The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, April 29, 2004

CLIMATE & WEATHER
Cloud seeding from June 1 in Maharashtra
MAHARASHTRA will start its efforts to induce rain by seeding even pre-monsoon clouds starting June 1, it was officially announced on Wednesday. The intent is to continue doing so till the last wisp of clouds are in the skies over the State which ... More

ECONOMY
CII drive to make Coimbatore units globally competitive
IN an effort to promote Coimbatore as a preferred destination for various industries and make these units globally competitive, the CII-Coimbatore Zone has adopted the slogan `Competitive Coimbatore-Creating GEMS' for implementation during the ... More

ADB predicts buoyant trend in Indian economy
"The outlook for India is pretty buoyant as the Indian economy would be able to sustain over 7 per cent growth in the next two years as well.'' More

FOREIGN TRADE
Sharjah free trade zone woos investors
THE Sharjah-based free trade zone, the Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ) authorities have planned to hard-sell the investment opportunities in HFZ among Indian investors. They anticipate more Indian companies to look out for transhipment production ... More

`India will benefit from expanded EU market'
INDIAN exporters are going to benefit more from the integration of 10 countries with the European Union as the bilateral trade between India and the acceding countries is in India's favour. Speaking at the roundtable on `India and New Europe: ... More

HOTELS
Hospitality sector joining hands with Lankan hotels
WITH the skies between India and Sri Lanka having opened up, the Indian hospitality industry is busy knitting new alliances to tap the best of these two worlds. The Le Meridien group tied up with two major groups in Sri Lanka last month, which ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE
Govt must boost private role in economic zones: IFC
"There will be a lot of private sector interest in the SEZs in the coming days. Once a separate law is enacted, we will see more private players in such zones." More

`Enabling framework needed for pvt participation in core sector'
AN enabling framework is one of the critical factors that ensure the success of private sector participation in infrastructure development, according to a research undertaken in the area. The other factors are government commitment, risk ... More

Soma Enterprise completes road project in AP
THE Hyderabad-based Soma Enterprise Ltd (SEL), in a joint venture with Limak Construction Industry and Trade Inc of Turkey, has completed four-laning of an 84.5-km stretch of the National Highway 5, which is a part of the Golden Quadrilateral ... More

PETROLEUM
US-funded fuel testing facility in TN
THE US Consul General for South India, Mr Richard Haynes, on Wednesday inaugurated a `fuel testing centre' funded by the US Asia Environment Partnership (USAEP) and the California Air Resources Board. The lab, the first of its kind in India, ... More

STEEL
Finished steel output up 7.4%
TOTAL production of finished steel in 2003-04 has been provisionally estimated at 36.15 million tonnes as against 33.67 million tonnes during the previous financial year — an increase of 7.4 per cent. The total production of pig iron has ... More

TEXTILES
Textile exports may wear thin post-quota regime
THE country's textile and clothing exports may register a decline in value terms during 2005 — the first year of a world without quotas, according to Mr Arvind Shinghal, Managing Director, KSA Technopak. He is also of the view that the ... More

WATER
River board to deal with Pamba pollution mooted
A CONCEPT paper on `sustainable improvement of the Pamba River,' prepared by two German engineers, recommends the establishment of a Pamba river board to coordinate, implement and monitor all pollution control measures on the river. The paper, ... More

RADIO/TV
Ministry can encash bank guarantees of FM radio cos: Bombay HC
EVEN as the private FM radio companies are still pushing for a deferment on payment of licence fee, the Government can encash the bank guarantees if these operators do not pay up before the deadline. The radio companies have to pay their annual ... More

Win 94.6 to go off air again on licence fee issue in Mumbai
Win 94.6 went off air on May 27, 2003, to protest against the high license fees. More

EDUCATION
Zee interactive plans strategic changes for turnaround
ZEE Interactive Learning Systems, determined to turnaround from a loss making company, has opted for a strategic change in its offerings in the education segment. "There is a changing demand in the market and we have decided to cater to those ... More

Summer training programme for kids in Thiruvananthapuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A summer-time training programme on practical electronics and computer for school children will commence at the Institution of Engineers hall here from May 3. Being jointly sponsored by the Institution of Engineers ... More

IIM-C faculty moves court on fee cut issue
THE faculty council of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta on Wednesday filed a writ petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging the validity of the meeting of the Board of Governors on March 26, which had purportedly authorised ... More

TWO/THREE WHEELERS
More time to make vehicles CNG-compliant in Mumbai
THE deadline is approaching for commercial vehicle owners who own vehicles over eight years old to either convert their vehicles so that they run on CNG or LPG or to shift the vehicle out of the Mumbai Metropolitan area. The Bombay High Court ... More

NEWSPAPERS & PUBLISHING
`Govt must extend support to publishing industry'
THE population of booklovers is increasing by the day despite the fact that average reading per person has gone down. The Rs 400-crore publishing industry in the State, which is dogged by problems like piracy, spiralling input costs and lack of ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Using BPO to help BPL families IN Kerala
A BUNCH of women from Below Poverty Line families in Kerala may well be competing with `hot and happening' BPO companies elsewhere if a plan by the State to take business process outsourcing to the grassroots takes off. Kerala plans to set up ... More

NITK submits Rs 2.05-cr project proposal for rural development
The project proposals by nearly 50 faculty members of NITK concentrate on use of technology for rural development. More

HUMAN RESOURCES
Searching for green pastures!
As the cost of labour within Kerala is high, many of those who execute projects requiring manual labour prefer to bring in labourers from States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and even Bihar. For most of these migrant workers and their ... More

EVENTS
`Technology must percolate to lower strata of society'
THE Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, Mr Aravind Srivastav, has said that technology should percolate to lower strata of society. Inaugurating a workshop on `Downsizing technologies for rural and coastal area development' at ... More

In Hyderabad today

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Natural rubber imports
Bombay HC scraps Ceat petition on port curbs
IN a setback of sorts for the domestic tyre industry, the Bombay High Court has dismissed the writ petition filed by Ceat Ltd seeking the removal of mandatory port restrictions imposed by the Union Government on imports of natural rubber. The ... More

Import of sensitive items rises 27 pc
THOUGH sensitive items comprises a minuscule 5.1 per cent of the country's aggregate imports, the import of 300 sensitive tariff lines for the first 10 months of 2003-04 fiscal (April to January) has registered a hefty 27 per cent growth in rupee ... More