The Hindu Business Line : Friday, December 12, 2003

ADB raises GDP growth forecast to 6.7 pc in 2003
THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised its gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection to 6.7 per cent in 2003 from the 6.3 per cent increase forecast earlier. For next year, however, the bank has maintained that the country's GDP would ... More

Bengal leads in small savings, lags in industrialisation
ARE savings a major determinant of industrialisation? Conventional wisdom suggests that a country or State cannot industrialise rapidly, unless it has generated a sufficient stock of institutional savings to finance large-scale investments. ... More

It's money come, money go for Kerala emigrant families
THE spending pattern of Kerala emigrants has shown that capital investment by more than 64 per cent of the migrant households was at Rs 25,000 or less, while about 22 per cent invested up to Rs 1 lakh, and less than four per cent invested above ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Why `food-less-travelled' is better
THE problem of "food miles" is emerging as one of the early consequences of increasing long-distance and international trade. The fossil fuel energy spent to transport food products often exceeds the calories ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS

Southern dairies seek zero excise on shrunk milk
DAIRIES in the south have sought the abolition of the 16 per cent excise duty levied on concentrated or evaporated milk, which, they say, is an anomaly. "Currently, there is no excise on liquid milk (both packed and bulk), milk powder, ghee, ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

`Heritage Village set to rise in Maryland'
A COMMON platform for the American buyers and exporters of India in a prominent place in the State of Maryland is being contemplated to promote India as a brand in the US. To be christened as Heritage Village, as it would be a conspicuous place ... More

Petrapole, Benapole Customs points to get facelift soon
THE Land Customs Station (LCS) points at Petrapole/Benapole on the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal are set to get a major face-lift soon. The much-awaited new exercise to boost two-way trade through the LCS points, admittedly vital for ... More

HEALTH

Cabinet ratifies WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
THE Union Cabinet has ratified the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). India, which played a leading role in the negotiations towards the convention, has become the seventh country to ratify the FCTC. ... More

PETROLEUM

Oil PSUs to consider interim dividends
OIL majors are considering interim dividend. The boards of Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation would be meeting shortly to consider interim dividend and other PSU oil companies are expected to follow suit. According to ... More

Amendments in petroleum Bill cleared
THE Cabinet on Wednesday approved several amendments to the proposed Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Bill including that of extending the protection for public sector retail outlets from three to five years. This means that new entrants ... More

POWER

CERC issues draft norms on power trading
THE power sector regulator, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), on Wednesday issued draft guidelines for the business of inter-State power trading. Initially, trading will be restricted to bilateral contracts between generators ... More

STEEL

`Chinese demand pattern to affect steel sector growth'
THE growth in the steel sector will, to a certain extent, be critically determined by the likely changes in the pattern of Chinese demand and imports, according to the Union Steel Minister, Mr B.K. Tripathy. "For the steel industry, what is of ... More

TEXTILES

Comptex to focus on textile sector revamp
THE two-day conference on the textile industry, Comptex 2003, to be held here on December 17 and 18, will focus on issues relating to the restructuring of the industry to meet the post-2004 free-trade regime's challenges, reducing overheads ... More

COAL

Non-core sector facing `erratic' coal supply
NON-CORE sector coal consuming industries are facing an "unprecedented" problem of receiving minimal supplies of coal rails. The problem has developed over the last two months because of the wagon requirement pressure from core sector consumers, ... More

RADIO/TV

States yet to form implementation committee for CAS
EVEN as the cable service providers are pushing for implementation of the Conditional Access System (CAS) from December 15 in the Capital, there has been no response from the State Governments of Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu on their request ... More

AUTOMOBILE COMPONENTS

Auto components sector — A journey from wilderness to the West
FROM being in the wilderness barely two years ago to striking out abroad now acquiring operating units, a major transformation appears to be under way in the auto component industry. No less than four major impending overseas acquisitions have ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

Need for synergy between small, big units stressed
SYNERGY between small and larger units, whether in public or private sector, is essential for the domestic units to compete and survive in the liberalised economy, Mr B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, the State Small-scale Industries Minister, has ... More

Reclassify music on cassettes, CDs as audio software: FICCI
"The music industry products must be classified keeping in mind that 70 per cent of its cost emerges from its intellectual property content." More

CII study raises questions on broadband
THE Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII)National Broadband Economy Committee's study, called `India's Broadband Economy: Vision 2010', has raised some pertinent questions such as how to bring down the prices of such services and whether cable ... More

SIAM asks for more duty cuts in Budget wish-list
IN its pre-Budget memorandum, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has asked for a reduction of excise duty on cars and utility vehicles from the current 24 per cent to a single slab of 16 per cent in line with the other segments ... More

GENDER

ALEAP to sign pact with Andhra Bank, CGTSI
THE Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh (ALEAP) will sign a memorandum of understanding with Andhra Bank and Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Small Industries (CGTSI) to launch Mutual Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme. The scheme ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural electrification lowest in the east
THE penetration of electricity in villages is poorest in the States in the East and North-East and in Uttar Pradesh, according to latest statistics from the Union Power Ministry. The figures show that while Bihar and Jharkhand had the highest ... More

Rs 200-cr scheme for Kuttanad

HUMAN RESOURCES

`Industry must encourage young engineers to take up research'
THE Chairman of the governing body of National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Mr N. Vinay Hegde, has urged industries and institutions to encourage young engineers to take up research in their respective fields. Addressing the ... More

EVENTS

ISB to co-host 2 global corporate conferences
THE Indian School of Business is co-hosting two international conferences in December — the Global Corporate Governance Forum, co-sponsored by the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , and the ... More

Aerospace seminar next week
HYDERABAD: Commemorating the centenary of `powered flights', the Hyderabad chapter of Aeronautical Society of India is organising a two-day national seminar-cum-exhibition on `Aerospace Technology Challenges in the Millennium' beginning ... More

WB: Trade fair from December 19

Workshop on curriculum

INCOME TAX

I-T tribunal appointments
THE Central Government has empowered itself to appoint temporary judicial and temporary accountant members for the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in the country. Sources said the appointments would be made by the Central Government in ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

Marginal increase in exports via Kochi port
EXPORTS of major commodities through the Kochi Port have shown only a marginal increase during October compared with the previous month. As per the figures available with the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the exports of some of the ... More

Annual crude oil imports — IOC can now make its own shipping arrangements
INDIAN Oil Corporation has finally secured the nod from the Government to make its own shipping arrangements for its annual crude oil imports, a development which has huge implications for the domestic shipping industry. "A decision to this ... More

TOURISM

More packages urged to boost tourism
TO boost India's share of tourist arrivals and increase flow of traffic within the country, comprehensive packages will have to be brought in, said Mr Shankikanta Das, Commissioner, Tourism, Tamil Nadu. Mr Das, speaking at the second day of the ... More

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