No further extension of OCT bidding deadline: MbPT
Mumbai: Price and technical bids for Mumbai Port Trust's (MbPT) Rs1,200 crore offshore container terminal (OCT) have to submitted by February 10, said a senior MbPt official.

The deadline has already been extended thrice following requests from bidders and due to the delay in security clearance for the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) said Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) Secretary, P Mohana Chandran. Apparently HPH's clearance is held up on the grounds of its Chinese connections and has put engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) in a spot.

L&T, one of the short-listed bidders for the OCT project, had appointed HPH as management contractor for handling terminal operations. Security clearance is a must for management contractors too.
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Inflation unchanged at 4.4 per cent
New Delhi: Inflation remained unchanged at the previous week's level of 4.4 per cent for the week ended December 31, 2005 against 5.72 per cent a year ago. This was despite increase in prices of food and mineral items.

Cheaper manufactured products combined with stable fuel prices contained inflation at the previous week's level of 4.4 per cent.

During the week, prices fell for vegetables, edible oils, ghee, chemicals and cement while prices moved up for wheat, maida, sooji, fish, eggs, manganese ore, felspar, magnesite and fluorite.
Wholesale Price Index stood firm at the previous week's level of 196.8 points and it was 188.5 points a year ago.

The government revised downward the final inflation figure to 4.04 per cent for the week ended November 5 from the provisional 4.14 per cent while WPI stood corrected at 198.3 points as against the earlier estimate of 198.5 points.

During the week under review, global oil prices eased to $59.85 per barrel on profit taking ahead of the New Year but held on to the astonishing 40-per cent gains made over the course of 2005.
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Chhattisgarh CM wants iron ore exports banned
Raipur: Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh has sought a ban on exports of iron ore by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) due to a supply shortages at the state's 100 steel units and 70 sponge iron plants.

Last month, 70 sponge iron units and 115 steel units in Chhattisgarh stopped production because of the recurring iron ore shortage. The NMDC was accused of pushing domestic steel units into crisis by exporting iron ore from Bailadila.

Singh said, "NMDC should cater to iron ore demands of domestic customers to help India become a global leader in steel manufacturing, but it's concentrating on profit income by exporting to foreign countries. I seek a ban on exports of the country's rare natural resources," the chief minister stated.

The Hyderabad-headquartered public sector undertaking NMDC produced 20.7-million tonnes (MT) of iron ore during the last fiscal year, of which 15.75 MT came only from Chhattisgarh's three mines in Bailadila in the Bastar region.

The NMDC exported nearly 5 MT to foreign countries, mainly to Japan during the financial year 2004-05 that helped it earn an all time high profit of Rs.7.55 billion ($171 million) after tax.
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IIM-C launches course for CEOs
Kolkata: The Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) has launched its first post-graduate programme for executives, tailored to meet the needs of budding CEOs from India and South East Asia. The one-year residential programme, open to managers with valid GMAT scores and five years' continuous experience, will give students a taste of global management practices.

The management institute has recruited 25-30 per cent of its faculty from the best B-schools of the world, including Wharton and Harvard Business School.

At the end of the one-year programme, managers who quit their jobs to get trained will be offered placements with national and international corporate giants. However, IIM-C will encourage corporates to sponsor their young and middle-level managers to take the course.

The course will also rope in IIM-C alumni as guest lecturers from across the globe — North America, Europe, Asia and Pacific Rim countries. ''If Harvard Business School can run an MDP in nine months, then why can't we? The course should be hard and students when placed all over the world should be IIM brand ambassadors,'' said Prof Asok Kumar Banerjee, alumni member.
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