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Handling of Sars travel advisories criticised (Go To Top)
-by Trevor Barnard

          London, Apr 30: The way travel advisories on the Sars crisis were issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and governments has been criticised by the leader of an international travel and tourist organisation. Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), said that if the advisories had been couched in different terms the situation would have been completely different. Briefing journalists, he agreed that travel advisories had to be issued, but they should not have said bluntly "Don't go there"; they should have explained what was happening, pointed out the precautions that should be taken, and then left it to individuals to make up their minds. He cited the example of travel to malaria-prone countries, where travellers were alerted to the risks and given advice on precautions. "It's a much more mature attitude, and a much more open attitude, than just saying 'Don't go'," he declared.

          Baumgarten felt that authorities who issued travel advisories should "get closer" to the private sector of the industry to assess the economic impact of the advice being given. In an attempt to bring this about, the WTTC, whose function is to promote awareness of the industry and its problems, was trying to draw up a recommendation of how advisories should be handled. Indicating the economic significance of travel information, he pointed out that the travel industry accounted for 10 per cent of the world's total GDP and provided 200 million jobs. WTTC estimates showed that the September 11 action resulted in a 2.7 per cent downturn in global travel business (measured in dollars) in 2001 and 2002, with the loss of 7.3 million jobs, but the overall picture continued to be one of growth, as it had been for more than two decades.

          Figures issued by the WTTC in March of this year calculated that the impact of the Iraq war would be that the industry's growth would fall to 1 per cent compared with the norm of 4 per cent. Those figures, said Baumgarten, were now being revised to reflect the impact of Sars. His belief was that in global terms the impact would be minor, but in areas directly affected, like Hong Kong and Singapore, it would be devastating.

          The WTTC is convening a conference in Portugal in May which will bring together industry leaders from around the world as well as representatives of governments and organisations to discuss current issues, including the issue of travel advisories. The hope, said Baumgarten, is to draw up a 'blueprint' to be followed by the public and private sectors in the industry.

Thousands flock to mango festival in Mumbai (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 30: More than a hundred varieties of mangoes were put on display at the mango festival which concluded here on Tuesday. The five-day event organised by the Maharashtra government with a view to promoting value added agricultural produce attracted thousands of mango lovers from across India and abroad. With export promotion part of the festival's agenda, commercial varieties like Alphonso, Vengurla, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad were on display.

          The festival also provided an opportunity to the growers to sell their produce directly. The cost of mangoes, which varied in colour, taste and flavour ranged from two to six dollars per dozen. Sudhir Sawant, the organiser of the event, said the objective of the festival was to bring the farmers in direct contact with the consumers rather than the middlemen. Over the years, the mango festival has become an annual affair where hundreds of mango lovers flock to purchase and taste the choicest varieties of the juicy aromatic fruit.

          The festival saw participation by more than 500 mango traders who said they have done brisk business. India is the world's biggest mango producer contributing 59 per cent of total production. Mangoes are grown in an area of 2.5 million hectares of land. Out of the 1,100 varieties of mangoes, about 1000 are grown in India among which Kesar, Totapari, Neelam and Dombaia are very popular. India exports about 30,000 tonnes of mangoes every year to nearly 40 countries including Britain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Canada. But India's share in the world mango market is less than 15 per cent. Mangoes account for around 39 per cent of the total fruit exports from India. The United Kingdom is India's largest European market. The major mango growing states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka farmers intensify stir against BT Cotton (Go To Top)

          Bangalore, Apr 30: Farmers in Karnataka on Tuesday intensified their agitation against transgenic seeds saying the new genetically modified BT cotton variety they were growing was a disaster. The farmers blamed multinational seed giant Monsanto for "misleading them" and claimed that Monsanto's BT Cotton had not shown any of the promised results, even a year after its use was approved by the federal government.

          Shivappa Kalammanavaru, a farmer, warned his peers against using the new variety, saying he had suffered huge losses because of the seed, recovering just 65 dollars against an expenditure of 224 dollars per acre. "I am from Haveri village in Karnataka. I was lured by the propaganda and sowed BT cotton in 14 acres of my land, I did not get anything. Contrary to the claims of the company, I had to spray a lot of pesticide to control bullworm. I did not get the yield also. I got only two quintals per acre," said Kalammanavarau.

