Garment exports, hit by air cargo bottleneck, will not hit target
New Delhi: According to estimates made by the Apparel Export Promotion Council, India exported 12,808 lakh pieces of readymade garments valued at $4,919.5 million between April 1999 and February 2000. The level was 2.64 per cent higher than the previous corresponding period in terms of quantity and 3.18 per cent in terms of value. The value of such exports in the full year is likely to fall well short of the target of $6,000 million.

To make matters worse, garment exporters are now facing problems finding air cargo space. It is reported that garments worth some $100 million have been held up as a result. Exporters are being forced to wait for over 15 days to despatch their goods, and freight costs have shot up by a half.
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CII report is optimistic about consumer goods
New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry’s Ascon Industry Monitor shows optimism about consumer goods for the next six months, and expects 15 per cent growth in this sector. The outlook for capital goods and basic industries is, however, bleak, according to Ascon.
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Legal anomalies in debt bill corrected
New Delhi: On 9 March the Union government introduced the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions (Amendment) 2000 Bill, to replace an ordinance issued on 17 January. The bill seeks to correct certain legal anomalies pointed out by the Supreme Court and, inter alia, empowers tribunals to distribute sales proceeds among secured creditors in accordance with Companies Act provisions.
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Unions coalescing
New Delhi: National trade union federations are considering ways to overcome political differences and improve coordination. These federations, including the Aituc, BMS, Citu, HMS, and Intuc, want to be able to negotiate as one on major trade union issues.

The plans being considered include merger of all national federations into a single entity that would negotiate broader economic issues while leaving industry-level bargaining to industry federations.
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Glitch in optic fibre cable network
New Delhi: Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has objected to the railways having launched optic fibre networks without going through a competitive bidding process, and has asked Rites and Ircon, two railway divisions, to stop laying cable in the Delhi-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai sectors. The minister wants to transfer the railways telecom assets, including the planned optic fibre network to a separate corporation.

The affected projects: the Rites-BPL Telecom project in the Delhi-Chennai sector, and the Ircon-British Telecom-Enron Communications-Mahindra Information Technology project in the Delhi-Mumbai sector.
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Hinduja power project guarantee extended, not Ispat’s
New Delhi: It is reported that the Union finance ministry has extended the validity of the counter-guarantee for the Hinduja-National Power project at Vishakapatnam but not that of the Bhadrawati project promoted by the Ispat group.

The Hinduja project has received a six-month extension for the counter-guarantee given to it. The project must achieve financial closure within this period. Extension of the counter-guarantee for Ispat project has been withheld pending some clarifications from the Maharashtra state government.
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Anti-dumping duty on sodium cyanide
New Delhi: The commerce ministry has recommended imposition of a definitive anti-dumping duty on sodium cyanide imported from the US, the European Union, South Korea and the Czech Republic. The duty has been fixed at Rs.68,025 per tonne.

The users of this product are manufacturers of dye intermediates, electroplating chemicals, and heat treatment salts.
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Cegat imposes duty in $ terms
Calcutta: It is reported that the government’s customs excise gold (control) appellate tribunal (Cegat) has, for the first time, imposed an anti-dumping duty in dollar terms. This action applies to the import of Chinese coke, on which importers will have to $18-25 per tonne anti-dumping duty.

The users affected will mainly be Indian mini-blast furnace-based sponge and pig iron makers. These producers, who have importing Chinese coke because of its low asj content compared with Indian coke, will have to pay Rs 700-1200 per tonne more for this commodity.
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Deutsche, Dresdner merge
Frankfurt: Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG and Dresdner Bank AG are merging to create the world's largest bank. One fallout of the merger will be the retrenchment of over 16,500 employees from 2001.

The merger will be effected through a share swap. With the merger, the combined entity is expected to gradually exit mass retail banking and focus on asset management and wholesale banking.
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