The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, February 08, 2007

CLIMATE & WEATHER
Rainy weekend forecast for North, northwest
Northwest India is bracing to receive the western disturbance with the highest magnitude recorded yet during the 2006-07 winter. A welcome upshot will be the expectedly scattered to fairly widespread rainfall covering the plains, which should ... More

ECONOMY
Economy set to grow at 9.2%
Manufacturing drives record growth in 18 years: Estimates for 2006-07 More

FDI in retail: Panel to study impact on rural economy
With the Government cautioned on the possible impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail on vulnerable sections of society, the Commerce and Industry Ministry has decided to set up an expert committee to examine the sectors into which ... More

FOOD & DAIRY PRODUCTS
Natural vanilla in ice creams
The usage of natural vanilla in ice creams is gaining acceptance among ice cream manufacturers as more and more companies had started using it for flavouring instead of synthetic vanilla. Mr Paul Jose, Managing Director of ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Tobacco growers tour Zimbabwe
The delegation of Indian tobacco growers, on a study tour to Zimbabwe and Brazil, visited the Zimbabwe tobacco research station. In a message sent from that country on Wednesday, Mr J. Suresh Babu, Chairman of the Tobacco Board, ... More

HEALTH
Rare intestinal angioplasty done
In a rare case, a 100-per cent block in the intestinal artery was cleared through angioplasty and stenting on a 36-year-old patient, Mr Venkateshwar Reddy of Mahabubnagar, by doctors at the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) here. A ... More

PETROLEUM
Cairn India expects higher realisation from gas sales
Renews contract with Gujarat Gas, Gujarat Paguthan More

Cabinet to consider NELP bids today
The result of the latest rounds of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-VI) could be round the corner. Official sources said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is likely to consider awarding blocks offered in the sixth round ... More

POWER
CERC issues norms for power exchange
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on Wednesday issued guidelines for grant of permission to operators wanting to set up and operate a power exchange in the country. Without stipulating a cap on the number of exchanges that can ... More

CERC mulls hiking penal charges for overdrawal
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is considering a proposal to hike penal charges levied on States for overdrawing from the grid. The Central regulator is looking at suggestions forwarded by the Regional Load Despatch ... More

Globeleq to stay put in Sasan project
New businesses not on the block More

Maharashtra Govt to approach MERC with fresh plan on load shedding
Lakhs of industrial units in Maharashtra, which do not require uninterrupted power for their operations, are likely to shut down for one day every week because of acute power shortage in the State. Sources said that the Maharashtra State ... More

New sub-stations inaugurated
Two separate 33/11 kV sub-stations were inaugurated at Bira-Joypul in Duttapukur and at Rajarhat, both in North 24-Parganas district, on Tuesday. Inaugurating the units, Mr Mrinal Banerjee, Minister for Power, West Bengal, ... More

PFC sets IPO price at Rs 85
Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has set its initial public offering price at Rs 85 per share, a company official said. The lending firm's IPO, which closed on Tuesday, was subscribed 77.24 times. Post issue, the Government's ... More

RUBBER
Rubber goods producers turn to China for machinery
Technically superior machinery at lower prices More

WATER
Response positive to draft bill on groundwater: Soz
8 States have passed legislation on development & management More

RADIO/TV
Raj TV IPO opens on Feb 14
Proceeds of the issue to strengthen production facilities More

EDUCATION
Defining what quality is all about
The famed writer Somerset Maugham once said: "A funny thing about life is that if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it." Mr S. Sriram, Director, Great Lakes Institute of Management, sought to draw inspiration from the ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
IDBI property sold for Rs 175 crore in Chennai
IDBI Bank on Wednesday auctioned off its 1,04,381 sq ft property on Boat Club Road, an up-market residential locality in Chennai, for Rs 175 crore. The property was bought through an electronic auction by a `high net worth individual' whose name ... More

Mantri Developers to invest Rs 500 cr in Hyderabad
Mantri Developers, the Bangalore-based real estate major, has decided to invest up to Rs 500 crore in a slew of projects in Hyderabad during the financial year 2007-08. These include residential homes, retail space and IT ... More

No more skyscrapers
KOCHI'S HIGH-RISE buildings are becoming prized realty marvels as the State Government has fixed the floor area ratio at 2.5 to discourage vertical growth of the city. ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
Call centre body renames itself
The Call Centre Association of India has re-branded itself as the Business Process Industry Association of India. The association aims to address issues concerning the entire spectrum of services rendered under outsourcing and ... More

BIO-TECH & GENETICS
Cabinet nod for handover of Rajiv Gandhi biotech centre
The Kerala Cabinet has decided to hand over the State-run Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) here to the Centre. The Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, told newspersons after a Cabinet meet on Wednesday that the assets of RGCB ... More

CONTRACEPTIVES & PROTECTIVES
TTK-LIG's hardsell
The condom company's efforts to market sex products ... More

DISINVESTMENT
PSU disinvestment back on Govt agenda
CCEA to take up stake sale in REC, PowerGrid, NHPC today More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
Cong for safeguards on FDI in retail
The Congress today made it clear that the party President, Ms Sonia Gandhi's letter to the Government cautioning against the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail was a middle path and not an extreme position on the ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES
Butler Intl ties up with Cades Digitech
US-based Butler partners Bangalore's Cades to scale-up aerospace activities More

Summit India to focus on Indian clients
Los Angeles-based recruitment-company Summit HR Worldwide has launched a new company to focus on the recruiting needs of local companies and multinationals entering and expanding their operations in the country. Summit India, headquartered in ... More

VENTURE CAPITAL
Global fund for youth entrepreneurship
US-based non-profit organisation Youth Employment Summit (YES) Inc, a Clinton Global Initiative, launched on Wednesday a global fund to provide seed capital and entrepreneurship development support to the youth. To begin with, the corpus of ... More

BOOKS
America guest nation in book fair
America is participating as the "Guest of Honour Country" in the 32nd Kolkata Book Fair beginning February 9. The US will be "Theme Country" at the fair next year, according to a press release issued by American Centre. Books on ... More