          The state farmers' union was particularly agitated with the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee's (GEAC) decision to allow genetically modified seeds in the country's southern states but ban its sowing in the northern plains. "It leaves a kind of political tinge in your mouth. Why not ban it (BT cotton) in southern states as well. BT cotton has failed in Andhra Pradesh, it has failed in Maharashtra, it has failed in Gujarat. The same kind of GEAC findings with regard to the cotton in northern India applies to all other transgenic crops everywhere." said M.D Nanjundaswamy, president of the Karnataka Rajya Ryotha Sangha (KRRS) or Karnataka State Farmers' Union.

          But Monsanto, suppliers of BT cotton seeds, though disappointed with denial of the northern market, attributed the crops failure in the southern belt to extraneous reasons. "The BT cotton has been developed for the specific purpose of controlling bullworms and not anything else. In several areas crops have failed because of other reasons. There were severe drought conditions and it is not only BT but all varieties of cotton and hybrids have failed. If the crop would have failed because of bullworm attack then there is justification in saying that BT has failed. But in fact everywhere BT has been effective in controlling bullworms so it is not a failure, but has given very good results," said TM Manjunath, Director, Research, Monsanto.

          Branded as BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) by Monsanto, the cotton seed had been designed to control bullworm infestations that heavily destroy crops. However, the seed has been constantly under attack by environmentalists and indigenous farmers who say the harmful effects far outweigh its benefits.Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited, Indian partner of Monsanto, distributes the seeds in the country. The farmers of Tamil Nadu Gujarat and Maharashtra are also growing BT cotton. Traders say India has the world's largest cotton-growing area but its yield is just 300 kg per hectare, less than half the global average of about 650 kg.

VAT put on hold again (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 30: Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said on Wednesday the value added tax (VAT) system cannot be implemented across the country until all preparations are completed. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Singh said the VAT system would be implemented only after working out all the details. "We have also taken notice of the question of adequate preparation in the administrative machinery before introduction of this very important tax reform and that is why I have said and I repeat that the patchwork or an ill-implemented VAT will not serve our purpose. Let us first therefore fully complete our groundwork before we set a new target date of the introduction of VAT," Singh said.

          Law-makers from the Opposition parties criticised the government saying that the new tax system should not have been announced without working out the finer details. Most states had agreed to introduce the VAT, one of the country's most ambitious tax reform measures in 50 years, from June 1 to boost revenues and help bridge a yawning fiscal deficit. The VAT, with a standard rate of 12.5 per cent, was to have been launched on April 1 but was delayed because most of the 28 states were not ready and traders opposed the new system.

          Traders said the VAT would increase their tax burden and push them out of business. Vat is India's most ambitious tax reform in 50 years which aims to cut multiple layers of state and federal taxes and impose uniform tax rates across the country. A state finance ministers' panel had earlier decided that 16 of the 28 states would implement the VAT by June 1 and some states facing elections this year would join later. Analysts say the decision to exclude states facing elections was taken to placate the powerful traders lobby which forms an important support base of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

          They say the tax reform will boost revenues as it is expected to eliminate evasion in the country where less-than-expected tax revenues and lower privatisation receipts have pushed the fiscal deficit to among the highest in the world. The federal government has said the fiscal deficit for 2002/03 (April-March) will be 5.9 per cent of GDP, higher than the targeted 5.3 per cent. The consolidated deficit of states and the federal government is almost 10 per cent of GDP.

Bank rate, CRR cut; RBI projects 6 per cent GDP growth rate (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 29: Reduction in bank rate and cash reserve ratio, projection of GDP growth at six per cent and strengthening of cooperative banking system are the highlights of the monetary and credit policy for 2003-04 which the RBI Governor Bimal Jalan announced here on Tuesday. The announcedment came in the background of the economic setback with the Sars crisis, war on Iraq and global slowdown. While presenting the policy, Jalan shared his stance on the overall economic condition.

