The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, June 06, 2004

BUDGET
Unions demand 12 pc interest on PF savings
LABOUR leaders on Saturday demanded that the rate of interest on provident fund be raised from last year's 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent annually along with retaining the retirement age for Government servants at 60 years. They also asked for ... More

AP Budget to be presented on June 23 — Appropriation Bill passed
THE Andhra Pradesh Budget will be presented on June 23. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, announced on Saturday that the Legislative Assembly would be convened for the Budget session on June 21. The session is slated ... More

ECONOMY
Economists want step-up in farm investment
ECONOMISTS on Saturday asked the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, to step up public investment in agriculture with particular emphasis on creation of non-farm employment opportunities. At a pre-budget meeting with the Finance Minister, ... More

ENGINEERING
Foundry, pump units seek rollback of raw material prices
EVEN as the Indian Steel Alliance (ISA), the association of five hot-rolled steel coil producers, has asked the Centre to keep away from regulating steel prices, the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association (SIEMA), an umbrella ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS
SIAM wants excise duty to be cut to 16%
WITH the excise duty reduction on passenger cars having put the domestic market in top gear in the last fiscal, the industry is asking for a further reduction in excise in the forthcoming Budget. In its Budget 2004-05 wish list, the Society of ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Commerce Ministry handling Lankan trade pact issues
THE Finance Ministry has advised trade and industry associations and Government departments to direct their representations on policy issues relating to the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) to the Commerce Ministry. Trade, industry ... More

TAXATION
Tobacco industry plea for exemption from VAT regime
THE tobacco industry is planning to ask the Government to exclude the sector from the proposed value-added tax (VAT) regime and seek withdrawal of the 15 per cent excise surcharge being levied as the National Calamity Contingency Duty. The ... More

EDUCATION

ICFAI sets up business school in Kochi

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
CII team visiting Singapore, Malaysia
A 21-MEMBER CII delegation of HR heads is visiting Singapore and Malaysia from June 7 to 12 to "share best practices in HR" with the Asia-Pacific region. The team was led by Mr Adil Malia, Coca-Cola Vice-President - Human Resources, for ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
ISRO bags Italian launch contract
ISRO has won a $ 10-million contract (worth about Rs 50 crore) to launch a mid-sized Italian scientific satellite towards the end of next year. Although ISRO has provided commercial launches for four small 100-kg satellites since May 1999, the ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
EPCG norms on second-hand imports now a bone of contention
AS part of the efforts aimed at improving export competitiveness of Indian goods, the Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, may soon be required to review the policy on import of second-hand capital goods under the export promotion capital goods ... More

Mercosur an attractive destination for Indian exporters: Study
A STUDY by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and EXIM Bank on the potential for enhanced India-Mercosur trade in pharmaceutical, chemical and petrochemical products, reveals that the size of the markets for these ... More

Special package for SEZ, EOUs on the cards
THE Government is working out a special package for export units in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and the 100-per cent Export Oriented Units (EOUs) as part of the Export-Import (Exim) Policy to be announced next month, the Union Commerce and ... More