The Hindu Business Line : Friday, June 02, 2006

CLIMATE & WEATHER
Is this monsoon for real?
The Meteorological Department has declared that the monsoon has set in and is advancing rapidly. They seem to have jumped the gun based purely on the heavy rainfall that lashed the western coast and ignored the most important factor - "The ... More

Brewing Bay `low' to decide monsoon play-out over plains
The Arabian Sea arm of the monsoon continued to whiplash the northern flank of the west coast on Thursday (June 1) on what would have been its normal date of onset over the southwest coast in Kerala. But its counterpart, the Bay of Bengal ... More

NRIS
5 banks hike NRE, FCNR deposit rates
State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Dena Bank and Central Bank of India have increased interest rates on NRE and FCNR (B) deposits across all maturities with immediate effect. ICICI Bank has revised interest rates on one-year NRE fixed deposits ... More

SOCIAL SECURITY
Social security plan for unorganised sector mooted
Small farmers, non-agri informal workers to benefit More

ECONOMY
Centre meets revised fiscal deficit target
Hopes to rein deficit-GDP ratio to 3.8% More

Accelerating growth: Rangarajan outlines six challenges
A day after the Government announced that the economy grew 8.4 per cent in 2005-06, the Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, Dr C. Rangarajan, outlined six important challenges that need priority attention for the country ... More

Economic growth to decelerate to 6.6% this fiscal: JM Morgan
Rising global interest rates, low infrastructure spending cited as reasons More

Index of action
If the United Progressive Alliance Government's two-year report card has not generated much publicity, it is not for the fault of the media. Journalists pouring over the well-brought-out thick report found it to be basically a compilation of the ... More

MSEDCL chalks roadmap to make Maharashtra a power surplus State
Plans two-pronged strategy for 18,000 MW in five years More

Bengal identifies land for greenfield projects
Plans new scheme to uplift below poverty line families More

ecomNET office-bearers
Dr Justin Paul, Indian Institute of Management, Indore, and Mr Thejus Purushothaman of Thejus Legal Services Pvt Ltd have been elected the All India General Secretary and State President respectively of the Economics, Commerce ... More

Attracting investments
SETTING THE PACE: The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at a function organised by FICCI and other industry chambers of the eastern region in Kolkata on ... More

HOTELS
UK's Dawnay, Day to launch hotels in India
Plans to invest about $200 million initially More

INFRASTRUCTURE
Airports project: SC to hear Anil Ambani group plea on July 3
The Supreme Court today posted for July 3 the special leave petition by Anil Ambani group against the award of contracts to GMR and GVK groups for the modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports. The two-judge bench of Mr Justice C. K. Thakker ... More

Work, as usual
This might break the hearts of Planning Commission members, but it is a reality. To focus on faster development of infrastructure in the country, the Commission recently organised a conference where all the Secretaries of infrastructure ... More

PETROLEUM
Congestion costs dear on Delhi roads
A survey sponsored by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) to work out fuel loss due to delays on account of congestion in certain areas of Delhi reveals an annual fuel loss of Rs 310 lakh and time loss of approximately Rs 240 ... More

POWER
YSR to lay foundation stone for power project
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, will lay the foundation stone for the Rs 464.73-crore Nagarjuna Sagar Tail Pond Power Project (2x25 MW) in the Nalgonda district on Friday. The annual average energy potential is about ... More

Lanco signs pact with Uttaranchal
Lanco Group has signed a project development agreement for developing hydroelectric power projects in Uttaranchal, up to an installed capacity of 70 MW, according to a company press release here on Thursday. Lanco Electric ... More

STEEL
Steel companies hike prices again
Price revision in line with upward trend in global iron ore, steel and zinc prices More

TAXATION
RBI exempted from service tax
The Centre has exempted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from payimg service tax on any taxable services provided by the central bank. Moreover, service tax exemption has also been given for all taxable services provided to the RBI, for which ... More

TEXTILES
Palladam High-Tech Weaving Park to be operational by December
All civil construction work to be completed by September as per schedule More

SSI
Tata AIG liability cover for unlisted cos
Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd(Tata AIG General) on Thursday launched `Highlight,' a liability insurance cover for directors and officers of unlisted small and mid-sized businesses. Small and medium companies and family-owned concerns ... More

BREWERIES
Shake a peg...
... with a mixologist behind the bar. More

EDUCATION
24x7 Customer varsity programme
BPO services provider, 24/7 Customer, has launched 24/7 Varsity in association with the State Government's Department of IT and Communications. The 24/7 Varsity was inaugurated with the launch of `Train the Trainer', one of its ... More

College of Fire Tech admissions
Ahmedabad-based College of Fire Technology, that offers B.Sc in fire training, has opened admissions for the 2006-2007. The college also offers short-term ITI Fireman and ITI Safety and Security courses. The fee for the course ... More

CARS
Maruti sales rise 27% in May
Maruti Udyog Ltd has reported a 27.24 per cent increase in domestic sales at 50,904 units in May this year as against 40,006 units during the same month last year. The total sales stood at 53,396 units during the month, which includes 2,492 ... More

TWO/THREE WHEELERS
Hero Honda sales up 34%
Hero Honda on Thursday reported a 34 per cent rise in sales in May at 3.03 lakh units as against 2.26 lakh units in the same month last year. The sales in the domestic market stood at 2,93,758 units during May this year, while exports stood ... More

GENDER
Homemade fashions
The sewing machine, part of every household once, brought together two of the homemaker's desirable qualities — craft and frugality. More

The Baigas learn to save
Initiatives by voluntary organisations have brought Baiga women together to form self-help groups and generate income. More

IPR
Varsities urged to protect IP rights
Get patents for their innovations, collect royalty More

SOCIAL WELFARE
`Safe' cricket
A new initiative that disseminates information about HIV and AIDS through mobile phone games. More

HUMAN RESOURCES
`India faces labour dichotomy'
India is experiencing a strange dichotomy of not having sufficient jobs on the one hand and not enough skilled workers on the other, making labour force the biggest challenge for the country, a survey unveiled by The Economist on business ... More

Cos told to look beyond cities for talent
Companies must extend their search for talent beyond major cities, said Dr K. Ponmudi, Minister for Higher Education, Government of Tamil Nadu, while inaugurating the seminar on "War for Talent". The Minister emphasised on the need for a ... More

REGULATORY BODIES & RULINGS
DoT seeks time to examine Reliance, Bharti proposals
Permission for hike in foreign holding More

EVENTS
Three-day expo on fire safety
Safety-Plast-Print 2007, a three-day expo, is to be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre from February 22, 2007. The expo is being organised by Greentech Trade Fairs and supported by National Institute of Safety & Health (NIOSH), Malaysia; ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Coir exports exceed target
Coir exports from the country have exceeded the target in 2005-06 and registered an increase of 11 per cent in quantity and seven per cent in value over the previous year. Exports had touched an all time high level of 1,36,027 tonnes in volume ... More

TOURISM
UN meet on tourism ethics begins today
With tourism emerging as the largest service industry, the stakeholders should follow broad common code of ethics to protect the culture, heritage, and environment, for its sustainability in the long run. With this underlining message, the ... More

ECONOMIC OFFENCES
War against spurious goods intensifies
Govt moots independent body to protect consumers More

PEOPLE
Delayed decisions
Beat correspondents have come to realise that after two years in office, the Mammohan Singh Government has got into the familiar state of indecision. In the last few days, two important appointments were due, one at the Oil and Natural Gas ... More