Agriculture
Moisture stress threatens oilseeds crop -- Rainfall deficiency in AP, TN affects groundnut acreage
A PROLONGED dry spell, extending up to 4-5 consecutive weeks, have held up sowings of groundnut, sunflower and other kharif oilseeds in most parts of Rayalseema in Andhra Pradesh, North Interior Karnataka, Marathwada and some parts of Tamil Nadu, the Agr iculture Ministry has said.

Sythite to set up chilli extraction unit in Karnataka
THE Kolenchery-based Synthite Industrial Chemicals Ltd group, engaged in production of spices oleoresins and essential oils, is setting up a unit for extracting natural colour from Bedagi Chilli at Harihar in Karnataka. The unit, with an annual processin g capacity of 10,000 tonnes, is expected to go operational later this year.

CCEA meet on jute packing postponed
THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting, scheduled for Wednesday to approve the Union Textiles Ministry proposal for mandatory packaging of certain commodities in jute bags for the crop year 2001-2002, has been postponed.

Multi-crop farming
A multi-crop farm in Cheerakuzhi village near Kerala's Palakkad district. Limited land area, coupled with unstable prices, has forced the farmers to resort to mixed or multi-crop system.

Southern belt may recover from dry spell
THE India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that the prolonged dry spell affecting the standing kharif crop in several areas of South India will return to `normal' during the second half of the monsoon season.

Airlines
SIA still in race for AI bid: DoD Secy
SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) has said it was not pulling out of the race for picking up a stake in Air India (AI), according to Mr Pradip Baijal, Secretary, Department of Disinvestment (DoD).

Aquaculture
Mechanised boats in AP to go on strike from Aug 16
MECHANISED boat operators in Andhra Pradesh are indefinitely dropping anchors from August 16 to protest against the `unremunerative price' being offered for their shrimp catches by the seafood exporters.

Automobiles
Swing pricing: GM gives Gujarat the home advantage
GENERAL Motors India Ltd (GMIL) has given Gujarat the home advantage when it introduced its new sedan model -- Opel Swing -- with a price tag that was easily Rs 20,000 below than offered in other parts of the country. The Opel Swing - 1.4 model has been priced at Rs 6,11,400 while the 1.6 model has a tag of Rs 6,31,700 for the Gujarat market.

Cement
ACC, Guj Ambuja July production, despatches up
TWO cement majors have announced increase in despatches and production for July, as against the same month the previous year.

Chemicals
Bengal Chemicals turns 100
CENTRAL public sector unit, Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, established by the well-known scientist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, celebrated its centenary on Thursday. It was also the 140th birth anniversary of the Acharya.

Commodities
Q1 aluminium output slips target
NEW DELHI: During the first quarter of this fiscal the production of aluminium metal in the country was 1.36 lakh tonnes as against 1.58 tonnes during the same period last year.

Gold may trade in higher range
NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that little has changed in the gold market over the last four months, the sentiment has turned distinctly positive, catching many by surprise. Given the resilience of bullish buying, some have come to believe gold may trade sligh tly higher till the end of the year.

Corporate
Postal ballot: AGM is mandatory, says DCA
THE Department of Company Affairs (DCA) has clarified that any listed company intending to transact businesses notified under Rule 4 of the Companies (Passing of Resolution by Postal Ballot) Rules, 2001 has to do so only in the annual general meetings al ong with ordinary and special businesses, if any.

DCA notifies stringent norms for nidhis
THE Department of Company Affairs (DCA) has issued two notifications introducing stringent norms for mutual benefit societies or nidhis with immediate effect. The two notifications supersede the earlier notifications of November 1, 1999, November 19, 199 9 and April 25, 2000.

Uncertainty over power connection to SIV continues
EVEN three days after the July 31 deadline, power supply to the Sirumugai-based SIV Industries has not been disconnected, but an air of uncertainty persists.

