The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, February 18, 2004

EMPLOYMENT
Greenspan faces flak on jobs
The US has an oversupply of low skills and undersupply of knowledge professionals. This equation must change for it to be a high value-adding economy in the global division of labour and retain its pre-eminent position. More

ECONOMY
Foodgrains, oilseeds output seen at new high
BUOYED by copious monsoon precipitation, the country's production of foodgrains and oilseeds are expected to touch an all-time high of 212.20 million tonnes (mt) and 24.97 mt during 2003-04. This is in marked contrast to the drought-impacted ... More

ENVIRONMENT
HUDA's green drive shelters poor women
THE Hyderabad Urban Development Authority's (HUDA) plan to improve greenery and develop polluted lakes is proving to be a godsend one for the poor and uneducated women in ten municipalities and 103 gram panchayats under its purview. About 5,170 ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Swiss body woos Indian businessmen
A GOVERNMENT agency from western Switzerland called DEWS met with businesspersons here on Tuesday to promote the region as a base that could be used to penetrate the European Union. The EU is the world's largest trader and the Indian ... More

India will mull having FTAs with GCC nations, says Jaitley
INDIA and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Tuesday moved a significant step closer towards strengthening economic ties, with both the sides accepting that there is a need to have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two ... More

PETROLEUM
Reliance to put up 350 petrol pumps by March
RELIANCE Industries Ltd will have lined up 350 petrol pumps and seven terminals across India by next month, said Mr Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, RIL, here today. "We are ready with our retail outlets. By March we will put up ... More

BPCL marks Rs 1,500 cr for expanding distribution
The company is in talks with Gujarat State Petronet Corporation for a joint venture in Gujarat. More

Indraprastha Gas mulls supply to 4 more cities
INDRAPRASTHA Gas Ltd, the company credited with making Delhi more eco-friendly, now plans to extend its piped natural gas network to four new cities. IGL plans to set up city gas distribution networks in Noida, Gurgoan, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, ... More

POWER
`AP committed to timely payment of subsidy to power utilities'
THE Andhra Pradesh Government has reiterated its commitment to timely payment of subsidy amount to the State power utilities. The Principal Secretary (Energy), Mr Jannat Hussain, submitted to the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) ... More

STEEL
Efforts on to ensure coking coal supply to cos: Tripathy
THE Government is doing its best to help steel plants tide over the coking coal shortage crisis in the country, said Mr B.K Tripathy, Union Steel Minister.He was addressing a press meet at the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd(RINL) here on Tuesday on ... More

TEXTILES
DEPB rate cut for textiles decried
THE Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (Pdexcil) has decried the reduction in the rates of duty entitlement pass book (DEPB) being allowed for textile exporters. When there has been no change in the specific customs duties ... More

Govt urged to reconsider cut in DEPB rates
THE downward revision of duty entitlement pass book (DEPB) rates by three per cent to five per cent on synthetics textile items, effective February 9, will result in cash loss to the exporters and adversely affect the exports, according to Mr ... More

WATER
Kerala Govt bars Coke from drawing groundwater
THE State Government has decided to ask the Coca-Cola bottling plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district to stop, and not resume until mid-June, drawing of groundwater necessary for sustaining operations. Announcing this to newspersons after a ... More

RADIO/TV

Kisan Vani on AIR

EDUCATION
`Higher allocations in education, science must'
EXPRESSING concern over decline in quality and quantity in science research, Prof C.N.R. Rao, scientist and former director of the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, has called for increased allocations for education and science not only ... More

Course in co-op management on the anvil
THE Andhra Pradesh Government is contemplating a higher diploma course in Co-operative Management through correspondence from the next financial year, according to Mr T.D. Janardhan Rao, Chairman, Andhra Pradesh Cooperative Bank (APCOB). The ... More

Cambridge varsity to expand exam certification in India
IT was once Cambridge University's exam certification that monopolised Indian school education. In fact, in 1958 it collaborated with the Indian Government to set up its own Indian School Certificate Board. And now, once again Cambridge ... More

Course in varsity management

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
CPWD urged to compete with private players
THE Union Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Mr Bandaru Dattatreya, on Tuesday asked the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to gear up for competition from the private players in the liberalised era. Addressing ... More

PAPER, BOARD & NEWSPRINT
Newsprint prices set to go up once again
ARMED with the firm undertone in the international newsprint market, domestic manufacturers are contemplating revising the prices of all varieties of newsprint once again, effective April-June quarter. Incidentally, all the manufacturers ... More

DISINVESTMENT
IPCL shares: Govt may give 5-10 pc discount to retail buyers
MANY equity analysts expect the Government to sell part of its equity holding in IPCL at Rs 165-175 to retail investors. Institutional and other large investors will have to participate in a book building to discover the public offer price. ... More

Sale of Govt stake in CMC opens on Feb 23
THE public sale of the Government's stake of 26.25 per cent in software company CMC Ltd, whose majority ownership is now with the Tata group, will open on February 23 and close on February 28. The price band for the sale of 3.98 million equity ... More

Retail investors may get discounts on some sell-offs, says Shourie
THE Government is set to adopt differential pricing in some of the six companies where it is selling residual and minority stakes through a public offer with a view to rewarding the retail investors by offering discounts. The Government's plan ... More

`Land issue delays VSNL divestment'
MUMBAI: The only impediment to the Government's full disinvestment of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd remains the 770 acres of land in its possession. Had it not been for the pending resolution of this problem, the Government would have sold ... More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
`Decision on telecom FDI hike only after polls'
Mr Shourie urged the IT industry to expand into alternative overseas markets, such as Germany and China. More

SOCIAL WELFARE
AP Govt announces sops for senior citizens, others
WITH an eye on the ensuing elections, the State Government has announced a series of sops, including release of dearness allowance arrears for pensioners, old age pension for an additional six lakh persons, interim relief for miners of Singareni ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES
Knowledge policy in the offing
WITH the 21st century being termed as the century for knowledge economy, the BJP-led NDA Government is putting in place a National Knowledge Policy (NKP) encompassing all segments of the knowledge economy. However, the new policy framework will ... More

EVENTS
CII told to join Govt in anti-counterfeiting drive
ADOPT zero tolerance for counterfeiting, make the consumer aware of redressal mechanisms, and involve the trade in curbing the menace of counterfeiting. These were some of the concerns voiced by industry experts at a conference hosted by the ... More

CII's Young Indians comes to Bangalore
THEY are called YI or Young Indians, the "voice and spirit of India's next generation." And now Bangaloreans can join them too. CII on Tuesday launched the Bangalore chapter of YI, an initiative to bring young professionals in the 25-40 age ... More

In Hyderabad today

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Duty-free vanaspati from Nepal: Importers get more time
THE Government has given an additional three months reprieve to importers of vanaspati from Nepal to utilise their zero duty annual quota of one lakh tonnes (lt) for 2003-04. Under the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Trade entered into by the two ... More