          The bank rate is cut by 25 basis points or 0.25 per cent to 6 per cent with effect from close of business hours on Tuesday. The cash reserve ratio (CRR) has also been reduced by 0.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent beginning the fortnight of June 14. The cut in CRR is likely to release an extra Rs 2700 crores in the market. Jalan said that banks would be free to extend direct finance to the housing sector in rural and semi-urban areas. Such lending will be treated as priority lending.

          Dr A C Muthiah, president of FICCI, has welcomed the reduction in bank rate and CRR by 0.25 percentage points, saying that "this measure is in line with RBI's preference for continuation of softer and flexible interest rate environment". Anand Mahindra, president of the CII and Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra and Mahindra, has also welcomed the 25 basis point reduction in the bank rate and cash reserve ratio. The cut, in his opinion, has been in line with the industry's expectations and was an important step towards aligning Indian interest rates with international rates.

Maruti public offer in June (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 28: Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie has said the initial public offer (IPO) of the country's car major Maruti Udyog Limited would be launched in the first week of June. Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Shourie said Maruti's prospectus has been filed with SEBI. "I am confident that we would be able to approach the markets in the first week of June." He said the public issue would be for sale of Government's 25 per cent stake in Maruti. Japanese auto maker Suzuki Motor Corporation has 54.2 per cent stake in the company. Last year, the Union Government had ceded control of Maruti to Suzuki following a Rs 4 billion rights issue. Suzuki acquired about four per cent equity in the company for a consideration of around Rs 14 billion.

Inflation up 6.47 per cent (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 27: The country's inflation reached a two- year high of 6.47 per cent for the week ended April 12 mainly due to high prices of electricity and manufactured products. The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index rose by 0.3 per cent to 172.7 points as compared to 172.1 in the previous week. The final WPI stood corrected at 169.5 for the week ended February 15 as compared to the provisional level of 168.8 and the final inflation was 5.34 per cent as against the provisional figure of 4.91 per cent. Primary Articles' group index fell by 0.1 per cent to 179.4 mainly on account of 0.2 per cent fall in the prices of food articles, even as non-food items became costlier by 0.4 per cent.

Foodgrains production falls by 13 pc (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 25: Foodgrains production in the country declined by over 13 per cent during 2002-03, it was announced here on Friday. The total foodgrains production was recorded at 184.06 million tonnes. In a written reply, Minister of State for Agriculture Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav told the Rajya Sabha the foodgrains stock was well above the buffer norm and there was no crisis in the country. According to him, the stock of wheat and rice under the central pool as on March 1, 2003 stood at 18.58 million tonnes and 17.61 million tonnes, respectively. Oilseeds production slumped by 23.9 per cent to 15.57 million tonnes. The import of edible oils is allowed free, he said, adding "this would help bridge the gap between domestic demand and production."

HPCL offers VRS to surplus staff (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 22: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has proposed to shed about 11 per cent of its workforce by offering the surplus staff a VRS scheme, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday. "A proposal to introduce Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) in HPCL has been submitted to the Government by HPCL," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply.

          Under the scheme, the surplus employees identified by HPCL number about 1,250 in both non-management and management categories. The expenditure to be incurred on the VRS has been estimated at about Rs 2.6 billion, Gangwar added.

Inflation down 6.17 per cent (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 20: The country's inflation fell from a two- year high of 6.24 per cent to 6.17 per cent during the week ended April 5. The wholesale price index (WPI) rose by 0.1 per cent to 172.1 points from 171.9 in the previous week, while primary articles index was sharply up by 1.0 per cent at 179.5 points from 177.8. Food articles group index increased to 180.1 from 178.4 a week ago and non-food articles group index rose to 182.6 from 181.1.

Forex reserves up by 711 mln dlr (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 19: The country's foreign exchange reserves swelled by 711 million dollars and stood at 75,751 million dollars during the week ended April 11, it was reported here on Saturday. The foreign currency assets grew by 711 million dollars and stood at 72,213 million dollars during the said week. The rise was mainly attributed to revaluation of non-US currencies, including the Euro, against the US dollar. Similarly, the loans and advances to Central government rose by Rs 6728 crore at Rs 11,642 crore while to the state governments they increased by Rs 1154 crore at Rs 3682 crore. Gold reserves and special drawing rights (SDRs) remained unchanged at 3534 million dollars and four million dollars, respectively.

