India welcomes WTO action against US
New Delhi: The Government on Wednesday welcomed the recent WTO ruling on the US anti-dumping law, stating that more such rulings were required to discipline the developed countries and prevent free and fair trade from getting vitiated.

This was stated by the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, while speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of a conference organised here by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on post- Foreign Trade Policy.

The World Trade Organisation had ruled that the European Union and seven countries, including India, could impose millions of dollars' worth sanctions in retaliation to a US anti-dumping law called Byrd amendment.

Earlier, while addressing the captains of Indian industry, the Minister said that, a special package for textiles, tea and coffee sectors is in the offing. Noting that the Foreign Trade Policy contained various measures for agro sectors like floriculture, he said the Government is now looking at providing a special package to tea and coffee sectors.

Pointing that while the measures contained in the Foreign Trade Policy were also targeting the textiles sector, he said there is need to look at the entire textile chain in wake of the quota phase out on December 31, 2004.

Nath also invited suggestions from the industry on lowering transaction costs. He also added that the Finance Ministry is looking at sunset clauses for phase-out tax exemptions on export profit and sought the industry's inputs.
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Montek: Auto sector needs radical changes
New Delhi: The duty and taxation structure that governs the automotive sector needs radical changes, not marginal fiddling, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, said while speaking at the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), here today. While excise had been reduced substantially, it had been more than offset by an increase in road tax.

The growth of the automotive industry is linked to several factors of the economy and in order to spur its growth, it is important to look at the economy as a whole. One of the major sectors that require attention is, of course, the road infrastructure in the country, he said.

Dr Ahluwalia added that the growth of the trucking business, which is important for the growth of the automotive industry as a whole, has been slower than the rest of the sectors in the industry. He called upon the captains of the automobile industry to address this issue.
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GAIL and USTDA sign agreement for gas grid study
New Delhi: The US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, and the GAIL (India) Ltd (Gas Authority of India Ltd) Chairman and Managing Director, Proshanto Banerjee, on Wednesday signed an agreement for jointly funding and undertaking a feasibility study on the proposed national gas grid in India.

The agreement, according to an official statement here, provides for funding of $6,90,000 by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), whereas GAIL is to contribute $2,30,000 to assist in completion of the study by June 30, 2006, the scheduled date.

GAIL is undertaking this major energy infrastructure programme to build a natural gas transmission pipeline network that will eventually reach all major energy-consuming areas in the country.

The feasibility study is to address the physical interconnections of the pipelines and related capacity issues; the technology that would be required to manage, monitor and control the gas grid as an integrated operating system with a high degree of system reliability, among other issues.
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