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Hans India
15-05-2025
- Health
- Hans India
TTD vows enhanced medical services at SVIMS
Tirupati: Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) is poised for a major transformation, with sweeping reforms on the horizon, according to recommendations made by an expert committee led by former TTD Executive Officer Dr IV Subba Rao. TTD Chairman BR Naidu highlighted this during the SVIMS Governing Council meeting on Wednesday. Addressing the meeting, Chairman Naidu said that the committee, constituted three months ago under Dr Subba Rao's leadership, had conducted an in-depth study and submitted a comprehensive report. The report addresses key areas including infrastructure, human resources, medical equipment, engineering works, advanced healthcare delivery, expert recruitment, and resource mobilisation. 'The report will be deliberated upon by the TTD Board and appropriate action will be taken based on the directions of the State Government,' Naidu said. TTD Executive Officer J Syamala Rao stated that SVIMS, a prestigious institution, was brought under TTD's management in 2021 and is receiving full support from the trust. 'TTD is extending annual grants worth Rs.60 crore along with an additional Rs 100 crore through various trusts including the Employees Health Scheme and SV Pranadana Trust,' he said. As part of its forward-looking initiatives, SVIMS is currently undertaking construction of new buildings tailored for future healthcare needs, including a state-of-the-art oncology block and paediatric health facilities. The expert committee has also looked into issues such as faculty shortages, infrastructure bottlenecks, and strategies for attracting qualified medical professionals. Prior to the meeting, Chairman Naidu inspected the under-construction cancer block, which features 391 beds, five advanced operation theatres, and high-end medical equipment. He also interacted with patients undergoing treatment in the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department and inquired about the medical services provided. The meeting was attended by Expert Committee Chairman Dr IV Subba Rao, members Dr JSN Murthy, Tejomurthula Ramoji, Dr Chennamchetty Vijay Kumar, SVIMS Director Dr RV Kumar, TTD Board Member N Sadasiva Rao, JEO V Veerabrahmam, and CE Satyanarayana. Special Chief Secretary of Health department MT Krishna Babu, TTD Board Member Suchitra Ella, and Endowments Secretary Vinay Chand took part virtually.
Hans India
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Ghat road facilitated to Padmanabha Swamy temple
Visakhapatnam: A ghat road to Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple, which remained a dream for long for the residents of Padmanabham mandal, came to a reality. The newly built ghat road was officially made available to devotees here on Friday. The infrastructure was built with Panchayat Raj funds at a cost of Rs 5 crore. Bheemunipatnam constituency MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao inaugurated two major development projects of the temple. The temple 'sikhara prathishta' was organised amid vedic chants at the temple in the presence of temple officials and priests. Similarly, special rituals were performed by a team of priests while inaugurating 'vimana gopuram', 'aardha mandapam' and 'mukha mandapam' built at a cost of Rs.60 lakh. MLA Srinivasa Rao participated in the yagam organised during the Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple festival celebrations. Later, the MLA had darshan of Anantha Padmanabha Swamy and performed puja. Speaking on the occasion, he mentioned that he performed puja and prayed that India should be safe and win over its fight against Pakistan.
United News of India
09-05-2025
- Sport
- United News of India
16th KIIT International Chess Festival begins with Grandmasters from 42 countries
Bhubaneswar, May 9 (UNI) The 16th KIIT International Chess Festival 2025 was inaugurated on Friday under the aegis of the All-India Chess Federation (AICF), drawing over 1,200 participants. These include international arbiters, international masters, and grandmasters from 42 countries, including India. For the first time, players from 42 different nations are participating in an international chess tournament hosted in India. The event offers a total prize pool of Rs.60 lakhs, making it the second-highest prize purse ever awarded in a chess tournament in the country. A total of 436 prizes will be distributed across three categories. In Category 'A' (open to all), the prize money amounts to Rs.30 lakhs. Categories 'B' (rated below 1900) and 'C' (rated below 1700) will each have prize pools of Rs.15 lakhs. While inaugurating the event, renowned Indian tennis star, Olympian, and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Awardee, Leander Paes, praised the vision of Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder of KIIT & KISS, calling it truly unique for combining education with sports excellence. 'The sports infrastructure and training facilities at KIIT & KISS are outstanding,' Paes remarked, lauding Dr. Samanta's role in bringing international sporting events to India. He also expressed gratitude to Dr. Samanta for establishing KIIT & KISS as leading hubs of sports education. Grandmaster and FIDE Commissioner for Chess in Schools, Abhijit Kunte, highlighted the difficulty of organising an event of such scale consistently for 16 years. Former AICF Vice President Bhavesh Bhai Patel said the festival is not only a source of pride for Odisha but for the entire nation. Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder of KIIT & KISS, emphasised that both institutions have played a significant role in promoting chess and elevating Odisha's status on the global chess map. UNI DP ARN
