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| Board on SEZs to meet on Feb 25 NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The board of approval (BoA) for special economic zones (SEZ) headed by Commerce Secretary G K Pillai will .....more' Govt
further scales down NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In a major decision, the government today announced dereservation of 79 items from the small scale industry sector in what it called an attempt to unleash the growth potential ...more AI
launches 1st non- NEW DELHI, Feb 8: Air India today launched its nonstop flight between Delhi and New York, the first by any Indian air carrier. The flight-- AI-101-- bewteen Indira Gandhi ......more Further
fall Instanex MUMBAI, Feb 8: The Instanex Skindia DR Index moved down further by 29.15 points or 0.95 per cent to 3,033.79 on February 7 from 3,062.94 previously. The P/E Ratio also looked down to 26.15 from 26.38, Instanex Capital .....more |
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RBI funding enough to bring institutions under RTI, says CIC NEW DELHI, Feb 8: RBI funding to an institution is adequate to make it accountable under the public transparency law, the .....more Modulate
FII inflow to NEW DELHI, Feb 8: PHD Chamber has advocated fine-tuning of policy to modulate inflow of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to insulate the Indian ......more NEW DELHI, Feb 8: Inflation rose to its six-month high of 4.11 per cent for the week ended January 26 as against 3.93 per cent in the previous week, mainly due to rise in prices of food articles and manufactured items.....more Lalu hints
at ‘people JHABUA, MP, Feb 8: The rail budget for the year 2008-09 would be ‘people friendly’, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad indicated today. "I will be presenting the rail budget on February 26 keeping the common man in mind," the Railway ....more |
Board on SEZs to meet on Feb 25 NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The board of approval (BoA) for special economic zones (SEZ) headed by Commerce Secretary G K Pillai will meet here on February 25. Though the Commerce and Industry Ministry has not issued the agenda of the BoA meet, yet it is understood that it could among other things take up the case of multi-product SEZs like that of Reliance Industries' which is slated to come up in Jhajjar district of Haryana if the government approved the Ministry's proposal for removing the 5,000-hectare cap on such SEZs on merits. RIL's Haryana's project has already got BoA's in-priciple approval. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath strongly favours lifting the cap which was imposed by empowered Group of Ministers less than a year ago following widespread protests over land acquisition. The empowered GOM headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, which was scheduled to meet on February 4 to consider the cap among other issues, was postponed. New date has yet to be announced. But the Commerce ministry officials hope it would meet before February 25 to enable the BoA to take decisions on large SEZs requiring more than 5000 hectares of land. Besides Reliance Industries, DLF, Omaxe and Ascendas have also planned mega multi-product SEZs. (UNI) Govt further scales down SSI sector NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In a major decision, the government today announced dereservation of 79 items from the small scale industry sector in what it called an attempt to unleash the growth potential of Indian industry. With this, now only 35 items are left reserved for the SSI sector. The pace for de-reservation of such items, which began with the process of economic liberalisation launched in early 1990's, gathered pace in 2005 when 108 items were dereserved, followed by dereservation of 180 and 212 items in 2006 and 2007 respectively. This had left only 114 items for exclusive manufacture in the SSI sector. Defending the further scaling down of the SSI sector, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said it will increase the competitiveness of industry, facilitate adequate flow of credit, and help upgrade technology in producing world class products to compete in the global market. It said the decision will also enable Indian industry to compete with imports, achieve the economies of scale and boost job opportunities. (UNI) AI launches 1st non-stop Delhi-New York flight from today NEW DELHI, Feb 8: Air India today launched its nonstop flight between Delhi and New York, the first by any Indian air carrier. The flight-- AI-101-- bewteen Indira Gandhi International Airport and JFK Airport will cut down travel time between the two cities by at least three hours. While the onward journey will take 16 hours, it will be another two hours more on the return. The Air India had deployed its state-of-the-art Boeing 777-200 LR (Longer Range), a 238 seater aircraft for the nonstop fight. This is Air India's second non-stop flight to the US, the first being between Mumbai and New York-- launched on August 1, 2007. Air India now plans to launch its third nonstop flight, most probably between Bangalore and San Fransisco, a senior A I official said. The Delhi-New York flight would have the most convenient timing, leaving Delhi at 0030 hrs and arriving JFK at 0545 hrs. It will depart JFK at 1600 hrs and arrive Delhi at 1630 hrs the next day. ''The timings will help passengers arriving in Delhi to get connecting flights to major cities the same evening,'' he said. (UNI) |
