Bangalore proposes 14 new flyovers
Bangalore: The Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BMP) has promised the city 14 new flyovers, six pedestrian subways and multi-storied parking at commercial complexes in its Budget 2002-03.

A sum of Rs 589.72 crore has been earmarked for capital expenditure in 2002-03 including arterial road development, stormwater drains, flood management works, Sujata Talkies subway, other capital works and rejuvenation of old areas.

Multi-storied car-parking complexes will be built through joint ventures on a BOT or BOOT basis.

A seasonal parking system has also been proposed for people who park in the same place every day.
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RBI to allow floating rates on TD schemes
New Delhi: Reserve Bank of India is likely to allow floating interest rates on term deposit scheme of banks.

There will, however, be options for depositors to opt for either fixed or floating interest rates.

RBI had allowed banks to lend at floating or flexible interest rates to corporates a few years ago but deposit rates are still rigid.

While savings bank account offers a 4.0 per cent return to depositors, a term deposit scheme of three-year maturity offers a higher 8.0 per cent interest rate.

The proposed floating rate schemes are likely to attach a premium or discount depending on the long-term movement of the bank rate at which RBI lends funds to the banks.

RBI would allow banks to revise the floating rate every six months.
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Transporters in Maharashtra begin strike
Mumbai: A total of 4.5 lakh heavy vehicles went off the roads in Maharashtra as part of an indefinite strike, which affected commercial activities in the state on 18 March.

The main demands of the striking transporters associations are: withdrawal of proposal for scrapping old vehicles and issuing all India permits to those trucks which have been denied the same since the past two years.
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Ahmedabad commodities bourse set to go online
Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Commodities Exchange (ACE) plans to begin online futures trading within the next three months by making use of the wide area networking (WAN) facility of the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange (ASE).

ACE, which has a daily turnover of Rs 20 crore, expects its turnover to surge to around Rs 30 crore and the number of transactions to double from the present 5,000, as soon as the online system of trading is put in place.

ACE already has permission to carry out futures trading in castors, while the Central government approval to do online futures trading in cotton seeds as well as its oil and cakes is expected shortly.

ASE has installed system capacity of around 85,000 trades per day.
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GDP to grow 6.5% in 2002-03: Jalan
New Delhi: Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan expects the economy to grow by 6 to 6.5 per cent in the next fiscal and by about 7.0 per cent in 4-5 years.

"Growth (in GDP) should be at least 6-6.5 per cent. In the medium term of 4-5 years, I think growth should be about 7.0 per cent," the RBI governor said on the sidelines of a seminar jointly organised by CII and NCAER here.

He said all the economic indications have been favourable to higher growth with positive signs of recovery in world economy and the credit pick-up in India.
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Mumbai Port to sell real estate
Mumbai: Mumbai Port is planning to get out of the real estate business.

The port has sent a proposal to the Union government to allow it sell land and real estate that it owns in the metropolis.

The port has a list of over 2,500 lessee tenants occupying its premises, both commercial and residential.

It also includes almost every inch of Ballard Pier, a commercial district in the heart of south Mumbai. Much of the land and properties are locked in litigation.

The MbPT board had decided to get out of the real estate business in January. The port earns around Rs 30 crore annually as rent.
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IA cuts commission to agents
New Delhi: Indian Airlines has cut down commission on sale of tickets to 5 per cent.

Indian Airlines has scrapped the 3 per cent sector linked incentive, with effect from 1 March that was being paid in addition to the basic commission of 5 per cent. The commission on dollar-designated sales has been reduced to 7 per cent as compared to the earlier level of 9 per cent.

Indian Airlines would save around Rs 40 crore per annum on account of the reduction in commission paid to sales agents.
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Sail, Tatas hike flat steel prices
Kolkata: Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Tata Steel have increased prices of flat steel products.

International steel prices moved up by an average $20-30 per tonne after the US government imposed up to 30 per cent import duty to safeguard domestic industry. India and 98 other developing countries were however excluded from this safeguard duty.

Sail and Tata Steels hike in price of flat products ranges between Rs 700-1,500 per tonne.
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Cellular phone users up by 5.4 %
New Delhi: The number of cellular phone users in the country has registered a growth of 5.4 per cent to 6.048 million subscribers in February 2002 compared with 5.737 million in the previous months.

Growth in cellular phone users was maximum in Delhi, which posted a 6.2 per cent rise to 9.77 lakh subscribers in February while Mumbai recorded 4.4 per cent increase in subscribers to 8.94 lakh, according to the latest data released by Cellular Operators Association of India here.

Bharti Cellular subscriber base increased by 6.2 per cent to 5.48 lakh in February from 5.15 lakh in January while Sterling Cellular saw 5.4 per cent increase in its customer base to 3.67 lakh as opposed to 3.48 lakh in January.

MTNL recorded 11.5 per cent increase in subscribers to 61,498 in Delhi and by 6.4 per cent to 85,447 in Mumbai.
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