Airlines
Jung appointed AI Chairman
THE Civil Aviation Secretary, Mr A.H. Jung, has been appointed as the new Chairman of Air India, replacing the current incumbent, Mr Ravindra Gupta. The appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet late this evening, official sour
ces said.
AI unions demand `say' in sell-off process
SEVEN Air India unions, claiming to fully represent the airline's 17,000-strong workforce, have demanded that they be actively consulted by the Government on AI's ongoing disinvestment process.
Gulf Air to offer more seats from Chennai
GULF Air will be enhancing its seat capacity out of Chennai with Boeing 767s, which will replace the Airbus 320s, effective October 29. This will give the airline an increase of 326 seats per week from Chennai. Under the new schedule, the airline plans
to operate on all days except Tuesdays.
Automobiles
Govt rules out import of second-hand cars
IN a measure aimed at protecting the interests of the existing car manufacturers, the Government has ruled out the possibility of allowing import of second-hand cars.
New incentive scheme for Maruti staff
CORNERED by the ongoing strike by workers at its manufacturing facilities and faced with mounting losses from stoppage of production, Maruti Udyog Ltd's (MUL) management convened an urgent meeting here on Tuesday to rework the compensation package applic
able to its employees.
Banking and Finance
Indian Bank's new loan scheme
INDIAN Bank will launch on Wednesday a `specialised loan scheme' to individuals for the construction or purchase of flat or house. Loans would also be given for renovation of an existing house, according to a release from the bank.
Corporate
Hearing on voting rights -- Bajoria seeks fresh date from CLB
THE jute magnate, Mr Arun Bajoria, who has acknowledged the acquisition of 14 per cent stake in Bombay Dyeing, has urged the Company Law Board (Mumbai) to give him a fresh date for hearing on his plea to vacate the interim stay on his voting rights as he
could not represent his case on October 13, the date fixed by CLB for a hearing. Mr Bajoria is awaiting CLB's response.
ITC says it with Expression
IF Archies cards are making hay in a greeting card industry growing like Jack's beanstalk, a big Moose is around the corner to kayo the competition. Tobacco and hotels major, ITC Ltd, has leveraged one of its popular cigarette brands to foray into greeti
ng cards.
Escorts proposes to shed equity holding in Nanz
IN line with its policy of exiting unrelated businesses to focus more on its core area of engineering, the Escorts Group, is planning to sell out its equity holding in Nanz Food Products Ltd (NFPL) -- the company that runs the `Nanz' chain of departmenta
l stores.
Goldstone Tech to hive off telecom business
GOLDSTONE Technologies Ltd (GTL), the Hyderabad-based telecom and software company which has been valued at Rs 280 crore by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has decided to hive off its telecom operations into a new company called Goldstone Teleservices Ltd
(GTSL).
HDFC approvals, disbursements up
HOUSING Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has registered 55 per cent and 52 per cent increase respectively in approvals and disbursements in respect of individuals loans for the six months ending September 30, 2000.
Courts
TN Ind Secy fined for contempt of court
THE Madras High Court has found the Secretary, Tamil Nadu Government Industries Department, guilty of conduct for having failed to implement the court's order in disposing of applications for grant of mining leases.
Economy
Low inflation not at cost of growth: Pant
THE Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, on Tuesday cautioned the Government that any measure to contain inflation would have a corresponding reaction on the growth rate and a proper balance between growth and inflation needed to be
struck.
Environment
Himalayan depths reveal monsoon behaviour
A TEAM of international scientists, which dug six kilometers into the chilly depths of the Himalayas, has come up with exciting findings on failures of the Indian monsoon and climate warming in the region.
Financial Performance
HDFC net rises 20 pc in Q2
HOUSING Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC) has reported a 20 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 116.36 crore during the second quarter ended September 2000 against Rs 97.10 crore in the same period the previous year.
Dr Reddy's Labs Q2 sales rise 46 pc
PHARMA major Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (DRL) on Tuesday said it achieved a growth of 46 per cent in sales turnover at Rs 165.45 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2000 as against Rs. 113.57 crores in the corresponding period the previous
year.
Cheminor Drugs Q2 sales drop
CHEMINOR Drugs Ltd (CDL), part of the Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's group, has registered a marginal fall of 2.42 per cent in sales turnover for the second quarter of the current fiscal ended September 30, 2000 at Rs 55.62 crore against Rs 57 crore in the c
orresponding period last year.
