Industrial output up 7.9 percent in November
New Delhi: The official Index of Industrial Production (IIP) registered a year-on-year increase of 7.9 per cent in November 2004 against 8.2 per cent recorded during the same month of the previous year.

The growth has been largely manufacturing-led. The index for `manufacturing' has gone up by 8.8 per cent year-on-year during November 2004 (against 8.9 per cent in November 2003), with the corresponding growth rates being 2.8 per cent (5.2 per cent) for mining and 4 per cent (4.8 per cent) in the case of electricity.

For the April-November 2004 period as a whole, the overall growth rate for industry has been 8.4 per cent (6.4 per cent during April-November 2003), making the current fiscal the best since 1995-96, when the sector grew by 13 per cent.

The index for capital goods has soared by 10.3 per cent in November and 13.5 per cent during April-November 2004, as against the corresponding year-on-year growth rates of 12.7 per cent for November 2003, and 9.7 per cent for April-November 2003.

During November, the annual growth rate for consumer durables was estimated at 11.4 per cent (against 16 per cent in November 2003), while that for consumer non-durables at 11.4 per cent (3.7 per cent), for basic goods 6.7 per cent (5.7 per cent), and for intermediate goods at 4.7 per cent (11.3 per cent).

For April-November 2004, the cumulative year-on-year growth amounted to 15.8 per cent (8.7 per cent during April-November 2003) for consumer durables, 8.8 per cent (7.9 per cent) for consumer non-durables, 5.7 per cent (4.5 per cent) for basic goods and 7.2 per cent (6 per cent) for intermediate goods.
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Exports up 23.41 per cent for first three quarters
New Delhi: The merchandise goods exports has registered a 23.41 per cent increase in dollar terms during the first three quarters of the current fiscal (April-Dec 2004) to touch $53.50 billion as against $43.35 billion recorded in the same period in the previous year.

In rupee terms, exports registered an increase of 21.25 per cent at Rs2,42,434 crore for the period Apr-Dec 2004. Trade deficit in the first nine months of the current fiscal surged to $20.15 billion, which is higher than the deficit of $11.76 billion during April-December 2003.

Exports during December 2004 stood at $6.81 billion, which is about 14.64 per cent higher than the export performance of $5.94 billion during December 2003. In rupee terms, exports during December 2004 stood at Rs29,933.64 crore, which is 10.54 per cent higher than the export performance of December 2003.

On the other hand, imports during April-December 2004 surged by 33.64 per cent in dollar terms at $73.65 billion as compared to import level of $55.11 billion in the same period in the previous year.

Oil imports during the first nine months of the current fiscal stood at $21.52 billion, which is about 46.20 per cent higher than the oil imports of $14.72 billion during April-December 2003.
Non-oil imports during April-December 2004-05 stood at $52.14 billion, which is 29.09 per cent higher than the level of $40.39 billion in the same period during the previous year.

Imports of the country during December 2004 stood at $9.42 billion ($7.32 billion in December 2003).
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Gujarat attracts investments of over Rs87,000 crore
Ahmedabad: Gujarat is set to attract investments exceeding Rs87,000 crore in the next three to five years with leading industrial houses announcing major expansion plans for the State at the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat festival here.

Leading corporate houses that include Reliance, Essar, Larsen and Toubro, the Adani Group, Videocon and Torrent made announcements regarding their investment plans at the Global Investor Summit that opened at the sprawling Science City complex on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

With over 30 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) being signed at the event, the State Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, claimed in his inaugural speech that investments worth Rs51,000 crore have been firmed up. The figure does not include the commitments made by Reliance Industries Ltd, which State Government officials say would alone top Rs15,000 crore.

The Reliance Chairman, Mukesh Ambani, said that the company would supply piped gas to over twenty cities of the State and would transport the gas found by the company on the eastern coast of the country to Gujarat.
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K-G deepwater blocks: India's first digital oil and gas fields
Kolkata: ONGC has awarded turnkey contract for the `integrated development of deepwater blocks in Krishna-Godavari offshore' to Clough Engineering Ltd of Australia. The fields are expected to produce one million tonne of low sulphur crude oil and six billion cubic metre of natural gas over an expected life cycle of 15 years. The Rs1,004-crore contract is the first of its kind awarded by ONGC for development of a deepwater field.

According to ONGC official sources, the development of G1 block - located 28 km off-shore in water depths ranging between 135 metres and 500 metres - will create India's first `digital oil and gas fields' with remotely monitored and controlled `smart wells'.

Already a known operator in the deepwater fields, ONGC has previously `conventionally' drilled a well (GSDW1-1A) at 2,839 metre water depth in the Western coast. The well is regarded as the deepest of its kind outside the
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Ratan Tata urges entrepreneurs to lead from the front
Kolkata: The Chairman of the Investment Commission, Ratan Tata, has urged the entrepreneurs to lead every front instead of following others.

He was addressing a session on `Competitiveness: Leveraging India's skill advantage', along with Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, head of Warwick Manufacturing Group.

According to Tata, Indians do not have the habit of setting high standards. So it is time now to plan for global leadership. In this context, he mentioned that the Indians should learn lessons from the Chinese.

Lord Bhattacharyya said though India and China are compared in the same breath by all foreign journals and publications, he warned everybody that the Chinese are way ahead of the Indians.
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