The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, February 22, 2004

ECONOMY
New Web site to sensitise population issues
POPULATION First, a communication initiative for sustained human development, went online here recently. The Web site www.populationfirst.org was launched, during the first joint meeting of the trustees and advisory council of ... More

ENGINEERING
Order books swell for engineering cos — Gestation period gets shorter, execution smoother
THE order book for companies in the engineering industry is bulging. Top companies such as BHEL, L&T and Thermax have shown a sharp upswing in the value of contracts still to be executed. BHEL, for instance, had an order book value of ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS
Central excise officers get more powers to recover dues
THE Finance Ministry has now empowered every central excise officer of a rank of Assistant Commissioner and above to undertake recovery action on the recoverable arrears due to the Central Government. The empowerment is for recovery action under ... More

PETROLEUM
To beat competition, PSU oil retailers double outlets
THE public sector oil retailers have undertaken an unprecedented expansion in their business this year. This fiscal, they have more than doubled the number of retail outlets set up last year to sell petrol and diesel. The prime driver for this ... More

POWER
Rural electrification schemes merger okayed
THE Cabinet has approved the merger of the existing schemes on rural electrification with the objective of electrifying one lakh villages and one crore households in the next three years. According to an official release, the existing schemes are ... More

Tata Power plans differential rates
TATA Power Company has proposed separate tariff for peak and off-peak power used by bulk consumers. This may actually lead to Rs 10-crore fall in its revenues to Rs 3,147 crore. The company has also submitted its power tariff proposal for 2004-05 ... More

TYRES
ASFI move to benefit domestic tyre industry
THE Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry (ASFI) has withdrawn its appeal against the order of the Designated Authority that recommended the discontinuation of anti-dumping duty on nylon tyre cord fabric (NTCF) imports from Indonesia, South ... More

COAL
Rescue work on
Coal miners coming out of Tata Steel's Jamadoba colliery in Dhanbad district on Saturday. Five company officials were trapped when water entered the mine on Friday night. Two have been brought to safety while efforts are on to rescue the rest. ... More

MANAGEMENT
IIM offers course to help executives hone HR skills
FOR those top-level company executives who are busy chalking up strategies and managing the show, the Indian Institute of Management (Kolkata) has introduced a new course to help them hone their strategic and human resources skills. "Maybe, you ... More

DISINVESTMENT
Govt sets Rs 620 floor price for IBP, Rs 475 for CMC
THE Government has announced a floor price of Rs 620 per share for sale of its residual equity in IBP Company Ltd and Rs 475 a share for CMC Ltd, while declaring a 5 per cent discount for retail investors in the two entities privatised about two ... More

SMALL SAVINGS
EPFO set to make changes in investment norms
WITH the opening up of the provident fund sector to private players, the largest PF organisation in the country, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), is all set to bring in major changes in its investment guidelines. The Central ... More

WTO
`Tough talks at WTO must to have free trade in BPO'
PREDICTING that business process outsourcing (BPO) has the potential to outpace software services in India, Mr Vinod Khosla, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &Byers, has said that the country has to do some hard bargaining in the World More

IPR
Patently, India lags behind!
JAPAN'S patent authorities received nearly 4.5 lakh applications last year while India, whose population is nine times more than Japan's, received only 12,000. And what's worse, a bulk of them was from foreign parties. Why does India fare so ... More

EVENTS
Asian chemical fibre industry meet tomorrow
THE Secretary-Generals of Asian Chemical Fibre Industry federations are to converge in Agra on February 23. Participants at the meeting are expected to discuss, among other issues, the opportunities that the post-multi fibre arrangement (MFA) ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Spices exporters decry cut in DEPB rates
THE decision of Director General of Foreign Trade to reduce the Duty Entitlement Pass Book rates would adversely affect the spices exporters, according to Mr Ramkumar Menon, Chairman, All-India Spices Exporters Forum. Mr Menon told Business ... More

Groundnut oil exports may top Rs 300 crore
TOTAL exports of groundnut oil are expected to touch 60,000 tonne fetching Rs 300 crore during the current financial year 2003-04, according to the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA). "Total exports during the November 2003 to January 2004 ... More