The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Dumping duty mooted on borax decahydrate
THE Designated Authority in the Commerce Ministry has recommended imposing definitive anti-dumping duty on imported borax decahydrate from Turkey and China. The product is an inorganic chemical widely used in glass, textiles, leather, adhesives, ... More

Seminar on anti-dumping measures
THE Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) and the Bulk Drug Manufacturers' Association (India) in association with the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, is ... More

CEMENT

Falling prices push cement majors to cut production
IT appears that cement majors are trying to contain production, driven by falling cement prices especially in the western region of the country. The evidence to this lies in the fact that three out of the four majors have reported a higher ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Technology to sniff out ozone-depleting substances at border
THE Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which is implementing the country's ozone-depleting substances (ODS) phase-out programme, is arming border enforcement agencies with hi-tech identifiers imported from Germany. These identifiers, ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS

PHDCCI plea to cut excise duty
THE PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has made a case for further lowering of excise duty to prevent the relocation of production base of domestic industry to the neighbouring countries. In their pre-budget interaction with the ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

Luxembourg seeks tax sops for Indian ventures
FINANCIAL companies from Luxembourg are keen on starting Indian operations but are against the Union Government imposing any tax on them as it would lead to double taxation. These companies are already being taxed in their own country, said Mr ... More

PETROLEUM

Iran backs gas pipeline project
THE Iranian Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Gas and Chairman, National Petrochemical Company (NPC), Mr Nematzadeh, today said that the proposed Indo-Iranian gas pipeline will cut down the cost of gas in the Indian market. Addressing a meeting ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS

Mashelkar panel favours centralised drug licensing
IN what is being termed as "radical" by the pharmaceutical industry, the final report of the Mashelkar Committee looking into the drug regulatory issues and spurious drugs has proposed the elevation of the Central Drugs Standard Control ... More

WTO panel upholds India stand on EC preference scheme
A WTO dispute settlement panel has upheld India's contention that the European Community (EC) has violated its WTO obligations in granting tariff preferences to 12 countries under the `Drug Arrangements' window of its Generalised System of ... More

POWER

MSEB allowed to hike rates by 1.5%
THE Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has allowed the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to raise tariff by 1.5 per cent, effective December 1. The new tariff, which is expected to add Rs 186 crore to MSEB's kitty, ... More

Cabinet panel okays PowerGrid proposal
THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved a proposal of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd to set up the power evacuation system for National Thermal Power Corporation's proposed 1980 MW Seepat power project. The ... More

CII-Karnataka for review of captive power tax
THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Karnataka and other industry associations met the Chief Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, on Tuesday and requested that the Government rescind or at least reduce the recently imposed tax on captive power ... More

WATER

Kerala: Expert makes a strong case for desalination plants
A failed monsoon for a second consecutive year and its implications for an already fragile drinking water position in Kerala have once again led experts to weigh the option of desalination plants. A proposal to this effect has already been ... More

EDUCATION

Bosch Rexroth ties up with engg institute
IN a bid to enhance familiarity among students in the areas of hydraulics, pneumatics and mechatronics, Bosch Rexroth India Ltd on Tuesday signed an MoU with the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore. According to Mr Wolfgang Wagner, ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

Speeding up plan approval process — Coimbatore realtors seek development body
THE real estate promoters in Coimbatore are pinning hopes on the State Government for hastening the approval process of building plans by creating a Coimbatore Development Authority (CDA) on the lines of the Chennai Metropolitan Development ... More

Nod for stamp duty Ordinance in Kerala

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NIO pegs revenue from consultancy services at Rs 1 cr
THE regional centre of the National Institute of Oceanography hopes to generate Rs 1 crore from the consultancy services offered to industries in the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere and other research work commissioned by the ... More

Help in commercialising rural innovations
RURAL innovations are not easily accepted. But when accepted, marketing of the device/innovation becomes an uphill task. According to the Chennai-based Rural Innovations Network (RIN), there are over a thousand innovations in the villages and a ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Study lists fall in Central allocations to Kerala
DECREASING flow of Central funds to Kerala has accentuated the fiscal crisis in the State, which has become much more severe than that of all other States. The average growth rate in Central transfers was lower for Kerala at 8.3 per cent ... More

TRADE & LABOUR UNIONS

Bengal SEZ Bill not to allow strikes
THE West Bengal Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Bill proposes to declare units in this zone public utility services under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. This effectively means that no agitation or a strike which will hamper production will be ... More

EVENTS

Seeking better opportunities
Members of the National Federation of the Blind at a rally in the Capital on Tuesday, demanding the implementation of the reservation order for the blind in Government and public sector ... More

Rajagiri lecture on technology

Hyderabad engagements

INCOME TAX

Audit norms for tax on royalties
THE Union Government has notified the rules and form for the audit report under Section 44DA of the Income-Tax Act, 1961. The Finance Act 2003 had inserted a new section 44DA in the I-T Act, 1961 relating to special provisions for computing ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

April-Oct trade deficit zooms
EXPORTS registered a modest growth of 5.07 per cent in dollar terms but imports shot up by 23 per cent in October, according to the latest official figures. Cumulatively too, export growth during the April-October period was up by 8.44 per cent ... More

Govt plans green channel for law-abiding exporters
"There is hardly any scope for further liberalisation, but we need to reduce the transaction cost and time of exporters. So, we are working on this module of green channeling the honest exporters." More

TOURISM

`Increased tourism will impact economies, environment, cultures'
THE world will have over one billion annual travellers by 2010. This phenomenal growth is bound to have an impact on the economies, the environment and cultures of the host destinations, according to Ms Rathi Vinay Jha, Secretary, Union Ministry ... More

Jungle Lodges to promote `wilderness tourism'
JUNGLE Lodges and Resorts (JLR), a State Government undertaking promoting eco-tourism, is spreading its expertise to other States with a proposal to extend consultancy to the Andamans. JLR will be sharing its experiences with Andamans in ... More

Seasongal guests
A gathering of itinerant tourists on Hawa Beach in Kovalam near Thiruvananthapuram. Arrivals are picking up and the influx is expected to reach a seasonal peak around Christmas-New ... More