Agriculture
US panel rejects plea on American basmati sales
THE Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has announced denial of petition requesting an FTF rule-making proceeding regarding the advertising and marketing of US-grown basmati rice.

Vanaspati sector seeks lower duty on crude oil
RISING import of refined palmolein following the narrowing down of duty differential between refined and crude palm oil since the last Budget has dealt a death blow to the processing industry and the oilseeds growers, the vanaspati industry has complaine d.

Airlines
Gogoi assumes charge at AI -- `Suspension to ensure fair probe'
TWO top-level changes were effected at the Air India headquarters in Mumbai today following the suspension of Mr Michael Mascarenhas as managing director yesterday. The new incumbent, Mr. J.N. Gogoi, assumed charge and so did the newly appointed Commerci al Director, Mr. V.K. Verma.

Suspension won't hit AI divestment, says Sharad Yadav
A DAY after the suspension orders were served on the Managing Director of Air India, Mr M. Mascarenhas, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Sharad Yadav, has said that the disinvestment process in the airline will not suffer due the decision.

IA: No freebies
This refers to Indian Airlines denying the Kerala Chief Minister, Mr A. K. Antony, an air ticket under the government quota because the State Government had piled up huge outstandings with the airlines.

Automobiles
Merc launches C-Class in Kolkata
KOLKATA: Mercedes-Benz India Ltd (MBIL) launched its C-Class vehicles here on Thursday. MBIL expects to sell 800 units of the C-Class, 500 units of the E-Class and 200 units of the S-Class series in 2001. The eastern region is estimated to account for ar ound 8 per cent of the total domestic sales of Mercedes cars.

Fiat India launches CNG versions of Uno, Sienna
FIAT India Ltd today announced the launch of compressed natural gas (CNG) versions of the Uno and Sienna.

Cartoon
Cartoon
``Which one is it today? Do we feel upbeat about the economy or sound cautious about it?''

Commodities
Early monsoon likely to hit cashewnut production
EARLY southwest monsoon is likely to adversely affect raw cashewnut production both qualitatively and quantitatively during the current season.

Maharashtra to continue cotton procurement
THE Maharashtra Government has decided to continue with monopoly procurement of cotton but at Centre-decided price, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, Chief Minister, told presspersons here.

High prices may impact gold demand growth
A SHARP increase in international gold prices as readily reflected in the domestic market is likely to moderate demand considerably for the yellow metal in the country over the coming months. Traditionally, demand for gold picks up during the summer mont hs because of the marriage season and following incomes in rural areas generated from the harvest of rabi (summer) crops.

Crackdown on slippery edible oil imports -- Govt wakes up to under-invoicing by traders
THE Finance Ministry has initiated a probe into the alleged under-invoicing of edible oil imports by some leading traders and refiners, following the enhancement of customs duties in this year's Budget.

Corporate
Dotcom debacle pushes broking cos to the edge
AFTER the dotcom debacle, several celebrated broking houses powered exclusively by the Internet are leading a precarious existence.

Infar diagnostic unit may be sold to Delhi firm
IN the next few months, the diagnostic business of Infar India Ltd, which is under the wing called Organon Teknika, is likely to be sold to the New Delhi-based two-year-old company, bio Merieux India Pvt Ltd.

Duncans' NCD downgraded
KOLKATA: Fitch Ratings India has downgraded a Rs 60-crore NCD programme of Duncans Industries Ltd (DIL) from `Ind A' to `Ind BBB'. The revised rating indicates that the protection factors are considered sufficient for investment. However, variability in risk during economic cycles is greater than that of instruments rated higher.

Mahindra Realty ties up with IFC
MAHINDRA Realty & Infrastructure Developers Ltd (MRIDL), the realty and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group, is entering into an 80:20 joint venture agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to promote Mahindra Infrastructur e Developers Ltd (MIDL).

New CDC Chairman
NEW DELHI: Dr Uddesh Kohli, former chairman and managing director of Power Finance Corporation, has taken over as the Chairman of the Consultancy Development Centre (CDC).

WorldSpace tuned for major action in India
DIGITAL audio services provider WorldSpace is set to push deeper into the Indian market in mid-July when new WorldSpace compatible equipment is slated to storm the market.

`Thrust on R&D can help industry become competitive'
SCIENCE and technology can help India overcome the problems thrown up by globalisation and the opening up the country's market, according to Dr Krishna Das Nair, Chairman, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). He was speaking at the concluding function of the week-long swadeshi exhibition here.

VST Ind improves liquidity position -- To focus on core business
VST Industries Ltd, the Hyderabad-based Rs 755-crore tobacco major, has successfully improved its liquidity position during the fiscal ended March 31, 2001 by various measures.

