The deadlock over the Calcutta Port’s river pilots’ strike continued on Saturday, the fourth day of the agitation, with striking pilots refusing to resume duty despite an assurance from the Chairman of the Calcutta Port Trust, Dr. Bikram Sarkar, that everything possible would be done to mark the navigable channel of the Hooghly river and light up the buoys. The assurance was given by the CPT Chairman at a meeting held earlier in the day with the office-bearers of the Calcutta Hugh River Pilots’ Guild, the association of the striking river pilots.

DoT approval for BPL Mobile switch

BPL Mobile, part of the Rs. 1,700-crore BPL group, has received the ‘interface approval’ from the Department of Telecommunications’ Telecom Engineering Centre for its Siemens D-900 switch. The approval permits BPL Mobile to connect its master switching centre to the MTNL network here, enabling its subscribers to access PSTN (land-line based) networks in India and overseas. BPL Mobile plans to become operational by September 1995.

SBI AMC plans joint venture in Mauritius

SBI Funds Management (SBIFM), the asset management company sponsored by the State Bank of India, has decided to set up a joint venture in Mauritius for launching off-shore funds. The AMC is close to finalising a tie-up with an overseas fund manager for this venture. SBIFM has shortlisted three international investment firms, two from the US and one from the Far East. The decision to operate out of Mauritius stems from the fact “that Mauritius is a tax haven where a host of foreign institutional investors (FIIs), operating in India, are registered as also a couple of AMCs floated by major Indian mutual funds (MFs).

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW