CLIMATE & WEATHER
Monsoon lean patch in Kerala
THE northeast monsoon continued its lean patch that has lasted for more than 10 days at a stretch in Kerala in a pattern normally associated with the weather system at this time of the year. The Agromet Bulletin ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY
TN: CM to inaugurate wind turbine generator
MADURAI: The Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, will be inaugurating the 2-MW wind turbine generator at Chettikulam near Koodangulam in Tirunelveli district on December 8. The first of its kind in Asia, the generator has been designed ... More

BUDGET

ECONOMY
Kerala: Finance Dept needs to assert itself on spending proposals, says expert
THE State Finance Department has not been asserting itself in recent years in dealing with spending proposals, according to Mr K. P. Joseph, former Accountant-General and an expert in public finance. "I feel that the Finance Department can ... More

Plan outlay for Tripura pegged at Rs 804 cr
TRIPURA'S annual plan for 2005-06 has been fixed at Rs 804 crore against the current fiscal approved outlay of Rs 700.27 crore. This was decided here at a meeting between the State Chief Minister, Mr Manik Sarkar, and the Planning Commission ... More

Rs 685-crore Plan outlay for Mizoram
THE annual Plan of Mizoram for 2005-06 has been pegged at Rs 685 crore as against the approved outlay of Rs 616.52 crore for the current fiscal at a meeting between the Chief Minister, Mr Zoramthanga, and the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
China-India trade touches $10 b in nine months
TOTAL bilateral trade volume between India and China reached a record level of $10 billion (around Rs 45,000 crore) during the first nine months of 2004, up by 83.8 per cent against the same period last year, according to Mr Yuan Nansheng, ... More

India Inc makes inroads into Africa — Auto majors, pharma cos join the fray
INDIA Inc is clearly upbeat on prospects in Africa. Domestic companies, including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kirloskar, Candico, Dr Reddy's and Dabur, are among those headed in droves to capitalise on the business opportunities in the ... More

Indo-LAC meet generates enquiries worth $15m
THE recent two-day Indo-LAC (Latin American and Caribbean Countries) Buyer-Seller Meet (BSM) in Delhi organised by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), has generated enquiries worth $15 million and confirmed spot orders of $1 million ... More

HEALTH
Doors not closed for dropped anti-AIDS drugs, says WHO
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) will consider re-listing the dropped anti-AIDS or anti-retroviral drugs manufactured by Indian generic companies if they comply with the international requirements and standards. "We have full faith in the ... More

Dentists group bid to make treatment costs affordable
A GROUP of dentists in Chennai has floated a company, La Forte Dental Paradigm, which aims to get established independent dental practices to join them, and use the increasing business volume to lower its costs and customers' fees. At a press ... More

PSU
Kerala State Textiles Corp H1 operating profit at Rs 49.61 lakh
The Kerala State Textiles Corporation has recorded an operating profit of Rs 49.61 lakh during the first half of the 2004-05 financial year. Announcing this, the Managing Director, Mr Jacob Joseph, said here that in doing so the company had ... More

PETROLEUM
Asian oil producers to meet consumer nations on Jan 6
OIL Ministers of major West Asian crude oil producers are among those scheduled to attend an international conference in New Delhi on January 6 to discuss the stability, security and sustainability of oil supplies with major consumer nations. ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Govt scrutiny of new drugs to be more stringent
PHARMACEUTICAL companies launching new drugs in the Indian market will now be subject to closer scrutiny by the Health Ministry. The Government plans to strengthen the post-marketing surveillance system whereby companies would have to submit ... More

Will SAFTA boost pharma trade with Pakistan?
THE Chairman of Pakistan's major pharmaceutical company Hilton Pharma Pvt Ltd was in India recently, meeting up with representatives of the domestic industry. Delhi-based Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has started preliminary studies of the Pakistan ... More

STEEL
Steel regulator on the anvil: Paswan
THE Government is ready with a regulatory authority to monitor and control steel prices and could set it up whenever the need arises, the Union Minister of Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, said here today. The regulatory ... More

TAXATION
Horizontal fiscal imbalances — Equity and efficacy options for transfers
THE Twelfth Finance Commission (TFC) must be toiling on different criteria for the horizontal distribution of shareable tax revenue — the most crucial and critical part of the recommendations. The Centre-State ... More

98,000 service providers register under self-declaration scheme
AS many as 98,000 service providers have registered with the central excise department during the first 45 days of the Liberalised Self-Declaration Scheme, a revenue department official has said. The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, had ... More