The Hindu
29-04-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Preparation of city logistics plan for Chennai and Coimbatore is on
The preparation of city logistics plans for Chennai and Coimbatore has been under way, said Sandeep Nanduri, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). At a session on State Logistics Policy, organised by TIDCO in collaboration with the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Mr. Sandeep made an elaborate presentation, according to which the multi-modal logistics park (Phase 1), coming up at Mappedu, near Chennai, will become operational by 2027. 'The MMLP Coimbatore land acquisition is in advanced stages,' he said at a session on State Logistics Policy that was organised by Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) in collaboration with the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) will be setting up a net zero ambient cold storage warehouse at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. 'We chose this area mainly because we had land there and that's the electronics corridor of Tamil Nadu. We have a 1.30 lakh sq ft of warehouse space at Sriperumbudur. The tenders will be coming out soon,' said Area Head – III, CONCOR. 'Our target is by next April, we should have it ready. The investment will be substantial at around Rs.60 crore. We are in talks with MNCs in Sriperumbudur,' she said at the sidelines of Tamil Nadu industries secretary V Arun Roy said, 'While current logistics infrastructure is satisfactory, a lot more needs to be done to improve this, including addressing congestion in roads, reducing transit time from industrial clusters to the ports, improving ports and addressing gaps in cold chain infrastructure,' he said. Ramkumar Shankar, Managing Director of Chemplast Sanmar Ltd and President of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: 'Right now, the MCCI is working on a study on the existing Chennai Airport. There are lot of good things that have come up at the airport and changes too. There are certain constraints on the passenger end, but we are also focusing on the cargo side as well in the study. We will present the findings to the government four weeks from now,' he added. Member Secretary, Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), gave examples of problem statements and what strategies could be used. One problem statement was movement of air parcel cargo to airport gets complex using LCV and delivery vans causing congestion during peak hours and impacting passenger movement. He suggested that utilization of Metrorail network can be a strategy.
Business Recorder
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Packages Limited
Packages Limited (PSX: PKGS) is a public listed company incorporated in Pakistan. The company was established as a joint venture between the Ali Group of Pakistan and Akerlund & Rausing of Sweden in 1957. Initially, PKGS was engaged in converting paper and paperboard into packaging for consumer industry. Over the years, the company has enhanced its facilities to provide variety of packaging solution to a number of consumer brands across industries. It is also a leading manufacturer of tissue paper products. As of now PKGS is operating as a holding company and hence its performance is largely determined by the performance of its group companies – within and outside Pakistan. Pattern of Shareholding As of December 31, 2024, PKGS has a total of 89.380 million shares outstanding which are held by 3870 shareholders. Associated companies, undertakings and related parties have the majority stake of 44.16 percent in the company. This category is mainly dominated by IGI Investments (Pvt.) Limited with 29.88 percent shares. Local general public accounts for 28.45 percent of PKGS's shares followed by foreign companies holding 8.17 percent shares. Modarabas and Mutual funds account for 5.98 percent of the company's shares while directors, CEO, their spouse and minor children have 5.79 percent. Around 2.25 percent of the company's shares are held by Banks, DFIs and NBFIs and 1.39 percent by insurance companies. The remaining shares are held by other categories of shareholders. Historical Performance (2019-24) PKGS's topline rode an upward trajectory over the period under consideration. On the contrary, its bottomline slid thrice during the period i.e. in 2019, 2022 and 2024. In 2024, the company registered net loss. PKGS's gross and operating margins inclined until 2023 followed by a drastic fall in 2024. Conversely, its net margin drastically fell in 2019, recovered for the subsequent two years and then recorded a plunge in 2022. In 2023, net margin rebounded followed by a negative reading recorded in 2024. The detailed performance review of the period under consideration is given below. In 2019, PKGS's topline grew by 15 percent year-on-year to clock in at Rs.60,905.85 million. This was on account of significant improvement in the core manufacturing operations of PKGS. Gross profit enlarged by 51.16 percent year-on-year in 2019 with GP margin rising up from 12.73 percent in 2018 to 16.73 percent in 2019. This was mainly