The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, March 27, 2003

Ensuring equity across generations
ENSURING the well being of future generations is a natural human instinct. Parents invest in the education and upbringing of their children, and save so as to leave behind assets for them. At the national level, communities save to ensure higher ... More

ENVIRONMENT

ASCI to report on environment
THE Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), here is one of the four national institutes selected by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to bring out the State of the Environment reports of various States and Union Territories a ... More

FOREIGN TRADE

Duty-free access to Bangladesh on 39 tariff lines
INDIA has announced its willingness to grant duty-free access to Bangladesh products on 39 tariff lines, besides agreeing to consider further duty-free concessions under the framework of a bilateral free trade arrangement. This emerged at the ... More

PETROLEUM

GAIL plans to invest Rs 20,000 cr for grid
GAIL (India) Ltd has planned investments of Rs 18,000-20,000 crore towards completion of its planned national gas grid of over 12,000 km over the next five years. The company will raise the money "on its balance sheet," according to Mr Prashanto ... More

PLASTICS

High import duty hurting plastics sector: CII study
THE domestic plastics industry can register a compound growth rate as well as export growth at 20 per cent if the high rate of import duty on plastic polymers is removed, according to a report prepared by the Confederation of Indian Industry ... More

TAXATION

Kerala puts off VAT
THE State Finance Minister, Mr K. Sankaranarayanan, has said that introduction of value-added tax (VAT) regime in the State is being deferred since most other States, including the Southern neighbours, are not in a position to come up with a ... More

Industry flays Kochi tax on luxury items
SEVERAL commercial organisations have criticised the Budget proposals of the Kochi Corporation to introduce city tax on luxury goods. The Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry demanded withdrawal of the move to impose city tax on ... More

With VAT ticking, fears lurk in deep recess
WE all spent weeks after weeks watching cricket, and then Bush's Iraq safari got our attention. Now, closer home, there are only hours to go for VAT to be tightened and the taxpayer hoisted into a new regime that is being promised to be simpler, ... More

`Cut in CST only after Finance Bill passage'
THE proposed cut in Central sales tax (CST) from four per cent to two per cent will come into force only after the Finance Bill, 2003 is passed by Parliament, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Wednesday. In his Budget speech, the ... More

Bengal trade body to support bandh against VAT regime
The tax will not serve its purpose under the current circumstances, feels the association, which as an umbrella body represents more than 40 trade association in West Bengal. More

SSI

Smooth credit flow to small sector in offing: Sikdar
THE Union Ministry for Small-Scale Industries will soon send directives to banks and financial institutions in an effort to facilitate smooth credit flow to units of the sector. This was announced by Mr Tapan Sikdar, Minister of State for ... More

PERSONAL PRODUCTS

The tels of tomorrow
Hair oil companies bet on lighter oils with sensory properties and functional propositions to beat the stagnant market. Way to grow! More

RADIO/TV

Editorial, management control in Indian hands — News channels uplink norms put in place
APRIL 1, 2003 may finally see an additional half-a-dozen news channels going on air with the Government today finally announcing guidelines for news channels planning to uplink from India. While the Government has capped foreign investment at ... More

TWO/THREE WHEELERS

Motorcycle sales slow down
THE joyride for motorcycle makers seems to be getting over. After touching the yearly-high sales of 3.67 lakh units in October 2002, it's been a downhill journey for the sector as sales tumbled in the following months. And now, companies expect ... More

METALS

CII plea to cut import duty on inputs for metal industry
THE uniform customs duty imposed on imported raw materials used by the non-ferrous metal industry such as copper, zinc, unwrought products such as cathodes, wires and bars, ingots and billets vis-a-vis finished materials like wrought copper ... More

KNITWEAR & HOSIERY

Tirupur exporters observe bandh against Cenvat
KNITTED goods producers and industries allied to the hosiery industry in knitwear exporting town of Tirupur today observed a one-day `production stoppage' as a mark of protest against the Central Government's decision to extend the `Cenvat' duty ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

`Indian N-reactors set new global benchmark'
INDIAN nuclear reactors have set a new international benchmark by achieving an average capacity factor (CF) of 89 per cent during January-December 2002; beating in the process the best rated American reactors by a clear margin of at least one ... More

WTO

National meet on RTAs from today
THE Department of Commerce in collaboration with Unctad is organising a national seminar on `WTO negotiations on regional trading arrangements (RTAs)' in the Capital on March 27-28. An official release said that negotiations, under the Doha ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Kalam to inaugurate rural project
MANGALORE: The President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will formally inaugurate the extension of the Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) to the villages of Puttur on March 28 before coming to Mangalore. SKDRDP, ... More

EVENTS

`Enterprises Kerala 2003' show

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

War creates a gulf for mango exports to W. Asia — Alphonso may come for a song in domestic market
THE war in Iraq has spelt trouble for more than just the denizens in the Gulf countries. In India, it has created a near panic situation amongst mango producers and exporters who are suddenly faced with significant drop in revenues even as ... More

TOURISM

KTDC ties up with Mandara Spa
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation has entered into a deal with Mandara Spa to develop a world class Ayurvedic spa in one of the resorts run by the corporation. The deal was struck during the recent ... More

`Incredible India' unveiled to the world
THE Department of Tourism has rolled out an integrated campaign for positioning India as the "safe tourism destination of choice for discerning travellers." Mr Amitabh Kant, Joint Secretary (Tourism), Government of India, said the campaign ... More

Tourism plan for Thommankuthu

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