VAT regime — Input tax on goods sold via inter-State trade refundable
TAX on inputs used to produce goods sold through inter-State trade would be refundable in the proposed value added tax (VAT) regime to the extent that the input tax exceeds the output tax (4 per cent central sales tax). "The refund would have ... More

TEXTILES
Labour issues, slow investment pace — Meeting $50-b textiles export target `difficult'
WITH just a month to go before the quota regime ends on January 1, 2005, there are serious doubts over whether the textile industry will be able to achieve the $50-billion export target for 2010 set by the Government. According to a ... More

SSI
Financing schemes for SMEs
MADURAI: Industries are responding well to the special assistance scheme of Rs 10,000 crore for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Mr K.M. Nair, General Manager of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), ... More

COAL
ONGC, CIL tie-up for coal gasification projects hits a snag
ONGC Ltd's ambitious move to take up coal gasification projects jointly with Coal India Ltd (CIL) has suffered a setback as the latter's board has expressed reservations in undertaking such ventures as per terms specified by the OGNC in its draft ... More

Coal blocks allotted to Videocon, Lloyds Metal, Kalinga cancelled
THE Coal Ministry has cancelled the allocation of coal blocks to Kalinga Power, the Videocon group and Lloyds Metal, as there has been no progress in respect of the projects for which the linkages were provided to them earlier. According to an ... More

EDUCATION
Performance-linked promotions for teaching staff mooted
PERSPECTIVES on the status of higher education in India and the US today clearly demonstrated the wide divergence in the challenges facing the two economies. Dr Kirit Parikh, Member, Planning Commission, speaking at the two-day `Higher ... More

`Engg colleges short of students; on verge of closure'
SELECT engineering colleges facing shortage of students are on the verge of closure, according to Dr N.R. Shetty, Chairman of the All-India Council for Technical Education, South Western region, Bangalore. Inaugurating a national conference on ... More

CARS
`Left-hand drive vehicles can be imported for R&D'
THE Government has clarified that new vehicles can be imported for research and development purpose without being required to comply with the import condition of right hand steering and controls. This clarification comes in response to doubts ... More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Brisk business
Sand being transported on bullock carts on the East Coast Road near Kalpakkam, 60 km from Chennai, for supply to construction sites nearby. A cart-load of sand fetches anywhere between Rs 200 and Rs ... More

GOLD & SILVER
Spot gold may test resistance level
SPOT gold prices continues to head higher as the dollar gets battered making record lows against the Euro in particular and against other major currencies as well in spite of the US economic figures coming in at the higher end of market ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Focus on topical technology, Sibal urges Indo-US forum
THE Minister of State for Science & Technology, Mr Kapil Sibal, on Thursday urged Indian and US scientists to focus on development of topical and frontier technologies through innovation that would enable India to bypass the lack of physical ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE
`Disabled need more jobs, not concessions'
THE Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram on Thursday took up cudgels on behalf of the disabled, arguing for greater employment opportunities rather than concessions or subsidies to ameliorate their cause. On the eve of the World Disabled ... More

Get set for land distribution on Jan 26, AP CM tells Collectors
THE State Government proposes to distribute one lakh acres of land on January 26 to the landless poor in the State. The District Collectors were asked to identify suitable land for distribution at village and mandal levels and get the list of ... More

EVENTS
Chidambaram to inaugurate India Economic Summit
THE Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, will be inaugurating the 20th India Economic Summit here on December 5. Jointly organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the three-day Summit is ... More

Rs 50-lakh biz at Print expo
MADURAI: The fifth print and packaging fair `Print-n-Pack 2004' held here between November 26 and 30 has facilitated trade transactions to the tune of Rs 50 lakh and elicited business enquiries for Rs 1.5 lakh. The exhibition, which ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Rubber exporters fret over cut in quantity for subsidy
RUBBER exporters have expressed the concern that the Government's decision to limit rubber export subsidy to 34,000 tonnes for the current fiscal would further impact the already slowing exports of the commodity. "There is no doubt that exports ... More

Spices Board hikes airfreight subsidy for cardamom exports
CARDAMOM prices ruled stable at auctions held in Kerala and Tamil Nadu on buying support especially from the export segment, which has been active following the announcement of airfreight assistance to exporters by the Spices Board for one month ... More

TOURISM
India, Brazil top list of price competitive tourism destinations
BRAZIL and India are the most competitive tourism destinations in the world in terms of price, according to an annual study published by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The council's `World travel and tourism competitiveness ... More

Swiss Tourism to hold roadshows from Dec 8-16
SWITZERLAND Tourism will organise a series of roadshows called the Switzerland Travel Experience from December 8 to16 across five cities in the country. According to an official Switzerland release, the roadshows will be held in Ahmedabad, ... More

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