Accountancy
The saving clause
FORCE MAJEURE clauses envisage eventualities beyond the control of contracting parties. Such clauses are of two types: open and close ended. Open-ended clauses specify the exact events that constitute force majeure. However, in an open-ended clause, the parties simply narrate what generally constitute force majeure situations and typically add the words ... and such other acts or events that are beyond the control of parties. The addition of these words changes the whole complexion of the clause. It cou ld encompass any supervening situation over which the contracting parties themselves do not have control and has to be interpreted with reference to facts and the actual occurrence of events, as the parties have not spelt out the same in clear language. In the absence of clear agreement to the contrary, the parties to a contract are excused from the performance of their respective obligations on occurrence of such extraordinary acts.

Auditing the auditor
THE former Chief Justice of India, Mr P. N. Bhagwati, mooted the idea of institutionalising the office of ombudsman to oversee the functioning of the judiciary as also to fix judicial accountability, but the suggestion has not been implemented so far. Ho wever, we now have in place not one but a couple of regimes to audit the auditor.

Intan ass
THE latest exposure draft (ED) from the ICAI is on a proposed AS on intangible assets. It is available as intanass.html and intanass1.html at www.icai.org. And it is tangibly long, running to 100 paras. To be fair, however, one should consider the net ef fect in terms of the number of total paras because once this ED becomes a mandatory standard, the earlier AS 8, on accounting for R&D, would stand withdrawn. Similarly, AS 6, on depreciation accounting, would be chopped so far as it deals with intangible assets, as also paras 16.3 to 16.7, 37 and 38 of AS 10, on accounting for fixed assets.

Advertising & Marketing
`Superman' among complexes
AFTER multiplexes, superplexes are in. While the former had only films and food plazas, the latter will, in addition to these, have amusement parks and lifestyle showrooms.

Agriculture
Plea to pare farm subsidy in developed nations
INDIA should plead effectively for downscaling agricultural subsidies in the developed nations and for some special safeguards to protect the interests of small and marginal farmers in the country at the fourth ministerial meeting of the WTO to be held i n Doha later this week, according to the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI).

Airlines
Feeder airlines to soar: Survey
PREMIER aerospace lab NAL has come out with a survey on feeder airlines -- a perspective that looks at small aircraft to give connectivity to small and remote cities.

Jet offers special fares
WITH passenger loads on several sectors picking up, Jet Airways has introduced special restricted fares for economy class travel on the Mumbai-Kolkata, Mumbai-Chennai and Mumbai-Hyderabad circuits which will be available from November 10 till December 31 .

IA cuts economy class fares
MUMBAI: Indian Airlines has reduced economy class fares between Mumbai and Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai and Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Aquaculture
Efforts to exploit tuna resources gather pace
WITH the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission getting ready to fix the quotas for different countries for exploitation of tuna resources in the Indian Ocean, the domestic deep-sea fishing industry has hastened its efforts to acquire the fishing technology needed to tap the tuna resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the Indian Ocean.

Automobiles
TVS Motor plans 12 new models
TVS Motor Company (until recently, TVS-Suzuki Ltd) has announced plans to launch ``12 new models and upgrades in the next 15 months''.

Eicher tractor sales rev up in October
THE EICHER group said on Wednesday it has achieved growth in sales of its tractors and trucks, segments which have so far declined this year due to an economic and agriculture sector slow down.

Kinetic Engg looks at exports for GF 125
KINETIC Engineering Ltd (KEL), which announced today the national launch of its GF 125 motorcycle made in technical collaboration with Hyosung Motors of South Korea, is exploring the possibility of exporting the motorcycle from India.

Banking and Finance
When lender SBI became a borrower
STATE Bank of India (SBI), traditionally a major lender in the overnight money market, had to borrow to meet its CRR requirements last Friday, the first ` Reporting Friday' since the Monetary & Credit Policy was announced by the RBI on October 22.

Post office gives banks a run for their money
THE humble post office seems to have adapted itself to the fast-changing world of information technology with alacrity and taken on the tech-savvy banks in their home turf _ international money transfers.

Breweries
SAB acquires 53% stake in Rochees
SOUTH African Breweries India Ltd (SAB), a subsidiary of South African Breweries Plc, today announced that it has acquired a 53 per cent controlling interest in Rajasthan-based Rochees Breweries Ltd (RBL).

HC grants leave to hear SWC wind-up cases
Mr Justice S K Mukherjee, a vacation Judge of the Calcutta High Court, on Wednesdayranted leave to hear the winding up applications filed against Shaw Wallace Co Ltd (SWC).

