NDA to launch nation wide protest
New Delhi: The NDA is launching a nationwide protest today against the dismissal of the BJP government in Goa. Top BJP and NDA leaders including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and George Fernandes plan to stage a dharna in Delhi.

The NDA has accused Goa Governor S C Jamir of dismissing the Manohar Parrikar government in an undemocratic and unconstitutional manner.

According to the BJP, Jaswant Singh will launch a weeklong agitation in Goa from February 9 to protest against the governor's action.
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India and Finland to step up trade
New Delhi: The visiting Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland, Ms Paula Lehtomaki, and the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath have said that India and Finland propose to enhance the level of bilateral trade which is currently far below potential.

The trade has increased to $380 million in 2003-04, marking a growth of 41 per cent over the previous year.

Products with potential for increased exports from India include granite, marble and tiles, fresh/processed fruits and vegetables, marine products, automobiles, electronics and software, drugs and pharmaceuticals, cut and polished diamonds, and gold jewellery.

Areas having potential for joint ventures include food processing, electronics, software, paper, mining and metallurgy, forestry, telecommunications, energy, oil exploration technology, dairy industries, elevators and escalators.
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GDP growth at 6.9 per cent
New Delhi: Lower agricultural performance in the current financial year is likely to pull the economic growth down to 6.9 per cent from 8.5 per cent in the last financial year.

According to Advance Estimates of National Income released by the government, growth in the agricultural sector is expected to be 1.1 per cent in the current fiscal over 9.6 per cent last year.

Manufacturing sector performance at 8.9 per cent has been robust in 2004-05 compared to 6.9 per cent in 2003-04. Last month, the government had revised the GDP growth for last financial year to 8.5 per cent while releasing the Quick Estimates of National Income.
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IT sector now employs a million
New Delhi/Chennai: The number of knowledge professionals employed in the software services and ITeS sectors has crossed the one-million mark and is expected to close the 2004-05 financial year with a headcount of 10,45,000 people.

Encouragingly, with the rising number of employees, the revenue per employee too has increased during the period.

The sector has now reached the halfway mark in its pursuit to create two million direct jobs by 2008 as projected by the Nasscom-McKinsey report. Moreover, with Indian software companies now consciously endeavouring to move up the value chain, the average revenue per professional in IT services exports segment is on the rise.

According to Nasscom, the annual revenue per person in the industry is estimated to touch about $35,275 during 2004-05, against $34,390 in the previous year, reflecting a 2.5-per cent increase. In 2002-03, this figure stood at about $34,074. Similarly, in the IT-enabled services space, the revenue per person shot up from about $13,778 in fiscal 2003 to about $14,320 the next year, and is further expected to reach $14,641 during the current financial year.

Even in the case of BPO, there is an increasing trend of companies moving away from vanilla call-centre operations towards high-end functions such as transaction processing and financial research.

Within IT services, the share of research and development services is increasing as well. Multinationals and Indian companies that are involved in R&D outsourcing or offshore product development are rising on an average.
Back to News Review index page   Unsolicited calls: SC issues notice to cell phone companies New Delhi: Responding to a consumer's petition, about receiving unsolicited calls everyday from banks, credit card companies, salespeople and others trying to market their product on the phone, the Supreme Court has now asked all major cellphone companies and banks to respond to the complaint.

The petitioner has argues that mobile phone companies transfer the personal data of consumers to marketing companies, which is an unfair trade practice. He says the Centre must enact a law to protect the mobile subscribers.

With the mobile phone users now outnumbering the fixed line customers, big companies see a huge potential in telemarketing. But it is the harassed customers who face the music.
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IIMs to increase intake of students
New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Management or IIMs are all set to introduce several new courses from the next academic year. In addition, the institutes will increase the number of students in many of the existing courses.

This decision comes after a directive from Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh. He has asked the directors of the IIMs to broadbase their activities in the light of the changing profile of the country's economy.
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Kerala number one in per capita consumer spending
Thiruvananthapuram: In line with its label as a predominantly consumer State, Kerala has come to occupy the top position in monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) both in the rural and urban sectors of the country.

In the rural sector, the population having MPCE above Rs950 is the highest in Kerala at 30 per cent, followed by Punjab at 13.6 per cent, according to the latest Economic Review by the State Planning Board.

Quoting the 58th round NSSO survey, the review says that in the case of average MPCE in the rural sector also, Kerala leads the table with Rs881, followed by Punjab (Rs788) and Haryana (Rs703). The all-India average is Rs531.

In the urban sector, too, MPCE is the highest in Kerala at Rs1,267, followed by Gujarat (Rs1,229) and Maharashtra (Rs1,164). The average urban MPCE exceeds the average rural MPCE by around 90 per cent at the all-India level.
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