`ITC investments will capitalise on trademark'
BRAND building over a considerable period of time costs a huge sum of money, and the brands so created are assets of the company which cannot be thrown away.

Sterlite Optical board okays buyback
MUMBAI: The board of Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd on Friday decided to buy back its shares at a maximum price of Rs 250 per share (face value Rs 5 each).

Carrier Corpn stake goes up to 86%
MUMBAI: Carrier Corporation has increased its stake in its Indian subsidiary, Carrier Aircon India Ltd, to 86 per cent from 51 per cent.

BHEL bags ONGC order
NEW DELHI: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged a Rs 10-crore order for supply of Christmas tree valves and wellhead assemblies to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) offshore drilling sites near Mumbai.

L&T concludes $104-million debt refinance transaction
ENGINEERING and construction major, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), concluded a $104-million debt refinancing transaction last month-end.

DCM Shriram charts growth plan
THE year 2000-2001 was identified as the year of consolidation by DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd (DSCL). As a strategy, the company is working on developing alternative business models in the agriculture business and new opportunities are being explored an d expanded upon, the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, DSCL, Mr Ajay S. Shriram, told Business Line.

ITC looks at marketing riding on FMCG tie-ups
ITC Ltd, looking to leverage its in-house skills in combination with brand strengths built over the years, is planning to enter the distribution and marketing business in partnership with FMCG companies.

Eastern Resin stake in Gesco touches 7.27 pc
EASTERN Resin & Allied Products Ltd today informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its equity holding in GESCO Corporation Ltd had touched 7.27 per cent.

RIL hikes polymer prices
RELIANCE Industries Ltd has increased prices of polyester and polymer effective August 1.

Discovery Channel to launch new programming strategy
THE new programming strategy for Discovery Channel will include 118 hours of new programming every week, said Mr Deepak Shourie, Managing Director, Discovery Communications India.

Continental Coffee plan to attain Rs 100 cr turnover
CONTINENTAL Coffee Ltd (CCL), engaged in the production of soluble coffee, has embarked upon a business plan to achieve a turnover of Rs 100 crore.

Sundram Fasteners looks for more orders from GM
SUNDRAM Fasteners Ltd, which has won the `Best Supplier of the Year' award from General Motors Corporation, US, for the fifth consecutive year, is now hopeful of leveraging this merit to get business for its main product line -- automobile fasteners.

Karnataka wants KIOCL out of forest area
THE Karnataka Government has told KIOCL that the company may have to look out for an alternative location and that the Government does not want it to continue iron ore mining in the eco-sensitive forest area for long.

Economy
Dhaka woos Indian cos to new EPZs
BANGLADESH, in keeping with its new `open door policy' to foreign investment, has invited fresh investments from Indian entrepreneurs in that country's upcoming four new Export Processing Zones (EPZs) at Mongla (a southern port), Comilla, Ishurdi (close to the Benapole border with West Bengal) and Uttara at Syedpur-Nilphamari. The Mongla EPZ is expected to become operational by the end of this year, and the other three are under active implementation.

Course of money, output, velocity and prices
WHAT has been happening to the relation between money and prices in recent years? There is an impression that though the growth rate of money is rather high in relation to that of output, it has had no impact on the year-by-year inflation rate. This impr ession is so widespread that there is no major concern on reducing the annual rate of growth of money.

India can attract $100 b FDI in 5 years: McKinsey
INDIA has the potential to attract as much as $100 billion foreign direct investments over the next five years. Of this, the domestic sector and export sector has the potential to attract $45 billion and $10 billion respectively. Privatisation efforts by the Government also has the potential to attract another $45 billion of foreign investment.

Editorial
Undermined
WHILE NEW DELHI may be justified in claiming that the present policy framework for non-coal minerals is comparable to that of major mineral producing countries, it is clear that unless the States formulate matching policies and gear up their administrati ve machinery, the Centre's initiative will mean little. It is unfortunate that the reforms brought about in instalments by the Centre since 1993, when a new national mineral policy was announced, have not been actively followed up by the States, which ar e the owners of all deposits.

