The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, February 17, 2009

INDUSTRY & ECONOMY

ECONOMY: An account for votes
Nothing for industry; Govt to collect less taxes, spend more. New Delhi, Feb. 16 With an eye on the elections, the Interim Budget for 2009-10 has put the ‘aam aadmi’ (common man) at the centre stage. The Government has increased the ...

TAXATION: ‘It’s not proper for us now to make tax policy changes’
Govt in talks with RBI to raise additional Rs 45,000 crore; MSS unwinding among options. New Delhi, Feb. 16 The Government chose to respect Constitutional propriety over expediency while presenting the Interim Budget for 2009-10. As a result, it ...

BUDGET: Sensex drops 3%
Budget disappointment, global cues dampen sentiment. Mumbai, Feb. 16 Little was expected from the pre-election Vote-on-Account on Monday; but with no relief at all in it for corporates or the equity markets, investors offloaded their built up ...

ECONOMY: Domestic air traffic declines in Jan
New Delhi, Feb. 16 Domestic air travellers continue to keep away from the skies. The latest data collated by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for January this year show a 14.65-per cent decline in domestic traffic as compared ...

ECONOMY: The 16th vote-on-account
INTERIM IN NATURE. New Delhi, Feb. 16 Acting Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee presented the country’s 16th vote-on-account in Parliament on Monday for fiscal ...

BUDGET: Centre’s tax revenues take a Rs 60,000-cr hit
The brunt of the total shortfall borne by indirect taxes. New Delhi, Feb.16 The economic slowdown has severely dented the Centre’s tax collections, with gross revenues falling short of budgeted targets by almost Rs 60,000 ...

BUDGET: Drug cos applaud rural health mission spend
Cos supplying to Centre’s health schemes to benefit. Mumbai, Feb. 16 Drug-makers had no great expectations from the interim Budget 2009, so naturally, there was little disappointment as well. But, they are lauding the Budget’s Rs ...

BUDGET: Govt, World Bank in talks for $3 b recap assistance
United Bank of India to get Rs 250 cr this financial year. The Finance Ministry is in talks with the World Bank for financial assistance of about $3 billion for the recapitalisation of about 15 public sector banks over the next two years. The ...

BUDGET: No cheer for industry on STPI front
A five-year extension will be important: Nasscom. New Delhi/Bangalore/Chennai, Feb. 16 The Interim Budget announced on Monday did not spell-out any relief for the export-oriented Indian IT industry, where the tax exemptions available under the ...

BUDGET: Fertiliser subsidy bill overshoots budget estimates
Up Rs 65,000 crore over original provisions of Rs 30,986 crore. New Delhi, Feb. 16 The Centre’s fertiliser subsidy bill for the current fiscal has overshot budgeted levels by Rs ...

BUDGET: India Inc sees positives and gaps too in Interim Budget
Increased spending on infrastructure, social sector welcomed. New Delhi, Feb. 16 Industry captains reacted in a mixed manner to the interim ...

ECONOMY: What the budget means (or doesn’t) for India Inc
The extension of interest rate subvention of 2 per cent on pre- and post-shipment credit for export-oriented sectors such as gems and jewellery, textiles and marine products for another six months to September 30, 2009, proposed in the ...

BUDGET: A typical market reaction to Interim Budget
Global cues also added to market fall. Indian equities have typically greeted interim budgets with equanimity. The over 3-per cent fall in Sensex on Monday will go down as the most violent market reaction on an Interim Budget day in the last ...

BUDGET: Exporters disappointed at marginal relief
New Delhi, Feb. 16 For exporters expecting some relief measures when their current order book remains none too encouraging, the Interim Budget has not given much, other than extending the existing interest subvention of 2 per cent on pre ...

BUDGET: Industry upset over lack of steps to reduce deficit
Hyderabad, Feb. 16 The industry in Andhra Pradesh has expressed its disappointment because the Union Government has not announced any concrete steps on how it was planning to reduce fiscal deficit in the vote-on-account presented in Parliament ...

ECONOMY: India Inc: Indirect benefits, direct threats
The government seems to be borrowing from the now-re-written American/European economics book.. Is the Interim Budget a non-event as India Inc is making it out to be, going by the 200-plus-point drop in the Sensex in the hour or so it took the ...

INFRASTRUCTURE: Not so disappointing for infrastructure
The Interim Budget for 2009-10 did not outline any of the elaborate infrastructure spending plans as did the earlier full-fledged Budgets. That has led to a negative market reaction, where leading infrastructure providers saw their stocks ...

INFRASTRUCTURE: FKCCI calls for single-window agency in infrastructure to promote growth
Association says road and rail connectivity should be improved. Bangalore, Feb. 16 The Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) has urged the State Government to set up a single window agency for each of the ...

BUDGET: Interim Budget, a mere stock-taking exercise
Mumbai Feb. 16 India Inc did not appear to be excited by the interim Budget presented in Parliament today, with many corporate honchos describing it as ...

