The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, March 05, 2008

BUDGET
No rollback of Budget proposals: Chidambaram
New Delhi, March 4 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Tuesday made it clear that there would be no rollback on any Budget proposals even as he assured industry that any ‘inadvertent errors’ would be ... More

Postal saving schemes see dip in collection
New Delhi, March 4 The once popular postal saving schemes seem to be losing out to other investment instruments prompting the Finance Minister to extend income-tax benefits to some more of these schemes as part of the Budget proposals. Almost ... More

Cut in Cenvat will reduce steel cost
Reduction in CENVAT from 16 per cent to 14 per cent will help contain the cost of steel, especially for construction industry. Doing away with customs duty on steel and aluminium scrap will bring down the rate of steel and aluminium which are ... More

Debt Relief and Waiver Scheme — Effective only if it is total
More

Issues ignored by waiver package
The Budget for 2008-09 has been under attack by various political parties, some of whom have felt that Mr P. Chidambaram has stolen their thunder by announcing debt relief to farmers. The Finance Minister has met this criticism head on by ... More

Irresponsible budget, says Yashwant Sinha
Chennai, March 4 The former Union Finance Minister and Member of Parliament, Mr Yashwant Sinha, has termed the recent Budget “irresponsible” and “anything but honest”, and said the Budget raised the level of competitive ... More

No relief for BPO industry
The rupee appreciation has hit the BPO companies so badly and they are finding it very difficult in managing its profitability and cash flows but there is absolutely no mention about it in the Budget. Most of the BPO companies are operating in ... More

Hike in short-term capital gains tax to impact working class
The Budget has not commented on the extension of the STPI scheme which is not favourable for the IT industry. This will necessitate small and medium enterprises to look for alternatives to manage the onslaught of taxes if the scheme is not ... More

No long-term goal for farm sector
There is no long-term goal anticipated in the Budget for agricultural sector and in totally turned out as political make. The morality of loan payee’s fractured and the budget is deeply caused un-comfort to the regular crop loan borrowers. ... More

An opportunity missed
From the entertainment industry perspective, an opportunity is missed just like in the last few years fiscal and tax incentive has fuelled sectors such as infrastructure, IT, and housing. There was an opportunity to catalyse the growth of the ... More

Allot sufficient funds to rural infrastructure
Instead of waiver, the Government may re-phase the short-term loans into long-term loans and the banks may give interest relay to such cases. If these are all done, it will bring a healthy atmosphere in bank loan recovery. Because again in the ... More

Handsome packages to all sections
The Budget 2008-09 is offering a handsome package to all sections uniformly. The reduction of excise duty from 16 per cent to 14 per cent, in the face of it, is a well-intentioned measure, but if our past experience is an index, the big ... More

Increase in healthcare spending a good move
The Budget as a whole is welcome and encouraging. An increase of 15 per cent in the healthcare spending is a welcome step but seeing the backwardness in the rural areas and the vast population of India, a greater allocation was expected, thus the ... More

Good for salaried people
This Budget is more fascinating for salaried people as increase in the income limit would help us a lot. There are a lot of good things in the Budget .Giving a big chunk of Budget to the education is a welcome move. The investment in education ... More

With bounty and bouncers

Will impact States’ budget directly

Rs 40,000 cr could have been used for rural development

Waiver of loans: Precisely wrong

Indirectly maintains vote bank

Will propel social, economic growth

Relief in income-tax may develop tax culture

More for education a welcome step

Consumption-driven growth Budget

In line with expectations

Social initiatives laudable

A mixed bag

Not much on healthcare

Wilful defaulters will benefit

ECONOMY
Marginal growth in GSDP of Kerala
The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Kerala grew to 8.1 per cent in 2006-07, which was marginally higher than the eight per cent recorded in the previous year.According to the Economic Review-2007, prepared by the State Planning ... More

Credit spreads unmoved by easy money
It could have hardly come at a worse time. Just as Western economies are in descent mode, inflation is rising.Earlier, it was only headline inflation which flashed red. The US Fed could console itself that, stripped of food and energy ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Deora calls for more bilateral ties with Romania
New Delhi, March 4 The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora, has called for enhanced bilateral co-operation between India and Romania in the oil and gas sector. Addressing the inaugural session of Indo-Romanian joint ... More

