Agriculture
Mahindra forays into farm consultancy
THE tractor and utility vehicle manufacturer, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, has entered farm consultancy and equipment rental services through a subsidiary Mahindra ShubLabh Services Ltd (MSSL).

Carryover stocks cover castor crop fall
HUGE carryover stocks of castorseed have come to the aid of the castor oil industry, facing a decline in castorseed crop this season on account of low remunerative prices.

Nod to begin cotton futures
THE Union Government has permitted the Surendranagar Cotton, Oil and Oilseeds Association Ltd. to start futures trading in raw cotton this week.

Silk exporters want DEPB order clarified
THE Indian Silk Export Promotion Council (ISEPC) has urged the Revenue Department to issue a clarificatory circular stating that the DEPB credit given against exports of embroidered silk fabrics from the inception of the DEPB scheme up to November 6, 200 0 are very much in order.

Setting up AEZs
The Secretary to Government, Agriculture Department, had stated that the National Horticultural Board had proposed six areas for the establishment of cold storage system and develop them as Agricultural Export Zones (`Tamil Nadu Agriculture Export Zones by April', Business Line, October 8).

Banking and Finance
IRFC to cut down on market borrowings
THE Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is set to curtail its market borrowings to around Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 crore during the current fiscal against the budgeted target of Rs 3,000 crore. The scaling down of market borrowings follows the Railway Ministry's move to slash wagon purchase orders.

Book Review
Corporate Portals
Revolutionzing Information Access to Increase Productivity and Drive the Bottom Linex

The business of patents
Issues of generation, valuation, protection and exploitation of intellectual property have become critically important around the world, thanks to the expanding frontiers of the global economy and the unleashing of the knowledge economy. Exponential grow th of scientific knowledge, increasing demands for new forms of intellectual property protection as well as IP-related information will pose a formidable challenge in setting the 21st century IP agenda.

Planning spending
Income and expenditure, actual as well as anticipated, being considered, and suitable adjustments being made as warranted by changing circumstances, would all appear to be a simple routine. Indeed this is largely so in the case of private finance. When i t comes to the question of a governments finances, major differences set in almost transforming the character of the subject.

Qualitative Methods for Marketplace Research
This book can be used as a textbook for students as well as a refresher for marketing professionals. It provides an introduction to qualitative marketing research, and is generously laced with examples and case studies to illustrate points as well as giv e the reader a feel for marketing research.

Commodities
Gold, silver back to pre-Sept 11 levels
PRICES of all precious metals fell last week with long liquidation a constant theme. Gold was no exception. Under pressure the whole of last week, the metal went back to its pre-September 11 levels of $265-280 an ounce trading range, suggesting that it h ad lost its safe haven position.

Consumer Notes
Some food for thought
Every time a particular community in India sits to eat a feast, the members recite the above words, holding up a few particles of cooked rice for each statement before beginning on the meal. I believe this is a reminder to anyone who sits down to eat tha t food is all the above food is life and health, it is also death and disease. The purpose is to remind the eaters to practise moderation in eating.

Corporate
Better-equipped, Thermax picks up steam on comeback trail
FOR years, Thermax India, the Pune-based energy and environment engineering company, rubbed shoulders with corporate India's blue chip royalty before it hit a rough patch a few years ago. The company plummetted into the red and Chairperson Anu Aga had to call in Boston Consulting Group to analyse the problem and suggest solutions. For starters, BCG proposed and Ms Aga implemented the unprecedented task of reconstituting a 13-member board.

A stronger you
Any managers job comprises of emotional stress and strain arising from situations of authority, leadership, power, interpersonal conflict, meeting targets and deadlines, all within a framework of uncertainty. This is further compounded by the uncertainty today regarding the economy and the threat of lay-offs looming large on the screen of most managers and software professionals.

Careers at the crossroads?
As for the economic fallout, he feels mainly two-three key players will come up in various sectors. Big mergers will happen and only a couple of companies will be competing with each other in different fields.

A primer on transfer pricing
SINCE its introduction in the Finance Act, 2001, transfer pricing has assumed significance in the corporate context. What are the basic principles and legislation governing transfer pricing?

Balco clarifies
This refers to `Government nominees decline to pass Balco accounts' (Business Line, October 13).