BUDGET: Centre’s extra outgo touches Rs 1.5 lakh cr
Way past budget estimates. New Delhi, Feb. 16 The Centre’s total expenditures this fiscal has overshot budget estimates (BE) by a whopping Rs 1,50,000 crore. This includes Rs 1,10,498 crore of non-Plan spending and another Rs 39,571 crore ...

BUDGET: Budget Reactions
At the end of this Government’s five-year tenure there are people in the top financial brackets who may be happy that they have become multi-millionaires or billionaires, but the Aam Admi (common man) feels badly let down.” said ...

BUDGET: Social sector high on Govt radar
Rs 30,100 cr allocated for rural employment scheme. New Delhi, Feb. 16 The interim Budget has announced an allocation of Rs 30,100 crore for the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme for 2009-10, up from Rs 14,400 crore ...

BUDGET: Farm, infrastructure sectors to gain; leather exporters feel let down
In an interaction with journalists, Mr Manikam Ramaswami, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council and Chairman & Managing Director, Loyal Textile Mills Ltd, said some sectors like agriculture and infrastructure will benefit from this ...

BUDGET: Navratnas expected to invest over Rs 23,000 cr next fiscal
New Delhi, Feb. 16 The Centre expects investments in core sectors to come from key public sector enterprises. The power, petroleum and steel sectors will have to raise nearly Rs 23,500 crore in the next fiscal. A look at a sample of 10 of ...

BUDGET: ‘Some impact in domestic area’
“It’s an interim Budget so nothing much to talk about. There seems to be some continuity in certain schemes in the social sectors such as the National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) that is good ...

BUDGET: ‘Opportunity missed to boost economy’
There was no Budget; it was just a report card of the last five years very well-packaged apparently sounding excellent. But despite the fact that this was an interim Budget and you can’t have many expectations from, looking at ...

BUDGET: ‘Special allocations required’
According to Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, Ranbaxy, “This being an interim Budget, the industry did not expect any major pronouncements and the Finance Minister has probably done the right thing by walking ...

BUDGET: ‘Healthcare sector ignored’
Mr Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hospitals Group, said, “As expected (of) an interim budget with elections in mind, the Finance Minister has tabled it without any extraordinary measures for the industry. The healthcare sector as a whole ...

BUDGET: ‘Focus on infrastructure welcome’
Mr Amitabh Das Mundhra, Director, Simplex Infrastructures Ltd, said, “Interim budget is a continuation of the Government’s agenda for past five years with a further intention of increasing investment in infrastructure sector. This ...

BUDGET: ‘Interest rates likely to dip’
This is an interim budget, so it’s turning out to be a ‘non-event’; has not really come as a surprise to me. Higher government borrowing could lead to a hardening of interest rates in the long term. However, in the short to ...

BUDGET: ‘Slash car loan rates’
“The Government has already given sops in the fiscal stimulus package for the auto industry. What we want now is increased credit off take and lower interest rates.” – Maruti Chief Financial Officer, Mr ...

HOTELS: Hyatt in Chennai to get going by year-end
Balaji Group’s erstwhile property being developed by Robust Hotels. Robust Hotels Pvt Ltd is planning to launch its five star hotel property here by the end of this ...

BUDGET: Sectors that rose the most topped list of losers
Metal and realty indices worst hit; ITC ends up. BL Research Bureau No tax breaks, no direct or in-direct tax cuts and virtually no sector-specific boosters. Dashing all hopes, the Interim Budget passed without meeting any of the expectations ...

BUDGET: ‘Interim budget lays roadmap for new Govt’
Industry’s expectations on third stimulus package belied. Mumbai, Feb.16 Conceding that not much could be expected from the Government in the vote-on-account, the JSW Steel Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Sajjan Jindal, said the ...

BUDGET: Coimbatore industry gives thumbs-down to Interim Budget
Coimbatore, Feb. 16 The trade and industry in Coimbatore has given a thumbs-down to the Interim Budget which it said had failed to address the concerns of various sections and come out with a revival package. It is also sore over the fact ...

BUDGET: Lending rates for infrastructure projects may come down
IIFCL to refinance 60% of bank loans for public-private projects. Mumbai, Feb. 16 Banks may get more headroom to lend to infrastructure projects as the UPA Government, in its interim Budget, has indicated that India Infrastructure Finance ...

BUDGET: Steel sector disappointed on import duty front
New Delhi/Hyderabad, Feb. 16 The steel industry is disappointed that import duty on steel was not raised to 15 per cent as recommended by the ...

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: Swadeshi Jagran Manch opposes new FDI policy
Chennai, Feb. 16 The Swadeshi Jagran Manch has opposed the new FDI policy, which allowed (in its words) the backdoor entry of multinationals into the retail sector and has said that it will muster support against the Government’s ...

BUDGET: Bank stocks see sharp fall
Allahabad Bank alone manages to gain. Mumbai, Feb. 16 The BSE Bankex was among the worse performing sectoral indices on Monday after a disappointing interim ...