Environment
Reneging on the Kyoto Protocol
THE presence of certain trace gases in the atmosphere enables it to act like a greenhouse. An increase in the concentration of these greenhouse gases (GHGs) causes an enhanced greenhouse effect and a warming of the earth, leading to a change in climate. Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are the largest source of GHGs. These are most difficult to reduce as energy is an essential input in all economic activities.

Fast track
Smooth ride for Hero Honda
WITH earnings season getting over, the stock market is likely to be stuck in a narrow range. Unless there is a string of positive news, the market would remain range-bound. The developments pertaining to US-64 would also have a major impact on the market movement.

Financial Performance
Concor Q1 PAT up at Rs 66.82 cr
CONTAINER Corporation of India Ltd (Concor), the leading logistics service provider in the country for containerised cargo, has posted a net profit of Rs 66.82 crore for the quarter ended June 2001.

VSP turnover rises 25 pc
NEW DELHI: Visakhapatnamm Steel Plant (VSP) has achieved a sales turnover of Rs 1,193 crore during April-July 2001 period, registering a growth of 25 per cent over the previous year period.

Foreign Trade
PM to inaugurate meet on 3rd World concerns
THE Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will inaugurate an international conference on `Concerns of the developing nations in the WTO regime' to be held here on August 20-21.

WTO: Realistic view urged on implementation
THERE is a greater need to introduce some realism on the implementation issue at WTO ministerial round in Doha, according to Mr George Anthony Hylton, Foreign Trade Minister of Jamaica and Chairman of the 77-member Africa Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) Group of Trade Ministers.

Horticulture
`Intensity of coconut mite disease down'
THE Centre has provided an assistance of about Rs 50 crore to the States affected by the coconut mite disease and Tamil Nadu has received a share of about Rs 10 crore.

Information Technology
Technology does not recognise slowdown: Barrett
``THE one thing that doesn't recognise a slowdown is technology,'' the Intel Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Craig Barrett, told an industry audience in Bangalore today at the end of a busy day's schedule.

Mutual Funds
Subramanyam used a personal mobile phone: CBI
THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today told a special court hearing the UTI scam that Mr P.S. Subramanyam, former Chairman, UTI, had ``admitted to using a personal mobile phone, the particulars of which were not disclosed by him till late yester day''.

`IDBI sought report on select deals'
THE Government on Friday said the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), which nominates four persons to the UTI's board of trustees, had sought a report in May on the trust's investments in Zee Telefilms, DSQ Software, Global Telesystems and HFCL.

Judge probing UTI case prescribes norms for media
THE CBI Special Judge, Mr S.R. Mehra, hearing the UTI case, today prescribed guidelines to journalists reporting court proceedings. On Thursday, Mr Mehra had restrained presspersons from reporting the proceedings in the court room except for what is cont ained in the certified copy of his order.

Repurchase bids for 2.22-cr units
UNIT Trust of India, during the first three days of the month, has received 15,824 repurchase requests covering 2.22 crore units of Unit Scheme-1964 (US-64).

PSU
Closure of unviable PSUs only as last resort: Joshi
THE Government would resort to closure of unviable public sector units only as the last resort after making every effort to restructure them including rationalisation of labour force and their redeployment in alternative works, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

Pharmaceuticals
Glenmark plans to license asthma molecule to MNCs
GLENMARK Pharmaceuticals Ltd is plans to license its asthma molecule for clinical trials and for further development to multinationals. The molecule, code-named GRC3015, is in the advanced stages of pre-clinical trials.

Dr Reddy's drug launched in US generic market
DR Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (DRL) launched 40-mg capsules of fluoxetine in the US generic market on Friday, becoming the first Indian company to receive 180-day marketing exclusivity.

