Union Budget slated for July 8
New Delhi: The Government has said that the Union Budget will be presented on July 8. An official spokesperson announced after a meeting of the Union Cabinet that the Budget session of both Houses of Parliament will commence from July 5 and Railway Budget will be presented on July 6. Thereafter, the Economic Survey of India will be presented on July 7, and the presentation of the Union Budget is fixed for July 8 at 11 am.

During the Monsoon Session, both Houses of Parliament may go into recess from July 24 to August 15 to enable Standing Committees to consider demand for grants of their respective ministries and prepare reports. Both Houses will conclude their session on September 3, after a total of 30 sittings spread over 61 days
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APEC show in US nets Rs 100 crore orders
New Delhi: The Indian fashion mega show organized by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) earlier this month at Dallas and New York has resulted in spot business deals worth Rs 100 crore with another Rs 500-crore business in the pipeline.
As many as 250 overseas buyers attended the show and the subsequent buyer-seller meeting in both the cities.

The buyers had a cautious note on issues such as age-old labour policies, which cause lower productivity and high costs, inadequate port facilities, leading to logistical disadvantage, delays at Indian customs for import of exportable manufacturing items and social standard issues. The general perception of the buyers was that India stands to gain immensely if the Government rectifies the identified anomalies. The council has plans for mega shows at Spain and France in September this year.
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Term for the 12th Finance Commission extended
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has decided to extend the term of the Twelfth Finance Commission up to December 31, 2004. It was originally required to submit its report by July 31, an official spokesperson said here. The Commission could visit only 16 States by the end of February this year but a visit to 12 remaining States had to be postponed due to the General Elections. The extension of its term will enable the Commission to visit the remaining states and firm up the base year figures for 2004-05, which forms the basis for projections.
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World Bank allots $950 million for health
New Delhi: The World Bank has earmarked $950 million to support various State and national health schemes to be taken up in the next few years. The money will be disbursed over a period of five years and each state, on an average, can receive a funding of $100 million.
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Petrol, LPG and Diesel rates hiked
New Delhi: The public sector oil marketing companies on Tuesday announced an average increase in the retail price of petrol by Rs 2 per litre, diesel by Re 1 per litre and that of LPG by Rs 20 per cylinder effective midnight tonight. The Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, said that the government was working on a package of measures to devise a more enduring mechanism to counter the frequent price adjustments in the oil sector.

In the case of kerosene and LPG, no hikes have been undertaken in the last two-and-a-half years. To help mitigate the losses incurred by the companies, the Government has agreed to a reduction in excise duties on products. The excise duty on petrol has been reduced by four percentage points to 26 per cent; on diesel by three percentage points to 11 per cent; and that on LPG from 16 per cent to 8 per cent.
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Coking Coal prices up 16.7 per cent
Kolkata: The prices of all categories/ grades of coking and non-coking coal have been hiked on an average by 16.7 per cent on the existing pit-head prices. The revised prices will be effective from Tuesday midnight.

The revision is being made after a gap of two years. Actual increase of prices in money term would vary from one subsidiary to another even if the grade of coal were the same. The per unit cost of thermal power generation would be more by six paise after the increase, while the production cost of steel would be more by about Rs 500
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Coal Videsh Limited to be set up
Kolkata: Coal India Ltd (CIL) is actively on the job of setting up a separate subsidiary — Coal Videsh Ltd — to undertake coal mining activities abroad. CIL says that despite the country having huge reserves of coal, the coal reserve scenario in regard to metallurgical grade coking coal and low ash non-coking was not comfortable. This would make the country perennially dependent on imports of these varieties.

Keeping this in mind, CIL has decided to explore the possibility of developing mines aboard, to initially meet the domestic requirement of imported coal. In future, the proposed venture might export its surplus coal to other countries. CIL says that it has already received offers from Australia, Mozambique and Iran for developing both coking and non-coking mines there. Separate technical team would visit these countries once the nitty-gritty of the formation of the proposed subsidiary was over.
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Reliance to develop Krishna Godavari gas field
New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has filed a plan with the Government to develop the `D6' gas field located off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. In its proposal, the company has said that in the first phase, entailing an investment of $500 million, 14 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) production would commence from August 2006.

In the second phase, $800 million would be invested, leading to a higher production of 40 mmscmd by 2008-09. Reliance has a 90 per cent stake in the D6 gas block in the Krishna Godavari basin, with the remaining 10 per cent held by Niko Resources, a Canadian firm.
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Trading license for Tata Power
Mumbai: Tata Power Trading Company Ltd (TPTCL) has become the first company to be awarded a power trading license by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission under Section 14 of the Electricity Act 2003. The company would trade surplus power of the State Electricity Boards, captive power plants, generating companies and merchant power plants, a news release said.
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