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION: Matheran Realty begins commercial space sale
Mumbai, Feb. 16 Mumbai-based Matheran Realty, among the first to move into the low-cost housing segment, has begun sale of 50,000 sq ft of commercial space in its affordable housing project at Karjat, which is 100 km ...

BUDGET: Move to continue corpus for rural roads welcomed
Mumbai, Feb. 16 The decision by the Government to continue with a corpus of Rs 4,000 crore for rural roads in the Interim Budget has brought cheer to the logistics and transport ...

FOREIGN TRADE: Canada’s Saskatchewan opens up for biz with India
Mumbai, Feb. 16 The Canadian Province of Saskatchewan, which hosts a rich and diverse natural endowment, has not been much in focus in the world of business outside of Canada. But now things are changing and the province is preparing itself to ...

BUDGET: No interim solace
Twenty-five years after presenting a full Budget as Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, as acting Finance Minister, delivered an interim Budget recording the UPA government’s achievements, bereft of any major policy initiatives and ...

PETROLEUM: MCX plan for gasoline futures gets FMC nod
Mumbai, Feb. 16 The commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has cleared Multi Commodity Exchange’s (MCX) proposal to launch futures trading in gasoline. Mr Rajeev Agarwal, member, FMC, said: “We have cleared ...

BUDGET: Allocation for DAE marginally higher
New Delhi, Feb.16 Despite the Government’s stated mission to offer a fillip to the nuclear power programme, the incremental budgetary allocation for the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) for the next fiscal is only marginally higher ...

BUDGET: 3G auction may fetch only Rs 20,000 cr
The Finance Ministry has sharply scaled down the estimated income from auctioning 3G spectrum. The Budget estimate for the year 2009-10 pegs revenues from the auction, expected to be held later this year, at Rs 20,000 crore ...

WATER: ‘UK can offer sustainable model for water supply’
Chennai, Feb. 16 The Indian public sector water utilities need to move towards private sector participation to ensure quality in water supply and sewage disposal service, according to the British Water Mission to India, a delegation looking ...

ENVIRONMENT: Gasping for breath
...

BUDGET: Tuned in
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BUDGET: Jewellery, garment exporters disappointed
Bangalore, Feb. 16 Jewellery and garment exporters are not very enthused by the interim Budget ...

BUDGET: Realty sector feels let down
Mr Rajesh Vardhan, Managing Director of the Vardhman Group said “Since this is a vote on account budget, no one expected any major policy changes in the Budget. Yet, there were some small measures that could have been introduced. ...

POWER: AP hints at power holiday for industrial consumers
Hyderabad, Feb. 16 Faced with widening energy demand-supply gap situation, the Andhra Pradesh Government today hinted at the possibility of one to two day power holiday for industrial consumers during the summer ...

BUDGET: NACIL gets increased allocation of Rs 6,500 cr
New Delhi, Feb. 16 There has been an increase of almost Rs 6,500 crore in the non-Plan expenditure in the interim budget for 2009-10. This is mainly on account of pre-delivery payments that National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL) has ...

BUDGET: Interim Budget disappointing: Kerala CM
The interim Union Budget for 2009-2010 is “thoroughly disappointing” as it does not contain any proposal to proactively deal with recession, said the Chief Minister, Mr V. S. ...

BUDGET: Verbatim
Fiscal expansion is being used all over the world as a counter-cyclical measure. For these measures to be effective, the RBI should follow it up with further monetary easing in the form of an interest ...

BUDGET: Sharp rise in 11th Plan higher education outlay
New Delhi, Feb. 16 The Government has allocated Rs 13,100 crore towards flagship schemes ...

ECONOMIC OFFENCES: Satyam case handed over to CBI
Hyderabad, Feb. 16 The investigation into the Rs 7,136-crore financial fraud at Satyam Computer Services was today handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI has come into the picture 40 days after the former ...

BUDGET: A responsible budget, says CM
Hyderabad, Feb. 16 The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said under the given circumstances, the acting Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee has presented a responsible budget without resorting to populist ...

ECONOMY: ‘AP growth higher than national average’
Hyderabad, Feb. 16 The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, today said that the State registered an average growth rate of over 9 per cent in the last five years, which was higher than the ...

BUDGET: Chidambaram’s thumbs up
New Delhi, Feb. 16 The Union Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has hailed the interim budget for ...

BUDGET: ‘Growth with equity and downturn with security’
New Delhi, Feb. 16 Being an old-world politician of socialist vintage, the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukhejree, predictably lived up to the political temptations to be more placatory, while ensuring that constitutional propriety is ...

EDUCATION: 1, 2, 3G: A look at the development of mobile tech
Chennai, Feb. 16 First generation — 1G — cellular technology that uses separate frequencies or channels for each conversation requires considerable bandwidth for a large number of users and uses FDMA (frequency division ...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT: ‘Rural employment scheme a big plus for IT vendors’
Mumbai, Feb. 16 As this is the final budget for the current Government, one was very curious though one did not expect any dramatic announcements, according to Mr S. Mahalingam, CFO and Executive Director of Tata Consultancy ...