The Hindu Business Line : Monday, September 12, 2005

Rain forces rethink on expansion plans of BPOs in Mumbai
THE July rains in the city may have led some BPOs and call centre outfits to plan moving part of their operations out of the city. But scarcity of land and the investments they have already sunk in will ensure that most of the other corporates ... More

COURTS/LEGAL ISSUES

An Act that is 138 years old!
THE latest issue of `The Chartered Accountant', journal of the ICAI, should have reached the one-lakh-plus members a few days ago. What may arouse the curiosity of many is not only the facelift to the magazine and the envelope it is sent ... More

ECONOMY

Pitching for fiscal prudence
The RBI's latest Annual Report yields a wealth of data and is rich in analyses. It stresses that maintaining macroeconomic and financial stability would depend critically on policies relating to oil prices, diversification of agriculture and improve ment in urban infrastructure. But, says S. Venkitaramanan, its strictures on the Government's lack of fiscal prudence are all-too-mild. More

The household sector: Super-savers, not star-shoppers
An economic climate that favours the concept `spending beyond means', creating an environment that pampers the consumer, should have resulted in a drastic reduction in household savings. But the last decade's savings figures show that Indian househol ds have proved otherwise. More

18 service sectors to achieve 20-60 pc growth: FICCI survey
AS many as 18 service sector segments of the economy are projected to clock growth of 20-60 per cent in 2005-06 over the previous year, while 17 segments are poised to achieve growth of 10-20 per cent, and five sectors are slated to achieve ... More

RBI's difficult prescription for economy
Even as it implies the criticality of the current upsurge being nurtured to realise the full industrial growth potential, the RBI annual report makes no bones about infrastructure bottlenecks. Here the subdued performance of the infrastructure sector , especially that of crude and petroleum refinery products, is an issue of concern. More

Rajasthan wants more Central asistance
THE Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ms Vasundhara Raje, on Saturday met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and sought Central assistance in dealing with power and water shortages being faced by the State due to below average monsoons. "I met the ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

Phased tariff liberalisation from 2006 — SAARC talks to enter crucial phase
SAARC officials are set to discuss four issues relating to rules of origin, sensitive list, mechanism for compensation of revenue loss for the least developed countries and technical assistance to LDCs for finalising the same. More

India committed to stronger ties with France, says PM
THE Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today said that India was committed to further strengthening its relations with France. Before leaving for Paris en route the US, Dr Singh said: "It is our intention to further expand co-operation in the ... More

HEALTH

Training centre for beating heart surgery in Hyderabad
CARE Hospital has launched India's first beating heart surgery training centre here. Beating heart surgery, a relatively new procedure that replaces the bypass surgery, is currently being done by about 20 per cent of cardiac surgeons. Dr ... More

Orthopaedic group head
COIMBATORE: Dr S. Rajasekaran of the Coimbatore-based Ganga Hospital has been nominated as President of the World Orthopaedic Concern (WOC), said to be the topmost orthopaedic society in the world. More than 3,000 surgeons from 122 ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE

`Concrete roads better than bitumen track'
CONCRETE roads, on techno-economic considerations, have turned out to be far superior to bitumen roads, and will prove to be sustainable in the future road construction programmes. Mr C. C. Bhattacharya, former DG, (Road Development) and ... More

`Rajiv Nagara Bata programme impresses several States'
ANDHRA Pradesh is emerging as a role model in people-centric governance to several States through the performance of the Rajiv Nagara Bata (RNB) programme launched by the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. The States which have shown ... More

PETROLEUM

GAIL plans to monetise stranded gas in Bangladesh
GAIL (India) Ltd has offered to assist Petrobangla (Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Minerals Corporation) for monetisation of stranded gas from Kutubdia offshore gas field located in South-East Bangladesh. Monetisation of stranded gas means bringing ... More

POWER

Most power projects on track: Govt report
OF the 44 power projects under implementation currently, 39 projects are slated to come up by the first year of the 11th Plan period, while five projects are reported to be facing constraints in timely commissioning, according to a report of the ... More

