The Hindu Business Line : Friday, September 10, 2004

ECONOMY
PM for development strategy to ensure high economic growth
THE Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Thursday underlined the urgent need for a development strategy that puts in place corrective measures to achieve a sustained high economic growth rate. In his opening remarks at the full meeting of the ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Taxing service exports: Give up selective approach
As there is no service tax on any earnings in foreign exchange for `taxable service', some exporters of services are puzzled about the new foreign trade policy's exemption from tax of services exported. The whole issue is still nebulous, says G. Srinivasan. More

India Trade Show to be held in Muscat next year
COMPANIES representing a variety of sectors including consumer products, textiles, engineering, auto parts and ancillaries, the building and construction sector, as well as service-related industries are expected to participate in a trade show to ... More

Bengal keen to reap benefits from pact with Thailand
WEST Bengal is keen on tapping part of the fallout of the India-Thailand Free Trade Agreement, which has just been set in motion. The Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, stated this while inaugurating the India International Mega Trade ... More

EEPC expects $25-m exports to Kazakhstan in 2004-05
EXPORT of Indian engineering goods to Kazakhstan is expected to be of the order of $ 25 million in 2004-05 compared with "negligible" levels in the last fiscal. In the current fiscal till date, Indian engineering goods exports to Kazakhstan ... More

Bangladesh revives interest in running freight trains to India
BANGLADESH has revived interest in the running of container freight trains between the two countries and has accordingly asked for detailed designs of flats and other equipment from the Indian Railways, according to the Indian Railways sources. ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE
Mahindra's corporate SEZ on fast track
THE Mahindra group would develop the first corporate special economic zone (SEZ) in the country. The special purpose vehicle - Mahindra Industrial Park Ltd (MIPL) - floated by the Mahindra Gesco Developers Ltd in association with the ... More

Karnataka clears projects worth Rs 23,320 cr
THE Karnataka Government's high-level committee on Thursday cleared 11 major investment proposals totalling nearly Rs 23,320 crore. These include projects of Cipla, ONGC-MRPL, Jindal Thermal and MCF and would be executed on a fast-track basis. ... More

German trade fair firm scouts for fair ground in India
MESSE Munchen International, one of the world's largest trade fairs companies, has its eye on India, but has not found a suitable fair ground with international service levels, according to Ms Katharina Christine Hamma, Executive Director, Messe ... More

Construction stocks betting on infrastructure boom
THOUGH the stock of construction companies such as Nagarjuna Construction Co (NCC) and Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) ended the day in negative territory, going forward the market appears bullish on the sector. This was also evident in ... More

PETROLEUM
HPCL scouting for jt venture partners in gas business
HINDUSTAN Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) is looking for Indian and foreign partners for joint ventures in the natural gas business. The company is looking for opportunities for new tie-ups for a share in the LNG business including import ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Pharma sector concern over Patents Bill in present avatar
IF the Patent (Amendment) Bill comes into force in its present form, at least 15 per cent of medicines marketed in India would come under the product patent. And this could result in consumers getting the wrong end of the stick, cautions the ... More

Pharma body announces price freeze till March
CONSUMERS will get some reprieve from the steady increase in drug prices, with two major domestic pharmaceutical associations putting a freeze on the price of medicines until March 31, 2005. The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) announced ... More

Indian Pharmacopeia Commission to be a reality soon
THE formalities of getting the Indian Pharmacopeia Commission operationalised is underway, according to Mr Ashwini Kumar, Drug Controller-General of India (DCGI). Speaking at the two-day pharmaceutical analysts convention here in Mumbai, Mr ... More

TAXATION
Service tax collections up 72.61% in Apr-Aug
SERVICE tax collections of the Centre have surged by 72.61 per cent during the first five months of the current fiscal. Official sources said that the total service tax collected by the Centre during the April-August period stood at about Rs ... More

Bangalore Mahanagar Palike move on new trade regime opposed
SEVERAL associations representing different trade and businesses in Bangalore have formed a joint front to oppose the Bangalore Mahanagar Palike's (BMP) move to impose a trade regime, which they claimed was not tenable under the Karnataka ... More

Delhi tour operators to observe `black day'
THE tourism industry will observe September 15 as a `black day' to protest against the Delhi Government's recent notification levying a luxury tax on the published tariff rates of hotel rooms as also the levy of a service tax. In a statement, ... More

TEXTILES
Anil Products bullish on southern textile sector — Launches new range of starch
The company expects to market 700 to 1,000 tonnes per month of the new generation modified starch. More

RADIO/TV
HC asks Zee, ESPN to make fresh bids
THE Bombay High Court today suggested that ESPN-Star Sports and Zee TV make fresh and final bids for the rights to broadcast national and international cricket matches to be played in India between October 2004 and September 2008. This time ... More

Cricket telecast: Opportunity for lost bidders
EVEN as Zee Telefilms chalks out its strategy for the cricket rights, legal experts are of the opinion that the Bombay High Court's suggestion for a fresh round of bidding could open options for the other broadcasters who had lost out in the ... More

Doordarshan moves to pad up DTH bouquet
Of the 30 channels on offer to start with, 17 would be Doordarshan's own channels and the rest private. More

EDUCATION

New Zealand education fair at Kochi

FOODS & FOOD PROCESSING
Huge potential seen for Indian ethnic foods in EU
CONSUMERS in the UK and other parts of the world are of late keen on Indian ethnic foods and thus, there is a huge potential for its marketing in the European Union, according to Mr Ninesh Patel, Chairman, East Midlands Ethnic Food Forum, ... More

GOLD & SILVER
Spot gold may head lower
GOLD prices recovered from recent lows after remarks by the Federal Reserve Chairman, Mr. Alan Greenspan, during his testimony to the house budget committee resulted in a dollar sell-off. He indicated that he saw little risk of the economy ... More

PHOTOGRAPHIC & ALLIED PRODUCTS
Digital camera sales go up 61 pc globally
DIGITAL camera sales world over registered a whopping 61 per cent growth last year. Of the 109 million cameras sold in 2003, about 49 million were digital ones. Though analogue cameras continued to dominate the market with sales of 57 ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES
Ma Foi to launch training course for nurses
TO cater to the growing global healthcare sector, Ma Foi will soon launch a `finishing school' for nurses. According to Mr K Pandia Rajan, Managing Director of this Chennai-based search and HR services company, "To start with, we will train ... More

Stringent US visa norms, security may block foreign talent: Report
Post 9/11, there has been a steep decline in non-immigrant US visa issuance between 2001 and 2003, and this has had a strong impact on Indian and Chinese nationals. More

EVENTS
HR management should respond to changes: Experts
A string of issues related to human resource management (HRM), such as leadership and succession, training and development, compensation and e-learning, were discussed on the first day of the two-day annual business seminar organised by the ... More

UK cos to have strong presence at FoodTec
THE agri-business team of the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) will present a perspective on the best of UK expertise, products and technology at the three-day International FoodTec India 2004 at the HITEX Fair Grounds starting Friday. The East ... More

In Hyderabad today

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Exporters urge Govt to disband Basmati Development Fund
RICE exporters have urged the Commerce Ministry to disband the Basmati Development Fund and also cut the cess collected under the fund. The fund was set up after the Texas-based RiceTec Inc secured patents for basmati rice lines in 1997. The ... More

Infam opposes cut in rubber export subsidy
THE Indian Farmer's Movement (Infam) on Thursday urged the Kerala Government to give financial incentives for the export of natural rubber, as the decision to halve the export subsidy would adversely affect rubber growers. Infam said in a ... More