Call to boost ties with Romania
New Delhi, March 4 The Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, on Tuesday said in the bilateral trade relationship between India and Romania, the accent now was on augmenting the trade potential, considering the untapped ... More

PETROCHEMICALS
Paswan to take up naphtha import duty issue with PM
Industry estimates it will impose additional burden of $150 m More

PETROLEUM
Reliance, ONGC may get ‘rig holiday’
Facing delays in drilling programme due to rig shortage More

IGL cuts CNG price by 30 paise
Indraprastha Gas Ltd, a joint venture of GAIL (India) Ltd, BPCL and the Delhi Government has announced a reduction in CNG selling price in the Capital. The new consumer price of Rs 18.90 per kg has been made effective from Tuesday. The revision ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Scheduled drugs MRP cut by 4.58%
Following a reduction in excise duty on drugs and pharmaceuticals from 16 per cent to 8 per cent, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has reduced the maximum retail price of all scheduled formulation packs. As per this ... More

POWER
‘Power projects should be exempted from service tax’
Chennai, March 4 Given the growth being witnessed by the economy and the need for cheap and clean power across all segments to sustain such growth, it is imperative to revisit some of the ‘power’ issues, so that the consumer comes ... More

STEEL
Steel Ministry not to intervene on pricing issue, says Paswan
Unless steel makers hiked prices ‘unreasonably’ over benchmark ratio More

There was no consensus on iron ore export duty proposal
Govt decided to continue with specific rate of customs duty More

TEXTILES
Powerloom development council welcomes cluster projects
Coimbatore, March 4 The two mega cluster projects for the powerloom industry announced by the Finance Minister would benefit not only the powerloom industries in the area where they are located but the entire State and the neighbouring States ... More

Textile industry pans Union Budget
Mumbai, March 4 Textile industry bodies expressed disappointment with the Union budget, for not giving enough relief to the exporters. The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Promotion Council (SRTEPC) and Indian Textile Accessories’ & ... More

RADIO/TV
TRAI for orderly growth of cable TV sector
New Delhi, March 4 Stating that, “An appropriate regulatory framework to enable the orderly growth of the sector is need of the hour”, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a consultation paper on ... More

Star opens lines for new quiz show
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EDUCATION
ICFAI unveils new courses
T he Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Tripura, has launched two new programmes aimed at graduates and post graduates of any discipline inclined to pursue banking and financial services as their career. The first ... More

CII initiative with Delhi University
New Delhi, March 4 The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Delhi to offer short-term courses in high demand sectors.The objective is to provide employable skills to ... More

CARS
GM open to sub-1 litre engine for India
General Motors is open to manufacturing a 0.8-litre engine car to zoom in to the small car market in India. The company, which has been talking of a sub-one litre engine car, said that it could look at several segments within the small car to ... More

Hyundai offers free car check-ups
Hyundai Motor India Ltd has launched a nationwide ‘Always Around’ campaign that would provide free car check-ups to its customers. The programme, which covers 130 locations in 64 cities, has been launched across the country from March ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Electronic warfare system for Army nearing completion
The Indian Army’s electronic warfare (EW) capabilities in the rugged and exacting semi-desert and border areas is close to get a decisive edge soon.Come May, the Samyukta project, aimed to meet the country’s (EW) requirement ... More

HUMAN RESOURCES
‘Career transition services yet to take off in India’
Unlike in some Western countries, no co here offers such exclusive service More

‘Industry leader to run skill development mission’
New Delhi, March 4 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Monday said that the proposed national skill development mission would be placed outside the Government and that an industry leader would be invited to run the mission. He ... More

TRADE & LABOUR UNIONS
Fewer mandays lost in 2007
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EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Rs 1-cr loss in engg exports costs 44 jobs: EEPC survey
Kolkata, March 4 A recent survey by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) has shown that Rs 1 crore loss in engineering exports leads to job losses for 44 workers. Talking to Business Line at the sidelines ... More

Deadly blow, say 100% export-oriented units
New Delhi, March 4 The recently announced Union Budget for 2008-09 has struck a deadly blow to the 100% EoU sector. Despite numerous representations from the trade as well as from the Ministry of Commerce, the Finance Minister has failed to ... More