Accountancy
ICWAI move to standardise cost accounting norms
THE Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) has taken the first step to codify costing practices into formal cost accounting standards. The exercise to formulate a set of standards will be overseen by a Government nominee on the ICWAI co uncil.

Airlines
HAL pact for papers on SU30 soon
THE Rs 2,460-crore Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will sign a supplementary agreement shortly for the supply of documents -- drawings and technical papers-- for the Sukhoi 30 MKI from Russia.

Capturing the wings of change
WHAT sets apart the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd's (HAL) recently inaugurated heritage centre and the aerospace museum are not the mock-ups or the static display of aircraft, but the collection of some very rare photographs.

Automobiles
Sundram Fasteners opens China branch
SUNDRAM Fasteners Ltd has opened a branch office in China. This is the company's second overseas presence. Last year, it established a subsidiary in the US, TVS International Inc.

Auto makers fixated with price cuts: ACMA chief
THE Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) has criticised the vehicle manufacturers for constantly demanding price reductions, without due consideration for the component suppliers' ability to bear such price reductions.

Banking and Finance
New director for Allahabad Bank
HYDERABAD: Allahabad Bank has announced here on Saturday that Mr Bhupatiraju Subbaraju has been nominated as non-official director on the bank's board. In a press statement, the bank's Assistant General Manager, Mr B.N. Rattan, said the appointment of Mr Subbaraju would be for three years commencing August 28. -- Our Bureau

Tata Fin associate firm to be probed by SEBI
THE Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to probe into the fresh irregularities that have surfaced surrounding Tata Finance Ltd (TFL) associate firm Inshaallah Investments Ltd (IIL).

Panel report on co-op banks in 3 months: Sinha
THE Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, on Friday told the Lok Sabha that the political level committee set up to look into co-operative sector banks' woes would submit its report within three months.

Commodities
Gold output up in July
HUTTI Gold Mines Ltd (HGML) has produced 258.45 kg of gold during July 2001, against the targeted 208.83 kg. It produced 225.38 kg of gold in the previous month.

SEAI moots steps to revive veg oil industry
THE Solvent Extractors Association of India has suggested several steps to help revive the vegetable oil industry.

Market intelligence cell for agri commodities
IN a bid to provide authentic information on possible future movements of price for different agricultural commodities, an Agricultural Market Intelligence Cell has been established at the Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Uni versity (TNAU).

Coir Board embarks on a new path
UNFAZED by globalisation and the threat of synthetic products import, the country's traditional rural and agro-based coir industry is fighting back to emerge as a natural fibre of choice with its diversified products range for discerning consumers.

Corporate
`Indian cos must warm up to US GAAP'
IT is time for the listed Indian companies to relate more to the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) of the US. This is the crux of the message that emerged from a two-day seminar on Indian and US accounting principles organised by Ernst & Yo ung in the city.

Tata Sons hikes borrowing limit by Rs 1,000 crore
TATA Sons Ltd (TSL), the main holding company of the Tata group, has raised its borrowing limits by Rs 1,000 crore from the previous level of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,500 crore.

Arvind Mills gets Dupont's Lycra accreditation
DUPONT India Ltd has chosen Arvind Mills Ltd (AML) as an accredited mill for its Lycra Assured Programme. According to a company release, AML is among the select few leading textile mills from Asia to qualify for the Lycra accredited mills programme. Wit h this, AML becomes the first Indian denim manufacturer to sign the LAP with Dupont.

Amtrex posts 33% growth in Q1 sales
AMTREX Hitachi Appliances Ltd (AHA) has recorded a sales growth rate of 33 per cent for the first quarter of 2001, said a company press release.

Eveready Ind to sell unviable tea gardens -- `Bifurcation of tea, battery businesses not now'
EVEREADY Industries India Ltd has decided to sell off its unviable tea gardens in the Dooars. Further, it will launch its own alkaline batteries by November this year and will use the division's mobile van distribution network to sell other consumer item s and also insurance products.

Williamson Magor files for NBFC licence
WILLIAMSON Magor & Co Ltd, the holding company of the B.M. Khaitan group, has applied to the Reserve Bank of India for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence after recording a loss of Rs 17.82 lakh in 2000-01.

Kapil `bodyline' at CII wicket
ONE might have thought that the man would have been a bit out of place at a gathering organised by a body like the CII, and that with an audience of around 1,500 to address. But Kapil Dev Nikhanj proved conclusively that he was India's best `allrounder' - not only on the cricket field but also off it too.

