Agriculture
Tobacco Board urged to start auctions in AP
THE Tobacco Board should take steps to begin auctions in Andhra Pradesh promptly by the third week of January, as promised, and the auctions in Andhra Pradesh should not be delayed to facilitate the sale of the huge, unauthorised surplus crop in Karnatak a, Dr Y. Sivaji, the President of the AP Virginia Tobacco Growers Association, has pleaded.

Vermi compost from waste
THE Society for Preservation of Environment and Quality of Life (SPEQL), which has pioneered the development of vermiculture here from the biomass of municipal solid waste, is selling vermin compost, an organic manure, to farmers at Rs 2 a kg.

Airlines
IA bids for new fleet open tomorrow
INDIAN Airlines (IA) is to open the financial bids for its multi-billion dollar fleet renewal and expansion plan on December 26. In a statement on Monday, the airline said that the bids will be examined by its three-member Aircraft evaluation committee.

Automobiles
Tata Engg to roll out 2 new versions of Indica
BUOYED by the success of its ambitious small car project, Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co Ltd, is gearing up to launch a sedan and an estate version of the 1.4-litre Indica hatchback, a top company official said.

Looking at new avenues to supplement revenues
TATA Engineering and Locomotive Co Ltd is looking at new ways to generate extra business and new income from operations outside its core business to supplement its cost-cutting efforts, top company officials have said.

Exide board okays buyback
THE board of directors of Exide Industries Ltd, at a meeting held here today, approved buyback of the company's shares up to 10 per cent of the paid-up capital and free reserves at a price not exceeding Rs 70 per share through the open market route.

Auto issue
"WTO rules against India in auto issue" (Business Line, December 23). Even if India fail in its appeal, could it not try to use it to its advantage to attract foreign investment and exploit the Chinese demand?

Banking and Finance
Conversion to universal bank -- IDBI Act to be amended
THE Government today said that it plans to amend the IDBI Act to facilitate the financial institution become a universal bank. It will also set up an asset reconstruction company (ARC) by January-end for recovering non-performing assets of weak banks.

Double standards?
The RBI has constituted a group which will examine State government defaults, consider circulating the information and even publish them. This move sounds hollow and even amusing when similar steps are not being even thought of for the corporate defaults of nearly Rs 50,000 crore.

Cartoon
Cartoon

Chemicals
Chemical industry in 2002
Many persons justifiably consider 2001 as an eventless period for the Indian chemical industry. There have been no achievements from the point of view of production, capacity creation or R&D efforts.

Coal
10th Plan to focus on underground coal mining
THE Working Group on Coal and Lignite for the 10th Five-Year Plan (2002-07) proposes to lay extra emphasis on the achievement of targeted coal production from underground mines, since the development over the last few decades in technological mix of mini ng has been ``imbalanced".

Commodities
Restore concession for crude palm oil import
THE vanaspati industry, assailed by duty-free imports from Nepal, has urged the Government to restore concessional duty on import of crude palm oil.

Soyabean processors to double production
THE Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA) has embarked upon an exercise to double the size of soya crop in the country during the next five-year period. Apart from increasing the acreage under the crop, the association is targetting to improve the productivity from the current level of 1000 kg to 1,500 kg per hectare.

Indo-Pak tension casts gloom on leather exports
WHILE the leather exports seem to be turning around for the better amidst uncertain global trend, the tension and war-like situation that has developed between India and Pakistan after the December 13 dastardly attack on Parliament, has dampen the mood o f the manufacturer-exporters of leather and leather products.

Corporate
SWC agri-business vested with new co
SHAW Wallace & Company (SWC) has transferred its agribusiness to a new company floated recently under the name Shaw Wallace Agrochemicals Co Ltd. Though registered in the city, the head office of the new company has been shifted to Mumbai.

Ear to the ground
Nicholas also pitching for Abbott?
Pharma major Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) is apparently in the race to acquire a majority stake in Abbott India. Nicholas Piramal is planning to buy this stake from Abbott India's parent Abbott Inc. Market sources say that NPIL could be a contender as the company has already evinced interest in such acquisitions.

