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Unfazed Chidambaram offers only minor sops
Despite the pressure mounted by various political parties including those within the United Front, Union finance minister P Chidambaram made only minor concessions while moving the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday.
Trade deficit touches $5.44 bn in '96-97
A measly export growth of 4.01% together with a 35% increase in import of crude oil and petroleum products pushed the trade deficit to $ 5.44 billion in the 1996-97 fiscal, according to provisional trade data released by the Union commerce ministry.
Kesri outsmarts Antulay, quells voices of dissent
Rattled by threats to his chances of becoming unopposed president of the Congress, Sitaram Kesri has invoked an age-old party rule to prevent A R Antulay, Jagannath Mishra and other disgruntled leaders from speaking out their mind before the general body of the Congress Parliamentary Party.
Sharma summons governors, political leaders for meeting
President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma has called a meeting of governors and leaders of political parties to discuss what should be the role of governors and the President when there is no clear mandate as happened in 1996 or in Uttar Pradesh after the Assembly polls last year.
Qazi for glasnost in Indo-Pak talks
Although Pakistan does not have a single-point agenda for the forthcoming talks between Prime Ministers I K Gujral and Nawaz Sharif, Kashmir will provide the context in which that agenda can be articulated, according to Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi.
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FM relaxes VDS, more tax reliefs
Union finance minister P Chidambaram, moving the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday, relaxed the voluntary disclosure scheme, enhanced allocations for the power sector, provided special incentives for telecom and excluded software exports from the ambit of MAT.
Second list for passbook scheme in four days
The Union commerce ministry is expected to declare the rates of about 600 items under the duty entitlement pass book scheme within the next four days, according to a senior trade official.
Singapore team may pull out of Bangalore airport plan
The consortium of Singapore investors may pull out of the Rs 1,400-crore Bangalore airport project as the Union civil aviation ministry has only cleared build-operate-transfer (B-O-T) projects instead of the build-own-operate basis.
SBI to take the plunge into term money
State Bank of India, India's largest financial-sector intermediary, plans to take a plunge into the term-money market by offering only one-way quotes. This is a deviation from standard practice as commercial banks usually offer two-way quotes in the market.
Nippon Denro cuts tariff for Bhadravati project
Nippon Denro Ispat has reduced the power tariff of the Bhadravati power project from Rs 1.69 to Rs 1.65 per unit. The move follows prolonged negotiations between the Centre, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board and the company.
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