Information Technology
Rockwell tie-up with Servion
ROCKWELL Electronic Commerce, a global major in the call centre business, has announced that it had outsourced a major portion of its software development to the Chennai-based Servion Global Solutions Ltd in consortium with MBT.
Miscellaneous
TUF norms may be relaxed to widen reach
THE Union Textile Minister, Mr Kashiram Rana, has hinted at making the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) flexible to enable more applicants to avail of this facility for upgradation and modernisation of mills.
Petroleum
`No assurances to Mamata on petro prices roll-back'
DESPITE Ms Mamata Banerjee's repeated pronouncements that the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had given an assurance to roll back the increase in prices of petro products, senior BJP sources on Tuesday held that the Railway Minister was merely g
iven an assurance that the situation on the oil front would be reviewed after the Prime Minister's return from Mumbai.
Policy
Downsize kicks off at Finance Ministry
THE downsizing of the Government has been kicked off on a modest note, with the Finance Ministry itself deciding to embark on the `practice what you preach' mode by surrendering six posts in the Department of Economic Affairs and the Insurance division.
Power
Bid to increase investor confidence in SEBs
THE draft Electricity Bill, 2000, expected to be tabled during the next session of Parliament, is currently being discussed by the Cabinet, said Mr S.S. Sharma, Special Secretary, Power, Government of India.
Three stage plan for clearing hydel projects
THE Power Ministry has formulated a three-stage clearance process for expediting the setting up hydel projects in the public sector, according to the Union Power Secretary, Mr A.K. Basu.
States
`Gaps in consultants' report on KPTCL technical losses'
ROTHSCHILD & Sons India, and the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), bridge consultants to the State Government have made an estimate of technical losses of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation (KPTCL) at 26 per cent in 2001, which
is much below the projection made by the company itself.
AP rock garden project awarded to Dubai co
THE Andhra Pradesh Government has awarded the Rs 27-crore Rock Garden Project for development near the picturesque Husainsagar lake here to the Dubai-based, Hyderabad Entertainment Developers Pvt Ltd.
TN to set up training centre for survey dept
THE Tamil Nadu Government proposes to set up a training centre in collaboration with the Anna University here, to train the officers of the Survey and Land Records Department. The training programme will train the department's personnel on the use of mod
ern survey equipment, such as digital micro-optic theodolate, electronic distance measurement and global positioning system.
Rs 90-cr livestock scheme in AP
WITH a view to restructuring the entire cattle and buffalo breeding approach, the Andhra Pradesh Government has drawn up a Rs 90-crore project, aiming to adopt scientific methods to cattle breeding and leverage artificial inseminisation programme. The S
tate Revenue Minister, Mr P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, said the State Cabinet approved the livestock programme and had forwarded the proposal to the Union Government. For this livestock project, the State Government would spend about Rs 48 crore and the Cent
re was expected to supplement with Rs 42 crore in a phased manner over a three-year period.
Korean co may involve in Yamunanagar project
NEW DELHI: Hanjung, the Korean heavy engineering major, has proposed participation in the 500 MW Yamunanagar project in Haryana.
20% bonus for EB employees
CHENNAI: The workers of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) will get a bonus of 8.33 per cent and an ex-gratia of 11.67 per cent, subject to a maximum of Rs 6,000. The quantum of bonus and ex-gratia is the same as last year.
Taxation
Customs duties on textile, apparel items lowered
THE Finance Ministry has lowered custom duties on a wide range of textile and apparel items, a move which is expected to substantially enhance imports of these items, particularly from the US and the European Union.
Earnings from foreign tourists -- Tax incentives for doctors proposed
DOCTORS and hospitals providing speciality treatment to foreign tourists can soon expect incentives in the form of corporate tax exemption on such earnings.
Telecommunications
`WLL basic services to hit cell operators'
CELLULAR service operators in State circles are going to be adversely hit by the Department of Telecommunication's proposal to allow private basic services operators to offer limited mobility using Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) technology.
Textiles
Garment exporters in a bind over fuel surcharge hike
THE proposed increase in fuel surcharge by airlines is expected to affect garment exporters, who are already buffetted by frequent changes in quota policy and the `vagaries' of the electronic transfer system.
