CEMENT
`Look at price aspect to boost cement demand'
THE Government has called for the need to bridge the gap between selling price and the production cost of cement to give a boost to rural housing demand. Addressing the 43rd annual session of Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) here, the ... More

ECONOMY
India need not worry over oil price rise for now: ADB
ALTHOUGH the Asian Development Bank projected a slow-down of India's economic growth to 6.5 per cent in fiscal 2004 and six per cent in 2005, due to current high oil prices among other factors, an ADB official told Business Line that the ... More

Left parties satisfied as foreign experts offer to quit
WITH reports of the nine `outside experts' representing the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the McKinsey consultancy group offering to resign from the various consultancy groups in the Planning Commission, yet another ticklish ... More

ENVIRONMENT
Kerala Govt shelves GO on mineral sand mining
While putting the order on hold, the Government also decided to constitute a committee of experts to look into the environmental aspects of the project. More

YSR concerned at dwindling forests
THE Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has expressed concern over dwindling forest resources in the State. "Whenever I have flown over the forest area or driven through, I have found the numbers reducing and very few trees of more than ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS
Row over carotenoid level in palm oil deepens — Customs authorities at JNPT levy 100 per cent duty
THE confusion over what is the duty applicable on imported crude palm oil (CPO) consignments not meeting the minimum 500-mg per kg of total carotenoids specification, shows no signs of abatement. Following the reported move by the Chennai ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
PM meeting big players in US business
ONE of the major scheduled events on Wednesday for the visiting Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is his visit to the New York Stock Exchange where he will be making some brief remarks before getting into a luncheon interaction with some ... More

HOTELS
Tata group plans 5 indiOne hotels in Kerala
TATA Group's newly launched `indiOne' budget hotel chain is planning to set up five hotels in Kerala in the next two-three years as part of its expansion plans, company officials have said. The indiOne hotels are slated to come up at Ernakulam, ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure records 5.6 pc growth in April-Aug
THE official six-industry infrastructure index has registered a 5.6 per cent year-on-year growth during April-August this year, as against 4.2 per cent during the corresponding five months period of 2003. The higher growth has been mainly led ... More

POWER
Kawas, Gandhar projects — NTPC to invite bids for additional gas supply
NEW tenders for supplying additional natural gas to NTPC's Kawas and Gandhar projects will be called on November 15 and December 1. National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd plans to place an order for supplies by March 31, 2005 for gas supplies ... More

STEEL
`Orissa must take national view on iron ore mining lease'
THE Union Steel Ministry is apparently not too happy with the Orissa Government for leasingiron ore mines only to those companies, which are willing to set up steel plants in the State. According to Ms Binoo Sen, Union Steel Secretary, the ... More

TAXATION
Securities transaction tax regime to come into effect from Oct 1
THE Securities Transaction Tax (STT) regime for the capital market would come into effect from October 1, 2004. A notification to operationalise the new tax structure from this date is to be issued by the Ministry of Finance within the next ... More

Coimbatore Excise drive to net more service tax
THE Central Excise authorities here are gearing up to set up special registration camps at the divisional office level to accept voluntary registration of service providers who had earlier failed to register themselves with the department to be ... More

SSI
`Policy on financial, marketing support for SSIs needed'
THE Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government must announce a policy on financial and marketing support for the small scale sector and ensure its implementation, said Mr K.V. Kanakambaram, President, Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries ... More

RADIO/TV
Bid to revive brand — IBH plans animated tele serial on Amar Chitra Katha content
IBH has now decided to approach animation software companies in the Philippines and Malaysia to source the content for its new television serials. More

EDUCATION
A path-breaker
Sujata, a 12th standard student attending a workshop of a non-governmental organisation at Devipatnam in East Godavari district. Devipatnam is located near Rampachodavaram in the agency area. Sujata lives in Lingavaram, a tribal hamlet, with her ... More

IIIE annual meet at Thiruvananthapuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The annual convention of the Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering (IIIE) will be held here at Hotel Mascot on Friday and Saturday. An official spokesman said here that the theme of this year's convention would ... More

FOODS & FOOD PROCESSING
Govt to set up national food tech institute
THE Ministry of Food Processing Industries said on Wednesday that it intends to set up a national institute of food technology and management at a cost of Rs 133 crore. It said in a statement that the proposed institute would train ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
`Bangalore leads in office space development'
THE southern region of the country comprises about 60 per cent of the pan-India office space market and about 10 million sq ft of office had been developed during 2003. Primarily represented by Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, the cities ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

BIO-TECH & GENETICS
Maharashtra appoints Yes Bank as biotech advisor
Taking its initial steps in this regard, the Maharashtra Government has appointed Yes Bank as its advisor for the proposed life sciences and biotechnology project in the city. Yes Bank will help develop a comprehensive business and financial ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Edusat team of scientists feted
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Education Minister, Mr E.T. Muhammed Basheer, has congratulated scientists who are responsible for the successful launch of Edusat, the country's exclusive satellite for educational services, the other day. ... More

CINEMA
Film industry forms panel to counter ban in Karnataka
THE film industry has joined hands against the Karnataka ban on new releases of non-Kannada films. Top film producers and film personalities across the country gathered here on Wednesday to form a Joint Action Committee (JAC) to face ... More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
Unctad report optimistic on global FDI inflows this year
THE United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) on Wednesday said that though global inflows of FDI fell in 2003 for the third year in a row to $560 billion, prospects for the current year are promising. In its 2004 world ... More

IPR
CII meet on IPR
HYDERABAD: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with AP Technology Development and Promotion Centre is organising a two-day training programme on `Intellectual property rights in IT and bioinformatics, beginning on ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE
AP Govt moves to reconstitute Backward Classes Commission
The reconstituted commission will be asked to identify the `creamy layer' in the Muslim community while examining the aspect of providing reservation to the minority community. More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Nabard approves Rs 1 cr to NGO for rural housing project
AN NGO in Dakshina Kannada district has taken up a pilot project of Nabard to construct low-cost quality houses for the rural poor. Nabard has sanctioned Rs 1 crore to Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) under the `Rural ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES
AP nursing network launched
HYDERABAD: Mr P. Krishna Murthy, Registrar of AP Nursing Council, has inaugurated Neon Nursing Network Private Ltd to offer counselling, training and manpower management services to nursing and other healthcare professionals. The company ... More

EVENTS
`IT must benefit the customers'
ADOPTING information technology should not be just for the sake of being an IT-driven company, but to ensure that customer benefits in the end. That is what Ford, the global automobile major, and TVS Motors, an Indian automobile manufacturer, ... More

TOURISM
Three-day travel meet at Madurai from Sept 26
A THREE-DAY `Madurai Travel Mart' - a buyer-seller meet - is being organised from September 26. According to the District Collector, Mr D. Raajendiran, the programme organised by the Travel Club and the Madurai Collectorate along with a ... More

PEOPLE
V. Krishnamurthy is Chairman of manufacturing panel
THE Government on Wednesday appointed Mr V. Krishnamurthy as Chairman of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC). He will hold the rank and status of a Union Cabinet Minister, an official statement said here. NMCC, which is ... More