[Grapevine] For Sep 2, 1998

The Mumbai Grapevine - connecting Mumbaiyaas with Mumbai
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________Summary_______________________
(Details below)

News:
 - India Tests Suface-To-Air Missile-Agencies
 - Irate Bajrang Dal activists halt Ganesh procession 
 - Chemists down shutters in megapolis and suburbs 
 - Mayor Nandu Satam urges chemists to withdraw strike 
 - Tatas withdraw domestic airline plan
 - Microsoft starts India software center
 - Court tells BMC, govt to take over school for poor 
 - Thieves decamp with Rs 16 lakhs from two city flats
 - Action against officials over gas leak urged
 - Godse author seeks audience with the Chief Justice

Market Summary:
 - Rise as funds buy amid global rebounds


________News_______________________
(From various news agencies)


 India Tests Suface-To-Air Missile-Agencies
   India on Tuesday successfully test-fired the surface-to-air 
   missile "Akash" with a range of 25 km (15 mile), local news agencies 
   said. 
   
   The United News of India (UNI) said the missile was fired from
   Chandipur-On-Sea in the eastern state of Orissa on the Bay of Bengal 
   coast. It quoted official sources saying that the missile was fired 
   at 8.10 p.m (1440 GMT). 
   
   The Press Trust of India (PTI) said the missile had also been test 
   fired on August 3. It said the test was postponed three times on Tuesday, 
   each time after the countdown to launch had begun. 
   
   The news agency said this was the first time Akash was fired at night. 
   Akash is part of India's indigenous missile development programme that 
   includes the 2,500 km (1,500 mile) range ballistic missile Agni and 
   two versions of the shorter range surface-to-surface missile Prithvi, 
   which has a maximum range of about 250 km (150 miles). 
   
   Akash can deliver 55 kg (110 lb) of both conventional and nuclear explosives. 
   
   

 Irate Bajrang Dal activists halt Ganesh procession 
   Bajrang Dal activists staged a dharna here late yesterday night
   and held up a Ganesh immersion procession in protest against
   "police high-handedness." 
   
   Traffic near the Holy Cross High School, close to the Ganesh
   immersion venue, was blocked for over three hours following the
   dharna by the activists, who led the Sriram Ganeshotsav Mandal
   procession.

   
   
 Chemists down shutters in megapolis and suburbs 
   Chemists and druggists in the metropolis and its suburbs downed
   their shutters from yesterday as part of their indefinite strike to
   protest against the imposition of a two per cent octroi on drugs by
   the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC.) Supply of
   medicines to all the clinics, hospitals and chemists shops
   including those providing day and night services was affected as a
   result, reports UNI.
   
   


 Mayor Nandu Satam urges chemists to withdraw strike 
   Mumbai mayor Nandu Satam said that the chemists strike was
   uncalled for and requested them to withdraw it and not put the
   general public into difficulty. He said that the Brihanmumbai
   Municipal Corporation (BMC) has increased octoroi and was
   surprised that the chemists had resorted to such a drastic step,
   reports PTI.
   
   
 Tatas withdraw domestic airline plan
   India's Tata Industries Limited withdrew on Tuesday a controversial 
   proposal to start a domestic airline with foreign equity participation 
   due to repeated delays in government approval.
   
   The Tata group, one of the country's leading industrial concerns, 
   minced few words in its criticism of the government, which
   said last week that it needed six weeks to examine objections to 
   the plan from trade unions and lawmakers.
   
   Unions and some members of parliament had opposed the plan on grounds 
   that it would bring excess capacity in the aviation
   sector and challenge state-owned Indian Airlines. 
   
   Tata resident director Sujit Gupta ruled out the possibility of 
   renegotiating with the government on either the airline project or a
   plan to build an airport in the southern city of Bangalore, which a 
   Tata-led consortium abandoned in July.
   
   In 1991, under an economic reforms programme, India began to allow 
   private airlines to join its domestic aviation industry, controlled 
   for decades by a state monopoly.
   
   But Tata, a $10 billion salt-to-steel conglomerate with 20 listed 
   companies, repeatedly ran into resistance over its plan to join
   the industry.
   
   It had originally proposed a joint venture in which Singapore Airlines  
   was to hold a 40 percent stake.
   
