Agriculture
A tale of two `milk districts'
NESTLE has, this year, completed 40 years of milk procurement and processing operations at its Moga `milk district', spanning an area of 7,360 square km in Punjab. During this period, the Swiss food giant, through its affiliate, Nestle India Ltd (NIL), h as expanded its average daily milk collection from 1,100 kg from 180 farmers in four villages in 1961 to over 6.5 lakh kg from almost 90,000 farmers in 1,000 villages this year.

ITC using Net to help farmers
ITC Ltd is looking to the Internet to enhance farmers' competitiveness while utilising the traditional marketing structure to source raw materials for its international business cost effectively, according to Mr M. Srinivasa Rao, Chief Manager Value Adde d Food Products, ITC Ltd International Business Division.

Airlines
ICAO meet to disccuss security
THE International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is gearing up to prevent, combat and eradicate acts of terrorism involving civil aviation.

Banking and Finance
Bengal mulls law to check chit funds
KOLKATA: The West Bengal Government is planning to formulate a new law to curb the growth of chit funds, which have brought misery to investors who have been duped of even their life's savings in some cases.

Cigarettes
Parliament must look beyond cigarette smokers, says panel
A PARLIAMENTARY Standing Committee has recommended that the coverage of the proposed legislation seeking to place a blanket ban on advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products as well as sale of tobacco products to minors be made effective all ov er India for all tobacco products.

Commodities
Giving a push to silk contract farming
THE Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (CSTRI), Mysore, is focussing on encouraging large-scale farming systems and is giving a thrust to contract faming.

Australian firm looks for space in livestock market
RAB Australia, an animal genetics company, is looking at opportunities in the Indian market for dairy, goats and pigs, according to Mr Richard Slaney, Marketing Consultant, Asia, RAB Australia.

Utility fibres from palm fruit bunches
EMPTY fruit bunches (EFB), a waste from oil palm that is routinely dumped in mill sites or burnt, could be a source for conversion into useful fibres.

Corporate
Marshals' group company to make capacitors
TYRE exports from India are expected to be marginally higher during the current fiscal from the Rs 900 crore achieved in the last financial year.

India must address duty issues: Tetra Pak official
INDIA will have to address the high duty structure and tax issues and improve quality of infrastructure to enable sustainable development of food processing industry, according to Mr Jean-Louis Joner, Vice-President-Manufacturing, Tetra Pak.

Cut in FCI wheat prices to bakeries ruled out
THE Centre has ruled out the supply of wheat from the Food Corporation of India's (FCI) stocks at export price to domestic bread manufacturers.

Glassware units seek cut in customs duty on borax, barium carbonate
THE glassware industry has urged the Government to reduce customs duty on borax and barium carbonate from the present level of 35 per cent to 20 per cent so as to provide the Indian units with a level playing field for competing effectively against inter national majors now entering the domestic market.

Domestic firms must aspire to become MNCs: Advani
THE Home Minister, Mr L.K.Advani, has asked the businesses in the North to prepare themselves to the free trade regime that is being ushered in under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

MMTC bags Capexil award for 10th time
MMTC Ltd, the country's first super star trading house and an established global player in mineral trade, has bagged this year's CAPEXIL award for the 10th time in a row for the highest mineral export performance.

Economy
RBI loans and advances up Rs 6,135 cr
LOANS and advances provided by the Reserve Bank of India to the Union Government have increased by Rs 6,135 crore to Rs 9,360 crore for the week ended November 30 as compared to Rs 3,225 crore in the previous week, according to the Weekly Statistical Sup plement (WSS) of the RBI.

Task force for real estate sector mooted
THE Union Minister for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Mr Ananth Kumar, on Saturday said his Ministry will set up a task force comprising the Central and State Government representatives to settle matters relating to the real estate industry.

Education
TASMAC to offer degree programmes
PUNE: TASMAC, Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communication Ltd, an autonomous body started in 1990, has received validation from the University of Wales to offer BBA (Hons) and MBA Degree programmes in Pune.

ICFAI college for management teachers
THE Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) has announced the setting up of ICFAI College for Management Teachers, the first of its kind in the country.

Environment
`Growth must not be at the cost of environment'
CONSUMERS in the developing countries of the Asia-Pacific should see that their society leapfrogs economically without facing the environmental problems faced by the West in the past, according to Dr Sothi Rachagan, Regional Director of Consumers Interna tional in Asia-Pacific.

