The Hindu Business Line : Monday, September 05, 2005

Monsoon exiting northwest; more rain likely in South
The southwest monsoon is poised to retreat from parts of northwest India during the week just ahead, says a forecast by the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF). The resident anti-cyclonic circulation (high-pressure ... More

INTERIORS & HOMES

`India tops in furniture imports'
INDIA is the world's top furniture importer accounting for 17 per cent of the total imports worldwide in 2004 and up to mid 2005 and retailers expect this to drive future growth. Organised sector accounts for Rs 800 crore worth of imports with ... More

COURTS/LEGAL ISSUES

`Employee' is a viable legal concept
WHEN a worker accepts VRS or voluntary retirement scheme, does the relationship of workman-and-management come to an end? With that question in the margin, the latest issue of Consolidated Commercial Digest summarises the Philips Employees Union ... More

ECONOMY

Outcome Budget — Credible evaluation only from independent agency
AS PROMISED in his annual Budget for this fiscal, the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has come out with an Outcome Budget for 2005-06. The Prime Minister had emphasised then, as also in several recent speeches, ... More

CESS marches into the silver jubilee year
CESS was the first institution in the State to focus on multi-disciplinary social science research. More

PSU

BIFR hearing on a clutch of Kerala PSUs this month
AS many as four State-owned public sector undertakings in Kerala will have their sickness determined by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) this month. The Kerala PSUs figuring in the hearing schedule of BIFR for ... More

PETROLEUM

AP village gears up to handle gas from ONGC well-head
THE coastal hamlet of Odalarevu (dockyard in Telugu) in Amalapuram district of Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to become the first terminal that will handle virgin gas from the country's deepwater exploration by April 30, 2006. In recent months, ... More

Tariff panel to submit report on natural gas prices in Nov
The Tariff Commission will examine in detail the cost of production and transportation of the gas before fixing a final price. More

States rule out reduction in sales tax on petro products
Some of the States have pointed out that a reduction in sales tax and a increase in prices would in fact adversely affect them more and impact fiscal correction. More

POWER

Programme to electrify all rural households in AP
"The sub-stations will be set up in one year in order to create the basic infrastructure for the project." More

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS & HOSPITALS

Consolidation seen in diagnostic services
THE `chain' store concept is not new, but in the Indian diagnostic space it is still nascent. Large path labs, though few, aver that "consolidation will happen in this space within the next five years". According to Dr Sushil Shah, Chairman, ... More

LEATHER

Leather park Kolkata expected to boost exports
THE proposed Leather Goods Park, expected to come up inside the new Calcutta Leather Complex in an area of 50 acres, along with a design facility, is expected to give a big boost to export of leather goods from the eastern region. Talking to ... More

KNITWEAR & HOSIERY

Training for youth in knit industry courses
THE first batch of 70 youths belonging to the other backward classes would be trained in knit industry courses being conducted by the Tirupur-based Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC), as part of the recent MoU signed by the ATDC and the ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

PM calls for fusion of science and spirituality
THERE is a need for the synthesis of science and spirituality to realise the India of our dreams, said the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. He made this observation while speaking at a function to celebrate the golden jubilee of Vinoba ... More

MINING & QUARRYING

Bauxite mining: AP Girijana Sangham wants MoU scrapped
THE Andhra Pradesh Girijana Sangham (association of tribals) has urged the State Government to scrap the MoU signed with the Jindal group for exploitation of bauxite reserves in Visakhapatnam district and setting up of a smelter, as it will ... More

SMALL SAVINGS

Drop in net financial savings of households
FOR the first time in several years, net financial savings of households declined during the financial year ended March 2005, according to data disclosed in the annual report of RBI. A large 65 per cent increase in the financial liabilities of ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE

REGS: How to make it really work
The Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, though laudable, is an idea that is beset with problems — functional, social, financial, and so on. P. V. Indiresan suggests an alternative that would benefit the poor directly and also their richer neighbours, and thinks this may have a higher probability of success. More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

Festive season demand for seafood yet to pick up abroad
THE surge in demand for seafood from the US and European markets during the coming Christmas and New Year season is still to become a reality in the order books of Indian marine export firms. However, sources in the industry said that it was ... More

AP Chamber's workshop on exports to EU
HYDERABAD: The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) is organising a two-day workshop on `how to export to the European Union' on September 24 and 25. The workshop would help entrepreneurs aspiring to ... More

NATURAL CALAMITIES

Maruti mulls exchange offer for cars damaged in floods
MARUTI Udyog Ltd is considering an exchange offer for cars that were completely damaged in the recent floods in Mumbai. The carmaker is understood to be making this proposal to the insurance companies. An estimated 6,000 Maruti cars were ... More

`IT industry's response to floods poor'
THE Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, Mr M.P. Prakash, took a dig at the information technology (IT) industry for its poor response to the recent floods in northern Karnataka, at a function here on Saturday. Inaugurating the third annual ... More