Govt approves circular train for the South
Hyderabad: A separate company will be floated soon to launch a circular train which will link all the important tourist destinations the south. According to the union tourism secretary, the Government would sanction 25 per cent of the project cost of Rs.35 crore as grant, while the Railways would contribute 35-40 per cent.
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Chinese plastic lenses: Dumping duty proposed
New Delhi: The Designated Authority in the commerce ministry has recommended imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on imported plastic ophthalmic lenses from People's Republic of China and Chinese Taipei. The authority said the subject goods originating in or exported from China and Chinese Taipei has been exported to India below its normal value and as a result the domestic industry has suffered material injury.

However, the authority noted that since the volume of imports of subject goods from Chinese Taipei is below de minimus level of 3 per cent, it has excluded this country from the anti-dumping probe. Accordingly, the authority recommended definitive anti-dumping duties on ad valorem basis which is 7.18 per cent on corrective plastic ophthalmic lenses excluding plano coloured lenses being imported from China.
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Steel prices: Roll back
New Delhi: The Union Government has reached an understanding with the Indian Steel Alliance (ISA), the representative body of the major primary steel producers, on a rollback in prices by about Rs 4,000 a tonne.

According to sources in the manufacturing companies, there will be an effective reduction of Rs 4,000 in the prices of HR steel products from the existing Rs 27,000 a tonne. Out of the effective decrease of Rs 4,000, a reduction of Rs 2,000 will be in the form of price cut by the steel- makers while another cut of Rs 2,000 will be in the form of the recent eight per cent reduction in excise duty which will be fully passed on to the consumers. Thus, the final price works out to around Rs 23,000 a tonne.
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C-DAC: Indigenous technology for digital mobile radio
Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Thiruvananthapuram, has successfully developed a totally indigenous solution for digital mobile radio technology based on TETRA standard.

TETRA stands for Terrestrial Trunked Radio, which is a professional mobile radio standard devised by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to bring together cellular telephony, packet data and digital mobile radio services on an open cellular platform.
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Govt. clears 16 foreign tech tie-up proposals
New Delhi: The union government has cleared 16 proposals for foreign technology collaboration agreements and eight cases for the grant of industrial licences (ILs).Amongst them are Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), which will now enter into a technical collaboration agreement with US-based BELCO Technologies Corporation to obtain know-how for a flue gas desulphurisation unit at its refinery at Visakhapatnam.The Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) has been given the go-ahead to source technical know-how from China-based Guiyang Aluminium Magnesium Design & Research Institute for its aluminium smelter.
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Flight timings altered
Coimbatore: JET Airways has rescheduled its Bangalore-Coimbatore-Bangalore service from March 10. Now the flight will leave Bangalore at 10.35 a.m. and arrive in Coimbatore at 11.30 a.m. while the return flight will leave Coimbatore at 12 noon and reach Bangalore at 12.55 p.m.

Air Sahara's Mumbai-Coimbatore-Chennai flight has also been advanced by an hour effective from March 1 onwards. The flight will leave Mumbai at 2.30 p.m. reaching Coimbatore at 4.15 p.m. and leave Coimbatore at 4.45 p.m. and arrive in Chennai at 5.45 p.m.

According to the Airport Authority of India, the flight timings have been rescheduled because of the runway revamp work being taken up at the Peelamedu civil airport.
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Chennai-Colombo flight: Air Sahara jumps the gun
New Delhi: Air Sahara plans to launch its flight on the Chennai-Colombo sector from March 24, two weeks earlier than planned. While Jet Airways plans to provide a daily flight from Chennai, apart from providing a five-times-a-week connection from Bangalore and Mumbai, Air Sahara plans to operate a daily flight from Mumbai and Chennai.

In January this year, the Government allowed the airlines to start operating not only to Sri Lanka but also to the five other nations that are part of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), namely the countries of Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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Tuticorin as Hub Port: Short list for feasibility study
Chennai: The Tuticorin Hub Port Development Council has short-listed PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young for an assignment to ascertain the feasibility of developing Tuticorin as hub port.

Tuticorin has natural advantages, including proximity to the international maritime lane - 129 nautical miles — and an all-weather condition. Tuticorin currently has a draught of 10.7 metres, which needs to be increased to over 13 metres to attract large container vessels in the future.

With Tuticorin becoming a hub port, feedering costs to the tune of about $1.68 billion per year (at $75-$100 per TEU and based on current volume) could be saved by exporters.
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