The Hindu Business Line : Friday, July 03, 2009

INDUSTRY & ECONOMY

ECONOMY: Survey pitches for big-bang reforms
Proposes scrapping host of cesses, taxes. • Phasing out of dividend distribution tax (DDT), securities transaction tax (STT), commodities transaction tax (CTT), fringe benefit tax (FBT) and the plethora of cesses and ...

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION: PSBs trim exposure to commercial realty
Rising loan defaults turn banks cautious. Bangalore, July 2 Faced with mounting delinquency in the commercial real estate sector, public sector banks have pruned exposures to commercial realty to 10 per cent of ...

MINING & QUARRYING: CIL to float tenders for development of underground mines in 7 blocks
Another 6 blocks to be up for bids in two months. Kolkata, July 2 Coal India Ltd will float tenders for development and operation of high capacity (3-5 million-tonne a year) underground mines in seven virgin blocks on a long-term basis within ...

CARS: Car-makers cautious despite buoyant Q1 sales
Exports to Europe boost sales. Mumbai, July 2 Despite sales being quite buoyant in the first quarter, the passenger car industry is still cautious about the ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: AI likely to become listed co; may divest equity to public
Survey calls for listing all public sector enterprises. The Economic Survey 2008-09, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, could pave the way for Air India to not only become a listed company but also divest some of its equity to ...

PERSONAL PRODUCTS: FMCG cos immune from fuel price hike impact for now
Mumbai, July 2 While the petrol and diesel price hike is expected to take its toll on freight costs, FMCG companies are not planning to increase prices straight ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: Survey pitches for FDI in multi-format retail
New Delhi, July 2 The Economic Survey has made a hard pitch for opening-up of FDI in a host of sectors, including the controversial multi-format ...

PETROLEUM: Decontrol petrol, diesel prices: Survey
Favours reform of subsidy to reduce leakages and ensure targeting. New Delhi, July 2 Just a day after the Government raised auto fuel retail prices, deregulation of petrol and diesel prices has emerged as one of the key recommendations in the ...

SSI: Quality step-up should be the mantra of SMEs
INTEC 2009 expected to draw over 2 lakh visitors. Coimbatore, July 2 Small and medium enterprises account for 33 per cent of the country’s exports. But this constitutes just 10 per cent of their total output and SMEs should make conscious ...

DISINVESTMENT: Survey for revitalisation of divestment programme
Must generate at least Rs 25,000 cr a year. New Delhi, July 2 Fuelling expectations that the upcoming full-fledged Union Budget will address ‘disinvestment’ in proper measure, the Economic Survey for 2008-09 has called for steps to ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: 3G spectrum must be freely tradable: Survey
Thrust on reforms in broadband, telecom policies. New Delhi, July 2 The Economic Survey has suggested major reforms for the telecom sector including auctioning spectrum for mobile ...

EXPORTS & IMPORTS: Cotton exports dip in June
Higher quotes see few takers in global markets. Mumbai, July 2 Cotton exports plunged 64 per cent in June to 92,071 bales (of 170 kg) against 2.56 lakh bales exported in May, according to data released by the Textile Commissioner’s Office ...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Empowering the rural poor
Poverty reduction — and its eventual elimination — has been one of the major goals of development policy in India since Independence. Several poverty alleviation programmes have been in place for a long time now. There are ...

EDUCATION: Kerala IT Mission initiative to support PG and Ph D students
SPEED-IT students to get monthly scholarships. A scheme drawn up by the Kerala State Information Technology Mission to expand the number of post-graduate programmes in information technology (IT) and IT-related subjects in Kerala has been ...

POWER: Open up nuclear sector for private players
New Delhi, July 2 The Centre is looking at opening up the country’s nuclear sector to private sector players, as well as participation by ...

READYMADE GARMENTS: Apparel exporters wait for Santa Claus
Bangalore, July 2 Apparel exporters, deeply impacted by the meltdown in the global economy, are hoping for a turnaround during ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: States yet to take advantage of eased deficit norms
Economic Survey puts fiscal deficit for 2008-09 at 2.1% of GDP. Bangalore, July 2 States have failed to take advantage of the relaxation in the fiscal deficit cap to 3.5 per cent of their gross State domestic product as against the level of 3 ...

TAXATION: Jet, Sahara tax liability case hearing put off to July 15
Mumbai, July 2 The Bombay High Court has, yet again, adjourned the tax liability dispute case between Jet Airways and Sahara India Commercial Corporation to July ...

TAXATION: Handset vendors protest move to hike VAT on mobiles
State Govt’s decision will boost grey market: Nokia. The country’s handset manufacturers said that the Maharashtra Government’s decision to increase VAT on mobile handsets from 4 to 12.5 per cent will give a boost to the grey ...

STEEL: 2008-09 a watershed year for steel
New Delhi, July 2 “The year 2008-09 has been a watershed year for the Indian iron and steel industry,” says the Economic ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: Marketmen get no clear signal from Economic Survey
Kolkata, July 2 Analysts, strategists and economists felt on Thursday that the Economic Survey failed to provide clear clues for the market, but did not let the optimism flag. Increasing administered retail petroleum product prices on ...

BUDGET: Bring clarity on tax applicable to software
Information and communication technology is a key enabler in the development of India. The Government has a historic opportunity to truly empower India with an IT status and consolidate economic gains of recent years and accelerate ...

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT: R&D effort on climate change
India wants funds and access to green technology for developing countries to be part of the new global climate treaty that 192 countries will try to reach an agreement at the Copenhagen summit in December. “The collaborative R&D effort ...

PETROLEUM: Deora tells States to reduce sales tax on petrol, diesel
To cushion impact of auto fuel price hike. New Delhi, July 2 To help cushion the impact of the auto fuel price hike announced by the Government on Wednesday, the Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, has appealed to the State Governments to lower ...

