The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Cement makers seek reduction in excise duty
WITH the Budget exercise gaining momentum, cement manufacturers are pinning their hopes on a rollback in the excise duty on cement from a level of Rs 400 per tonne to Rs 350 per tonne.Excise duty on cement was hiked from Rs 350 per tonne to Rs ... More

ECONOMY

States' governance vital for development: Y.V. Reddy
THE Reserve Bank of India Governor, Dr Y.V. Reddy, has stressed on the importance of governance in States as that would determine the overall economic development. According to him, the role of state was being redefined in the reforms process ... More

HEALTH

National Nephrologists' meet
VISAKHAPATNAM: The thirty-fourth annual national convention of the Indian Society of Nephrology will be held here from December 5 to December 7. Five hundred nephrologists (kidney specialists), 20 of them from abroad, will participate ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE

Call to use fly ash for infrastructure projects
THERE is still a great deal of hesitation among different organisations including Governmental bodies like the Public Works Department to use fly ash for infrastructure development. This was stated by Mr Hirak Ghosh, West Bengal Government's ... More

PETROLEUM

Indraprastha Gas eyes Gurgaon, Faridabad markets
INDRAPRASTHA Gas Ltd (IGL), which markets compressed natural gas (CNG) in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, plans to expand to Gurgaon and Faridabad. The company, currently in the midst of a public issue being done through the ... More

IOC to spend Rs 120 cr on automation of bunks
INDIAN Oil Corporation (IOC) will spend Rs 120 crore on automating 1,000 retail outlets (petrol stations). The project will facilitate online monitoring of the quality of fuel sold to customers, from a central location. It has tied up with ... More

Kerosene prices soar on import ban order
BULK and retail prices of kerosene in Mumbai have begun a steep climb in just three days since the Union Government order banning kerosene imports by private sector companies. The order is an attempt to curb adulteration of diesel with kerosene ... More

IOC to invest Rs 1,100 cr in Tamil Nadu
INDIAN Oil Corporation will invest about Rs 1,100 crore in Tamil Nadu, between now and the end of next year, the company's Director (Marketing), Mr N.G. Kannan, told a press conference here on Monday. The investments will be in several areas, ... More

POWER

Incentives under mega power policy likely
THE Cabinet on Tuesday will consider a proposal to accord incentives under the Mega Power Policy to generation projects having a capacity of 250 MW and above. Currently, the qualifying threshold is higher. For thermal projects, it is 1,000 MW ... More

Bengal plans ordinance to impose cess on power sales
WORKING towards the goal of a greener world with few emissions, the West Bengal Government is planning to create a dedicated corpus for investing in non-polluting renewable energy projects in the State. Towards this end, the Government plans ... More

APERC plans to set up ombudsman
THE Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has published the draft regulations for the establishment of a forum and an electricity ombudsman for redressal of grievances of consumers. As per the draft regulations, every ... More

TEXTILES

A book on textile industry's 6-decade journey
THE southern textile industrialist and Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Lakshmi Mills Company Ltd, Mr G.K. Sundaram, has provided the glimpses of the industry's six decade-long traverse in his book Textile Policing. The 240-page book ... More

EDUCATION

Corpn Bank scholarship scheme
MANGALORE: Corporation Bank is offering scholarships to meritorious students of eighth standard to degree courses to mark World Computer Literacy Day. Under the proposed scholarship programme, which is scheduled to commence from ... More

ISB has two new directors
HYDERABAD: The Indian School of Business (ISB), here has inducted two new directors on its Governing Board. Mr Arshad Zakaria, Executive Vice-President and Chairman of Global Markets and Investment, Merrill Lynch and Mr Arun Sarin, ... More

CARS

Bumpy ride for high-end cars
INTERNATIONAL auto majors have hit the Indian speed breakers in selling high-end cars. There is a quiet realisation that value for money is the single priority along the entire price band. Fall in sales of high-end cars such as Sonata ... More