SWC arm to buy SPIC distillery
THE Manu Chhabria controlled Shaw Wallace & Co. Ltd (SWC) has entered into an agreement with the SPIC group to buy Safil distillery,located at Villupuram in Tamil Nadu for about Rs 40 crore.

Commodities
Leather market improves
THE leather market witnessed some improvement last week after being sluggish during the last several seeks. The market is expected to improve in the coming weeks.

Corporate
Time to give boost to private players in mining exploration
THE domestic ferro alloy sector finds the going tough. It sees no prospects for improvement in the situation. In an interview to Business Line here, Mr Sandipan Chakravortty, Chairman of The Indian Ferro Alloy Producers Association (he is Managing Direct or of Tata Ryerson), discusses the factors responsible for ferro alloy units gloomy outlook. Excerpts:

Pennar Profiles bags Best Exporter award
PENNAR Profiles Ltd (PPL) has announced that it has bagged the Andhra Pradesh Best Exporter award for its performance during 1999-2000.

Inox Leisure lines up multiplex investment
INOX Leisure, the entertainment venture of the Inox group, is planning to invest around Rs 350 crore for developing multiplexes in its first two phases of expansion in the country. According to a company spokesperson, the first phase (with an investment of Rs 150 crore) will concentrate on the western region with multiplexes opening in Pune, Baroda, and Mumbai. The first Inox multiplex is all set to open in Pune in January next year.

Bhartias to raise stake in VOCL over 51 pc
THE Bhartias of VAM are planning to raise their stake in the Rs 850-crore flagship company, Vam Organic Chemicals Ltd (VOCL), to beyond 51 per cent from the current level of less than 40 per cent.

`It is not all gloom and doom for talented'
DESPITE reports going around about companies packing off people home, there is still hope for talented and trained manpower. According to Mr Rahul Kohli, Head, Business Development, Hewitt Associates, ``good talent will always be in short supply''.

GNFC doubling acetic acid capacity
GUJARAT Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company Ltd (GNFC) has begun the Rs 250-crore expansion project of its acetic acid plant here, which will result in the doubling of capacity from 200 tpd (tonnes per day) to 400 tpd. The bankers consortium, led by Bank of Baroda, has already cleared a capital expenditure loan of Rs 200 crore for the project. GNFC is raising Rs 50 crore from internal accruals.

Wipro, Kawasaki in talks for hydraulic oil pumps
WIPRO Ltd is in talks with Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan for providing a manufacturing base in India for production of hydraulic oil pumps.

Ritazza coffee outlets to spread tentacles
RADHAKRISHNA Hospitality Services ltd (RKHS), a food and allied services company, is set to leverage its expertise in the food sector to set up a chain of the international branded coffee retail outlet, Ritazza , across the country over the next one year . The brand is an international store-in-store brand designed by its UK-based partner, Compass group.

Cadbury parent may up stake in Indian unit
CADBURY Schweppes plc is looking at the possibility of increasing its stake in Cadbury India Ltd.

Godrej seeks an `Ezee' hold of FMCG market
THE Rs 460-crore Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) is actively looking at foraying into fresh segments within the personal and household care categories to bolster its presence as a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) player. This follows the demerger of Godrej Soaps Ltd's consumer products business into GCPL with effect from April.

No threat of hostile takeover: MRF
MRF Ltd is not worried that there will be a hostile takeover attempt on the company following the acquisition of nearly 10 per cent stake by Mumbai-based Enam Securities.

Crisil marks down L&T debentures
CRISIL has downgraded the rating assigned to the non-convertible debenture (NCD) issues of Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), aggregating Rs 2,480 crore, from the previous `AAA' to `AA+', an official statement said today.

Courts
Madras HC declines decree in land sale row
THE Madras High Court has refused to grant decree for `specific performance' of a contract in a case pertaining to sale of land. While setting aside the finding of the trial court holding that such a decree was ``unsustainable and erroneous'', a Divisio n Bench of the High Court directed payment of interest at 24 per cent on the advance amount for the period during which the amount was lying with the appellant.

Credit Policy
Credit policy
This refers to Jalan wields the scissors (Business Line, October 23). The article projected the various benefits that may accrue due to the measures outlined in the Monetary and Credit Policy for 2001-02 by the Reserve Bank of India to all banks in the c ountry. This measure will release Rs 8,000 crore for public lending and simultaneously ensure a gain of Rs 1,000 crore in their earnings, brightening the prospects of public borrowers getting loans more easily and at lower PLRs.

