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Govt thinking of single NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Government is thinking of having only one variety....more
Govt committed PUNE, Dec 20: The Government is committed to the...more Govt committed to PUNE, Dec 20: The Government is committed to the advancement of the ....more Govt tightens noose to CALCUTTA, Dec 20: Alarmed at the reports of gross violation.....more |
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Govt modifies package for NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Modifying the Kargil widows/dependents petrol outlet...more Murthy, Jindal on policy NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Trying to catch up with the times, the 75-year-old Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry.....more Govt for placing initial BANGALORE, Dec 20: The Civil Aviation Ministry has evinced interest in placing an initial order for five modern light ......more
Customers to shell out NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Close on the heels of imminent price rise by Maruti and Hyundai, Daewoo Motors India Limited .....more |
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Govt thinking of single variety rice in PDS NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Government is thinking of having only one variety of rice in the Public Distribution System (PDS), as in the case of wheat, to maintain its quality as also reduce corruption in its production and sale, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Shanta Kumar informed Rajya Sabha today. Replying to a short notice question by M Venkaiah Naidu (BJP), he said there was no need for giving further relaxation in the quality of rice supplied by Andhra Pradesh farmers to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for sale through PDS. He said though the relaxation in quality was given upto ten per cent, yet a 13 per cent relaxation had been given to the AP farmers for this year only. There would be no further relaxation next year onwards, he said, adding this position had been explained to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to his satisfaction. While Venkaiah Naidu pressed for further relaxation as a special case, the Minister refused it saying FCI had 3.80 lakh tonnes of non-issuable rice for the storage of which the Government was spending Rs 60 crore annually. He said it had been scientifically found that there was not much difference between various varieties of rice and wheat. The varieties of wheat had already been brought down from four to one. Similarly, the existing three varieties of rice -special, fine and super fine - were being reduced to two and ultimately we are thinking to have only one variety of rice, he said. He further said it had been found through special surveys and studies that with prevalence of more varieties of wheat and rice there was large-scale corruption in their production and distribution. (PTI) |
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Govt committed to advancement of small scale sector PUNE, Dec 20: The Government is committed to the advancement of the small scale sector, Union Minister of State for Finance Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Giving this assurance valedictory function of "Udyogdarshan", an industrial exhibition of the Small Scale Units here, yesterday Mr Vikhe-Patil acknowledged that the small scale sector, with 2.2 million units all over the country, is an important employment generator besides being a foreign exchange earner for the country. The sector, he noted, has contributed a lot in maintaining industrial harmony and peace. Admitting that the Government decision to allow import of 600 items, hitherto reserved for the small scale sector, under open general licence might have caused consternation in the sector, he advised the various organisations, working for the improvement the sector, to come together and make a unified representation before the Finance Minister listing specific demands. The Minister assured to look sympathetically into their demands as the Government was aware of the fact that the sector constituted a strong economic foundation for the country. He said the Government was in the process of simplifying the rules and procedures concerning the sector. He also assured that the issue of easy financing for the SSI sector would be taken up with the banks . The Central Government was also considering ways to help the sector in marketing their products, he added. (UNI) |
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Govt committed to advancement of small scale sector PUNE, Dec 20: The Government is committed to the advancement of the small scale sector, Union Minister of State for Finance Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Giving this assurance valedictory function of "Udyogdarshan", an industrial exhibition of the Small Scale Units here, yesterday Mr Vikhe-Patil acknowledged that the small scale sector, with 2.2 million units all over the country, is an important employment generator besides being a foreign exchange earner for the country. The sector, he noted, has contributed a lot in maintaining industrial harmony and peace. Admitting that the Government decision to allow import of 600 items, hitherto reserved for the small scale sector, under open general licence might have caused consternation in the sector, he advised the various organisations, working for the improvement the sector, to come together and make a unified representation before the Finance Minister listing specific demands. The Minister assured to look sympathetically into their demands as the Government was aware of the fact that the sector constituted a strong economic foundation for the country. He said the Government was in the process of simplifying the rules and procedures concerning the sector. He also assured that the issue of easy financing for the SSI sector would be taken up with the banks . The Central Government was also considering ways to help the sector in marketing their products, he added. (UNI) |
