Insat 2-B fails again
Insat-2B has failed for the second time in two days, a space department official said on Sunday. "The problem re-occurred again last night after we had set it right," a senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation said.

Curtain falls on IT.COM
Curtain fell on Asia's biggest IT event in Bangalore on Sunday as IT companies wrapped up deals and some three lakh people visited it during the five-day mega show. The third edition of `Bangalore IT.COM 2000' saw the participation of a record 376 companies, 500 foreign delegates, 60,000 business visitors and three lakh general visitors.

Centre may go slow on GIC ordinance
The Centre may go slow on the proposed ordinance to delink General Insurance Corporation and its four subsidiaries in the face of opposition from the employees unions. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority had set November 16 as the date for the delinking.

Petronet's commercial director quits
Petronet has received yet another setback with its director commercial RP Sharma quitting. Sharma's exit comes days before the company was to award the $650 million contract for construction of port facilities at Dahej for importing five million tonnes of LNG annually from 2003. When contacted, Sharma said, "I was not feeling comfortable under the present setup."

Ceat rethink on Dharwad plant
Ceat Ltd is having a relook at its proposed tyre plant at Dharwad in Karnataka. According to Ceat managing director S Samuel, ``we are still undecided on the issue."

White paper on industry
Union Minister for Heavy Industries Manohar Joshi on Sunday said the Centre has decided to come out with a white paper on the industrial scenario and prepare a policy on auto industry. Disclosing this at a function organised by the Goa Union Of Journalists, Joshi said out of the 225 PSUs falling under the category of heavy industries in the country, 100 were running into losses.

Anti-dumping duty on Russia lifted
India has lifted the anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of low-carbon ferro chrome from Russia and Kazakhstan. "Cessation of existing anti-dumping duty on imports of low-carbon ferro chrome from Russia and Kazakhstan is not likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of injury to the domestic industry," the designated authority under the commerce ministry which undertook the investigation said.

Import duty on Cyclosporin
The life-saving Cyclosporin drug now seems to be a potential source of confrontation between domestic drug manufacturers and Novartis. While domestic manufacturers have recommended to the government that the import duty on the drug be retained at the current level, Novartis is understood to have lobbied for a zero per cent duty.

Inflation rate falls to 6.78%
The inflation rate saw a minuscule fall for the third successive week to 6.78 per cent on October 21, mainly due to drop in prices of food articles and minerals. It was 6.86 per cent the week before.