Ear to the ground
Spurt in Videocon International
TRADING volumes in the Videocon International counter spurted on Wednesday both at the BSE and the NSE accompanied by an increase in the share price. Volumes at the BSE were 1.27 lakh compared to 24,565 shares traded on Tuesday. The scrip ended 5.15 per cent higher at Rs 22.45.

Economy
`Role of savings in investements losing importance'
THE CMD of Industrial Investment Bank of India Ltd, Mr Basudeb Sen, said here today that the old financial system of the country geared towards using savings for prioritised investments with state intervention was fast giving way to a pure commercial bor rowing and lending mechanism.

`Cos should play positive role in rural development'
THE Union Minister for Rural Development, Mr Venkaiah Naidu, has urged the corporate sector to play a more positive role in the development of infrastructure in rural areas.

Tough battle ahead in Doha
AN AIR of uncertainty surrounds the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar (November 9-13), given the venue's proximity to the war zone and threat perceptions of sudden terrorist attack. But in the midst of US bombings and ground actions in A fghanistan, if Trade Ministers or representatives of l40 member-countries get together, agreeing on an agenda acceptable to all nations for another round of global negotiations, things will be extremely difficult. So contentious are the issues that divid e developed nations themselves and are even more irreconcilable between the developed and developing countries.

Excise official held on graft charges
AFTER Mr B.P. Verma, former Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), it is now the turn of another senior Revenue Department official to be nabbed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

`Mineral industry needs a revamp'
WHILE the post-liberalised mining regime in the country is on a par with global standards, there is need for a progressive management to govern the domestic mineral industry, the Union Minister of State for Coal and Mines, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, has sai d.

Bill on contract labour to wait
THE Government is unlikely to introduce the Bills to amend the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 to confer companies greater flexibility in rightsizing and deploying of their workforce in the coming wi nter session of Parliament.

Editorial
The Doha imponderables
IN THE NORMAL course, the fourth WTO Ministerial conference, starting in Doha tomorrow, should be an important date marking the progress of the world economy towards an open trading regime. But, going by current indications, not much warrants suc h a conclusion. There is every possibility of the conference going the way of the Seattle meetingheld two years ago and damaging irreparably the standing of the Geneva-based WTO. To the detractors of the WTO (not least the Indian contingent which made a forceful representation of its case in the capital on Monday) this would be welcome, even if does little to the cause of freer trade practices, which is today an indispensable instrument of any nation that aims to achieve its true economic potential.

Fertilisers
Cut in fertiliser retention price not a surprise
The fertiliser industry has quite expectedly reacted with a measure of shock to the recent government notification proposing a reduction in the retention price ( the price that the government considers as a fair price for purposes of subsidy calculation) allowed to 13 urea units. It has sought a reduction on the ground that the norms of energy consumption allowed in manufacture earlier are high.

Urea fertiliser -- Safeguarding India's interests at Doha
MUCH has been said about the group-wise uniform concession scheme for urea (based on the ERC) with which the Government proposes to replace the existing unit-wise retention price scheme (RPS). But following the removal of Quantitative Restrictions on imp orted urea in April 2001, the moot question here is if the scheme will be compatible with the country's WTO obligations?

Food & Dairy Products
Rs 20,000 crore investment in food processing
THE Government has so far approved investment proposals worth Rs 19,985 crore in the food-processing sector.

Foreign Trade
Get TRIPs out of the WTO
THE WORLD is reeling under the scare of anthrax. Every day cases are reported mainly from the US but elsewhere too. People are scared, but for some sections of business the anthrax scare is an opportunity to make money. This raises the patents bogeyman. And on the eve of the Doha WTO ministerial meeting too.

Exports to Bangladesh: Single-point inspection under study
THE Ministry of Commerce, through the office of the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), has launched an exercise to sort out the problems pertaining to pre-shipment inspection, faced by Indian exporters of commodities like rice, wheat etc to Bangla desh through the land customs stations in West Bengal.

Import of 300 sensitive items rises 8.81 pc
THE total import of 300 sensitive items increased by 8.81 per cent in value terms during April-September 2001 to Rs 6,040.31 crore as against import level of Rs 5,551.41 crore recorded during the same period in the previous year.

TRIPs biased against poor countries: FICCI
THE Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has expressed concern and dismay that the agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) related concerns and proposals of a large number of developing and lea st developed countries are not adequately reflected in the revised draft ministerial declaration (DMD) of WTO.

