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German state seeks Indian
IT expertise Munich, May 30: Bangalore, the silicon valley of the East, is fast becoming a household name in information technology all over the world. Welcoming Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee here on Friday, President of Bavaria state Dr. Edmund Stoiber said, "Bangalore is now-a-days one of the world's leading software producers." Vajpayee said, "India would be keenly interested in developing institutional linkages with Bavaria, which could upgrade the industrial and technological skills in our own polytechnics and universities." He said Indian cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi are also developing useful e-governance systems. "There may be mutual advantages in sharing experiences. I have proposed a partnership between Bavaria and one of our cities in the entire range of the knowledge trade," suggested Vajpayee. Bavaria, one of the most industrially advanced states in Germany, is seeking greater interaction with India, especially in IT and service sectors. Trade between India and Bavaria is currently around 500 million Euros, only 11 per cent of our exports to Germany. Imports from India are dominated by traditional items such as textiles and manufactures. Itr industry of Kannauj is dying a slow death Kannauj (UP), May 29: The indigenous perfume (Itr) industry in Kannuaj town is dying a slow death. Traders said the once-famous flower-based perfume industry has lost its main market after some state governments banned 'Gutka', a chewable tobacco soaked in vegetable edible flavours. Hazi Mohammad Riaz, whose Itra distillation factory has seen output decline by a whopping 80 percent, blamed heavy taxes and government apathy towards the traditional industry. "After the sale of 'gutka' was banned by the government, there was a decline in our business. This is an export-oriented business so the sales tax should not be levied. The government should be more considerate towards this industry," said Hazi Mohammad Riaz, who runs an Itra distillation factory. "The government is not paying enough attention to this industry and that is why the business is down...and there is lot of harassment of the traders by the law enforcing agencies," complains Nasim Ahamd, another Itra producer. Part of the slump in demand is also a result of the younger generation's preference for cheaper chemical based-perfumes available in exotic fragrances. "The older generation prefers Itra while the younger generation has more liking for chemical-based perfumes. That is not benefiting the industry," bemoans Sanjay Gupta, another Itra trader who has been in the business for twenty years. The most expensive is the 'Ruh Gulab' or Rose Itra which costs 190 US dollars for only half a teaspoon. The natural sandalwood based materials like sandal-wood, henna leaves and rose petals are used for distilling Itra. Besides the domestic market the traditional perfume is exported mainly to the Gulf countries. India's sandalwood based perfume was discovered by medieval Mughal rulers. But exorbitant prices and poor marketing is keping 'Itra' away from the main market of perfumes and fragrances. Time ripe for Indian business to venture into Kazakhstan (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 29: A huge opportunity awaits Indian business in Kazakhstan and this is the right time to venture into the former Soviet nation. The key areas that India would avail of included agriculture, oil and gas and SME co- operations. This was the key message emerging out of a meeting organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with the Chairman of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Kazakhstan here on Thursday. Addressing members of the Indian Inc at the meeting, Khamit Rakishev, Chairman of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Kazakhstan, said that Kazakhstan had undertaken a series of measures to improve the business and investment environment in the country. Investor confidence is very adequately reflected in the foreign direct investment flows to Kazakhstan during the last few years, he said. This has been further aided by the establishment of the fact that Kazakhstan is home to one of the richest energy reserves in the world. Rakishev said that a series of economic reforms and liberalisation measures undertaken by the Kazakh government have helped in easing the business environment and have provided the much needed boost for the growth of the Kazakh economy. Earlier, delivering the welcome address, Shiv Vikram Khemka, Exceutive Director SUN Group, said that India and Kazakhstan have come to forge a strong partnership within a short span of time and it is economic cooperation and long-term value-based development of trade relations that will pave the way for future development of bilateral ties between India and Kazakhstan. SAIL net profit Rs 202 crore in Q4 (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 28: The Steel Authority of India Ltd recorded a net profit of Rs 242 crore in the last quarter of 2002-03. With this, the company entered the zone of profit after nearly five years. While the recovery of the steel market helped the company to turn around, the impressive swing was based on all-round improvement in physical performance and