Wockhardt group ties up with insurance firms: The Mumbai-based Wockhardt group has forged a string of "linkages" with six major international insurance bodies, as part of its strategy to cash in on opportunities arising from the opening up of the domestic health-insurance sector. Chairman and managing director H F Khorakiwala said though the company was not looking at the health-insurance business per se, it had forged relationships with six leading global insurance firms for its Bangalore hospital, Wockhart Hospital and Heart Institute.

`New hydro-powerpolicy on the anvil': A comprehensive, new hydro-power policy, taking care of all aspects hydel power generation, is on the anvil, union power minister PR Kumarmanglam said on Sunday in Shimla. A major thrust of the policy will be on standardisation of all processes like finalisation of PPA, evaluation of project cost and power generation, purchase of power from IPPs, relief and rehabilitation package, financial package and building a mechanism to cut short delays and cost over-runs, he said.

BPCL, Oman Oil agree to rope in ONGC for Bina refinery: The state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Oman Oil Company, promoters of the Bina refinery project in Madhya Pradesh, have agreed to rope in ONGC as a third partner. While there is no indication of the stake ONGC will hold in the refinery, people in the know of the matter say both BPCL and Oman Oil will not be averse to offering even 26 per cent. The 6-million-tonne refinery is scheduled to be commissioned in 2002.

Carlson group plans $1mspending: Carlson Companies Inc, the US-based hospitality multinational, has drawn up a $1-million budget for promoting the various brands owned by it in India, Carlson group firm Radisson Hotels Worldwide director international sales (India), Cecil Samuel said. He also said that Carlson Companies is also all set to tie up with an Indian travel agency within a month.

UTI to dematerialise 80% of holdings: The Unit Trust of India will dematerialise 80 per cent of its holdings in all the 50 securities where Sebi has asked institutions to trade only in dematerialised shares. This list will soon be expanded by another 50 securities. The Trust, which has a corpus of Rs 60,000 crore, had earlier decided to dematerialise up to 50 per cent of its holdings in securities.

New guarantee norms to slow down fast-track plans: The new guidelines for counter-guarantees will slow down financing of fast-track power projects, industry experts say. The government's decision to amend counter-guarantee normswhen some projects have already finalised power-purchase agreements has upset prospective lenders, specially domestic institutions, experts believe. New guidelines say counter-guarantees will now be limited to the payment of outstanding foreign debt, but only if the contract is terminated.

Panel raps Centre for huge oil-pool deficit: A parliamentary committee has criticised the government for allowing the oil-pool deficit of public-sector oil companies to accumulate over Rs 12,000 crore. In its fourth report tabled in parliament recently, the standing committee on petroleum and chemicals said it was regrettable that government allowed the deficit to accumulate, delaying the payment of huge amount to oil-sector PSUs.

IBA to kick off recast next month: The Indian Banks' Association is set to kick off its organisational restructuring on the lines of British Bankers' Association and CII in August first week. Consulting agency Arthur Andersen made its final presentation before the IBA top brasson Saturday. The premier bankers' body will metamorphose itself into an industry association in 48 weeks once it starts implementing the Arthur Andersen recommendations.

RBI move to boost SSI sector: The Reserve Bank has asked banks to charge a higher interest rate on corporate borrowers who owe huge amounts to creditors in the small-scale industries sector. The directive will compel corporates to promptly settle their dues, as the sector faces a severe funds crunch owing to the large outstandings, bankers said.

Nabard floats headless: Nearly a month and a half after chairman P Kotaiah on May 30, Nabard continues to drift along headless. With no news yet of a successor to Kotaiah, it is still unclear who will chair Nabard's board meeting scheduled for July 16. Nabard sources say a delay in naming a successor is affecting agriculture-related proposals presented by finance minister Yashwant Sinha in his union budget.

`Tata Airlines proposal under process': Union civil-aviationminister Anant Kumar on Sunday said that Tata Industries' proposal for running a domestic airline was under process and not put on hold. Denying a press report that the Rs 1,500-crore proposal was hanging in the balance, the minister said that under the new policy guidelines announced on June 11, foreign investments from overseas corporate bodies and financial institutions up to 40 per cent of equity for running domestic airlines were welcome.

Groundnut-oil prices post record high: Lower seed supplies coupled with speculations pushed up groundnut-oil prices during the week to an all-time high of Rs 503 per 10 kg on July 8. Traders say a few importers were rigging prices in a bid to get the government cut the import-duty tariffs to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.

Tea exports seen at 200m kg: The tea industry has made a conservative export estimate of 200 million kg for the current year. It has slashed its targets for European markets in the wake of Kenyan competition.