The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, August 15, 2007

ECONOMY
Global slowdown, rate cuts inevitable
The cataclysmic events of last Thursday and Friday in Europe and the US took their inevitable toll of Indian markets. The Sensex fell below 15,000 and the rupee dropped past 40.60 levels against the dollar. But, in a twist to the US and the ... More

A surge of new confidence
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‘Puducherry for sustainable industrial growth’
Chennai, Aug. 14 The Puducherry Government is committed to sustainable industrial growth and invites projects that are eco-friendly in the manufacturing and services sector, the Chief Minister, Mr N. Rangasamy, has said.He said the ... More

ENVIRONMENT
Agilent's education initiative
Agilent Technologies has started an initiative which is aimed at spreading environmental education among teachers and students in schools in the NCR area. Though the India initiative is very recent, Agilent, according to a release, has been ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS
Excise duty collections up 2.1% in July
Customs revenues continue to be buoyant More

FOREIGN TRADE
Asean-India trade talks in a ‘make-or-break phase’
Kamal Nath to meet Asean counterparts on Aug 26 More

JETRO hardsells Japan to Indian investors
Bangalore, Aug 14 Japan could well offer an alternative to Indian companies looking to spread their business risk looming large following the weakening of the dollar . Japan’s recent strategy to woo India both as a market for its ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE
Japan to provide Rs 1,345 cr soft loan for 2 projects
New Delhi, Aug. 14 Japan on Tuesday agreed to provide soft loans worth Rs 1,345 crore (Yen 39,555 million) to India as its first batch of official development assistance (ODA) for financial year 2007-08. An exchange of notes to this ... More

PETROLEUM
LPG imports pegged at 1.73 mt this year
New Delhi, Aug 14 The Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Dinsha Patel, today said that the country is likely to import 1.73 million tonnes (mt) of LPG during the current fiscal.Speaking in the Rajya ... More

DPE for hiking OVL’s investment limit
New Delhi, Aug. 14 ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of ONGC, seems to have found a supporter in the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) on the issue of increasing its investment limit. OVL has been demanding an increase in ... More

GAIL to make final bids for CNG unit in Syria
New Delhi, Aug. 14 GAIL India Ltd has qualified for making final bids for setting up compressed natural gas stations in Syria, Mr U.D. Choubey, Chairman, GAIL said. Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said that his company was interested ... More

POWER
CPI(M) concern over independence of foreign policy
Indo-US nuclear co-operation agreement More

TAXATION
Notice to cos on entry tax
The Supreme Court has sought response from various companies, including BPL Mobile Cellular, Reliance Energy and Otis Elevator on a petition challenging the Kerala High Court order holding the levy of entry tax on goods imported in Kerala as ... More

TEXTILES
Tex-Summit 2007 to focus on industry’s concerns
Prime Minister likely to announce policy guidelines More

SSI
HSBC plans to step up SME biz
Kolkata, Aug. 14 HSBC plans to step up its SME business, which currently accounts for nearly 22 per cent of its asset book.The bank, which has roughly 30,000 customers in the small- and medium-sized segments, may consider scaling up ... More

WATER
Kerala Cabinet nod for new dam at Mullaperiyar
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug. 14 The Kerala Cabinet approved on Tuesday a proposal to start preliminary work on a new dam at Mullaperiyar, about 1,300 metres downstream of the existing dam. Announcing this, the Chief Minister, Mr V. S. ... More

COAL
NTPC gets nod for coal block
NTPC Ltd, the country’s largest power generation utility, on Tuesday said it has received Government approval for allocation of a coal block in Jharkhand. The Centre has granted in-principle approval for allocation of a coal block in Chhati ... More

EDUCATION
MRTPC initiated action against IIPM: Minister
New Delhi, Aug 14 The complaint against private management college, Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), of providing free laptops and foreign trips has been referred to Director-General of Investigation and Registration of the ... More

CARS
M&M ventures into Egypt, Brazil
Mumbai, Aug 14 Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is expanding its presence in the overseas market.The company will set up shop in Brazil and Egypt as an ongoing programme to cover the South American and African markets.In Brazil, ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
AP call centre on housing scheme
Hyderabad, Aug. 14 The Andhra Pradesh Government will launch a toll-free call centre for addressing the problems of Indiramma Housing beneficiaries on August 16. “The call centre, christened as ‘Indiramma Parishkaram’, ... More

