NEW DELHI: The government has amended the central excise rules, 1944, in view of its decision to present the annual budget for 1999-2000 at 11 hours on February 27. A notification to this effect has been issued amending rules 100 G and 224 of the central excise rules, 1944. This will henceforth be called as the Central Excise Rules (fourth amendment) 1999. The amendment will have limited implications to the extent that restrictions which were applied from 1700 hours will now apply from 11 hours. All other procedures relating to declaration of stock and clearances on pre-budget and budget days will remain the same, as per an official release.

Sulzer-ABB

NEW DELHI: Swiss multinational Sulzer International is likely to team up with ABB and Electrowatt of Switzerland to bid for equity stakes in the proposed joint venture projects of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). Sulzer has already made a presentation for the same to NHPC last month, company sourcessaid.

NHPC had invited global bids to select joint ventures for developing four hydroelecrtic projects in the country which include 710 mw Koel Karo project in Bihar, 510 mw teesta V project in Sikkim, 800 mw Parvathi II in Himachal Pradesh and 90 mw Loktak project in Manipur. The sources said Sulzer Hydro had executed several hydro projects worldwide in partnership with companies like ABB and Skanska and wanted to take a similar route in India as well.

Mushroom curbs

WASHINGTION: The US government is about to impose punitive duties on imports of preserved mushrooms from India, Indonesia and China, according to commerce department documents released here. The department says mushrooms from these countries are being sold in the United States at unfairly low prices.

The duties will range from six per cent to 244 per cent and are designed to offset the advantage allegedly gained by the Asian exporters from having "dumped" their mushrooms on the market at prices below what the department considersfair. The action by the department could come later this week. The decision comes after a key finding announced recently by another US trade body, the International Trade Commission (ITC), that the US preserved mushroom industry had indeed been threatened by the dumping practices.

Pulse output

NEW DELHI: The government today dispelled any fears of a supply shortage in pulses saying the country was set for an all time record pulse production of 148 lakh tonnes, up from 131 lakh tonnes cultivated last year.

According to an assessment made by the National Crop Forecasting Centre (NFC) under the Ministry of Agriculture, the year 1998-99 is likely to maintain reasonably satisfactory supply scenario as acreage under cultivation is estimated to have gone up by 60,000 hectares to 229.1 lakh hectares over the previous year. The highest production of pulses in the country so far was 143 lakh tonnes in 1991-92, an official release said here. NFC has attributed the good prospects of pulses this year tofavourable climatic conditions that prevailed over the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan which account for nearly 50 per cent of country's pulses production. Punjab, Haryana, Orissa and West Bengal contribute about six per cent of the total production, the release said. The main contributory factor for the excellent prospects of pulses production is the significant increase in acreage of rabi pulses .