The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Crisil pegs economic growth at 6.4 pc
RATING agency Crisil has forecast that the Indian economy would grow at 6.4 per cent in 2003-04, much higher than the advance estimate for the year at 4.4 per cent. Crisil, however, hastens to add that the increase is predominantly due to a ... More

Planning panel for monitoring set-up on globalisation issues
Globalisation has simultaneously resulted in employment generation and loss of employment. A committee for implementation in process of restructuring and development is needed. More

Kochi has more than a million
KOCHI: A recent study by the Confederation of Indian Industry has found that the number of cities with one-million plus population has increased to 36 and Kerala has only one such city - Kochi. The study says that all evidence ... More

ENGINEERING

Truckers' strike hits Kovai engineering industries
THE on going truckers' strike has dealt a body blow to the engineering industries in Coimbatore region which have run up an estimated sales loss of about Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore. While established engineering units have reportedly resorted ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Hazy horizons
A view of Hyderabad on Monday morning. The haze is testimony to the gravity of air pollution in the city. A large number of people in the city suffer from respiratory diseases. ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

Zambia to ease visa rules for Indians
THE President of Zambia, Mr Levy P. Mwanawasa, has said that all efforts would be made to ensure that Indians wanting to visit Zambia are able to get a visa easily. Addressing captains of industry here on Monday, the President of Zambia ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE

`AP Govt making efforts to expedite Parawada SEZ'
THE State Government is taking all steps to expedite setting up of the special economic zone at Parawada in Visakhapatnam district and, if at all there is any delay, it is on the part of the Centre in framing the rules, the Minister for Major ... More

PETROLEUM

Strike, weak monsoon may drag diesel sales
GRIPPED with a nationwide truckers' strike and a forecast of weak monsoon, diesel sales are likely to dip in the first quarter of the current financial year, industry officials and analysts said. There are concerns that oil companies could cut ... More

POWER

Kerala power reforms rated `below average'
POWER reforms undertaken in Kerala have been found to be `below average' in a joint review exercise undertaken by rating agencies Crisil and Icra, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Power and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC). The ... More

APTransco to launch awareness campaign
THE Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited (APTransco) will set up a high-level task force to supervise a massive public awareness campaign. It is planning to seek public participation in the implementation of several special schemes ... More

STEEL

Steel goods movement comes to a halt
AS the truckers' strike enters its ninth day on Tuesday, the steel manufacturers are a worried lot. According to some of the country's largest steel makers, they are facing a serious problem because lifting by trucks at the railway yards and ... More

TAXATION

House panel pulls up revenue dept on tax collection
THE Standing Committee on Finance has pulled up the Revenue Department of the Finance Ministry as the Budget estimates were not being achieved in regard to the revenue collection of income-tax, corporation tax, Central Excise and Customs duty ... More

TEXTILES

Truckers' strike hits textile mills
Sandwiched between the lorry agitation and the slowed down weaving operations, most spinners are faced with cash-flow problem. This, according to sources, has already caused delayed payments to raw material suppliers, namely cotton traders. More

Payment disputes with global cotton shippers — Textile mills prefer out-of-court settlements
For many textile mills in the southern region, which are trapped in standing disputes with international cotton shippers over payments and hence figured in their defaulters' list, it seems it's time for reconciliation. More than a dozen textile ... More

SSI

TN: Schemes for SSIs on the anvil
THE Tamil Nadu Budget session could see some significant supportive measures for the small and tiny industries including a policy for the development of the sector, according to Government officials. Mr S. Rajarethinam, Managing Director, State ... More

WATER

Another water dispute between AP and Karnataka — Paragodu project raises hackles
`Hundreds of villages in four districts of AP are adversely affected by the Almatti project and Karnataka's latest initiative will lead to dry lands in AP.' More

IBRD aid for Karnataka urban water scheme
The State Government and the bank are in an advanced stage of discussions for the project, which is meant to provide 24 hours water supply and improve sanitation. More

