Government to complete airport stake sale by next year
New Delhi: The government will complete the sale of its two major airports in New Delhi and Mumbai by the end of March 2005, according to the civil aviation minister, Praful Patel.

He said the bidding process would be completed by end-February or March.

Patel said that state-run Airports Authority of India will raise about Rs50 billion ($1.11 billion) to upgrade two dozen airports across the country in the next few years. The proposed funds would be raised under various instruments and may also include bonds.
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States asked to help in curbing inflation
New Delhi: Finance minister, P Chidambaram, has supported petroleum minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar's view that state governments should help in controlling inflation by lowering sales tax on petroleum products. He was addressing the economic editors' conference here today.

He said the main cause of the inflationary pressures was the high petroleum prices caused by the high global prices of crude.

The minister said that the centre had cut customs and excise duty twice this year and foregone revenues of Rs4,425 crore and does not want to go in for similar cuts again.
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World Bank head praises India's strides in development
New Delhi: World Bank president James D Wolfensohn was all praise for India's high economic growth and poverty reduction efforts in the last decade. However he sounded a word of caution on the fiscal deficit.

Wolfensohn said that on his first visit to India a few decades ago, half the population was below the poverty line. Literacy, he said, had also improved in the last few years.

All praise for Indian corporates, Wolfensohn commended Infosys, Tata Motors, Asian Paints and Ranbaxy for demonstrating entrepreneurship and becoming global players within a short span of time.

He said, "While the Chinese growth experience has been more dramatic, India has done well in a different way — in a democratic and diverse set-up. To move a country of this size and scale forward, one needs to work at the local level," Wolfensohn said.

Sounding a word of caution on the fiscal deficit he said, "I asked the finance minister to take care of fiscal deficit."

Wolfensohn, on a two-day visit to monitor projects funded by the World Bank, has committed over $3 billion a year in financial assistance for infrastructure and social sector programmes over the next few years.
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Oil prices rise again
New York: Oil prices jumped nearly $1 after a U S government report showed heating oil stockpiles were down 16 per cent from last year and just before the onset of winter.

U S light crude went up 73 cents to $46.84 a barrel halting a slide that has cut nearly $10 off the price since late October's record high of $55.67 a barrel.

London Brent crude was up 47 cents at $42.76.

The sharp gains were due to renewed fears over depleted heating stockpiles in the world's biggest energy market as the winter comes to the Northern Hemisphere.
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