Pav prices to go up in Mumbai
Mumbai: About 2,000 small and medium bakeries in the city will increase pav/slice bread prices by 25 per cent with effect from September 11, 2004 following an increase in major raw materials prices, according to a joint statement issued by the Bombay Bakers' Association (BBA) and India Bakers' Association (IBA) o Monday.

Pav/bread prices in the city will be increased from 0.75 paise to Re 1 per piece, while bread prices will be around Rs.11 for 400-gram pack as against current price of Rs.9 and Rs.22 for 800-gram pack as against Rs.18 per pack from September 11.

The associations have said that they foresee increase of 25 per cent in the price of pav and bread, if the Governments, both at the state and at the center - do not act immediately to increase supply of wheat to bakeries at the rate of Rs.740 per quintal. The associations have pointed out that Maida prices increased by about Rs.200 at Rs.1, 075 per bag of 90 kg in the last two months due to non-availability of assured supply of wheat from Food Corporation of India (FCI).
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Oomen Chandy is next Kerala Chief Minister
Thiruvanathapuram: UDF convenor Oomen Chandy will be sworn in today as Kerala's new Chief Minister. A vastly experienced politician, Chandy has handled important portfolios like the Home and Finance Ministries. The Congress will now expect him to bring together the warring factions of the party together in Kerala.

Chandy has also had some experience in coalition politics as convenor of Kerala's ruling UDF government.

Having been involved with students' politics, Chandy joined the Congress in early 1970s and was the Kerala Youth Congress President. He became an MLA for the first time in 1970. In 1977-78, he was the Labour Minister in Antony's Cabinet. In 1981-82, Karunakaran made him the Home Minister, and again in 1991, Karunakaran made him the Finance Minister. Since then, Chandy has been the UDF convenor and heads many trade unions.
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PM: Single law soon for SSIs
New Delhi: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has said that the Government was currently contemplating more measures to aid and support the small-scale industries (SSI) sector.

"We will soon be setting up a National Commission to examine the problems facing enterprises in the unorganised, informal sector. This Commission will have a comprehensive mandate to examine and review existing institutional mechanisms for supporting small enterprises," Dr Singh said.

While emphasising that we were living in an increasingly globalised world, the Prime Minister said that there was a need to see whether protection in the form of reservation of items for production in the SSI sector continues to be an adequate mechanism to enable the sector to thrive.

Dr Singh said that the Ministry of SSI was working on a single law for the sector which would be finalised and brought to Parliament soon.

While calling on bankers to pay heed to the "developmental dimensions" of lending to the sector when exercising their commercial judgment, Dr Singh noted that if there were to be more winners from the sector, then technology upgradation, marketing support and improved infrastructure would also be critical. Dr Singh said that the success of small units as suppliers of choice in the automobile and pharmaceutical sectors augured well for the organic growth of the industry and felt that this must be built upon.
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India and Thailand sign early harvest protocol
New Delhi: India and Thailand have signed a protocol to implement the early harvest scheme (EHS) under the framework agreement on free trade area (FTA), which was signed by the Commerce Ministers of both countries last year.

The key elements of the framework agreement encompass FTA in goods, services and investment and areas of co-operation. It also provides for an EHS under which 82 items at a six-digit level of harmonised system of common list to both sides have been agreed for complete elimination of tariffs on a fast-track basis, over two years.

The list covers approximately seven per cent of the bilateral trade and the import of these items from each other will now enjoy 50 per cent duty relief for the first year beginning September 2004. The duty relief will be extended to 75 per cent of the existing duty on these items from September 2005. Imports of these items from both these countries will be free of all duties beginning September 2006.

Total trade between India and Thailand almost doubled from $777.15 million in 1999-2000 to $1.4 billion last year.
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CGG gets $103 million contract for marine surveys
Bangalore: The Oil & Natural Gas Corporation has awarded $103 million for a marine survey project to the French consultant Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG), a CGG news release said.

The contract entails acquisition and onboard processing of a series of exclusive marine surveys stretching over the entire west coast and a portion on the east coast of India.

The project comprises 19 surveys covering a total surface area of approximately 13,000 sq km and is located predominantly in the Bombay High basin. Shooting is scheduled to start in November and end in mid-June 2005.

Full onboard processing will be performed on the vessels using CGG's proprietary software, the statement said.

According to Mr Christophe Pettenati-Auziere, CGG's Senior Executive Vice-President, Services, "This $103-million award ranks among the largest in the industry. It comes in the wake of a project we recently acquired to the satisfaction of ONGC off the east coast, which saw very positive co-operation between our two companies."
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GoM to study job quotas in private sector
New Delhi: The Government today constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine, among other things, the issue of 'affirmative action' in the private sector.

"The GoM will examine all dimensions of the issue of affirmative action, including reservations, in the private sector. The GoM will initiate a dialogue with industry to see how best the private sector can fulfill the aspirations of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe youth," an official release said.

The GoM, formed under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sharad Pawar, will consist of the Minister for Railways, Lalu Prasad, the Minister of Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel, Ram Vilas Paswan, the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, the Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Meira Kumar, and the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, the release added.
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