Infrastructure growth slows down to 4.7 pc in Dec.
New Delhi: Infrastructure growth slowed down to 4.7 per cent in December 2005 from 4.8 per cent a year ago mainly due to fall in the output of crude petroleum.

The six core sectors - crude petroleum, refinery, coal, electricity, cement and steel - together posted a growth of 4.5 per cent during April-December 2005 compared to 6.4 per cent in the same period a year ago.
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Ficci asks for uniform VAT rates
New Delhi: Industry chamber Ficci has voiced concern over the lack of uniformity in the tax rates under the new VAT regime even ten months after its implementation by states. The chamber says different VAT rates on similar products are defeating the purpose of the new levy by obstructing seamless movements of goods across states.

The chamber conducted a survey, covering the food processing industry, FMCG, steel and metal, lubricants and petroleum, fertilisers, chemicals sectors, which reveals widespread non-uniformity in VAT rates.
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Stage set for launch of rural job scheme
New Delhi: The UPA government's ambitious rural employment programme is set to be launched on February 2. This is the first-ever programme to guarantee a minimum 100 days' work in a financial year to a member of each rural household.

Under the historic National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), passed by Parliament last year, the government is bound to provide jobs within 15 days of receiving an application or else pay an unemployment allowance to the applicant.

The programme will be launched by prime minister Manmohan Singh at Anantpur district in Andhra Pradesh. National Advisory Council (NAC) chairperson Sonia Gandhi will also be present at the function.

In the first phase the notification the scheme would come into effect in 200 selected districts spread over 27 states with Bihar accounting for the highest number of 23 districts, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 22.
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Oman-India fertiliser project inaugurated
Muscat: The Oman-India Fertiliser Company (Omifco), a US$969mn joint venture between India and Oman that will supply the Indian agricultural market, was officially inaugurated at Sur in Oman.

Ram Vilas Paswan, India's minister of chemicals, fertilisers and steel and Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, minister of national economy of Oman jointly inaugurated the plant at Sur, a small town about km from here.

The project, for which an agreement was signed in 1994, was approved by India in 1997. Paswan said the project mirrors the historical relations between the two countries, which goes back centuries.
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India looks at getting US$10bn in FDI
Davos: India is looking at inflows of US$10bn in foreign direct investment in 2006-07, after an anticipated capital flow of US$7.5bn the current fiscal, said commerce minister Kaman Nath.

Kamal Nath said manufacturing was the main focus for India while attracting foreign investment. He described the recent decision to allow foreign investment in retail trade as a limited effort and underlined the need for back-end industries like cold-chains.
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FIEO wants import duty on capital goods reduced to five pc
New Delhi: FIEO, the apex body of exporters wants import duty on capital goods reduced to 5 per cent from the present 15 per cent to help Indian manufacturers compete in the global market.

"High import duty on capital goods increases the initial project costs and high project costs lead to higher costs of production. This makes Indian manufacturers uncompetitive vis-a-vis manufacturers in the neighbouring countries," Federation of Indian E xport Organisations president, O P Garg, said in a release.

He said the situation was alarming for capital-intensive industries such as petrochemicals, and added that some form of protectionism was required for domestic industries.
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