The Hindu Business Line : Friday, June 18, 2004

CLIMATE & WEATHER
MET SIGNS
8 districts record `excess' rainfall in Kerala
THE first fortnight of the southwest monsoon has seen eight districts record `excess' rainfall and the rest seven ending up worthy runners-up by returning `normal' figures in terms of precipitation. For the record, ... More

PENSION PLANS
CII-Kerla organising interactive session on EPF
KOCHI: CII-Kerala is organising an interactive session with Mr Ajay Singh, Central Provident Fund Commissioner, EPFO, Labour Ministry, on Saturday at Hotel Avenue Centre. Mr Singh is spearheading the `Reinventing EPF India' programme and ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY
Kakinada to get bio-diesel plant
THE Hyderabad-based Naturol Bioenergy Ltd (NBL) proposes to set up a bio-diesel plant at Kakinada in a joint venture with Energea GmbH of Austria and Fe Clean Energy of USA. The proposed plant with an installed capacity of 300 tonnes per day ... More

BUDGET
Music industry submits wishlist
THE Indian Music Industry (IMI), in its budget wishlist has said that under the VAT regime, music cassettes and audio CDs should be reclassified from electrical/electronic machinery to publishing as music is an intellectual property. It has ... More

Broadcasters seek service tax exemption on ads
THE Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has asked the Finance Ministry to exempt the broadcasting industry from service tax and bring on a par with the print media. In a pre-Budget Memorandum submitted to the Finance Ministry, the IBF said ... More

Don't expand excise exemptions, says cotton mills body
THE Indian Cotton Mills' Federation (ICMF) has urged the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, to refrain from expanding the coverage of excise exemptions to more segments of the textile industry. The federation has in turn asked the Finance ... More

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
Audio-video equipment fair in Chennai
AN exhibition of audio-video equipment will open here tomorrow and will be on till June 20. The expo is organised by AV Max, a specialty publication which caters to both audio and music enthusiast. The exhibition has been held in Mumbai, Delhi ... More

ECONOMY
Govt will function as `gateway to investments' — `Gatekeeper' role to be shed
HERE'S something for India Inc to look forward to and cheer about. As a measure to promote investments further in a liberalised environment, the Congress-led UPA coalition Government has taken a conscious decision to shed the "traditional" ... More

`18.9 pc rural households owned TV sets in 2001'
AS many as 61 million households in India, of the total of 192 million, owned television sets in 2001, according to data posted on the Web site of the Registrar General of Census Operations. Though the number of TV sets owned by rural and ... More

French Ambassador sees change in perception on India
TODAY India is presenting an image of an open country with room for reform, innovation and improvement of fiscal situation and in the struggle against corruption and in the area of red-tap and these things are "very important" from the investor ... More

Achievement of millennium development goals — `Innovation in formulation of public policy vital'
INDIA is on course to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) much before the agreed 2015 deadline, according to the Finance Secretary, Mr D.C. Gupta. The MDGs are a set of numerical and time-bound targets related to key achievements in ... More

ENVIRONMENT
`Don't copy Western green laws'
INDIA should develop suitable environmental legislation addressing the local concerns and the Western model should not be blindly emulated, says Mr Ganti Lakshminarayana Rao, an adviser to the UN on matters relating to urban development and ... More

Marine eco-toxicology project for Mannar coast
MADURAI: The Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies of Madurai-Kamaraj University has been entrusted with the project of studying the marine eco-toxicology and Gulf of Mannar Coastal waters, with a funding to the tune of Rs 76 lakh from the ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Singapore hopeful of signing trade pact with India
POSING confidence over the signing of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) shortly, Mr Chak Mun See, High Commissioner of Singapore, has said that he is confident that the new Government in India would enter into the ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE
Thrikakkara panchayat projects
KOCHI: The Thrikakkara grama panchayat has almost finalised projects worth Rs 1.34 crore for the current fiscal. Prior to this, the panchayat authorities had completed discussions on 20 grama sabhas in the panchayat. The plan funds would ... More

PETROLEUM
States turn down oil industry proposal for fixed tax structure
MOST of the States have turned down a proposal by the oil industry and supported by the Ministry of Petroleum to shift from an ad valorem sales tax structure to an absolute figure. Sources said here that the proposal was mooted in a bid to ... More

Scrap ST on petro-products urges Kerala chamber
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Chamber of Commerce, Thiruvananthapuram, has demanded that the Kerala Government must scrap sales tax on petroleum products to set off the price hike announced by the Centre. Expressing its strong resentment ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Pharma stocks dip after CLSA downgrade
IT was another day of surprise developments in the stock market with pharmaceuticals companies' shares moving down when there was overall buying interest. This trend was seen from the fall in BSE Healthcare Index, which includes mainly pharma ... More

Pharma cos keen on tie-ups with UN agencies, NGOs
THE desire to play the volumes game makes pharma companies tie up with the United Nations agencies or other Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). In India during the recent months, companies such as Matrix, Cipla and Ranbaxy have committed to ... More

POWER
Line of protest
Activists of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch sitting in dharna protesting `privatisation of power' in the Capital on Thursday.

