The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, March 30, 2005

ICICI, IndusInd launch NRI remittance products
Two banks — ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank — have launched remittance products with foreign tie-ups. Mr Bhaskar Ghose, Managing Director and CEO, IndusInd Bank, said banks are focusing on such products to take advantage of the tax ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY

Tata Motors, IOC join informally for bio-diesel pilot project
ONE engine, two Indica cars, a few light commercial vehicles and now a fleet of 43 buses. This is the progression chart of Tata Motors, which has announced a pilot programme for the use of bio-diesel in its vehicles. At the flag-off ceremony of ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Bengal to set up mission on solid waste management
THE West Bengal Government has decided to set up a new mission on solid waste management in the State, essentially to look at common facilities, which can be developed at the municipal level. Stressing on the need to attract investments, which ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE

IDFC plans to launch second pvt equity fund
AFTER the success of its India Development Fund (IDF), IDFC is now setting the stage to unveil its second private equity fund with a corpus of Rs 1,300 crore with the same objective of investing in infrastructure development projects. Unlike ... More

Hudco partners PGDL for infrastructure growth
HOUSING and Urban Development Corporation Ltd (HUDCO), a Central PSU, has formally launched its first joint venture company partnering with the city-based Pragati Growth & Development Ltd (PGDL). In the joint venture, named Pragati Social ... More

Japan extends Rs 5,600-cr loan package for eight projects
THE Japanese Government has extended a Rs 5,600-crore soft loan package for eight projects in the country, which include the ongoing Delhi Metro rail project, Bangalore water supply, Ganga Action Plan in Uttar Pradesh and a power project in ... More

PETROLEUM

ONGC's Tatipaka refinery on target
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation's Tatipaka mini-refinery at Rajahmundry achieved the MoU target of 80,000 tonnes in respect of value-added products (VAP) for 2004-05 on February 9 and achieved the performance target of 90,000 tonnes of VAP ... More

MRPL ties up with Ashok Leyland for retail outlets
ONGC'S subsidiary Mangalore Refineries & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has joined hands with Ashok Leyland to form a joint venture company for setting up retail outlets for petroleum products and servicing facilities for trucks. MRPL and Ashok ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS

Defensive buying keeps select pharma in green
TRUE to the market perception as "defence bets", some pharmaceuticals stocks today not only withstood the market carnage but moved up. According to Mr Mathew Easow, of matheweasow.com, world over the pharma stocks are considered defensive as ... More

POWER

Tata Power to partner DVC in Maithon project
TATA Power Company Ltd on Tuesday signed an agreement to partner the Government-owned Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for setting up the 1,000-MW Maithon Left Bank Thermal Power Station in Jharkhand. Tata Power, which reported a turnover of ... More

Supplies to Kawas, Gandhar projects — NTPC to ink gas deal with Reliance Ind by next week
NATIONAL Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) will sign an agreement with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) by next week for supply of gas to its Kawas and Gandhar power plants in Gujarat. "We will sign the agreement by next week. There are no ... More

TAXATION

Druggists' fears over VAT baseless: AP Govt
CONTESTING the views of druggists on issues such as keeping the drug trade out of Value-Added Tax (VAT), the State Government feels that the fears are unfounded and that there is no reason why drugs should be kept out of the chain. Reacting to ... More

Traders call for three-day bandh against VAT
IN a last ditch attempt to protest against the implementation of the value-added tax (VAT) from April 1, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and the Bharat Udyog Vyapar Mandal have called for a three-day nationwide strike from ... More

Shipping industry in a tizzy over service tax
AN Indian ship picking up a consignment in a foreign port and dropping it in another foreign port will now have to pay a service tax of 10.3 per cent on all services that the ship uses in foreign ports whenever it touches a home port. Not ... More

Metal traders to join 3-day VAT bandh
THE Bombay Metal Exchange (BME) has decided to join the three-day bandh to protest against certain stringent clauses coming under value-added tax (VAT) to be implemented from April 1. "We have appealed to all our members in the metals market ... More

