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Politics Business Expressions General Sports Leisure States 11 February 1998   DoT, TRAI tussle intensifies The face-off between the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) seems to have taken a turn for the worse. At the root of the problem is DoT's bid to make an amendment in the TRAI Act, barely a year after the Act was passed in March, 1997.   Tarapore warns RBI on rising short-term debt The former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), S S Tarapore, has warned the apex bank against the rising level of short-term debt which has now almost reached the level of foreign exchange reserves of the country. Tarapore said the total shot-term debt liabilities could well exceed $ 23 billion or about 85% of the forex reserves. SEBI formulates MF disclosure norms The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has finally come out with a draft of the minimum disclosure requirements to be contained in the offer document of any scheme to be launched by a mutual fund. The draft was aimed at providing material information about mutual fund schemes which would assist the investor in making an informed investment decision. Birlas may market cement jointly The various Birla factions have begun discussing the feasibility of jointly marketing the cement made by group companies, probably under as "mega" brand. The various factions together account for nearly 25% of India's installed capacity of 90 million tonnes.   Timken to increase stake in Indian joint venture to 51% The Timken Company of USA is planning to increase its stake in its Indian joint venture company Tata Timken Ltd from the existing 40% to 51%. According to managing director Gordon W Robinson, talks with the Tatas are at an advanced stage. Tata Timken is a joint venture between Timken company and Tata Steel with both partners holding 40% of the equity and the balance with the public. Rajarathinam shares in BSBL attached The income-tax department has attached 1,40,000 shares held by the takeover tycoon P Rajarathinam in the Benarese State Bank Ltd (BSBL) as part of the tax recovery measures. The IT department has also alerted in a public notice that nobody should deal in these attached shares worth Rs 14 crore.     Bizbits   PLR set to decline   Sensex loses 31 pts