POWER
No power cuts during evening
There will be no load-shedding in Maharashtra’s urban, semi-urban and taluka-level areas between 6 pm and 6 am from June 13 midnight. The state power department made this announcement in the state assembly on Friday. Load-shedding would also come down in urban areas by 15 minutes and by one hour in rural areas, the government said. The state will be buying 200 MW additional power from outside, prompting this relief. The decision will help several urban pockets within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region like Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar, Panvel, Ulhasnagar, Bhandup, Ambernath, Badlapur, Mulund, Bhandup and Kanjurmarg besides the other urban, semi-urban, district and taluka headquarters all over the state as well as around 27,000 villages. State power minister Sunil Tatkare recently said Maharashtra’s generation capacity was slowly increasing, thus gradually bringing down the shortfall and load-shedding in both urban and rural areas. There might not be any loadshedding by 2012 if things went according to plan, he said.
Power sector seeks tax sops, dilution of govt holdings
The power sector, ahead of the annual Budget for 2009-10, has made a strong pitch for the enforcement of tax and MAT applicability exemption for 10 years, irrespective of the year of commencement of power generation and distribution. The sector, which is striving to meet the Centre’s capacity addition of 78,700 mw in the 11th Plan period, has said that construction services, with respect to other critical infrastructure sectors like roads and railways, are already outside the service tax net, and therefore, it is only logical to introduce service tax exemption on the construction of power projects. Further, concessions or exemptions under customs and central excise laws should be extended to civil materials like cement and steel, just as other raw materials and components, required for the manufacturing of ‘machinery and equipment’ of power projects, enjoy. more...
INFRASTRUCTURE
Budget: Infrastructure to land big gains
The Union Budget slated for July first week will acknowledge the central role of infrastructure in putting the economy back on the growth track, and may relax the rules governing raising of funds besides earmarking a higher kitty for building roads, ports and other utilities. Industry players pointed out that two key norms regarding access to finance, announced as part of the second economic stimulus package in January, are set to expire this month. These allow integrated township developers to borrow abroad and let non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to borrow from multilateral or bilateral financial institutions for lending to infrastructure developers. more...
UAE wants to invest in infrastructure sector in India
UAE is looking for more opportunities for investment in the infrastructure and other areas in India. This was conveyed by Foreign Minister of UAE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan who met External Affairs minister S M Krishna today and discussed bilateral relations, regional and multinational issues. He is on a two-day official visit here from June 11. Acknowledging the contribution made to economies of both the countries by 1.5 million Indian present in UAE, the ministers also explored new avenues of cooperation, especially in the domain of trade and economy. more...
ECONOMY
Worst is over for economy: PM adviser
India's industrial output growth in April showed signs of recovery and the worst is over for the economy, a senior policy adviser said on Friday. "Signs of recovery are there. Worst is over, that is what I have been saying. Worst is over for the economy," said Suresh Tendulkar, the head of Prime Minister's economic advisory council. Data on Friday showed industrial output rose by 1.4 per cent in April from a year earlier, rebounding after declining three times in the previous four months.
April industrial growth at 1.4% hints recovery
Indian industry has registered a year-on-year growth of 1.43 per cent in April.
Although modest, it is better than the preceding four months’ numbers of minus 0.75 per cent, minus 0.72 per cent, 1.03 per cent and minus 0.25 per cent respectively.
The latest number holds hope that the worst is over and the economy is on a recovery mode.The 1.43 per cent annual rise in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in April – against 6.22 per cent during the same month last year – has been led mainly by electricity and mining. These two sectors have grown by 7.06 per cent and 3.8 per cent, as compared with their corresponding April 2008 year-on-year increases of 1.39 per cent and 6.14 per cent respectively. more...
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POLITICS
PM to meet Zardari during SCO summmit
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari during a multilateral summit in Russia on June 16, in the first top-level contact between India and Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks. "They will be at the same place at the same time....They will meet, they will shake hands," foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters while briefing them on Singh's visit to Russia. Menon, however, said there will be no structured meeting between the two leaders. more...
Congress set to give new look to organisation
The AICC reshuffle exercise is likely to be completed before Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign trip on June 16. The list of governors is also likely to be finalised. The party is showing urgency in finalising the names for organisational posts due to impending elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Buoyed by its good showing in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress government in Haryana too would like to advance assembly polls. The Congress leadership would like to use the organisational reshuffle to set right the skewed caste equations and leadership void, as well as to accommodate social groups and states that failed to find representation in the council of ministers. The leadership is expected to effect some kind of an organisational change in states where it did not fare well in the Lok Sabha elections. more...
TELECOM
2G allocation: DoT to seek more time
The Department of Telecom will seek more time from the telecom tribunal to decide on the policy for allocating 2G spectrum for mobile operators. The deadline to decide on the policy is today, according to a judgment given by the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal in its order of March 31, 2008. The tribunal had asked the DoT to finalise the policy one month after the spectrum committee submits its report. Since the spectrum panel submitted its proposals on May 13, the DoT would have to take its final decision by June 13, according to the directions of the TDSAT. The DoT had, therefore, put on hold fresh allocation of spectrum till the policy was finalised. more...
Spice Mobile plans entry into Africa
After Indian mobile operators venturing into international markets, it is now the turn of cell phone makers. The B. K. Modi Group-owned Spice Mobile is planning to sell mobile handsets in developing markets in Africa and Asia in a bid to replicate its growth story in India. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Kunal Ahooja, Director and CEO, Spice Mobile, said, “We have launched our products in some foreign countries such as Nepal. We are planning to launch in more countries including in Africa. These markets are similar to India with low margins and high volumes.” more...
INTERNATIONAL
BRICs won't break dollar's supremacy, for now
Nations like Russia have rattled global markets by challenging the domination of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency, but investors say there is no realistic alternative for now. Russia will renew its push for a rethink on the dollar's status as the reserve currency of choice when it hosts a summit of fellow emerging heavyweights Brazil, India and China next week. The greenback is too integrated into global financial markets, with almost all commodity trade conducted in dollars and the United States still retaining the deepest, most liquid markets in fixed income securities, key assets for central banks. more...
North Korea threatens military action, to enrich uranium
North Korea on Saturday threatened military action if the United States tried to isolate it after the U.N. Security Council imposed widened sanctions against the reclusive communist state for a nuclear test in May. The North also vowed to start a programme to enrich uranium and to weaponise plutonium at its nuclear weapons plant, the North's official news agency KCNA quoted its foreign ministry spokesman as saying. The sanctions resolution approved on Friday banned all weapons exports from North Korea and most arms imports into the state. It authorised U.N. member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo, requiring them to seize and destroy any goods transported in violation of the sanctions. more...
MARKET INDICATOR
Markets are closed today
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.
HEALTH TIP
Take two tablespoon of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of luke warm water and drink up to destroy bacteria within the bladder
TIP - to save energy
You can save 4% to 9% of your water heating bill and reduce stand by heat loss by 25% to 50% if you have an older water heater just by putting a blanket or jacket covering made of special insulation.
HUMOUR JUNCTION
I poured Spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.
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