Credit Policy
What is Dr Jalan likely to announce?
DR JALAN has successfully taken the mystery out of the RBI's Credit Policy statements. Nonetheless, it is worth taking a peep at the likely profile of the policy he will unfold on Monday. It is to Dr Jalan's credit that he has brought the RBI's Credit Po licy in line with the practice of other central banks, as a necessary periodical updating of the central bank's responses and nothing more. In the seven Credit Policies he has announced since he took over, there has been increasing transparency about the RBI's functions. This has helped reduce the element of surprise in the policy statements.

Credit policy: Will the RBI have it easy ?
``The art of policy-making really lies in the eclectic selection of policy interventions'' -- Dr C. Rangarajan, former Governor, Reserve Bank of India.

Economy
Vision 2020 -- Counting money vs measuring output
A FEW days ago, Polaroid Corporation, one of the most venerable firms in the world, went bankrupt. It made a mistake many firms do -- it mistook the exact nature of its business. It thought its business was to make photographic films for instant photogra phy, whereas that should have been to make the best instant photographs. Hence, when digital cameras came along, it was left with no market.

Why integrated risk management makes sense
Risk management is acquiring an integral position in mainstream finance. The derivatives market has flourished, thanks to financial engineering offering sophisticated tools and techniques to hedge interest rate, foreign exchange and commodity risks. The financial world now has a theoretical foundation and a credible framework to show how risk can destroy corporate value and how value addition can be achieved through risk management.

Put off WTO Doha meeting
ASSUMING that the fourth Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation is finally held in Doha (there may be a change in the venue) in a couple of weeks' time, the question to ask is: Will the world gain optimally from such a conference, especially in view of its timing vis-a-vis the horrific September 11 events?

Middle-class ignored
In the article, `Unkind cut for the middle-class' (Business Line, October 19), the author has, in the right sense, argued in favour of the middle-class and senior citizens depending on interest income for their survival.

Editorial
Exports in crisis
THERE WAS NEVER any doubt that exports this year would grow slower than last years sizzling 20 per cent. The Commerce Ministry in July had set a sober target of 12 per cent in the face of a slump in global demand and domestic manufacturing. Yet none migh t have bargained for a decline.

Financial Performance
Bharat Forge net profit falls 81 pc
BHARAT Forge Ltd, the Pune-based forgings and auto components major, reported a 16 per cent drop in revenue and 81 per cent drop in net profits for the second quarter ended September 30, 2001 in comparison to the corresponding quarter last year.

Finolex Cables net down
FINOLEX Cables Ltd has reported a 66.6 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 8.37 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2001 as compared to Rs 25.09 crore in the year-ago period.

Food & Dairy Products
How effective are co-ops in raising milk production?
CAN one attribute the emergence of India as the world's biggest milk producer to the role played by dairy co-operatives, more specifically the Operation Flood programme? On the face of it, there is reason to believe so, considering that till the start of the programme implemented by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in the early 1970s, the country's annual milk output hovered around 17-22 million tonnes (mt) for over two decades.

Health
Apollo to merge Mumbai clinic with the parent
APOLLO Hospitals plans to merge Apollo Clinic in Mumbai with the holding company, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd (AHEL).

Hotels
Stepping into the microwave zone
Ever tried heating some old upma, or a hotdog, on your faithful gas stove? The upma is bound to congeal, even on the non-stickiest of your pans. You might be tempted to add a little water, or some oil, leading to an almost certain loss in flavour, and co nsistency. As far as the hotdog goes, even the hottest of gas stoves isnt enough to heat it properly. What you are likely to get are blackened edges, and a tepid filling.

Information Technology
What is computer ethics?
JAMES H. Moor, a professor at Dartmouth, defines computer ethics as the analysis of the nature and social impact of computer technology as well as the corresponding formulation and justification of policies for the ethical use of such technology.

Infrastructure
NHAI to award Rs 8,000-cr contracts in two months
THE National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will award contracts worth Rs 8,000 crore within the next two months, according to the Union Minister of State for Roads and Highways, Maj. Gen (Retd) B.C. Khanduri. At present, NHAI was handling 129 contrac ts worth about Rs 17,800 crore. The majority of the contracts (86 of 129), had been given to Indian firms, another 33 to joint ventures in which Indian firms were partners and only 10 to foreign firms.

Insurance
With premium rates stretching the purse... -- Cos rethink on all-risk covers
THE package policy providing comprehensive risk cover for mega projects is becoming one of the major casualties of the turmoil being witnessed in the global insurance market, with steep hike in premium rates insisted upon by reinsurers forcing large comm ercial entities to seek alternative covers.

