To prevent sugar prices from becoming a tool in the hands of opposition parties in the parliamentary elections, the government has allowed government agencies like MMTC, STC, NAFED and PEC to import one million tonne of white sugar duty-free. The export obligation on raw sugar imports under open general licence scheme has also been removed.
Of the over 900,000 registered with the exchange for government jobs in 2008, only 26,752 got placed. The previous AIADMK government had put on hold new recruitments, except in departments like police, teachers and medicines. After the DMK government took over, it was decided to fill the vacancies across all departments through the exchange. Since then, 232,417 vacancies were filled, of which 46,931 candidates were appointed in various posts through the employment exchange.
The initial cost of the reserve, expected to become operational by 2012, was estimated at Rs 2,400 crore (Rs 24 billion), excluding the cost of crude oil. Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, special purpose vehicle that is implementing the project, has asked Engineers India Ltd to work on the revised cost," said sources. EIL is the management consultant for this project.
The food-price segment in the WPI has been growing at 8.3 per cent, much higher than the rise in the index for manufactured articles. In fact, segments like minerals and fuel have witnessed a decline in the WPI and have pulled the inflation down. The rise in food prices affects the common man more than the increase in prices of any other item.
Procurement by the end of this season is likely to touch a new record of 29-30 million tonnes, surpassing the earlier high of 28.4 million tonnes. The country's rice output in 2008-09 is also estimated at an all-time record of 98.89 million tonnes. Punjab has been the largest contributor to the rice stock at 8.38 million tonnes, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Procurement is up in all top-producing states except in Haryana and Chattisgarh.
A senior EPFO official said, "(Subhiksha) was given 15 days, starting February 20, to pay the PF dues. Since these were not paid, we will go ahead with the action and set a target to collect the dues before March 31, 2009, when the fiscal year comes to an end." The PF dues to be paid for the June-September period of 2008 were around Rs 1.46 crore. The status of Subhiksha's PF payments in other parts of the country will also be checked.
Baldev Raj, scientist and director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, said the current installed nuclear power generation capacity is likely to increase five-fold to 25,000 Mwe by 2050 from the current 3,900 Mwe. The proposed expansion would require over Rs 125,000 crore. Nuclear power accounts for 3 per cent of India's total electricity generation and is estimated to go up to 25 per cent in 2050.
The proposals under consideration include waiving the current 5 per cent Customs duty on naphtha and reducing the excise duty on mono ethyl glycol from 8 per cent to 4 per cent. The Cabinet secretariat has sought views from various ministries and departments for this package.
India's sea ports do not have equipment to detect radioactive or contaminated consignments, exposing the country to security and safety risks, besides damaging reputation of goods manufactured in the country.
The first phase of SMOs was undertaken by RBI in June last year. The second phase, which began in November 2008, ended in the first week of January this year. Under the arrangement, RBI bought oil bonds from these companies and issued them dollars to import oil. Other than the RBI, the Life Insurance Corporation of India is another major subscriber to such bonds and certain quantities are also traded in the market.
Rules out involvement of nominee and independent directors.
The town houses some 1,500 small and tiny units, of which 75 per cent are engaged in manufacturing components for the automotive industry. The town houses some 1,500 small and tiny units, of which 75 per cent are engaged in manufacturing components for the automotive industry.
The Employees' Provident Fund Office in Chennai said it intends to attach the properties of the promoters of struggling retail chain Subhiksha to meet provident fund dues for around 4,500 employees in and around the city.
After a year of sluggish growth in fuel retail outlets, the three state-run oil-marketing companies--Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation--have chalked out aggressive plans for expansion in the next financial year. They will be commissioning over 2,100 outlets in 2009-10--over three times what they added in the current year--at an investment of about Rs 1,200 crore.
The ministry of corporate affairs has begun prosecuting directors of Kolkata-based Balrampur Chini Mills, India's second-largest sugar company, for not complying with accounting standards and Schedule V1 (Section 211) of the Companies Act. The prosecution has been initiated after inspection under the Companies Act.
According to the IRDA's data in 2007-08, the health insurance segment was estimated to be around Rs 5,152 crore, with only 2 per cent of the total population being covered. Realising the potential and advantages -- the segment has been growing at 37 per cent since 2002 -- both life and non-life insurers are offering health insurance products. Health insurance in 2007-08 accounted for 0.2 per cent of the individual regular premium for life insurance companies in India.
Nirmal Kotecha, co-promoter of Pyramid Symira, a Chennai-based entertainment company, has sold his entire stake in the company. He was holding 24.89 per cent stake in the company as on September 2008.
A cross section of life insurers, while discussing their expansion and recruitment plans, said most jobs would be created in sales and services. With the industry expected to touch $52 billion in 2010 from $35 billion in 2007-08, insurers were bullish about the prospects. According to an industry analyst, the availability of manpower now is enormous and relatively cheaper since all major industries have stopped recruitment.
After facing sharp rise in prices of most food items in 2008, consumers can look forward to a relatively comfortable situation this year in commodities like wheat, rice and edible oil. However, sugar prices, which have remained depressed for the last two years, are likely to move up.
The Indian Institute of Technology alumni is planning to create a new fund to support its various social projects. The projects are expected to create job opportunities for rural youth and transform India's Industrial Training Institutes.
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