Ernakulam dist mops up record revenue
THE Ernakulam District has achieved a record gross revenue collection of Rs 4,700 crore during the financial year 2004-05, exceeding the target of Rs 4,050 crore. The District Collector, Mr A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, said at a press meet that ... More

FAPCCI call for shutdown
AS the State moves into the value added tax (VAT) regime, the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) has called for a Statewide shutdown on Wednesday. Mr Ammanabolu Vijay Kumar, President, and C. Nand Kumar, ... More

Facility for tax-payers
HYDERABAD: Syndicate Bank has announced that it would keep the counters of some of its branches open in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad on March 31 beyond business hours for accepting all Central and State Government taxes, ... More

VAT extended to UTs

EDUCATION

IIM-B to persist with existing fee
THE Indian Institutes of Management are in the process of rationalising the varying fee structure as it exists today. Even as IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Kozhikode have announced a fee hike, IIM-Bangalore has decided to continue charging the existing fee ... More

Bill introduced for veterinary varsity at Tirupati
A BILL providing for the establishment of a veterinary university at Tirupati was introduced in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. As per the Bill, a separate Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) would be carved out of the existing ... More

FOODS & FOOD PROCESSING

FDA turns to food products
The FDA has also raided retail shops and seized Rs 3 lakh worth of medicines, including ayurvedic medicines. More

BIO-TECH & GENETICS

Seeds Bill: A rich harvest for MNCs?
ON March 5, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) officially approved the cultivation of six new strains of Bt cotton, paving the way for multinational corporations to tighten their grip on cotton ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE

Stress on legal empowerment of the under-privileged
URGING everyone to help spread the message of legal literacy to the most marginalised sections of society, mainly in the remotest rural areas, Mr Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, said "we need to teach the ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES

`India's USP is delivering lowest cost per innovation'
IF his intention was to evoke patriotism and a sense of pride amongst the young IIM-Bangalore graduates, Mr Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, certainly succeeded. Delivering the convocation address ... More

LABOUR REFORMS

Assocham seeks social safety net
THE Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) on Tuesday said that it does not favour the insertion of a hire and fire policy for industrial labour. It advocates the creation of a "social safety net" in the proposed labour ... More

EVENTS

Industry-academia meet in Thiruvananthapuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an attempt to improve interactions between industry and academia, a meeting will be held in the city on March 30, says a press release issued by Dr G.C. Gopala Pillai, Dean-Faculty of Management Studies, University ... More

Trade fair from May 4
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Department of Industries, Government of Kerala, in association with the Kerala State Small Industries Association, Trivandrum, is organising a trade fair and conference in the city from May 4 to May 8. Called ... More

Wednesday lecture

NATURAL CALAMITIES

Hotels on alert
HOTELS on the East Coast Road were on high alert on Monday night, following fears of another tsunami. All guests in the sea-facing rooms were moved to the main building, said a manager at one of the five star hotels. ... More

Tsunami alert withdrawn in Kerala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: People in the costal districts of Kerala, who left their homes last night fearing a tsunami following the earthquake in Indonesia, started returning home this morning. The Kerala Government's crisis management group, ... More

Tsunami alert
Fishing vessels did not venture into the sea on Tuesday and remained berthed at Munambam fishing harbour near Kochi, following the tsunami alert. Many boats were damaged in the recent tsunami attack. Fishermen, mostly from Tamil Nadu, returned ... More

TOURISM

Bid to promote Wayanad as tourism destination
IN an effort to promote Kerala's Wayanad district as a quality tourism destination, a group of tourism entrepreneurs based in the region have come together and set up the Wayanad Tourism Organisation. The not-for-profit organisation, which was ... More

PEOPLE

I think he will continue the policies: Wolfensohn
ON A cold and very wet Monday in Washington DC, as the ESSD (Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development) week got under way at the headquarters of the World Bank, the controversial nomination of the US Deputy Secretary of Defence, Mr ... More

A.K. Kaul is CII Delhi chief

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