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Govt tightens noose to strictly implement sugar import release order CALCUTTA, Dec 20: Alarmed at the reports of gross violation of release orders by sugar importers, the Government has deputed a team of officials to review the situation and take necessary corrective measures. Industry sources said the team, led by Director - sugar control, was reported to be making on-the-spot visits, to nab those importers selling imported sugar in disregard to Government orders. The team also visited West Bengal and in collaboration with the Food and Supplies Department of the State and discussed the matter with concerned port, customs authorities and also with the local importers. It is believed to have advised the sugar importers to sell the commodity strictly within the fixed parameters and in accordance with the release orders issued from time-to-time. The Union Government had recently amended the sugar control order under the Essential Commodities Act and brought under its purview imported sugar and has accordingly started issuing release orders to importers for sale of imported sugar in the market. Industry sources here hailed the Government’s attempt to restrict the import of sugar which according to them would help the domestic industry in the long run. Finance Director of Ballarampur Chini Mills, country’s largest sugar mill under one unit, Kishore Shah said, we would get the benefit in the long run, but in the short-run it is the farmers of the country, who would be benefitted. Justifying his claim, Mr Shah said at present huge dues were accruing to the cane growers as mills were not in a position to pay them as they were unable to sell their stocks due to huge competition from imported sugar at a cheaper price. Meanwhile, the move to discourage sale of imported sugar in open market has led to a marginal increase in retail price of the commodity which is now being sold at around Rs 19.50 per kg against Rs 18 per kg, market observers claimed. Countering the claim, Mr Shah said, we cannot say anything about retail prices, but the fact is that the selling prices by the mills have come down to Rs 1440 per quintal from around Rs 1490 a few weeks back. Generally, retailers would not sell their products at lower levels,if their cost is higher. (UNI) |
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Govt modifies package for Kargil martyrs’ families NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Modifying the Kargil widows/dependents petrol outlet and gas agency scheme, the Government has decided to provide interest-free loans for constructing outlets, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik announced in the Lok Sabha today. The Government had decided to provide an amount of Rs 30 lakhs for constucting the building of petrol pumps and Rs 18 lakhs for the gas agency outlet. He said that beside providing infrastsrcture for the allottees of petrol pumps, the Government has also decided to provide a loan of Rs ten lakhs for meeting the working capital requirement. The Minister said so far the Government had cleared 51 proposals of petrol pumps and another 65 for gas agency outlets. The proposals for petrol pumps and gas agency to the dependents of Kargil martyrs were processed by the Defence Ministry and all recommendations received so far to the Petroleum Ministry had been cleared, Mr Naik said responding to supplementaries. Replying to the main question of Dr Ramesh Chand Tomar, he said 927 locations had been included in the current marketing plan which include locations in the rural areas also. The Minister said that the Government was committed to prosecuting Benami Petrol Pump owners and if a member had any such information, he could bring it to his notice. In a another reply the Minister said that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was pressing the authorities of Balal Oil Fields in Iran to work out new arrangements for the exploration crude oil. He admitted that there had been delay in the implementation of the project because of various reasons and IOC had not invested any amount so far. As part of IOC diversification plans, IOC had agreed to purchase 35 per cent equity in the Balal project involving an investment of 59.15 million dollars. The RBI has also accorded its approval to IOC for remittance of its equity towards the project cost. (UNI) |