strengthening of the financial foundation of the organisation, says a press release. SAIL ended the financial year with a net loss of Rs 304 crore, which is around Rs. 1400 crore or 82 per cent lower than the loss incurred in the previous year. After netting out the capital gains accrued as a result of sale of assets since 2001-02, the company's financials show an impressive actual improvement of around Rs. 1900 crore. During 2002-03, SAIL also achieved a record turnover of Rs.19207 crore, which was 24 per cent higher compared to that of the previous year. It exported 8.5 lakh tonnes of steel during the year, fetching about Rs 1000 crore. Meanwhile, the record production of saleable steel at 10.08 million tonnes by SAIL's four main integrated steel plants not only showed a robust 7 per cent growth but also strengthened the bottom line for the steel major. IOC entering Lankan retail market, Naik to go to Colombo (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 26: Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will leave on Tuesday for a two-day visit to Sri Lanka to mark the first venture of the leading PSU, Indian Oil Corporation, in a foreign retail market of petrol and diesel. He would launch Lanka IOC (Pvt.) Ltd. (LIOC), a wholly owned subsidiary of IOC, with the inauguration of a retail outlet in Colombo on May 28 as part of a chain of 250 retail outlets to be operated by IOC. The LIOC has been formed by Indian Oil for operating in hydrocarbon downstream market of Sri Lanka. These retail outlets will be of international standards providing value added services like ATM, Convenio Stores, Automatic Car Wash, Food Marts etc. The entry of IOC in retail market abroad is a significant achievement considering the highly competitive segment of hydrocarbon business. The LIOC will invest approximately Rs.500 crores in this foreign venture. Ram Naik would also lay foundation for modernisation of China Bay Trincomalee Tank Farm on May 29. The tankage belonging to World War II period would be upgraded to handle the growing volume of operations. Comprising 99 tanks each with a capacity of 12,250 kilolitres, the first phase of modernisation would be completed by December this year. The upgradation plan would involve an investment of approximately Rs.16 crore. He would inaugurate a conference on "India - Sri Lanka: Unleashing the Growth Potential", organised by Confederation of Indian Industry on Wednesday (May 28) on the occasion of "Made In India Show". Heat wave destroys Orissa crops (Go To Top) Navpada (Orissa), May 25: It's starvation time yet again for Orissa, one of the poorest in the country. A severe heat wave across the state has left farmers facing an over 70 per cent crop failure. The state's 1.2 million farmers are now demanding compensation under the federal crop insurance scheme. According to official estimates this year the state government has so far released 3.2 billon rupees as insurance money. But farmers of Navpada district say that they are yet to receive a penny as compensation for crop damage. "I had insured four acres of my land. Everyday I am running from door to door for my insurance money but every day I am turned away by officials who tell me to come later or tomorrow," said Kaldar Sahoo, a farmer. "Now I am helpless. There's no rain, nothing, it's a dry spell. I had ploughed two acres but all is lost. How will we cultivate again? Where will we get the seeds from? This year also I will not get any crop," said 62-year-old Hajaru Sabar. But district collector Pramod Patnaik said he was still hopeful of getting help from the state administration. The Meteorological Department (IMD) in its preliminary forecast has said that monsoon rains would be below normal. It has predicted 21 per cent probability of a severe drought and 40 per cent chances of minor droughts. The four-month southwest monsoon, the lifeline of agriculture and the economy, are crucial in India, driving rural consumption and demand for industrial products. More than 70 per cent of the billion-plus population earn their living from agriculture. Inflation continues to fall (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 25: Inflation continued to fall for the fourth consecutive week shedding another 0.13 per cent to 5.90 per cent for the week ended May 10, even as primary items became costlier. The change in general price line, measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI), fell in the latest reported week after it remained above six per cent for the last seven weeks and the index was only 1.62 per cent an year-ago period. WPI, however, stood firm at the previous week's figure of 172.4 as the indices of fuels and manufactured items remained unchanged and the index was 162.8 in the previous year. The final WPI stood at 171.5 for the week ended March 15 as against the provisional level of 170.8, while the final inflation was 6.0 per cent as compared to the provisional mark of 5.56 per cent. MTNL cuts cell-to-cell STD tariffs by up to 60 per cent (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 23: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has announced up to 60 per cent reduction in tariffs for cell-to-cell long distance (STD) calls. These have been fixed between Rs 1.80 per minute in the plan with monthly rental of Rs 1000 and Rs 1.90 in