Passport fees hiked
New Delhi: The government has effected a steep hike in passport fee with applicants for ordinary new passports having to pay Rs 1,000 instead of the existing Rs 300 per application with effect from 1 April.

The fee for passports containing 60 pages has shot up from Rs 800 to Rs 1,500.

As a major step in decentralisation of the passport process, it is proposed to create district passport cells with computer links with the concerned passport office.

The state governments would be reimbursed Rs 200 per application to meet cost of manpower, computer equipment and office space for the new facility.

Police verification procedures are also being simplified.

A person seeking passport renewal while staying at the same residence mentioned in the earlier passport will now need no police verification.
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APonline launched
Hyderabad: Tata Consultancy Services and the Andhra Pradesh Government have launched an integrated digital gateway to provide one-stop government-citizen interface for all government applications.

The state government has proposed to form a joint venture wherein TCS will invest Rs 6 crore on the project which is considered to be the first such initiative in the country.

This portal will facilitate every citizen to register and on registration he will be able to access various government services. Though the portal was launched formally on 27 March, TCS will take up its development in a phased manner and present the larger picture over the next three-four quarters.
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Govt allows 100 % FDI in advertising
New Delhi: The government has decided to allow 100 per cent FDI in the advertising sector through the automatic route while liberalising the conditions for 100 per cent FDI in the film industry.

The new guidelines follow a cabinet decision earlier this month liberalising foreign investment norms in the sector.

The earlier FDI limit in advertising was 74 per cent.

Conditions for FDI upto 100 per cent in the film sector have also been relaxed further including waiver of a minimum foreign equity investment requirement of 2.5 million dollars for the single largest equity shareholder and 1 million dollars in other cases.
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Creeping limit period extended
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has decided to continue with the ten per cent creeping acquisition limit for another six months up to 30 September 2002.

The creeping acquisition limit provided under regulation 11(1) of the Sebi was increased from five per cent to ten per cent in October 2001. The limit was subject to review on 31 March 2002.
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Ratan Tata gets Asia Pacific award
Washington: Ratan N Tata, chairman of Tata Group, has been honoured with the Asia Pacific community building award constituted by the East-West Center of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Tata was selected for the significant contributions he made towards building better relations and understanding between India, the United States and the countries in the Asia Pacific region, organisers of the East-West Center said.

They noted that the Tata Group has contributed generously to philanthropic causes in education, research, art and culture and many other social development programmes.

The award was presented at the annual celebrations of the East-West Center Foundation, held at the Hilton, in Hawaii.
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Janpath, Ashok not to be divested
New Delhi: The Ashok and Janpath Hotels have been taken off the disinvestment list. The decision was taken at the cabinet committee on disinvestment meeting following tourism minister Jagmohans persuasion.

Ashok and Janpath will now remain with the Indian Tourism Development Corporation.
Jagmohan, who undertook a stock- taking tour of Ashok Hotel, said: "We will try to make it a more prestigious hotel, to do better business than competitors in the private sector."
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