The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, April 12, 2009

INDUSTRY & ECONOMY

EVENTS: India-Asean summit at Pattaya postponed
Fate of free trade agreement hangs in balance. New Delhi, April 11 The fate of the much-delayed India-Asean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) appears to be hanging in the balance with the postponement of the India-Asean summit scheduled on Saturday at ...

SSI: SBI lures small, medium units with ‘Help’ scheme; rates cut
Mumbai, April 11 State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday extended till September 30 the facility whereby its existing SME customers can avail themselves of term loans as well as 20 per cent additional working capital limits at 8 per ...

EDUCATION: SP swears by Indian languages to spread education
The pressure tactics of the Fourth Front on the Congress, the leader of the incumbent United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, has acquired greater intensity and sharpness with the release of the election manifesto by the Samajwadi ...

ECONOMY: Election and economics
Amidst the dust and din of the great Indian general elections, the world’s largest democracy faces some key questions: what are the economic and market-related issues on which these elections are being fought? And how do various ...

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION: Early signs of revival
After drawing a near blank in sale numbers during the third quarter of last fiscal, Mumbai developers appear to be seeing early signs of a revival in the residential segment coupled with improved ...

COAL: Prospects bleak for recovery in coal prices
Demand still weak amid evidence of market imbalance. Mumbai April 11 For nearly nine months now, the global coal market has been languishing with weak demand, limited supply-side response and prices staying above most producers’ operating ...

PAPER, BOARD & NEWSPRINT: Paper industry fears dampening prices on higher capacity
6.5 lakh tonnes annual capacity to be added in next 18 months. Chennai, April 11 The paper industry is anticipating large additions to production capacity over the next year-and-a-half, raising fears of dampening prices due to an increase in ...

PIRACY: Global pact under way to curb counterfeit trade
New Delhi, April 11 Stirred by the proliferation of counterfeit and pirated goods in international trade that causes serious financial losses for the right holders and legitimate businesses, an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement is now in ...

TAXATION: Self-assessment time in Mangalore
The property tax structure has come in for a change in Mangalore after a gap of over a decade. Though the new self-assessment scheme (SAS) of property tax based on capital value came into effect on April 1, 2008, replacing the old system ...

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION: Renewed interest enthuses developers
With some interest revival seen among property buyers in the last couple of months, realty players are hopeful of a better second quarter in ...

ENVIRONMENT: India, Japan urged to jointly develop green technologies
Chennai, April 11 Climate change is a sub-sect of a major part of human failure since the world perceived that industrialisation helped the entire development process for more than 150 years, the Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on ...

PETROLEUM: Railways may save Rs 69 cr on diesel discount in 2009
New Delhi, April 11 Indian Railways, the country’s largest high speed diesel (HSD) buyer, is likely to obtain a significant discount for 2009 from oil ...

PETROLEUM: GSPC may have to return Barmer-Sanchor CBM block
Prospective partners find the project unviable. Kolkata, April 11 GSPC’s bid to find a new operating partner for Barmer-Sanchor exploratory CBM block does not find many takers. ONGC, the previous operator of the block, relinquished its ...

INFRASTRUCTURE: Investment in projects up by 37% in ‘08-09: Study
Infrastructure sector continues to drive growth. Investments in ongoing projects in the country during 2008-09 rose by 37 per cent year- on-year over the previous fiscal, a study conducted by ProjectsToday, an online database on project ...

BIO-TECH & GENETICS: Biotech industry body gets new chief
Dr M. Vidyasagar, Executive Vice-President, Tata Consultancy Services, is the new President of ABLE (Association for Biotechnology-led Enterprises), the biotechnology industry association. He along with the new office-bearers with hold office ...

TAXATION: India Inc demands white paper on Goods and Sales Tax
New Delhi, April 11 It may not have grabbed the attention of the world like the meeting of the sherpas did ahead of the G-20 leaders London summit early this month, but in its own way, it was equally ...

TAXATION: Service tax exemption

Finally, home buyers in the South can now get the benefit of service tax exemption, following a recent clarification from the Central Board of Excise and ...

ECONOMY: Montek hopeful of 6-7% growth rate this fiscal
Anand, April 11 The economy will continue to grow at a little less than seven per cent this year, 2009-10 and the new Government should include the additional stimulus of 0.5 to one per cent of GDP in infrastructure in the final budget, ...

EVENTS: Weekly news round-up
Inflation declined to 0.26 per cent, the lowest ever in more than three decades, for the week ended March 28 mainly on account of food items and mineral products, fuelling expectations of rate cuts by the Reserve Bank. The wholesale ...

TAXATION: India Inc upset over Centre’s silence on CST rate front
New Delhi, April 11 The announcement of the general elections 2009 may have come in the way of corporate India getting some good news on the central sales tax (CST) ...

ECONOMY: Industrial nations in deep slowdown: OECD
Mumbai, April 11 The OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) for February 2009 continue to signal a deep slowdown in the industrialised world. While the picture for all countries remains weak, the outlook in the US, Canada, Japan and ...