Accountancy
ICAI reminds members of audit requirements
THE Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has begun a fresh attempt to inform members about how to make qualifications and disclosures in audit reports.

Advertising & Marketing
Interactive1 tops BL-Ad Club quiz
THE overcast sky and an intermittent drizzle did nothing to dampen the quizzing abilities of team Interactive1 as it cruised to victory at the Eighth quiz held here today. The team, comprising Mr Anil Raghavan, Mr N. Srinivasan and Mr Devadas Krishnan, w as in the driver's seat from the start and clinched the first place by a comfortable margin.

Automobiles
HM scheme to swap old taxi cars
HINDUSTAN Motors Ltd (HML) has launched a scheme to swap old taxi cars for new ones in the city, where it enjoys a monopoly market.

MUL `True Value' plans promos
MARUTI Udyog Ltd's `True Value' used car business is planning innovative promotional schemes here to source cars for servicing the programme, the lone dealer running the programme has said.

Banking and Finance
BoI unveils multi-branch services
HYDERABAD: Bank of India, the Mumbai-based premier nationalised bank, has launched its multi-branch banking services for the first time in the country here on Saturday, linking 20 of its fully computerised branches in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Sec underabad.

UTI Bank deal with Shriram group
UTI Bank has purchased a pool of commercial vehicle loan portfolio of Shriram group for a consideration of Rs 19 crore.

Allahabad Bank hopes to recover Rs 400 cr
ALLAHABAD Bank has set itself a target for recoveries of Rs 400 crore this year. Last year, the bank's recoveries of loans from delinquent accounts was around Rs 280 crore.

Panel moots Rs 500-cr aid for Nabard
THE expert committee on rural credit (ECRC) headed by Prof V. S. Vyas has suggested that the Central Government extend a Rs 500-crore grant to National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to revitalise co-operative lending institutions.

Lord Krishna Bank plans rights issue
LORD Krishna Bank plans to go in for a Rs 36-crore rights issue of equity shares in the current financial year in a bid to boost its net worth to Rs 100 crore from the current Rs 59.9 crore, according to its Executive Director, Mr V.K. Gupta.

Corporate
Wartsila open offer
MUMBAI: The open offer made by Wartsila Corporation to buy 49 per cent public holding of its subsidiary Wartsila India will close on November 6.

Brooke Bond contest winners
HYDERABAD: Film star Venkatesh has shortlisted 50 lucky couples of the recently concluded Brooke Bond 3 Roses contest organised by Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) for acting with him in his forthcoming movie.

UTI Venture takes 17.5 pc stake in Strand
UTI Venture Funds has picked up 17.5 per cent equity in Strand Genomics, a bio-informatics spin-off from the Indian Institute of Science.

TN Industrial Explosives comes out of BIFR net
THE Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has discharged Tamil Nadu Industrial Explosives Ltd (TIEL) from the purview of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA).

Virgin Records to launch `Young Legends'
VIRGIN Records (India), part of the UK-based EMI, is to tap the domestic classical music business potential and plans to launch the `Young Legend series.'

Changes in family settlement pact -- Greaves comes under Brij Mohan Thapar
IN a modification to the existing family settlement arrangement (FSA) between the Thapar brothers, the ownership and management of the Rs 700-crore Greaves Ltd will now be vested with the Brij Mohan Thapar group.

Merger of US companies -- SEBI calls for details from Hughes cos
THE Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sought clarification from Hughes Software and Hughes Tele.com on the merger of Hughes Electronics Corporation, US with Echostar Communication Corporation, US and its impact on the ownership of Indian entities.

India Inc slips into negative territory
THE effects of the slowdown in the economy are there for all to see in the July-September 2001 quarter. The profits of 1000 major companies have declined by 4.7 per cent. More importantly, the revenue growth slipped into the negative terrain and is down by 1.4 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter of 2000.

157 SPIC staff opt for VRS
AS many as 157 employees have opted for a voluntary retirement scheme in Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC), a company spokesman told Business Line. The company has 2,057 employees.

Amway seeks extension for test-marketing
AMWAY India Enterprises, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based Amway Corporation, has sought extension of approval for test marketing by another two years, marking the third such extension sought by the company in six years of its operation in Indi a.

