`Special trade status for Lanka': India will accord a special trade status to Sri Lanka to boost bilateral economic relations. According to union commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde, the two countries have decided to form a special working group to make necessary changes in the rules of origin.

Saral returns form notified: The government has notified the `saral' form for non-corporate tax payers with 31 entries and 15 instructions for filling it and further extended the last date for filing returns to October 30. The `saral' form notified by the government on Thursday is different from the original "saral" form promised by the financeminister in the 1998-99 budget.

Urea scam case: Sanjeeva Rao, the key accused in the Rs 133-crore urea scam case, on Thursday admitted before a New Delhi court that he had received Rs 32 lakh from Karsan's Indian agent Sambasiva Rao in 1996, but claimed "it was a personal loan."

IOC, Thai Petroleum sign pact: Indian Oil Corporation and Petroleum Authority of Thailand on Thursday identified six areas for collaboration in the hydrocarbon sector. IOC has already set up a representative office in Kuala Lumpur.

NIIT plan to up FII stake foiled: Shareholders of NIIT Ltd on Thursday shot down the company's proposal to hike the holding of foreign institutional investors to 30 per cent from the current 24 per cent. According a company official, the shareholders have decided to wait for an opportune time before giving the nod to FIIs to raise their stake in the company.

TEC seeks pact with MSEB: Tata Electric Companies has urged MSEB to enter into a long-term power purchase agreementwith it. MSEB, which buys power from TEC, maintains that if it has to commit itself to long-term purchase, it will negotiate the price on the lines of other PPAs it has signed with independent power producers.

VSNL to install switch facility: VSNL has formed a Rs 400-crore plan to create additional switching infrastructure in the four metros to lease them to the basic telecom service providers. The project, which is expected to be completed by 2001, is the first of its kind in the country.

Ceat envisages Rs 200cr capex: Ceat has decided to invest Rs 200 crore to create new radial manufacturing facilities and upgrade existing ones, vice-chairman Harsh Goenka said on Thursday. The capital expenditure is likely to be financed through debt of five- to six-year maturity at a coupon of 16 per cent to 17.5 per cent.

DCM told to repay FD: The Company Law Board on Thursday directed DCM Ltd to repay the money due to its fixed deposit holders in instalments over the next 42 months. In a suomoto order, CLB acting chairman S Balasubramanian asked the company to repay the money after it submitted a repayment scheme last month.

Spencer's expansion plans: Spencer and Company Ltd, the retail arm of the RPG group, plans to hawk its surplus real estate to generate funds for its expansion programme. The company will invest close to Rs 600 crore to achieve its ambitious turnover target of Rs 3,000 crore by 2005, according to chairman Sanjiv Goenka.

PFC to mop up Rs 600 cr via bonds: Power Finance Corporation on Thursday announced its plans to mop up Rs 600 crore from the domestic and overseas markets by way of bond issues as part of its mobilisation programme during 1998-99. SBI Caps is currently preparing the due diligence report for the bond issue.

Bharati, BT tie up: British Telecom and Bharati Enterprises on Thursday formed a 49:51 joint venture company -- Bharati-BT Internet -- to address the multimedia and Internet markets in the country. The announcement comes as anextension of BT's existing relation with Bharati in the cellular and V-Sat businesses.

SIB to float issue on Sept 22: South Indian Bank will float its maiden public issue on September 22. The bank will offer 1.60 crore equity shares at Rs 32 per share (Rs 10 face value plus Rs 22 premium) amounting to Rs 51.20 crore.

IDBI reshuffles portfolios: IDBI on Thursday reshuffled the portfolios of its four executive directors. However, the institution did not appoint any new executive director, even though three EDs -- PV Narasimham, A Lahiri and PS Subramanyam -- have recently left the IDBI fold to head other organisations.

SBI Caps to lead manage state bonds issue: The Maharashtra irrigation department on Thursday appointed SBI Capital Markets as lead manager to its Rs 350-crore bond issue which has a Rs 150-crore greenshoe option. The issue, which will open on September 14, will help fund the multiple irrigation projects in the state.

500mw nuclear power plant planned: Thecountry's first 500mw nuclear power project is coming up at Tarapur near Mumbai. The new Tarapur project comprises two units -- Tarapur Atomic Power Project units III and IV -- based on pressurised heavy water reactors. The government has accorded the necessary financial assistance and approval for construction of both the units.

Excise collections short of target: Central excise and customs revenue collections in the city have fallen short of their target by Rs 987 crore for the first five months of the current fiscal. Customs sources attributed the drop in collections to the sluggish growth in production.

Value limit for computer imports reduced: The government has reduced the value limit for importing computer systems under the freely transferable special import licence to Rs 70,000 from Rs 1.5 lakh. According to a release, a notification to this effect was issued by the commerce ministry on Wednesday.

Bezbaruah takes charge as ED: M Bezbaruah on Thursday took over as theenforcement director following the government's decision to revoke his transfer order on Wednesday. Bezbaruah, who was transferred to the Delhi government, took over from the acting enforcement director MC Joshi.

Alexander meets principal secretaries: Amidst speculation on the state's deteriorating financial situation, Maharashtra governor PC Alexander on Thursday held separate meetings with planning department principal secretary Vinay Bansal and finance department principal secretary Ravi Buddhiraja.

Yeltsin nominates Primakov as PM: Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov was on Thursday nominated for the prime ministership by president Boris Yeltsin.

Ericsson says mergers possible: Swedish telecom major LM Ericsson on Thursday confirmed a newspaper report that it did not rule out the possibility of a full-scale merger. "We don't exclude anything but right now we are focussing on targeting small- and medium-sized companies," Ericsson spokeswoman Pia Gideon toldReuters.