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India's paper likely to be basis for WTO negotiations on services
New Delhi: An issue paper prepared by India has received broad support in the Core Ministerial Group on Services as a basis for moving forward in the ongoing WTO negotiations in services.

The commerce and industry minister, Kamal Nath, tabled this paper in Geneva on Wednesday at a meeting of the Core Group, which was jointly co-chaired by him and Robert Portman, the US Trade Representative (USTR).

An official release made available here today said that India's paper aims to provide a structure and focus on the various issues on which a decision would be required at the WTO's Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December in order to achieve a balanced and meaningful package on services at the end of the current Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations.

Ministers and senior officials of 15 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, European Communities, Egypt, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, and the US) attended the core group meeting.

The meeting was convened to consider concrete ways of imparting "specificity and momentum" to the services negotiations.

The official release said that members of the core group agreed on certain basic principles that would guide further work in negotiating the guidelines and procedures on services.

It was also decided that the issue paper tabled by India would be shared with the whole membership of the WTO for both transparency and to facilitate moving ahead in this important area of negotiations.
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India Inc. puts up Rs.25 crore in aid for J&K quake victims
New Delhi: Indian industry associations and corporates have so far pledged Rs25 crore, both in cash and essential items, towards relief measures for those affected by the earthquake that killed several thousands in the Jammu & Kashmir region.

The Prime Minister's Office on Thursday met representatives of industry chambers and sought their help in the relief and rehabilitation of quake victims in Jammu and Kashmir. The Government would provide the industry chambers with a list of medicines needed for the victims. The chambers have agreed to provide tents, blankets, beddings and medicines for the victims. So far, the CII and FICCI have agreed to contribute cash and materials worth Rs5 crore each.

Infosys, ITC and Reliance Industries Ltd's Mukesh Ambani have already announced a contribution of Rs1 crore each, while Anil Ambani of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises has donated about one lakh blankets.

The governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have announced VAT exemption on materials purchased for quake relief.
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CIL and ONGC to go ahead with coal gasification project
Kolkata: The Union ministry of Coal has cleared Coal India Ltd's (CIL) proposal to take up an underground coal gasification project jointly with ONGC. The CIL board has already approved ONGC's proposal.

ONGC first initiated the move more than a year ago, expressing keen interest to exploit coal gas from virgin deposits in joint venture by introducing underground coal gasification (UCG) technology, to be sourced from the NMRC-Skochinsky Institute of Mining, Russia.

CIL was approached because it has many identified virgin coal blocks under its command. A CIL source said the company would begin with a pilot project for ascertaining whether the Russian technology works in Indian geo-mining conditions.

A 50:50 joint venture company would be promoted, subject to the successful implementation of the pilot project.
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Inflation up at 4.24 per cent
New Delhi: Surge in prices of fruits, vegetables, edible oil and other food items, industrial fuels and manufactured products pushed up inflation to 4.24 per cent during the week ended October 1 from 3.97 per cent a week ago.

The delayed impact of fuel price hike, festival demand and seasonal factors were responsible for higher inflation of over 4 per cent for the week, compared with 7.15 per cent a year ago.

With the base-year effect subsiding, wholesale prices have started increasing since last month. Wholesale price index rose by 0.2 per cent to 196.9 points during the week, from 196.5 a week ago and 188.9 a year ago.

The weight of primary articles was 22 per cent in the wholesale price index (WPI) and that of oil prices was 14 per cent, thus, contributing 50 per cent to the increase in inflation.

The rise in domestic inflation coincided with high global crude prices at about US$67 due to fears of refinery shut down in the US and France in September-end.

The government revised the inflation figure to 3.78 per cent for the week ended August 6, from provisional 3.35 per cent, while the WPI stood corrected at 194.9 points against the earlier estimate of 194.1 points.
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ONGC refutes allegation of shortfall in LPG supply
New Delhi: A statement issued by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation says that the company has fully met the actual demand of oil marketing companies for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The statement also refutes the allegations that the shortfall in supply from ONGC was one of the reasons for shortage of cooking gas (LPG) in the market.

According to ONGC, the factual position was that in April-September, the oil marketing companies had tabled a lower demand of 5,39,000 tonnes of LPG from ONGC compared to 5,80,000 tonnes during the same period last year.

Further, the oil marketing companies lifted only 5,20,000 tonnes against 5,56,000 tonnes during the same period last year, the statement said.
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Gemological Inst. sets up centre for diamond research
Mumbai: The Gemological Institute of India (GII), the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the Bharat Diamond Bourse, the Diamond Exporters Association Ltd, and the Gem and Jewellery Exporters' Association, have jointly set up a National Research Centre at Opera House, Mumbai a diamond grading laboratory which will be able to identify synthetic diamonds and high pressure high temperature (HPHT) treated diamonds.

Kirtilal Doshi, Chairman of the GII, said the introduction of newer methods of synthesis of various gemstones such as Ramura, Kashan, Koyserra in the case of rubies; Biron, Sicko, Gilson for emerald, and Sumitomo, GEC, Russian, the HPHT and the CVD processes in the case of diamonds have shaken up the industry.

India is also emerging as the largest consumer of studded jewellery in the world. The newly developed studded jewellery segment is facing the challenge of maintaining consumer confidence in gemstones and diamonds. Global consumers are worried about the synthetics, treatments, and stimulants being available in the market.

The diamonds and gemstones exported from India as well as sold in the domestic market are supported by authentic, impartial, and independent certificate by a professional laboratory, Doshi said.
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