ISRO seee more role for industry
THE Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would, as part of its broader vision for future, develop a system for regular census of nation's natural resources and generation of reports on `State of the country's environment', Dr K. Kasturirangan, Chair man, ISRO, has said.

SIA `distressed' at selloff, says Tata
MR Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons Ltd, on Friday said that Singapore International Airlines (SIA), currently partnering the Tatas in their bid for disinvestment candidate Air India (AI), was ``distressed'' at the way in which the public sector disinvest ment was unfolding in India.

`Merge all Govt-owned IC fabrication facilities'
THE Government should consolidate or merge the activities of the integrated circuit (IC) fabrication companies in the country to avoid duplication of efforts and to cut costs, the Committee on Public Undertakings has suggested.

Economy
US-based Indian management guru bullish on India
IF China can become a manufacturing power, India has all that it takes to become a ``knowledge powerhouse'' of this world; but the country must leverage all the strengths available both within and outside, according to Dr Bala V. Balachandran, the well-k nown management expert from J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, Illinois.

Concern over wider use of non-tariff barriers
THE rapid increase in the use of non-tariff measures such as plant and animal health requirements and technical regulations in OECD countries is raising concerns that they are being used for purpose of trade protection.

Dumping duty mooted on white cement from UAE, Iran
THE Designated Authority in the Commerce Ministry has recommended imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on imported white cement originating in or exported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran.

Why India must go to Doha
THE fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation is to take place at Doha from November 9 to 13. This event may mark the turning point in world trade talks. After the fiasco at Seattle in November-December 1999, largely due to the inclus ion of non-trade-related issues such as labour standards and environment in the agenda by developed countries, developing countries insisted on the review of agreements so far signed to ensure fair treatment and remove imbalances in their implementation.

The RBI Annual Report for 2000-01 -- Suffering the curse of Sisyphus
THE Annual Report of the Reserve Bank of India for 2000-01, released on August 28, presents a comprehensive account of the economy from the RBI angle. Repeatedly, it refers to the current decline in the rate of capital accumulation in the economy. The ca uses for the same are seen in international and national factors.

Sinha heading high-power team to Srinagar
EVEN as speculations are rife that the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, may be replaced in the Cabinet reshuffle tomorrow, it is ``work as usual'' for Mr Sinha who has been under attack from the Opposition on the UTI issue and stock-scam.

Fiscal deficit rises 64 pc till July
THE industrial slowdown is clearly taking its toll on the economy. With a steep fall in tax revenues, the Centre's fiscal deficit up to the end of July this year rose by 64 per cent to touch Rs 58,628 crore as against Rs 35,642 crore in the same period l ast year.

Editorial
Political fare
IT IS DIFFICULT to miss the political tinge in Wednesday's announcement by the Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, of the hard economic decision of a levy of surcharge on passenger fares. The announcement of the surcharge which, in effect, raises fares, v irtually greeted Ms Mamata Banerjee on her return to the National Democratic Alliance. Ms Banerjee had not only displaced Mr Nitish Kumar from Rail Bhavan but also ignored North Block's insistence on a fare hike. Now, a serious effort has been made to pa rtly undo the damage caused to Railway finances by Ms Banerjee's populism.

Environment
Changes in Cruelty to Animals Act -- PETA to meet PM for early action
THE Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is trying to persuade the Central Government at the highest levels to get the Prevention of Cruelties to Animals Act amended, so that transportation and slaughtering of cattle are carried out in a more humane manner.

`Full-fledged eco design must for building houses'
GREEN Building is an environmental imperative, a new market and a movement, said Mr. John Armstrong, Senior Vice-President of PA Consulting Group of the US, here on Friday.

Fast track
BASF: Fortified by Cyanamid merger
WITH a market as quiet as this one, underlying trends are small in number. With no real movement in the market, which could act as triggers for stock prices, increases or decreases in valuations are mostly due to company-specific developments.

Financial Performance
PowerGrid pays Rs 50-cr interim
POWERGRID Corporation of India Ltd has paid Rs 50 crore as interim dividend to the Central Government for financial year 2000-1.

Food & Dairy Products
Call for more thrust to milk marketing
AHMEDABAD: The Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Dr Amrita Patel, has called upon the dairy co-operatives across the country to put more efforts to bring in efficient milk marketing methods. She urged the dairy co-operative sector to transform itself into a dairy industry.

