Imports of gold and silver declined sharply by 50 per cent to Rs 1,121 crore in April this year compared with Rs 2,226 crore in the same month last year, helping the government keep the BoP under control. The fall is attributed to the hike in customs duty on gold from Rs 250 to Rs 400 per 10 gms.

Foreign equity investment norms

The Government has amended the guidelines for foreign equity investment in NBFCs to provide for a minimum capitalisation of $0.5 million for the purposes of non-fund-based activities. The provision will be applicable for only those activities which are advisory or consultancy in nature.

SAIL appoints Morgan Stanley

SAIL has appointed merchant banker Morgan Stanley for the selection of a equity partner for the restructuring of its Salem steel plant. SAIL is considering setting up an additional steel-making facility in Salem.

IOC bonus issue

IOC board will consider a proposal to issue bonus shares at a meeting onWednesday. It had already got the nod from the petroleum ministry for issuing bonus shares.

Jet Airways to acquire 10 Boeing 737S

Jet Airways on Tuesday said it has placed orders for acquiring 10 next generation Boeing 737 aircraft worth about $500 million. The acquisition is to replace leased aircraft in Jet's fleet of 25 Boeing 737S.

Reliance Petroleum, Essar Oil claims

Reliance Petroleum and Essar Oil will receive over Rs 500 crore out of Rs 800-crore worth of claims settled by insurance companies for the cyclone which hit Gujarat last year. The cyclone damaged the corporates' refinery units at Jamnagar and Vadinar.

Telco's Indica delivery target

Telco is set to shift to a higher gear for meeting delivery targets of the Indica over the next quarter. The automobile major, which fell short of its delivery projections since the car's launch, is confident of delivering 60,000 cars by the fiscal-end.

Videocon, BPL lock horns

Videocon International has entered into abattle with BPL to have a share in the sick Uptron Pictures Tubes, now known as BPL Display Devices. VIL expressed willingness to contribute Rs 7.5 crore in the sick company and sought to induct two of its directors on the BDDL board. BPL, however, has opposed the VIL bid.

Reliance refinery

Reliance Petroleum has informed the Oil Coordination Committee that it plans to start up its Jamnagar refinery on June 23. A Reliance official had said on May 5 that the refinery was aiming to start up on June 14 or June 15.

IOC, Gail sign pact

IOC and Gail will jointly evacuate about 1.5 million tonne per annum of LPG from Reliance and Essar plants through Gail's Jamnagar-Loni pipeline. Gail will transport the LPG lifted by IOC, which has the marketing rights, from the two private sector plants at a cost of Rs 1.30 per tonne/km.

Daewoo not to introduce diesel version of Matiz

Korean auto major, Daewoo Motors will not introduce a diesel version of Matiz as the company feels that dieselengines are not feasible for small cars.

Sensex down 49 points

Bowing to selling pressure from operators and institutions, the 30-share BSE Sensex shed 49.23 points on Tuesday to close at 3901.73 points.

BoI net may fall

Bank of India is expected to post a 40 per cent drop in its net profit in 1998-99. This will be on account of excess provisioning made for NPAs, 12.25 per cent set aside for employee's wages, and provisioning made for the `double square plus' scheme of the BoI Mututal fund.

Citibank launches global card

Citibank on Tuesday launched its global card -- Citibank International Gold Card. Customers applying for the card before end-September will get 50 per cent off on first-year fees if used domestically within a month.

Moopnar meets Sonia

TMC president GK Moopanar on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi as part of efforts to form an anti-BJP-DMK and anti-AIADMK front in Tamil Nadu for the coming elections.