Govt fixes standards for proficiency in English.........

SC directs to implead tea gardens for not paying dues .........

Inflation rises to 10-month high of 5.02 pc......

UCO Bank to slash home loan rates by 50 basis points ....

Select base metal prices up on global cues

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: Select base metals, including nickel, copper and tin rose between Rs 3 and Rs 5 per kg in the non-ferrous metal market today on buying by traders and consuming industries on the back of higher London Metal Exchange advices.

Marketmen said fresh buying by consuming industries and stockists in view of a rise in its price on LME, mainly pushed up the prices.

At London Metal Exchange, nickel gained by 560 dollar at 33,400 dollar, copper rose by 270 dollars at 8680 dollar and tin moved up by 300 dollar at 19300 dollar a metric tonne respectively.

In local market, nickel plate (4x4) (9x9) and (4x24) hardened by Rs.10 each at Rs.1410-1470, Rs.1410-1475 and Rs.1410-1485 per kg respectively.

Copper wire scrap , copper super d rod, copper wire bar copper mixed scrap, c c rod and utensils scrap all went up by Rs.3 each at at Rs.350, Rs.373 and Rs.370, Rs.328, Rs.360 and Rs.313 per kg respectively.

Tin ingot also rose by Rs.5 to close at Rs.835 a kilo on fresh buying support.

Following were today’s quotations per kg (in Rs):

Tin ingot 835, zinc slab 150.00 zinc dross 130.00, nickel plate (4x4) 1410-1470, (9x9) 1410-1475, (4x24) 1410-1485, cadmium plate 445, Rod 430, antimony (china) 285, gun metal scrap 252, bell metal scrap 250, copper wire scrap 350, copper super d rod 373, copper wire bar 370 copper mixed scrap 328, C C rod 360, Utensil scrap 313, Mixed scrap 305, Chadripital 245, brass sheet cutting 240, bullet scrap 258, bharat scrap 250, accessories scrap 253, brass boring 235-245, brass radiator scrap 225 and huny scrap 250.

Lead ingot 120, Lead imported 155-157, Aluminium ingots 130, sheet cutting 125, aluminium wire scrap 120 and Aluminium utensils scrap 115. (PTI)

Marginal rise in Instanex Skindia DR Index

MUMBAI, Mar 7: The Instanex Skindia DR Index moved up marginally by 2.86 points or 0.10 per cent to 2,742.25 on March 5 from 2,739.38 previously.

The P/E Ratio also edged up to 24.24 from 24.22, Instanex Capital release said here today.

Following are the GDR and ADR rates for March 5 in US dollars with differences in percentage from the previous level given in brackets.

Bajaj Auto(GDR) 56.00 (-1.23)

Dr Reddy (ADR) 14.09 (-0.42)

HDFC Bank (ADR) 100.00 (-1.98)

Hindalco (GDR) 5.05 (+5.21)

ICICI Bank (ADR) 45.38 (-3.26)

Infosys Tech (ADR) 37.03 (-1.07)

ITC (GDR) 4.88 (+4.86)

L&T (GDR) 80.27 (+0.97)

MTNL (ADR) 5.65 (-1.74)

Ranbaxy Labs (GDR) 11.00 (-0.45)

Reliance (GDR) 114.50 (+3.85)

Satyam Comp (ADR) 24.78 (+1.93)

SBI (GDR) 98.90 (-2.08)

VSNL (ADR) 23.63 (+1.85)

Wipro (ADR) 11.25 (-1.23) (PTI)

Oil prices remain quiet on some support

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: Steady conditions persisted in the wholesale oils and oilseeds market here today as prices moved in a tight range on small bouts of trading and settled around last levels.

Following were today’s quotation per quintal:

Oilseeds: mustard seed 2325-2500 and Groundnutseed 2700-3000.

Vanaspati ghee (15 litres tin) 885-995.

Edible oils: Groundnut mill delivery 7,750, Groundnut Solvent refined (per tin) 1275-1300, Mustard Expeller 7050, Mustard Pakki ghani (per tin) 950-1100, Mustard kachi ghani (per tin) 1000-1120, Sunflower 5,350, Sesame mill delivery 8,500, Soybean Refined mill delivery 7,350, Soyabean degum (Delhi) 7,100, Crude Palm Oil (Ex-kandla) 6280, Cottonseed mill delivery 6,550, palmoline (RBD) 7250, Rice bran (phy) 5,900 and coconut (per tin) 925-975.

Non-edible oils: linseed 4900 Mahuwa 4400, castor 5500-6000,

Neem 3900-4000, Rice bran 3900-4050 and palm fatty 3125-3200.

Oilcakes: groundnut dehusk 770-820, Sesame 925-1125, Mustard (new) 1000-1025, Mustard 975-980 and Cottonseed 975-1100. (PTI)

Govt fixes standards for proficiency in English

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: In a bid to standardise English proficiency for all functions relating to flying over Indian airspace, Government has laid down the minimum standards for proficiency skills of personnel, including pilots and air traffic controllers, and made it effective from this week.

