CBDT committee reconstituted
The advisory committee of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been reconstituted with the Finance Minister as its chairman. The Minister of State for Finance (revenue) will be the vice-chairman of the 15-member committee comprising three officials and 12 non-officials, an official press note said today.

LS, RS adjourned
Both the houses of Parliament were adjourned on Tuesday immediately after the question hour with Opposition members, led by the Congress, demanding the resignation of the Home Minister LK Advani, Human Resource Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Sports Minister Uma Bharati for being chargesheeted in the Babri Masjit demolition case.

NCAER reduces growth forecast
Economic growth is likely to be restricted to 6.1 per cent in the current fiscal, mainly due to the poor investment climate and lower agricultural production, according to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). The council had earlier forecast the gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 7.2 per cent.

Export growth rate may surpass target
India is likely to exceed the 18 per cent export growth rate target fixed for the current fiscal, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Omar Abdullah indicated on Tuesday. The export trends up to October this year have been encouraging and the growth rate has been consistently higher than the target, he said in New Delhi.

Forex reserves comfortable: FM
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said in New Delhi on Tuesday that the current account deficit would be below 2 per cent this fiscal as against 0.9 per cent last year. This was mainly on account of increased oil bill. Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, he, however said the country's foreign exchange reserve was comfortable.

Maruti to up car prices
Maruti Udyog plans to increase prices of most of its models including the largest-selling Maruti 800 and Zen by at least 3-4 per cent of the current ex-showroom price by this month end or early January. "The prices would be increased across the board and may translate into Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 for Maruti 800 and between Rs 9,000 and Rs 11,000 for Zen," company sources said.

HM plans to make Pajero in India
Hindustan Motors is planning to manufacture Mitsubishi Motors' multi-utility vehicle Pajero in India. A final decision is likely to be taken once the Union government unveils its auto policy and the duty structure becomes clear in the next Budget.

65 companies seek Nasdaq listing
The technology-heavy Nasdaq stock market has attracted listing interest from at least 65 Indian companies, according to Mr Patrick Sutch, vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region. Nasdaq's plan to set up an office in India is a step in that direction.