Corporate
Escorts to bet on core areas
ESCORTS Ltd is restructuring its operations to reduce its total debt burden and consequently the annual interest outgo. The company, strapped with high cost debt, is now proposing to apply funds received from its equity divestment in the erstwhile Yamaha
Motors Escorts Ltd (YMEL) to bring down its dependence on loan funds.
CII's council bifurcated
THE Associations Council of CII (ASCON) has been bifurcated into separate councils for the manufacturing and services sectors. The move is aimed at imparting greater focus to the two sectors, a statement issued by CII said.
Turning post offices into citizen service centres
THE winds of change are blowing over the stodgy old post-offices across the country. Faced with a ballooning deficit and dwindling revenues, the Department of Posts (DoP) has embarked on an plan to reposition itself and induce the corporates to leverage
its vast network and infrastructure.
Delayed action against errant cos -- Turf war between SEBI and DCA
THE delay in initiating action against companies found guilty of market manipulation in the Security and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) preliminary investigation report has now been attributed to the turf battle between the SEBI and the Department of C
ompany Affairs (DCA), as has been indicated to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the stock scam.
Economy
`Need for demand push to revive manufacturing'
AS many as 81 of the 105 industry sectors surveyed in the CII m-Ascon survey have recorded negative or less than 10 per cent growth in production during the first quarter of the current fiscal.
Engineering
`Instrumentation needs R&D boost'
INSTRUMENTATION engineering, which enhances the efficiency parameters in a variety of fields, has to go a long way for the rapid advancement of the country and there is vast scope for research in this area where major investments are not needed, said Dr.
P.S. Deodhar, Chairman of Aplab Ltd, Mumbai, at the Institution of Engineers here.
Infrastructure
Call to amend stamp duty regulations
THE HDFC Chairman, Mr Deepak Parekh, has called for amendments to the stamp duty regulations in Mumbai.
Insurance
Insurance meet to focus on competitiveness
THE Asia Pacific Risk and Insurance Association (APRIA) is holding its fifth annual conference here from July 16 to 18. This is the first time since the inception of APRIA that the conference is being held in the country.
Mutual Funds
US-64 exit level set at 3,000 units -- Repurchase facility from Aug; to be NAV-based from Jan, 2002
THE Unit Trust of India today decided to give an exit route to small investors holding up to 3,000 units of the Unit Scheme-64 (US-64). It has also decided to make the scheme NAV-based from January 1, 2002.
Damodaran new UTI chief
THE Government today appointed Mr M. Damodaran, an IAS officer who is now Officer on Special Duty in the Reserve Bank of India, New Delhi, as the new Chairman of Unit Trust of India.
Pharmaceuticals
Stocks of fake drugs seized
CHENNAI: THE Drug Control Authority of the Tamil Nadu Government seized huge stocks of spurious movate cream from a private company, Intermed, located at the Porur industrial estate.
Policy
Media council not tenable, say GoT-IT members
THE proposal by the Information and Broadcasting Minister (I&B), Ms Sushma Swaraj, to set up a separate media council to monitor content in the broadcasting sector may not be tenable, according to some members on the Group of Ministers on Telecom and IT
(GoT-IT).
CAG audit: Telecom lobby's protests may not work
THE winds of change are slowly blowing across Sanchar Bhavan, which houses the Ministry of Telecommunications and its carved up operations outfit -- the corporatised Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
Politics
`Positive movement' in Indo-Pak talks
DAYTIME deliberations at the historic summit meeting between the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the visiting Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, produced a rather guarded statement from the Ministry of External Affairs at 4.30 thi
s evening.
Taj Delight
The Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, with his wife at the Taj Mahal on Sunday.
Power
Karnataka power sector may face slowdown in capacity addition
THE Karnataka Government is faced with the prospect of a slowdown in capacity addition to the power sector with potential consequences on the industrial growth.
Shipping
Pillai appointed NMPT Secretary
MANGALORE: The Union Government has appointed Mr D. Vijayan Pillai as Secretary of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) with effect from July 18.
States
Karnataka plans online lottery
GUESS what the country's most IT-branded State is gambling on now -- electronic lottery, no less.
Revised Kerala Budget hailed
THE Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed the revised Kerala Budget 2001-02, saying that the decision to give special emphasis for the development of industry, information technology, tourism and infrastructure will definitely help efficie
nt and speedy development of economic activities in the State.
Maharashtra drive to excel in biotech revolution
THE Maharashtra Government's industry department and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), have drawn up a plan envisaging investments of Rs 2,000 crore to ensure that the State is prominent on the biotechnology revolution that is sw
eeping through the country. The search is on for global investors who will be joint venture partners for three biotechnology parks being set up at Jalna, Pune and Aurangabad to leverage the State's capabilities in the field.
Technology
Efforts on to promote tech entrepreneurs in a big way
IN its bid to facilitate faster commercialisation of technology, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) is promoting the concept of Technology Business Incubators (TBI) in institutions with research and development facility.
