The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, September 14, 2008

INDUSTRY & ECONOMY

TERRORISM: Serial blasts rock commercial areas in Capital, 18 dead
Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility; alert sounded in Mumbai. New Delhi, Sept. 13 The national Capital was on Saturday evening rocked by a series of blasts, killing 18 people and injuring over 75. The explosions, five of them within a ...

TAXATION: Excise collections record sluggish growth in Aug
New Delhi, Sept. 13 Excise duty revenues continue to be a bugbear for the Government, with collections in August recording a meagre growth of 1.2 per cent, lower than the 9 per cent year-on-year growth registered in August last year. ...

COAL: Why coal is still red-hot
As China and India industrialise, the demand for steel has increased exponentially. Coal is one of the important raw materials used in the manufacture of steel. Coal prices have doubled over the past year and are expected to spike even further as ...

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION: Haste makes for heartache
After years of waiting to realise the dream of owning a flat, Mr N. Ramgopal, a senior manager with a public sector bank, zeroed in on an upcoming apartment project and booked a flat, paying a token amount. He went on to pay Rs 2 lakh more in ...

POWER: Power Exchange of India to start trading in October
Union Govt to cap FII holding in commodity bourses to 5%. Kolkata, Sept 13 Power Exchange of India Ltd (PEI) – a joint venture between National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) will go live ...

EXPORTS & IMPORTS: Fertiliser subsidy: Most payouts marked for urea importers
Bills of some domestic manufacturers pending for over 4 months. New Delhi, Sept. 13 Majority of the fertiliser subsidy disbursed in cash out of the Rs 22,000 crore corpus announced by the Union Government three weeks ago in August 20 has gone ...

MINING & QUARRYING: ArcelorMittal to educate farmers on land compensation funds
In talks with banks for guidance on investments. New Delhi, Sept. 13 ArcelorMittal is in talks with bankers to evolve a mechanism to provide appropriate investment advice to the farmers and local people whose lands would be acquired for its ...

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION: How developers are coping
Companies with unique business models and those that have quickly changed their product mix to push sales, even if it means a sacrifice on price, appear to be the ones that are combating the current challenges reasonably well. ...

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: ‘Soft infrastructure gives entrepreneurs an edge’
Chennai, Sept. 13 Many of the social initiatives taken up in Satyam Computer reinforces the fact that the private-public partnership is no longer limited to the infrastructure sector, but can be extended to the social sector as well, according ...

VENTURE CAPITAL: PEs want ‘preferred returns’ clause
With the property market in the midst of a downturn and banks tightening the purse strings on realty projects, the real-estate sector is now witnessing Private Equity (PE) transactions that come attached with a ‘preferred returns’ ...

ENGINEERING: Plumbing in the depths
Plumbing and sanitary installations are a key part of construction but are neglected in India, says Mr Sudhakaran Nair, President of the Indian Plumbing Association (IPA). Water and sanitation facilities need to improve to safeguard ...

FOREIGN TRADE: Vietnam looks to enhancing bilateral trade, tourism
Kolkata, Sept. 13 There is an urgent need for introducing a direct flight between India and Vietnam in order to enhance trade and tourism between the two countries, according to Mr Vu Quang Diem, Vietnam’s Ambassador to ...

POWER: NHPC to establish presence in Myanmar
Gangtok, Sept. 13 NHPC Ltd is to soon set its footprints in Myanmar. NHPC, according to its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr S.K. Garg, will be signing MoUs with the Myanmar Government next week for developing two power projects totalling ...

TERRORISM: Rescue act

EVENTS: Weekly News Round-up
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation, which appointed three new private sector fund managers in August, has postponed transfer of funds to the newly appointed fund managers. Senior EPFO officials told Business Line that they had been trying ...

POWER: NHPC seeks Sikkim help to complete power projects
Gangtok, Sept. 13 NHPC Ltd has sought the help of the Sikkim Government for expeditious completion of two mega power projects undertaken by it in the ...

PSU: Plans for handheld billing devices in TN ration shops
Chennai, Sept. 13 The World Bank plans to fund around Rs 240 crore to the Tamil Nadu Government in a project to introduce handheld billing devices in fair price shops (ration shops). The fund will also be used for introducing e-governance in ...

INCOME TAX: ELSS Funds — Widely variant record
The broad market fall from January this year has taken its toll on the tax planning ELSS funds as well. The year-to-date returns of these funds have significantly lagged the Sensex, Nifty and BSE-100 returns. Barring Sundaram Tax Saver and ...