The Hindu Business Line : Monday, November 29, 2004

ECONOMY
Default by stealth: The declining greenback
ECONOMIC history is full of stories of rulers bringing down the value of their debt by debasing their currencies. They repay their creditors in currency of lower intrinsic value than they borrowed in. A more ... More

ITPO keen to strengthen trade dimension of IITF
AS the two-week-long India International Trade Fair (IITF) drew to a close on Saturday, the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) has resolved to strengthen the trade dimension of the fair. Even as IITF has been designed as a trade fair, ... More

PETROLEUM
GEB agrees to pay Rs 84-cr dues to ONGC
ONGC has finally made headway in recovering its dues from six State public sector undertakings and one municipal body in Gujarat. The dues have accumulated on account of supply of natural gas between 1982 and 1987 when gas marketing was directly ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Clinical research organisations see boom despite recent hiccups
CLINICAL research organisations (CROs) are in the spotlight after generic companies like Ranbaxy and Hetero voluntarily withdrew their anti-AIDS drugs from the World Health Organisation's (WHO) list due to improper documentation of the ... More

POWER
OFC repeater station to be inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The optical fibre cable (OFC) repeater station set up as part of the ongoing electrification work in the Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram railway section will be inaugurated here on Monday. An official said here that Mr ... More

New 33 KV substations at Malappuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two new 33-KV electricity substations set up by the Kerala State Electricity Board in Malappuram district will go on stream within the next two days. These were two projects identified under the Chief Minister's ... More

STEEL
Orissa signs MoUs with 10 cos for steel projects
THE Orissa Government on Saturday signed memorandums of understanding with as many as 10 private companies for setting up of small steel plants at different locations in the State. The proposed steel plants, involving an investment of over Rs ... More

SSI
`Bring down cost of match wax'
THE cost of wax needs to be brought down to save the match industry, the Sattur Chamber of Commerce and Industry has emphasised. In a statement, its general secretary, Mr P. T. K. Balasubramanian, said that the increase in the price of match ... More

TYRES
ATMA wants special excise duty on tyres for replacement market to go
THE Rs 12,000-crore domestic tyre industry has pitched for removal of the 8 per cent special excise duty (SED) on tyres manufactured for the replacement market. Such tyres currently attract 24 per cent excise duty — 16 per cent basic excise ... More

WATER
Water talks between TN and Kerala inconclusive
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Talks between Tamil Nadu and Kerala here on Saturday to review the Parambikkulam-Aliyar river water agreement failed to make any headway. The Kerala Minister for Water Resources, Mr Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, the ... More

EDUCATION
Graduation at Bausch & Lomb school
HYDERABAD: The first batch of students from the Bausch & Lomb School of Optometry (belonging to the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute) received their degrees at the school's Kismatpur campus near here on Sunday. According to the officials, 10 ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Demand for flats fuelling construction boom in Kerala
Considerations of safety and convenience have take precedence over factors such as cost of living. More

Build Expo in Coimbatore
BANGALORE: The second edition of Build Expo, a trade fair for the building and construction industry, will be held in Coimbatore between January 22-25. The trade fair is being organised by the Association of Consulting Civil Engineers ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Training for DRDL tech officers
SISTER Nivedita College of Professional Studies is conducting a five-day training programme for the technical officers of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), under the Union Ministry of Defence, here from Monday. In a press ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Regulatory regime soon for micro-credit: Chidambaram
THE Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has said that the Government is working on a regulatory mechanism under which a part of the total credit available in the Indian financial system will be made available to micro-credit. Launching ... More

`Extending micro-credit thru' SHGs is cost-effective'
THE Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, Mr K. Cherian Varghese, has said that extending micro-credit through self-help groups is cost-effective, collateral-free and almost NPA-free. The recovery is close to 100 per cent because of ... More

5.85 lakh more SHGs soon: Chidambaram
While 1.85 lakh SHGs will be added in 2004-05, two lakh SHGs will be added in the next year. More

Centre identifies 137 backward districts for development
THE Union Minister of State for Planning, Mr M.V. Rajasekharan, has said that the Union Government has identified 137 backward districts in the country for development, and Rs 45 crore will be spent on each of them. Addressing reporters here ... More

EVENTS

Engagements

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Ensuring problem-free gateways for exporters
Given the global focus on India and China, India needs to ensure that it stays on target. Having raised the export bar, it has to make radical changes to deal with bottlenecks in the export sector infrastructure. And Indian ports must offer the expor ter problem-free gateways. More

Steady decline in unit price of export cashew
THERE has been a steady decline in the unit price of export cashew from Rs 267 per kg in 1999-2000 to Rs 179 per kg in 2003-04, according to a review of the sector undertaken by the WTO (World Trade Organisation) Cell of the State Agriculture ... More