Agriculture
Nitish Kumar to lead team to FAO meet
THE Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, will lead a four-member Indian delegation to attend the 25th FAO Regional Conference for Asia and Pacific countries at Yokohama in Japan from August 28 to September 2.
Airlines
IA board puts off fare hike decision
INDIAN Airlines has decided not to hike air fares just yet despite Jet Airways announcing a 18-20 per cent increase effective mid-September.
Virgin to file new fares in two weeks
VIRGIN Atlantic Airways (VAA) will file new fares for its flights on the India-UK and UK-India sectors with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the next two weeks, the VAA General Manager (India), Mr. Mackenzie Grant, has said.
Hyderabad international airport project on course
THE Andhra Pradesh Government is in the process of finalising the bidding process for the multi-stage Hyderabad International airport project slated to come up as a greenfield project in Shamshabad, about 25 km from here.
Automobiles
ACMA forum for components industry
THE Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) has launched an Industry Forum that would help the components industry to upgrade its quality and delivery standards to world levels.
Corporate
Zee venture with MGM for movie channel
ZEE Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) will float a new joint venture company with the Hollywood studio, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Inc (MGM) to operate a co-branded movie channel exclusively for the South Asian market.
BPL Comm ADR issue cleared
THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave its approval to a proposal of BPL Communications Ltd for an initial public offering of equity shares in the form of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) worth $200 million.
Pritish Nandy Communications IPO floor price at Rs 155
PRITISH Nandy Communications Ltd (PNCL) has fixed a floor price of Rs. 155 for the book-built portion of its IPO, constituting 23,55,300 shares or 90 per cent of the total issue size of 26,17,000 equity shares of Rs. 10 each.
Mineral council to meet today
THE Mineral Advisory Council, the apex advisory body for the mining and mineral sector, will hold its 26th meeting here on Wednesday.
SPIC raises Rs 100 cr from FIs
SOUTHERN Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) has raised Rs. 75 crores from LIC and Rs. 25 crores from UTI, by placing privately 13 per cent non-convertible debentures with them, the company's Finance Director, Mr. M.G. Thirunavukkarasu, said.
CESC to raise Rs 225-cr loan from ICICI
CESC Ltd, an RPG group utility outfit, has agreed to take a term loan of Rs. 225 crores from ICICI Ltd by hypothecation of movable properties and also by mortgage of immovable properties of the company in a form acceptable to ICICI. The entire amount wil
l be utilised to meet a part of the company's working capital.
Economy
Support price for paddy hiked Rs 20 a quintal -- Food subsidy bill may go up Rs 500 cr
THE Government today hiked the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy by Rs. 20 per quintal for the 2000-01 kharif marketing season (October-September), bypassing the suggestions of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Expenditure Reforms Commission (E
RC) to freeze support prices.
Household savings up in asset terms
THE rate of household financial saving in 1999-2000 has declined to an estimated 10.6 per cent against 10.8 per cent in 1998-99. There has been a sharp increase in the holdings of assets in the form of shares and debentures, according to the annual repor
t of the Reserve Bank of India.
Fertilisers
Nitrogen fertiliser output in June at 9.25 lakh tonnes
THE estimated production of fertilisers during June 2000 was 9.25 lakh tonnes of nitrogen, 3.04 lakh tonnes of phosphate, 16.71 lakh tonnes of urea and 4.27 lakh tonnes of DAP.
Forex
Rupee may remain under pressure -- Capital inflow pattern rugged
IN 1999-2000, FII inflows far exceeded FDI funds. Also ECB inflows were low as compared to earlier years. In the current year, the fund-flow composition could change as FII inflows are not firm enough while there are no signs of a pick up in FDI and ECB.
All this could put pressure on the rupee-dollar exchange rate in the coming months going by a reading of the RBI Annual Report for 1999-2000.
Rupee stablising, says Minister
``The trend of the rupee against the dollar is reversing,'' and the present level is satisfactory, according to Mr. Dhananjay Kumar, Union Minister for State for Finance (Revenue).
Information Technology
Wipro aims high, charts 4 x 4 plan
IF, as an employee, you suddenly get a message from your boss saying he wants to see the company among the top 10 in the world -- in a couple of years -- what would your reaction be?
PSU
HZL, Sponge Iron among 4 PSUs approved for strategic sale
THE Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) today approved the strategic sale of four public sector undertakings (PSUs) namely, Hindustan Insecticide, Sponge Iron India Ltd, Mineral Exploration Corporation and Hindustan Zinc Ltd.
Policy
Foreign equity in NBFCs for micro credit
NEW DELHI: The Government has permitted foreign equity investment in non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) dealing with micro credit and rural credit.
23 Bills passed in monsoon session
A TOTAL of 23 Bills were passed during the month-long monsoon session of Parliament ended August 25. Fifteen new Bills were introduced and five Bills that were ready for introduction but could not be introduced during the Budget session ending May 17 wer
e also introduced in the monsoon session.
States
Farm policy: TN body plans study circles
FOUR regional study circles are to be established in the State to impart basic knowledge on agricultural policy, particularly the modern trends on agrarian issues at national and international levels, The Tamil Nadu Agriculturists Rights Protection Movem
ent has resolved.
Arunachal Annual Plan fixed at Rs. 640 crores
THE annual plan of Arunachal Pradesh for the current fiscal has been fixed at Rs. 640 crores. This was decided at a meeting between the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr. K.C.Pant and the State Chief Minister, Mr. Mukut Mithi, here on Monday.
Basu seeks Tata's help for e-governance
MR.Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister of West Bengal, sought the involvement of Bombay House in IT and leather sector projects at an hour-long meeting with Mr.Ratan Tata here on Monday night.
Textiles
`New textiles policy will boost exports further'
EVEN as the textiles and clothing sector runs the risk of being marginalised in the coming years while facing the challenges posed by a quota-free world, the Union Textiles Minister, Mr. Kashiram Rana, has sought to allay fears of domestic industry over
the impending competition of the post-MFA regime.
Transport
Rly promotee-officers threaten stir
THE Indian Railway Promotee Officers' Federation (IRPOF), at the conclusion of its two-day executive meeting here on Tuesday, decided to launch an agitation programme in December if its demands for removing a long-standing anomaly over pay-scale and stat
us were not met by then.
