Airlines
IA invites bids from Boeing, Airbus
INDIAN Airlines has invited technical and financial bids for its fleet acquisition programme for the ensuing five years from Boeing Company and Airbus Industrie. The final date for receipt of these bids has been fixed as August 21.
`Privatisation must for AI'
PRIVATISATION is essential for Air India, according to the airline's Chairman and former Civil Aviation Secretary, Mr. Ravindra Gupta.
Banking and Finance
ICICI Bank hikes PLR
ICICI BANK has taken the lead in hiking the PLR. The bank on Wednesday announced a hike in its tenor-linked PLR by 50-75 basis points across-the-board, effective August 3.
`Re fall may hit loan repayments'
THE rupee's depreciation against the dollar ``could be disruptive for loan repayments of companies,'' according to Mr. Ravi Mohan, Managing Director of Crisil. He said that the fall in the value of the rupee did not come as a surprise. Crisil had anticip
ated the rupee to cross the 45-mark during the course of the year and touching levels of 46 by the end of the year, he said.
Corporate
Bharti goes in for recast -- Demerger of telecom services, hive-off of overseas and software divisions
DOMESTIC telecom major, Bharti Enterprises, on Wednesday announced an exhaustive internal business as well as management restructuring, entailing demerging its telecom services from hardware manufacturing businesses and hiving off of the overseas as well
as software business into a separate firm.
Sun Infoways to buy Zap in Rs 475-cr stock deal
THE Mumbai-based Sun Infoways Ltd has announced its decision to acquire Zap Infotech, an integrated software service provider, in a Rs. 475-crore all-stock deal.
Bharti in talks with SingTel for under-sea cable
BHARTI Enterprises is in talks with SingTel of Singapore for laying high-frequency under-sea fibre optic cable, linking Chennai with Singapore.
Reliance revises product prices
RELIANCE Industries Ltd has announced the revised prices for its petrochemical products effective August 1.
Timex promoter doesn't rule out further hike in stake
AFTER having raised its holding in Timex Watches Ltd (TWL), its Indian subsidiary, first by buying out the shares held by Titan Industries, and then from 62.66 per cent to around 71 per cent through a fresh equity infusion of $7.5 millions, Timex Watches
BV is not ruling out a further increase in its holding in the future.
TVS-Suzuki reports lower net in Q1
TVS-Suzuki Ltd has reported a lower net profit of Rs. 20.60 crores for the first quarter of the current year, as against Rs. 21.21 crores in the corresponding quarter of last year.
Chettinad cement rights issue oversubscribed
LIFE Insurance Corporation (LIC) and Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation (TIIC) have subscribed `in full' to the rights issue of Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd. (CCCL).
61% acquisition plan dropped -- Zee Tele, Asianet opt for strategic tie-up
ZEE Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) has said that it is replacing earlier plans to acquire a 61 per cent equity stake in Asianet Communication Ltd, which runs the Malayalam television channel, Asianet, with a strategic alliance.
Courts
`Fresh hearing, detailed reasons needed'-- SC directive to HC in Sony India-Cegat case
THE Supreme Court has directed the Delhi High Court to give a fresh hearing (on the matter) and furnish detailed reasons as to why Sony India Ltd is not required to make a pre-deposit to the Revenue Department in the alleged Rs. 73-crore customs duty cas
e, being contested at the Customs Excise and Gold Appellate Tribunal (Cegat).
Interim injunction denied in property auction case
THE Madras High Court has declined to grant interim injunction of the auction sale of property of a debtor who, after giving an undertaking to repay the loan failing which his assets could be appropriated against the dues, defaulted in repaying the loan
amount.
Economy
Dip in fiscal deficit a mirage?
THE 25 per cent decline in fiscal deficit during the first quarter of the current fiscal, primarily due to lower interest payments, may not really be a pointer to prudent fiscal management.
EFC & Social equity
DIVIDE India into four or five zones and you will find that the geographic State-wise division also holds true for assessing the levels of economic prosperity in the five regions. The eastern and the north-eastern regions of the country -- by al
l economic parameters -- turn out to be the poorest and this has been a historical fact almost ever since independence.
Industry must take up national issues: Kalam
DO the board rooms of Indian industry ever discuss the question of India becoming a knowledge superpower and a developed nation, instead of confining themselves to mundane business issues?