Maruti's four millionth car rolls out (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 19: History was created on Saturday when Maruti Udyog Limited, the country's car market leader, rolled out its four millionth vehicle from its manufacturing plant in Gurgaon. The historic vehicle was an Alto LX model, Riviera Red Colour, bearing chassis number 231994 and engine number 3028212. The model is part of the Special Edition series of the Alto, called Alto Celebration.

          After receiving quality clearances and a "Final Check OK" from the production line, it rolled out of the assembly line at 9.30 am from the company's Plant II. The first Maruti vehicle, a Maruti 800, rolled out on December 14, 1983. The company's first million was reached in March 1994, the second million in October 1997, and the third million in June 2000.

Compensation of Rs 2 lakh slapped on GM (India) (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 18: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the General Motors (India) to pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh and refund the price to a consumer to whom the company sold a car by suppressing a crucial fact. The Opel Astra car was actually fitted with an Australian engine, but the consumer was told that it was a "German engineered" one.

           The Redressal Commission described the car as "defective" and held that the US auto giant's Indian subsidiary was guilty of deficiency in service. It ordered the company to refund Rs 734,244 (the cost of the car) to the complainant Vinoo Bhagat with 12 per cent interest a year from the date of purchase till payment. The complainant was also awarded a compensation of Rs 2 lakh. Besides, the Commission asked the company to pay litigation costs of Rs 10,000.

Car sales up by 15.2 per cent in March (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 16: The domestic passenger car sales rose 15.2 per cent in March to 67,817 units from 58,864 in the same month last year, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said in a statement on Wednesday. The car sales in the financial year to March rose 6.4 per cent to 541,738 units from 509,088 in the previous year, the statement added. Sales of trucks and buses combined rose 9.9 per cent in March to 22,082 units from 20,095 in 2002. Full-year sales climbed 30.4 per cent to 191,201 units from 146,671 in the corresponding year.

Hero Honda launches its cheapest bike (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 16: Country's motorbike major Hero Honda launched its cheapest 100cc bike on Wednesday. The latest bike is said to be an alternative to the company's main rival Bajaj Auto's 'Pulsor'. The ex-showroon price of the motorbike 'CD-Dawn' is Rs 31,899 in the Capital. The company expects to sell 7000-8000 units of the bike in April, and hopes sales to increase to 20,000 every month in six months from now.

           Hero Honda is the largest two-wheeler company in the country thereby enjoying 45 per cent share of the domestic market, which is said to be world's biggest motorcycle market. But during the past two years, the company had been facing slowing demand and cut-throat competition. Hero Honda's sales in the past financial year grew by 17.7 per cent to 1.68 million bikes.

Inflation touches two-year high (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 13: The rate of inflation was recorded at 6.24 per cent during the week ended March 29. It was said to be a two-year high. Two years ago during the same week the rate of inflation stood at 1.6 per. The increase in the rate of inflation was attributed to the ongoing Iraq war due to which input costs and prices of manufactured items rose. Price level also rose by 0.25 per cent from 5.99 per cent during the week as prices of primary essential items started rising after the drought-hit kharif and flat rabi harvests. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rose by 0.2 per cent to 171.9 points from 171.6 in the previous week. The rise was mainly due to 0.3 per cent rise in prices of both primary articles and manufactured products. Domestic fuel prices, however, remained static. The final inflation rate was 5.29 per cent during the week ended February 1, as against the provisional figure of 4.86 per cent, while the final WPI was at 169.1 points compared to provisional 168.4 points.

ICICI refutes rumours (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 12: The ICICI bank on Saturday dispelled rumours about its bankruptcy which hit major cities in Gujarat on Friday. Commenting on the issue, Kalpana Morpariya, the Executive Director of the bank, said, "This started day before yesterday in Balsar, which is a town in Gujarat, that there could be problems with ICICI bank. This kind of rumour in a state, where people could have lost a fair amount of money with co-operative banks, quickly caught fire. There were excessive withdrawals at some of our branches with ATMs."

