IICT
plans chemical weapons testing lab
Hyderabad: The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology
(IICT) has proposed to set up a chemical weapons testing
facility with an investment of Rs.5 crore for buildings
and equipment, according to its Director, Dr J.S. Yadav.
The institute will approach the Ministry of Defence for
funding. IICT has crossed two stages of the three-stage
tests for certification with the Organisation for Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Netherlands. According
to the institute, once the designated certification is
obtained, which will take one year at the most, the laboratory
will become the 13th in the world to have the expertise
to test chemical weapons.
India is among the 128 countries, which have signed the
Chemical Weapons treaty. India has also decided not to
allow chemicals to be taken out of the country for testing,
hence the urgent need for the IICT kind of facility. The
OPCW maintains stockpiles of chemical weapons, reviews
and monitors chemical weapons and carryout tests for industry
and labs. Chemical used in insecticides and mob control
such as tear gas and mustard as well as several used as
intermediates in chemical industry are also categorised
as scheduled chemical weapons materials. The Union Ministry
of Commerce has also identified IICT as the nodal agency
for nanotechnology. Under this, the lab would work on
improving the efficiency and life of solar fuel cells.
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PM
to decide on FDI hike in telecom
New Delhi: The Communications and IT Minister,
Dayanidhi Maran, has expressed confidence that the issue
of hiking the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the
telecom sector to 74 per cent from 49 per cent would be
resolved soon after taking the views of the Left parties
into consideration. According to the minister the Prime
Minister will take the decision. The minister also said
that BSNL and MTNL are installing equipment for ADSL and
DSL lines and by December they will be launching broadband
services in a big way. This according to the minister
will begin the downward trend in Internet rates.
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Merrill
Lynch: IT services export to reach $23 billion by 2006
New Delhi: A research report from Merrill Lynch
has estimated a 38-per cent, two-year compounded annual
growth rate (CAGR) in Indian IT services exports to $23
billion in financial year 2006.
"Based on the trends, we forecast a 38 per cent two-year
CAGR in Indian IT services exports to $23 billion in fiscal
2006. We expect market share of Indian vendors in the
global market to expand," the report by Merrill Lynch
said. "As demand picks up and western system integrators
(SIs) set up in India, supply constraints are surfacing.
Labour
arbitrage is a diminishing advantage. Indian vendors are
moving up the value chain and expanding their service
offerings to include IT consulting, systems integration,
and technology infrastructure management to increase customer
wallet share," it said. It said that the Indian market
was an "inflection point", estimating that it
would grow more rapidly than the six per cent CAGR in
the last three years. "We forecast growth at about
15 per cent per year over the next two years," it
added.
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Trade
with China to touch the $10 billion mark
New Delhi: The India-China trade has picked up
and is moving towards the $10-billion mark, with trade
registering robust growth on the export-import front.
According to E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Minister of State for
Commerce & Industry, China has become India's number
one trading partner in the North-East Asian region, overtaking
Japan. The minister was speaking at the India China Business
Conclave organised by CII.
Chinese
companies are building highways in India as part of the
Golden Quadrilateral projects and supplying equipment
for power plant, he said, and added that Indian companies
can also contribute to some segments of infrastructure
building, said Mr Elangovan. The Minister also singled
out textiles as one of the potential sectors of co-operation,
says a CII release.
The Chinese delegation comprises 100 members and is also
scheduled to visit Kolkata on August 6 for increasing
trade links.
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FIEO:
Rebuild the old Stilwell Road
Kolkata: The Federation of Indian Export Organisations
(FIEO), eastern region, has suggested the reconstruction
of the old Stilwell Road, built during the Second World
War, from Ledo in Assam to Kunming in China. On trade
with Myanmar, which also has border trade arrangements
with China, Thailand and Bangladesh, the FIEO says that
the poor infrastructure facilities within the region have
led to a situation where each of the North-Eastern States
is looking more to neighbouring countries rather than
to mainland India for economic relations.
Following the signing of Indo-Myanmar border trade agreement
in 1994, two trade routes at Champai in Mizoram and Moreh
in Manipur were opened in 1995. Indian exports consist
mainly of items like cement, cycles, drugs and pharmaceuticals,
auto parts and accessories and cotton yarn. Major items
entering India from Myanmar are blankets, electronic goods,
betel nut, pulses, teak, groundnut, iron scrap, gold,
silver and precious stones. The FIEO says that although
the large volume of illegal trade is still a problem,
it shows the export potential of the North-East region
as a whole.
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MERC:
Captive plants may sell surplus power
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory
Commission has said that captive power plants are free
to sell surplus power to any buyer provided they have
dedicated transmission lines; marking the end of State
Electricity Board's monopoly on power transmission as
envisaged in the Electricity Act 2003. The MERC said a
captive plant does not need a licence or permission to
sell surplus power to a dedicated buyer through its own
transmission lines and the buyer need not pay surcharge.
Also, these plants need not pay wheeling charges to the
Maharashtra State Electricity Board so long as the seller
and buyer do not use its grid. Captive plants should have
been set up for 'self-use', which has been defined as
using more than 50 per cent power for itself, MERC said
in an order on a complaint from MSEB alleging breach of
permission granted to Bhushan Steel and Strips Ltd.
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