Philips NV makes open offer for Punjab Anand
ROYAL Philips Electronics N.V. of the Netherlands, the parent company of Punjab Anand Lamp Industries (PALI), has decided to make an open offer to purchase the balance outstanding equity shares of the latter company from the existing shareholders.

Economy
Assocham wants more capital spending by Govt
THE Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has urged the Government to initiate steps to ensure that capital spending allocated in the Budget be stepped up to the maximum extent possible.

Maran moots escort service to foreign investors
THE Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Murasoli Maran, today told captains of Spanish industry that the Indian Government is contemplating to introduce an escort service to foreign investors to take due care to ensure the fulfillment of satisfactor y package service for foreign investors.

Editorial
Let 'em all fly
IT HAS BEEN reported that the Ministry of Civil Aviation is unlikely to accord approval for new private airlines to start operations in the country. Its plea is that a panel is studying the market and that the Government would like to ascertain the deman d and see how the traffic is growing before deciding on letting in more operators. At least two proposals are said to be pending with the Ministry for some length of time while some others have been rejected on grounds that they do not conform to norms.

Environment
Illegal mining in Kudremukh park -- SC issues notices to Centre, KIOCL
THE Supreme Court (SC) is said to have issued notices to the Centre, the Government of Karnataka and Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) on May 10 in response to an interlocutory application seeking an end to `illegal mining activity' in the Kudremukh national park.

Fast track
MNCs witness fresh interest
WITH the Finance Minister confirming that GDP growth would be impacted by the drought in western and central India, the markets continue to gyrate listlessly in a narrow range.

Financial Performance
Color-Chem net slips 58%
MUMBAI: Color-Chem Ltd has registered a 58 per cent drop in profit-after-tax at Rs 8.97 crore for the year ended March 31, 2001 as against Rs 21.15 crore in the previous year.

Fem Care Pharma net profit up 54 pc
Fem Care Pharma, makers of Fem Fairness Bleach & Fem Liquid soaps has clocked a sales of Rs 34.05 crore, for the year ended March 31, 2001, up 24 per cent from Rs 27.50 crore registered in the same period the previous year.

BYNL sales up 25 pc
NEW DELHI: Bharat Yantra Nigam Ltd (BYNL) has recorded a sales turnover of Rs 766.5 crore for the year ended March 31, 2001, a 25 per cent increase over Rs 611 crore in the previous year.

Crompton Greaves: Long way to go on the recovery path
AS one would have expected the performance of Crompton Greaves for the year ended March 2001 has not been very impressive. Though the company has managed to reduce its losses, it has not been able to come out of the red during 2000-2001. Given that there has been no marked improvement in the fundamentals of the company over the last one year, the performance comes as no surprise.

Foreign Trade
Move to better data-codification
A MAJOR exercise for detailed product data codification under the globally recognised harmonised system of classification is being taken up by the office of the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in collaboration with Directorate General of Commerc e Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS).

India, Australia sign pact on energy, mining
INDIA and Australia have signed a protocol for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the areas of mining, power, non-conventional energy sources and coal. The protocol followed two days of deliberations by the Indo-Australia Joint Working Group on Energ y and Minerals set up in 1999.

Forex
UAE Exchange to open more branches in India
THE UAE Exchange and Financial Services, India, the associate company of the UAE Exchange Centre, has been granted 27 more licences to open branches in various parts of India for providing `Express Money' or instant cash transfer facilities between the U AE and India.

Horticulture
Minister's assurance on marketing mangoes
NEARLY 80 per cent of the mango crop in the Krishna region had been sold and alternative arrangements would be made for the timely marketing of the remaining crop in the aftermath of the gutting of the Nunna yard, Mr V. Sobhanadreeswara Rao, the Agricult ure and Horticulture Minister, has said.

Tie-up with network to boost banana output
INDIA and the international agricultural research network have joined hands to improve banana production.

Impact
ICICI Bank: Welcoming FIIs on board
THE proposal of ICICI Bank to enhance the limit for foreign institutional investors may lead to firm trends in the valuation of the stock. It is one of the two fancied banking sector stocks.

Punjab Anand: Last lap in limelight
THE open offer announced for Punjab Anand Lamps is unlikely to trigger any rally in the stock.

Zee Telefilms: One more grandiose plan
THE indication provided by Zee Telefilms that it might induct a foreign strategic partner may not lead to any sustained improvement in the valuation of the stock.

Information Technology
IT for women
ARE women keeping out of the exciting prospects opened up by information technology (IT)? Is there a sort of gender divide developing within the digital divide? One notices from casual visits to the Cyber cafes, or computer shops that they are prepondera ntly patronised by males. Also in homes which have personal computers (PCs), it is the men folk who are likely to be using them most of the time. Indeed, there are many wives who hate their husbands getting wedded to PCs, relegating them to the status of ``computer widows''!