TEXTILES
India to oppose extension of textile quota regime — Intense lobbying by US cos
THE US textiles manufacturers are lobbying hard in a Presidential election year with the Bush administration for an extension of the quota regime by another four years, i.e., up to 2008. The manufacturers have reportedly roped in some 100 ... More

Powerlooms may get back excise exemption
THE Finance Ministry seems all set to grant full excise duty exemption for powerlooms, thereby, undoing the 2003-04 Union Budget's move to `complete the CENVAT chain' across all segments of the textile industry. Restoration of the earlier ... More

Quota extension against free trade, says ICMF
THE domestic textiles trade and industry is up in arms against the attempt by the US textiles manufacturers to rewrite the done deal at the WTO on the textiles quota phase-out by the end of this calendar year. The move is highly protectionist ... More

WATER
Austria willing to fund Godavari irrigation projects
THE Austrian Government is willing to provide a Rs 3,000-crore `Cash & Kind' loan assistance to irrigation projects in Andhra Pradesh. In the first phase, the AP Government proposes to tie up the help for the Godavari lift irrigation project ... More

COAL
Coal India to discontinue selling directly to non-core sectors
IN a bid to plug loopholes of the existing marketing policy for non-core sector consumers, Coal India Ltd (CIL) has decided to discontinue selling coal in future directly to non-core sector consumers even though they have linkages with mines ... More

RADIO/TV
Doordarshan Thiruvananthapuram adalat
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Doordarshan Thiruvananthapuram will organise a `DD Adalat' in July this year on issues related to the Public Works Department, says an official press release. Dr M.K. Muneer, Minister for Public Works, Kerala ... More

EDUCATION
Hyderabad IICT chief upgraded
HYDERABAD: The Director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, Dr J.S. Yadav, has been upgraded to the Additional Secretary grade by the high-powered committee constituted by the Council of Scientific Industrial ... More

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS & HOSPITALS
Hospital software solutions
BANGALORE: I-Vista Digital Solutions Ltd, a leading provider of solutions in the online applications space, has launched a product that is expected to simplify the complex problem for hospitals' scheduling. The new product "Who's on ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
S.K. Munjal takes over as CII President
MR SUNIL Kant Munjal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hero Corporate Service Ltd, the service business arm of the Hero Group, took over as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry on Thursday. The Chairman of ITC ... More

MINING & QUARRYING
Sand price cut in TN
THE Tamil Nadu Government has slashed the ex-depot price of sand in a bid to rein in construction cost, according to an official press release. A lorry load of sand will cost Rs 600 from June 19, down from the prevailing Rs 1,000. The decision ... More

NEWSPAPERS & PUBLISHING
I&B Ministry writes second letter to IHT, Midram
THE Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has shot off a second letter to Midram Publications and International Herald Tribune, Hong Kong, asking them to stop printing the newspaper in India. Sources in the Ministry said the Government ... More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
TN Chamber plea against FDI in retail trade
THE Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TNCCI) has made a plea against the entry of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail trade in the country. In a memorandum submitted to the Union Minister of State for Commerce and ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
`Rubber exports unlikely to touch last year levels'
RUBBER exports are unlikely to touch last year's record level as international block rubber prices are ruling lower than the domestic price, industry sources say. ``Even if an incentive of Rs 10 is offered, we cannot export block rubber at the ... More

NATURAL CALAMITIES
Monsoon-induced loss in Ernakulam
KOCHI: Ernakulam district has suffered a loss of Rs 81.30 lakh in the monsoon related disasters during the last one month. According to official sources, four persons had died and over 180 houses had been destroyed in sea erosion and ... More

TOURISM
Tourism projects worth Rs 297 cr unveiled — Special tourism economic zone from Poovar to Veli
THE State has unveiled a portfolio of tourism-related projects worth approximately Rs 297 crore to be implemented during the current financial year. Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the State Tourism Minister, Mr P. Sankaran, ... More