Food & Dairy Products
`Food processing policy will harmonise laws'
THE national policy for food processing, which will pave the way for the Processed Food Development Act and the establishment of a Processed Food Development Authority, will be placed before the Cabinet by the end of this month, according to Mr D.P. Trip athi, Secretary, Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

Forex
Forex reserves up $260 m
THE forex reserves of the country continued to rise, gaining by $260 million at $46.891 billion for the week ended November 30, 2001 as compared to $46.631 billion in the previous week.

Hotels
The myriad tastes of amchi Mumbai
BHELPURI, vada pav, shrikhand, dhansak, poha, fish curry, sai bhaji, vatana, puran poli -- on the face of it, they neither have much in common nor are they typical food festival fare. But when the culinary experience promises a taste of Mumbai, this is a mere microcosm of what you are likely to find.

Information Technology
e-book push sought for US market
CAPEXIL has submitted a set of proposals to the Commerce Ministry for market promotion in the US for e-publishing/publishing products under the Market Access Initiative Programme of the Ministry.

Transforming social sector the VC way
MS Laura A. Parkin probably has the best description of the venture capital industry and what it has done to the world economy: Companies that change the way we live are often backed by VCs, she says.

Award for Ayurveda portal
KOLKATA: allAyurveda.com, the world's first portal on Ayurveda, has been adjudged the best health portal in the country at the Digit Web Awards 2001. It has also been rated as the third best health portal in the world by Alexa.com, a US- based rating age ncy.

Mutual Funds
UTI has new schemes on the drawing board
UNIT Trust of India, which is undergoing major internal restructuring to become younger and vibrant, has some new equity based schemes on the drawing board for 2002 and will shortly introduce an incentive scheme for fund managers that will deliver value to investors, according to Mr M. Damodaran, Chairman, UTI.

PSU
DoD seeks Ministries support for divestment
THE Department of Disinvestment (DoD) has written to several Ministries seeking their support in implementing the disinvestment programme to reduce resistance by administrative Ministries to the sell-off process, .

Pesticides
Pesticide industry plea on excise
MUMBAI: The pesticide industry has sought an abolition of excise duty, currently at 16 per cent.

Policy
Bill on jute cess tabled in LS
THE Jute Manufactures Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2001, seeking to provide for collection of cess on jute manufactures at a maximum rate of two per cent ad valorem, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Radio/TV
Film industry takes steps to restrain cable operators
IN an attempt to curb video piracy, the entertainment industry has taken a decision to debar cable operators from exhibiting films without a valid licence from the copyright holder.

Conditional access system -- Consumers must bear cost, says cable TV body
CABLE operators have suggested that the financial burden of introducing conditional access systems (CAS) for pay channels be passed on to the consumer while also suggesting that pay channels should not be allowed to carry advertisements.

Shipping
SCI places orders for two big tankers with Cochin Shipyard
THE Shipping Corporation of India Ltd (SCI) has nudged ahead a new vessel-dimension at the country's biggest ship building yard, Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), by placing orders for two 115,000 DWT tankers.

States
TIDCO redrawing park project
THE proposed petrochem park at Ennore, in Chennai, is being reconfigured. Originally conceived by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) to house petrochemical projects, the park is now being tied in with the development of the Ennore Port.

Textiles
Garment portal ties up with UK co
CHENNAI: The Mumbai-based Garmentjunction.com, a business-to-business (B2B) portal on the garment/apparel/textiles industry, has entered into a strategic alliance with the UK-based Red Apple Design Plc, a global e-marketing company, to offer the portal's services in the international market.

Readymade garment exports badly hit
READYMADE garment exports, which account for a lions share of the countrys textile exports, continued to register dismal growth with the 11-month performance during the calendar year 2001 showing up a negative growth of 8.80 per cent in terms of value an d 1.93 per cent in terms of volume.

Travel & Places
India to be promoted as safest tourist destination
VISAS on arrival at airports, separate police to stop harassment of tourists and stress on `health and wellness packages are being planned to boost tourism. The Government is taking all possible steps to ensure safety of foreign tourists and a recent ind ependent survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry has revealed that India is the safest destination for tourists from all over the world, the Director-General of Tourism, Mr V.K. Duggal, has said.

Source:Business Line