Miscellaneous
The leopard's spots
THE other day I read that a leopard had fallen into a well and was trapped there. As forest officials and many other people rushed to rescue the animal, I rushed along with them, as I wanted to interview the leopard. It is not often one gets a chance to interview leopards. They are very elusive creatures; hidden away behind the high walls of the jungle they inhabit. There are a lot of jungle black cats protecting it from rude reporters.

Mutual Funds
SBI MF raises dividend on gilt scheme
MUMBAI: SBI Mutual Fund (SBIMF) has stepped up monthly dividend under Magnum Gilt Fund to 0.80 per cent for May 2001 from 0.70 per cent in April. The record date for the same is fixed on May 31 and all investors who invest in the scheme on or before the record date will be eligible for the dividend.

PSU
`White paper on PSUs by July'
A WHITE paper on the public sector units under the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) will be ready by July, according to Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria, Union Minister of State for Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.

Karnataka seeks interest waiver for Mysore Lamp
BANGALORE: The State Government has sought waiver of all interest on outstanding to the IDBI and banks from its sick unit, Mysore Lamp Works.

Pesticides
Pesticide makers caution on GM tech adoption
THE Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) has urged caution against wholesale adoption of genetic modification (GM) technology for seeds.

Petroleum
Petro-product output down in April
PRODUCTION of crude and refined petroleum products have registered a decline during April, perhaps suggestive of slack demand conditions in the economy.

IOC-NTPC MoU for petro-fuel power plants
INDIAN Oil Corporation (IOC) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up one or more petro-fuel power plants in the country.

Pharmaceuticals
CSIR pact with pharma cos
NEW DELHI: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), through its laboratories, has entered into knowledge alliances with various pharmaceutical industries.

TRIPs and the drug regime
THIRTY-nine multinational pharmaceutical companies recently filed a law suit against the South African Government in the Pretoria High Court. The cause of action for the suit was that the MNCs were the patent holders of anti-retroviral drugs and that the Government's decision to buy cheap generics from third parties violated the provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) treaty.

Pharma R&D fund finally set to roll; deliberations likely to end by June
THE proposed Rs 150-crore research and development (R&D) fund for the pharmaceutical sector finally looks likely to see the light of day in the near future, with deliberations on the structuring of the fund expected to be wrapped up by June.

Policy
How to make bureaucracy work effectively
LAST fortnight, a Select Committee of British Parliament published a report on its civil services. Since India's civil service is broadly patterned on the Whitehall, a comparative discussion is useful:

Politics
Why is it Centre versus State?
IN THE first three decades since Independence, elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies were held simultaneously. It was P. N. Haksar, Indira Gandhi's one-man think-tank, who staggered them. He wanted to separate Central issues from those of t he States. His thinking was that voters should focus their attention on the problems of the country while voting for the Lok Sabha and the State, or local issues, when voting for the Assembly.

National Missile Defence -- Right question, wrong answer
NOT only to the rest of the world, but even to many in the US, the over-enthusiasm of the Bush Administration for the National Missile Defence (NMD) and the Theater Missile Defence (TMD) project is a mystery. Why?

Another election, another place
YET another Labour landslide is on the cards, and the general expectation in the UK that the outcome of the election which comes up on June 7 is a foregone conclusion, was confirmed by the latest Times poll published on Thursday. This predicts a 55 per c ent support for the Labour, 30 per cent for the Conservatives and a mere 11 per cent for the Liberal democrats.

TN election
The Tamil Nadu Governor and the Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalitha, are entitled to their own views on the latter being sworn in as Chief Minister in a legitimate manner.

Power
`Material facts misrepresented in PPA' -- MSEB slaps notice on DPC
THE Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) today issued a legal notice to Enron under the Indian Contract Act, claiming the power purchase agreement (PPA) with Dabhol Power Company (DPC) as ``void''.

DPC-MSEB row: Centre awaits negotiations
THE Centre is willing to consider any worthwhile idea emerging out of the negotiating committee for the settlement of the dispute between Dabhol Power and MSEB, according to the Union Power Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu.

Review panel member rejects Godbole's remarks
DR R.K. Pachauri, a member of the Review Committee set up by the Maharashtra Government on the Dabhol controversy, has voiced his concern on a fellow member's recent statement in a leading national daily on the issue.

Policy deviation for Raichur project -- Karnataka pushes for 30-year PPA
THE State Government has made the first deviation from the power policy announced last week and has pushed for a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for Unit 7 of the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS).

