Voices

``SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt has served our nation and investors with great honor and distinction. For his entire career, Chairman Levitt has always been squarely on the side of investor protection and the integrity of our public markets.'' -- Mr Salvatore F. Sodano, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The American Stock Exchange.

``Ranbaxy is mulling over the possibility of exiting the joint venture with Eli Lilly.'' -- Mr Bimal Raizada, Senior Vice-President, Ranbaxy Laboratories.

``India could lose out its competitive advantage to emerging countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and China in the software sector if the infotech industry's infrastructure needs are not met properly.'' -- Mr Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro.

``Tata Consultancy Services, the largest IT services company in India, could have a market capitalisation of $14 billion.'' -- Comment by Salomon Smith Barney, investment banking firm.

``GlaxoSmithKline is well placed to respond to the healthcare challenges of the 21st century.'' -- Mr Garnier, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

``For the value we give in terms of quality and technology, the Indian software industry has been underselling itself.'' -- Mr Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro.

``Stock exchanges will monitor the level of non-promoter holdings on a half-yearly basis based on the information provided by companies.'' -- Mr D. R. Mehta. Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India.

``The U-Fund is an effort to combine private and public partnership to improve urban infrastructure.'' -- Mr Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC.

``The decline in profits is due to the extreme recession in the market which puts pressure on margins.'' -- Mr Philip Eapen, Executive Director, MRF.

``Integrated crop solutions would be the future growth business of Syngenta India. We do not see significant growth in the area of crop protection'' -- Mr Donald Taylor, Crop Protection Head (Asia-Pacific), Syngenta.

``The current industrial growth trend indicates that the slowdown witnessed by the economy in the first half of 2000-01 will be reversed in the second half.'' -- Comment by Assocham.