away from lending money any more, the farmer does not have any access to easy loans in case of a crisis.

"In case of an emergency, it was only a money-lender who'd give us money even at night," another farmer in Pathonda, Jalgaon, Vinayak Deva Birari, says.

"Look at it this way: if I borrow Rs 1 lakh from a bank, I only get Rs 85,000. And over and above that, I have to spend another Rs 7-8,000 as expenditure on filling forms, getting NOCs from 20-23 banks, buying stamp papers, arranging mortgages etc. And invariably it takes at least three months, " Nivruti Shinde, a trader and farmer, points out.

Local money lenders also add to the fear by saying that they would rather hold on to their money now instead of 'lending' and losing it.

"How convenient! Not all farmers borrow money only for agricultural purposes. It may even be for a daughter's wedding or for any other emergency. Today, anyone can now turn around and call it an agricultural loan and, therefore, not pay up," a money-lender, who didn't wish to be identified, says.

 

Ajanta Caves

Link:http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hobnob/asia0708/1204199700.html

Hugh:
Jalgaon was a bit of a detour, but it is the most convenient base for viewing the ancient caves at Ajanta, which date back as far as the 5th century AD (I'm not much of an archaeologist, so I'm not sure if that is ancient strictly speaking, but it sounds pretty old to me!).
We arrived in Jalgaon early in the morning off the overnight train, and walked the couple of hundred metres to the Hotel Plaza, which came highly recommended in the guide book. And for once the guidebook was right! The manager was extremely polite and friendly and was very concerned that we should enjoy our stay. In fact everytime we saw him he would ask us "are you satisfied with the room?". The room was in fact perfectly clean and comfortable and very good value for money - but it was nice to find someone who was taking pride in his hotel.
A day of rest and recovery followed, and the next day we got up early to get the bus to the caves. After getting off the bus at Ajanta, we each had to pay a 7 rupee "community" fee (for keeping the area clean), then walk through a car park, then a small shopping arcade, before getting on a different bus which cost 12 rupees each to take us to the caves. Once we got to the caves we each had to pay a 250 rupee entrance fee. They seem to like having lots of fees to pay rather than bundling it all together!
To get to the caves we then had to climb up quite a lot of steps. Some people were being carried up on chairs, and although we were tempted, we decided it would be a good bit of exercise. There are 30 caves in total, set around a horse-shoe shaped gorge. The caves are mostly buddhist, and vary in size - some were like being inside a big temple and others were like being in a cave. There were various styles too, although we noticed there was rather a lot of repetition in the layout and styles used - there seemed to be 3-in-a-row of square-shaped cave with pillars around the edge and a buddha at the back, then 3-in-a-row of longer, thinner cave with a giant carved sphere on a plinth (which I thought would have made a great water feature if they put some plumbing in!). We're not sure why they needed so many caves, and some appeared to have been started, but the workers must have got bored and left them unfinished to go and start on new caves. Many of the caves were decorated inside by paintings, and although there were big chunks missing, the bits that were there were bright and in tact. We couldn't help but imagine what it must have been like for the workers to carve out these huge caverns armed only with hand-tools, in the dark. In the unfinished caves you could get a real sense of the work in progress, seeing all the individual chisel marks that had been left in the stone.
We're glad we got there early because as we started walking away from the caves there seemed to be several school trips and various coach tours arriving, so we headed back to our hotel in Jalgaon.
Jalgaon is a funny little town. When we checked-in to the hotel the manager said to us "there wil probably be a power-cut at midday for three hours and then again from 6 until 9. Tomorrow the power will probably go off at 6am for three hours and then from 3 until 6 in the afternoon." - this happens everyday at various times! Apparently the power company has trouble generating electricity fr 24 hours a day. The hotel was well-prepared though and handed out candles to all the guests.

NGO's List

Bhagini Mandal, Chopda Dhangar Ali Post Box No.-20 .,Jalgaon Distt- Jalgaon - 425107.	Dr. Mahashakar's Medical Foundation Ainalner Station Road,Jalgaon Jalgaon - 425401.
Keshav Smruti Pratishthan .,Jalgaon Jalgaon - 425001.	Khandesh College Education Society M.J . College Campus .,Jalgaon Jalgaon - 425002.
Godavari Foundation, Jalgaon Godavari Hospital Building M. J College Road,Dist- Jalgaon Jalgaon - 425002.

'Our focus is on speciality products'

SMART TALK/ M P Taparia, managing director, Supreme Industries

 

Priya Kansara / Mumbai March 03, 2008

 

Amid spiralling prices of metals, the need to conserve natural resources and attain energy efficiency amongst other cost saving measures, many sectors such as electronics, automobiles and construction are increasingly and alternatively using plastics as their raw material.

 

And, the requirement is only expected to grow considering India's high GDP growth rates and limited natural resources. This will give a much needed push to plastic consumption and for players like Supreme Industries among others, it will be continuing business.

 

The Rs 1161-crore company is an acknowledged leader in the Indian plastics industry producing more than 15,000 varieties of plastic products and handling volumes of over 2.7 lakh tonnes of polymers annually.

 

Its products are broadly classified into categories like plastic piping system, cross laminated films, plastic furniture, material handling systems (including crates), protective packaging and industrial products, used across industries.

 

Going ahead, the company plans to increase the application of its products in agriculture, housing and infrastructure, which is one of the key thrust areas of growth, for the government. M P Taparia, managing director Supreme Industries spoke to Priya Kansara on the company's future growth strategies.

