CBT to decide on EPF rate cut
New Delhi: A decision to cut interest rate by 0.5 per cent for employees provident fund will be taken when its central board of trustees meets here on 12 April.

The special meeting has been convened by labour minister Sharad Yadav in the wake of the decision announced in the Union Budget to slash interest rates on public provident fund (PPF) and small savings by 0.5 per cent which was followed by a similar cut in general provident fund (GPF) and special deposit scheme (SDS).
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MSP for wheat up by Rs 10 per quintal
New Delhi: The government has increased the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat by Rs 10 to Rs 620 per quintal for the marketing season 2002-03.

This was decided at the cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The government also raised the MSP for various other agricultural commodities including grams, rapeseed/mustard and sunflower.

MSP for grams has been increased to Rs 1200 per quintal from the existing level of Rs 1,100 for the same period.

All the recommendations of the commission for agricultural cost and prices have been accepted by the government except the one relating to wheat wherein the commission had favoured retaining the current level of MSP.

For rapeseed/mustard, sunflower and masoor the MSP has been fixed at Rs 1,300 a quintal, up from Rs 1,200.
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Fixed-line phones cross 35m; cell 5.4 m
New Delhi: Fixed-line telephones in India have crossed the 35-million mark on 31 December 2001, while the cellular mobile phones have touched 5.48 million.

The direct exchange lines increased from 32.71 million as on 31 March 2001 to 35.18 million as on 31 December 2001, according to the latest annual report of the department of telecom.

Cellular mobile phones touched 5.48 million in December 2001 against 3.58 million in March 2001.
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DoD studying CBI note on Reliance
New Delhi: The department of disinvestment is studying a detailed note prepared by CBI director P C Sharma outlining the charges filed recently against Reliance Industries under the Official Secrets Act in order to determine whether the company should be allowed to participate in the privatisation process.

According to CBI officials, Baijal had sought information about the case because Reliance is one of the bidders for certain disinvestment proposals.
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Lufthansa starts daily Frankfurt-Mumbai service
Mumbai: Lufthansa has begun flying daily between Frankfurt and Mumbai.

"With the introduction of our Bombay-Frankfurt daily services, travellers from Maharashtra and Gujarat now benefit from more choices of convenient connections to Europe and beyond via Frankfurt," the airline's vice president for Asia and Pacific, Manfred Raimer, said in a statement.

In all, Lufthansa now operates 20 flights a week between Germany and India. It also operates a daily service to Delhi and flies thrice weekly to both Bangalore and Chennai.
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Court receiver to take control of Dabhol plant
Mumbai: An official appointed by the Bombay high court will take control of Enron's $2.9-billion power plant at Dabhol.

The court-appointed receiver will ensure the idling asset is maintained properly.

A team of IDBI officials and the receiver have gone to take control over the assets.

Lead financier IDBI and other Indian financial institutions directly and through guarantees provided the bulk of the $1.9 billion in loans outstanding to the Dabhol Power Co, which runs the project.
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