COMPANIES
Visa
Steel, China's Baosteel plan ferrochrome JV
Mumbai:
Visa Steel Ltd
has entered into a joint venture agreement with China's Baosteel Trading Co. Ltd
and Switzerland-based VISA Comtrade AG to set up a 1,00,000 tonne ferro-chrome
plant in Orissa.
Visa
Steel would hold 51 per cent stake in the joint venture,
to be set up at a cost of Rs260 crore, the company
said in a statement.
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VSNL
launches `Trueroots' international calling service to the US
Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) will launch `Trueroots' - a new facility which will allow
the people of South Asian origin in the US to make calls to their country using
its prepaid service without obtaining the calling cards - from August 21.
This
new service will compete with the several other providers, including Reliance
Communications.
Officially
available in the US beginning 21 August, the new Trueroots
international calling service will offer superior
voice quality and easy to access connectivity across
the globe, without hidden fees or extra charges and
without the need for a physical calling card, which
can often be lost or stolen and subject to fraudulent
use, VSNL said in a statement.
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GENERAL
New
urban housing policy to finalised
Minister of state for housing
and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja today said a new policy for urban housing
is likely to be finalised and implemented shortly.
The
minister said that the current national housing and habitat policy had come into
effect in 1998 and it was felt that to streamline and augment housing development,
particularly for urban poor in the new emerging context, it has been decided to
have an updated housing policy.
The
draft national urban housing and habitat policy, inter-alia
provides for accelerating the pace of development
of housing and related infrastructure; creating adequate
and affordable housing stock both on rental and ownership
basis; encouraging State Governments/Development Authorities
to periodically update their Master Plans and Zoning
Plans; and facilitating accelerated supply of serviced
land in housing with particular focus on Economically
Weaker Section and Low Income Group categories, the
House was informed.
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Government
to substantially hike wheat, rice support price next year
Mumbai:
The government is planning substantial hike in minimum price it pays to farmers
for buying wheat and rice next year, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said
The
government had fixed minimum support price for wheat at Rs850 per quintal on March
15 this year when the commodity was being traded at Rs743.72 per quintal in international
market, Pawar said.
"Next
year also this government will give substantial rise in MSP for wheat and rice,"
he said.
He
also defended the Rs1,100 per quintal import price of wheat saying after adding
Mandi, baggage and transportation charges the price for domestic wheat also came
close to Rs1,100 per quintal.
In
comparison, the landed price of imported wheat in Southern India came to Rs1,200
per quintal.
Pawar
said since procurement of foodgrains under MSP operations
is open-ended, no targets are fixed. However, based
on estimates given by state food secretaries, an estimate
of 15.15 million tonnes was fixed for wheat procurement
this year. Against this, only 11.104 million tonnes
of wheat was procured, he said.
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Inflation
rate falls to 4.05 per cent
Mumbai: The annual rate of inflation
based on the wholesale price index (WPI) declined to 4.05 per cent for the week
ended August 4 from 4.45 per cent in the previous week due to lower prices of
fruits, vegetable, poultry chicken, moong and some manufactured items.
The
inflation rate stood at 5.08 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago.
During
the week, prices of fruits, vegetables and poultry chicken declined by five per
cent each, while those of moong and fish-marine fell by one per cent. However,
prices of aviation turbine fuels inched up by four per cent while tea, arhar and
milk moved up.
In
manufactured products, imported edible oil, methanol,
basic pig iron, foundry pig iron and bakery products
got cheaper.
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Infrastructure
sector growth down to 5.3 per cent in June
Mumbai: The growth rate
of six key infrastructure industries declined to 5.3 per cent in June against
7.7 per cent a year ago pulled back by a fall in the production of crude oil and
a slowdown in the output of other products.
The
growth of the six infrastructure industries with a combined weight of 26.7 per
cent in the index of industrial production (IIP), was also lower at 6.9 per cent
during the April-June quarter as against 7.4 per cent in the first quarter of
2006-07, according to official data.
Barring
electricity, every other industry - petroleum refinery products, coal, cement
and finished steel - recorded a slow growth in June. Crude oil production declined
in June by 1.8 per cent to 27,74,000 tonnes compared to 28,26,000 tonnes a year
ago.
Electricity,
which has the largest weight of over 10 per cent in
IIP, however, grew by 6.8 per cent in June compared
to 4.9 per cent in the same month last year.
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MARKETS
Markets
end volatile despite spectacular 500-point rebound
It was one of the most volatile days for the markets in the recent past with the
Sensex having opened weak with over 150 points cut following the second steepest
ever drop yesterday and proceed to trade extremely weak on account of subprime
issue coupled with Yen carried trade.
Sensex
fell nearly 600 points by the mid session but in post lunch trade the bulls put
up brave fight leading to spectacular recovery over 500 points. But finally, the
bulls could not maintain their momentum and again markets slipped in late trade
on the back of sharp sell off witnessed in metal and IT stocks.
Sensex
ended down 216.69 points or 1.51% at 14141.52, and the Nifty was down 70.55 points
or 1.69% at 4108.05. About 1010 shares have advanced, 1940 shares declined, and
52 shares are unchanged.
Asian
markets slipped further in todays trade.
