The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, September 17, 2005

Panel to probe Mumbai High blaze
THE Government has set up a high-level independent committee to enquire into the major fire accident at the Mumbai High North (MHN) processing platform of ONGC on July 27. The committee will be chaired by Mr T.N.R. Rao, former Petroleum ... More

CLIMATE & WEATHER

`Above-normal' northeast monsoon forecast
THE International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI) at the University of Columbia has predicted `above-normal' precipitation for southern India during October-November-December, a period coinciding with the northeast monsoon ... More

Fresh `low' over Bay may bring showers in AP, Orissa
TRUE to predictions, the upper air cyclonic circulation from the remnants of a migrating South China Sea system got itself organised into a low-pressure area over the east-central Bay of Bengal by Friday afternoon. This is expected to ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY

Conference on renewable energy options at Kochi
THE Union Ministry of Non Conventional Energy Sources in association with Aditya Solar Shops, Kochi, is conducting a one-day conference on "Role of Stakeholders in Popularisation of renewable energy options - action based approach" here on ... More

ECONOMY

Energy, food prices push up inflation
THE annual wholesale price index-based inflation rose 3.16 per cent during the week ended September 3, up from a week-earlier annual rise of 3.01 per cent. The spurt in the year-on-year inflation was largely due to a rise in energy and food ... More

Centre hopeful of meeting fiscal, revenue deficit targets
THE Government has expressed confidence over meeting the revenue as well as fiscal deficit targets budgeted for the current fiscal, despite the emergence of new expenditure commitments from development programmes such as the National Rural ... More

BJP to pass resolution on economic issues today
THE Bharatiya Janata Party will move three resolutions — on the Government at the Centre, the economic situation and the security concerns — at the three-day meeting of its National Executive that started here on Friday. Briefing ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Goa plans unloading facility at Shelvon to tackle iron ore pollution
THE Goa Government has taken the initiative to resolve problems of dust pollution from iron ore at Curchorem town in South Goa and coal pollution in the port city of Mormugao. The issue of dust pollution faced by people in the towns of ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

Energy can be big story of Indo-Russian ties, says Ambassador Sibal
HIGHLIGHTING the problems faced by Indian businessmen in obtaining visas for Russia, Mr Kanwal Sibal, Ambassador, Embassy of India, Moscow, said, "Our efforts to reach a business visa facilitation agreement with Russia are stalled for the time ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE

Bangalore IT forum willing to participate in tech show
THE Bangalore Forum for Information Technology (BFIT), representing 20 companies, has said it is willing to participate in Bangalore IT.in, if the Government included a session on infrastructure. In a communication to the Karnataka Chief ... More

PSU

Appointment of politicians on PSU boards
Only professional directors can add value, says SCOPE
THE controversy over appointment of politicians on boards of public sector enterprises (PSEs) as independent directors is hotting up. While there has been some opposition from political parties other than the Congress, the Standing Conference ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS

Greater Boston Chamber drafts plan to grow life sciences segment
THE Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce (GBCC), which is now advocating an aggressive public policy agenda on behalf of its members, who include many of the region's top (Fortune 500) companies, has called for a clear development review process ... More

POWER

CESC signs MoU with Jharkhand for power station
CESC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Jharkhand for the setting up of a greenfield 1000 MW thermal power station at an estimated investment of Rs 4,000 crore. According to a press release issued by CESC ... More

TAXATION

`Enforcement warrants lower tax rates to optimise revenue'
NOBEL laureate Prof James Mirrlees today held out the view that in countries where tax evasion and corruption are pervasive, higher tax administration costs should dictate relatively lower tax rates on goods. Where enforcement is introduced, the ... More

Time not ripe for single rate VAT: Panel
THE VAT Panel is of the view that time is not yet ripe for implementation of a single rate State-level Value Added Tax (VAT). "It (implementation of single rate VAT) will take time. One must welcome any such move. But this would have to wait ... More

