Airlines
Govt hopes to raise Rs 5,000 cr from Indian Airlines sell-off
THE sale of 51 per cent of the Government's equity in the domestic carrier, Indian Airlines, will fetch the Government close to Rs. 5,000 crores, according to an early assessment.
Banking and Finance
Restructuring of employees PF, pension schemes -- Dave panel proposals to be put on hold
THE Finance Ministry has decided to temporarily shelve the Dave Committee report's recommendations pertaining to the restructuring of the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS). This follows opposition by the Labour Minis
try to the proposals on ``merits as well as jurisdictional'' grounds.
`12 pc interest for employees PF poses no problem for now'
NOTWITHSTANDING the decline in gilt yields and interest rates over the recent period, the Labour Ministry feels that the 12 per cent rate of interest currently being credited to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) subscribers on their monthly balances ca
n be sustained for some time.
Bank staff plan stir
TO demonstrate their frustration over the undue delay in the settlement of wages for workmen, the Central Bank of India Employees' Union (CBIEU), affiliated to the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) has chalked out preparatory programmes such
as mass demonstrations and centralised rallies during the next fortnight.
CSB plans tie-up to expand capital base
TO enhance business volumes to the expected levels, the Thrissur-based Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) will have to enhance its capital base by another Rs. 30 crores immediately, according to four Directors of the bank.
Commodities
Ministry to set up panel on commodities
THE Finance Ministry has decided to set up a committee to work on the uniform classification and coding of commodities in line with the International Convention of Harmonised Commodities Description and Coding. Such a classification is a prerequisite for
moving towards a value added tax (VAT) regime.
Urea price hike may be part of Budget proposals
THE proposed hike in the administered prices of urea and foodgrains channelised through the public distribution system (PDS) is set to be incorporated as part of the Union Budget proposals for 2000-01. Pre-Budget hikes would be confined only to liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene, according to top Government sources.
Corporate
Major changes in BIFR role, powers likely
THE Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, is likely to announce the Government's intent to completely overhaul the powers and role of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in the Budget for 2000-01.
Reader's Digest proposal goes to FIPB core group
THE Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has forwarded the proposal of Reader's Digest Association Inc. (RDA) to the Core Group of the board for a detailed perusal.
When CEOs `burned' the track
IT may not have been a Formula One Grand Prix event. There was really no need for a Michael Schumacher or a Mikka Hakkinen to pump up the adrenaline level.
Economy
Confusing signals from CSO on GDP growth rate
CONTRARY to indications that the economy has picked up momentum in the second-half of the current fiscal (October'99-March 2000), the estimates of the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) indicate that it could be growing at the rate of just around 0.5
per cent.
Foreign Trade
Nepal disfavours closed border with India
NEPAL is not in favour of having a closed border with India even as the present open border system aggravates the problems of burgeoning unauthorised trade and cross-border terrorism between the two countries.
Addl Rs 400-cr soft loan to Bangladesh
To further boost India-Bangladesh economic ties, India has committed an ``extra'' soft loan of Rs. 400 crores to Bangladesh to develop its transport infrastructure, mainly road and rail links.
Hotels
`Less chance for M&A in Indian health care'
A spate of mergers and acquisitions was witnessed in the developed western economies in the area of hospital during 1994-98. It is now revealed there are significantly more failures than successes in the 750 or so M and As in healthcare industry gone thr
ough during this period.
Information Technology
IT panel meeting today may focus on hardware
Issues pertaining to the computer hardware sector are likely to hold centrestage at the first meeting of the recently -constituted National Advisory Committee on Information Technology (IT), to be held here on Monday.
Sell them the pick-axe and take a big byte...
THE dot.com craze is difficult to ignore. The temptation to take the plunge is so strong that you are ready to quit your good job, start formulating business plans, hunt for venture capital, and lure those eyeballs into your site. Makes sense?