Plantations
93 pc coffee withdrawn at ICTA sales
THE Indian Coffee Traders' Association (ICTA) auctions on Thursday remained predictably similar to the last few weeks. Of the 688 MT of coffee on offer, only 7 per cent was sold as most of it was withdrawn. Whatever was traded, was mainly by the local tr aders. Domestic prices dropped by Rs 2-3 on all varieties.

Politics
Should the FM go?
HE SHOULD, if only because of the fact that he has been in the saddle for some time now and he has nothing to show that his services are invaluable to the nation. True, it is the Prime Minister who always has the last word on a subject such as this, but, of course, Mr Vajpayee is a human being and, being so, is not always expected to be right.

Power
Stress on nuclear, hydel projects
GENERATION capacity addition during the Eleventh Plan period will focus on nuclear and hydel sources, according to the Union Power Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu.

States
AP rebuts study on investment climate
THE Andhra Pradesh Government had rebutted a study conducted by the Delhi-based Rajiv Gandhi Centre about the investment climate comparing investments in various States. They had rated the State much below what the State actually believes it is in. Inter estingly, even within the CII, there was mixed reaction to this report, where Central and State units reacted differently.

Kerala plans global investors meet
IN its bid to attract investments on a large scale, the Kerala Government is planning to host a ``global investors' meet'' this year.

Real estate prices firming up in Kolkata
REAL estate dynamics are changing fast in this city. The market, it seems, is moving, thanks to a combination of factors, including the arrival of a clutch of companies looking for the right addresses and a sudden increase in the number of developers of upmarket property.

Excise duty waiver for units in Kutch
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Finance has notified the scheme of exemption from excise duty for the district of Kutch in the State of Gujarat.

MCF conducts mock drill
MANGALORE: Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCF), which claims to have been conducting `mock drills' regularly to `improve its emergency preparedness' indulged in yet another such exercise at its di-ammonium phosphate plant here recently. Last year, an explosion in the plant caused by a leakage in one of the ammonium pipelines had killed two persons and left several others injured.

Chambers against power tariff hike
KOCHI: Various chambers of commerce have reacted sharply against the State Government's decision to impose 25 per cent hike in power tariffs, saying that it would cripple the already embattled industry sector in the State.

Plea to re-activate labour welfare board
MADURAI: The conference on `Tamil Nadu Agricultural Workers' Social Security and Welfare Board,' has appealed the State Government to re-activate the functioning of Tamil Nadu Agricultural Labourers' Welfare Board immediately.

`Remove restrictions on all paddy types'
MADURAI: The trade circles here have welcomed the lifting of restrictions on inter-State movement TKM-9 paddy and rice by the State Government.

CAG pulls up WBSEB for subsidising operations of pvt co
THE latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) on the ground that it suffered a loss of Rs 266 crore because it subsidised the operations of a private concern.

Steel
Mecon puts IISCO closure cost higher than revival
THE cost of closing down ailing Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd (IISCO) has been estimated at Rs 1,100 crore, while a fresh turnaround package will cost Rs 390 crore, according to the rehabilitation plan worked out by Mecon, a Central public sector und ertaking (PSU).

`Busy' steel cos yet to forge alliance
THERE has been no major headway in the formation of the proposed Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) on the lines of The Steel Alliance of the US and Canada after it was announced around the beginning of this year.

Stocks
Satyam up in Lyons Range
THE Calcutta Stock Exchange on Friday recorded slightly higher volume than this week's average of around Rs 75 crore, thanks to the activity in the Satyam Computers stock.

Sterlite Optical up on buyback news
THE markets continued to move in a narrow range on Friday and edged up by a marginal 0.81 per cent, aided by a rally in technology and optical fibre stocks. The 30-stock barometer closed at 3325.38 points, up by 26.60 points from the previous day's close . Among the 1,232 scrips traded, 651 companies gained, while 470 emerged losers.