           The rumour had sparked off apparently because of the huge sum the bank has lent to Daewoo Motor India,a company that has been declared sick. Kalpana said that as soon as the news reached the head office, ICICI took stock to ensure availability of adequate cash at all the ATMs.

Prudential Bank director dies in custody (Go To Top)

          Hyderabad, Apr 12: Krishna Kumar, director of the scam- tainted Prudential Co-operative Urban Bank, died in judicial custody on Saturday morning. Just before he breathed his last he had reportedly complained of chest pain. It may be recalled that severe financial irregularities were made against the Bank last month. Following this, Kumar was arrested on April 7 and remanded to judicial custody. Police said 63- year-old Kumar was provided first-aid at Chanchalguda jail where he was lodged. When his condition deteriorated he was shifted to Osmania Government Hospital where he died.

          Bank chairman B. Muralidhar and three other directors were arrested on April 5 on similar charges even as six other directors were still at large. In order to nab the absconding directors, all airports in the country have been put on alert. The Andhra Pradesh unit of CID is investigating the scandal.

Forex reserves stand at over 75,000 m dlrs (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 12: Country's foreign exchange reserves rose by 235 million dollars and stood at 75,040 million dollars during the week ended April 4, it was reported on Saturday. RBI's weekly statistical supplement released here said the foreign currency assets increased by 426 million dollars. The total worth of the assets was estimated at 71,502 million dollars.

          The rise in the assets was attributed to revaluation of non-US currencies, including the Euro, against the dollar. The weekly supplement said the gold reserves dipped by 191 million dollars and stood at 3534 million dollars while special drawing rights (SDRs) remained static at four million dollars. It said the aggregate deposits of scheduled commercial banks for the fortnight as on March 28 stood at Rs 13,04,347 crore.

Petroleum prices to come down by April 15: Naik (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 10: Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that prices of petroleum products are likely to come down in the next few days. Naik said as the war in Iraq was almost over, the international oil prices, which stood at 32.56 US dollars a barrel, came down on Wednesday to 24.14 US dollars. He said keeping this in view the oil companies will take a decision on April 15 keeping consumers' interest in mind. "But how much the prices will come down will be decided by the companies themselves," he added. It would be for the first time that petrol prices would come down this year. Since January prices were increased at least two times.

Fiscal Deficit Remains a Difficult Problem, Says Jalan (Go To Top)
(March 15, 2003)

          NEW DELHI:  Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan said on Saturday the fiscal deficit remained a difficult problem but overall macro-economic conditions were favourable for accelerating growth. "Generally a feeling that the macro-economic circumstances in our country with low inflation, highest reserves as well as the general potential for growth was high and we hope that the budget will contribute to it. And several suggestions were made to the finance minister on the macro economic management, monetary management plus the fiscal side and that he will certainly consider during the course of the year," Jalan told reporters after the meeting of the bank's board of directors with finance minister Jaswant Singh in New Delhi.

           Earlier, during an Economic Survey, India raised its federal deficit estimate for the current financial year ending March to 5.5 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) from an earlier estimate of 5.3 per cent. Often industry blames both Central and State Governments for the burgeoning fiscal deficit saying that unmeasured expenditures on the part of both hurt the country's economy. Jalan said the average rate of inflation continued to be satisfactory despite some adverse impact from a drought and increase in oil prices.

          He said the economy was strong enough to take care of any eventuality arising out of adverse international developments. Washington has said it is willing to attack Iraq even if it fails to secure a fresh United Nations resolution backing a US-led invasion. India opposes any unilateral action against Iraq saying it will have disastrous consequences for the United Nations and the world order.

           "Inflation as we have said. ... outside the drought related commodities as well as the oil prices, the general rate of inflation is fairly comfortable and is about 3 per cent at the moment. And we hope once the war clouds disappear over a period of time and the monsoon is good, we will be back to the rate of inflation which would be very reasonable," Jalan said.