on account of effective cost control mechanism put in place by the company. Investment income dropped by 30.11 percent year-on-year in 2019 due to decline in dividend income from Nestle Pakistan Limited and Tetra Pak Pakistan Limited. Other income grew by 325.22 percent in 2019 as a result of liabilities no longer payable written back. Administrative expense and distribution expenses surged by 10.76 percent and 6.75 percent respectively in 2019. This was the consequence of higher payroll expense, freight & distribution as well as advertising and promotion expense incurred in 2019. Impairment of investment pushed up other expense by 92.81 percent in 2019. PKGS recorded 48 percent bigger operating profit in 2019 with OP margin growing from 7.55 percent in 2018 to 9.71 percent in 2019. Due to higher discount rate and increased long-term borrowings, finance cost grew by 75.28 percent in coupled with the higher effective tax rate of 85.65 percent in 2019 versus 30.82 percent in 2018 pushed the net profit down by 76 percent in 2019 to clock in at Rs.278.06 million. This translated into EPS of Rs.1.71 in 2019 versus EPS of Rs.10.34 posted in 2018. NP margin also plummeted from 2.19 percent in 2018 to 0.46 percent in 2019. In 2020, performance of manufacturing operations remained vigorous resulting in 6.69 percent topline bigger topline to the tune of Rs.64.981.48 million recorded by PKGS. Improved pricing and better volumes along with cost control resulted in GP margin of 20.38 percent in 2020 with Gross profit mounting up by 30 percent. Operating expense remained in check during the year mainly on account of significantly lesser travelling charges and advertisement & promotion expense incurred during the year. PKGS operating performance was further strengthened by a massive growth in share of profit from associates and joint ventures which clocked in at Rs.340.21 million in 2020 versus Rs.5.39 million in the previous year. On the downside, investment income slid by 63.29 percent in 2020 primarily due to lower dividend income from Nestle Pakistan Limited. Lesser liabilities written back during the year drove other income down by 38.95 percent in 2020. Other expense slipped by 34.46 percent in 2020 due to lower impairment booked on investment. PKGS registered 44.42 percent bigger operating profit in 2020 with OP margin rising up to 13.14 percent. Finance cost shrank by 13 percent in 2020 due to low discount rate as well as lower running finances obtained during the year. All these factors culminated into a bottomline growth of 1531 percent in 2020. The company's net profit clocked in at Rs.4,535.70 million in 2020 with NP margin of 6.98 percent and EPS of Rs.47.44. 2021 was another pleasant year for PKGS with net revenue registering stellar growth of 23.61 percent over the last year to clock in at Rs. 80,322.30 million. This was particularly on the back of sale of goods manufactured by the company on its own, High cost of sales and services kept GP margin in check which inched up to 20.8 percent in 2020 despite 26.18 percent increase in gross profit. Operating expense grew in line with inflation and also because of increased payroll expense as the number of employees grew from 3228 in 2020 to 3271 in 2021. The company also incurred higher advertisement and freight expense in 2021. PKGS's operating profit posted 42.80 percent rise in 2021 mainly on the heels of a massive growth in other income (reversal of impairment on fixed assets and associate), superior investment income and hefty share of profit from associates recognized during the year. OP margin grew to 15.18 percent in 2021. Low discount rate coupled with better credit management resulted in 25 percent lower finance cost incurred during the year. This translated into year-on-year bottomline growth of 57.64 percent in 2021. PKGS's net profit clocked in at Rs.7150.15 million in 2021 with EPS of Rs.71.41 and NP margin of 8.90 percent. In 2022, PKGS's topline boasted a staggering 51.76 percent year-on-year growth to clock in at Rs.121,893.59 million. This was mainly on account of better core operations of the company. During the year, all the categories of PKGS's core operations i.e. paper & paperboard produced, paper & paperboard converted, plastics converted and inks produced witnessed considerable improvement. High inflation, energy tariffs and escalated cost of raw materials didn't let the company realize any growth in the GP margin which stayed at the last year level of 20.80 percent. This was despite 51.69 percent year-on-year rise recorded in PKGS gross profit in 2022. The company's investment income also buttressed its financial performance in 2022 as dividend income from its long-term investments grew by 28.85 percent year-on-year. Other income also registered a tremendous 435 percent year-on-year rise in 2022 mainly on the back of bargain purchase gain on the acquisition of its subsidiary, Tri-pack Films Limited (TPFL). Higher scrap sales and WPPF provision written back also majorly contributed in the growth of PKGS's other income in 2022. Share of profit from associates and joint ventures declined by 62.85 percent in 2022. The company also booked net impairment loss on financial assets which included amount due from Packages Lanka (Private) Limited and Flexible Packages Converters (Proprietary) Limited in respect of management fee receivable. Other expense also mounted by 168 percent in 2022 on the back of exchange loss incurred during the year