   But it dropped Singapore Airlines after that plan hit a roadblock, 
   replacing it with the American Insurance Group and the
   Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GSIC).
   
   The Tata group said its latest proposal was in line with civil 
   aviation ministry's policy and with recently issued guidelines.
   
   "Despite this, the Tata proposal to provide the travelling public in 
   India with a world-class airline remained on paper due to the
   inability of four successive governments to implement their own 
   policies," it said.
   
   Gupta told a news conference that the decision to withdraw the 
   proposal brought an end to the Tata group's ambitions to join
   the aviation sector for now.
   
   Tata Industries was part of a consortium with Raytheon Co of the 
   United States and Changi Airports Authority of Singapore to build 
   a 12 billion rupee ($282 million) airport in Bangalore.
   
   The consortium announced in July it was pulling out of the project 
   because the government had broken a promise to shut an
   existing airport to commercial traffic.
   
   But Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar said on Tuesday the government 
   was still interested in the private airport plan and would clear 
   any proposal within a week of receiving it.

   

 Microsoft starts India software center
   Microsoft Corp. has started operations at a software development 
   center in India, a company official said on Tuesday.
   
   "The center is an extention of the product development team 
   in Redmond (Washington, where Microsoft is headquartered).  We are 
   focused on ensuring that we integrate with our product development 
   activity in progress across the world," Srini Koppulu, general 
   manager, Microsoft India Development Centre, told a news conference.
   
   Koppolu said the capital investment in the center was around 
   $3.0 million. Microsoft was also investing in computer hardware
   and software programmers.
   
   "Right now, only 20 professionals will be working at the center. 
   This is likely to to go up to 40 later," he added. 
   
   
 Court tells BMC, govt to take over school for poor 
   The Bombay High Court has, in an interim order, directed the
   Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or the state
   government to take over the management of Govandi's
   Dynansampada High School and hand it over to the association of
   teachers, after the Chhatrapati Shivaji Education Society, which
   manages the school, expressed its inability to run the school and
   pay salaries to its teachers due to financial difficulties. 
   
   The next hearing of the case is scheduled for tomorrow. The
   trustees, in their plea, claimed they lacked funds to pay the
   teaching and non-teaching staff of the pre-primary and primary
   sections. The school's secondary section is funded by a state
   government grant. The Dynansampada school is situated in the
   Shivajinagar area of Govandi, and its students mostly comprise
   slum children.
   
   


 Thieves decamp with Rs 16 lakhs from two city flats
   Thieves made away with Rs 16.65 lakh worth of valuables from two
   houses, the police said. At Colaba, a family returned to their flat in
   Sergeant House to find that their house had been burgled. A video
   recorder, compact disc system, gold jewellery and Rs 4 lakh in cash
   were missing from the almirahs. According to the police, the thieves
   appeared to have a duplicate key to the flat. This has raised the
   possibility that they may have had access to information about the
   movements of the family and the original keys, the police said. In the
   other dacoity the occupants of the flat at Charkip in Kandivli too
   found the lock of their house to be broken after their return from a
   weekend tour. The police informed that valuables worth Rs 65,000 and
   Rs 4 lakh in cash were stollen from the flat.
  
 Action against officials over gas leak urged
   The Save New Bombay Committee has called for the suspension of
   officials of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and
   factory inspectors of the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health
   responsible for the leak of noxious fumes at a Navi Mumbai industrial
   estate. Over 60 villagers had to be treated after a gas leak in
   Paune-Mahape industrial belt. None of the injured was in a serious
   condition. The committee has demanded an independent inquiry into the
   incident. Officials of the MPCB could not be contacted for comment.
  
 Godse author seeks audience with the Chief Justice
   "There is no justice in the country and I am ashamed of it", lamented
   Pradip Dalvi, author of "Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy" in the city and
   added that he would seek a meeting with the Chief Justice of Bombay
   High Court to plead his case before him. Mr Dalvi said he would put
   his case before the Chief Justice seeking advice as to what he should
   do. If the Chief Justice did not grant him an audience, he would stage
   a dharna outside his office, Mr Dalvi added. He alleged that the state
   government was overlooking the verdict of the High Court. The Chief
   Minister's statement that the play had been banned and that the
   government lawyer did not guide it properly was uncalled for. He
   alleged that the government authorities were evasive in their replies
   to his questions. The counsel of Mr Dalvi demanded the resignation of
   the Advocate-General C J Sawant and additional Advocate-General Bal
   Apte over the mishandling of the issue.
  
