The Hindu Business Line : Friday, June 04, 2004

CLIMATE & WEATHER
METSIGNS
Rains are scattered in Kerala
SOUTH-WEST monsoon returned a largely indifferent performance during the week ending June 2 that saw only one district (Pathanamthitta) recording `excess' rain. According to the Agromet Advisory dated June 2 issued by the Thiruvananthapuram ... More

INVESTMENTS
Investment drought has ended, says Chidambaram
THE `investment drought' in the country has come to an end, feels the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, at the end of a two-day visit to the country's commercial capital. Making a statement to the media after a series of meetings, the new ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY
Compact solar heater from BHEL, Hyderabad
HYDERABAD: Scientists at the Corporate Research and Development (R&D) of the BHEL, Hyderabad, have developed a compact solar geyser of 100 litres/day capacity for domestic application. The product has been extensively tested. The solar ... More

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
CETMA urges review of proposed cess on TVs
The Consumer Electronics & TV Manufacturers Association (CETMA) has urged the Ministry for Information & Broadcasting (I&B) that the proposed levy of cess on sale of television (TV) sets be reviewed. Cess on TV sets will make the product More

ECONOMY
Investment plans may have to be altered to suit policy: Mukesh
THE Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, Mr Mukesh Ambani, on Thursday said he expects Indian corporates to invest Rs 1,00,000-1,50,000 crore in the next 24 months. After attending the Finance Minister's meeting with top industrialists here, he ... More

Institutional investors `encouraged'
Mr Chidambaram has assured the institutional investors that fiscal deficit will be contained by 2007. More

ENVIRONMENT
Call to curb marine pollution at Vizag
EXPRESSING concern over rising levels of marine pollution and the consequent depletion of marine resources of the Visakhapatnam coast, experts here have urged the Government and the academic institutions such as the Andhra University to launch a ... More

FERTILISERS
Decision to deregulate urea supply to come under scanner
THE review committee, set up by the Fertiliser Minister and headed by the Fertiliser Secretary to examine the issues pertaining to partial deregulation of urea distribution, will examine the circumstances that prompted the erstwhile National ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Korea to open trade promotion centre in Mumbai
THE Korean Government is all set to open its third Korean Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) centre here in co-operation with the Indian Merchants Chamber, to widen its network and strengthen the business bonds between both the ... More

G.K. Pillai to officiate as DGFT
MR G.K. Pillai, currently Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, would perform the official duties of the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) following the appointment of Mr L. Mansingh, erstwhile DGFT, as Secretary, Department of ... More

HEALTH
Randox launches biochip tech for clinical testing
THE launch of biochip technology for clinical diagnostics by Randox Laboratories, UK, is expected to revolutionise clinical testing methods in labs. This protein chip technology for clinical diagnosis is a fully automated procedure ensuring ... More

HOTELS
Restaurants to be classified soon in Kerala
KERALA Tourism is in the final stages of developing a scheme for the classification of restaurants in the State. The details of this initiative are being worked out and a Government Order on the restaurant classification scheme is likely to be ... More

PETROLEUM
`Mechanism soon to reduce effects of oil shocks'
THE Government is in the process of finalising a mechanism to mitigate the effects of global oil shocks on the consumer, according to the Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer. "A meeting of the Finance Secretary with the Petroleum ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Uniform MRP for drugs likely soon
THE Government is planning to issue an order directing all pharma companies to have uniform maximum retail price (MRP) for their branded medicines all over the country. In many medicine packs, the price is printed as "MRP plus taxes" which ... More

POWER
Satluj Jal Vidyut bags seven more projects — Keen to execute global orders
SATLUJ Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN), the public sector power major and joint venture between the Government of India and Himachal Pradesh Government, has bagged seven more projects in Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. These seven projects, five ... More

Load-shedding in Kerala to continue
A DECISION on lifting the load-shedding in the State has been deferred "for the time being" by the State Cabinet which met here on Wednesday. Announcing this to newspersons, the Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, said deferral was the best option ... More

Bengal power panel moots cut in tariff
CLOSE on the heels of declaring the tariff for CESC Ltd, the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC) announced the tariff of the state-run West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL). The WBERC has recommended ... More

TN Grain merchants' plea on power tariff

TAXATION
BNCCI plea to avoid double taxation on agri-produce
THE West Bengal Agricultural Products Marketing Minister, Ms Chhaya Ghosh on Thursday asked members of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) to evolve a formula to avoid double taxation of agro-produce. She was responding ... More

WATER

Vaigai release delayed

BREWERIES
Top global brewers look anew at Indian beer market
EVEN as the top global brewers rush to carve out a slice of the exploding Chinese beer pie, a few of them including Heineken and Carlsberg are casting their eyes on India once again. These brewing giants, who looked at the domestic market ... More

EDUCATION
$500-m aid from World Bank for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan project
THE Government on Thursday signed an agreement with the World Bank for availing $500-million assistance from the latter for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) project. The $500-million amount would partly cover the total cost of the project, which ... More

