CBEC not to extend Samadhan scheme: The Central Board of Excise and Customs chairman S D Mohile has ruled out any extension of the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme which closes on December 31. He also ruled out further diluting of the provision of the scheme to make it more attractive. "Kar Vivad Scheme is a one time amnesty scheme that the government has offered to settle pending litigations. We have already made changes in the provisions and issued certain clarifications. No new changes will be made in the provisions of the scheme," he added. The scheme which came intoeffect from September 1 has found few takers.

Tax concessions to IPPs ruled out: Union power minister PR Kumaramangalam on Wednesday clarified that the government could not extend any duty or tax concession to the projects of the independent power producers as has been done for the mega power projects. However, the ministry may allowing all IPP projects with capacities exceeding 1000mw to sell power to the Power Trading Corporation provided they bring down their tariffs at par with the cost of power from the mega power projects. But the ministry will look into all such demands after April 1999.

ONGC Videsh, RIL jointly bid for 4 oilfields in Iran: ONGC Videsh has bid for four oilfield development projects in Iran along with Reliance Industries. Reliance will be a 50 per cent partner in the buyback contract, which will allow investors to recover their costs with interest from the oil produced at the fields. The bids, being pursued with vigour by ONGC Videsh and Reliance Industries, willgive India a foothold in the new oil mart opening up in Iran.

Shell, Mafatlals set up steering panel: Royal Dutch/Shell and the Mafatlals have formed a four-member steering committee to identify redundancies in the management structure of Nocil's petrochemicals and polymers businesses. The units are being transferred to a new joint venture with Shell. The hiving off of the two Nocil units is awaiting clearance from the courts.

Maruti trims casual workforce: Hit hard by the ongoing recession in the automobile market, Maruti Udyog Limited has trimmed its casual labour force by over 20 per cent. With the company resorting to major production cuts last month, it decided not to renew the agreements with its casual workers employed through various contractors. As against 2,500 casual workers contracts of only 1,800 were renewed in November. Around 20 to 25 per cent of the employees were not taken in this time.

General Motors signs MoU with DGFT: General Motors India Limited has inkedthe memorandum of understanding under the new automobile policy with the directorate general of foreign trade thereby becoming the eighth and the last car-maker to sign the document. GMIL was seeking relaxations on the stipulation requiring foreign car companies to invest a minimum of $ 50 million in the country for setting up a venture.

Galileo to launch travel sales software: Galileo India Pvt Ltd, subsidiary of the US-based Galileo International, has launched a unique travel sales software - viewpoint- in the Indian market. It is the fastest and most efficient travel sales software in the world. Galileo will be launching the product in Mumbai, Calcutta and Bangalore, among other major metros in a few weeks.

Prime Securities to evaluate offers: The Pune-based Indus Software has appointed Prime Securities to evaluate offers by two US and four Indian financial investment companies to pick up a stake in the company. Efforts are on to finalise a stake sale latest by March 1999. Indus offersa wide array of software solutions for the financial sector.

NCRPB to float tax-free bonds: The union government has allowed the national capital region planning board to float tax-free bonds to the tune of Rs. 60 crore during 1998-99. The NCRPB has also been sanctioned internal extra budgetary resources of Rs 624 crore as part of Rs 995 crore annual plan includes development programme relating to new townships of Rs 584 crore and core infrastructure for Rs 411 crore.

Amalgamation drama at 20th Century: The shareholders of 20th Century Finance Corporation Ltd met in Mumbai on Wednesday to approve the amalgamation of their company's investment division with an existing 100 per cent subsidiary. Already, the other businesses of 20th Century have been hived off, subject to judicial approval, to saddle the feeble infant Centurion Bank Ltd. Now that it is fait accompli, it is time to consider the impact of the amalgamation on the shareholders of 20th Century.

ETS for garment exports fromDec 18: The apparel export promotion council has said the electronic transfer scheme for regulating garment exports quota will start operating from December 18. This will help exporters obtain their transfers in advance for shipments to be effected during early January. ETS was introduced in September and was operating alongwith the manual quota transfer procedures upto September 21. It was operated without the manual procedures for rest of the month.

Move to vest sweeping powers with CVC: The central vigilance commissioner has issued orders banning any post-tender negotiations in government purchases to plug loopholes that encourage corruption in high places. Plugging of these loopholes would make it difficult for the corrupt officials to 'negotiate' their share of the kickbacks.

Power projects for Russian cos identified: The Indo-Russian inter-governmental commission has identified a host of power projects including the Muzaffarpur TPS Stage II, the Tenughat TPS Stage-II and theMaithon right Bank TPS for execution by Russian companies. The Russian side has been asked to forward proposals for these projects.

Insurance employees observe strike: Insurance employees across the country on Wednesday struck work and held demonstrations against Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill which seeks to open the sector to private domestic and foreign investors. The IRA Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

India, Romania to boost economic ties: India and Romania have agreed to boost economic ties to generate increased trade and investment flows between the two countries. This was decided at the 13th session of the Joint commission meeting on economic, technical, scientific cooperation in Bucharest from December 15 to 16.

Coffee Bill passed: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill seeking to do away with pooling system in coffee procurement. The Coffee (Amendment) Bill 1998 was adopted by a voice vote after minister of state for agriculture Sompal assured membersthat the bill empowered the Coffee Board to intervene in fixing prices of coffee.

Senior IA official transferred: Indian Airlines on Wednesday transferred CP Jham, general manager of its stores department in northern region, to the headquarters and appointed V K Jain from corporate headquarters in his place. The transfer came following an inspection visit by new chairman and managing-director Anil Baijal to the stores set up at IGI airport in New Delhi.