the plan with monthly rental of Rs 250. Bharti had recently announced plan 0, 1, 2 wherein the tariff for local call on cell-to-cell was fixed at Re 1 and cell-to-cell STD call at Rs 2 with monthly rental of Rs 399, which includes free airtime of Rs 100. As per MTNL's new tariff plan on Friday, charges for a local call cell-to-cell has been reduced to just Rs 0.30 a minute for plan having monthly rental of Rs 1000 while local call to fixed line and WLL phone will cost Rs 0.60. In case of a plan with a monthly rental of Rs 250, local call on cell phone will cost Rs 1.60 while on fixed and WLL phone it will cost Rs 1.90 a minute. The STD charges on fixed line and WLL phone will depend upon the distance. For distance up to 200 km, STD call will cost Rs 1.90 in the lowest monthly rental plan. For distance between 200 to 500 km, the STD call would cost Rs 2.90 and Rs 3.90 for distance beyond 500 km. Tariff for short messaging service (SMS) has been fixed at Rs 0.80 per SMS. Prices of diesel, petrol may be reduced again New Delhi, May 23: In view of appreciation in the rupee value, petrol and diesel prices may be cut further. This hint came from Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Friday. The appreciation in the rupee value has created a scope for further cut in retail selling price of petrol and diesel, he told reporters here. The next price revision is due on May 31. Since the rupee ruled at a two-year peak of Rs 46.90/91 a dollar, imports would be cheaper, benefitting oil companies. World Bank says India has great economic potential (Go To Top) Bangalore, May 21: Dr. Nicholas Stern, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank, has appreciated the growth of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 6.7 per cent in the first five years and at 5.5 per cent in the second five years of its reforms. He has said the country's progressive steps must be emulated by other Third World countries. "Even when I first came to India in 1974, people used to say the Indian rate of growth is 3.5 per cent, that is remarkable and remember the growth of population is lower now that it was at that time. So, I think India's acceleration of growth has been very striking. If you look at how that's come, I think it's very clear that it's been associated with the relaxing of the permit raj in the 1990s and substantial liberalization for foreign trade." The ABCDE is projected as one of the world's best known meets on development. 'Accelerating development' is the theme of the three-day conference in which eminent experts from different parts of the world will present new research findings and discuss policy issues related to poverty alleviation. Since 1989, the ABCDE has been held annually in Washington and for the past four years, a similar conference has been held each year in Europe. Maruti's gross profit stands at Rs 282.1 cr (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 21: Car major Maruti Udyog Limited posted a gross profit of Rs 282.1 crore during 2002-03, the net coming to Rs 146.4 crore, it was reported on Wednesday. In respect of net profit, the company recorded a growth of 40 per cent over the previous financial year's Rs 104.5 crore. The growth in net profit was attributed to measures to enhance productivity and reduce costs. The company's total revenue stood at Rs 9426 crore, compared to Rs 9398.9 crore in 2001-02. It sold 3,62,426 units, thereby recording a growth of about 2.8 per cent over the previous year. In terms of exports, the company registered a growth of 163 per cent over 2001-02. Right people will occupy right places, and India will soon be on top: Premji (Go To Top) Bangalore, May 21: Azim Premji, head of Wipro group, said on Wednesday that the country would soon achieve the status of a developed economy and this will be made possible by the development and deployment of right talent in the public and private services. Addressing a three-day Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE), Premji said that India needs to build up talent keeping in mind the economic scenario 50 years from now. Premji also emphasised that the challenge before India was to develop human capital at the grassroot level and added that "investments made in education and human developments have cascading, long-term benefits." Meanwhile, Chief Economist of the World Bank Nicholas Stern in his brief speech said that the event was aimed at exchanging ideas on development. "There have been strong strides, particularly in the last 15 to 20 years, in development economics around the world and we want to learn from success and failure stories". Record mango output this year, prices down (Go To Top) Surat, May 19: Even in this year's 45-plus degree Celsius summer and consequent water scarcity, there will be plenty of real juicy treat that will beat the heat. Mango, often called the king among fruits, would be available in abundance and, in turn, come cheap. Although the yield is 20 percent less in Gujarat, it has been more than compensated by the bumper harvest in other states. Wholesalers in Surat cite premature rains during January and February as the reason for low yields in the region. "This year there has been a bumper yield of the mango crop. Although, in Gujarat, the yield of Alphonso mango has been at least 15 to 20 percent less as compared