TEXTILES

IL&FS appointed consultant for textile park scheme
THE Ministry of Textiles has appointed Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) as project management consultant to assist the Ministry in implementing the newly-launched schemes for Integrated Textile Parks. This scheme, which More

SSI

Tiruchi fabricators reduce dependence on BHEL
FOR long, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has been saying that the Tiruchi ancillaries must develop capabilities to stand on their own feet and reduce dependence on the PSU. Now, this "healthy disconnect" - as one member of the BHEL Small ... More

MANAGEMENT

Hyderabad to host national management meet on Sept 23-24
TOP leaders from Corporate India will be in Hyderabad on September 23-24, to offer insights into various business areas at the 32nd National Management Convention. Mr K.V. Kamath, MD & CEO of ICICI Bank; Mr Harish Mariwala, CMD of Marico ... More

RADIO/TV

K.S. Sarma re-elected IBF President

EDUCATION

Wi-Fi facility for MBA students in Mangalore
SRINIVAS College of Postgraduate Management Studies in Mangalore will provide Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) facility for its MBA students, according to the college Principal, Dr P.S. Aithal. Addressing presspersons here, Dr Aithal said his ... More

Thakur Institute (Mumbai) to start international B-school
THE Mumbai-based Thakur Institute of Management Studies and Research (TIMSR) is planning to start an international business school in the city to offer courses of global standards. Dr Ajay Chauhan, director of the institute, said the cardinal ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ISRO-Boeing plan to build 2-tonne satellites dropped
THE ISRO-Boeing Satellite Systems dream plan to jointly make two-tonne communications satellites has more or less been dropped. Barely a few months after the two announced in June 2004 their intent to collaborate and tap the ... More

NEWSPAPERS & PUBLISHING

Indian offshoring in publishing vertical to touch $1.1 b by 2010
"Outsourcing in the publishing segment has been prevalent for over two decades now. Macmillan began its off-shoring unit in India way back in 1977." More

GENDER

Laadli - Girl child to be theme for Ganesh festival in Mumbai
WITH a dismal sex ratio of 898 girls for every 1,000 boys below six years in Mumbai, an advocacy group has used the Ganesh festival to change people's mindset towards the girl child. Mumbaikars going to the Ganesh festival celebrations at Rani ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE

Centre to share plantation sector's social welfare costs — Process begins to amend Plantation Labour Act
THE Union Government has started the process of making necessary amendments in the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 and make it more relevant to the current industrial scenario. This was stated by Mr S.N. Menon, Union Commerce Secretary, while ... More

TRADE & LABOUR UNIONS

Banks can't become strong by just mergers, say unions
BANK unions are opposed to mergers of public sector banks and are willing to go on strike at short notice, if any bank management initiates any step. Responding to the recent plea for consolidation among top public sector banks, given by the ... More

SECURITY

Licence must for AP pvt security agencies
HENCEFORTH it will be mandatory for private agencies providing security services to obtain licence from the State Government following the Centre's newly enacted law for better regulation of private security agencies, according to a statement ... More

INCOME TAX

Commissioning a relief
H. P. Ranina looks at Section 264 of the I-T Act that empowers the Commissioner of Income-Tax to revise an assessment and grant relief to an assessee who has been over-assessed More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

Tariff values cut for vegoils
THE Finance Ministry has issued a notification reducing the tariff value for various imported vegetable oils in an attempt to mirror the weakening price trend in the international market. Tariff value is the price at which customs duty is levied ... More

Traditional products lead export growth in first quarter
THE 22 per cent export growth in dollar terms notched up during the first quarter of the current fiscal owed itself largely to the robust performance of traditional products such as gems and jewellery, chemicals and related products and ... More

NATURAL CALAMITIES

Mumbai rains motor claims settlement — Insurers ready with cheques, vehicle owners spurn offer
Many vehicle owners are rejecting the offer out of fear that the ultimate repair bill might turn out to be higher than the settlement amount. More

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