MMTC in talks with NTPC for power project
THE power generation business, which has seen a drying up of investments over the last decade, is starting to witness a new category of first-time investors. State-run trading house MMTC plans to set up a Rs 4,000-crore gas-based power project ... More

TAXATION

`Formal announcement of roadmap for CST phase-out in October'
THE VAT panel would formally announce a roadmap for central sales tax (CST) phaseout in October, the Member Secretary of the Panel, Mr Ramesh Chandra, said here on Sunday. The trade and industry are making a case for early abolition of CST, ... More

TEXTILES

`Textile sector may be hit by soaring oil prices'
DESPITE better growth prospects for all the sectors, skyrocketing oil prices are likely to caste a shadow on the Indian economy. The textile sector, in particular, may be affected by spiralling oil prices, as major fibre intermediates are ... More

SSI

APITCO plans SME delegation to Vietnam, Thailand
APITCO Ltd is organising an SME (small and medium enterprise) delegation to Vietnam later this month. The delegation would explore opportunities in forging joint business collaborations between Indian and Vietnamese SMEs, according to Mr S. ... More

BHEL Tiruchi small suppliers to set up estate
THE BHEL Small and Medium Industries Association (BHELSIA), a group of 130 ancillaries supplying fabrication services to BHEL, Tiruchi, is building an industrial estate at a cost of Rs 15 crore. Mr Rajappa Rajkumar, President of the ... More

Maditssia's concern over credit rating
MADURAI: The Madurai District Tiny And Small-Scale Industries Association (Maditssia) while complimenting the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, for coming out with a package for the SME sector and launching the credit rating ... More

COAL

Coal India to leverage on `core competence'
THE state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) favours the idea of leveraging its "core competence" in coal business value chain in the international market. The company hopes such ventures will enable it to develop "transnational" business competence ... More

RADIO/TV

Cabinet note for allowing local advt in community radio
THE Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is preparing a Cabinet note to allow broadcast of local advertising and non-political news in community radio. The Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Mr S. Jaipal Reddy, said this while ... More

EDUCATION

Harvard Law School open to tie-ups in India
THE Harvard Law School, which runs the world's first inter-disciplinary Programme on Negotiation (PON), is open to the idea of collaboration with acknowledged centres of excellence in India, provided such an institution is found by the US ... More

ICFAI placement scheme for distance learners
THE Hyderabad-based ICFAI University has announced a pioneering scheme to assure placements for students of its distance learning programmes. The university has entered into an agreement with Alchemist HR Services under which successful ... More

IIITM-K course earns recognition
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The University of Kerala has accorded recognition to the Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology programme conducted by the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management- Kerala (IIITM-K). The ... More

HCV/LCV/TRACTORS

Consolidation drive seen to continue in tractor industry
WITH the domestic tractor industry on a continued double-digit growth run, consolidation seems to be the buzzword for the industry this year. In fact, the year has already seen two big-ticket deals involving tractor firms, with a third one likely ... More

WTO

US visas tough to get, finds survey — `Cos want Govt to take up the issue at WTO negotiations'
INDIAN IT and BPO professionals find the US the most difficult country to get visas for, while China and Japan grant them the most friendly entry, an Assocham Business Barometer (ABB) Survey has revealed. Leading countries in Western Europe ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE

NGOs worried over new Bill on foreign contributions
CIVIL society organisations have expressed the fear that the new Bill on foreign contributions would restrict, regulate and strangulate non-governmental organisations and make them non-functional. The Bill, known as Foreign Contribution ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Buyer-seller meet in Coimbatore
A BUYER-SELLER meet has been organised by the CII, Coimbatore zone and the District Rural Development Agency for firming up a direct link between SHGs (self-help groups) and the corporates. CII sources are hoping that the two-day meet, slated ... More

EVENTS

Agenda for the week

TOURISM

Tourism should focus on people, contemporary life
KERALA will have to reinvent its style of tourism promotion and adopt promotional strategies that focus on people and contemporary life in the State, said Mr K. Jayakumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Addressing a ... More

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