Proficiency in English was made mandatory for pilots, air traffic controllers and other concerned staff operating in India after the November 11, 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, but no standard was set for the purpose.

A major cause of the collision was that the pilot of one of the aircraft could not understand the English directives of the ATC and brought the aircraft down to the same height as that of the other plane, instead of gaining height. This had led to the collision.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has brought out a circular, which says that all aircraft personnel like pilots, flight engineers and flight navigators, air traffic controllers and aeronautical station operators "shall have their English language proficiency evaluated to the ICAO language proficiency standards within a period of three years from March 5, 2008."

Licenses granted to these personnel after this date would be considered to have the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) language proficiency level 4 (operational). All applicants for these jobs would have to fulfil this requirement and undertake a test to get a license. (PTI)

SC directs to implead tea gardens for not paying dues

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: The Supreme Court was today informed that 60 tea estates and tea gardens, spread over four states in the country, have taken Rs 4000 crore during the last eight years without paying anything to about 60,000 workers whose total dues are about Rs 400 crore.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran granted liberty to the petitioner, International Union of Food, Agriculture and others to implead 60 tea gardens and tea estates spread over four states namely Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Uttarakhand as they are going to be affected by the decision of the court in this PIL.

Counsel for the state of Assam, however, denied the allegation of any embezzlement by tea garden owners.

Counsel for the petitioner, Gonsalves, however, alleged before the court that it is a massive fraud having been committed by the tea estates and tea companies.

The apex court fixed the matter for hearing in the last week of April. (UNI)

Inflation rises to 10-month high of 5.02 pc

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: The wholesale price-based inflation rate breached the five per cent-mark for the first time in 10 months, mainly driven by higher prices of food items like fruits, vegetables, milk and cereals along with some manufactured goods.

The inflation rate stood at 5.02 per cent for the week ended February 23, up from 4.89 per in the previous week. It was at 6.02 per cent a year ago, according to the Wholesale Price Index data released today.

The is the first time in the last 10 months that inflation has breached RBI’s tolerance level of 5 per cent, vindicating the cautious approach adopted by the Reserve Bank in its quarterly monetary review in January.

"It was going to happen because of the oil prices and may remain at this level (5 per cent) for some time," Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Member Saumitra Chaudhuri said.

The data captures the impact of higher petroleum prices on commodities. On February 14, the government had increased prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2 and Re 1 a litre respectively.

Concerned over the rising prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had told Parliament that the Government was committed to maintaining "reasonable" price stability at 4-5 per cent.

"We are committed to reasonable price stability but we will not be a party to maintain the so-called price stability by neglecting the prices that ought to be paid to our farmers," Singh had said.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram too, during his interaction with the chambers, had said: "One of the reasons why inflation is still a threat is food prices in India."

The endeavour of the Government would be to maintain a growth of 9 per cent and inflation rate at 4 per cent, he had said.

Also, to keep inflation under check, Chidambaram had asked the industry to hold the price line by becoming more competitive and not resort to short-term gains by taking advantage of demand-supply mismatches.

According to analysts, inflation is likely to go up further as crude oil prices have gone up to USD 106 per barrel. The rising crude oil price would have a cascading effect, they said.

During the week, prices of fish marine became expensive by six per cent, mutton by five per cent, fruits and vegetables by four per cent, while milk and urad moved up by two per cent.

However, the prices of arhar declined by four per cent and moong by one per cent.

Among manufactured items, sunflower oil prices shot up by eight per cent, imported edible oil by five per cent, hydrogenated vanaspati by four per cent. Prices of coconut oil, gur, groundnut oil and mustard oil by one per cent each.

Prices of ghee and khansari were cheaper by one and two per cent respectively.

Elsewhere, prices of sewing machine was higher by nine per cent, sulpha methoxozole by six per cent, lead ingots by four per cent, benzene by three per cent and nylone filament yarn by one per cent.

However, alloy stainless steel slipped by 14 per cent, nickel alloy by 16 per cent, alloy steel casting by five per cent and oxygen by one per cent.

Inflation figure for the week ended January 11 has been revised to 3.83 per cent from the provisional estimate of 3.50 per cent, as the wholesale price index finally stood at 216.7 points, against the earlier calculation of 216. (PTI)

UCO Bank to slash home loan rates by 50 basis points

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: State-owned UCO Bank today said it plans to cut down home loan rates by 50 basis points for all loans up to Rs 20 lakhs.

"We have already cut down home loan rates by 50 basis points and may further cut down the rates by another 50 basis points," UCO Bank Chairman and Managing Director S K Goel told reporters here.

The bank will take a view on this in the board meeting to be held on March 15.

Yesterday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said as there was a public demand to slash home loan rates, especially for loans up to Rs 20 lakh, banks should take a call.

The HDFC bank set the ball rolling by bringing 25 basis points cut in its retail prime lending rate to 13.75 per cent with effect from February 1. This has put pressure on other lenders too.

The State Bank of India, currently, charges between 10-11.5 per cent for loans up to Rs 20 lakh.

Loans up to Rs 20 lakh constitute nearly 80 per cent of the total housing loan portfolio. (UNI)