Cement firms drop prices for govt. projects
New Delhi: Cement manufacturers said they would cut prices by five per cent on all supplies to government projects and undertakings with immediate effect. Their announcement comes three days after being warned by commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath to rein in prices or face the consequences.

Faced with the threat of action, including a ban on exports, the cement makers informed the government that they would ensure adequate supplies to retailers in order to prevent any possible shortage and price increases. The companies will also monitor supplies to retailers to ensure that there is no profiteering.

Nath, who had, last Friday, given cement manufacturers three days to act, said, "These measures are adequate in stemming the price increase, but we will continue to monitor the situation." The minister added that the price cut on supplies made to the government would include supplies to central power, roads and highway projects.

The government had convened a meeting of the cement manufacturers as prices had been increased by Rs41 a bag against a logical increase of about Rs 16 a bag taking all input cost increases into account. While there had been an increase of Rs41 in the average price per bag since December 2005, the increase in Mumbai had been Rs71, in Pune Rs63, in Goa Rs79, in Lucknow Rs48 and in Delhi Rs45.
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Petro price war: solution soon
New Delhi: With the two ministries of petroleum and finance sniping at each other, prime minister Manmohan Singh has stepped in to restore peace, suggesting that the way out for rising losses of oil marketing companies should include burden sharing by the government, consumers and oil companies.

Measures to be adopted may only be announced once the ongoing parliament session gets over.

Oil minister Murli Deora had shot off a letter to the PM where he suggested that ''any increase'' in consumer prices would be against the CMP of the UPA govt. Instead, he wrote, the only solution was to cut the customs and excise duty on petroleum products.
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Monsoon on time: Met
New Delhi: Though half the parameters are unfavourable, India Meteorological Department has said that the southwest monsoon will stick to its schedule, entering the mainland through Kerala on May 30, with a margin of three days. The official date for Kerala is June 1.

The Met office expects the monsoon to reach Andamans in another three days, a little behind schedule. Officially, the date for south Andamans is May 15.

The scientists, at least for the moment, are expressing relief that the unusual warming of equatorial Pacific waters, termed the El Nino phenomenon has come to a stop. Most models indicate a 65% probability that El Nino will not post a problem this year. In the past, this has been blamed for poor monsoons.

IMD, which just started forecasting the onset of the monsoon last year, has used the same six-parameter model to forecast the monsoon's arrival this year.
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Gold prices plunge
New Delhi: Gold prices plunged on the bullion market on selling sparked by a falling overseas trend and the end of the marriage season.

The market sentiment turned bearish after reports of a major fall in gold prices at opening session in London dipping below $700. At home, standard gold and ornaments dropped by Rs220 each at Rs10,430 and Rs10,280 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign fell by Rs50 at Rs8,100 per piece of eight gram.

Silver spurted on restricted arrivals and gained Rs300 at Rs21,300 per kilo while weekly-based delivery held unchanged at Rs21,950 per kilo. Silver coins also declined and lost Rs100 at Rs24.500 for buying and Rs24,600 for selling of 100 pieces.
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Ficci survey: India Inc upbeat on economic conditions
New Delhi: According to Ficci's quarterly business confidence survey (BCS) for the last quarter of 2005-06, "The improved economic and business outlook augurs well for the overall industrial and economic performance in fiscal 2006-07, and a consecutive fourth year of high growth is well within reach."

The performance of Indian economy has seen a quantum jump and it is moving on to a new growth trajectory, the survey pointed out.
In the Ficci survey, an overwhelming percentage of Indian companies have said that the current economic conditions were better than what they were six months ago and that the good times will continue to roll.

According to the survey, 85 per cent of the respondents said that the current overall economic conditions were moderately to substantially better compared to the last six months.

Almost 439 companies from various sectors like textiles, telecom, pharmaceuticals, financial services, food and beverages and business process outsourcing, with turnovers ranging from Rs1 crore to Rs89,000 crore took part in the survey.

The survey is based on responses from the heavy industry sector (48 per cent), light industry (35 per cent) and services (17 per cent). Ficci President Saroj Poddar said all the three confidence indices computed in the present round of the survey had taken a value in the significantly optimistic zone.

The current conditions index stands at 74.2, the expectations index stands at 76.1 and the overall business confidence index has taken a value of 75.5.

Further, nearly 80 per cent of the participating firms expected overall economic conditions to be moderately to substantially better in the coming six months.
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