to the previous year other states like Maharashtra are experiencing a record yield in a decade," said Jayanti Bhai. Compared to previous years, the mangoes are available at much cheaper rates and indications are that the prices would go down further. "The price of mangoes will be less this year as compared to last year by at least 15-20 percent. The reason is that the yield is a lot more this year in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh," Bhai said. Prices in New Delhi have ruled between a low of Rs 15 and Rs 30 a kilo for popular varieties in the markets despite last month's prolonged strike by truckers. Mangoes are grown in an area of 2.5 million hectares of land in India. One hectare of land which has about a 100 mango trees produces nearly 10 tonnes (1,000 kgs) of mangoes. Uttar Pradesh in the north, Bihar, Orissa and Assam in the east, Maharashtra in the west and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the south are prominent mango-growing states in India. Sixty percent of the produce belongs to the expensive 'Kesar' variety while 15 percent are 'Rajapur', 10 per cent 'Alphonso' and the rest belong to other varieties. India contributes to nearly 60 per cent of the world's total mango production. Out of 1,100 varieties, about 1,000 are grown in India among which Kesar, Totapari, Neelam and Dombaia are very popular. It exports about 28,000 tonnes of mangoes every year to nearly 40 countries, including Kuwait, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Canada. Bengal tea gardens on verge of closure (Go To Top) Jalpaiguri, May 17: Nearly 27 tea estates in Jalpaiguri region have been closed due to a slump in demand for the region's world famous Darjeeling tea in international market. Thousands of farmers and labourers have been rendered jobless as most of the gardens have either been locked out for one month or are on the verge of closure. In the absence of jobs, people are struggling to make ends meet. "What can we do? For earning our bread we have to travel eight to nine km. We have to work as road labourers to support our families," said Mau Bahadur Biswakarma, a tea plucker now engaged in secondary jobs. A former tea employees union leader said they are helping farmers find alternative jobs with the support of local village body. "The present state of the labourers is serious. They are not able to get any work outside, even though many of them are trying. With the assistance of the village local body we are trying to help these labourers get jobs. Very few of them have succeeded in getting jobs," said Mahesh Ram. Experts said the increased use of pesticides and fertilizers has hampered the goodwill of Indian tea in international market, besides competition from other tea producing countries like Sri Lanka and China. "One of the major cause of the problem is that until the year 1998, tea was being sold at a relatively higher price but because of the changes in international business rules and also the increased production, because of both small farmers in the region particularly in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri belt and also the substantial area within north Dinaspur (are suffering). Also the import of cheap tea from several countries has contributed to a decline in prices of tea since 1999," said Subrata Gupta, District Magistrate of Jalpaiguri. The state has 183 established tea gardens belonging to British era, besides over 500 tea gardens were established in recent years. The tea industry in West Bengal forms the backbone of the state's economy. Tea from the gardens in Darjeeling are famous the world over for their finest blends. India is the largest exporter and consumer of tea in the world. India exports 30 per cent of its produce and earns a large amount of foreign exchange. CPM-ruled panchayat cancels Pepsi plant's licence (Go To Top) Palakkad (Kerala), May 16: A village panchayat in this district has cancelled the licence for the Pepsi plant under its area citing "over-exploitation of water resources". But the company defended itself arguing that there was no depletion of the water table on account of its existence. The CPI-(M) controlled Pudussery village panchayat on Thursday cancelled the licence issued to Pepsico India Holdings Pvt Limited's bottling plant at Kanjikode in the district. Pepsico authorities also said it was yet to receive the official communication from the panchayat. BSNL further cuts cellular tariff (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 15: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Thursday announced an up to 66 per cent reduction in its cellular tariff and also introduced a new package Plan 525, where cellular to cellular calls are as low as 40 paise. Announcing this massive reduction in cellular tariff, BSNL chairman and managing director Prithipal Singh said SMS charge for all plans now stands at 60 paise against the existing Re one. As per the announcement, for its already existing Plan 225, cell- to-cell call would now cost Rs 2.20, cell to fixed Rs 2.40. For cell-to-cell STD calls, in this plan, the company would charge Rs 2.40 for all distance slabs. In case of cell to fixed STD calls, BSNL would charge Rs 2.4 for distance up to 500 km and Rs 3.6 for distance above 500 km. The new rates would become effective from May 17. Petrol, diesel