petro prices may not go up
new delhi: the government is not likely to increase the prices of petrol and diesel before the union budget, according to petroleum and natural gas minister ram naik. mr naik says the government has accrued about rs 7,000 to rs 8,000 crore as customs duty on petroleum imports in fiscal 1999-2000 because of the global increase in petroleum product prices. the minsitry has asked the finance ministry for the use of this amount, mr naik said.

mr naik said that as per the earlier formula, petroleum prices were to be revised every two months to take care of the oil pool deficit. however, as price increase leads to increase in  import duty, he said he has suggested to the finance minsiter that the oil pool deficit may be reduced by allocating rs 7,000 to rs 8,000 crore available from the import duty.

shcil waives ceiling on free custodial service
pune: the stock holding corporation of india has raised the waiver level for custody charges to individual holdings of up to rs 1 crore from the present level of rs 15 lakh. the corporation's managing director and chief executive officer b.v. goud said it has done this in response to requests of investors. at present, the corporation waives these charges for assets up to rs 15 lakh. the new scheme will not apply to companies.