JPC probe to cover UTI too
THE mandate of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), headed by Mr Prakash Mani Tripathi, which is looking into the stock market scam, has been expanded to include the probe into affairs of the Unit Trust of India, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Bala yogi, has announced. This would include looking into the current US-64 fiasco.

JPC puts `searching' supplementaries to SEBI
THE Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the stock scam of March 2001 has asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to reply to a spate of supplementaries on the questions raised on the role of the regulator earlier, as several membe rs have expressed their unhappiness at the sketchy information furnished by SEBI.

SEBI bars Khemkas from accessing capital market
THE Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has debarred the Khemkas, the promoters of Chennai-based NEPC group, and their group companies from accessing the capital market for various violations for five years. SEBI has issued punitive orders on the Khemkas for violation of SEBI's takeover regulations in their acquisition of Skyline NEPC (formerly Damania Airways) during May 1995.

Castrol up 12% on BSE
CASTROL India Ltd's share price jumped 12 per cent to Rs 235.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The scrip opened at Rs 210.

Taxation
Of doubtful wisdom
THE Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, would like to align the tax levied with the revised pay structure of the salaried class. Thanks to liberalisation and the Pay Commission, the pay packets of the employees, especially executives in the higher echel ons of the corporate world, have been revised steeply upwards. The cash part of the pay packet is determined and well known and is subject to tax. However, the attraction lies in the non-cash part, and it is here that the revenue authorities are faced wi th a problem -- evaluating the value of the amenities provided to the employees.

Point, counterpoint
RECENTLY, FCB Ulka Advertising went to the Mumbai CEGAT with a strange dimension to a common problem. The appeal was for condonation of delay -- too ubiquitous anyway -- but the cause for delay was interesting.

Load on accounts
TAX LAWS would influence accounting measurements because the impact on tax income is causing a wide divergence between pre-tax and post-tax incomes.

On a wider net
TAXATION of services acquires greater significance as India becomes more of a service economy. While giving effect to service tax on 15 new services introduced in the Budget for 2000-2001 (effective from July 16, 2001), the Finance Ministry made the foll owing policy and procedural changes:

`Proposed rules will help in taxing perks more precisely'
THE Chairman of the Central Board Direct of Taxes (CBDT), Mr O.P. Srivastava, today maintained that the proposed income-tax rules for valuation of perquisites would not in any manner dampen the motivation of employees in an organisation.

Technical Analysis
Mild bull domination
FOR the second successive trading, the index moved quite narrowly. The movement on Friday was only around nine points. Bulls managed to gain from the day's trading. Nifty closed for the week with a gain of seven points with respect to Thursday's close. The market sentiment reading of the tradable counters changed to bullish.

Telecommunications
Allow Net telephony: Panel
THE Task Force on Knowledge Society, constituted by the Planning Commission, has strongly recommended that the Government must allow the use of Internet telephony in the country in order to facilitate convergence of technologies.

Textiles
Proactive measures to boost textile sector urged
(NITMA) has outlined a set of proactive policy measures to put the country's textile sector on the forefront based on a recent visit of its delegation to Pakistan.

Study lists travails of cotton marketing
A TEXTILE industry-sponsored study on the functioning of the Government-organised cotton regulated markets in Tamil Nadu run under different district-level agricultural-regulated market committees has found inadequacies in basic infrastructure, trading p ractices, payment to the cotton farmers haunting many of them causing hurdles to effective cotton marketing in the State.

CSB weaves self-sufficiency pattern -- Silk output to touch 25,000 t in 10th Plan
A `SILENT revolution' is taking place in South India in the area of silk. The Central Silk Board (CSB) is confident that its efforts at strengthening the bivoltine technology would eventually make the country self-sufficient in silk production before the end of the Tenth Five Year Plan.

Cotton yarn exports may miss target again
THE current downtrend in cotton yarn exports may cause the yarn sector to miss yet again the Government's $1,700-million target for fiscal 2001-2002.

Source:Business Line