JN Dixit passes away
New Delhi: National Security Advisor JN Dixit passed away this morning after suffering a heart attack.

Dixit has the unique distinction of having served as high commissioner or ambassador in the capitals of all South Asian neighbours Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, except the Maldives during a diplomatic career spanning nearly four decades.He retired as foreign secretary in 1994 and has since then been a prolific author and columnist on international and regional affairs.

Dixit took over the post of National Security Advisor from Brajesh Mishra after the fall of the BJP government.
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CII poll finds India Inc. upbeat on economy
New Delhi: A snap poll of CEOs conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggests that 57.5 per cent of them felt the current fiscal would end with a GDP growth rate of 6-6.5 per cent. Another 31.8 per cent of the respondents felt that the growth rate would be in the range of 6-7 per cent, a CII release said.

For the next fiscal, 26.5 per cent of the respondents of the CII snap poll felt that the GDP growth rate would be between 6 per cent and 6.5 per cent, while 37.5 per cent respondents expected 6-7 per cent GDP growth.

Responding to expectations regarding the changes in basic corporate tax rate in the forthcoming budget, 54 per cent of the respondents expected the corporate tax to remain unchanged at 35 per cent, and balance 46 per cent expected that it would be reduced to 30 per cent.

In response to queries on growth rates that CEOs foresee for their company during the current fiscal, 38 per cent of the CEOs expected sales growth to be between 10-20 per cent and another 38 per cent expected it to be between 20-30 per cent. Over 27 per cent of the respondents expect profits growth between 10 and 20 per cent, 17.24 per cent expect it to be between 30 and 40 per cent, and 13.8 per cent expected it to be between 40 and 50 per cent during the current fiscal.
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Tele-density growth at 8.3 per cent for April-Nov '04 period
New Delhi: Tele-density in the country has moved up to 8.37 per cent by November-end from seven per cent in March 2004, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The growth is on the back of over 1.4 crore new telephone connections, about 88 per cent of them mobile, added in the April-November 2004 period. This has taken the number of connections in the country to 9.05 crore. More than 19 lakh connections were added in the month of November 2004 alone.

As per the statistics, the number of mobile phones (including WLL (M)) as on November 30, 2004, stood at 4.60 crore while the fixed connections stood at 4.45 crore.

"Private sector has played a major role by accounting for more than 76 per cent of the expansion during these eight months. The private sector has so far provided 4.07 crore phones as on November 30, 2004, which is 45 per cent of the total phones in the country," DoT said.

It said the public sector BSNL has plans for providing 25 lakh CDMA (WLL) telephones in rural areas."Of these, 10 lakh phones shall be provided before March 2005 and the remaining 15 lakh shall be provided during next year up to December 2005,"DoT said.

Further, it said the commissioning of GSM network of 1.5 crore mobile phones was in progress. "Of these, 40 lakh phones shall be provided by March next year and the remaining shall be provided during 2005-06," it added.

"In the field of broadband services, it is being planned that about 50,000 subscribers shall be provided connectivity by March 2005," DoT said.
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MRPL awaits better pricing for its Euro-III grade fuel
Kolkata: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), which recently upgraded its facilities to produce Euro-III grade fuel, has demanded a higher price for such value added products from the petroleum retailing companies. An ONGC subsidiary, MRPL claims to be the first refinery to upgrade its facilities to produce Euro-III grade fuel.

Though it started limited despatches of Euro-III diesel to Bangalore through Petronet Mangalore Hassan Bangalore Pipeline Ltd (PMHBPL) beginning December 31, MRPL has declined to commence large-scale production of cleaner fuel in the absence of fresh pricing agreements.

As per the National Auto Fuel Policy, 2003, use of Euro-III fuel is mandatory in 11 major cities, including Delhi and Bangalore beginning April 2005. The policy recommended use of cleaner fuel of the grade of Euro-III & IV in the entire country by 2010 requiring an estimated total investment of over Rs40, 000 crore by refineries and automakers to upgrade their facilities accordingly.

MRPL has already rolled out a Rs600-crore investment plan to upgrade its facilities to produce Euro-IV diesel and motor spirit by 2007.
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IDC: India set to be fastest growing IT market in Asia/Pacific
New Delhi: IT market research company International Data Corporation (IDC) India has said that the domestic IT industry is likely to grow 21.7 per cent in 2005. IDC India, which gave top 10 predictions relevant for the Indian ICT market for 2005, said India's domestic IT market would be the fastest-growing in the Asia/Pacific region followed by Vietnam and China.

The IT spending growth rate will be the lowest in Japan at 1.8 per cent.

The growth will be on the back of rising corporate profits, improvement in macroeconomic parameters (both globally and domestic) and heightened business confidence, the research firm said.

With mobility, convergence and IT management driving growth in 2005, the high growth categories in 2005 will be notebooks, smart handheld devices, inkjet MFDs, security software, network and system management software, information access and delivery software, and IT outsourcing. It also said that in the domestic ICT spending arena, BPO and IT Services will be the highest-growing verticals.
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