The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, June 22, 2004

EMPLOYMENT
Nurses recruitment — Banner of US ties up with Healthcare Placements
COMPETITION from the Philippines and China notwithstanding, Indian nurses are increasingly finding favour in global markets. The US-based healthcare provider Banner Healthcare today announced its tie-up with K K Modi group company Healthcare ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY
`High coconut oil prices rule out biodiesel variant'
HIGH ruling prices of coconut oil discount the possibility of coconut-growing tracts in India replicating the Philippine example of implementing a groundbreaking biodiesel technology. The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has entered into an ... More

Huge export demand for biodiesel
D1 Oils has predicted that the world market for biodiesel would grow by 14.5 per cent annually to 2.79 million tonnes by 2010. The Asia Pacific operations of the company, based in Manila, will provide the Philippine Coconut Authority with the ... More

OUTSOURCING
Democrats up the ante against outsourcing
"It's time for Republicans to join with Democrats to enact a jobs plan that keeps American jobs in America and ensures that America remains the world's foremost land of opportunity," Mr Lampson remarked. More

BUDGET
Assocham for cut in interest payment liability
THE Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has suggested to the Finance Ministry to incorporate provisions in the forthcoming Budget proposals for drastically curtailing the present 10 per cent interest payment liability ... More

India Inc sees reform-oriented Budget
THERE may be a change of Government and the country might have a new Finance Minister, but India Inc still feels that the forthcoming Union Budget will be in line with other Budgets presented earlier. "The forthcoming Union Budget will be a ... More

Indian Chamber seeks cut in service tax rate
A SUGGESTION to the Centre to reduce the service tax rate and entrust the responsibility of administering it to the Income-Tax Department has been made by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Coimbatore. It has also sought taxing ... More

ECONOMY
New CII President outlines 8-point agenda for growth
THE newly appointed President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, on Monday outlined an eight-point agenda for the Government so that the country could achieve a sustained eight per cent growth in gross domestic ... More

Call for increased focus on agricultural sector
THE PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has called for increased capital expenditure by the Government in the agricultural sector for sustaining a higher rate of economic growth. This comes in the wake of a study by the Chamber, ... More

AP Govt urged to go for `quality borrowing'
THE newly appointed Advisor to the Andhra Pradesh Government and Chairman of the Visu Group of Companies, Mr C.C. Reddy, has suggested that the new government to take `quality borrowing' as cornerstone in policies towards foreign funds. The ... More

Poor should have a voice in policy making: World Bank
THE World Bank on Monday said that poor people in the country must have a voice in policy-making. The Bank also said that it would promote innovative delivery of services in rural areas to give a fillip to poverty alleviation programmes. ... More

Socio-economic survey
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), under the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, will conduct the 61st round of socio-economic survey from July 2004 to June 2005. This was ... More

ENVIRONMENT
Greenpeace launches Right to Know kit
GREENPEACE, an international environmental activist group, released a `Community Right to Know Kit' here on Monday. The kit is designed to empower communities to demand their right to information. It cites the rights people have to seek ... More

FERTILISERS
PMO mulls raising fertiliser subsidy
THE Prime Ministers' Office (PMO) is examining the possibility of increasing the fertiliser subsidy bill for 2004-05 in consultation with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Department of Fertilisers (DoF), official sources told Business ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Govt to unveil national foreign trade policy in July — Focus likely on non-IT services sector
A NATIONAL foreign trade policy that would go beyond the Exim policy and outline the game plan for enhancing the country's share in global trade would be unveiled by end-July, according to the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath. "We ... More

HEALTH
Increasing risk from habits, lifestyle — India put on `lead time' to cancer epidemic: Expert
INDIA is sitting on a tinderbox of a major cancer epidemic created out of habits that are becoming entrenched, and lifestyles devoid of physical exertion among the vulnerable population. Significantly, the latter includes young professionals ... More

POWER
N-power sector may be opened up — Changes to Atomic Energy Act await Cabinet nod
A TOTAL review of the Atomic Energy Act is under way to find out areas where modifications are required to enable private participation, both by Indian or foreign companies, for the construction of nuclear power projects in the country, according ... More

Private capital sought to tap radio isotopes
THE Department of Atomic Energy is seeking private investments in non-power applications of radio isotopes. India has the potential to develop this market, especially in the field of medical diagnostics, said Mr S.C. Hiremath, Chairman and ... More