An unfolding industry
Antony Jacob says that the liberalisation of the insurance sector will have a whole lot of positive fallouts

Miscellaneous
Nobel person with a noble gift
HAVING kept Sir Vidia Naipaul and the world waiting for a decade and more, the Swedish Nobel committee decided in its wisdom that it was time to end the suspense. His Nobel Prize for literature was long overdue. Had he burned incense to the nostrums of p olitical correctness, the honour, probably, would have come his way much earlier.

Impact designs
Ankura Patel is a designer with a difference ... the difference being that she uses colours, shapes, textures and patterns to fashion buildings, not garments. And her clients blue-chip corporates. Her portfolio includes banks, ATMs, hospitals, homes, an d the upcoming Airoli Railway Station (outer Mumbai).

Mutual Funds
Time to pick up the threads
``IT'S time to be greedy''. This unusual slogan comes to you, courtesy Zurich India Mutual Fund which has used it to underline its latest view on the equity markets. Zurich's stance, it can be safely assumed, is a reflection of what the entire mutual fun d industry is trying to tell investors at the moment -- get up, shake off the September 11 blues and buy now to reap benefits later.

Petroleum
Finance Minisry no to price cap on petro-goods
THE Finance Ministry is not in favour of imposing price cap on petro-products in the post-APM regime as it is of the view that the market will be able to avert profiteering.

Pharmaceuticals
Anthrax drug: Indian cos face patent hurdle
EVEN as Bayer AG is set to take up with the Canadian Government the latter's decision to augment stockpiles of ciprofloxacin through supplies from a generic company, Indian pharma companies, gripped by a ``me-too'' syndrome, may not be able to rejoice, at least not just yet.

Plantations
Conscofe Invest to merged with Tata Coffee
THE Karnataka-based Tata Coffee Ltd, earlier known as Consolidated Coffee Ltd, will soon merge its wholly-owned investment and trading subsidiary company, Conscofe Investments Ltd, with itself.

Plastics
Moulding opinion on plastic
Do not use throw away plastics, Plastics are non-biodegradablex

Policy
Sunset clause on ECBs: High noon?
IN the run-up to the Budget this year, when discussions on a proposal to introduce a sunset clause for the exemption of interest on external commercial borrowings (ECBs) were going on, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) balked, saying that it was a retrograde step.

Politics
Naxals blast Coke unit
NAXALITES of the Peoples War Group attacked and blew up a portion of the bottling unit of the Coca Cola company at Atmakuru village in Guntur district in the early hours of Sunday. The village is situated on the Mangalagiri-Tenali route. There were no c asualties.

Power
Alstom to revamp DVC power plant capacity
DAMODAR Valley Corporation (DVC) has awarded a contract to Alstom Power India Ltd (APIL) for the renewal and uprating of its existing 60 MW (3 X 20 MW) capacity Maithon hydropower project, located near Asansol in West Bengal. The post-renewal capacity of each unit will be 23.8 MW.

Rubber
Rubber dealers call off strike
THE Indian Rubber Dealers' Federation has called off their strike on the 8th day of its commencement, following discussions with the Kerala Minister, Mr K.M. Mani.

States
Clicking wildlife
What Karnataka offers adventure-travellers, especially wildlife enthusiasts, is well-known. But what is not really known is the fact that about 80 wildlife photographers have made this State their home.

Tata Tea gesture to plasma physics centre
TATA Tea Ltd formally handed over a newly constructed building on Saturday to the Centre for Plasma Physics (CPP), an autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Assam.

Kerala must tighten fiscal management: Manmohan
THE World Trade Organisation (WTO) cannot be blamed for all the ills of the country's economy, especially in the area of commodities, according to the former Finance Minister, Dr. Manmohan singh.

AIMO awards for excellence in industrial growth
THE State unit of All India Manufacturers Organisation (AIMO) has selected the following organisations and individuals for its annual awards given for excellence in promoting industrial growth.

IBRD may insist on insurance cover for Karnataka power plants
THE World Bank is expected to introduce new conditions pertaining to insurance cover for power plants as part of the fiscal adjustment loan, including power sector reforms, to Karnataka.

Telemedicine facility in rural AP
THE Andhra Pradesh Vydya Vidhana Parishad (APVVP) has paved the way for the availability of high tech medicare at its district headquarters hospital in the backward Mahbubnagar area through the Sanjeeva Telemedicine project.

TN small units body to tour China, HK
A DELEGATION of entrepreneurs under the auspices of the Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industrialists Association (Tanstia) is to undertake a tour of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore from October 22.