Foreign Trade
Tariff on 50 Pak items to be cut
THE Government has identified the 50 tariff lines on which duties on imports from Pakistan could either be eliminated or reduced. The move is aimed at enhancing bilateral trade between India and Pakistan.

Hotels
Toshali Resorts plans expansion
TOSHALI Resorts International is on an expansion overdrive. The resorts company has unveiled plans to add nine more resorts to its portfolio in the next nine years. Toshali already owns and operates two resort hotels -- Toshali Sands in Puri and Toshali Royal View in Shimla.

Information Technology
E-commerce under tax net favoured
THE High Powered Committee on Electronic Commerce and Taxation has ruled out exempting e-commerce from direct taxation and recommended subjecting income of content providers, service providers and all other persons engaged in e-commerce to the same taxat ion as traditional commerce.

Miscellaneous
Meet to alleviate fishermen's woes
CAN the countries in the Indian Ocean region follow the example of cooperation between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, or Yemen and Eritrea, and develop mechanisms for treating trespassing fishermen more humanely?

PSU
Coal India, arms may merge as one entity
GIVEN a deteriorating financial position and faced by strong opposition from the central trade unions to any move further to amend the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act, the Union Coal Ministry has taken the initiative actively to consider a proposal which advocates the conversion of Coal India Ltd (CIL) into a SAIL-type corporate outfit by merging all its subsidiaries into itself.

Clear Hind Photo revival scheme immediately: COPU
THE Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) has recommended that the revival proposal for Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) pending before the Union Cabinet should be cleared immediately for enabling the company to turn around and compete with the multinationa ls in the domestic market.

Petrochemicals
Haldia Petro may have a new chief next month
THE board of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), which met here on Friday, discussed the company's plans to turn profitable by the next quarter.

Getting set for a PET plant at Haldia -- South Asia Petro ties up Rs 250-crore forex loan
SOUTH Asia Petrochem Ltd, which is in the process of setting up the country's largest PET plant in Haldia, has tied up foreign currency loans worth Rs 250 crore from leading FIs. It has also lined up a Rs 69.5-crore fully convertible debenture (FCD) issu e along with a Rs 5-crore equity offering to fund its 1.4 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) project costing Rs 450 crore.

Pharmaceuticals
`Stick to RBI norms for Hind Antibiotics revival'
IN an effort to revive Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL), a wholly-owned Government of India company set up to make life-saving drugs at affordable prices, the Government needs to adhere to the Reserve Bank of India guidelines and prevail over banks to giv e concessions to HAL.

Drug licences to be valid for 5 years
THE licence for the manufacture and sale of all drugs and cosmetics, issued by the State Licensing Authority, would be valid for five years from the date on which the licenses are granted or renewed. This follows a recent amendment in the Drugs and Cosme tic Rules, by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Import registration norms for foreign drug firms
FOREIGN drug manufacturers will now have to register their manufacturing premises and the individual drugs they seek to import into the country - as part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's efforts to lay down import registration requirements, in line with those existing in other countries.

Policy
35 Bills passed in monsoon session
THE monsoon session of Parliament ended on Friday with Parliament passing 35 Bills some of which have socio-economic implications.

Bill in LS to facilitate formation of producer cos
THE Companies (Second Amendment) Bill, 2001 which seeks to facilitate formation of ``producer companies'' -- i.e. co-operative businesses functioning under the ambit of the Companies Act as against existing co-operative legislations -- was introduced in Lok Sabha today by the Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Mr Arun Jaitley.

Mineral Bill tabled in Parliament
THE Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2001, was tabled in Parliament today. The Bill provides for development and regulation of mineral resources in the off-shore areas under Indian control.

Politics
`Love and affection'
IF NOTHING else, the re-induction of the Trinamool Congress and the Pattali Makkal Katchi into the NDA provides the firmest proof that the chief objective of those responsible for the alliance's policies is to remain in power by any means instead of ruli ng according to the sound principles of governance associated with a mature parliamentary democracy. What else can explain the alliance's decision to accept the request of the two errant parties to return to the fold which, incidentally, they left becaus e of the political expectation that their dissociation with Mr Vajpayee's Government at a particular point of time would improve their political prospects in their own States?

It'll be a busy day for the PM
WITH the stormy Monsoon session of Parliament coming to an end -- without any extensions to complete unfinished legislative business -- one had expected the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and his NDA men to take it easy during the weekend.