RADIO/TV

Kashir channel's 24-hour service from Aug 15
THE Government has decided to make Doordarshan's special channel for Jammu and Kashmir — the Kashir Channel — a 24-hour one from August 15. This was decided after a review meeting of the Special J&K Package. The Minister for ... More

Karnataka cable operators plan protest
BANGALORE: The Joint Action Committee of Cable Operators' Associations will hold a protest here on April 24 and switch off cable TV signals indefinitely. This is in protest against the entertainment tax levied on cable TV operators ... More

EDUCATION

Inlingua plans expansion
THE $300-million Inlingua, a Switzerland-based language training company, has given the mandate to its sole licensee Mr Vikram Bajaj of Amrit Foundation of Learning Ltd (AFLL), to roll out a proactive campaign for more licensees in India's top 50 ... More

Karnataka: Women's varsity from June 15
BANGALORE: Karnataka's first women's university will start functioning from June 15 this year, Mr S.M. Jamdar, Special Officer on Duty, for establishing the university, said. In the first year, the university will conduct courses in ... More

What they don't teach in summer camps
MOST schools are closed for vacation and for parents who are worried about how to engage their wards, summer camps come as a great blessing. So kids get up early, put on their colourful shorts and T-shirts to cycle off to a camp or a course, and ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

CII tells truckers to call off strike
THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has appealed to the Government and striking transporters to sort out the issue through dialogue "without compromising on reform process". Appealing to the transporters to call off their stir ... More

KCCI for PM's intervention to end strike
THE Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has asked the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to intervene in order to put an end to the ongoing transporters' strike. In a letter to Mr Vajpayee, the KCCI President, Mr G. Giridhar ... More

KNITWEAR & HOSIERY

AEPC extends knitwear export quota deadline
EVEN as the lorry operators strike has clogged the movement of knitted garment shipments from Tirupur, the garment exporters have got a temporary reprieve at the hands of the Apparel Export Promotion Council. The Council has extended time till ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

DST signs pact with GIS tech company
THE Department of Science and Technology (DST) has entered into an alliance with Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc (ESRI), a global leader in GIS technology, for GIS software to support DST's National Spatial Data Infrastructure ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES

`Safeguard welfare of disinvested PSU employees'
Balco employees alleged that the company had given them only 20 per cent of the VRS amount, without interest for the remaining 80 per cent while deducting the income-tax on the entire amount. More

Plan afoot to redefine HR practices
FOUR top-notch HR professionals in the country are attempting to raise the bar of HR competency in the country. In a special project commissioned by the CII and the National Human Resource Development Network (NHRD), a new framework to assess ... More

EVENTS

Kerala: Groundwork on 60 GIM projects over
GROUNDWORK on 60 project proposals made as part of the Global Investors Meet (GIM) held in January last has been more or less completed, according to the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), the nodal agency. A spokesman ... More

Health expo in Bangalore
BANGALORE: `Life 03', a health exhibition will be held in Bangalore's Palace Grounds from June 5 to 15. The exhibition will be the meeting ground for medical experts, governing bodies in the area, health related organisations, pharma ... More

SOCIETY & DEVELOPMENT

Loomba Trust to aid children in TN
HAVING launched a project to aid children of poor widows in Andhra Pradesh during January 2003, the Loomba Trust based in London, now wants to replicate the same in Tamil Nadu. Mr Karan Bilimoria, Chairman of the Loomba Trust's Advisory board ... More

TOURISM

After the boom, deluge!
A scene at Cherai beach near Kochi. The war in Iraq and the SARS scare notwithstanding, tourism industry in the State remains upbeat. Even as the main tourist season winds to a close, stragglers continue to flock to the beaches in the State. The ... More

ECONOMIC OFFENCES

`Define fraud office jurisdiction clearly'
THE Standing Committee on Finance has asked the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) to ensure that the jurisdiction of the proposed Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), to investigate corporate frauds, should be clearly defined. The ... More

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