The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, February 23, 2003

Investing in gold: Timing adds the glitter
WOULD you have guessed that the best performing investment in your portfolio over the past year was the gold stashed away in your bank locker? Domestic prices of the precious metal have appreciated 27 per cent since January 2002. In comparison, ... More

Flash in the pan or...?
CLEARLY, gold was a disappointing investment for much of the 1990s. What, then, prompted the recent surge in the yellow metal's price? And what are the chances that the next few years will see a repeat of the precious metal's performance in the ... More

Term plans with a difference
TERM plans are the simplest insurance products in the market today. They provide only pure life cover, and do not have a savings component attached to them like the endowment or money-back policies. Typically, a term plan guarantees to pay the ... More

Wheels India: On a roll with automobiles
THE fixed deposit programme of Wheels India is suitable for those who already have a portfolio of FD investments and are interested in diversifying their risk. The interest rates are relatively lower than that offered by manufacturing ... More

ICICI Bank: Options limited
ICICI Bank's second offer of Safety Bonds for this fiscal is now open for subscription. The yields on offer are lower than what wasoffered in January. This is in contrast to the spike in the yields of government securities since January. ... More

ING Vysya's Conquering Life Critical Illness Plan
ING Life's Conquering Life Critical Illness Plan is a term assurance plan with a built-in cover for critical illness. In other words, the policy covers the policyholder's life for a particular period, and if he contracts any of the ... More

ANTI-DUMPING

Anti-dumping duty on China-made metal torches
THE Union Government has recently imposed anti-dumping duty on metal torches imported from China. With this, Indian torch manufacturers can now expect to witness a bright future, after having faced a severe competition from Chinese torches. The ... More

BUDGET

AP Plan outlay up 16.6% — IT, farm sectors get high allocations
The State is expected to witness a revenue deficit of Rs 2,131crore during fiscal 2003-04, which would be equivalent to about 1.17 per cent of the GSDP (gross State domestic product). More

Is Jaswant going to KISS & tell?
WHEN it is the climax scene in movies, nobody likes to listen to long dialogues, be it between hero and his lady, or the thief and the cop. So also with Budget speeches. Finance Ministers have set the trend so far to read out from bulky ... More

ECONOMY

AP: `Debt swap' drive begins to pay off
TAKING advantage of the decelerating interest rate regime, the Andhra Pradesh Government has adopted the `debt swap' route to partially cut down interest payments, which have been growing significantly over the years. In tune with the current ... More

PETROLEUM

Oil cos hope for a friendly Budget
OIL refining companies must be looking forward to the Budget with some expectation and a lot of anxiety. For at stake is their profitability and their cash generation both of which are under threat because of the Government's own compulsions. ... More

Petrol pumps may go dry on Monday
CONSUMERS may not be able to fuel their vehicles on Monday. This follows the petrol pump owners' plans to go on a one-day strike against the harassment by public sector oil marketing companies on grounds of sale of adulterated fuel. The ... More

Ministry pushing States to lower sales tax on ATF
THE forthcoming Union Budget is likely to be a mixed bag for the domestic civil aviation industry. While there are likely to be some announcements to push forward the restructuring of domestic airports, much relief on the Central excise being ... More

TAXATION

AP set for VAT regime; may seek compensation
THE Andhra Pradesh Government has announced its full preparedness to introduce the VAT (value-added tax) regime in lieu of the existing sales tax system from April 1, 2003 coinciding with the next financial year. However, the State Government ... More

WATER

Interlinking of rivers to be driver of growth: Kalam
THE plan to integrate the rivers of India will be a key driver of the growth of the country and it would not only bring about economic prosperity but emotional integration as well, according to the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He also has ... More

KNITWEAR & HOSIERY

Kalam urges use of quality as tool to achieve higher knitwear export
THE President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, took a leaf out of his `Vision 2020' for a developed India and applied it for the knitwear-exporting town of Tirupur for its vibrancy in knitted garment exports. While praising the Tirupur exporters for ... More

DISINVESTMENT

Opinion and Caveat — Attorney General on HPCL & BPCL disinvestment
THE Government of India's `in-principle' decision to go ahead with the disinvestment of two profit-making and asset-rich government companies and reliance on the legal opinion provided by the Attorney General for India, Mr Soli J. Sorabjee, ... More

WTO

NAM urged to work out common stance on WTO
AHEAD of the 30th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Kuala Lumpur, an independent think-tank has called for coordination among the NAM members as being of "critical importance" in order to get a better deal out of the WTO negotiations ... More

OVERSEAS INVESTMENTS

'Invest abroad for diversification' — Dr Janette Rutterford, Abbey National Professor of Finance, The Open University Business School
Indians were recently allowed to invest abroad. However, are markets such as the US and the UK worthy of investing? These and other issues were explored in a chat Business Line had with Dr Janette Rutterford, Abbey National ... More

EVENTS

PM to address NAM Business Forum meet
THE Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, along with the Presidents of South Africa and Indonesia and the Prime Minister of Thailand, is to address the two-day Non Aligned Meeting (NAM) Business Forum meeting scheduled to begin on February 23 ... More

INCOME TAX

Budget 2003-04: Waiting in trepidation
THE forthcoming Budget is different from last year's on at least two counts — the new Finance Minister at the helm, and the Kelkar report. The common man, the taxpayer, the tax-paying investor are on tenterhooks waiting with trepidation ... More

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