Further fall Instanex Skindia DR Index MUMBAI, Feb 8: The Instanex Skindia DR Index moved down further by 29.15 points or 0.95 per cent to 3,033.79 on February 7 from 3,062.94 previously. The P/E Ratio also looked down to 26.15 from 26.38, Instanex Capital release said here today. Following are the GDR and ADR rates for Feb 7 in US dollars with differences in percentage from the previous level given in brackets. Bajaj Auto(GDR) 61.50 (UNCH) Dr Reddy (ADR) 13.62 (-1.45) HDFC Bank (ADR) 113.35 (+1.73) Hindalco (GDR) 4.15 (-9.78) ICICI Bank (ADR) 56.70 (-0.11) Infosys Tech (ADR) 39.94 (+0.33) ITC (GDR) 4.99 (UNCH) L&T (GDR) 96.60 (+1.10) MTNL (ADR) 6.39 (UNCH) Ranbaxy Labs (GDR) 9.50 (-0.52) Reliance (GDR) 123.11 (-3.57) Satyam Comp (ADR) 23.98 (+1.14) SBI (GDR) 112.50 (-0.99) VSNL (ADR) 23.55 (-2.69) Wipro (ADR) 11.47 (-1.04) (PTI) RBI funding enough to bring NEW DELHI, Feb 8: RBI funding to an institution is adequate to make it accountable under the public transparency law, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has held. CIC’s observation came, as it rejected banking sector watchdog Banking Codes and Standards Board of India’s contention that funding by the apex bank cannot bring it within the ambit of the Right to Information law. Even though the 2005 RTI Act is categorical that a substantial financing by the "appropriate Government" would bring any institution under the law’s ambit, the BCSBI said that RBI should not be considered in parity with the government in regard to the transparency law. BCSBI was set up in 2006 as an independent and autonomous body to ensure adherence to the banking codes and standards adopted by the banks in the country. RBI has undertaken total funding of BCSBI for the first five years of its operation. Appearing before the Commission, BCSBI’s CEO K V Subba Rao submitted that while the RTI Act would apply to bodies funded by Central or Union Territory or the State Government, RBI can not be treated as an "appropriate Government." "This argument is not acceptable to the Commission," Information Commissioner Padma Balasubramanian said. The CIC, however, gave BCSBI a month’s time to forward additional submissions after Rao said that he wanted to put forth a report to justify his claim that the body was not a "public authority." The matter was taken up with CIC by a Kerala-resident Raju Abraham after BCSBI denied him certain information pertaining to a private sector Catholic Syrian Bank. (PTI) |
Modulate FII inflow to stem rupee march: PHD NEW DELHI, Feb 8: PHD Chamber has advocated fine-tuning of policy to modulate inflow of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to insulate the Indian economy from extreme speculative swings and distortions. The Chamber’s call has come in the wake of a perception that high FIIs’ inflows are causing rupee appreciation against major currencies, particularly the US dollar. "We are not against FII inflow into the country ....But when there is a huge jump - 22 billion dollars during April-November 2007 as against 3.8 billion dollars in the corresponding period last year, we have to sit up and take stock of the situation," said Chamber president L K Malhotra. The suggestion, he added, is not aimed at blocking FII inflows but to gauge its quality to discern how much has been channelised to productive sectors. The Chamber said three pivotal segments of the industry-textiles, information technology and gems and jewellery -are reeling under heavy pressure on account of rupee appreciation since these industries’ fortunes are directly linked to exports. It held the view that soon the negative spin-offs of rupee appreciation would affect other segments as well. The common perception that hardening of rupee would lead to easing of cost of imports and help the domestic industry is an overstated fact in the long run, it added. The Chamber called for a holistic view of the situation, saying weak dollar or Euro would lead to surge in imports of goods at reduced prices, which can erode the price competitiveness of the domestic industry. Dr Malhotra said a steadily appreciating rupee, a higher interest rate regime and a plethora of infrastructure bottlenecks can square off the marginal benefits on imports on account of rupee appreciation and can erode the price competitiveness of the goods in the domestic market. PHD Chamber felt that looming recession in the US, slowdown in the growth rates in the manufacturing sectors in Europe and measures being contemplated by these countries to curb the hedge funds’ operation in the aftermath of sub-prime mortgage crisis in US would compel many FIIs to park their funds in India for a safe return. This might lead to further firming up of rupee. Advocating modulation of the FII inflows, the Chamber suggested a minimum lock-in period of one year and more imaginative policies to check the inflow through participatory note (PN) route. Dr Malhotra said SEBI has thoroughly discussed these issues and hoped some positive decisions would be put in place as early as possible. The Chamber said there is a worldwide consensus for modulating the capital flows. European countries are inclined towards imposing additional taxes on capital flows and compulsory registration of hedge funds. "India also has to think in that direction, sooner or later," said Dr Malhotra.(UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, Feb 8: Inflation rose to its six-month high of 4.11 per cent for the week ended January 26 as against 3.93 per cent in the previous week, mainly due to rise in prices of food articles and manufactured items. The wholesale price-based inflation stood at 6.69 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago. According to official figures released today, prices of maize, moong, wheat, condiments and spices, and bajra moved up during the week. Barley became cheaper. In the manufactured food category, salt, black tea leaf, bread and buns, and mustard oil got dearer. However, amid speculation of petroleum price rise, the index representing fuel, power, light and lubricant remained unchanged at the previous week’s level. Among other manufacturing items, toilet soaps, caustic soda, synthetic rubber, and truck and bus chassis moved up. The inflation data justified the RBI’s cautious approach of not changing the key interest rates in its quarterly review of the monetary policy on January 29, despite expectations of a cut on arguments of lower price level. (PTI) |
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