Shipping
Operations resume at Chennai box port
EVEN though workers at the Chennai Port container terminal gave up their agitation, normalcy at the terminal is expected to be restored only in two to three weeks. The agitation now has a spin off effect on the complete chain of container movement in and out of Chennai.

States
Bonded!
Is the mahout brooding over the paradox?... His ward hogging all the limelight, it leading temple processions or merely moving logs, while he, who looks after and prepares it, leads a dull life.

Erratic power supply hits coir units
COIMBATORE: Erratic power supply has hit the coir processing units in Pollachi belt badly. At least 350-odd coir processing units in this belt are suffering from a loss of about Rs 1 crore per day on an average.

Steel
Steel Ministry downsizing pre-reform era `backbone' -- `DCI&S, Joint Plant Committee still relevant'
THE Ministry of Steel is in the process of downsizing the offices of Development Commissioner for Iron and Steel (DCI&S) and the Joint Plant Committee (JPC), both of which were considered the backbone of the Ministry in the pre-liberalisation era.

Stocks
DSE seeks Govt loan to buy transponder
IN an unprecedented move, the Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) has approached the Government for a soft loan to enable it to buy a transponder. Though no specific amount has been mentioned, it is estimated that a little less than Rs 100 crore will be required for setting up the transponder to provide nationwide connectivity to trading members.

Two RBI officials join SEBI
MUMBAI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has taken on its rolls two Reserve Bank of India officials to man crucial positions.

Lyons Range
STOCK prices firmed up a little on Lyons Range on Thursday even as the CSE-40 closed at 1921.88, higher than the opening mark of 1915.91. The CSE-50 closed at 123.20, up from 122.41.

Zee Telefilms under the spotlight
IT was an unexciting day of trading at the Bombay Stock Exchange. The BSE Sensitive Index inched up by 8.66 points to end the day at 3,683.30 points. There was a decline in trading volumes both in quantity and value. Turnover dropped to Rs 1,537.65 crore compared to Rs 1,584 crore on Wednesday. The total number of shares traded also dropped to 8.17 crore shares from 8.58 crore shares the previous day. Declines at 732 shares outnumbered the advances of 651 during the day.

Plan for CSE-DSE common trading platform on hold
THE proposed launch of a common trading platform (CTP) by integrating the trading systems of the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) and Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) has been suspended. This follows the takeover of CSE's administrative responsibilities by public representatives nominated by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) owing to defaults by many CSE members.

Taxation
Services tax expansion can bridge fiscal deficit
WITH substantial shortfalls in indirect tax collections undermining the Government's capacity to stick to targeted fiscal deficit figures in 2000-01, the time is now ripe for tax base expansion in all earnestness.

Tax refunds
When the BJP came to power, the people expected much. But, like previous governments, it has proved to be anti-old and anti-poor. The Finance Minister seems to think, as others before him, that he can boost the crumbling economy by collecting taxes from the retired, old, sick and helpless, though they have no taxable income. He first reduced the TDS limit on fixed deposits to Rs 2,500 and then reluctantly increased it to Rs 5,000.

Tea
Strong demand at Guwahati tea auction
A STRONG demand prevailed for virtually all CTC categories and prices appreciated following improved enquiry from all segments. Plainer and medium categories including Cachars gained the most in value and price moved up by Rs 4 to Rs 6 and more.

Technical Analysis
Uptrend triggered
THE bulls managed to gain a few points in the initial hours of trading on Thursday. During this process, a fresh uptrend was triggered in the index. The index finally closed with a marginal gain of about four points from the previous last traded value. T he sentiment of the tradable list continued to be in favour of the bulls extending support to the fresh uptrend.

Technology
IICT emerges top CSIR lab in patenting
THE Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) scaled a 35 per cent growth in its dollar earnings through contract research to cross the Rs 3-crore mark and also emerged tops among the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research's (CSIR) 40-lab net work, with a tally of 75 patents during fiscal 2000-01.

Textiles
`Apparel parks scheme to be formulated soon'
THE Textiles Ministry is at an advance stage of formulation of the integrated apparel parks scheme that was announced in this year's Budget to enable the dereserved readymade garment industry set up modern units with better infrastructure, the Textiles M inister, Mr Kashiram Rana, said.

Transport
Wheels of change
Pic.: A model of an antique railway locomotive draws the attention of a child visitor at an exhibition to mark the golden jubilee of the Southern Railway in Bangalore.

Tyres
Tyre cos plan large-scale import of natural rubber
FACED with a ban on the direct import of natural rubber (NR) under the advance licence (AL) scheme and also the allegedly ``abrupt stoppage'' of the State Trading Corporation's (STC) scheme for supply of indigenously procured NR at international prices t o AL holders, the domestic tyre industry is gearing up for ``large-scale'' imports of NR through the DEPB route.

Source:Business Line