Power
KPTCL explores spot market for purchases
FACED with shortfalls in reservoir inflows, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (KPTCL) has now begun exploring the spot market for power purchases. Spot purchases is mainly from other states, the unallocated capacities of the central generatin g stations and captive generation units.

Enercon displays static WattHour meter
An employee of Enercon, a Bangalore-based company, displays a static WattHour meter at an exhibition in Hyderabad. Recently, Aptransco has decided to replace the traditional meters with these kind of meters which would be able to track the power consume d even by a `0' Watt bulb in a house.

Shipping
GE Shipping pact with Korean co
GREAT Eastern Shipping Company Ltd today signed a contract for two product tankers of 45,500 DWT (dead weight tonnage) each with Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Company Ltd (HHIC), Korea.

States
Why States are Food for Work-shy
WHY aren't State Governments lifting foodgrains under the Food for Work programme despite these being offered free of cost from the Food Corporation of India's (FCI) stocks?

Green Building concept to be a pilot project in AP
The State Government is spending Rs. 8000 crores on power and it is intent on making the Green Building concept a pilot project for all-round development, said Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, here on Friday.

Financial closure of Positra SEZ likely by Oct end
THE Positra Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Rann of Kutch is expected to achieve financial closure by end-October, Mr Rajendra Singh, Chairman, Gujarat Positra Port Infrastructure, said here.

TN to constitute expert panel to advise on industrial development
THE Tamil Nadu Government will constitute an expert committee to advise on industrial development and establishment of new industries, the Industries Minister, Mr R. Vaithilingam, told the Assembly on Friday.

Steel
RINL to complete 4th battery in 36 months
STEEL major, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), is doing the ground work for setting up the fourth coke oven battery, with a 36-month time-frame having been fixed to wrap up the project.

Stocks
Techs turned losers in Lyons Range
THE Calcutta Stock Exchange on Friday saw the counters of Infosys, Rolta, HCL Technologies and Digital Equipment decline. Among the gainers were the scrips of Tata Engg, Glaxo and Wartsila.

US weakness cast long shadow on Indian techs
JITTERY domestic investors pressed significant sales on Friday on the heels of another bad session for the US equities. Negative news flow from the US in the backdrop of an absence of positive developments here resulted in the major indices ending the we ek on a weak note.

`Market alluring for long-term investors'
THE current market levels are very attractive for the long-term investor, according to Mr Vivek Reddy, Chief Executive Officer, Pioneer ITI AMC Ltd.

Taxation
Bournvita rip-off?
THE Warana Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Prakriya Sangh case that appeared before the Mumbai CEGAT was about Bournvita, a malted milk food. Warana manufactured Bournvita at its factory in Amritnagar using the raw material and recipe supplied by Cadbury. Warana s upplied the entire production of Bournvita to, and collected processing charges from, Cadbury, paying duty at cost, which worked out to Rs 16 per tin of 500 gm.

Fighting fiscal termites
GLOBALISATION and the consequent international integration, together with rapid technological progress, is likely to affect both the ability of countries to collect taxes and the distribution of the tax burden. Moreover, as time passes, globalisation's i mpact on tax revenues appears likely to increase and become evident in countries' revenue statistics.

Unsettling the Settlement Commission
T. N. Pandey on the why the CAG recommendation to wind up the Settlement Commission is unfair.

Those backward benefits
T. C. A. Ramanujam on why incentive provisions fail to perform

Technical Analysis
Bear domination
RIGHT from the initial hours of Friday's trading the bears were in total control of the market. Bulls were unable to make any recovery during the day. The intra-day movement in the Nifty was around 13 points. It closed for the week with a loss of 12 poin ts with respect to Thursday's close. The sentiment reading of the tradable counters remains bearish.

Telecommunications
Convergence Bill tabled in Lok Sabha
THE long-pending Communication Convergence Bill, 2001 was finally tabled in the Lok Sabha on the last day of the monsoon session of Parliament, by the Union Minister for Communications, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan.

DoT to refer Bharti dues issue to Cabinet
THE Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to refer the issue of pending dues of Bharti group, amounting to over Rs 450 crore to the Union Cabinet before taking a decision on issuing it licences for further cellular and basic operations.

Textiles
Garment Tech Expo in New Delhi
A scene at the Garment Technology Expo 2001 in the Capital on Friday.

Source:Business Line