Infrastructure
CII suggestions to curtail project delays
THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has stressed the need to constitute a single-window agency, preferably headed by the Cabinet Secretary at the Centre and the Chief Secretary at the State level to coordinate, monitor and clear major projects.
Management
IT cos vie for XLRI students
INFORMATION technology companies and human resources consultants walked away with the maximum number of students at a two-day campus recruitment programme held at XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Global meet on time management
EVEN as corporates chalk out strategies for growth in the changing environment, resorting to new-age mantras such as `trimming flab', `optimising time' and `outsourcing services', will survival of the fastest become one of the exacting parameters for com
panies in the emerging world order ?
CIMA in pact with Chennai co
THE Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has entered into an agreement with the Chennai-based Chess Management Services Pvt. Ltd., for back office support, according to Mr. T.K. Ranganath, Director, Chess Management Services Pvt Ltd.
Miscellaneous
It's all money for the drains... in a Chennai town
A UNIQUE experiment in community involvement and private sector participation in a town sewerage project is on at Alandur, a municipality on the outskirts of the city. When it sees the light of day three years hence, it will be one dream that a community
looking for a hygienic sanitation system won't mind going down the drain. For, by then, 18,000 households in the municipal area would have forked out Rs. 5,000-6,000 each, while a private construction company would have contributed Rs. 8 crores of its o
wn funds to bring a Rs. 34-crore sewerage and treatment project to fruition.
Tourism MoU with Cambodia
INDIA and Cambodia have agreed to work towards encouraging and promoting individual and group travel by their citizens and of people from third countries to the two countries.
`33 anti-dumping cases being probed'
AS many as 33 cases are under various stages of investigations by the Anti-Dumping Directorate in the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in the current year.
Cologne trade fair's new focus
BUOYED by the success of its 1999 trade fairs which yielded a record turnover of DM 396 millions, KolnMesse, organiser of international trade fairs in Cologne, Germany, has drawn up a strategic new approach aimed at securing future growth.
ILO chief stresses on social safety net
THE Director General of International Labour Organisation (ILO), Dr. Juan Somavia, has said that India should focus on the need to bridge the gap between the knowledge-based industry and the informal sector since thewidening of the gap would lead to soci
al uncertainties and unrest.
PKF survey on leisure market
Pannell Kerr Forster (PKF) Consultants Pvt Ltd. plans to conduct the first ever comprehensive survey in India on the growing leisure market.
Power
TNEB seeks compensation from PowerGrid
THE Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has sought the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) permission to levy penal charges on the PowerGrid Corporation of India for the under-frequency trippings and islanding of the Southern grid.
NTPC told to renegotiate on gas turbine contracts
THE Union Power Minister, Mr. P.R. Kumaramangalam, on Saturday defended his decision to interfere with the `Navaratna' National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) on the issue of award of gas turbine contracts for the 700 MW Kawas and Gandhar projects.
States
AP Telecom circle exceeds target
THE Andhra Pradesh Telecom circle has achieved a significant milestone of providing connectivity for two million direct exchange lines (DELs). And with the present growth plan, it is set to edge out Maharashtra as the No. 1 telecom circle in the country
by the end of this fiscal.
Cancelling LoI for short-gestation power projects - TIDCO seeks Govt advice
THE fate of the 11 short-gestation multi-fuel power projects, whose cancellation was recommended by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), remains uncertain. The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) does not want to take the onus on it
self to cancel the projects and has asked for the State Government's views.
Steel
Steel output up 11% in April-Jan
THE major producers of Steel, SAIL, IISCO, Tisco and Vizag Steel plants have produced 122.79 lakh tonnes of saleable steel during April 1999 to January 2000, 11 per cent more compared to the period April 1998-January 1999.
Telecommunications
`Indian telecom network set to expand rapidly'
WITH 26.50 million telephone lines in the country, India's telecom network is the ninth largest in the world. As per estimates, with rapid planned growth, the network is expected to become the third largest in the world in the next five years, according
Mr. P.S. Saran, Secretary, Department of Telecom Services.
