INFRASTRUCTURE
Kerala: CM's intervention sought on developmental projects
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Capital City Development Forum has sought the intervention of the Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, in the efforts to expedite priority-listed developmental projects identified for the capital region. In a ... More

PETROLEUM
Govt considering hike in natural gas price
The Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, will have to contend with the views of the Government's alliance partners, the Left parties, who are likely to oppose the hike. More

PHARMACEUTICALS
SC notices on cancer drug marketing rights
THE debate over the issue of exclusive marketing rights (EMRs) to overseas pharmaceutical company took a fresh turn on Friday with the Supreme Court issuing notices to the Central Government, Drug Controller General of India and the Controller ... More

Govt backs desi pharma cos despite WHO salvo
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) may have dropped the anti-retroviral (ARV) or anti-AIDS drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy and Cipla from its list, but the Indian Government will continue to procure from these companies for the domestic AIDS ... More

POWER
KPTCL turns to hydel stations
WITH the southwest monsoon in full swing, Karnataka has backed down the liquid fuel stations in the State and is meeting most requirements from low tariff hydroelectric stations. Sources said here that the generating company, Karnataka Power ... More

TAXATION
Aircraft lease rentals: Assocham for review of tax proposal
THE Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) today reiterated the stand of the domestic aviation industry. It suggested to the Finance Minister to review his proposal for levying 40 per cent taxation on the lease ... More

AP increases sales tax on ATF to 30.55 pc
ANDHRA Pradesh has raised the sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to 30.55 per cent from the earlier lower rate of just 4 per cent. Interestingly, AP had in April 2002 lowered the sales tax on ATF from 30.55 per cent to 4 per cent. ... More

TEXTILES
Textile stocks in limelight
TEXTILE stocks regained their interest in Friday's trading aided by the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram's indications that he might alter the tax structure on man-made fibres. The interest in these stocks was also due to the end of quota ... More

SSI
Tussle for Coimbatore cluster may intensify
SIEMA steps into the Coimbatore Industrial Cluster project with a proposal and takes on Codissia which has already pitched in with its plan. More

7-point CII agenda to put SMEs on their legs
IN its endeavour at making small and medium enterprises (SMEs) competitive, CII (Southern Region) has fixed for itself a seven-point agenda. Based on the agenda, it has built the theme for 2004-05 as the year `to grow competitive and move to ... More

WATER
Project Siruthuli bid to revive Noyyal river in TN
`PROJECT Siruthuli'- a public initiative mooted by certain corporate houses in the city for restoration of water tanks, streams and water supply channels, has estimated the cost for restoration of the Noyyal River at Rs 5 crore. The Noyyal is ... More

RADIO/TV
Telecast rights: BCCI may deal with broadcasters directly
IN an attempt to disintermediate the bidding process for the multi-crore cricket telecast rights, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is considering permitting only those companies that own television channels to participate in ... More

EDUCATION
CVAT graduates top NAC exams
THE T.S. Srinivasan Centre for Vocational and Advanced Training (CVAT) conducted its graduation day ceremony recently, according to a press release from CVAT. It offers a three-year technical training programme leading to a CVAT Diploma and ... More

NITK Surathkal to set up yogic centre
THE National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) at Surathkal near Mangalore will set up a yogic research centre on its premises. Apart from training students and faculty in yoga, meditation and personality development, the proposed ... More

FOODS & FOOD PROCESSING
Central, State-level task forces mooted for food processing
THE Government is planning to set up a national level task force and several State-level ones for addressing the problems of the food processing sector. Announcing this at a seminar organised here by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ... More

GEMS & JEWELLERY
Diamond trade gets ready for face-off: Are synthetics `real'?
SYNTHETIC diamonds are so tacky, right? You wouldn't, for instance, want to give your fiancée a synthetic diamond, would you? Wrong. And wrong again. Last year, a well-known diamond wholesaler in Mumbai bought a batch ... More