TAXATION
Kerala demands say in service tax collection
Kerala will implement VAT only if other southern States went ahead with its implementation. More

TEXTILES
Textile unions to protest against wage accord issue
THE joint action council (JAC) of the textile workers' trade unions has decided to hold a protest demonstration before the Secretariat in Chennai on July 1 against the special industrial tribunal hearing the State textile workers' wage issue ... More

EDUCATION
Tripura Govt grants varsity status to ICFAI
THE Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) has announced that it has established its third State University in Tripura. The ICFAI New Initiatives Group Chief, Mr Siva Ram Mallela, told presspersons here on Saturday evening ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
`Intelligent' homes to come up in Pune
Visitors, welcome and unwelcome, are screened at the main gate to the complex where their image is transmitted to individual homes. The complex's security system will, among other things, use motion detectors and a smart access card given to apartmen t owners, to ensure security to all its denizens. More

LEATHER
Role for CLRI in raising leather sector standards
THE Central Leather Research Institute is the implementing agency for the Central government's programmes that aim to promote a technology culture in the Indian leather industry and raise its practices to match the best in the world. At a ... More

After nine years, only 15 units ready to do business — Relocation pangs of Kolkata Leather Complex
NINE years should have been considered sufficient time for any major relocation project. But not so for the Kolkata Leather Complex (KLC). Rounds of controversy, demonstrations and parleys later, it seems that only six tanneries are set to ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
Upasi sets up task force to promote rubber wood
THE United Planters Association of Southern India (Upasi) has constituted Indian Rubber Wood Task Force (IRWTF) for the promotion of rubber wood in the country. With the efforts of Rubber Board and IRWTF, the Bureau of Indian Standards has ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
DRDO launches `Project CHITRA' to develop fast computing machines
HAVING given the country expertise in high throughput, parallel computing, ANURAG, the Defence Research and Development (R&D) Organisation here is all set to take India into the next orbit of `cluster' computing with 2-3 TeraFLOPS speed number .. More

C-DIT plans digital archive on Kerala
AS part of the efforts to strengthen the decentralised people's plan programme in Kerala, the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) is embarking on a project to put in place a development database and a communication network so as ... More

SMALL SAVINGS
Social security cards for EPF members
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Mr Ajai Singh, has said that National Security Cards would be issued within one year to all serving employees who are members of the Employees Provident Fund. Speaking at a ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT
How feasible is a rural employment guarantee?
The Common Minimum Programme of the new UPA Government promises to provide public employment of 100 days per year to every rural household. Already the financial press has been trying to project this promise as unrealistic and requiring excessively large fiscal outlays that cannot be met. In this edition of Macroscan, C. P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh investigate the need for such a guarantee, the possible fiscal costs associated with it, and how it can be effectively implemented. More

EVENTS

In Hyderabad today

INCOME TAX
Centre reviewing select exemptions in I-T Act
IN a bid to bolster revenue receipts, the Centre has begun a review of some major tax exemptions in the Income-Tax Act. Sources here said that some of these tax exemptions are likely to be rationalised or, in fact, pruned in the Budget to be ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Grain exports may fall below 10 lakh t
FOODGRAIN exports from the country could decline to below 10 lakh tonnes this fiscal, according to exporters and industry sources. ``No new contracts are being signed since the Government has not come out with an export policy. There is a ... More

Exports log 29.4% growth in May
INDIA'S exports surged by 29.40 per cent during May 2004 at $5.81 billion compared with an export performance of $4.49 billion recorded in the same month during the previous year. The cumulative exports during April-May 2004 increased by 24.80 ... More

Soyameal exports may top 40 lakh t next year
SOYAMEAL exports from the country are projected to touch 40 lakh tonnes during the next oil year (November 2004-October 2005). Based on the feedback and information received at the start of the sowing season, Soyabean Processors Association of ... More

NATURAL CALAMITIES
Workshop stresses on need for earthquake preparedness
THE Dakshina Kannada district administration, in association with National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, conducted a workshop on `Urban Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction Project' (UEVRP) in Mangalore on Monday. The Dakshina ... More

ECONOMIC OFFENCES
`Project'ing corruption in multilateral banks
WHEN ministers in India declare themselves stoutly in favour of economic reform, the sub-text is their enthusiasm for hefty loans from multilateral development banks — conditionalities and all — which come ... More