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Murthy, Jindal on policy committee of ASSOCHAM NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Trying to catch up with the times, the 75-year-old Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) will have new generation entrepreneurs like N R Narayana Murthy, Naresh Goel and Subhash Chandra or his nominee Vijay Jindal on the policy-making managing committee. "I have already written a personal letter to Narayana Murthy and talked to Naresh Goel and Parvez Damania. Subhash Chandra said he may nominate Jindal", newly-elected ASSOCHAM President Shekhar Bajaj told UNI. Mr Bajaj has also requested the ambanis to be on the 108-member managing committee. "I have requested them that either Anil or Mukesh should be there on the committee," he said. However, Wipro head Azim Premji has declined Mr Bajaj’s request for time constraint. Under the chamber constitution, the President can co-opt up to five members on the committee. "Either I will co-opt them as members or as invitees - that is not a problem. We need these people as we have to catch up with the times in the new knowledge millennium," Mr Bajaj said. The ASSOCHAM chief said the existing committee members would not resent the inclusion of the new entrepreneurs. "We are not doing them any favour. We rather need these people". Outgoing Chamber President K P Singh had co-opted only two members who relinquish their position with the change of guards. Singh had taken Indira Rajaram of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and R Gopalakrishnan from the TATAs. Mr Bajaj admitted that the ASSOCHAM did not have the kind of infrastructure as possessed by the Confederation of Indian Industry to service the constituent members. "But we would be giving a focussed service to our members in select areas like tourism and other service industries". Role of the service sector is going to increase in the gross domestic product of the economy. Expressing concern over high rate of interest, the ASSOCHAM chief said that the Government should immediately cut interest rates in the post office saving schemes so that the banks could also bring the deposit rates down. (UNI) |
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Govt for placing initial order to buy 5 ‘Hansa’ BANGALORE, Dec 20: The Civil Aviation Ministry has evinced interest in placing an initial order for five modern light trainer aircraft "Hansa", developed by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) here. The first pre-production version of Hansa-3, which was successfully flight-tested on May 14 this year, was likely to be handed over to the Madras Flying Club, one of the active and oldest flying clubs in the country. The NAL had taken up production of the aircraft along with the Hosur-based Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited (TAAL) in Tamil Nadu. According to NAL sources, the Director General of Civil Aviation would procure the twin seater all composite modern light trainer aircraft for various flying clubs in the country. The NAL had also received inquires from the United States, Canada, Australia, and France for both marketing and co-production of the aircraft, which had been in development for the last six years. (PTI) |
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Customers to shell out Rs 25,000 more to buy Matiz NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Close on the heels of imminent price rise by Maruti and Hyundai, Daewoo Motors India Limited is also going to increase price of Matiz by around Rs 25,000 early next month. DMIL would announce six to eight per cent price rise in Matiz due to increase in input and transport costs, besides 20 per cent appreciation in Won in Korea, Mr Byung-Soh Min, DMIL Deputy Managing Director (Corporate Affairs) said today. However, he did not disclose the exact date of the announcement. The total impact on the cost of rolling out matiz comes to about ten per cent or Rs 35,000, but the company decided to absorb two to four per cent of that, he said. While, prices of two loaded versions of Matiz: Matiz SE and Matiz SP will go up by a bigger margin, price hike on other two variants: Matiz SS and Matiz SD will be relatively less. The exact price rise has not been worked out as yet, he said. While SE variant is currently available in Rs 3.48 lakh (ex-showroom) in Delhi, SP variant is priced at Rs 3.68 lakh. SS and SD variants are available at Rs 2.66 lakh and Rs 3.04 lakh respectively. The company will sell Matiz on the existing prices to the customers who will make full payment. Mr Min said keeping in mind customers’ safety, the company has decided to retain exclusive features of Matiz like reinforcement bars on the roof, strut bar in engine room and cross frame in instrument panel. However, percentage of market size does not represent the true picture as the company faces supply constraints. The Surajpur plant in Uttar Pradesh rolls out only 36,000 units per annum on one shift basis. DMIL has exported 380 Matiz to Egypt and other neighbouring countries for the last two months and has set a target to export 4,000 units for the six months till March 31 next. This will include exports to europe as well. The company already has exports order of 2,500 units for Europe in hand. Maruti Udyog Limited has already stated that Zens would be costlier by Rs 21,000 to Rs 24,000 from January 3, while Hyundai Motors India Limited would increase the price of Santro in the range of Rs 10,000-15,000 (ex-showroom) in Delhi later this month. (UNI) |
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