The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, April 02, 2005

20 States migrate to VAT amid traders' protest — 8 States yet to come on board
UNFAZED over the three-day nationwide agitation against value added tax (VAT), 20 States and major Union Territories such as Delhi and Pondicherry migrated to a VAT regime on Friday. Eight States are yet to come on board for implementing the ... More

Continued value buying pushes Sensex up by 112 points
THE stock markets held onto the gains of Thursday and effected another 112-point gain on the Sensex. Continued value buying, especially by domestic mutual funds, helped sustain the rally. The indices opened tentatively, but subsequently gained ... More

New pension structure has options for the risk-averse, says Swarup
NOT long ago, pension reforms vehicle appeared to be trudging along smoothly towards a new defined contribution structure. Things have, however, changed in the space of couple of months, and quite dramatically so. As the new pension ... More

Shorter calls to cost less as BSNL rejigs PCO biz
NOW you can pay less for short duration calls made from a Public Call Office (PCO) even as calls longer than two minutes become dearer. In a bid to revamp its PCO business strategy, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has decreased the tariffs for local ... More

BPO revenues to touch $134 b in 2005: Gartner
WORLDWIDE revenue in business process outsourcing (BPO) is projected to reach $133.7 billion in 2005, an 8 per cent increase from the 2004 revenue of $123.8 billion, according to a Gartner study. "A year ago, BPO providers and prospective ... More

More FSI for old Mumbai buildings?
THE Maharashtra Government is considering a hike in floor space index (FSI) from 2.5 to 4 for the redevelopment of 19,000 old buildings in Mumbai city. However, the rider is that the redevelopment would have to be undertaken by the Maharashtra ... More

Cheaper fuel prices pull inflation down to 5.11 pc
THE annual wholesale price index-based inflation fell to 5.11 per cent during the week ended March 19, from the previous week's level of 5.23 per cent. The year-on-year inflation fell by 0.12 per cent during the week mainly on account of a ... More