BEVERAGES
Kerala: Rains bring cheer to cola cos
ONSET of rains is not something soft drink makers usually look forward to, but this time in Kerala, Coca-Cola and Pepsi need a great monsoon to revive their operations. The cola majors had to shut their bottling units in Palakkad district as ... More

GEMS & JEWELLERY
Indian demand for gold jewellery up 21% in Q1
THE total consumer demand in India for gold (jewellery and net retail investment) was up by 25 per cent in tonnage terms, and by 37 per cent in rupee terms, in the first quarter of 2004, compared to the somewhat depressed levels of a year ... More

LEATHER
Footwear park may come up near Chennai
A FOOTWEAR park may come up at the SIPCOT Industrial Park in Irungattukottai as Tamil Nadu is one of the States identified by the Commerce Ministry for the purpose. Leather industry sources said Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab had ... More

GOLD & SILVER
Spot gold may test support level
GOLD prices went lower on the lack of follow through to close above the psychological resistance level of $400. MayUS employment report is due on Friday which will be eagerly awaited by the market as it could provide clues to further direction of ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
Chamber chiefs to meet Finance Minister today
THE top honchos of the apex chambers of commerce and industry are to meet the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, here on Friday to put forward their expectations from the forthcoming Union Budget. At the pre-Budget meeting, the captains of ... More

PHDCCI wants special excise duty to go
THE PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has urged the Finance Ministry to do away with the concept of special excise duty (SED). The chamber has also said that it wants the excise duty rate to eventually come down to "not more than ... More

READYMADE GARMENTS
Garment suppliers told to adopt EAN barcoding
INTERNATIONAL buyers, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Cades (France), the Otto Group (Germany), Woolworth (UK), Lowe's and Lord & Taylor, have instructed their Indian suppliers to adopt EAN.UCC global supply chain standards in barcoding and More

KNITWEAR & HOSIERY
Chennai port stir hurts Tirupur cargo
THE on-going strike by the workers of the private port, the Chennai Container Terminals Ltd (CCTL), has affected the garment shipments from knitwear town of Tirupur in a limited way, although bulk of the Tirupur garment consignments are shipped ... More

NEWSPAPERS & PUBLISHING
International Herald Tribune is here
INTERNATIONAL Herald Tribune (IHT), the prestigious news daily from the New York Times stable, is now in India, officially. It is being printed from Hyderabad, though Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry officials appear to ... More

DISINVESTMENT
AAI staff, Left parties oppose move to privatise airports
THE Left parties and the Airports Authority Employees Union (AAEU) have taken to the streets on the "airport privatisation" move. Addressing a meeting of the Employees Union, the CPI (M) Polit Bureau Member, Mr Sitaram Yechury, told the ... More

Disinvestment job: Consulting cos left guessing
WITH `CEO' chief ministers such as Mr Chandrababu Naidu and Mr S.M. Krishna shown the door, and the Left-supported UPA Government in the Centre putting disinvestment on the backburner, consulting companies are uncertain about the fate of their ... More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
Cabinet to review airport FDI cap
THE announcement by the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel on Wednesday that the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap has been fixed at 49 per cent for privatisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports is likely to come up for a review by the ... More

Unions may raise pitch over airport issue
COME Saturday, the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, could be feeling the heat generated by the recent decision of the Government on lowering Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for airport modernisation that has left the door open for the ... More

EVENTS
Garment tech show in Bangalore
GAR-FAB Tx, a four-day trade show of garment technology, fabrics and accessories, opened here on Thursday. Nearly 60 exhibitors are displaying more than 150 brands from India and abroad. Coming in the last months of global quota era, the ... More

MDA programme put off

INCOME TAX
NSDL centres to offer PAN related services
THE Income-Tax Department has appointed National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) as a service provider. Come June 7, the TIN Facilitation Centres (TIN FCs), established by NSDL at 139 cities across the country, would also provide Permanent ... More

Exclude corpus donations from application of income norm: ICAI
THE Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has suggested that the mandatory application of income norm should not be applicable on the `corpus donations' received by charitable institutions/trusts coming within the scope of Section 10 ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
April spices export doubles on surge in chilli shipments
A SURGE in the chilli shipments in April has almost doubled the total exports of spices during the month to 33,065 tonnes valued at Rs 208.63 crore from 15,603 tonnes worth Rs 128.99 crore in the same month last year. Export of chilli has gone ... More

Global exporters outsource cocoa needs from Campco
THE Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd, Mangalore, seems to have taken cue from the current buzzword of Indian industry - outsourcing. It is exporting a considerable amount of finished cocoa products ... More

TOURISM
Tourism industry pins hopes on AP Govt talks with Naxalites
THE talk of talks between the Government and CPI (ML) People's War has drawn encouraging response from the tourism industry in the State. With the new Congress Government and People's War showing interest to hold talks to discuss several issues ... More