The Hindu Business Line : Friday, April 02, 2004

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY
Soon, a table-top device to generate power anywhere
IMAGINE a table-top device meeting your domestic power needs at that farm house of your dreams built at a `back-of-beyond' place, but could never get `electrified' since the electricity company was simply refusing to provide a grid connection ... More

ECONOMY
Current account sees higher surplus of $1.8 b in Q3
The country's current account recorded a higher surplus of $1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2003-04, up from a surplus of $1.6 billion recorded in the previous quarter. In October-December 2002, the current account had registered a lower ... More

`ITes, capital-led industries to lead growth in economy'
THE US Federal fund rates may go up by 0.5 per cent during this calendar year, according to Mr Stephen Roach, Chief Global Economist and Managing Director, Morgan Stanley. He, however, feels that a jump to 3 per cent from the current level of ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS
Coimbatore zone excise collection up by 13 pc
INCREASED excise duty revenue earned by the Tiruchy Excise Commissionerate drives the overall excise income for the Coimbatore central excise zone to post a 13 per cent revenue growth during the year 2003-04 over the previous fiscal. The ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Pakistanis to chew Bambaiyya paan?
WHEN Laloo Prasad Yadav went to Pakistan last year, the bucolic Bihari leader presented President Musharraf a bagful of paan or betel leaves. It would perhaps take a social scientist to explain the importance of the unusual gift, but it ... More

HEALTH
To streamline healthcare services — EAN India introduces barcode standards
ENHANCED patient safety, reduced medication errors, speedier and accurate billing and documentation, safer blood supplies, and updated hospital supplies inventories, all these and more, will soon be a reality in India. EAN India, a non-profit ... More

Here come 2-wheeler ambulances
HYDERABAD: With a view to reaching out to accident victims in the `golden hour', Global Hospitals will introduce an innovative emergency medical service with a fleet of 10 two-wheeler ambulances. Each of these vehicles will be fitted ... More

PETROLEUM
Reliance, Niko find gas in K-G Basin
RELIANCE Industries Ltd and partner Niko Resources have made two new gas discoveries at the D-6 deepwater block in the Krishna-Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal. The two partners had announced year 2002's largest gas find of 14 trillion cubic ... More

Irrevocable taxes: Refiners may get compensation
THE Finance Ministry is reconsidering the possibility of compensating domestic refineries with `irrevocable taxes.' In November last year, the Ministry had turned down the compensation despite the fact there was a budgetary allocation of Rs 1,500 ... More

POWER
AP Court orders status quo in Spectrum case
THE Chief Judge of the City Civil Courts here has issued an order of "status quo" while hearing a petition filed by Mr Laxman Raj Madas, a shareholder of Spectrum Power Generation Ltd (SPGL), pleading injunction against Mr. M. Kishan Rao and RR ... More

Water shortage affects Kolaghat power station
PAUCITY of water is threatening to derail the smooth operation of the Kolaghat Thermal Power Station (KTPS), whose output now seems to be linked with the ebb and tide of the Rupnarayan river, from where the 1260 MW power plant draws its ... More

TAXATION
Tamil Nadu tea sales tax row blows over
"However, it is essential that after auctions are concluded, the sale be declared as a CST sale, with the party and destination identified." More

Double burden
Cement being unloaded from a goods train to a truck at Thrissur. Double taxation, which came into effect on Thursday, is likely to raise the prices of 21 items including medicines, readymade garments, packaged foods, cement etc. Through this ... More

TEXTILES

Hearing on yarn access in Hyderabad

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
Assocham plea to abolish MAT
THE Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has mooted a proposal to the Ministry of Finance to abolish Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT), which retards the corporate growth, to offload additional burden on progressive ... More

TEXTILE MACHINERY
SSI unit develops shuttleless rapier loom
A SMALL-SCALE unit in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal district is close to commercialising what could well turn out to be a true breed indigenised `rapier' shuttleless loom. The prototype of the `rapier' loom developed by Sree Andal and Company is ... More

NEWSPAPERS & PUBLISHING
NRS report now available
THE National Readership Survey-2003 can now be released and used by subscribers. The CD-ROMs are being despatched, according to a press release from the National Readership Studies Council (NRSC). This follows the vacation of an ad interim ... More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
Foreign investors pump $10 b into forex kitty
FOREIGN investments (both FII and FDI), at $10.1 billion, accounted for over 38 per cent of the $26.4-billion accretion to the country's forex reserves in the nine months ended December 2003. The accretion had been significantly lower in the ... More

Most proposals go through RBI's automatic route — Fewer FDI approvals via FIPB
FOREIGN direct investments (FDI) approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) during fiscal 2003-04 add up to a meagre Rs 3,729.48 crore. Of the total FDI approved since 1991 amounting Rs 2,79,533 crore, this works out to a mere ... More

EVENTS
Kinfra interactive meet
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) will host an interactive session with Dr Andrea Bonardi, Secretary-General, Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in Kochi on April 6. ... More

Academic-industry interaction

In Hyderabad today

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
KEC biz incubator attracting more talent
THOUGH located in one of the interior pockets of Tamil Nadu, the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) at Kongu Engineering College (KEC) at Perundurai in Erode is attracting a lot of talent. TBI has, within 6 months of its existence, started to ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Re gains make importers a happy lot
`INDIA Shining' may not be lending much sheen to exporters these days, but it is certainly lending a lot of shimmer and gloss to the country's imports, particularly oil and gold, thanks to the surging value of the rupee. With the domestic ... More