Fresh bid to locate NPC project in West Bengal
THE Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), together with the West Bengal Government, has mounted a fresh effort to locate a power plant in the State.

Water filling in branded cans at Marina
Youngsters filling up branded cans with water dug up from the Marina Beach in Chennai.

Stocks
Bulls all set for a rally?
IS it the bull rally of the bear market? Or is the imminent technical reaction, expected by many analysts and chartists towards the end of the week, only a correction in the emerging long-term bull market?

Taxation
GDR tax tab to be lighter -- Drug, IT, media, biotech cos staff to gain
INDIAN employees of pharma, biotechnology, information technology and entertainment companies based in the country as well as their subsidiaries abroad will finally qualify for tax-breaks on income from global depository receipts (GDRs) and capital gains arising out of their transfer.

CII caution on amendments in customs valuation rule
THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has sounded a note of caution on the recent amendments in valuation rules, and said that it is likely to result in a spurt of valuation disputes.

Pooling vs purchase
WHICH one, pooling of interest method or purchase method, is better when it comes to accounting for merger? -- Ravinder Sikkha, New Delhi

Tea
Mixed trend at Kochi tea sale
A MIXED trend persisted for almost all varieties of tea at the Kochi tea auction. Though the leaf sale witnessed a good general demand, it was comparatively low for the dust varieties.

Telecommunications
MTNL feels `switch'ed off by TRAI technology norms
MAHANAGAR Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has joined hands with the private basic operators in resisting the attempts by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to put in force ``outdated'' technology specifications for its WLL (wireless in local loo p) limited mobility services.

Terrorism
Congress (I) should not play with fire
The angry attack by the Congress(I), joined by the Left parties, on the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, has put paid to any hopes of its becoming an Act of Parliament. While nothing better was expected of the Left, the Congress(I) which was morphing i nto a mature and responsible Opposition under Ms Sonia Gandhi's leadership will be doing a great disservice to the nation if it persists with its misguided and myopic stand which is tantamount to playing with fire. It will incur the odium of generations to come if it blocks a measure which is indispensable to the safety, security and integrity of the country.

Biological weapons: New-age terrorism
AMIDST the American pounding of Afghanistan, the world is gradually waking up to the threat of an unprecedented terrorist attack, which leaves behind tremendous political and scientific implications. Reports that terrorist groups had planned to gas Europ ean Parliament building in Strasbourg, aimed at killing all the 625 European Members of Parliament in February this year is indicative of the shape of terror to come.

Textiles
Texprocil's plea to Govt
INDIA'S efforts at consolidating its strength in production and exports of value-added textiles will suffer if competing countries managed to negotiate preferential tariff/ quota arrangement with developed countries, according to the cotton textiles expo rt promotion council (Texprocil).

`Textile sector needs rejuvenation plan' -- Report of the Working Group for 10th Plan
THE Report on the Working Group on Textiles and Jute Industry for the Tenth Plan (2002-07) has called for a ``reform and rejuvenation plan'' for the textile industry to prepare it to face the post-multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) period from January 1, 2005 .

Travel & Places
Feathered friends get together
Of all the three seasons at the Keoladeo Ghana National Park in Bharatpur, the summer and the rainy seasons are, perhaps, the least-favoured for a visit by the regular tourist. Thats not the keen birdwatchers philosophy though. For, the monsoon in the ju ngles of Bharatpur, which is the breeding and brooding season for birds, can be an unforgettable experience.

The never-ending bookshelf
Why would a magnificent dreamer named Richard Booth decide to set up the worlds second-hand books capital in a tiny Welsh town on the border with England in 1961? Hay-on-Wye is in mid- Wales, halfway between Bristol and Birmingham and on the road to Irel and. But the winning argument was its safe distance from the book trade in London.

Carving history in stone
Indian art and architecture, typically, reflects the heritage of great civilisations over time. But the forms of architecture seen in Bhopal, Sanchi, Bhojpur and Bhimbetka are unique in their own way, presenting a fascinating amalgam of scenic beauty and the associated legends, from even prehistoric times.

A mall for all
Hyderabad is all spruced for its biggest ever tourism event. The Great Mall of Hyderabad takes its cue from the Dubai Shopping Festival. Organised by the Tourism Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the one-month long shopping adventure that s tarted on October 13, 2001 will go on till November 14, 2001. Accompanying it is a glitzy media campaign that has ensured an all-round awareness.

Source:Business Line