Media industry to grow to Rs.83,740 crore by 2010
New Delhi: The Indian entertainment and media industry is slated to grow at 19 per cent to Rs83,740 crore by 2010 from its current size of Rs35,300 crore, according to a study conducted by Ficci and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The study said the phenomenal growth in the entertainment and media sector can be attributed to economic growth, rising incomes, consumerism combined with technological advancements and policy initiatives undertaken by the Indian government.

The study said as 28 million Indians are hooked on to the internet, advertising on the web in India is presently worth Rs100 crore. With the broadband slowly becoming popular, the segment would show a compund annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50 per cent.
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Maran invites Finland PM to open new industries in India
Chennai: Dayanidhi Maran union minister for communication and information technology today asked the Finland Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen to invest in India.

Maran said India had good infrastructural facilities and that it was making tremendous strides in the automobile and information technology sectors. He also requested Vanhanen to start new industries in the country.
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VAT panel likely to ask for four-year phase out of CST
New Delhi: It is likely that the Empowered Committee on Value-Added Tax will ask the government to phase out Central Sales Tax in four years instead of two in order to reduce the financial burden on the Centre, which has to compensate states for cut in CST.

The Committee may propose to go for just one per cent cut in CST for each of the next four financial years instead of two per cent for the next two fiscals. Therefore, CST, imposed on inter-state movement of goods, will take four more years to be completely phased out instead of two years as is planned now, but it will sufficiently ease the current confusion over the compensation to states by the Union Government because of cut in the tax, the sources said.

CST is scheduled to be cut from the current level of four per cent to two per cent next fiscal and completely removed during 2007-08.
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P&O Ports ask for time to reply to notice
P&O Ports has asked for time till the end of the month to reply to the show-cause notice sent by the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) that asked for an explanation as to why its licence to operate the Mundra International Container Terminal should not be cancelled,

This is after P&O Ports bought out the Mundra terminal from Adani Port. H.K. Dash, CEO and vice-chairman of GMB, said the board would wait till the month-end to get P&O's reply. Dash said the board's concession agreement to run the Mundra terminal was concluded with Adani Port, with the agreement specifying that any dilution of stake should be done only after the board's approval. But GMB was not informed that P&O was taking over the terminal from Adani Ports.
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Tea Board launches generic campaign for tea
Coimbatore: The Tea Board is coming out with a multi-pronged ad campaign in an attempt to remove the image of tea as a drink of only elder people.

Designed by leading ad maker, Piyush Pandey the campaign will be made at a cost of Rs3 crore and will be released in both the visual media and print. It would also be launched in two separate versions for the North and South India markets. The advertisements would highlight the qualities of tea as a beverage as a total drink for all ages, and remove the perception of tea as a drink for elders, a senior official of the Board said.

The official said in view of the fall in Kenyan production, the Board planned to enter markets like Pakistan and Egypt directly, in CTC grades, without forgetting the traditional markets.
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Russian market gains attraction for Indian exporters
Ludhiana: Indian exporters of products like tobacco, leather, tea, coffee, meat, fruits and auto parts, are looking at Russian as a lucrative export destination and are planning to organise exhibitions there to exploit the opportunities for exports.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) will organise multi-product exhibitions at Moscow and St Petersburg during May-June '06 to reach out to the Russian market for selling alcoholic beverages, wheat, fish, perfume, toiletries and cosmetics , automobiles, drugs and pharmaceutical products, chemical, beet sugar, electrical appliances, transmission equipment for radio telephony etc. Russia's total imports in 2004-05 were of the order of $.75.6 billion, out of which goods from India were worth only $597 million.
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Gold prices continue southwards
Mumbai: Gold prices continued southwards on the bullion market here on Saturday and lost Rs55 due to increased selling in view of weak overseas advices. Standard gold opened at Rs7,860, but later managed to recover the loss partly on some low-level support and closed at Rs7,865, still showing a loss of Rs55 over the previous close of Rs7,920.

Pure gold after a lower start at Rs7,900, moved narrowly and ended at the same level, revealing a sharp fall of Rs60 over the previous close of Rs7,960.

In the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the most active Aril gold dipped to a low of $534.50 an ounce on Thursday, lowest since January six on heavy selling.

Ready silver opened weak at Rs14,155 as against the previous close of Rs14,165 and eased further to end at Rs14,150, suffering a small loss of Rs15 from yesterday.
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Coastal shipping to get a boost
Mumbai: The Government is planning to form a Coastal Shipping Development Fund (CSDF) for acquiring new vessels and minor port development.

R B Budhiraja, chairman, Indian Ports Association and Jawaharlal Nehru port Trust said the CSDF would be formed with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore, for the acquisition of coastal vessels while its centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) would be a Rs 500 crore fund used for the development of minor ports. He added that the tonnage tax regime and a 40 per cent cut in tariff for coastal vessels and cargo at major ports are also being considered to develop the sector.

He said coastal shipping in India accounted for just 6.85 per cent of the aggregate cargo transport network with inland waterways transport (IWT) being a mere 0.15 per cent. The share of coastal shipping cargo was set to rise from seven per cent to 15 per cent by the year 2025.
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Italian company led consortium gets Rs.440 crore Rlys contract
New Delhi: A consortium led by Ansaldo Signal, the Italian railway communications company has won a Rs440 crore contract from Indian Railways.

According to the company the contract from the Indian Railways is for the modernisation of signalling and telecommunications system for the 413-km stretch between Ghaziabad and Kanpur. Ansaldo will have a share of Rs290 crore in the contract and the other two companies, that are part of the consortium MRT and Leighton Asia, will share the rest in 60:40 ratio.

The company is also in talks with a Mysore-based firm for buying or forging a joint venture to start manufacturing operations in India.
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US Congress asked to pass bill on Indo-US nuke deal
Washington: An open letter urging the US Congress to pass the legislation for implementing the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement, has been sent by US policy analysts and South Asia experts.

Twenty-five such experts said that their recommendation to endorse the legislation was based on extensive experience and expertise relating to non-proliferation policy, security issues in Asia, domestic economic and political environment in India and Indo-US relations. The letter, which coincides with the sending of the Bush administration's draft proposal to the Congress seeking an India-specific waiver from the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, was distributed on March 10, at a meeting of the US-India Business Council here.

The letter is also in response to an emerging coalition of US legislators and strategists who say they will not support the nuclear deal under any circumstances.
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