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Corporate Economy Expressions Markets Leisure 07 March 1998   Neutral Naidu paves BJP's path to power The Bharatiya Janata Party appears to have moved a step closer to power on Friday with the United Front failing to arrive at a consensus on support to a Congress-led government. In a significant pointer of the shape of things to come, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and United Front convener N Chandrababu Naidu refused to brand the BJP as a communal party in his press conference after the UF core committee meeting.   Insurance companies to provide Y2K risk cover The general insurance companies plan to develop policies to cover the Y2K problem which has enormous implications in financial terms. The Y2K problem primarily arises because the basic programmes that run the vast majority of computers think years consist of two digits ('99) and not four (2000). NTC requests govt not to cut water, power to 25 sick mills National Textile Corporation (NTC) has appealed to the Maharashtra government not to cut water and power supplies to its 25 sick mills in Mumbai. This follows non-payment of arrears worth Rs 100 crore to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and Tata Electric Companies (TEC). Mutual funds anticipate increase in short-term rates, keep corpus in cash Anticipating another round of hike in short-term interest rates, open-ended income funds are keeping a substantial portion of their corpus in cash. In what transpires to be a classic case of once bitten, twice shy, income funds do not want net asset values (NAVs) to take another beating in the event of liquidity tightening.   Key US house panel okays IMF reform plan, votes for funding A key US Congressional committee approved legislation to fund and reform the International Monetary Fund on Thursday, calling for major changes to the way the agency works and for more oversight. The Banking Committee of the House of Representatives approved the compromise bill to make $18 billion available to the IMF by 40 votes to nine after seven hours of debate. Panel to sort out state woes on jute trades The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) is ready to clear all the doubts of the state governments of West Bengal and Bihar in regard to forward trading in raw jute.     Lack of credit bureaus hinders credit-card firms   Scandals not to deter Japan from taking stimulus steps   State transfers official over mills issue   "Limit DoT role to policy-maker"   Pawar may not bag CPP top post   Cotton crop output seen lower by 21 lakh bales   Falling rupee forces govt to cough up Rs 900 cr more to redeem NRI bonds   Asia's technology shares take a beating on back of Intel first-quarter warning   Fate of Soz, Dar to be decided today in, Baramullah, Anantnag   Prosecutors probe Japan's finance ministry role in Yamaichi Securities case   Tata's airline project may face rough weather if BJP comes to power   Taiwan revives controversial Bayer project   Karunanidhi rejects demand for resignation   Silent protest against bomb culture led to a reverse ballot swing in TN   Apparel body eggs on banks to dole out advances against drawback dues   Market Briefing