IIP growth slows down to 11.4 per cent in December
New Delhi: The country's industrial production grew by 11.1 per cent during December 2006 from a 14.4 per cent in November 2006, showing a slowing down of the manufacturing sector over the month.

However, on a year on year basis, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was well above the 5.7-per cent growth recorded in the year-ago period.

During April-December of 2006-07, the IIP showed a growth of 10.8 per cent over 8 per cent in the corresponding period last year. IIP for this period went up to 239 from 215.7.

Electricity registered a growth of 9.3 per cent in December against 3.4 per cent a year ago. Even on sequential basis, it showed an improvement from 8.7 per cent in November 2006.

Having peaked to seven per cent in November, the mining sector retracted to 3.8 per cent in December. But, year-on-year, it showed a growth of 3.8 per cent in December against a negative trend of 0.1 per cent.

As per the user based classification, year-on-year growth for basic goods was 11.7 per cent, capital goods 20.2 per cent and intermediate goods 11.2 per cent in December over the same month last year.

The consumer durables and non-durables segment recorded a growth of 3.3 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively with overall growth in
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GCC see India as attractive destination for investment
Dubai: Investors from the Gulf countries are increasingly seeing India as an attractive destination for investment and investment from the region already constitutes around 1 per cent of total FDI in the country.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have invested $406.3 million, accounting for nearly 1 percent of the total FDI in India, according to report by Kuwait-based Global Investment House.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the largest investor in India, accounting for nearly 79 per cent ($321.1 million) of the total investment made by the GCC countries, followed by Bahrain ($32.7 million), Oman ($24.51 million), Saudi Arabia ($19.18 million), Kuwait ($8.87 million) and Qatar ($0.09 million), the report said.
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World Bank expert clears Baglihar
New Delhi: A neutral expert appointed by the World Bank Richard Lafitte has cleared the Baglihar Power Project over river Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir but has asked India to reduce the height of the dam by one and half metre, one of the objections raised by Pakistan.

In his final report handed over to Indian and Pakistani diplomats in Bern, Switzerland, Lafitte overruled other technical objections of Pakistan on the dam.

The dam's height was originally proposed to be 144.5 metre.

Pakistan had raised certain issues on the Baglihar Dam that have been nagging India-Pak ties for over two decades. Pakistan in 2005 sought the intervention of the World Bank, the third party to the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, alleging that construction of the project violated the accord.

India has rejected the charge.

According to the provisions of the treaty, the neutral expert's decision on all matters will be final and binding.

In electricity-deficit Jammu and Kashmir, the 450MW power project will come as a big relief. The complete project is designated to produce 900MW of power.
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Deora wants excise cut on crude oil to control inflation
New Delhi: Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a Re1 per litre cut in excise duty on crude oil.

The excise duty cut on crude oil will have a cascading effect on prices of fuel transportation, leaving scope of a possible fall in retail prices of auto fuels through reduced duties, Deora explained.

Inflation rates hit two-year highs at 6.58 per cent for the week ended January 27.

However, the minister said retail prices of petrol and diesel will be reduced only when the international crude oil prices fall towards $50 a barrel.
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Indirect tax collections rise 22.4 per cent
New Delhi: Indirect tax collections including customs and excise duty besides service tax, touched Rs169,863 crore during April-December 2006, up 22.4 per cent from the year-ago period.

With buoyancy in corporate profits continuing and economy posting a growth of over 9 per cent, indirect tax collections are up by as much as Rs 31,064 crore during the first nine months' this fiscal compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.

According to a Finance Ministry statement, customs duty collections touched Rs70,872 crore during April-January 2007 period, growing by 34.3 per cent as against Rs52,768 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.

In spite of cuts in customs duty in January on cement, steel, maize, edible oil and certain other items, collections were up by 37.1 per cent touching Rs6,920 crore as against Rs5,047 crore during the same month last year.

Growth in excise collections remained sluggish, which grew by merely 6 per cent during April-January 2007 period touching Rs90,677 crore as against Rs85,528 during the corresponding month last fiscal.

In January, growth in excise collections was further down to 3.9 per cent, to Rs10,428 crore against Rs10,037 during the same period last fiscal.

Service tax collections have, however, shown a surprising growth of 64.6 per cent till December 2006, touching Rs25,662 crore as against Rs15,587 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.
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Govt may set up Rs100 crore venture fund for small IT companies
New Delhi: The ministry of communications and information technology is considering creating a national venture capital fund to support small and medium enterprises in the IT segment.

The fund would be established by software technology parks of India (STPI) and the ministry has asked for a grant of Rs100 crore for the same.

The VC fund would also mobilise resources from state governments and financial institutions. The proposal has been sent to the Planning Commission for consideration.

The initial corpus of the fund will be determined after the partners of the fund are finalised. The proposal comes as a follow up of the success of a Rs15 crore Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital fund created by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and the Karnataka state government.
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