as well as impairment booked on the assets of Flexible Packages Converters (Proprietary) Limited. All these factors culminated into 57.17 percent higher operating profit recorded by PKGS in 2022 with OP margin slightly moving up to clock in at 15.73 percent. Finance cost mounted by 180.37 percent year-on-year in 2022 on account of high discount rate and also because of a whopping increase in running finances and long-term finances obtained during the year. Increased borrowings during the year are also reflected in the company's gearing ratio jumping up from 40 percent in 2021 to 51 percent in 2022. This coupled with the higher effective tax rate of 41.4 percent in 2022 versus 25.57 in the previous year translated into 2.38 percent year-on-year erosion in PKGS net profit in 2022. Net profit stood at Rs.6,979.83 million in 2022 with EPS of Rs.72.12 and NP margin of 5.73 percent. 2023, despite all the challenges it carried along, proved to be welcoming for PKGS as its topline rose by 28.78 percent year-on-year to clock in at Rs.156,972.08 million. This was particularly on the back of local sales of goods and services by the company. Improved core operations of the company coupled with the upward price revisions drove up its gross profit by 45.58 percent in 2023 with GP margin climbing up to 23.51 percent. Administrative & distribution expenses surged by 26.41 percent and 50.86 percent respectively in 2023 on account of inflationary pressure and increased operational activity. During the year, the company hired additional human resources which took the tally up from 3,264 in 2022 to 4,051 in 2023. This considerably drove up the payroll expense. Moreover, higher advertisement & promotion expense as well as freight & distribution charges also had a great say in driving up the operating expense in 2023. Other expense dipped by 10 percent in 2023 as no impairment was booked on the assets of Flexible Packages Converters (Proprietary) Limited. Other income improved by 32.72 percent in 2023 predominantly due to bargain purchase gain recognized on the acquisition of subsidiary, Hoechst Pakistan Limited (HPL), formerly known as Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Limited. Net impairment loss on its financial assets magnified by 29.93 percent in 2023. Its investment income (dividend income) slid by 17.15 percent in 2023. This was because during the year, Flexible Packages Converters (Proprietary) limited was sold to a third party as it was unable to meet its liabilities towards the creditors. Hence, the group derecognized the net assets of FPC and didn't expect any future inflow from this investment. During the year share of profit from associates & joint ventures grew by 14.91 percent. PKGS recorded 50.93 percent higher operating profit in 2023 with OP margin of 18.43 percent. Finance cost escalated by 86.46 percent in 2023 on account of monetary tightening and increased borrowings majorly to acquire shares of HPL. Gearing ratio dipped to 49 percent in 2023 due to higher equity on the back of increased unappropriated profits and FVOCI reserves. Net profit grew by 48.90 percent in 2023 to clock in at Rs.10,392.98 million with EPS of Rs.100.18 and NP margin of 6.62 percent. PKGS recorded 12.61 percent greater topline to the tune of Rs.176,761.28 million in 2024. Sales of goods and services posted improvement during the year. Cost of sales surged by 18.84 percent in 2024 mainly on the back of higher energy tariff, inflationary pressure, hefty cost of raw materials and elevated depreciation expense on the back of capital expenditure undertaken in the past years. Inferior sales mix and the inability to pass on the impact of cost hike to the consumers pushed gross profit down by 7.68 percent in 2024 with GP margin falling down to 19.27 percent. Other income didn't prove to be favorable either as it eroded by 62.38 percent in 2024 due to high-base effect as the company recorded bargain purchase gain on the acquisition of HPL in the previous year. Investment income (dividend income) also slumped by 38 percent in 2024. Share of profit of associate and joint ventures mounted by 44.40 percent in 2024. Operating profit tapered off by 31.56 percent in 2024 with OP margin sliding down to 11.20 percent. Finance cost multiplied by 35.63 percent in 2024 due to higher discount rate and increased outstanding borrowings. The company obtained loan for capital expenditure and to make strategic investment in investments in StarchPack (Private) Limited and Packages Trading FZCO. Gearing ratio jumped up to 56 percent in 2024. PKGS recorded net loss of Rs.1378.97 million in 2024 with loss per share of Rs.32.55. Future Outlook Amidst highly challenging and competitive environment, the company is thriving on the heels of its core function of providing packaging solutions across the industries. PKGS is also taking tremendous benefit from the superior performance of its subsidiaries, investments and joint ventures. The associated companies of PKGS are serving across various sectors of the economy, providing their holding company the benefit of income diversification. Moreover, its foreign based subsidiaries will continue to be the source of exchange gain for the company. The company has recently made injection of Rs.3 billion into StarchPack (Private) Limited and Rs.8 billion in Bullehshah Packaging Private (Limited) to improve the capital structure of both the companies. This will greatly improve the ROI from these companies.
