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TV, AC, housing to have higher weightage on new price index
New Delhi: The labour ministry wants to accord higher weightage to non-food items like televisions, air-conditioners, housing and miscellaneous items (which include medical care, education, transport etc.) in the new Consumer Price Index series with 2001 as the base year.

The change will be at the cost of food and clothing, which will get reduced weightage in the new index. The base year of the old index is 1982. It wants to do this to so that the new consumer price index (CPI) reflect changing consumer preferences better.

CPI is used to calculate the dearness allowance (DA) and other benefits to compensate the employees for the increased cost of living.

The proposed changes have, however, come in for sharp criticism by the trade unions who say these would adversely affect the interests of the working class.
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India most bureaucratic
Washington: According to an International Finance Corporation (IFC) report, 'Doing business in South Asia in 2005,' India has the most bureaucratic read tape in the South Asian region.

Indicting India the report says India scores worst in time to register a business (89 days), difficulty of firing a worker (90 out of 100), delay in registering property (67 days) and time for closing a business (10 years).

India ranks second in the region for procedures and time required to enforce a contract, the report, released at the current sessions of the World Bank and IMF, said.

However, on a promising note the report said India had initiated a variety of reforms in 2002-04, while suggesting measures to make them more effective.

It takes three months to open a business in Mumbai. Two of the months are spent in obtaining personal account numbers (PAN) at UTI Investors Services Limited (outsourced by income-tax department) and the tax deduction account numbers (TAN ) of the income tax department, it said.

As a remedial measure it suggested that clearing the current backlog, and permitting the business to get underway while waiting to formalise the tax number, would reduce the burden on entrepreneurs.

India also scores the highest in the region (tied with Nepal) on the difficulty of dismissing an employee and in the rigidity of employment.
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Local-buy clause could be incorporated in FDI in food retail
New Delhi: For foreign direct investment in food retailing the commerce and industry ministry is seeking to appoint a regulator which will ensure that foreign players will source produce from local farmers only.

The Prime Minister's Office had asked the ministry to make presentations on this to the Left parties.

The need to put in place a regulator along concurrently with FDI entry has been felt as international investment models adopted by retailers in the food sector has resulted in farmers being exploited in the long-run.

The proposed model calls for eliminating middle-men through direct long-term contracts at fixed prices between corporates and farmers. While this works well in fetching higher prices for crops, it also proves detrimental in the long run when big businesses begin dictating terms to farmers.
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Panel clears 20 mt coal linkage for power units
Mumbai: The coal linkage committee has approved monthly coal linkage of more than 20 million tonne for power utilities and captive power plants (CPPs) for the October-December quarter.

This is the time all utilities are facing acute coal shortage and have to resort to imports as a short term measure to meet requirements.

Of the 20 million tonne, 9 million tonne has been approved for the power plants of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), 2.75 million tonne for Maharashtra State Power Generation Company, 1.5 million tonne for the unbundled Gujarat Electricity Board, 1 million tonne each for Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Punjab State Electricity Board and Rajasthan.

The Haryana State Electricity Board has been granted 8 lakh tonne. Nearly 2.5 million tonne of coal linkage for 80 captive power plants has also been approved.

Some of these major plants include Hindalco 2.98 lakh tonnes (for capacity of 517.48 mw), Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) 1.23 lakh tonne (270 mw), Grasim 17,000 tonne (40 mw) and National Aluminium Company (Nalco) 3.9 lakh tonne (960 mw).
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