MUMBAI: Groundnut oil prices rose to an all time high level of Rs 622 per 10 kg today following heavy festival buying in the face of thin supply from producing centres. However, castor oil and castorseed December contract fell sharply on poor demand.

In the edible section, groundnut oil rallied by Rs 7 to close at Rs 622 as against the last close of Rs 615. Groundnut bold remained untraded. Palm oil was unchanged at Rs 385. In the non-edible section, castor oil commercial fell sharply by Rs 10 and closed at Rs 425 from Rs 435 due to poor soap manufacturers' demand. Castorseed Madras declined to Rs 1944 from Rs 1992 on reduced export offtake. However, linseed oil and linseed, held steady at Rs 480 and Rs 1700 respectively.

Forex reserves down by $ 69 mn

MUMBAI: Outflow of funds from India continued as the foreign currency assets declined by $ 69 million to $ 26.18 billion as on September 30. However, total foreign exchange reserves fell only by $ 26 million to$ 29.18 billion during the week following improvement in gold reserves by $ 43 million. The SDRs reserves remained unchanged at $ 14 million. This is the first time forex reserves are falling after the State Bank of India mopped up over $4.20 billion through the RIB issue.

Fiat Uno share

MUMBAI: Fiat's Ind Auto Ltd (IAL) has registered a 17 per cent increase in sales in September 1998 compared to August 1998. On a year-to-year basis and in a declining market, Fiat's Uno has increased its market share in small car segment from six per cent to 10 per cent.

Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd, in a statement here today, said the diesel version of Uno is becoming increasingly popular amongst the Indian car users. Fiat made its direct foray into the Indian market through acquisition of majority stake in Ind Auto, which is now managed in accordance with the Fiat's system.

Fiat said the increase in market share is a consequence of the Italian auto major's direct involvement as part of its long termplans.

AIAI, IOD sign pact

MUMBAI: The All India Association of Industries (AIAI) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Institute of Directors (IoD) to promote the competitiveness of India's industries and strengthen friendly relations between the two associations. The MoU was signed by the AIAI president Vijay Kalantri and IoD president Madhav Mehra.

The two associations will encourage education and training for the upgradation of professional and entrepreneurial skills of its members. The IoD will provide special discount to members of Aiai for seminars, training programmes and consultancies related to ISO 9000/14,000 certifications.

Gannon sales up

MUMBAI: Gannon Dunkerley & Co Ltd has posted a 40 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 7.10 crore for the year ended March 1998 as against a net profit of Rs 5.06 crore in the previous year. This has been achieved on a 30 per cent rise in turnover at Rs 278.01 crore, up from Rs 214.19 crore during the previous year. Profitbefore tax was up 27% at Rs 11.51 crore from Rs 9.06 crore in the previous year. The board of directors of the company has recommended a dividend of 20% as against 10% in previous year.

ISA meet

MUMBAI: Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), which is a non-profit professional organisation and a national body representing a wide spectrum of advertisers from the public and private sectors, will be holding its 9th All India Advertising Conference in Bangalore from October 29 to 31, 1998.

Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, will inaugurate the conference and Ramakrishna Hegde, Union Commerce Minister, will be the guest of honour at the meet. A number of international and national speakers have confirmed their participation. K B Dadiseth, chairman of Hindustan Lever Ltd, will deliver the keynote speech at the session. R Gopalakrishnan, executive director, Tata Sons Ltd, will chair one of the sessions.

IVP profits up

MUMBAI: IVP achieved sales of Rs 334 crorecompared to Rs 155 crore for the same period last year, showing an improvement of 115 per cent. The half-year sales of the company has surpassed the annual sales of Rs 291 crore in the year 1997-98. For the half year, the gross profit was Rs 11.80 crore as compared to Rs 7.82 crore for the same period last year showing an improvement of 51 per cent. For the previous full year, the gross profit was Rs 13.81 crore. The net profit for the half-year was Rs 7.87 crore compared to Rs 5.18 crore for the same period last year, showing an improvement of 52 per cent. The net profit for the previous year was Rs 8.35 crore.

Janakalyan Bank

MUMBAI: Janakalyan Sahakari Bank has announced full computerisation of its branch at Shivaji Park, Mumbai. The bank, which is celebrating its silver jubilee year, has attained scheduled status in the current year. While deposits of the bank stand at Rs 397 crore, advances have amounted to Rs 211 crore. The bank is planning to start self-service terminal, tele-banking, remoteaccess terminal and any-branch banking for its customers. Out of its 20 fully computerised branches, 18 branches have 12-hour banking system.

Kreemex fan

MUMBAI: Thane-based Kreemex Domestic Appliances has developed a new product Kreemex emergency fan. It provides an economical solution to power failure, which generates cool air continuously for about eight hours, running on a 12V 10 AH dry maintenance-free battery. The tube model contains 6V and 2 AH Panasonic dry battery and can be used for about 5 hours at a time.