TWO/THREE WHEELERS

Hero Honda sales rise 26 pc in Nov, Bajaj sales up 4.7 pc
HERO Honda Motors Ltd, the country's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, said its sales in November grew by 26 per cent to 2,04,533 units, notching up sales of over two-lakh bikes for the second consecutive month. Hero Honda said it witnessed ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

`Architect Act being violated'
THE Indian Institute of Architects has urged the Union Government to strictly enforce the provisions of the Architect Act, 1972. The object of the Act is to protect the public from unqualified persons practicing the profession of ... More

LEATHER

Bengal hopes to match Chennai in leather trade
WEST Bengal hopes to reach Chennai's excellence in leather manufacture with the help of the facilities available at the Calcutta Leather Complex (CLC) on the one hand and the technical assistance of Italy on the other. Expressing this optimism ... More

ALUMINIUM

`Aluminium will soon replace steel in cars'
AUTO majors are increasingly using aluminium to build passenger cars as it reduces costs and is environmental-friendly. Toyota Kirloskar Motor's Director for product design and development, Mr Y. Kimura, told a conference on global initiatives ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ISRO developing emergency beacons for small boats
IN a not too distant time in future, thousands of small-time fisher folk or their families may not have to agonise over going out to sea. In emergencies, help for those in troubled waters would be just a button's press away as the rescuers would ... More

MINERALS

Paradip Port takes up rake issue with railways
THE Paradip Port Trust ( PPT) has taken up strongly with the railway the issue of allotment of sufficient number of rakes for transportation of iron ore from the mines at Barbil (Orissa) to the port. For the past couple of months, the railway ... More

More iron ore exporters use Vizag port
SEVEN new iron ore exporters have started routing their shipments through Visakhapatnam port. They are Rungta Mines, Bellary Iron Ores, Essel Mines, Trimex, Tata Steel, Penguin Trading Company and Karinganur Iron & Steel. These seven ... More

GENDER

Canara Bank loan scheme for women
KOCHI: Canara Bank has launched Can Mahila loan scheme exclusively for women with a reduced rate of interest. The purpose for meeting any genuine personal needs including buying household articles, gift, jewellery etc. Women both working ... More

DISINVESTMENT

Finance Ministry moots sell-off in NTPC — Turns down plan for 5 pc fresh equity offering
THE Finance Ministry had recently mooted disinvestment of Government equity in the wholly-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to help bridge the fiscal deficit. The proposal is in response to a recent Cabinet note mooted by the ... More

INDUSTRIAL POLICY

AP to create new enactment to solve industrial disputes
IN a move to streamline the functioning of industries in the State, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Monday approved the merger of three archaic enactments including the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and create a new enactment that meets the current ... More

EVENTS

North East expo from Dec 5 to lure investments
KOLKATA will host the North East Exposition 2003 between December 5 and 11 to attract investment into the North-East region. It is being organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Resident Representatives of the eight North-East ... More

Hyderabad engagements

Provident Fund workshop

Lions Club meet on Dec 13

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

FIEO hails service tax waiver for payments in foreign currency
THE Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has welcomed the move of the Finance Ministry to restore service tax exemption on all services rendered in India for which payment is received in convertible foreign currency. In a ... More

Chemicals, engineering goods prop up exports in April-July
THE 8.49 per cent export growth recorded in the first four months of the current fiscal was largely on account of two traditional export items - chemicals and related products and engineering goods - while others like agriculture and allied ... More

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES

Digital library project to include siddha, unani: CSIR
The database would be made accessible to patent offices around the world for purposes of mounting patent searches. More

TOURISM

Tourist arrivals on the rise
TOURIST arrivals could hit the three million-mark by the end of the peak travel season in March, provided nothing untoward occurs until then, according to Mr Gaur Kanjilal, Regional Director (West) of Indiatourism. Provisional data available ... More

Traveller centre planned at KSRTC bus stands
AS part of its efforts to promote travel and tourism within the State, the Tourism Department, in association with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), has set up a travellers facilitation centre at the KSRTC bus stand here. ... More

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