Asia Africa Intelligence Wire articles from July 2004, page 1248

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire archives from July 2004

'J&K infiltration under control, but no troops cut'.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Masood Hussain SRINAGAR: Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee ruled out the possibility of troops reduction or withdrawal of laws offering special powers to the security forces in J&K. This was...

States may take sting out of upa's irrigation promises.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Tina Edwin : Huge underfunding by state governments is likely to undermine a major pro-farmer initiative, that of irrigation, of the new government at the Centre. State governments will have to...

Left miffed at 'Centre to district' fund transfer.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The Prime Minister's proposal to route developmental funds directly to district authorities has the Left frowning. The key ally of the government sees it as a move that would disrupt the process of "genuine"...

Cabinet expansion on the cards.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to undertake a minor expansion of his Union Cabinet soon. According to government circles, a handful of ministers may be sworn in, possibly before the Budget...

PM's advice to president is binding: Venkatraman.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: CL Manoj : Even while the Opposition petitions Rashtrapati Bhavan against the UPA government's imminent plan to remove governors appointed by the Vajpayee government, former president R Venkatraman...

UPA to get cracking on guvs, six names lined up for the sack.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Swaraj Thapa : The UPA government is finally set to make its move on removing governors appointed by the previous regime. As many as six governors are expected to be shown the door within this week....

Singh to wipe Andhra farmers' tears.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is arriving here on day's visit on Thursday to console bereaved families of farmers who had committed suicides. Incidentally, this is his first official visit to any...

Tainted ministers justified in coalition politics: Manmohan.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today explained the continuance of tainted ministers in the government as a compulsion of coalition politics. Talking to the media on the sidelines of a function at the...

TN revives secretariat proposal.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The Tamil Nadu government has revived its grand plan to build a new secretariat complex and ancillary buildings on 43.2 acres of prime land at Kotturpuram. The land belongs to the Anna University, Government...

Jharkhand minister's fate taped.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : A sting operation, captured on an audio CD, has claimed the scalp of another high-profile victim, this time a cabinet minister in Jharkhand. The state revenue and land reforms minister, Madhu Singh, was...

90 to 60: An uphill task ahead for Mulayam.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : For Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, the task of restructuring his government by downsizing it to the constitutionally-mandated strength of 60 is proving to be a far more onerous task than forming...

South Block story: 'Sir, it is time for you to eat lunch'.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Arvind Padmanabhan : Away from public eye, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gets so engrossed in work that his doctors often have to intervene during meetings and prod him to take a breather, his aides...

Women's Bill to be taken up in Budget session.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The UPA government has decided to introduce the long-pending and contentious Women's Reservation Bill in the Budget session of the Parliament. The government will introduce the Bill in it's original form,...

Paswan lures ex-BSP chief Baraiya into LJP.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Phool Singh Baraiya, the former Madhya Pradesh BSP chief credited with expanding the party's base in the state, but expelled by Mayawati in October last following differences over the Dalit outfit's approach...

Shinde's ministers put in their papers.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : After initial resistance, all the 63 ministers in the Sushilkumar Shinde government on Wednesday put in their papers to enable the chief minister to reduce the size of the Cabinet, in keeping with the recent...

Give and let live.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Girish Kuber : It's election time and the Maharashtra government is determined to give away as many sops as possible. The government on Wednesday declared sops for various categories of electricity...

Satish Sharma set to become oil minister.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to undertake a minor expansion of his Union Cabinet soon. According to government circles, a handful of ministers may be sworn in, possibly before the budget...

VHP gives one-year mandir deadline.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The VHP, which is bracing for a confrontation with the Centre over Ayodhya, today set a one-year deadline for beginning the construction of Ram Temple. Announcing this on the opening day of the two-day...

Kalam has no choice, says RV.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: C L Manoj : Even as the Opposition petitioned Rashtrapathi Bhavan against the UPA government's imminent plan to remove some governors appointed by the Vajpayee government, former president R...

Poland keen on N-E.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) GUWAHATI: Poland is keen to have a business relationship with the North-East. It will explore the possibility of foreign direct investment in agriculture, power and mining in Assam and other states of the...

Microsoft to settle suit for $34 million.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) LOS ANGELES: Microsoft said it will offer as much as $34m in product vouchers to settle a class action in Massachusetts, the latest resolution to suits claiming it broke laws on unfair competition and consumer...

'Steel exports must be controlled'.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: The RAM VILAS PASWAN Interview / K G Narendranath Ram Vilas Paswan, Union minister for steel and chemicals & fertilisers courted controversy by suggesting the setting up of a steel regulator. He also...