   
___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________

   
   

      
________Financial News_______________
        
        
 Rise as funds buy amid global rebounds
		
		
    Mumbai--Sep 2--Indian stocks rose as buying by foreign funds amid
rebounds in other regional markets prompted traders to go long at the start
of the weekly trading account on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), dealers
said.

    The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex provisionally closed at
2886.94, up 24.39 points from Tuesday's close. The NSE50 provisionally
closed at 842.60, up 8.05 points.
    Trading was dull amid thin volumes as traders refrained from large
commitments either way as confusion persists about what the continuing
crisis in Russia and east and southeast Asian economies holds for the local
economy
    "The Indian economy and the rupee seem to be stable if compared with
most other economies--that explains the reluctance to sell," a dealer said.
    "The Sensex is also currently perceived at very strong support levels
and many stocks are available at attractive price multiples to prospective
earnings," he said.
     However, increased prospects of a global economic meltdown continues
to spook sentiment, he said.
    Below is a summary of market moves today:
    * Trading was lackluster amid thin volumes as traders refrained from
    large commitments
    * Local funds were said to be buying MTNL, Tata Tea, Satyam Computer,
    State Bank and Hindalco
    * Foreign funds were said to have bought BHEL, Castrol and Novartis
    * They were said to have sold Infosys, BPCL, Cochin Refineries and
    Satyam Computers


PROVISIONAL CLOSES
Bombay Stock Exchange:        :    National Stock Exchange:
Sensex: 2886.94, up 24.39     :    NSE50 (Nifty): 842.60, up 8.05
BSE100: n/a                   :    Mid-Cap      : n/a
VITAL STATISTICS
BSE Sensitive Index closings    : NSE50 closings
High: 4630.54 (Sep 12, 1994)    : High: 1292.95 (Aug 6, 1997)
Jan 1, 1998 close: 3694.62      : Jan 1, 1998 close: 1081.20
1998 High: 4280.96 (Apr 21)     : 1998 High: 1212.75 (Apr 21)
1998 Low : 2838.99 (Aug 19)     : 1998 Low : 830.15 (Aug 24)

------------------------REPORT AT 0702 GMT--------------------------------

India Stocks: Profit-taking drags stocks off early highs
    By Pankaj Aher, Bridge News
    Mumbai--Sep 2--Profit-taking by local speculators forced Indian stocks
to retreat from early gains made on the back of rebounding global markets,
dealers said.

    At 1110 local time (0540 GMT), the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-company
Sensex was at 2873.99, up 11.44 or 0.39% from Tuesday's close, after
hitting an intraday high of 2900.46. The Sensex fell 2.4% on Tuesday.
    The National Stock Exchange's NSE50 was at 839.35, up 0.57%, but down
from an earlier high of 847.85.
    Both benchmarks rose in early trade as sentiment turned favorable after
the US Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 288.36 points Tuesday, erasing
half of its 512 point fall Monday.
    Markets in Japan and Hong Kong also were up, boosting sentiment
further, dealers said.
    "The global markets have rebounded, so sentiment is better," a dealer
at Mafatlal Securities said.
    Speculators who had gone long at lower levels Monday are taking
profits, dealers said.
    There is also a smattering of buying by financial institutions, dealers
added.
    The Sensex is expected to close slightly higher today because local
funds are seen continuing their purchases later in the session.  


	
___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________

	
        
________Forex_______________

As of Sep 2, 2:30 PM IST: 
1 US$ = Rs. 42.44 (-0.01)



________Weather_______________
(From CNN)


Current weather conditions   6 p.m. (local), Sep. 2          
partly cloudy      
Temp: 30 C, 86 F      
Rel. Humidity: 74%               
Wind: W at 9 kph(6 mph)        


 Four-day forecast             
Wed.        showers        HIGH    31 C  88 F        LOW    23 C  75 F              
Thu.        rain        HIGH    29 C  85 F        LOW    23 C  75 F              
Fri.        showers        HIGH    31 C  88 F        LOW    26 C  79 F              
Sat.        showers        HIGH    31 C  88 F        LOW    26 C  79 F      




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               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
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