Aiyar: Indo-Iran gas pipeline pact likely by June
New Delhi: Petroleum Minister Manishankar Aiyar, has indicated that India and Iran may conclude an agreement for gas supplies in June this year. The minister said that he would be going to Tehran in June and hoped that this would act as a catalyst for concluding the agreement between the two countries. India and Iran are negotiating for sourcing gas through pipelines, which would cross Pakistan.

Aiyar said Iran would enter into two separate agreements with India and Pakistan, with the country's agreement with Iran restricted only to the delivery of gas at India's border.
Iran and Islamabad would get into a separate agreement, towards guaranteeing transit of the gas through 760 km of Pakistan territory.
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Inflation hits eight month low at 5.25 per cent
New Delhi: Inflation hit an eight months' low of 5.25 per cent for the week ended January 29, with the point-to-point Wholesale Price Index inflation falling from the previous week's 5.37 per cent mainly due to fall in the price of edible oils.

Fuel prices remained firm, notwithstanding the dip in global markets ahead of the OPEC meeting. The general price level was as high as 5.91 per cent in the previous year period.

The WPI went up by 0.1 percentage point to 188.5 points due to an increase in the price of mass consumption primary items like vegetables and fruits, and manufactured products including sugar and salt. The WPI was 179.1 points in the year-ago period.

The index of Primary Articles' group was up by 0.2 percentage point to 185 points due to rise in the prices of some food and non-food items. The index was 181.9 points in the year-ago period.
Food Articles' group index was marginally down by 0.1 percentage point to 183.6 points due to lower prices of fish-marine (12 per cent), fish-inland (four per cent), urad and arhar (two per cent each) and eggs, masur and gram (one per cent each).
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Industrial growth up 8.4 per cent
New Delhi: Industrial growth shot up to 8.4 per cent during April-December this fiscal, led by a strong performance from the manufacturing sector. Growth rate stood at 7.9 per cent during December 2004 as against 7.4 per cent in December 2003. Industrial growth during April-Dec of 2003-04 was at 6.6 per cent.

According to quick estimates of the Index of Industrial Production, manufacturing sector during the first nine months of current fiscal grew by 9 per cent as against 7.2 per cent during the same period of the previous fiscal. The sector grew by 8.8 per cent during December 2004 as against 7.8 per cent during the same period of 2003.

The period also saw the electricity sector growing by 6.4 per cent as against a mere 3.5 per cent during the same period last fiscal. The mining sector grew by 4.8 per cent during the first nine months as against 4.3 per cent during April-December 2003-04.
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Kaveri to undergo flight bed tests
Bangalore: The indigenously developed Kaveri engine will be fitted on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, by next year, Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) officials have said. The Kaveri engine, whose revised development cost had been approved at Rs2,800 crore, would undergo a flight bed test in Russia later this year.

Though the engine should have been ready last year, as per the original schedule, but officials point out that even big aero engine makers suffered delays in such major projects. Currently the work was going on smoothly and the engine would be sent to Russia again for another high altitude test. The officials were confident that the production version of the Kaveri would be ready by 2009.

The LCA project has received a big boost with the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi, announcing at the Aero India 2005 that the IAF had signed up for 40 LCAs, including an optional purchase of 20 LCAs, with the deal costing an estimated Rs4,000 crore.
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Use of low power wireless equipment de-licensed
New Delhi: The Government has de-licensed the use of low-power wireless equipment in the 2.4-2.4835 Ghz, 5.15-5.35 Ghz and 5.725-5.875 Ghz frequency bands.

The wireless system, with a maximum effective radiated power of up to four watts and an antenna height of up to five metres on an existing authorised building, can now operate in the 2.4-2.4835 GHz frequency band without the need of wireless licence. The indoor use of low-power wireless system, with maximum effective radiated power of up to 200 milliwatt in the frequency bands 5.15-5.35 GHz and 5.725-5.875 GHz, has also been de-licensed.

The indoor usage includes usage within a single contiguous campus of an individual, duly recognised organisation or institution, the statement said. The frequency bands have been de-licensed on non-protection, non-interference and shared basis.

These measures aim to accelerate and encourage growth in internet penetration including hot spots for mobile internet users and broadband services in the country for the application of tele-education, tele-medicine, e-governance and other wireless-based services in the frequency bands for use by public, a statement said.
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TDSAT: No interim stay on VPN cancellation order
New Delhi: In a setback to the Internet Service Providers, the telecom tribunal TDSAT has refused to grant any interim stay on the Government order asking the ISPs to stop offering corporate network services unless they have the licence to offer that service.

TDSAT has asked the Department of Telecom to extend the last date for compliance by ISPs on the VPN (virtual private network) service by another two weeks. The last date of compliance was fixed on February 17. The tribunal will decide on the merit of the issue on March 17.

The DoT had earlier issued an order saying ISPs could offer VPN service only after paying entry and licence fee.
It said they could offer the service by amending their ISP licences, with a one-time entry fee of up to Rs10 crore, depending on the category of licence and an eight per cent annual licence fee.
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