Health
This is audacity!
WHAT is audacity and arrogance? The significance of these words is well understood with reference to the behaviour of people in certain situations.

Impact
Cadbury: Limited upside
THE possibility of Cadbury Schweppes Plc hiking its stake in the Indian affiliate may not lead to any significant upside in the Cadbury India stock.

Hotels: Vacant space looms
FOR hotel companies such as Indian Hotels, EIH and ITC Hotels, the decline in tourist traffic may do no good to their topline as well as bottomline.

Off the ticker
Fert stocks do not yield to retention cut
FERTILISER stocks ended the day on a flat note despite the Department of Fertilisers' recent announcement of the downward revision of the retention prices. Stocks such as Indo-Gulf Fertilisers, Chambal Fertilisers, Tata Chemicals, GNFC, GSFC, Oswal Chemi cals and Zuari Industires all ended flat.

On the hedge
Demand higher for puts
TRADING in the derivatives segment on Wednesday mirrored the bearish sentiment in the spot market. The following are the some of the pointers during the day''s trading:

PSU
BIFR fixes time-frame for Tyre Corporation revival
THE Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has chalked out a time-frame for the submission of the draft rehabilitation scheme for revival of the ailing Tyre Corporation of India Ltd (TCIL).

Petroleum
RPL picks Haldia as site for Rs 800-cr storage facility
AS part of its marketing strategy in the post-APM era, Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) is setting up a major storage and distribution facility for petroleum products at Haldia in West Bengal to cater to the eastern States.

BPCL campaign gathers speed
BHARAT Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) initiative to increase revenue through both fuel and non-fuel methods seems to be working.

Ministries agree on petro price ceiling
THE Finance Ministry has agreed to retail price caps on petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG in the post-administered pricing mechanism (APM) period scheduled from March 31, 2002, according to officials.

Pharmaceuticals
Big opportunity for pharma cos
IN the high stakes game of drug discovery and development how many patents can be generated per $ 10 million investment?

Accenture to advise Alembic on strategy
ALEMBIC Ltd has appointed global consultancy firm, Accenture to enhance its operational efficiency, productivity, cost rationalisation and supply-chain management. Accenture will also help Alembic in identifying key areas for improvement in sales force m anagement and marketing effectiveness.

Dr Reddy's insulin compound in phase-3 trials
IN a significant development pertaining to revenue flows, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd has announced that Novo Nordisk has commenced phase-3 clinical trials of DRF-2725, a novel dual-acting insulin sensitiser outlicensed by Dr Reddy's in favour of Novo No rdisk.

Plantations
Pepper prices plunge below Rs 7,000-mark
SPOT pepper prices broke the Rs 7,000 per quintal-barrier and fell to Rs 6,700 on Wednesday. MG1 garbled and ungarbled were down at Rs 7,200 and Rs 6,700 per quintal respectively as against Rs 7,400 and Rs 6,900 last week. Futures prices for all months a lso fell.

Policy
New secy in External Affairs Ministry
NEW DELHI: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Mr Kanwal Sibal, IFS, as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs vice Mr R.S. Kalha, superannuating on February 28, 2002. -- Our Bureau

Politics
Return of Khaleda Zia -- Prospects for India-Bangladesh relations
JUST over a week ago, the National Security Adviser, Mr Brajesh Misra, paid a brief and low-key visit to Bangladesh carrying a message of greetings from the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to his newly elected Bangladeshi counterpart, Begum Khal eda Zia. This was a welcome initiative as there is a growing feeling among Indias smaller neighbours that New Delhis almost obsessive fixation with General Musharrafs Pakistan has resulted in our ignoring their legitimate interests and concerns.

Power
Singapore meeting cancelled -- Enron not to move on termination till Friday
THE Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company (DPC) today agreed before the Mumbai High Court not to take any steps towards termination till Friday when the court would hear arguments on a joint petition filed by the lenders, IDBI, ICICI, IFCI and SBI.

Package to settle Indira Sagar dues
THE Power Ministry is planning to link the Centre's participation in the Madhya Pradesh-promoted 1500 MW Indira Sagar hydro-electric power project to the settlement of State Electricity Board's dues to the Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSUs).

APERC order on AP Transco-BPL Power to impact IPPS
THE Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission's order rejecting the power purchase agreement (PPA) entered into by the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (AP Transco) and BPL Power Projects (AP) Ltd with regard to the latter's 520 MW power project at Ramagundam is likely to have a significant impact even on other independent power projects (IPPs) mooted in the State.

