Airlines
AI divestment: Still a long way to go
WHILE the Government has approved the shareholders agreement for sale of Air India (AI) and hopes to receive the technical and financial bids soon, the disinvestment process is far from being over just yet.
AI offers special fares on London terminator flight
IN an effort to attract more passengers on the soon-to-be-introduced London terminator flight, Air India is offering a return fare of Rs 20,000 plus taxes on the India-London sector and Rs 35,000 plus taxes on the India-Canada sector for a limited period
.
Automobiles
Maruti suspends dealership of Union Motors
MARUTI Udyog Ltd today announced that it had suspended the service operations of Union Motors Services Ltd as authorised dealer in 13 locations in Tamil Nadu.
Corporate
Bajoria went against takeover code: CLB
THE Company Law Board (CLB) has held that Mr Arun Kumar Bajoria and others, acting in concert, have gone against the provisions of Regulation 7 of the Take Over Code by not disclosing their acquisition beyond five per cent shares in Bombay Dyeing & Mfg.
Company Ltd.
Indo Rama to seek shareholders' nod for mortgages
INDO Rama Synthetics (I) Ltd is to seek shareholders' nod at its forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) on July 27 for creation of an equitable mortgage/charge on all movable and immovable assets of the company in favour of ICICI Ltd and several other
banks for securing working capital term loans aggregating Rs 111.69 crore.
Bidders quote low prices for DD Metro slots
PRASAR Bharati has had a disappointing run with bidders quoting very low prices for the 7-11 slots on Doordarshan Metro.
Open offer to Herdillia shareholders
THE Schenectady (India) Holdings Ltd (SHIL) consortium will make an open offer to shareholders of Herdillia Chemicals for 22,05,000 shares.
Foreign Trade
Dumping levy may go for some SBR grades -- 1900 series to attract duties
THE Designated Authority in the Commerce Ministry has recommended the discontinuation of definitive anti-dumping duties imposed on all grades of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) 1500 and 1700 series imports from the US, Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea and Japa
n.
Information Technology
No place like home for the IT pro
BANKS and housing finance companies are leery of lending to IT professionals. While some have stopped lending to the latter altogether, others have come up with additional eligibility criteria and rigorous appraisals.
IT slump drives second-hand market
A CASUAL glance at the classified advertisements of any publication is a revelation of the times that we are living in. Puzzled? Well, here is the lead. Chances are that every second ad in the classifieds will be a call for buyers interested in the compu
ters, furniture or car market.
Management
Playing Arthashastra to identify Chanakyas -- Simulated board game reaches final round
WHO says board room games are the prerogative of a privileged few? At the Amity Business School in Noida, a war of nerves is being enacted between 30-odd companies to see who has the best management talent to make it to the top.
Mutual Funds
Banks mull booster dose for UTI -- Concerns mount on future of investments
THE banking sector is preparing to step in for a temporary bail-out of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), even as concerns mount within public sector banks on the future of their investments in the US-64 scheme which has been suspended for six months.
UTI meet to take up small investors' cause
THE Unit Trust of India (UTI) will work out possible alternatives to provide liquidity to investors, particularly small individuals, in its largest scheme, Unit Scheme-1964 (US-64). The proposals may include partial liquidity in terms of restricted repur
chase facility to individuals as opposed to corporate investors.
In God they trust
UTI officials organised Satyanarayana puja at their head office at Marine Lines here this afternoon. The acting Chairman, Mr K.G. Vassal, other senior management team and many officials attended the function.
JPC to probe fund erosion in UTI schemes
THE Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the stock market scam, will investigate funds erosion in UTI's schemes, including US-64, individually, and none of the schemes would be able to enjoy any kind of ``insulation.'' At present, UTI schemes are outsid
e the purview of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
PSU
Financial bids for CMC likely this month
THE Government is likely to invite financial bids for the disinvestment of the state-owned CMC Ltd this month itself.
Petroleum
Dabhol delay: RCF turns to BG
FACED with delays in gas availability from Enron's Dabhol regassification plant, the public sector Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd (RCF), has turned to British Gas (BG) for supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet its feed stock requirements
.
IOC signs pacts with Nepal Oil
INDIAN Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) has signed two agreements with Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) for supply of petroleum products and sharing technical expertise.
Pharmaceuticals
Nicholas Piramal bets on research
NICHOLAS Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has five molecules (new chemical entities) in its research pipeline, which would be in the development stage in the next two years.
Politics
Channels gear up for Agra summit
THE historic meeting between the Pakistan President, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will be a media spectacle with international channels such as CNN and BBC gearing up for the event.
Politics of vendetta: A study in contrast
THE leading lights of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), especially its General Secretary, Ms J. Jayalalitha, need to ask themselves why the entire nation, barring their alliance partners and some partisan vested interests, has been u
nsparing in its condemnation of the party and the Government formed by it for violating all norms of civility and decency in effecting the arrests of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, and the Union Cabinet Ministers, Mr Murasoli Ma
ran and Mr T.R. Baalu.
Power
Offloading 12% equity in joint venture -- GPCL, PowerGen sign pact
GUJARAT Power Corporation Ltd (GPCL) has signed a share acquisition agreement with PowerGen, UK to offload its 12 per cent stake in the 655-MW Gujarat PowerGen Energy Corporation (GPEC) at Paguthan near Surat for a consideration of Rs 288 crore.
States
Positra SEZ to incur cost overruns
THE Rs 5,652-crore Positra SEZ, being put up by the Gujarat Positra Port Infrastructure Ltd (GPPIL) is now faced with the task of relocating its jetty site to Okha, 20-odd km away from the originally-mooted site at Positra. Such a relocation is expected
to result in a significant escalation in the project cost as it will entail the construction of a breakwater, a 3-4 km-long trestle to the offshore jetty site and considerable amount of dredging at Okha.
KPMG to study global viability of Gujarat SEZs
THE Gujarat Government has entrusted the KPMG to study the various components that will make the upcoming SEZs in the State globally viable even as Mundra and Gandhidham were poised to join the existing three in the State-- Positra and the two free trade
zones at Kandla and Sachin near Surat, the latter set originally as a specialised zone for diamond industry. With five SEZs in the offing for Gujarat, the KPMG would also be required to lay down the parameters for a SEZ Act.
Khoday's LNG project to get tax reliefs
THE Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday approved exemptions on entry tax and registration fee for Khoday group's Rs 3,140-crore LNG pipeline project for a 500-MW power plant proposed at Gokarna.
New luxury buses launched in Bangalore
BLUELINES, a Bangalore-based travel company launched two news buses, designed by Dilip Chabria here on Wednesday.
Taxation
VAT meeting empowers Centre to wield the stick
THE conference of State Chief Ministers on Value Added Tax (VAT) today empowered the Centre to penalise those States and Union Territories which do not comply with the implementation of uniform floor rates by July 31.
Centre to amend Sales Tax Act
THE Government is set to amend the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (CST) and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 as part of the efforts to speed up reforms in the domestic trade tax structure, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said on Thursday.
Telecommunications
WorldTel pulls out of OFC project in TN
WORLDTEL Ltd, the UK-based telecommunications consortium, is withdrawing from the optical fibre cable project in Tamil Nadu, according to official sources.
Pvt operators may have to wait longer for WLL
THERE seems to be no end to the long wait for private basic operators seeking to roll out the WLL limited mobility services.
Textiles
Action plan under way for textile industry: Rana
THE Centre is concerned over the declining trend in textile exports and the overall downturn in activity in the country's textile industry. A plan of action to put the industry back on the rails is being worked out.