Economy
Labour law reforms mooted for export zones
A WORKING group of the Plan panel has favoured a slew of labour law reforms and regulations so as to realise the underlying potentials of the special economic zones (SEZ), export processing zones and export-oriented units (EOUs) as these exclusive export enclaves have been hamstrung by the existing rigours and rigidities of labour laws.

Economic situation in India's favour: Jalan
THE economic situation has changed fundamentally and is now in India's favour, the RBI Governor, Dr Bimal Jalan, told a gathering of industrialists and captains of industry here today.

`Transparency vital to curb corruption'
A CLARITY in the role of Government servants at all levels is essential to establish accountability in the fight against corruption.

Fertilisers
Madras Fertilizers to cut retirement age
MADRAS Fertilizers Ltd has decided to reduce the retirement age for its employees from 60 to 58. A decision to this effect was taken at a recent board meeting, according to reliable sources.

Forex
Forex reserves rise $24 m
FOREX reserves have increased by $24 million to $45.161 billion for the week ended October 26 as compared to $45.137 billion in the previous week.

Information Technology
Data Access confident of serving new clients
FOLLOWING its deal with BPL, Data Access will now service the around 12,000 dial-up subscribers and 95 corporates acquired from bplnet.com.

Good for Gates, not for consumers
MICROSOFT has walked away from its dust-up with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) relatively unscathed.

Miscellaneous
Lighting up with `Faraway Trees'
A NOTED film director had once described her face as the picture of desolation. Yet there she was, gliding in and out of the `Willow and Birch Hall' of a city hotel, lighting up lives.

Mutual Funds
SBI Magnum Gilt dividend
MUMBAI: SBI Mutual Fund (SBIMF) has declared a dividend of 0.8 per cent under the Magnum Gilt Fund (short-term option) for the month ending October 31, 2001.

`Disclosure norms must to help out investors'
``TRANSPARENCY and disclosure norms must be adhered to so that investors can take well-informed decisions'' according to Mr P.K. Nagpal, Chief General Manager of SEBI.

Plantations
Moderate demand at ICTA sale
THE Indian Coffee Trade Association's (ICTA) auction witnessed moderate demand and some 27.73 per cent of the 439 tonnes offered was sold. Prices witnessed marginal change over previous week.

Power
CCEA green signal for Kudankulam
THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today accorded financial sanction to start the construction of the Kudankulam Project Unit 1-2, in Tamil Nadu, with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW.

KPCL opts for bridge loan again
KARNATAKA Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL) has taken the bridge loan route for the second time for meeting the funding requirements of the 210 MW Unit 7 of the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS).

SSI
SSI wants PM to reject Montek, McKinsey reports
THE all-India Convention of Small-Scale Industries has appealed to the Prime Minister to reject the ``prejudicial'' reports of the Task Force headed by former Finance Secretary, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and the international consulting firm McKinsey.

Steel
Russian steel major eyes equity in IISCO
RUSSIA's State-controlled iron and steel major, TPE, has evinced interest to pick up equity in the ailing Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO), Mr Shoeb Ahmed, official spokesman of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), said. A joint statement to this re gard is expected from Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Russian Premier, Mr Vladimir Putin, early next week.

Stocks
NSE suspends trading in 11 cos
MUMBAI: The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has suspended trading in the equities of 11 companies from November 19 until further notice.

Telecommunications
`Grey' cell-phones ring a bell
IF you are thinking of going mobile, you might just want to wait till the war in Afghanistan blows over. What's the connection?

Textiles
TUFS' interest subsidy pattern may be revamped
THE Union Minister of State for Textiles, Mr Dhananjaya Kumar, has said that the unsatisfactory credit offtake under the Government-sponsored technology upgradation fund scheme (TUFS) among textile entrepreneurs has led the Union Government to reconsider the pattern of the interest subsidy contemplated under the scheme.

Small spinners association withdraw stir
THE three-day-old 'stop production' agitation launched by the members of the South India Small Spinners Association (Sisspa) in Tamil Nadu was withdrawn on Saturday.

Source:Business Line