The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, July 07, 2004

ACCIDENTS
Endosulfan plant gutted at Kochi
A MAJOR fire broke out at the endosulfan plant of the Hindustan Insecticides Ltd in the early hours of Tuesday. There were no casualties. HIL management said the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage could be ascertained only after ... More

CLIMATE & WEATHER
Winds keep rain clouds to north of the Vindhyas
MONSOON winds continue to blow defiantly along a north/north-west axis shifting the core rain belt to regions north of the Vindhyas. This is threatening to extend "indefinitely" the dry spell, carried over from the past week, in most parts of ... More

Enchanting Gateway
The Gateway of India reflects a beautiful sight following heavy rains in Mumbai on Monday.

BUDGET
'Centre must focus on rural economy'
THE trade and industry associations have asked the Union Government to focus on strengthening the rural economy and infrastructure in the General Budget to be submitted on Thursday. The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and ... More

Hotel industry seeks infrastructure status
AN infrastructure status similar to that enjoyed by power, ports, airports and roads tops the Budget wish list of the hotel industry. The hotels sector has sought infrastructure status under Section 80 (I) A of the I-T Act, which would grant a ... More

Farmers with ability to pay should come under the tax net, says Kolkata Chamber
THE Merchants Chamber of Commerce, in its pre-budget memorandum to the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has suggested that agriculture, which accounts for nearly 28 per cent of GDP and which has at least 20 per cent of farmers with the ... More

ENVIRONMENT
Kerala Govt mulling guidelines to curb sand mining in rivers
Law prevents mining activity in any area falling within 500 metres upstream or downstream of manmade structures across rivers. More

PETROLEUM
ONGC to spend Rs 30,000 cr on LNG, petrochem, power
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd plans to invest close to Rs 30,000 crore on LNG, power and petrochemical projects in the three to four years. This will be in addition to ONGC's annual investment target of Rs 10,000 crore on projects in ... More

POWER
Bengal power board gets second rank in ICRA ratings
THE Investment Credit Rating Agency (ICRA) has given a ranking of 11 to the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) for its performance in 2002-03 with the second highest position in commercial viability. A WBSEB release said that the ... More

TAXATION
CBDT fixes cost inflation index for this fiscal
THE Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that the cost inflation index for the purpose of computing long-term capital gain would be pegged at `480' for the current financial year (2004-05). The base year for the index is financial ... More

TEXTILES
Failure to renew membership — Notices being sent to Tirupur, Coimbatore societies
THE Registrar of Societies is issuing cancellation notice under Section 44(3) of the Tamil Nadu Societies Act, 1975, to more than 5,000 societies in the Coimbatore and Tirupur registration districts for not renewing their membership. According ... More

SSI
New DSIA President for Mangalore
MANGALORE: Mr Jeevan Saldanha of Spectrum Industries, Mangalore, has been elected President of the District Small Industries Association (DSIA), Mangalore. A DSIA release said here on Tuesday that the recent annual general body meeting ... More

COAL
Global coal majors scouting for long-term deals with power cos
INTERNATIONAL coal majors are preparing to enter India by directly tying up with some of the power utilities for fuel supply. Sources said here that among the companies scouting for long-term coal supply contracts with power utilities include ... More

CIL, SAIL join hands to develop coal mines in Mozambique
COAL India Ltd (CIL), jointly with Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), has submitted an expression of interest (EOI) to the Mozambique Government for developing virgin coal mines in that country. The EOI was submitted last week, responding to ... More

EDUCATION
Pre-counselling help for AP CET students
ACQUISITION of the right skills, adapting to the changing situation and reinventing oneself are essential to getting ahead in engineering, medical and allied technical professions. This was the message drilled into the ears of the aspiring ... More

Gaziabad management tech institute increasing centres to 100
THE Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, has firmed up plans to increase the number of study centres to 100 by end-December 2005. At present, the management institute has 72 study centres, including three abroad. Talking to ... More

ICFAI to hold student empowerment workshop in Thiruvananthapuram
ICFAI National College (INC), Thiruvananthapuram, will organise a `student empowerment workshop' here from Thursday for the benefit of local students. Announcing this, Mr Ram Mohan S., Principal, said that Dr S. Kevin, Vice Chancellor, the ... More

CARS
Executive segment car sales rev up 141 pc
THE world's largest selling car, Toyota Corolla, and Chevrolet Optra, helped by its 1.6-litre version, powered the sales growth of the executive segment by a record 141 per cent during the first six months of the calendar year. The executive ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Honour for Kerala scientist
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mr Vasudevan Pillai Biju, a Keralite scientist working as a research scientist in the US, has been appointed Senior Scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan. He has been ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Judicial probe into `Food for Work' scheme in AP
THE State Government has announced its decision to constitute a judicial probe into alleged irregularities in the implementation of the `Food for Work' programme during the TDP rule. After nearly two hours of heated exchanges on the Food for ... More

EVENTS

Engagements

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Waive stamp duty on export bills: FIEO
THE Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has urged the Government to do away with the stamp duty on export bills. In a statement, the FIEO President, Mr Rafeeque Ahmed, hoped that the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, would ... More

TOURISM
Talks with Chennai hospitals to boost medical tourism
TAMIL Nadu Tourism Department is in talks with speciality hospitals in Chennai and Coimbatore to promote medical tourism in the State, according to official sources. Chennai has a number of speciality hospitals like Apollo, Sankara Nethralaya, ... More

World Tourism council meet in Hyderabad
THE Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, will inaugurate the 73rd Executive Council meeting of World Tourism Organisation (WTO) here on Thursday. The three-day meeting is being held after a gap of 21 years in India. Tourism ... More