           The country's growth is forecast to slow to 4.4 per cent of GDP in the financial year ending March 2003 because of the impact of the drought on farm sector output from 5.6 per cent a year earlier. India's foreign exchange reserves, running at record levels of more than 73 billion dollars, have been boosted this year by strong inflows from expatriate Indians and exports, particularly by the software sector.

Forex Reserves Maintain Uptrend (Go To Top)
(March 15, 2003)

          MUMBAI: The country's foreign exchange reserves continued to go up and stood at 73,740 million USD during the week ended March 7. The weekly supplement released by Reserve Bank of India here on Saturday said an increase of 863 million USD was recorded during the week.

           Gold reserves and special drawing rights (SDRs) remained static at 3725 million USD and at four million USD, respectively, in the reporting week, according to the supplement. Loans and advances to Central Government continued to have a nil balance but that to State Governments rose by Rs 19.17 billion and stood at Rs 60.70 billion at the end of the said week. Bank credit rose by Rs 95.70 billion at Rs 7136.57 billion.

'Maruti, MRF Top in Customer Satisfaction' (Go To Top)
(March 12, 2003)

          CHENNAI: The country's car major Maruti Udyog Limited has been ranked first by a customer satisfaction index (CSI) study conducted recently. In the premium compact segment, Hyundai's two models - Santro and Accent - emerged on the top, while Toyota Qualis ruled the MUV (multi-utility vehicle) segment. The study, for the second successive year, was conducted by the JD Power Asia Pacific 2002 (India).

          President and CEO of JD Power Asia Pacific Inc Namio Hasumi announced the ratings here on Tuesday night. HM Mitsubishi topped in the sales satisfaction index study, while Bridgestone and MRF shared the top honours in the tyre customer satisfaction index study (TCSI).

           Car experts said the country's automobile sector was fast maturing, and that in terms of quality standards the industry was fast closing in on the standards of developed markets like US and Europe.

Jaswant Rolls Back Fertiliser Price Hike  (Go To Top)
(March 11, 2003)

          NEW DELHI: Finance minister Jaswant Singh said on Tuesday he was withdrawing the increase in fertiliser prices announced last month in the federal budget for the fiscal year starting in April. "We increased the rate of fertilisers to fetch an additional seven billion rupees for improving its quality. But now if everybody objects to it then it won't be hiked," Singh told law-makers in his reply to the debate on the budget that was tabled in Parliament on February 28. Singh had raised urea prices by Rs 12 for a 50 kg bag and prices of other fertilisers by 10 rupees, but the move had led to political uproar, with farmers protesting the move.

Software Exports Touch All-time High  (Go To Top)
(March 8, 2003)

         BANGALORE: Software exports from Karnataka touched an all-time high of Rs 12,000 crore in 2002-2003. Bangalore contributed to the bulk of the exports as multinational IT enabled service providers set up more shops in the software capital. With US clients accounting for more than 60 per cent of India's software exports, industry analysts had apprehended a slowdown last year following the September 11 terror atacks on America. BV Naidu, Director of Karnataka Software Technology Park of India (STPI), said BPO's (Business Process Outsourcing) showed 300 per cent growth during the last year.

Ticket Reservation Privatised in Mumbai  (Go To Top)
(March 7, 2003)

          NEW DELHI: Passenger reservation system terminals have been allotted to three rail travellers service agents on an experimental basis in Mumbai area of Central Railway. Customer service is expected to improve with privatization of ticket reservations. This information was given by the minister of state for railways Bandaru Dattatreya in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Curbs on Forex Loan Prepayments Lifted   (Go To Top)
(March 2, 2003)

          MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India has lifted the 100 million dollar ceiling on pre-payment of external commercial borrowings under automatic route, a release issued by the central bank on Sunday said. Earlier any advance payment out of the market purchases beyond the prescribed limit required RBI's permission.

           The central bank has also allowed Indian companies to invest up to 100 million dollars in overseas joint ventures or wholly owned subsidiaries, under the automatic route. Corporates will also be permitted to invest up to 100 per cent of their net worth in such ventures, up from the earlier 50 per cent.

           The RBI's moves follow finance minister Jaswant Singh's announcements relating to capital account transactions in the budget on February 28. These relaxations will be effective from March 1.

          -ANI & India Overseas

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