Patents Act amendments postponed: The amendments to the Indian Patents Act to bring it in conformity with the World Trade Organisation requirements ran into rough weather with the union cabinet failing to take any decision for the second time. With the members of the cabinet continuing to be divided on various contentious issues concerning amendments to the Patents Act, prime minister AB Vajpayee chose the soft option to postponing the issue to the next meeting scheduled for November 23.

CBI pulled up in Panna-Mukta contract case: The Delhi high court on Wednesday severely pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation for not providing certain reports and papers to the additional solicitor general CS Vaidyanathan in connection with the controversial multi-crore rupees Panna-Mukta oil field contract case. The Panna-Mukta oil field contract was granted to the Reliance-Enron consortium taking it away from the Oil and Natural Gas Commission under the privatisation policy during the tenure of former petroleum minister Sathish Sharma.

Chandrababu Naidu in `dream cabinet': Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been selected as one of the ministers of the "dream cabinet" for 1998 by `The Worldlink', the London-based magazine on world economic forum. Naidu was among the distinguished world leaders and administrators who made it to the Worldlink's dream cabinet, an official release said in Hyderabad.

Dunlop plea on government directors: Dunlop India has urged the Company Law Board to defer its order on appointment of government directors to the board of the Manu Chhabria-controlled tyre company. The government, while countering Dunlop's plea, said the company was using `a delaying tactic' and the board should not pay any heed to it. The next hearing has been fixed for December 3.

Spic move on loans: Fertiliser major Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation Ltd is engaged in rescheduling its huge loans and interest payments to financial institutions. German bank KfW is reported to have agreed to reschedule its loans worth DM 161 million extended to Spic's SPC project.

HMT divestment plans put on hold: HMT Ltd has put divestment plans for its ailing tractor and food-processing equipment divisions on the backburner. With clearances from the Planning Commission and the finance ministry still to come, the loss-making divisions are dragging down the mini-ratna's bottomlines, say analysts. The board of directors had decided to disinvest partially or fully the public sector unit's stake in the tractor and food-processing equipment divisions.

Swiss official vows to fight dirty money: Swiss confederation president and head of the federal department of foreign affairs Flavio Cotti has reiterated his commitment to fight corruption and money laundering. Admitting that the Swiss banking system "was used in the past for unacceptable activities in the financial world", he said that they were committed to block dirty assets in Switzerland.

Indian Bank scam case: Former Indian Bank chairman and managing director M Gopalakrishnan and four others on Wednesday appeared before a special judge trying CBI cases in connection with a Rs 3.26 crore Indian Bank scam. The principal special judge, SSP Dharwesh on October 23 had issued summons to them to appear before the court on Wednesday. The judge adjourned the case to December 2 as copies of charge sheets were not ready.

BoB seeks nod to invest FCNR(B) funds: Bank of Baroda has sought the Reserve Bank's permission to invest foreign currency non-resident (bank) funds in overseas Indian papers by routing it through its foreign branches. Banks are prohibited to invest FCNR(B) funds in corporate papers abroad. The corpus can only be invested in the highly liquid overseas inter-bank market and US treasuries.

Caution on credit card offers: Banks must exercise caution in issuing credit cards to prevent the growth of non-performing assets, says Canara Bank chairman and managing director TR Sridharan. He said a mechanism was needed to systemise credit-card issuance. The identification of a target group must be based on income levels and credibility. Proper training must be provided to the field staff.

Uniform accounting standards urged: The quantum jump in cross-border investments has brought to the fore an urgent need to evolve uniform and globally applied set of standards of financial accounting. Due to the material differences in accounting policies and standards, say accounting experts, relative evaluation of companies across countries have become extremely complicated, causing serious problems to transnational corporations.

Trai proposal to DoT on surpluses: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday said that the Department of Telecom should pass on part of its huge surpluses to consumers by way of lower tariffs. Trai had earlier proposed slashing of long distance (both domestic and international) call charges and increase in rentals as well as local call charges for basic telephony.

I-T raids on onion, potato traders: The income-tax department conducted massive raids on onion and potato traders in and around Mumbai since Tuesday and unearthed unaccounted income of Rs 4.5 crore.

Directive on cotton yarn exports: The centre has decided to allow cotton yarn producing 100 per cent export oriented units to export cotton yarn without any domestic cotton use and count restrictions. The decision was taken after keeping in view the availability of yarn to boost the export of cotton yarn from the country.

Congressman blasts US govt: A US Congressman has blasted the Clinton administration for its new "entities list", saying it jeopardises US-India economic ties. Frank Pallone, former chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India, expressed his dismay over the list and said it would unfairly punish Indian organisations with no direct role in nuclear proliferation or missile technology as well as US firms that have ties with them.

US lowers interest rates: For the third time this year, the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors has ordered a cut in interest rates to deal with "unusual strains" in financial markets generated by the global economic crisis. It approved a one-quarter percentage point reduction in the discount rate and the federal funds rate. The discount rate was lowered to 4.5 per cent, the lowest since August 1994. The new federal funds rate will be 4.75 per cent.