India's first stem cell transplant centre launched
New Delhi: LifeCell, a pioneer in stem cell banking and research in India, in collaboration with the US-based Cryo-Cell Inc has announced the launch of the country's first stem cell transplant centre in Chennai.

'Stem cells have the potential to cure diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart attack, Parkinson's and many other ailments that can cost human life,' according to Cryo-Cell chief scientific officer Anthony Finch.

The company has invested $4 million to set up the transplant centre at the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre of Excellence, which will be fully operational by the end of this year.

The company plans to open collection centres soon in Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore. The Dubai center of the company will also have its own collection bank and the Malaysian centre is going to be our ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) hub.LifeCell currently has 18 stem cell collection centres across the country and by March 2009 it plans to increase the number to 31. The centres have so far collected 3,600 samples of stem cells.

LifeCell's cord blood stem cell banking facility at Keelakotaiyur in Tamil Nadu has been set up at a cost of Rs140 million.
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Indian cottons threaten US exports
Mumbai: India is posing a threat to the United States in the cotton exports arena as the latter is afraid that its exports to countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh will decline as India's exports to these neighbouring countries is rising.

In a recent report, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) voiced concerns that the US share in exports to these countries may decline. In 2001-02, India was the third largest destination for US cotton. In 2006-07, India is likely to be the third largest cotton exporter in the world, competing with the US for importing markets.

India is expected to ship 925,338 metric tonne (4,250,000 bales of 170 kg) of cotton to the world in the current cotton year that commenced in August. According to USDA estimates, India exported 7,07,611 metric tonne (3,250,000 bales) in the year that ended July 2006, a whopping 392 per cent higher than 143,700 metric tonne (660,000 bales) in the cotton year ended July 2005.

In addition to having some of the lowest labour costs in the world, India receives zero-duty preferential treatment from the European Union, which makes its textile and apparel industry very competitive.
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Direct tax collections continue to rise
New Delhi: The Centre's gross direct tax collections registered a 33.53-per-cent increase in April-September 15 this year to Rs87,831 crore, as compared to gross collection level of Rs65,725 crore recorded in the same period last year.

Net direct tax collections (provisional) for the period stood at Rs70,749 crore, reflecting a 37.70-per-cent increase over the net collection level of Rs51,379 crore recorded in April-September 15, 2005. The income-tax department has given refunds to the tune of Rs17,082 during April-September 15 (Rs14,346 crore).

However, the Centre's excise duty collection growth has slipped from the trend witnessed earlier this year. Excise duty collections during April-August 2006 stood at Rs41,836 crore, which represented a 6.2 per cent growth over Rs39,380 crore collected in same period last year.

In April-July 2006, excise duty collections had grown by 8.8 per cent to Rs33,004 crore. Excise duty collections in August 2006 grew by mere 0.4 per cent to Rs9,032 crore (Rs8,993 crore).
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Australia's Victoria opens office in Bangalore
Bangalore: Victoria State Government of Australia has opened its first India business office in Bangalore to promote investments into its capital city Melbourne.

The Victorian Government Business Office focuses on promoting two-way investments in areas like infrastructure development, IT, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, automotive industries, education, R&D, agribusiness, food, transport and logistics, tourism, aviation and aerospace sectors among others, a release said.

Through a programme called Access India, Victorian companies entering the Indian market can initially get free office space, access to networks and expertise of the business office. This is also the model used by Victoria in the US and China. Indian companies can get similar help at the Melbourne centre. The office in Bangalore will have specialists in ICT, education and international trade who will also advice Indian companies investing in Victoria.
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New norms to be detailed for SEZs
New Delhi: The Board of Approvals (BOA) for Special Economic Zones will shortly lay down new guidelines for developing such zones, including on land acquisition. The board would consider guidelines on the percentage of processing and non-processing areas in the SEZs, development of social infra- structure within SEZs and the approvals process.

The move to lay down guidelines for land acquisition is a fall-out of criticism over the government's SEZ policy, including allegations that farmers' land is being taken over to benefit big companies.
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