The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, June 21, 2003

Toilet soaps work up 4.5 pc lather in April
THE Rs 4,350-crore toilet soap market has grown by around 4.5 per cent in April after degrowing for almost two years at a stretch. According to industry projections, while the growth of the category in the premium segment has been rather slow, ... More

CLIMATE & WEATHER

A soaker brings relief to south Kerala
The good tidings may not last for long since the winds have started losing speed in the southern parts of the State from Friday morning and were blowing wayward. More

Heavy rains lash Mumbai
A couple watch the sea come alive after a heavy downpour at Marine Drive in Mumbai on Friday.

Karnataka to go in for cloud-seeding
KARNATAKA, parched and praying for the south-west monsoon and stricken with drought for the third successive year, has planned to go in for artificial rain by cloud-seeding. The Water Resources Department earlier this month invited global bids ... More

Cool comfort
The reflection of India Gate seen on a pool of water at Rajpath in the early hours of Friday. Rain lashed the Capital for the second consecutive day, giving respite to Delhiites from oppressive heat.. ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY

KOYAMBEDU PROJECT FOR ENKEM
Power from waste: Work to begin next month
WORK on the waste to energy project for generating power from vegetable waste at Chennai is expected to begin in July and will commence operations in less than a year, according to sources. The Chennai-based Enkem Engineers Pvt Ltd will ... More

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

3-day AV Expo to showcase products, growth
THE country's largest audio visual exhibition opened in Bangalore on Friday with over 30 companies participating in the event. The three-day exhibition showcases the audio visual industry's growth and its products. "The growing market for ... More

ENVIRONMENT

IOC's Irugur terminal bags green award
THE Irugur terminal of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has been presented with the `Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2003 (Service-SME)' instituted by the New Delhi-based World Environment Foundation. The terminal, located about 17 km ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

PM visit set to fortify ties with China
THE imminent visit of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to China is likely to strengthen the robust bilateral commercial relations between the two countries, besides enabling both countries to clarify several important issues with ... More

`India-Sri Lanka trade pact a model for others'
THE next step is to chip away at the negative list and put those items on the open list," says Mr A.S. Jayawardena, Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), of the free trade agreement between India and Sri Lanka, signed three years ago. He ... More

New Web site on India, China business info
THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), has developed a new Web site on Indo-Chinese business information. The Web site (More

CII calls for steps to boost Indian share in world trade
THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Friday called for simplification of procedures, reduction of cost of capital and removal of all hassles to enhance global competitiveness of Indian products and services in order to increase its share ... More

PETROLEUM

GAIL stealing GSPC thunder
IF GAIL stole the thunder from the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) by using no less a person than the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Ram Naik, in Mumbai on Wednesday to make a pre-emptive announcement of the oil and ... More

Pricing of natural gas: Naidu proposes market regulator
THE Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, has urged the Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, to put in place a market regulator to "consider the complex parameters for the pricing of natural gas, and to arrive at the optimal pricing based on ... More

POWER

Plea to scrap levy on captive power

TEXTILES

Textile team for Morocco to stitch up EU market
THE Union Textile Minister, Mr Shawnawaz Hussain, is leading a delegation of exporters to Morocco for the inauguration of the Indian Textile Exhibition in Casablanca on June 23. The team would also interact with the importers there to explore the ... More

BREWERIES

Drive to curb `seconds sale' of liquor in Karnataka
THE Karnataka Excise (Sale of Indian and Foreign Liquors) (Amendment) Rules, 2003 now prohibit the sale of liquor bottles that do not have the maximum retail price on them. A State Government notification to that effect is aimed at curbing the ... More

RADIO/TV

PM gives Ministry free-hand on CAS
THE Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, has given the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, a free-hand to ensure that the CAS (conditional access system) is implemented on July 15. At a meeting today, Mr Vajpayee also ... More

Playing out a farce?
WILL tomorrow's announcement of channel rates by some multi-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators turn out to be yet another farce? The divide in the broadcasting industry is only deepening with certain sections of the stakeholders - ... More

Star seeks nod for news uplink
STAR Group on Friday announced that an application had been made to the I&B Ministry for the permission to uplink the Star News Channel from India.The application is under the guidelines issued by the Government for uplinking News and Current ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

Hudco sanctions Rs 516.35 cr for N-E States
HOUSING and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) has sanctioned loans to the tune of Rs 516.35 crore for different infrastructure and housing schemes in the north-eastern States with Assam cornering the bulk of the funding. During the ... More

`Home away from home'

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

KCCI meet on June 26

CINEMA

Film industry in doldrums: APFCC
HIT by spiralling cost of production and "lack of response" from the State Government on several important issues, the Telugu film industry has said that urgent action is needed to rescue it from going the Bollywood way and help it survive the ... More

DISINVESTMENT

Maruti share may be priced Rs 122-125
THE overwhelming response for the Maruti Udyog Ltd's initial public offer (IPO) has resulted in the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) deciding to recommend a cut-off price in the range of Rs 122-125 for a Rs 5 share against the floor price of Rs 115 ... More

AP bid to prevent unhealthy competition in GFCL bidding — To take undertaking from bidders
THE Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to take an undertaking from the eight companies, including two foreign companies, that are bidding for the acquisition of the State Government's 25.88 per cent stake in Godavari Fertilizers and Chemicals ... More

WTO

WTO forms consultative board
IN the run-up to the Fifth Ministerial Conference to be held in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003, the WTO Director-General, Dr Supachai Pantichpakdi, has announced the formation of a Consultative Board of eminent persons in Geneva. According to ... More

LABOUR REFORMS

Welfare board likely for unorganised sector workers
THE Ministry of Labour is contemplating a 23-member board for the welfare of workers in the unorganised sector. According to the proposed Unorganised Sector Worker's Act, 2003, the Central Unorganised Sector Worker's Welfare Board will ... More

TRADE & LABOUR UNIONS

Kerala for ban on demos in Secretariat vicinity
THE Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, has said that the State Government would seek to evolve a consensus among various political parties on the issue of imposing a ban on mass demonstrations in front of the Government Secretariat and along the ... More

EVENTS

National workshop on SHGs
WILL the self-help groups (SHGs) that have mushroomed across the country in the last 10 years need federations? This question came to the fore at the inaugural session of the on-going national workshop on SHGs Federations here on Friday. The ... More

Hyderabad engagements

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship cell at JNTU
TO encourage entrepreneurship among Engineering graduates, the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), here has started an Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC), with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), under ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

Demand revival peps up coir exports
EXPORTS of coir and coir products during the first two months of the current fiscal have shown an increase of over Rs 9 crore over the corresponding period last year. Usually, April-May is the lean period and hence the improvement in the ... More

Strong rupee: FIEO seeks RBI action
THE Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) on Friday urged the Reserve Bank of India to intervene "at this point" and bring about "parity and stability" in rupee exchange rate vis-a-vis the dollar. In a statement, the FIEO Chief, Mr ... More

TOURISM

New Web site on Kerala tourism
ETHNIC Tourism, a Thiruvananthapuram-based company that operates in the tourism domain, has launched a new Web site on Kerala. Though operational for the last few weeks, the site www.ethnictourism.com, ... More

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