The Hindu Business Line : Friday, February 14, 2003

Passenger car sales buoyed by New Year effect
BUOYED by New Year sales, domestic passenger car sales rose by 10.16 per cent in January 2003 to 54,825 units from 49,769 units in the same month last year. Leading automakers such as Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Engineering and Ford have seen good ... More

BUDGET

Jaswant ends `B-Day' excise curbs
MR Jaswant Singh is still a fortnight away from presenting his maiden Budget. But that has not stopped him from firing his opening Budget-related salvo. On February 28, corporates would find themselves pleasantly liberated from an age-old ... More

Soaps & toiletries body draws up wishlist
BUDGETS, in the past five years, have been rather accommodative of the players in the FMCG industry. Not only has the excise duty on most FMCG products been pegged down to a uniform rate of 16 per cent over this period, but import tariffs on a ... More

Rural, S&T depts want more funds
The allocation for the Annual Plan 2003-04 to the Department of Science and Technology is only Rs 650 crore, rendering the creation of drug and pharmaceuticals R&D support difficult to provide for. More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS

Soda ash industry calls for import duty correction
THE Alkali Manufacturer's Association of India (AMAI), the nodal body for Indian soda ash producers has called for a correction in custom duty levied on soda ash imports and has sought treatment at par with other inorganic chemicals. The ... More

HEALTH

Bone marrow transplant performed

PETROLEUM

Iraq war fears fuel crude tanker rates
WAR fears may have dampened business sentiment across industries, but there's one sector whose fortunes have received a shot in the arm ever since the US started talking about attacking Iraq. Freight rates for crude tankers have more than ... More

Rlys, IOC tie up to produce bio-diesel
INDIAN Railways' diesel locomotives will be fuelled by bio-diesel two years from now. This follows a tie-between Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Indian Railways (IR) to plant and produce Jatropha Curcas in 500 hectares of the Railway land ... More

Govt to cut security deposit on domestic LPG
THE Government is to reduce the security deposit on LPG cylinders for domestic consumption by Rs 50 per cylinder from March 1, according to an official release. The security deposit is presently Rs 700 per cylinder. The reduction is the ... More

PLASTICS

Plastindia hopes for Rs 600-cr worth business
PLASTINDIA 2003, an international exhibition being organised by Plastindia Foundation, is expected to generate business worth Rs 600 crore. The earlier edition of the exhibition held in 2000 generated business worth Rs 400 crore, "The latest ... More

POWER

APERC public hearings from Feb. 19
THE Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) will be holding public hearings from February 19 on the annual revenue requirements and tariff (ARRT) filings of the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTansco) and four ... More

TEXTILES

TN textile institute may take off by April-May
THE Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Textile Management, proposed to be set up here by the Union Textile Ministry, is expected to take off by April/ May by which time the academic courses to be offered by the institute will be started, the ... More

`Textile exports may exceed target'
TEXTILE exports for the current fiscal may surpass the targeted $15 billion, due to improved performance by yarn, fabric and made-up sectors, according to Mr Kashiram Rana, Union Minister for Textiles. Talking to presspersons here on ... More

WATER

Confusion on norms for bottled water
BOTTLED water it seems can bring even arch rivals like Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Bisleri to the same side of the table, when it comes to discussing the storm in the bottle of water! However, clarity is still something that eludes the powers that ... More

COAL

`Quality of indigenous coal coming down'
THE need for improving the quality and quantity of indigenous coal for major users such as the power, cement and steel sectors has found sharp focus at the two-day Coaltrans India conference, which began here on Thursday. The tone was set by Mr ... More

BIO-TECH & GENETICS

Duty sops for key biotech R&D kits vital: CII
The industry has asked for customs duty exemption on key research enabling equipment. The exemption should be available to academic institutions, DSIR recognised labs, EOUs engaged in R&D, and companies in technology parks, said a CII release. More

MINERALS

KIOCL told to get legal advice on mining lease
THE Minister for Steel, Mr B.K. Tripathy, has asked Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) to obtain legal advice on filing a review petition in the Supreme Court on renewal of the company's mining lease. He also asked the company to chalk out ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Nabard allots Rs 84 crore to Tamil Nadu
THE National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 83.93 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund-VIII (RIDF) to Tamil Nadu, according to a press release from Nabard. This sanction includes Rs 24.91 ... More

EVENTS

Run-up to BATF summit begins
THE run-up to the fifth summit of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) has begun. The summit, to be held on February 15, will sketch out the agenda for the coming year. Meanwhile, the seven stakeholders in the city's development - ... More

Financial products expo begins

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

`DEPB scheme not compatible with WTO incentive norms'
THE Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme, in its current form, is not compatible with the export incentive norms laid down by the World Trade Organisation, according to Mr Bibek Debroy, Director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary ... More

STANDARDS & BENCHMARKS

Quality, the watchword
CONSIDER these three images. Columbia space shuttle hurtling down to the earth as a doomed inferno with Kalpana Chawla and others on board. Lakhs of men, women and children living a doomed life in Africa after contacting the dreaded disease, ... More

Comments & Letters to the Editor to: bleditor@thehindu.co.in
Subscribe to: Business Line