prices reduced again (Go To Top) Mangalore, May 15: The government on Thursday announced further cuts in petrol and diesel prices by a rupee per litre each. This new rates take effect from midnight. According to Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, the reduction marks the arrival of India's overseas crude to the country and the rejuvenation of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. He was speaking at a function to mark the receipt of the first shipment of crude from Sudan here. In Delhi, petrol will now cost Rs 30.40 per litre against Rs 31.50 while in Mumbai its price has fallen from Rs 36.43 a litre to 35.24 per litre. Diesel will cost Rs 19.18 per litre in Delhi against Rs 20.13 earlier while in Mumbai, the price has declined from Rs 25.50 to Rs 24.37 a litre. Similarly, the prices in other cities have also been reduced. In the past one month, petrol prices have declined by nearly eight per cent and diesel prices by 13 per cent following fall in international oil prices. Touchtel too slashes rates to raise market share (Go To Top) Chennai, May 15: Touchtel has also joined the race. It announced lower tariff rates on Thursday to woo subscribers among cellphone service providers. Touchtel is a basic service provider in Tamil Nadu and part of Bharati Enterprises Group. Its Chief of Operations Deepak Pande told a media conference here that the reduction aimed at doubling the current number of 70,000 subscribers in the state. Usage benefit on incoming international calls is part of the new policy. This facility is being introduced for the first time in the country. Other features include 25 paise per minute for local calls for high local usage customers, upto 40 per cent off on international calls (ISD) and 40 per cent slash on internet surfing during off- peak hours. Tata Tea to start operations in Pakistan from Oct (Go To Top) Karachi, May 14: Indian tea giant Tata is arriving in Pakistan next October with the UK-based Tetley Tea as its front to begin blending at Hub near Karachi, and marketing in all parts of the country. The Tatas have gained entry in Pakistani market through Tetley Tea, a UK-based tea company, acquired by Tata Ltd India about two years ago. Tetley has signed joint venture agreement with Colgate Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (CPPL), a strong arm of Lakson Group. A senior executive in CPPL, who declined to be quoted, told Dawn on Tuesday that the joint venture has already established its tea blending plant in Hub, Balochistan, and it "is expected to commence its operations in coming October." Tetley's collaboration with a local consumer giant may pose problems to Unilever Pakistan owing to Lakson's strong and well entrenched distribution network. The company is already giving a tough time to Unilever in various consumer goods segments namely detergents, toothpaste and personal grooming products. Pakistan is the third largest tea importer of the world. It mainly imports tea from Kenya, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China and some African countries. Shell given licence to set up petrol pumps in India (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 12: The World's third largest oil and gas group Shell has been given a green signal to set up petrol pumps in India, sources said Monday. The Shell India Pvt Ltd would be required to set up 11.6 per cent of the total petrol outlets in remote and low service areas. Besides, it would be required to sign an agreement with the Indian government indicating year-wise schedule. As per the terms and conditions, the company would furnish a Rs five billion bank guarantee for waiver of the Rs 20 billion minimum investment criteria for getting marketing rights. It would be after nearly three decades when the oil company will start operating in the country. Earlier, in 1976 the Indian Government had nationalised Shell's erstwhile subsidiary Burmah- Shell as Bharat Petroleum Corporation. Thereafter, Shell had applied for a licence to set up 2000 petrol stations to retail petrol and other transportation fuels. Sources said the decision would go a long way towards the government's goal of bringing in more players in petro retailing so that the consumers have a wider choice of quality products and services. The government has already issued licences to Reliance Industries, Essar Oil, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Numaligarh Refinery Limited. These oil companies have collectively set up more than 8600 petrol pumps across the country. Besides, the public sector companies - Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) - run around 19,000 petrol stations throughout the country. According to an estimate, India is seventh largest retail oil market in the world. Tourist boom in Kaziranga, earnings exceed Rs 50 lakh (Go To Top) Guwahati, May 12: There has been an increase in the number of tourists in Assam's Kaziranga National Park, famous for its one-horned rhinoceros, during the season ending April 2003. The 860-km park is open to tourists from October to May, and remains closed during the rainy season. During the seven-month season, at least 60,000 domestic tourists and 2000 foreigners visited the place. NN Basu, director of the park, said the revenue earnings were Rs 53 lakh in the season. "This year