Cut-off limit for salary disclosures doubled
New Delhi: The department of company affairs has fixed the cut-off limit for disclosure of pay packages of employees by companies in their annual reports at Rs 24 lakh per annum. At present, companies are required to disclose such details for employees receiving annual remuneration of Rs 12 lakh or more.

The disclosure would include among other things, the annual remuneration, name, designation, age, qualification, years of experience, date of commencement and last employment.
Since annual reports of companies run into several pages on account of the lengthy details that need to be divulged under the disclosure norms, relaxing the upper limit will also make the reports less bulky.
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Cabinet to meet on APM on 5 Feb
New Delhi: The Cabinet is meeting here on 5 February to discuss the dismantling of administered pricing mechanism (APM) in the oil sector from 1 April.

The first cabinet approval sought by the petroleum ministry concerns liquidation of cumulative outstandings to oil companies by issuing bonds to the extent of 80 per cent of oil pool deficit and to liquidate the balance after obtaining special audit of the pool account.

It has also asked for permission to abolish the oil coordination committee from 1 April. It is proposed to send back all OCC employees to their parent organisations once the committee is wound up.

The petroleum ministry also wants to set up a professional body to, besides other functions, help it administer subsidies on PDS kerosene and domestic LPG after 1 April, to maintain information data bank and communications system to deal with emergencies and unforeseen situations, to analyse trends in international oil market and prices analysis, import and export management, and to operationalise sector-specific surcharge schemes.
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Software exports up 25 per cent
New Delhi: Software and service exports in the third quarter of the current fiscal rose 25.17% to Rs 9,100 crore from Rs 7,270 crore in the corresponding period last year, according to Nasscom.

Exports were up a mere 2.25% when compared with the Q2 figure of Rs 8,900 crore.

The software industry association said companies have been affected by the slowdown in the US, particularly after the 11 September attacks as clients cut spending and cancelled or delayed projects.

The association expects the current quarter to remain tough because of softening demand and intense pricing pressure.
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White House proposes $2.128-trillion budget
Washington: President George W. Bush's administration has proposed a $2.128-trillion budget for the fiscal year starting 1 October.

The budget plan estimates that the US economy will grow at a sluggish rate of 0.7 per cent in 2002 and ramp up to 3.8 per cent in 2003.
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Sabeer Bhatia developing Netlink
New York: Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia is developing an e-mail service that will integrate text, voice and fax messages in Andhra Pradesh.

The service will help network remote villages with the capital city at a very low cost. The state government is working on a plan to provide e-mail service to all the citizens and connect every village with the help of Internet by next year.

The government also plans to connect all the professional colleges in the state through video conference facilities so that the expertise of faculty members could be shared by other colleges far and near.
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Global airlines lost $15 bn in 2001
New York: The global airline industry lost $15 billion last year, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Loyola de Palacio, European Union commissioner for transport and energy, said that the global airline sector, which she called financially fragile, was of critical importance to the health and growth of any economy.

She called for a Common Transatlantic Aviation Area, an economic arrangement embracing both the European Union and the US and would make possible a common approach to such issues as security, safety, foreign ownership limitations and government regulation.
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Govt not to close down PSUs
New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has asserted that the Centre had no intention to close down PSUs.
"The PSUs are important pillars of the economy. An impression is being created that in the name of globalisation, PSUs have lost their importance and the government wants to get rid of them. This is not correct," he said giving away the Prime Minister's Shram Awards, 2000.

Referring to the proposed changes in labour laws, he said that it had become necessary to meet new challenges and to make the industry more competitive.

Vajpayee said that the interest of the workers would be kept in mind while carrying out the changes and views of all political parties and labour organisations would be elicited.
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Life-saving drug list to be pruned
New Delhi: The government will prune the essential drugs list to bring down the number of drugs and formulations in it to around 100. The list currently contains about 254 drugs and formulations, all of which are exempt from customs duty.
The government is expected to announce a reduction in the size of the list in the forthcoming Budget. The finance ministry is also likely to announce the creation of a level playing field for imported and locally manufactured essential drugs.
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