Economy
Conference on fraud?
THIS seems to be an age of seminars and symposia. Evidently, even as frontiers of knowledge are rapidly expanding, more and more of what is already known becomes obsolete, and consequently the need to ingest new information, and to learn and master fresh techniques becomes urgent. All this necessarily calls for meetings and conferences.

Fractured verdict from Doha
WHETHER the verdict from Doha went largely in favour of India or against its interests is still not quite clear. The outcome of the WTOs Fourth Ministerial meet at Doha has evoked mixed feelings. After all, for such a heterogeneous body as the WTO to mee t the often-conflicting demands and wishes of each of the 140 member-countries is difficult.

Industry: From slowdown to crisis
IF THE industrial slowdown was a major disappointment last year, it has reached crisis proportions in 2001. The slowdown has worsened this year with the index of industrial production (IIP) logging a growth of just 2.2 per cent in the first seven months (April-October) this fiscal compared with 5.9 per cent over the same period last year. The dismal performance has been due to the poor showing of the three major segments mining, manufacturing and electricity.

Cautionary tales from South America
THE comprehensive mess in Argentina today almost defies belief. At this time, the financial and economic collapse is near total, with banks closed, the state of the currency (and even its very existence) in some doubt, rapidly increasing unemployment, de cline in almost all public services and now, shortages of liquidity that threaten access to basic food and necessary goods for survival for much of the population.

Bharti Tele-ventures among 58 FDI proposals cleared
BHARTI Televentures Ltd on Monday received Government approval for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to participate in its forthcoming public issue. The plan involves foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs 452 crore by a consortium of 10 FIIs headed by Brentwood Investment Holdings BV.

Plan panel quarterly review of schemes
THE Plan panel has proposed to put in place a system of Quarterly Performance Review (QPR) with a view to ensuring timely and effective implementation of approved projects/programmes/schemes in the Central sector, Centrally-sponsored projects and the one s in State sector as well as efficient utilisation of outlays/resources.

FDI inflow up 40 pc in first nine months
THE first nine months of the outgoing year witnessed a 40 per cent jump in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in dollar terms. FDI inflows into India, according to latest available data for January-September 2001, amounted to $3,623.7 million as agai nst $2,584.9 million during the corresponding period last year.

Sinha-industry pre-budget meet on Jan 8
THE Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, will hold his customary pre-budget discussions with the captains of the industry on January 8.

Govt eases norms for EOUs, EPZs
THE Finance Ministry has liberalised a slew of norms for export-oriented units (EOUs) and software technology parks (STP) units - including those relating to procurement of fuel oils for captive power plants and issuance of warehousing licenses - i n order to scale down transaction time and cost for exporters.

Editorial
Textile in tatters
THE Textile Minister, Mr Kashiram Ranas admission that the countrys textile exports will slip this year is merely a confirmation of the drop in despatches that began mid-year. Only the extent of the decline remained to be known.

Engineering
Development council for textile machinery sector
THE Central Government has constituted a 25-member development council for the textile machinery industry for a period of two years. The Secretary in the Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, will be the Chairma n of this council.

Foreign Trade
BIMST-EC identifies six areas for cooperation
THE fourth Ministerial meeting of BIMST-EC (Bangladesh India Myanmar Sri Lanka Thailand Economic Cooperation) held in Yangoon, Myanmar, recently has identified six sectors for co-operation among member-countries. These include trade and investment, techn ology, transportation & communication, energy, tourism and fisheries.

Forex
Money changers gear up for new currency in new year
AT Thomas Cook, Mr Madhavan Menon is excited. The Executive Director is getting ready to handle probably the largest currency parcel being imported from Europe - the new euro, which will be in circulation from January 1, replacing 12 legacy currencies .

Euro news you can use
THE euro will be issued in seven denominations - 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500. The seven denominations of banknotes are printed with different dominant colours to aid identification. The size of the banknotes varies, increasing with value.

Lifestyle
It's party time in Lanka
I HAVE never seen Colombo like this ever before during my three years stay here. It is as though an entire city, or a nation, has been enthused by the change in governance, says the wife of an officer in the Indian High Commission in the city.

Miscellaneous
Christmas carols
The Governor of West Bengal (centre), singing Christmas carols along with pop singger Usha Uthup and underprivileged children, on the lawns of Raj Bhawan in Kolkata on Monday.