A touch of glitter
A Japanese and an Indian model display the Ganjam Kazuo Ogawa line of collection on platinum jewellery at a press conference in Hyderabad on Friday. Bangalore-based Ganjam Nagappa & Son Pvt Ltd has brought its award-winning collections to ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Mumbai realtors protest MoE notification
A NOTIFICATION issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on July 7 this year requiring projects of certain specifications to seek Central government clearance has fetched vociferous protest from the construction industry in ... More

LEATHER
Kolkata tanners in fix over delay in effluent plant
THE 25-odd investors in the Calcutta Leather Complex who had commissioned their units on time are finding themselves in a spot. Despite having received all necessary approvals, none of these units could commence operation as the State ... More

READYMADE GARMENTS
Design workshop in Madurai
MADURAI: A `Design workshop for readymade garments and textile made-ups' will be held in the city on Saturday. Value addition, productivity increase, sourcing of fabrics, accessories, colour and design forecasting for domestic and export ... More

WTO
WTO emergency meet to tackle textile quota abolition issues
THE World Trade Organisation (WTO) has held informal consultations with a range of its members for an emergency meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) proposed by Mauritius to examine the adjustment costs related to the quota abolition ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES
Medical transcription back in demand
THE Indian medical transcription (MT) industry, which was in the dumps till recently, is witnessing a resurgence in India following shrinkage of availability of skillsets (skilled manpower) in the US. The highly-fragmented industry consisting ... More

EVENTS
FIEO plans to organise global congress on trade in services
THE Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) will organise a two-day international congress on trade in services in the second-half of 2005. "The international congress will provide a platform for Indian service providers to interact ... More

HR conclave on leadership
HYDERABAD: `HR Conclave 2004 - The Changing Face of Leadership -From Transactions to Transformation'", on August 11, organised by the CII will bring together speakers such as Mr M.V. Subbiah, Executive Chairman, EID Parry; Mr Ram ... More

INCOME TAX
A watchman over the taxman
T. N. Pandey looks at the CAG's findings in its review of the I-T Department's working More

Some kindness to gifts in kind
Why are gifts in kind left out of the tax net, asks S. Murlidharan More

A plan bit too grand
Mohan R. Lavi on the new recommendations in the realm of personal taxation More

Salaried are no maharajas
IS car a personal effect? A queer question to ask, but the Mumbai tax tribunal considered this issue when dealing with the Narendra I. Bhuva case not long ago. Bhuva, a salaried employee, purchased a vintage Ford Tourer 1931 model in 1983 for ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Edible oil prices softening; imports may gather momentum
VEGETABLE oil import volume in July dipped from the previous month. The preliminary estimate of arrivals last month is 2.45 lakh tonnes (lt) according to data made available to Business Line by Oilmandi.com, an industry portal. Imports ... More

EU to allow duty-free import of brown basmati
Under the new import regime, brown rice imports will attract a general tariff rate of 65 euros per tonne, while being zero for the seven specified basmati varieties. More

ICCI tells Kerala to draft export policy to curb declining trend
THE State Government should prepare a draft export policy in consultation with the business community in view of the poor export performance of Kerala, Mr P.M. Muraleedharan, President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has said. ... More

TOURISM
ITC travel arm brings out guidebook for tourists
INTERNATIONAL Travel House, the travel arm of ITC Ltd, has launched the `Travel House Guide to Incredible India', to add value to its offer for inbound travellers. The guidebook, priced at Rs 250, promotes the treasures of India to global ... More

Flexing muscles
A snake boat conducts rehearsal for the Nehru Trophy Boat Race at Punnamada in Alappuzha on Friday. The race, to be held on August 14, is one of the most marketed tourism events in the State and attracts hordes of foreign visitors. ... More

BOOKS
Access Info to bring out Kerala Industrial Yellow Pages
KOCHI: Access Info Sources Pvt Ltd is bringing out `Access All Kerala Industrial and Commercial Yellow Pages' which contains comprehensive data on industry and commerce in the State. A copy of the Yellow Pages would be distributed to ... More