the tourist flow was very good. Approximately 60,000 entries of Indian visitors was there. More than 2,000 foreign visitors also came this year. The earnings have been the highest since the park was thrown open to tourists," he added. The number of visitors was 15,000 more compared to the figures for the previous season. Around 44,500 tourists including 1,782 foreign tourists had visited the park last year. About 1,700 of the world's 2300 one-horned rhinoceros live in Kaziranga park. It boasts of having nearly 1048 elephants, the largest in a protected area. The park was declared a reserve forest in 1903-04 during British rule when rampant hunting reduced the number of rhinos to just a dozen. It was also declared as a World Heritage Property by the United Nations Convention for protection of World Culture and Natural Heritage in 1985. Bamboo blooming devastates Tripura farmers (Go To Top) Agartala, May 10: A 'blooming season' is an occasion for every farmer to celebrate - the fruition of labour and toil. But in Tripura, the onset of bamboo blooming is a bane for the livelihood of many. About 115,000 craftsmen and cultivators are facing a severe unemployment threat following the rare phenomenon of bamboo blooming, which occurs once in 40 years. And each time it brings with it the death of the bamboo tree, the mainstay of the tribal economy in Tripura. "Blooming in bamboo is a major cause of worry for us because when they do so, fruits are bound to grow too. This lessens the quality of the bamboo so we have to burn it all. Generally bamboo flowering occurs after every 40 years," said Hirendra Chandra Roy, a bamboo cultivator. Bamboo is of multipurpose utility in the state. Not only does it find use in the manufacture of handicraft items, but is also used in construction of houses of the mainly hilly terrain. "Bamboo is the most important raw material used in our handicrafts industry. If there is no bamboo then our artisans will not be able to make any item. In that case it will not only cause a great loss to the industry but also result in unemployment among the artisans," said Dulal Debnath, a handicraft shop owner. Debnath said the tender shoot of the bamboo is also a staple diet of locals. Mass destruction of these trees has caused worry to vegetable vendors too. The development of bamboo trade in the north-eastern region has been accorded a high priority by the federal government. It has so far sanctioned about 80 million rupees for development of various bamboo and cane projects in the northeastern states. The level of extraction in Tripura is 184.60 million trunks per annum. It is widely used in housing sector and paper mills. Forex reserves up by 588 mln dlr (Go To Top) Mumbai, May 10: Country's foreign exchange reserves rose by around 588 million US dollars during the week ended May 2 and stood at 77,598 million USD. The Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement, which was released on Saturday, said the foreign currency assets rose by 33 million USD to reach 74,205 million USD. The rise was mainly attributed to fresh inflows and revaluation of non-US currencies, including the Euro, against the US dollar. According to the RBI supplement, gold reserves during this period declined by 145 million USD at 3389 crore USD. The decline was mainly due to volatility in the prices. Special drawing rights (SDRs) remained unchanged at four million USD. The loans and advances to Central government rose by Rs 7193 crore at Rs 15,152 crore while that to state governments declined by Rs 3111 crore at Rs 2836 crore. MobileFirst operators sign accord with BSNL (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 8: RPG, Escotel, BPL and Spice, under MobileFirst alliance, on Thursday entered into an agreement with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for routing their long distance traffic on the latter's network in the post-IUC regime. The four individual operators have entered into an agreement with BSNL for carrying traffic on BSNL's NLD network, according to Rajan Swaroop, CEO of Escotel. It was a new agreement under the IUC regime, which came into force from May 1. Two other cellular operators Hutch and IDEA are also believed to have signed similar agreement with BSNL. Hyundai reaches a landmark with 400,000th car (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 8: Hyundai Motor India rolled out its 400,000th vehicle from its plant near Chennai on Thursday. The company began commercial production in October 1998 in India. Output rose because of a growing domestic demand and an export thrust, said a statement. UP's mango crop falls prey to pests, tree density (Go To Top) Malihabad (UP), May 8: Mango yield in Uttar Pradesh has been badly hit by a pestilence, commonly called 'Jhumka disease.' The pest affects the unripe mangoes, turning their peel brown and the fruits get rotten fast. Malihabad town, where 85 per cent of the population are mango growers, is one of the worst-affected regions in UP in this regard. The planters say that besides the pest attack, high density of trees has also added to their low yield. "There are a lot of reasons for destruction of the fruit belt. Firstly, the belt has been severely hit by pests and secondly, the trees in the area have become more dense due to which most of them do not get the nourishment