A ten-year-old giant.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: EDITORIAL When the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a fallout of the Harshad Mehta-led stock market scam, was set up on 30 June 1994, it didn't have too many rooting for it. Ten years down the...

Loitering with interest.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: EDITORIAL The ongoing wage revision exercise in public sector banks (PSBs) just adds to the long list of minuses banking companies are likely to be up against in the coming months. After a dream...

Ominous portents.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: EDITORIAL When the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, calls a meeting of chief ministers to unleash a New Deal for rural India, and most CMs of his own party fail to land up, the portents are sombre....

Spotted, a tangible difference.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Gurbir Singh With the election fever still on in the month of May, expectedly the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Congress-I were the top spending brands in the print media. The BJP topped the...

Ministers' plans to nurse sick state units to cost govt dear.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: KG Narendranath : It's time for rejuvenation. The UPA government wants to enrich at least a dozen profligate public sector enterprises (PSEs) that had quietly waited for Doomsday. Ministers in...

Fiscal deficit surges 14% on spending spree.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The Centre's fiscal deficit up to the end of May '04 stood 14% higher, at Rs 38,982 crore, compared to Rs 34,141 crore in the same period last year, mainly due to a surge in expenditure. An accounting...

Fickle clients pep up MF equity biz.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Ashwin J Punnen : Churning within equity schemes has gone up sharply as distributors are said to be encouraging investors to switch between various fund houses as market turns volatile. In...

US Indian firms hire from India.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) More and more Indian American entrepreneurs are finding that it pays to keep a foot on both sides of the Atlantic. A lot of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs of Indian origin are using their Indian connections to...

Tough call for geeks: relocate or quit.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: LOPAMUDRA GHATAK Ravi's home affair was in a state of flux ever since he was told that his office would be shifting to Bangalore. A chord of disquiet loomed large over the 35-year-old software...

Cognizant to wind up Irish unit on euro's rise.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced that it plans to close its software development facility in Limerick, Ireland over the course of the next year. Acquired in '02, the facility provides...

Flat steel cos to retain HRC prices at Rs 25,000\tn.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Flat steel manufacturers will maintain basic hot rolled coil (HRC) prices at levels of Rs 25,000 per tonne at least for the next few months, if government levies on steel like excise and customs duties remain...

Dell banks on blade servers to regain market.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) NEW YORK: Dell said on Wednesday it will launch a new `blade' computer server by the end of this year, as it seeks to take back lost market share by undercutting rivals such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Two...

Paswan's agents to spice up steel sector.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: TK Arun & KG Narendranath : Union steel minister Ramvilas Paswan plans to appoint a few hundred agents to sell steel produced by the public sector to users. At present, there are a number of...

Nilgiri's to offload 25% to finance US foray.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Chaitali Chakravarty : The Rs 240-crore supermarket chain Nilgiri's plans to offload 25% stake in Nilgiri's Franchise to private equity funds to finance expansion plans. This apart, the chain is...

Medical tourism takes a reverse flight.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Jeetha D'Silva & Candice Zachariahs : There's a new twist to the medical tourism story. For the past few years, Indian healthcare players have been trying to attract foreigners to the country for...

Bookings up 25% till May.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Arshdeep Sehgal Here is some good news for the Indian aviation industry. The domestic airline bookings have risen by 25% for January-May this year over the corresponding period last year, reports...

Airlines brace for 10-70% fare cut.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Girish Rao : India may have some serious distance to cover before catching up with the aviation business in Europe and the US, but it appears to have made a strong beginning. By the end of this...

Anti-terror code: Domestic shipping companies pass the test.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Anto T Joseph : Just a day before the July 1 deadline, Indian ports and shipping companies have achieved near 100% compliance in the mandatory implementation of International Ship and Port Facility...

Dubai Ports to inject Rs 225 cr in local units.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Partha Ghosh & Satyendra Shrivastava : Dubai Ports International has decided to invest Rs 225 crore in its two proposed subsidiaries in the country. The port major has got the government nod to bring...

SCI FY04 net jumps 128% to a record Rs 627 cr.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 627 crore for '03-04, its highest-ever and up 128% from last year. Its total income increased by 30% at Rs 3,167 crore during...

Amby strikes a cord with the young.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: J Padmapriya HYDERABAD: Associating Hindustan Motors' Ambassador with the under-35 years jet set is a far cry. But then, if early indications are anything to go by, HM seems to have hit a cord with...