 

What is the scope for growth in Indian plastics consumption?

 

Consumption of plastics has tremendous potential in India due to lower per capita consumption (including recycled plastics) of around 6 kg as compared to China's 42 kg and the world average of 28 kg. According to industry estimates, the consumption of plastics in 2007-08 which is estimated at around 6 million tons, can double in the next five years if adequate supporting measures are taken by the government.

 

What has restricted the growth in consumption of plastics?

 

The Indian plastics industry has not been given adequate support by the government which has imposed high indirect taxes on plastic products. The combined rate of excise duty and value added taxes (VAT) constitute around 28 per cent on plastics products in India as compared to ASEAN’s, which range between 5 per cent and 10 per cent.

 

The government must further reduce the general excise duty from 14 per cent to 8 per cent. They may unfold the road-map of implementation of goods & services tax (GST) throughout the country by April 2010. Considering our per capita income, GST on plastics products should be around 12 per cent against the current 28 per cent.

 

In this scenario, how is the company expected to fare?

 

We hope to clock a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore by 2009-10. If the government promotes the plastics industry, we could reach Rs 5,000 crore turnover in less than five years. This year (June ending), we hope to clock a turnover of around Rs 1,300 crore with an operating profit margin of 12.3-12.5 per cent. Next year, we expect a turnover of Rs 1,700 crore, with an operating profit margin of 13 per cent.

 

What is the reason for this high growth in sales and improved profitability?

 

We are expanding our capacity for material handling system, cross laminated films products, plastics piping system, furniture and protective packaging products. Out of our total capital expenditure programme of Rs 415 crore between 2006-07 to 2008-09 at different locations, we are investing a sum of Rs 260 crore at Gadegaon, Jalgaon district of Maharashtra for the same.

 

A sum of Rs 120 crore has already been spent and the rest will be invested over the next 18 months. This expansion will ensure a sales volume growth of 20 per cent to around 1.44 lakh tonnes in the current year. By 2008-09, our production and sales volume will go up by 25 per cent to 1.80 lakh tonnes.

 

Profitability will improve due to higher contribution of specialty products, tax incentives for Gadegaon complex (including power rebates), stable outlook on raw material prices and overall operating efficiency with increased volumes. Currently, about 25 per cent of sales and 45 per cent of gross profit comes from cross laminated film and specialty products in each of other product segments. We expect this share to further improve in 2008-09. Our aim is to increase the volume and variety of specialty products in every product segment.

 

Further, polymer prices, which were firm until now, are expected to remain stable in the near future due to slackness in US economy and expected addition of new capacities. We expect raw material prices to decline slightly from the third quarter of the current calendar year.

 

How will the company fund its expansion plan?

 

We will fund the expansion plan from divestments, internal accruals and debt. We have divested some of the product segments (rigid PVC and food serviceware) and idle real estate. We are further negotiating to divest in product segments where we are unable to differentiate. This will generate a sum of Rs 105 crore in 2006-07 & 2007-08. The balance will come from internal accruals and debt.

 

What is the threat from the unorganised segment and imports?

 

Our product range does not face any import threat. Also, many of our products, except plastic piping systems, do not compete with those made by the unorganised players. However, our plastic piping systems are differentiated vis-à-vis players in unorganised sector.

 

The market has pegged a value of Rs 65-70 per share for the company’s Andheri property. What is your comment?

 

We are constructing an office complex at our Andheri property, which will have a saleable area of around 270,000 square feet and will be ready by March 2009. The complex will cost us around Rs 85 crore. According to the current market rates of Rs 16,000 per square feet and considering the tax on the real estate gain, the valuation may be in the range of Rs 85 to 90 per share.

Tax holiday finds few takers in hotels sector

Link: Tax holiday finds few takers in hotels sector.

Finance minister P Chidambaram’s move to provide tax holiday to the tourism sector received a lukewarm response from industry players. Giving an impetus to the tourism and hospitality sector, the finance minister announced the extension of the five-year tax holiday for two-star, three-star and four star hotels located in districts having a world heritage site.

Such hotels are required to be constructed and start functioning at any time during the period beginning April 1, 2008 and ending on March 31, 2013. Though many players have been clamouring for granting the infrastructure status to the segment, the Budget evaded any such expectation.

“It could have been wider. The tax holiday could be have been made for all tourist destinations,” said Madhavan Menon, managing director, Thomas Cook (India) Pvt Ltd.

Agra, Jalgaon, Chhatarpur, Thanjavur, 24 Parganas (excluding areas falling within Kolkata) and Darjeeling are among the areas falling under the specified districts having a world heritage site.

However, on the positive side, Peter Kerkar, director, Cox and Kings India Ltd, feels that the move by the government would boost supply of hotel rooms and encourage tour operators to promote these destinations more aggressively, which lack quality accommodation.

“It is a positive step from the government and provides incentive to operators to set up hotels in such heritage places and help in attracting greater tourists,” said Prabhat Pani, chief executive officer, Roots Corporation Ltd (Ginger Hotels).

Currently, Section 80-ID of the Income-tax Act provides for a five-year holiday to new hotels of two-star, three-star and four-star categories and convention centres. These hotels must be constructed and begin functioning between April 1, 2007, and March 31, 2010.

The tax concession is available to the hotels for five consecutive years from the beginning of the initial assessment year. Also these hotels must be locate in the National Capital Region.