Internet telephony
guidelines issued
New Delhi: Only
Internet Service Provider (ISP) licencees would be allowed to offer net
telephony services, scheduled to be opened from 1 April 2002.
As part of guidelines issued for Internet telephony services, the department of
telecom said that ISPs wanting to offer the services would be required to sign
an amendment to their original licence agreement.
TRAI has forborne and not levied tariff for internet telephony offered by
ISPs over public internet, however, TRAI may review and fix a tariff at any
time during the validity of ISP licence which shall be binding on the licencees,
an official release said here.
The scope of services would be computer to computer both within and outside
India, PC to telephone and IP based H.323/SIP terminals in India to similar
terminals both in India and abroad.
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RBI moots gold
exchange
New
Delhi: Reserve Bank has mooted a Gold Exchange for trading in gold
and a self-regulatory agency as part of efforts to develop a market for the
precious metal and integrate it with the financial market.
Establishment of a gold exchange would help in efficient price discovery and
emergence of healthy and transparent practices in the market, RBI's deputy
governor Y V Reddy said at a conference organised by the World Gold Council
here.
He said a formal move towards gold exchange would be made once banks start
trading among themselves along with MMTC, STC and other big traders in
accordance to the demand-supply dynamics.
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Video
linked board meeting in offing
Kolkata:
The department of company affairs has asked the Institute of Company
Secretaries of India to examine the prospects of holding board meetings through
video conferencing.
ISCI bosses are working in close coordination with DCA officials on how to
implement this. A couple of meetings have been held with some of the leading
Indian companies and multinationals. Some of the critical issues that came up
for discussion included aspects like the legal framework, management as well as
problems of technical security. Already a draft report has been made and placed
before DCA.
Advancement in information technology has made video conferencing possible thus
enabling people sitting at a distance to effectively communicate or interact
with each other. It is now possible to think about holding board meetings using
this tool of information technology which would not only save time but also
costs.
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Malaysia
keen on JV for core projects
Mumbai: The Malaysian
government is keen on technical tie-ups with state governments here to
participate in infrastructure projects.
It has already tied up with the Tamil
Nadu government to implement a Rs 2,700-crore project to set up a container
port in Kolachal near Kanyakumari. It also plans to set up an 11-km-long
elevated highway connecting Chennai port with Meenambakkam airport.
Malaysia is talking to the Maharashtra
government for a similar technical tie-up.
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Govt, Suzuki
pact on Maruti rights issue
New Delhi: Suzuki Motor
Corporation (SMC) of Japan and the government have finalised the pricing of the
shares for the proposed rights issue in their joint venture Maruti Udyog as
part of the exercise to privatise the car company.
The government has decided to offload its equity in the 50:50 JV, beginning
with a rights issue of Rs 400 crore where the Indian partner would abstain for
consideration of a renunciation premium.
The cabinet committee on disinvestment had earlier cleared a proposal to dilute
equity in the company through a rights issue to be followed by a public
offering.
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57 FDI
proposals worth Rs 1,113 crore cleared
New Delhi: A Rs
356-crore proposal of Winny Electron Enterprise, a Taiwanese company, for
acquiring 100 per cent equity in New Delhi-based AVN Winfotech Ltd was among
the 57 Foreign Direct Investment cases worth Rs 1,113 crore approved by the
government.
The proposals were cleared by the Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran
on the basis of the recommendations made by the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board, an official release said here today.
A Rs 235 crore proposal of a French company, Hoechst Schering Agroevo, to
increase its equity from 51 per cent to 74 per cent in Gujarat-based company,
Bilag Industries, was also cleared.
Japanese company, Toyota Motor Corporation's, proposal to hike equity in its
Indian arm from 88.88 per cent to 99 per cent with the infusion of Rs 106.5
crore was also approved.
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Maharashtra
transport strike called off
Mumbai: The
five-day-long strike by transporters in Maharashtra was withdrawan on 21 March
following talks between Maharashtra Truck Tempo Vahatuk Mahasangh and chief
minister Vilasrao Deshmukh here.
The government would file an affidavit in the court within two weeks explaining
its difficulties for providing facilities for conversion of 15-year-old
vehicles to CNG or LPG mode.
Similarly, the government would consider some of their other demands including
granting luxury contract carriage permits to private buses plying within the
state, which were earlier plying on all India tourist permits and were put
under non-use since 10 January 2002 following policies adopted by regional
transport and police departments.
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Investment
limit in RBI relief bonds lifted
New Delhi:
The government has lifted the Rs two lakh investment limit for investing in RBI
relief bonds but kept the interest rate on the bonds at a lower 8 per cent.
The move is part of government's effort to provide some relief to small
investors and retired persons in earning high returns on their savings even
after the 0.5 per cent cut in small savings rates.
The ceiling of Rs two lakh per investor will not apply to relief bonds, which
were purchased prior to 1 March 2002 but are yet to mature.
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IOC to
expand Panipat refinery
New
Delhi: Indian Oil plans to double the capacity of its Panipat refinery to
240,000 barrels per day.
IOC plans to import additional crude oil and pump it 1,500 km across using a
pipeline that currently transports petroleum products.
The pipeline links Kandla to Bhatinda. It will be connected with the refinery
at Panipat by extending the pipeline by another 200 km.
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