For your fave car, you are mostly in a queue.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Girish Rao : It appears that in a country of India's size, some things may never change, even if the winds of change are blowing hard. Despite plenty of options, customers still have to queue up for...

TVS ropes in top cricketers for Victor 125 GLX.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: D Govardan : Two-wheeler major, TVS Motor Company (TVS-M) is all set to unleash a new television commercial (TVC) this weekend that features ace cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Shoaib Akthar, Brett Lee...

Yamaha's Fazer to rev up 125-cc bike market.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: D Govardan : Yamaha Motor India's 'Fazer' will be the latest entrant to the expanding range of 125 cc motorcycles in the market. To be priced around Rs 43,900 (ex-showroom Chennai), Frazer will...

VST hopes to be debt-free soon, roll-outs on anvil.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) HYDERABAD: Tobacco major VST Industries hopes to become debt-free in a few months and plans to roll out its new brands in king-size and premium regular-sized filter segments into select major towns during the...

Opto Circuits posts 76% jump in net.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Opto Circuits (India) has shown a 54% growth in revenues and 76% jump in net profits last fiscal. Revenues were Rs 58.52 crore and net profit was Rs 13.02 crore in fiscal 2003-04, compared to Rs 38.07...

GMR Energy plans IPO.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Bodhisatva Ganguli & Anto T Joseph : GMR Energy, an independent power producer, which is part of the Hyderabad-based Rs 2,500-crore GMR Group, is planning an initial public offer (IPO) to raise...

Private banks target $15 b from Asian charity funds.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) SINGAPORE: Singapore's Tsao family has donated about S$15 million ($9 million) to charity in the past five years, but Mary Ann Tsao says it may have been more if professional money managers had been involved....

Banks in W Bengal step up credit plans by 25%.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The government's decision to double agricultural credit in three years has seen banks operating in West Bengal step up annual credit plans by 25% to Rs 6,740 crore this year. The state will also see the...

PNB to offer gold card to exporters.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : Punjab National Bank (PNB) has formulated gold card scheme for its exporter clients based on the scheme drawn up by the Reserve Bank of India. The scheme proposes to ensure easy availability of export credit...

Lifestyle drugs turn thrust area for Biocon.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: M S Anand HYDERABAD: Biocon India is set to become the first thoroughbred biotech company to enter the lifestyle drugs market, till now the preserve of pure-play pharma companies in India. This...

Healthcare hopes for healthier days ahead.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Byline: Team ET The Indian healthcare industry has its hopes pinned on the new finance minister. While previous Budgets have given the sector little to cheer about, the sector expects to get a generous dole...

Lower earnings see Dr Reddy's EVA down by 83%.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) HYDERABAD: Even though the shareholders' fund is higher by 12% at Rs 2,104 from the previous Rs 1,883 crore, the Economic Value Added (EVA) of Dr Reddy's Laboratories is down by nearly 83%, on account of lower...

Pfizer Q2 net rises to Rs 9 cr, sales up 19%.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) : The Indian arm of the world's largest drug maker, Pfizer, has registered a 673% increase in net profit to Rs 9.4 crore for the second quarter ended May 31, '04, from the corresponding period last year. ...

Platinum play: PGI ties up with Oyzterbay.
July 1, 2004... (From The Economic Times) Bangalore: Platinum Guild International (PGI) has announced a tie-up with Oyzterbay. The tie-up assumes importance for PGI in that it is trying to pull young buyers into buying more of the world's most precious...

5.2% DECLINE IN SPUN YARN PRODUCTION BY SIMA MILLS (cotton yarn production declined by 6.8 percent during 2003- 2004).
July 1, 2004... (From India Business Insight) The production of spun yarn by the member mills of Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) declined by 5.2 percent in 2003-2004 with exports falling by 3.4 percent. Cotton yarn production declined by 6.8...

RIL BECOMES WORLD'S LARGEST POLYESTER PLAYER, BUYS TREVIRA (for Euro 80 million).
July 1, 2004... (From India Business Insight) Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has acquired Trevira GmbH for Euro 80 million, thereby becoming the largest polyester fibre and yarn company in the world. Trevira GmbH is based in Frankfurt, Germany and...

AGRICULTURE MINISTRY'S COTTON CROP ESTIMATE IRKS TRADE AND INDUSTRY (the Ministry has predicted that cotton production in India during 2003-2004 will be 135 lakh bales).
July 1, 2004... (From India Business Insight) India's cotton trade and textile industry are upset with the Agriculture Ministry, Government of India, because of its low cotton crop estimates. The Ministry has predicted that cotton production in India...