Radio/TV
`Entertainment tax must be streamlined'
THE entertainment tax could be pegged at around 50-60 per cent, doing away with the variable tax rates charged by different State Governments, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ms Sushma Swaraj, has said.

Rubber
Rubber prices dip
RUBBER prices declined further on copious supply on Wednesday. RSS 4 slid to Rs.29per kg from Rs.29.50 on Tuesday and ungraded rubber, to Rs.27.00 from Rs.27.50. Block rubber also dipped a tad to 28.00 from Rs.28.50.

States
Karnataka: TUs to protest against globalisation
SEEKING to play its part in the global resistance to globalisation, the joint action committee of all the trade unions in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka have decided to stage a dharna on November 9, following a call by several international t rade unions to launch local protests against the destructive forces unleashed by globalisation.

A barrage of controversy in AP
THE Prakasam barrage here -- irrigating 12 lakh acres in the four districts of Krishna, Guntur, West Godavari and Prakasam -- is in the thick of controversy, with the Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation (AP Genco) and the State Irrigation Department ta king divergent stands on the issue of its safety which, according to some experts, is imperilled as a result of maintaining the requisite water level for providing water to the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) at Ibrahimpatnam near here.

Counselling for VRS optees
About 1000 employees of Andhra Pradesh state public level enterprises (SLPEs), who have availed VRS, are to be counselled under the Social Safety Net Programme.

AP plans more teeth for gram sabhas
IN yet another stride towards decentralised system aimed at empowering local bodies and providing citizen services at a single interface, the Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to arm gram panchayats with host of additional powers at the grassroot adm inistrative mechanism.

Panel for PSU reforms in Kerala
THE Kerala Cabinet has decided to set up a committee to study and suggest ways to carry out reforms in the State public sector units.

Stocks
Undercurrent weak despite initial recovery
While stocks staged a small recovery from Monday's depressing start, they reversed the trend in Wednesday's trading. The 30-share BSE sensex closed down 1.79 per cent, (54.95 points) to end the day's session at 3013.94 points from the previous day's clos e of 3068.69 points . The index opened at 3071.78 points and traded within a relatively broad range of 103 points between the intra-day high of 3109.26 and the low of 3006.97 points . There seemed to be a rush of profit taking after Tuesday's gains that led to a decline in the market.

Lupin perks up on bourses
SHARES of the pharma major, Lupin Ltd, have been active on major bourses in anticipation of the company being in talks with two US companies for an alliance to enter the $50-billion US generic market.

Tyre stocks hog limelight
SHARES of tyre manufacturing companies have been in the limelight on the back of value buying and increased automobiles sales. In the last few days, shares of Apollo Tyres, Goodyear and Ceat were in great demand. There has also been a sharp rise in the t rading volumes in these stocks.

SEBI okays futures applications of exchanges
THE Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today approved the applications of BSE and NSE for starting individual stock futures trading.

Taxation
Task force to sort out customs duty anomalies
An expert task force constituted by the Finance Ministry is set to redefine customs `anomalies' and provide a road-map for correcting such anomalies over the next 3-4 years.

Technical Analysis
Bear pressure may prolong
BEARS dominated the market as bulls exerted further pressure during the opening of the Wednesday's trading. This led to the initiation of uptrend in the index. But, the bears came back strongly to terminate the uptrend triggered in the early hours of the day. The movement in Nifty was around 29 points. It closed with a loss of 14 points from Tuesday's close. The sentiment reading of the tradable counters stands neutral. Fresh downtrend in the index is likely to be initiated on Thursday.

Telecommunications
Controversy again over limited mobility -- DoT blamed for diluting licence norms
THE controversy over limited mobility based on WLL, which many had given up for dead, is twitching in anticipation once again. This time over the dilution of licence guidelines for basic services, which cellular operators insist will eat into their valua ble market share.

Textiles
Textile mills
From the newspapers it is evident that the managements of small spinning units have asked for various concessions. As the readers might know, small mills were given excise exemption up to a turnover of Rs one crore and this was later withdrawn by the Fin ance Ministry.

Travel & Places
More Indians went to Hong Kong in Sept
HONG KONG recorded a 20.1 per cent rise in arrivals from India in September 2001 compared to September 2000 though traffic from other major centres fell.

Nuances of life as curfew looms
THE Kasi Express, which left Dadar in the early hours, touched Nashik on time. The sun singed the skin as we stepped out of the train at 10.30 in the morning and took an auto to the District Collectors office. The District Collector was camping at Malega on and we were advised to take a taxi as there was no day curfew.

Source:Business Line