The Hindu Business Line : Friday, March 28, 2003

Rs 2,892-cr credit plan outlay for Coimbatore
THE Coimbatore district Annual Credit Plan (ACP) outlay for 2003-04 envisages an absolute increase of Rs 264.64 crore over the previous year's outlay of Rs 2627.28 crore at Rs 2891.92 crore. This is 10.07 per cent higher than the 2002-03 plan ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Periyar reserve to be expanded
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has approved a 10-year conservation programme under which, initially, a 500-metre distance from the boundaries of the tiger reserve will be covered. More

ASCI to prepare environment reports on States
THE Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), here is one of the four national institutes selected by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), to bring out the State of the Environment (SOE), reports of various states and Union ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS

No service tax exemption on forex earnings, says CBEC chief — Relook at excise on branded edible oils
THE Government is taking a "relook" at the eight per cent excise duty clamped on branded refined edible oils and vanaspati in Budget. "We have recognised the problems surrounding the imposition of excise duty on branded edible oil industry. We ... More

Edible oil: A loophole comes in handy packs
AFTER the rollback of fertiliser price hike, will it be edible oil next? Seems most likely, going by the statement of the Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs, who admitted that the Government was having a re-look at the excise duty on ... More

HEALTH

Disease trend upsets the hearty applecart in Kerala
Many of the conventional risk factors for coronary artery disease, such as elevated serum total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol etc, do not seem to be applicable to the State's population. More

INFRASTRUCTURE

Pact signed for Thiruvananthapuram development
THE IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation (IL&FS IDC) and the State Government have signed a Project Development and Promotion Partnership (PDPP) under which the Government will be provided professional advice on implementing ... More

POWER

Tarapur first reactor project to be upgraded
"We have informed the Centre that we would go in for the 700-MW range. Accordingly, the Tenth Plan has provided for setting up two 700-MW plants for which funds have been allocated," Mr S.A. Bohra said. More

FAPCCI seeks to pare power tariff

STEEL

New excise system makes steel dearer to consumers
For the products of integrated steel plants sold through stockyards the implication was that post-manufacturing expenses, such as freight and distribution charges were made part of the assessable value for excise duty payment. More

TAXATION

Centre can't dictate VAT terms to States
THE Centre has made it clear to industry that it is in no position to give any directive to the State Governments to refrain from using the proposed value-added tax (VAT) regime as an opportunity for bolstering their revenues. "The Central ... More

FKCCI seeks deferment of VAT regime
KARNATAKA, which had taken the lead in rationalising the commercial tax structure as a precursor to the value-added tax (VAT) system, is not seeking deferment of its implementation from April 1. The local traders downed shutters on Tuesday in ... More

Bengal passes VAT Bill
Reacting to Opposition charges that small traders will face difficulties due to VAT, Dr Dasgupta said that of the 20 lakh traders in the State, nearly 90 per cent would be out of its ambit since traders with annual turnover of less than Rs 5 lakhs we re exempted from it. More

Kerala: Sales tax offices open on March 30

TEXTILES

Spinning mills seek free import of waste cotton
CONSIDERING the huge gap in the supply and demand of waste cotton, the open end spinning mills (OESM) industry has sought Government intervention for plugging export and allowing free import of waste cotton, reduction in the excise duty rates and ... More

More leeway for textile job-working units
THE amended Central excise rules, which incorporate a simplified excise registration procedure for the textile and textile goods/processes getting into the excise duty net for the first time, have allowed optional registration for the job-working ... More

Powerloom units seek relief from Cenvat
A POWERLOOM industry delegation from Tamil Nadu has pleaded for extending the benefit of excise duty exemption currently enjoyed by other SSI sectors to the decentralised powerloom sector. The delegation met the Union Finance Minister, Mr ... More

WATER

`BIS must have alert system on bottled water'
THE Committee set up by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, to probe into the inadequacies in bottled drinking water has urged the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to adopt a pro-active approach towards keeping its ... More

RADIO/TV

3 shortlisted to study cable TV basic tier pricing
THE task force on implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) today decided to appoint an external agency to conduct a survey of the number of households, number of multi-system operators and cable operators operating in a region to ... More

CARS

NCAER survey pegs car demand growth at 8 pc
DEMAND for passenger cars in India is slated to grow at a compounded annual rate of growth (CARG) of eight per cent till 2011-12. According to a study undertaken by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the demand for ... More

FOODS & FOOD PROCESSING

FDA move likely to hit food products export — Trade sees prior information norms `impractical'
EXPORTS of food products from the country to the US are likely to be hit when the proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations relating to food shipments and storage come into effect. Though India's share of the $50 billion US food ... More

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS & HOSPITALS

Elbit centre to offer drug research support
COMMISSIONING a Rs 15-crore medical diagnostics facility-cum-research centre, Elbit Medical Diagnostics Ltd has announced that it is awaiting US FDA approval for providing drug-related research support for international research institutions ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

Land allotments issue rocks AP Assembly
Mr Naidu said the land is estimated to be worth about Rs 122 crore and the Centre had laid down clear guidelines for allotment of these lands. However, as things stand today, the official seems to have allotted this prime land in haste. More

PAPER, BOARD & NEWSPRINT

Limited impact seen on paper segments due to duty cut
THE reduction of peak import duty from 32 to 25 per cent across-the-board is expected to have a limited impact on the upper end of the domestic paper segments such as coated paper, according to a study made by Confederation of Indian Industry ... More

HANDLOOM

Kerala focuses on handloom exports
THE State Government, which has embarked on a vigorous market promotion campaign for the handloom products made in the State, is gearing up for a major thrust into the international market. The Industries Minister, Mr P.K. Kunhalikutty, told ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Canada keen to partner in Moon mission
CSA also wants to collaborate in developing scientific instruments that could be flown on Indian satellites. More

DISINVESTMENT

Pvt sector wagon makers queue up for Braithwaite
NEARLY all the private sector wagon manufacturers have queued up to acquire a 60 per cent equity share in the engineering outfit Braithwaite Company Ltd (BCL), whose disinvestment process was put on the block recently. Company sources said ... More

SMALL SAVINGS

Cos summoned on PF default in Mumbai

CREDIT RATING

Crisil awards for urban local bodies
THERE is news for urban local bodies (ULBs). Crisil has announced an awards programme that aims to encourage, recognise and reward initiatives taken by them. According to the company, it hopes that the programme will, in the long-term, provide ... More

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