The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, September 22, 2004

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Manmohan, Bush express desire to strengthen ties
THE Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the US President George W. Bush agreed that policies "encouraging greater integration" of the economies of the two countries and with the global economy would offer opportunities to expand and strengthen ... More

ENVIRONMENT
To ensure growth in harmony with nature — UNIDO proposes 4 basic principles
THE United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has proposed four basic principles to ensure growth in harmony with nature. Addressing the inaugural of the three-day Green Business Summit on `Resource sustainability - Closing ... More

`Glocalisation can help preserve natural resources'
WHEN you talk about growth and development, you should factor in on the fact that resources on this planet are limited and some are non-renewable. Better choose the path of glocalisation, says Dr Ashok Khosla, one of the founding members of the ... More

Canadian academy in talks with CII for policy initiatives
THE Sustainable Enterprise Academy (SEA), based in Toronto, Canada, and part of the New York University, specialising in environment protection training and executive programmes, is in parleys with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to ... More

PETROLEUM
ONGC to hire 12 more survey vessels
ONGC has lined up the `biggest-ever,' seismic survey exercise for the exploration of oil and hydrocarbons in the country in this fiscal. A prerequisite for carrying out the drilling operations, the survey in all probability will cross the ... More

POWER
NTPC issue price band set at Rs 52-62
THE price band for NTPC's first equity public offering has been fixed at Rs 52-Rs 62 per share. On Monday, the company filed the preliminary prospectus with the Registrar of Companies. The issue will open on October 7 and close on October 14. ... More

TAXATION
No service tax for export cargo by aircraft operators
EXPORTERS using the air route to transport their products to overseas markets have cause for cheer. The Finance Ministry has exempted "taxable services" provided by an "aircraft operator" in relation to transport of export cargo from the levy of ... More

ICICI Info consortium bags VAT panel deal — For tax information exchange system
The TINXSYS project would primarily facilitate information exchange between sales tax departments across the country and establish a database for all inter-State transactions. More

VAT compensation package: States may press for base year change
An expert technical committee appointed by the Finance Ministry is looking into the issue of compensation to States in case of losses. More

Ministry may revisit `irrecoverable taxes' issue with PSU refiners
THE Finance Ministry is reviewing its earlier decision against compensating public sector oil companies with `irrecoverable taxes' during fiscal 2003-04. Irrecoverable taxes are those taxes that are levied by the State Governments on the ... More

SSI
SMB debt revamp: Chamber for I-T sops to lenders
THE PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that in order to encourage banks to be more flexible with small and medium enterprises, the amount written off in the books of accounts of banks and financial institutions due to restructuring of ... More

CMERI bid to promote small, medium-scale industries
THE Durgapur-based Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), a national mechanical research institute established in 1958 under the aegis of the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), is padding up for a new role. More

RADIO/TV
BPCL studying scope of leasing satellite for DTH
BHARAT Petroleum Corporation Ltd is studying the feasibility of leasing out satellite time to television companies for relaying television signals through DTH (direct-to-home) broadcasting services in India. "Someone had sent us a proposal ... More

BCCI in talks with TWI for Australian tour of India
AS part of its contingency plans to get the Australian team's tour of India going, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already initiated talks with sports production company TransWorld International (TWI). According to sources, ... More

EDUCATION
`10 lakh teachers needed for universal primary education'
THERE is a requirement of at least 10 lakh teachers across the country if the constitutional obligation of imparting primary education to every child is to be fulfilled, according to Dr V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chairman of the University ... More

Time-frame to reform grant-in-aid system planned in Karnataka
THE Government has evolved a protocol to implement the grant-in-aid reforms and rationalisation and monitoring system for the private-aided schools. A cap has been fixed in terms of number of years before embarking upon phasing out of the ... More

IIIE national convention at Thiruvananthapuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering (IIIE) will hold its national convention in Thiruvananthapuram from September 24 to September 26. The theme of this year's convention is `Quality Management in the ... More

Kalam to attend NAAC meet

CERAMICS

Ceramic park near Vizag planned

MINING & QUARRYING
Kerala industries dept clarifies GO on mineral sand mining
THE Kerala Industries Department has clarified that the Government Order issued recently on mineral sand mining in Alapuzha district is subject to the final verdict of the High Court. Besides this, the order dated September 15, 2004, has also ... More

Private sand mining opposed in Kerala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Matsya Thozhilali Federation affiliated to the CITU as also the Kerala State Council of the AITUC have voiced their strong opposition to the grant of `No Objection Certificate' to a private group for ... More

TRADE & LABOUR UNIONS
Textile unions meet on tribunal issue
THE number of textile mills managements that achieved bilateral settlement of the wage dispute with their workers and got them passed before the special industrial tribunal appointed by the Tamil Nadu Government has gone up. According to ... More

EVENTS

In Hyderabad today

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
India tops in US home textiles market
INDIA has emerged as the top supplier in major product categories in the `cut-throat' US home textiles market, leaving erstwhile leaders such as China, Portugal, Brazil and Turkey to bite the dust. Quota restrictions notwithstanding, Indian ... More

COMMODITY COMMENTARY
Lobbies at work to get customs duty on maize import cut
SOMETHING strangely common between two apparently unrelated events in two different parts of the country last week provides an interesting insight into the minds of those in agri-commodity business. A report on the proceedings at the Indo-US ... More

RBI winds up State-level export panel
THE Reserve Bank of India has decided to wind up the State Level Export Promotion Committee (SLEPC) and constitute a separate sub-committee under the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) for the redressal of exporters' grievances. "The matter ... More

PIRACY
Telugu film industry seeks people's help to fight piracy
GETTING a fresh lease of life from the wide publicity to the Mahesh Babu episode, the Telugu film industry has appealed to the people to help it curb piracy that has been eating the vitals of the industry. Addressing a press conference here, ... More

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES
Ayurveda majors plan common brand
IN a bid to promote Kerala as the authentic destination for ayurveda, leading ayurveda product companies and pharmacies in the State are teaming up to establish standards and common practices in the ancient medical system. About 20-30 firms, ... More

TOURISM
AP Govt to organise tourism fests
MARKING the World Tourism Day on September 27, the State Tourism Department is organising a series of events throughout the State, beginning on Thursday. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Ms J. Geeta Reddy, Minister for Tourism and ... More

STANDARDS & BENCHMARKS
Silk body plans new label
THE Silk Mark Organisation of India (SMOI), a registered society sponsored by the Textiles Ministry, plans to introduce another label called `Vanya' for the wild or non-mulberry silk that is gaining in popularity both in the domestic and ... More