Rs 1,118 cr FDI cleared
New Delhi: The government today cleared 25 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 1,118 crore. This included Rs 800 crore FDI in Uttam Steel Ltd for manufacture of cold rolled annealed and un-annealed sheets and coils.

Among the other major FDI proposals cleared are:

• A Rs 120 crore proposal of the South African Breweries India Ltd for downstream acquisition and setting up of an investment company in the brewery sector.
• 25 proposals pertaining to the steel industry, software development and IT services, NBFC activities, manufacture of mechanical and electrical equipment and components.
• A proposal of Otis Elevator to enhance foreign equity participation from 68.90 per cent to 100 per cent with the infusion of Rs 109.24 crore.
• A Rs 47 crore proposal of Mauritius-based company Chrysalis Raga for developing software solutions and production in the IT sector and a Rs 5.95 crore proposal of Moody's Investment India Ltd to increase foreign equity from 13.84 per cent to 20.84 per cent.
• Bagemeyer NV's proposal for 100 per cent FDI through inflow of Rs 23.50 crore over a period of five years for development of a design centre and electronic components.

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Microsoft ventures into content management
Yet another achievement for big daddy Microsoft. It has now ventured into an area previously dominated by such stalwarts like Vignette Corp, BroadVision Inc and Interwoven Inc.

Microsoft, though, says that there are key differences. Among them are that Microsoft's product is built with Microsoft technology -- it's based on Windows 2000 with COM-based publication APIs -- while its competitors' systems are built for Unix using Java.

Microsoft's content management server, a part of it's overall net initiative, deploys more quickly while its ease of use targets business users, as opposed to developers. The enterprise, evaluation and developer editions are designed to enable businesses to create, deploy and manage dynamic content on their websites. Also included is out-of-the-box integration with Microsoft's Commerce Server 2000, which Microsoft says will enable businesses to quickly create personalised websites.

Key features include an automatic content publishing process. This includes: templates designed to enhance ease of use; a site management tool; and website development capabilities helped by out-of-the-box applications. Microsoft says developers are free to build with its content management operation, customise with what it sends out of the box and integrate with other products.

Content Management Server is a rebranding of NCompass' Resolution 4.0, which Microsoft optimised for better performance. The Vancouver, British Columbia, company's server had been integrated with the Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 before the acquisition. The enterprise edition is a full-featured licensed version with pricing starting at $39,901 per CPU. It is available now.

The evaluation edition is a full-featured 120-day trial edition that can be downloaded from Microsoft's site. The developer edition is available to MSDN subscribers here. The developer edition will ship with MSDN Universal in October.
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Govt to invest more in infrastructure
New Delhi: Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee pledged that his government will now go all out to revive the economy by increasing public investment in railways, highway projects and the power sector.

Addressing the Trade and Industry Council meet here, Mr. Vajpayee said, "The economic crisis can be ended only with dramatically increasing public spending and enabling more private investment."

While assuring that labour reforms will be pushed through in the winter session of the parliament, he also urged the industry leaders to take care that the interest of labourers is protected.

"While we are reforming our system of governance I would like you to reform your system of corporate governance. I urge the business community to clean up its act and give a better account of itself both to the government and to the people", he added.
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PM promises early settlement of Enron dispute
New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has assured of an early and amicable resolution of the dispute over Enron's Dabhol power project.

"The Central Government, in cooperation with Maharashtra government, financial institutions and other partners, will facilitate an early and amicable resolution of the problem," Mr.Vajpayee said.

The prime ministers assurance follows Enrons notice to Centre for arbitration to resolve the dispute with the Maharashtra state electricity board (MSEB).

Enron has offered Centre its stake in the $2.9 billion project at cost, forgoing profits on its investment.
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