Indo-US trade
US ambassador to India Richard Celeste has said improving the velocity of hardware business in India would be one of the moot points for discussion when Prime Minister AB Vajpayee visits the US. At a seminar during the 18th annual MAIT conference in New Delhi, Celeste said the Indian hardware industry was bogged down by numerous procedural hassles that had kept it away from international level turn-around time.

US honour for Galbraith
Two former US ambassadors to India, economist-author John Kenneth Galbraith and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, are among 15 Americans who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House has said. The Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour given by the US government, will be presented at a White House ceremony on August 9.

Package for HMT
The Union ministry of industry is finalising a package for HMT Srinagar within a fortnight at the intervention of Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. Union defence minister George Fernandes, who along with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, said this after visiting the unit at Shelteng, near Srinagar.

Gujarat toeing Andhra IT line
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Gujarat Task Force on Information Technology (IT) and the Andhra Pradesh Government functionaries have in principle decided to forge a business partnership in the IT.

Shourie manhandled
Union Minister for disinvestment Arun Shourie was manhandled by activists, allegedly belonging to the Republican Party of India (RPI) in Mumbai on Saturday evening, police said. The minister, who had come to deliver the Lalit Doshi memorial lecture at the YB Chavan auditorium in South Mumbai, was pushed and jostled by suspected RPI-Athawale activists near the entrance.

Veerappan makes demands
Forest brigand Veerappan has sent a cassette containing a list of demands for ending the seven-day old hostage crisis which Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will discuss in Chennai on Sunday amidst speculation that the fugitive has sought amnesty and a ransom of Rs 50 crore.

WDM trades worth Rs 338 cr at NSE
The Wholesale Debt Market (WDM) segment of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Saturday witnessed a total turnover of Rs. 338.39 crore in 53 trades. Top securities traded on WDM segment were, the 12.5 per cent government security maturing in 2004 traded for Rs 60 crore at a weighted yield of 10.93 per cent. The 11 per cent government security maturing in 2006 was traded for Rs 50 cr at a weighted yield of 11.11 per cent and 11.15 per cent government security maturing in 2002 was traded for Rs 35 cr at a weighted yield of 10.69 per cent.

Badla rates dip
Carryforward (badla) rates on the BSE dipped further on Saturday mainly due to substantial decline in net demand for funds. According to brokers, average badla rates on Saturday was around 8.25 per cent, substantially lower than last week's 10 per cent to 11 per cent level. Net demand for funds at the end of the settlement was at Rs 2,160 crore compared to last week's Rs 2,600 crore. Owing to heavy selling in infotech counters over the week, especially on Friday afternoon, net outstandings on the BSE had declined considerably.

FIIs turn net sellers
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and mutual funds, both turned out net sellers on the bourses during the week ended August 4. FIIs and MFs were net sellers. According to SEBI, the gross purchases of FIIs during the week stood at Rs 1069.8 crore as against their gross sales worth Rs 1070.3 crore. Similarly, the MFs gross sales stood higher at Rs 189.19 crore as against their gross purchases worth Rs 133.86 crore.

Check authenticity of your currency
Ignorance can be excused, but not when you are in possession of counterfeit notes or currency. In the eyes of the law, possession of counterfeit notes or currency, knowingly or unknowingly, is a crime and hence punishable. But how can the common man distinguish between real and fake? This requires prior knowledge of the features of an authentic note of the same denomination, plus equipment to test and compare the features of a particular note against those authentic features. Last month, Hometronics India, part of the Vijlaxmi group of companies, launched an indigenously developed, automatic counterfeit currency detecting machine, called Scantron.The machine can not only detect counterfeit currency, it can also detect fake credit cards, passports, cheques and other legal documents containing chemical features.