BUDGET: Focus on export industry to bring investments
The Union Budget 2008-09 was essentially a growth driven budget with good signals on the overall industry. The global recession had no impact on Indian economy because of the timely and corrective actions by the policy ...

COAL: Allow private players in coal mining, divest sick CIL arms
New Delhi, July 2 The Economic Survey has made a strong pitch for the entry of private players in the coal mining sector to help reverse the substitution of domestic coal by imported oil and coal. It has also suggested the listing of Coal ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: Single regulatory body mooted for transport sector
New Delhi, July 2 There should be a single regulatory body for the transport sector and the chairman of the body could be selected by the Planning ...

EVENTS: ITPO sees scope to organise fairs in smaller cities
Coimbatore, July 2 While India has the potential to become a global destination for hosting industrial exhibitions, it has to be harnessed in a planned way and by adopting an integrated approach to development of support ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: Optimistic Survey
Much of the diagnosis in the Economic Survey presented by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, in Parliament on Thursday sounds familiar. There are a few surprises and traces of inconsistency, but they do not blunt a keen optimism that ...

BUDGET: Outsourcing industry needs next dose of boost
With the worst of the global crisis probably past us, India Inc can now ready itself for future opportunities. Now is a good time through the Union Budget to support entrepreneurship that will help our country recover its high growth rates, ...

PHARMACEUTICALS: Call for deregulation on drug pricing
New Delhi, July 2 In line with the demands on the pharmaceutical industry, the Economic Survey has called for a complete deregulation on drug pricing. It has suggested that drug price control should be limited to essential drugs, in which ...

EMPLOYMENT: Layoffs not in thousands, but in smaller batches
Bangalore, July 2 In what could be an indication of early stages of a job market recovery, outplacement services firms that helped India Inc in massive clean-up operations in the last three quarters are sensing a tapering-off of the trend in ...

TEXTILES: Textiles: Specific duties must match ad valorem rate
New Delhi, July 2 With the textile industry in the doldrums, the Economic Survey 2008-09 has suggested that specific customs duties on textiles be revised in such a way that they match ad valorem tax ...

EDUCATION: Manipal K-12 plans chain of schools
Bangalore, July 2 Manipal K-12, a venture of the Manipal Education and Medical Group, created to own and manage a chain of schools across the country runs eight schools under its brand name and plans to have at least 100 schools in ...

BUDGET: Work out clear roadmap for GST implementation
One of the longest pending demands of industry is the implementation of a national-level Goods and Services Tax (GST). While the Government had announced its intent to introduce GST a couple of years ago, a clear roadmap for the same has still ...

EVENTS: ‘End users important in corporate reporting’
Corporate reporting and financial practices should keep the end users in mind, said Mr P.R. Ramesh, National Director, Audit & Enterprise Risk Series, Deloitte, Haskins ...

TOURISM: Houseboats sailing into green zone
The Kerala houseboat industry, which was hit by the global economic recession, is on the recovery ...

RADIO/TV: Prasar Bharati on raking in revenues
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INFRASTRUCTURE: Behind the facade
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ECONOMIC SURVEY: Allow pvt cos to run passenger trains: Survey
New Delhi, July 2 About a dozen tourist routes could be identified and a single licence to provide passenger train services on any or all of these routes, the Economic Survey 2008-09 has said while listing the steps to improve the ...

HUMAN RESOURCES: CII to focus on training, labour reforms
Chennai, July 2 Scaling up and revamping training systems to develop skilled human resource for the industry is one of the focus areas for the Confederation of Indian Industry ...

EXPORTS & IMPORTS: Export sector needs growth impetus
New Delhi, July 2 The global economic meltdown is likely to impact India’s export growth ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: Convert port trusts into public-listed cos
The port trusts should be converted into public-listed companies (minus the excess land) with the general public holding at least 49 per cent of the shares, the Economic Survey 2008-09 has said. This is one of the steps suggested in the survey ...

BUDGET: Give stimulus for senior citizens
Most of the senior citizens (expect businessmen) do not enjoy any social security benefits and live solely on interest income from their life savings deposited with commercial banks and post offices. These earnings are getting less and less ...

RADIO/TV: AIR, DD programme officers protest career stagnation
All India Radio is heard by millions of people all over the country, while many more millions watch Doordarshan television. But the grievances of their own programme officers currently numbering over 1,000 across the country, have ...

BUDGET: Impose a cess to fund social sector infrastructure
The Government should make gas pipeline infrastructure in the country a top priority and also set up a nodal agency such as the National Highway Authority of India for speedier implementation and funding. Besides this, we also propose setting up ...

HUMAN RESOURCES: New technology boosts efficiency
More than 90 per cent of Indian respondents say mobile communications technology such as smartphones and laptops have boosted personal productivity and, for many, have transformed their work-life balance, according to ...

FOREIGN TRADE: Can BRIC play the leading role?
The emergence of developing economy powerhouses has always been a matter of concern for the existing economic hegemonies. The ‘realist’ conception of hegemonic transition builds on the relative economic standings of ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: Pranab may focus on curbing reckless spending
New Delhi, July 2 Predictably, the Pre-Budget Economic Survey has urged the Government to “revisit the agenda for pending economic reforms… to renew the growth ...

ECONOMIC SURVEY: Lift remaining ban on futures, amend APMC Acts of States
Within five days of being sworn in again, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Government of Dr Manmohan Singh barred sugar futures till December 31. Yet, the Economic Survey talks of lifting “the remaining ban on futures contracts ...

TOURISM: Travel and tourism fair
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PETROLEUM: Diesel price hike hits fisheries
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