Arthur Andersen renamed as Andersen
New Delhi: Arthur Andersen, a global integrated professional services provider has announced its renaming to Andersen and said the firm will adopt its well-recognised surname as its global brand. Mr. Joseph F Berardino, chief executive officer of Andersen has said that by using Andersen as a global brand, would help in aligning with firm’s strategic commitment to continually enhance the breadth and depth of its capabilities. Following the move, Andersen would phase out the use of Arthur Andersen.
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Gold tumbles to record low of Rs 3,910 per 10 gm Mumbai: Gold has started losing its shine, following a drastic cut in the import duty announced in Budget 2001-02. The yellow metal, which was ruling Rs 4,230 per 10 gram (standard) has declined to a two-year low of Rs 3,910 per 10 gram. Four years ago, gold was in keen demand and standard gold had touched an all-time high of Rs 5,713 per 10 gram on February 6, 1996.

Gold prices had earlier touched a low of Rs 3,995 per 10 gram on August 7, 1999, when it bottomed out to 20-year low of USD 257.05 per ounce in July, 1999 following auction of 25 tonne of gold at USD 261.20 an ounce, by the Bank of England.

The gold prices had however, stabilised till February 27, 2000, when it registered the biggest crash of the year by Rs 120 in a single day, following a slash in import duty, which was brought down drastically to Rs 250 per 10 gram from Rs 400 per 10 gram. The yellow metal has since continued the downslide due to many reasons such as a sharp fall in international prices, poor demand in local market as buyers lost confidence and on heavy offloading by stockists and banks.
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New integrated LNG shipping policy on anvil
New Delhi: The government is reportedly working out an integrated LNG policy, which looks at enabling Indian flag vessels to take to LNG transportation in a big way. The proposed policy seeks to make it mandatory to have Indian shipping companies to own a minimum of 26 per cent equity in the LNG venture throughout the course of the contract.

Shipping ministry sources have said that new policy proposal would soon be taken to cabinet for approval The draft policy allows for non-shipping Indian companies to form collaborations with Indian shipping companies in the consortium. However, the non-Indian shipping companies would have equity less than the Indian shipping companies. The policy also stipulates that when the management of the ships is transferred from the foreign shipping partner, it could be only be transferred to the Indian shipping companies and not to the non-shipping companies.

The policy also seeks to allow all LNG imports on an fob basis, which would be reviewed after seven years. The government is also looking at making available a zero level of taxation for a specified number of years for Indian shipping companies in the LNG business.
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39 items likely to get tariff protection from April 1
New Delhi: The government is considering imposition of higher import tariffs on 39 items reserved for the small scale sector as a protective measure. The Export Import (Exim) Policy is expected to remove quantitative restrictions on 715 items, including these items, from April 1. Of the nearly 800 items reserved for the small scale sector, import of 198 items, which are currently under the special import licence or restricted category, will be freed from April 1.

The list prepared by the SSI ministry is based on a study undertaken by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). The study has said that the removal of QRs might not lead to an increase in cheap imports or injury to the domestic industry. According to IIFT data, the growth rate of import has been coming down since 1995-96, while the removal of QRs began in March 1996.

On the basis of data collected for items on which QRs have been removed since August 1998 for import from Saarc countries, the study said that no major surge in imports had been witnessed even in the small scale sector.
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RBI tells banks to submit capital market exposure data
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked some banks to submit their capital market exposure data immediately to the central bank. The RBI move follows Global Trust Bank’s alleged over-exposure to a particular broker.

The RBI has capped banks’ exposure in capital markets at 5 per cent of total advances. It has also said bank’s exposure to capital market should not be more than 10 per cent of the net worth. However, it has given bank boards the discretion to waive this stipulation.

This is for the first time the central bank has asked for data on banks’ capital market exposure since September last year, when the RBI along with Sebi devised new norms for banks’ capital market exposure after a series of meetings with a clutch of foreign, private and state-run banks.
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