Indu setting up township project
Hyderabad, Aug. 14 Indu Projects Ltd, an infrastructure company, has announced the integrated township named Indu Aranya. The township is coming up on a 50-acre plot at Bandlaguda (on the eastern side of the city) with an outlay of Rs 625 ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
TN chamber for Tatas’ titanium dioxide project
Madurai, Aug. 14 The Tamilnadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry is strongly in favour of the Tatas’ proposed titanium dioxide factory at Sattankulam. Led by the President, Mr S. Rethinavelu, a delegation of the chamber’s ... More

GENDER
Intel donates $60,000 for empowering women
To set up community info centres with Delhi NGO More

SOCIAL WELFARE
Nutrition conclave
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RURAL DEVELOPMENT
JSW Steel’s BPO network peps up the rural scene
Community development initiative gives girls a chance to hone skill, earn money More

HUMAN RESOURCES
Mangalore SEZ launches training courses
New scheme for project displaced families More

INDUSTRIAL POLICY
Karnataka backs southern corridor project
Bangalore, Aug.14 The Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, said his Government will support a proposal with the Centre to set up a southern industrial corridor on the lines of Mumbai-Delhi industrial corridor, which may see part ... More

EVENTS
FEATURE ON INDIA'S 60 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE
Sweet sixty
Our democracy is thriving, but we have more to do. More

Great act of faith
A nation of young people is on the move More

Now’s the exciting time
B.K. Birla on why he remains a diehard optimist… More

From Naam Iruvar to Sivaji
The evolution of Tamil films… from black-and-white family dramas to special-effects and blockbusters. More

‘Planned economy was needed’
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When the stocks rose in the east
CSE isn’t just another regional exchange… it is where all the stock action originally began in India. Some quotes from history… More

A surge of new confidence
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Young, wild dreams
Debonair Dev Anand recreates the Bombay and Hindi filmdom he made his own at a time when freedom was tantalisingly in the air. More

Love of the land
The Green Revolution effectively proved how a good combination of brawn and brain can catalyse change. More

Punjab: Heartland of farming
What is it about the Punjab farmer that has made him succeed in agriculture, and made Punjab the heartland of the Green Revolution?Dr M.S. Swaminathan’s take:The Sikh farmers have farming in their blood and it is a way of ... More

Reserves of strength
A young nation with abundant energy More

A nation learns to fly
How a fledgling country grew wings… More

Travel agents then…
K.R. Krishnaswamy, now 88, was 28 years old when he joined TWA in Delhi. “With no experience in airline travel, there was of course not much of airline activity then. Like Madras there were few agents in Delhi at that time,” he ... More

Brand new India!
Lines from 1947 ads… More

Buy-buy Indians?
The missing home-grown agencies More

Tryst with leadership
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Iron frame strong as ever
The much-reviled ‘civil serpents’ must equally be credited with bringing the country, slowly but surely, to the doorstep of global superpower status. More

60 credit-worthy years
Handholding a young nation in its first steps towards economic independence. More

L&T saga
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I-Day: Hard-to-miss offers galore
CONSUMERS’ DELIGHT More

Steel city
How a township grew alongside a factory… More

Meet on development

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Coir exports slip 5.72%
Appreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar has affected coir exports. Quoting from Coir Board statistics, Mr T.A.K. Rahman, President of the Cochin Coir Merchants Association, said there was a fall in exports by 5.72 per cent in ... More

Grape traceability system for mangoes soon
Farm Ministry, APEDA to join hands for ‘mangonet’ More

Exim Bank signs pact with Gulf body
Exim Bank of India has signed a memorandum of co-operation with the Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC).This will facilitate exchange of relevant informant and joint identification of avenues to improve two- way trade and investment ... More

Vegoil imports remain stagnant
Mumbai, Aug. 14 At 5.48 lakh tonnes (lt), vegetable oil imports in July 2007 were little changed from the previous month. Palm group of oils accounted for 2.8 lt and soyabean oil 2.4 lt. Sunoil imports spurted to 26,300 tonnes. ... More

TOURISM
ADB aid for Bengal’s tourism sector
Consultants on 4-day evaluation trip More

South tourism circuit planned
Chennai, Aug. 14 The Governments of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry have decided to create a southern India tourism circuit with one common icon.In a colloquium on ‘Building southern synergies’, ... More