PF board recommends 9.5% interest rate
New Delhi: The board of trustees of the employees provident fund has recommended a steady 9.5 per cent interest rate on the fund for 2002-03.

The fund managed around Rs 59,939 crore as on 31 December 2001.

The rate on this scheme is one of the benchmarks for long-term interest rates.
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Customs duty may be lowered to 20%
New Delhi: Finance minister Yashwant Sinha hinted at bringing down peak customs duty to 20 per cent from the present 35 per cent in the budget to make Indian industry competitive.
"Our stated objective is to reduce peak import duty to 20 per cent," Sinha said, adding it was time that tariff and non- tariff barriers were brought down.

Emphasising that ten years was sufficient time for India to become competitive, Sinha told India Today Conclave that Industry should become competitive to meet the challenges of globalisation by moving away from the era of protectionism.
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Infosys, US varsity institute awards
New Delhi: Infosys Technologies and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania have jointly instituted three awards for excellence in business transformation.

Infosys and the William and Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation at Wharton School will recognise organisations that have transformed their business or industry through the creative application of technology.

These awards will showcase best practices of using technology to create new paradigms and change the way business is done by influencing companies bottomlines.
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PSU banks to be allowed recruitment
New Delhi: The government has decided to decentralise recruitment of bank officers and do away with setting up of a banking services commission for the purpose.

A bill to repeal the banking service commission act would be introduced in the budget session of parliament.

The modified system is aimed at helping reduce the regional imbalances and providing flexibility to the banks in conducting examinations as per their requirments.
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Terrorists attack American Center in Kolkata
Kolkata: Four motorcycle-borne terrorists attacked the American Center in Kolkata, killing four security personnel and injuring many more.

The assailants fired from high-calibre automatic weapons at the security personnel at the gate of the American Center at 6:25 am killing three of them on the spot before fleeing from the scene.

The attack was carried out by unidentified gunmen who approached the building and fired indiscriminately from an AK-47 assault rifle they were carrying under a shawl.
Dubai-based mafia don, Farhan Malik alias Aftab has claimed responsibility for the attack. Farhan is believed to be in close touch with Pakistani agencies.
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India, Israel sign MoU to boost IT
New Delhi: India and Israel have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote bilateral trade in electronics and information technology by providing support to research and development activities and technology transfer.

The two countries plan to set up a programme and a Working Group to assist in enhancing industrial and technological competitiveness of both countries through cooperation in industrial research, development and balanced technology transfer aimed at developing processes and products to enhance bilateral trade and marking of products in third-country markets.

As per the MoU, Indian Department of Information and Technology (DIT) will be responsible for implementing the programme and working group on behalf of India and the office of the chief scientist on behalf of Israel.
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Auto Expo to go overseas
New Delhi: The biennial Auto Expo which concluded here on 22 January is going international with the first Auto Expo India to be held in Dubai from 19 January 2003.

The event, being organised to explore business for Indian automobile and auto component manufacturers in the Middle East, has already received expression of interest from over 40 companies.

Meanwhile, curtains came down at the sixth Auto Expo with the organisors claiming a record attendance of over a million visitors.

Billed as Asias largest automotive exhibition in terms of area, the fair attracted 1.5 million visitors during the first six days. Business worth Rs 10 crore was conducted during the fair.

The participating companies received 1.9 lakh business, 3,500 exports inquiries and 10 joint ventures or technical alliances were finalised.
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Grape marketing centre in Europe proposed
Bangalore: The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) is mulling the setting up of a marketing centre for fresh grapes in Europe.

Plans are afoot to set up a marketing centre for grapes in Europe as it is the biggest market for Indian grapes. India exported some 20,647 tonnes of fresh grapes last year, valued at Rs 83 crore.
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Ad industry grew by 23% in 2000-01
New Delhi: The advertising industry grew 23.51 per cent in 2000-01, according to A&M, the advertising and marketing magazine that carried out its XIIth agency report. In rupee terms, the survey says the gross income of the top 100 agencies stood at Rs 1275.4 crore for 2000-01 compared to Rs 1032.6 crore the year before.

By way of ranking, HTA remained the biggest agency. In fact, the rankings of the first nine agencies remained the same as they were last year, with Ogilvy & Mather, Mudra Communications, FCB-Ulka and Redifussion-DY&R following up HTA.

Among the top 10, while HTA showed a 28.3 per cent growth in gross income, Mudra ranked the highest (albeit on a lower base) at 36.4 per cent. Grey Worldwide and Leo Burnett too clipped along at 28.4 per cent and 27.4 per cent respectively.
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