MUMBAI, June 23: India's quest to attract billions of dollars in foreign investment for infrastructure is poised to advance with the government setting a clear policy, Bimal Jalan, member-secretary of the Planning Commission, said in an interview. As a result of policy details worked out in recent months, a number of power, road and port projects should advance in the next few months, Jalan added.

IOC bid on aromatic naptha: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has awarded its tender to sell 30,000 tonnes of high aromatic naphtha (HAN) for June 30-July 2 lifting at nearly $30 per tonne below Japanese spot naphtha quotes. The cargo was awarded on a free-on-board (FOB) basis and will be lifted from Cochin. IOC has also awarded a 25,000-tonne cargo of HAN for July 2-4 lifting from Bombay at a discount between $30 and $35 to Japanese spot naphtha quotes, FOB.

Jewellers for continuous gold supply: jewellers have demanded an uninterrupted supply of gold to maintain exports as the domestic market showed stagnant situation, dealers said on Monday.

They said the focus had now shifted to agricultural operations with the arrival of monsoon rains.

In Dubai, dealers said the onset of summer had kept tourists away from the Gulf shopping centre while poor demand from India, the world's largest consumer of gold, had depressed prices.

Fuel crunch hits Nigerian commuters: Hundreds of thousands of commuters were stranded in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub of six million people, on Monday as a five-week fuel shortage in Africa's leading crude oil producer showed no sign of abating.

Hours after offices were supposed to open, workers were still waiting for buses that would not come. The few vehicles that managed to obtain fuel from a thriving black market charged 300 per cent above the normal fares. Many workers are unable to afford the high fares and have chosen to stay at home and look for things to come easy.

Restricted ship movement at Calcutta port:Ships have begun to move in and out of Calcutta port but traffic is restricted, according to the port authorities. The wreckage of the Korean vessel which went down into the river Hooghly near Moyapur bar at Birlapur, 20km downstream of Calcutta port, on Thursday morning had blocked the navigational channel for three days hampering all the work.

Sources said that the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) has sought assistance from salvage experts of Singapore and Hong Kong port authorities for removing the wreckage of the vessel, M V Green Opal.

Weather likely to hit cotton crop: The unpredictable weather prevalent in north India since last week of April is likely to affect production of cotton during the 1997-98 crop year (Oct 97-Sept 98), industry sources said in New Delhi. Sowing of cotton for the year 1997-98 generally begins in mid-April lasting till mid-June and rains and hailstorm which have hit the region since April last week have led the sowing schedule to go awry. North India accounts for 27 per cent of the country's cotton production with 41 lakh bales (of 170 lakh bales each) being produced during the current crop year.

Costly coffee curbs consumption: Officials and traders in India fear a steeper fall in coffee consumption this season following unprecedented rise in its price in the face of a spurt in international prices, fall in indigenous production and absence of a proper auctioning system. Coffee Board chairman Phillipose Mathai said in New Delhi that the consumption could be down by ``even 20 per cent, though there are no statistics to support it.'' Coffee prices at the retail outlet were increased again on April 24 by Rs 10 per kg, while it was upped again twice on May 26 and June 9, both times by Rs 10 a kg again.

US tobacco firms hiking prices: To pay for the staggering $368.5 billion cost of a sweeping settlement reached last week, the tobacco industry in United States will be forced to hike retail prices and load up on new debt, industry analysts said.

The uncertainty surrounding whether the settlement with state attorneys general will pass muster at the White House and on Capitol Hill, and how much it could change in the process, makes it difficult to crunch fixed numbers, they added.

But in the end, the expense will be passed directly to the consumer and will take its toll on sales. One asset manager predicted that tobacco companies would be forced to add debt to their balance sheet to meet the upfront payments required under the settlement.

India to cooperate with Australia: India is looking forward to cooperate with Australia in its efforts to expand relations with countries in the Asia-Pacific, the world's fastest-growing economic region, Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma said in Australia on Monday. Speaking at a dinner hosted by the House of Representatives speaker Bob Haverson in Canberra, Sangma said India's foreign policy was becoming oriented towards increasingly expanding cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

China hopes for bumper harvest: China is expected to harvest 118 billion kgs of grain this summer, a 3.5 per cent increase or four billion kg more than in 1996, according to the Chinese ministry of agriculture. This is the third consecutive year that China has had a good summer grain harvest, the ministry said. The output of summer oil-bearing crops is estimated at 9 million tonnes.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.