Further hike in lending rates will hit growth, says Assocham
EVEN as the rupee closed at an all-time low of Rs. 45.33 against the US dollar on Wednesday, a delegation of members of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has sought to impress on the Government that any further increase in lendi
ng rates will adversely impact the growth of the industry in the coming months.
Foreign Trade
SAARC workshop from today
A TWO-DAY sub-regional workshop on trade facilitation in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region begins from Thursday with a view to exchange experiences and identify priority issues and work out the co-operation methodology i
n cross-border trade facilitation.
Forex
$ demand pushes Re further south
THE rupee slide continued unabated today with banks and corporates rushing to meet their dollar requirements. The heavy demand for the greenback pushed the rupee down to its third consecutive record closing low of 45.32/33 to the dollar. It had closed at
45.15/17 on Tuesday and has now nosedived by more than 45 paise in the past three days.
Information Technology
Software exporters may gain in short-term
THE falling rupee may translate into a short-term increase in profitability for Indian software exporters. However, depreciation is unlikely to have any significant impact on exports in the long run.
`India casts biggest Net in Asia-Pacific'
INDIA records the highest Internet user growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region and is the fifth largest Internet-user market in the same region, says a Gartner India report on Indian Internet surfing behaviour.
Miscellaneous
`Deemed university' norms in for changes
THE Union Education Ministry has decided to liberalise granting deemed university status to institutions of excellence straightaway without making them wait for such recognition. This would, of course, be subject to meeting some objective criteria and a
subsequent review. But the aim of giving a free hand to first rate private initiatives in higher education has now been institutionalised.
Power
Powergrid network opened
THE Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, today inaugurated PowerGrid Corporation of India Ltd's (PGCIL) Delhi-Chandigarh optical fibre network on its existing Extra High Voltage transmission lines. The company is planning to lease out the spare communicati
on capacity available on its optical fibre network between the two cities as part of its foray into the telecom sector.
`Green power subsidy key to tap eco-friendly sources'
THE Centre has to formulate a national policy on non-conventional and renewable energy sources in harmony with State-level programmes to attract private investment in the sector, according to Mr. Sarvesh Kumar, Chairman, Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers
' Association (IWTMA).
REC plans to securitise loans issued to States
IN a bid to increase its lending activity, Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is planning to securitise its loans issued to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Haryana and redeploy the proceeds.
States
Run-of-the-river power project in Karnataka
THE State owned generating company, Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) has altered the technical parameters for the Bedthi Hydel project in the face of sustained pressure from environmentalists.
Wage revision for Kerala tile workers
THE Kerala Government has revised the minimum wages for the various categories of tile industry workers in the State.
Core group to draft report on Orissa development
A CORE group under the Chairmanship of the Member, Planning Commission, Dr.D.N. Tiwari, has been set up to prepare the Orissa Development Report.
Customs dept's bid to educate assessees
IN an attempt to make its ``presence'' felt, the Settlement Commission of Customs and Central Excise has sent a team of its officials here to ``educate'' assessees about the functioning of the Settlement Commission.
Near normalcy in Bangalore
AFTER two days of total shutdown following Veerappan's abduction of Mr. Rajkumar, Bangalore showed a resemblance of normalcy. Many offices, banks, shops, even the Bangalore Metro Transport buses returned to near routine services.
Stocks
SEBI clears decks for use of WAP for Net trading
THE SEBI-promoted committee on Internet-based securities trading and services today cleared the decks for usage of wireless application protocol (WAP) for Internet trading and derivatives trading on the Internet.
Telecommunications
National long distance phone norms finalised
THE Telecom Commission on Wednesday finalised the terms and conditions for opening up the national long distance (NLD) telephony to private firms, ending the monopoly of the incumbent Department of Telecom Services (DTS).
Escotel joins IIM Lucknow for customer relations
ESCOTEL, the Escorts group promoted cellular service provider in Haryana, Kerala and UP (West), has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow to further the discipline of customer relations in the country.
Transport
Appointment norms for port trust chairmen posts revised
THE Centre has revised the guidelines on the appointment of port officers as chairmen/deputy chairmen in port trusts following the re-categorisation of the 11 major port trusts into two categories instead of the earlier three.
Railways to buy 23,000 wagons
THE Indian Railways are likely to procure over 23,000 wagons in the ensuing fiscal. An assurance that procurement orders would be maintained at this year's level was given by the Railway Minister, Ms. Mamata Bannerjee, at a meeting with chiefs of various
wagon manufacturing PSUs.