Mutual Funds
ITC most weighty counter in funds' portfolios in Nov
IN November ITC dominated the holdings of most leading equity funds, outdoing other prominent stocks with an average weightage of 4.22 per cent, a review of 11 funds conducted by SKP Securities shows.

Govt to provide financial aid to bolster UTI
THE Government today said that that it will provide financial support to Unit Trust of India (UTI) to bridge the difference between the net asset value (NAV) and administered repurchase price of US-64 units, as part of the package of measures for the cou ntry's largest mutual fund.

On the hedge
Satyam, Reliance Petroleum options actively traded
MONDAY'S trading in the derivatives segment saw dealers demand at-the-money equity calls and out-of-the-money index calls. Here are some of the pointers from the day's trading.

PSU
NTC subsidiary seeks advice on sale of land
NTC's Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry subsidiary has sought the expertise from the Housing Development Finance Corporation and ICICI in the matter of sale of land with textile units located in Coimbatore.

Balmer Lawrie restructure -- IBP shareholders' meet to consider demerger
A SHAREHOLDERS' meeting of IBP Co Ltd has been convened on December 26 to consider the proposed scheme of demerger arrangement between IBP Co and Balmer Lawrie Investment Ltd.

Tulip Star gets more time for Centaur payment
THE Ministry of Disinvestment (MoD) has agreed to extend the deadline for the full and final payment of the purchase consideration for the Hotel Corporation of India's Centaur Hotel property in Juhu Beach, Mumbai.

Pesticides
Pesticide use crucial for food security, surplus
AGRICULTURE is under rapid transformation the world over even as it is growing increasingly technology intensive, said the Union Minister for Agriculture, Mr Ajit Singh, at the 38th Annual Session of the Pesticides Association of India (PAI).

Petroleum
Tapti, Panna-Mukta fields compensation -- BG India offers $3.5 m more to ONGC
BG India (BGI) has raised its cash compensation to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) from $7.5 million to $11 million for obtaining the operatorship of the Tapti and Panna-Mukta discovered oil and gas fields from which Enron exited recently. BGI had put in this revised offer to ONGC a few days ago.

Pharmaceuticals
Dr Reddy's acquires dental brands of Group Pharma
IN a significant development, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd announced on Monday that it has acquired the entire range of six dental brands from the Mumbai-based Group Pharmaceuticals. MAPE Advisory Group, a merger and acquisition consultancy firm, is the a dvisor for the deal.

Pharma sector hopes to have EPC soon
PHARMA industry associations are hopeful of getting Pharmexil, the export promotion council (EPC) for pharmaceuticals, up and running by April 2002.

Politics
India to supply 3 lakh tonnes wheat to Lanka
IN a bid to cement close bilateral ties with the new regime in Sri Lanka, India today decided to provide three lakh tonnes of wheat to the help the strife-torn island nation tide over its balance of payments problems.

Lankans cherish their friendship with India
CALL it the feel-good factor or the general atmosphere of optimism following a change of government in Sri Lanka, an Indian visitor to Colombo, if he/ she cares to scratch the surface, is bound to find a growing feeling of camaraderie for India and India ns.

Power
BG deal for Enron's Indian units expires
BRITISH oil and gas producer BG Plc announced on Monday that its original deal to purchase Enron's offshore interests in India for a consideration of $388 million had expired. However, discussions were on with Enron and the local partners in the assets t o bring about a satisfactory close to the transaction, it added.

Radio/TV
DD gets tough with Zee affiliate -- Encashes Buddha Films' bank guarantees
DOORDARSHAN has decided to act tough and has encashed Zee Telefilms' affiliate, Buddha Films Ltd's bank guarantees worth Rs 67.5 crore.

Rubber
Rubber market lacklustre on Christmas eve
THE rubber market remained quite dull on Monday as buyers were practically absent on the eve of Christmas. .

States
NTC units' revival in TN, Pondy hinges on asset sale
THE revival of the sick textile units under the National Textile Corporation's (NTC) Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry subsidiary, which has finally been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) last week, now hinges on how quickly the Govern ment follows the sequence of revival package including the all-crucial sale of assets enunciated in the rehabilitation proposals.

