The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, August 04, 2004

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY
AP to encourage ethanol plants
THE Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to promote establishment of 10 to 12 units of ethanol production plants that would use the sweet sorghum varieties developed by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics ... More

ANTI-DUMPING
US team inspecting seafood factories
A US Department of Commerce team has come down to the country to inspect the seafood factories of the three mandatory respondents, who have been asked to submit details on their procurement, processing and production statistics, in relation to ... More

CEMENT
2 cement majors report rise in July shipments
THE two cement majors that have released shipment figures for July have reported increase in despatches, year-on-year, with one of them reporting a steep spurt in sales. Associated Cement Companies has reported a 7.6 per cent increase in ... More

CHEMICALS
IICT plans chemical weapons testing lab
THE Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has proposed to set up a chemical weapons testing facility with an investment of Rs 5 crore for buildings and equipment, according to its Director, Dr J.S. Yadav. The institute will approach the ... More

ECONOMY
Concerns over poor monsoon have receded: Chidambaram
THE Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said on Tuesday that worries over a poor monsoon had receded and it is expected to be good this year. "There was concern over monsoon. Mercifully, those concerns have receded and I am sure that ... More

ENVIRONMENT
Demo on waste management in Kochi
THE Bangalore-based Geonomic BT Pvt. Ltd has conducted a demonstration for corporation councillors on the solid waste management project proposed by the company in Kochi. The project Director, Mr Chakravarthy Murali, has given details about ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Trade with China inching towards $10-b mark
INDIA-China trade has picked up and is moving towards the $10-billion mark, with trade registering robust growth on the export-import front. China has become India's number one trading partner in the North-East Asian region, overtaking Japan, ... More

Ban on duty-free permit issue for inputs with prior import condition
THE Government has placed a ban on issuance of duty-free replenishment certificate (DFRC) for inputs with prior import condition. DFRC is a post-export replenishment scheme. The certificate is issued to a merchant-exporter or ... More

`Take Stilwell Road to boost trade in East'
Stilwell Road passes through China and Myanmar and if it could be restored, movement of goods among the three countries will be eased to a great extent. More

HEALTH
Family Health gets ISO certification
FAMILY Health Plan Ltd (FHPL), the Third Party Administrator, has obtained ISO 9001: 2000 certification for establishing a quality management system for providing third party administration services in health insurance. The certification was ... More

Call to protect the rights of HIV patients
THE Union Government should enact and enforce a national legislation prohibiting discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and their families in health facilities, schools, places of employment and other institutions, according to a ... More

Co-ordinated effort makes liver transplant successful in Global Hospitals
A Supreme Court advocate from Orissa had a liver transplant done in Andhra Pradesh. The liver, procured from a brain-dead person from Tamil Nadu, reached Hyderabad thanks to a co-ordinated effort by two organ retrieval NGOs of Karnataka and ... More

Torrent launches painkiller
TORRENT Pharmaceuticals Ltd has launched Etoricoxib, the new generation anti-arthritic drug under the brand name Torcoxia. Etoricoxib is the latest in a new class of painkillers called Cox-2 inhibitors that have a higher safety profile such ... More

Pak baby: Pat for IA crew

PETROLEUM
Gail pipeline tariff to be reviewed
THE government has ordered a review of the tariff charged by Gail (India) Ltd to transport natural gas through its Hazira-Bijaipur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) and Dahej-Vijaipur (DVPL) pipelines. The Tariff Commission will conduct the review and a timeframe ... More

PLASTICS
APPMA plea to end customs duty on polymers
THE Andhra Pradesh Plastic Manufacturers' Association (APPMA) has asked the Union Government to do away with customs duty on polymers until the prices stabilised in the international market. The move would keep the domestic prices under check. ... More

POWER
Captive plants free to sell surplus power: MERC
THE Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission today said that captive power plants are free to sell surplus power to any buyer provided they have dedicated transmission lines; marking the end of State Electricity Board's monopoly on power ... More

APTransco plans load-shedding

STEEL
Steel prices hiked by Rs 500-1,000 per tonne
A major reason for hiking prices was to keep pace with the surge in international prices of steel. More

TEXTILES
Ministry to streamline norms for easy disbursal of TUFS funds
AS the performance of the Rs 25,000-crore Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) has not been satisfactory over the last five years, the Ministry of Textiles has proposed to streamline the procedures to ensure faster disbursal of loans to ... More

WATER
Concern over tardy implementation of Pampa Action Plan
IN the absence of an independent body like Pampa River Basin Development Authority, the Pampa Action Plan (PAP) approved by the Union Government under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) about two years back, moves at a snail's pace. ... More

RADIO/TV
aMap brings TV ratings online
MEASURING TV viewership is set to change with the entry of India's first online audience rating service - aMap (audience Map) - from Ahmedabad-based Audience Measurement and Analytics. TV viewership data is gathered every morning between ... More

EDUCATION
Yash Birla Group to launch educational books
YASH Birla Group has tied up with Gareth Steven Publishing of the USto launch Shloka Publications, a publishing house with a portfolio of educational reference books and materials for children. The new range, known as the Shloka Educational ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Use of interest-free deposit from tenant = rent
A COMMON practice for tenants is to leave in the hands of their landlords a sum of money, called advance or deposit. Usually, the property owner returns this when the tenant vacates the premises, so a cause of frequent rankling is delay in the ... More

PAPER, BOARD & NEWSPRINT
Paper stocks shine, thanks to price rise
THE shares of paper companies are on the rise due to the hike in international paper prices, brokers and analysts said today. In today's trading shares of Ballarpur Industries, the largest paper company, gained 5.66 per cent at Rs 68.15 on the ... More

DISINVESTMENT
Protest against privatisation
KOCHI: TELK Protection Forum will hold a public meeting on Wednesday in protest against the Government's move to privatise the company. The patron of the Forum, Mr S.C.S. Menon said the company had been earning profits in the last three ... More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
PM to decide on FDI hike in telecom: Maran
THE Communications and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, on Tuesday expressed confidence that the issue of hiking the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the telecom sector to 74 per cent from 49 per cent would be resolved soon after taking the ... More

WTO
`India pushed food security on top of WTO agenda'
THE Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, today said that the recent framework agreement hammered out by WTO members in Geneva for the first time "enshrines" India's abiding concern on subsistence farmers, rural development needs ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE

Award for NGO founder

EVENTS
Non-ferrous metals meet to focus on tech transfer
AN international conference on non-ferrous metals to be held here this week seeks to discuss issues concerning the non-ferrous industry in the country. The two-day event will try to find techno-economic solutions from global majors, according ... More

In Hyderabad today

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship campaign at Pudukottai

ECONOMIC OFFENCES
Punishment for abetting tax evasion — Withdraw Finance Bill provision: ICAI
Tax experts say that the explanation will make life easier for the Revenue Department, which can now "just allege a general intent without proving the allegation specifically." More