they require," said Kalimullah Khan, a mango grower. This year's production would be down by at least 50 per cent, according to the cultivators. "We have been affected by more than 50 per cent. Not only here, if you go to adjoining areas, you will find very nominal yield of mango there. In some places a tree which earlier used to yield 20 boxes of mangoes, is now yielding only one box," said Dharmendra Gupta, another mango grower. Mango harvest in the state was severely hit by a prolonged spell of cold wave last year. Indian mangoes account for 60 per cent of the world's production. The states of UP, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are prominent mango-growing areas in the country. Out of 1,100 varieties, about 1,000 are grown in India among which Kesar, Totapari, Neelam and Dombaia are very popular. The country exports about 30,000 tonnes of mangoes every year to nearly 40 countries, including Kuwait, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Canada. Long distance calls from cellphone 20-30 pc cheaper (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 5: The cellular operators have reduced the tariff for long distance calls from mobile phones to land lines by 20-30 per cent. The new rates came into effect from May 1, it was reported on Monday. 'MobileFirst', an alliance of cellular operators - BPL Mobile, Escotel, RPG Cellular and Spice - also announced two new post- paid tariff plans. In the pre-paid tariff package, local outgoing calls can be made from mobile phones to landlines at a flat rate of Rs 3 per minute, including the 'PSTN' charges. The STD rates for distances less than 200 km have come down to Rs 3.5 per minute for calling all landlines, mobile phones and WLL (Wireless in Local Loop) phones. This is against an earlier average charge of Rs 4.39 per minute for landlines and Rs 4.98 for 'mobile to mobile' calls. Besides, for distances over 200 km the new composite rate will be Rs 4.5 per minute down from earlier charge of Rs 6.79 and Rs 4.98 for landlines and mobile phones, respectively, translating into a decline of up to 30 per cent. For post-paid subscribers, the alliance announced two new tariff plans - 'MobileFirst 399' and 'MobileFirst 599'. In case of the former there is a monthly tariff fee (MTF), including monthly rental of Rs 399, local outgoing rate of Rs 2 per minute, including IUC and pulsing at 60 seconds. In the second plan, the MTF including monthly rental is Rs 599 with local outgoing rate of Rs 1.2 per minute and pulsing at 60 seconds. In both plans the incoming calls are free. Automobile exports up by 65 pc (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 5: Automobile exports went up by a whopping 65.3 per cent during 2002-03, it was reported on Monday. The increase was mainly attributed to rise in the exports of country- made two-wheelers and cars. A total of 3.05 lakh vehicles were shipped during the last fiscal compared to around 1.84 lakh units in the previous fiscal. The figures were compiled by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The data showed an impressive growth of 14.8 per cent in domestic sales of the automobiles. However, exports of commercial, utility and multi-purpose vehicles declined during the year. According to SIAM figures, country's largest car major Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) posted a 182.7 per cent rise in the exports. The company exported a total number of 31,518 units. Ford India's exports fell by 10 per cent to 27,355 units. Exports of Hyundai Motor grew by 65.4 per cent to 8966 units but Tata Engineering registered a 10.5 per cent decline at 1940 units. Hindustan Motors recorded a rise of 46 per cent to 92 units while General Motors and Honda Siel exported 39 and 67 cars during the said fiscal. Notwithstanding the good run in the domestic market, exports of commercial vehicles fell by 9.82 per cent and the total number of units exported stood at 10,704 units. This was mainly attributed to a 16.2 per cent dip in light commercial vehicle (LCV) exports at 5900 units while that of medium and heavy commercial (M and H) vehicles saw a decline of 0.41 per cent to 4804 units. M and H bus exports of Ashok Leyland and Tata Engineering posted a rise of 53.2 and 368.3 per cent to 1226 and 1522 units respectively, the figures released by SIAM said. CII-IFC accord on private sector development (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 1: With a view to work together and host events to promote private sector development in India, the International Finance Corporation, Washington, and the Confederation of Indian Industry signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) here on Thursday. The agreement, the first of its kind, will enable CII to provide assistance to IFC through its headquarters located in New Delhi and its vast network of 35 offices spread throughout the country. CII will also help organize meetings, seminars and conferences for IFC in India. On the other hand, IFC will provide CII, on a best efforts basis, available market information and references in exploring advancement opportunities in countries which have IFC membership. The agreement was signed by Tarun Das, Director-General, CII, and Peter L. Woicke, Executive Vice-President of IFC. -ANI |
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