BIFR to hear revamp plan of 9 Karnataka NTC subsidiaries
A PROPOSAL for an overall revamp of all the nine subsidiaries under the Karnataka-owned National Textile Corporation (NTC) has been placed before the BIFR and is to come up for hearing in February. The revival plan involves a total expenditure of Rs 7,85 0 crore.

WBSEB, PowerGrid plan joint venture for optical fibre scheme
THE Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has decided to enter into a joint venture with the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) for promoting the information super highway project.

More funds granted for rail works in Karnataka
THE Centre has sanctioned an additional Rs 25 crore for the completion of gauge conversion work on the Mangalore-Bangalore railway line, according to the Union Minister of State for Textiles, Mr V. Dhananjaya Kumar.

`Bengal must float venture fund'
THE West Bengal Government, along with successful non-resident Bengalis, should create a venture capital fund for small and medium-scale industries and it can be named as the Bank of Bengal.

Privatisation of AP co-op spinning mills by fiscal end
BY the end of the current fiscal, the privatisation process of all the co-operative spinning mills is expected to be completed following a rebidding process in some of the mills.

KFC offers easy repayment scheme
THE Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) has come out with new initiatives to help its customers by offering easier terms of repayment and concessions.

After a stint, the party is over for Dabhol residents
NATHU RAM stands in the scorching afternoon sun, drawing random lines in the mud with his right toe. ``This company will not work like before; looks like I too will have to go back home," he says.

Stocks
Equities lose as sentiment takes a beating
STOCKS opened on a cautious note on Monday amid reports of escalating tensions on the border. However, market sentiments failed to recover and the 30-share Sensex slid 2.52 points to close at 3232.97 points over Friday's close of 3235.49 points. The Se nsex opened at 3227.30 points and in a narrow bound movement, touched an intra-day high of 3244.24 points and floored at 3181.57 points before ending the day at its present close.

CSE resorts to early pay-ins
THE Calcutta Stock Exchange on Monday drastically reduced cumulative open position by resorting to early pay-ins. The exchange took precuationary measures in view of the fall in prices of top traded scrips - HFCL, Satyam Computer Services, Global Tele Sy stems and Zee Telefilms.

Maars Soft shares up on ADR/GDR nod
THE Maars Software scrip was in limelight on Monday after the company's board approved the proposal to raise funds through American depository receipts (ADRs)/Global depository receipts (GDRs) and make private/preferential allotment of shares.

Stock prices recover, ignore border tensions
STOCK prices recovered smartly after opening lower as the market players ignored the tension on the border. The recovery was mainly on account of value buying by institutional players and short covering. Some dealers also attributed the recovery to resol ving the payment problems some brokers were reportedly facing.

Sugar
Balrampur Chini unveils Rs 19-crore buyback
SUGAR major Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd has announced a buyback of equity shares of Rs 10 each at a price not more than Rs 100 and it will not be more than 10 per cent of the company's total paid-up capital.

27 lakh t sugar released as Q1 free sale quota
THE Government has released 27 lakh tonnes of sugar as quota for indigenous free-sale for the quarter January-March 2002.

Taxation
FICCI calls for abolition of MAT
THE Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has suggested that the concept of minimum alternative tax (MAT) per se should be done away with. In a pre-Budget memorandum, the chamber said that MAT has proved to be counter-productive an d a disincentive for promotion and growth of industrial activity.

Call to scrap CVD on mobile handsets
THE Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has urged the Government to abolish the 16 per cent countervailing duty (CVD) currently being imposed on imported mobile handsets.

Tea
TN tea auctions end on a depressed note
THE last sale for 2001 held at Coimbatore and Coonoor tea auction centres last weekend ended on a depressed note for the industry. Prices dropped for almost all grades and more sharply for the orthodox varieties.

Technical Analysis
Bulls stage a comeback
THE bears dominated the initial hours of Monday's trading. Later on, the bulls made a smart recovery to wipe out their losses. The market sentiment reading continues to remain bearish. Bull domination on Wednesday is likely to neutralise the prevailing b earish sentiment. Otherwise, the prevailing sentiment is likely to continue with added strength.

Textiles
New Textiles Secretary
NEW DELHI: Mr S.B. Mohapatra, Special Secretary, Ministry of Home, has been appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Textiles. He replaces Mr Anil Kumar who is due to superannuate by the end of this month.

Source:Business Line