Inflation remains at 6.46 per cent
New Delhi: Inflation remained unchanged at 6.46 per cent for the week ended March 10 as rise in prices of some items offset a decline in others. Inflation stood at just 3.80 per cent a year ago.

The official data, released today, came amid a debate on overheating started by two key economic planners — Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council C Rangarajan.

However Prime Minister Manmohan Singh downplayed the fears and said the rise in inflation is a momentary phenomenon amid positive impulses in the economy.

Among food products, prices of vegetables, fruits, eggs, mutton, fish-marine, bajara, condiments and spices moved up, while those of wheat, gram, urad and moong declined.

Even in manufactured category, some food products like oil cakes and khandsari became expensive, while others like gur were cheaper.

Among other items, sunflower, linseed, rubber, insulated cables, power driven pumps became costlier, while prices of copra, groundnut seed, telephone cables fell. policy makers for major portion of this week.
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SEZ policy to stay: PM
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the SEZ policy had come to stay in the country and that a humane and just policy on the resettlement of land oustees was being formulated by the government.

The Pm said a more humane, more effective and a more just policy with regard to the resettlement of land oustees was in the process of being formulated and pending that, there was some delay in going ahead with the announced policy of the government on SEZ.

Ahead of next month's SAARC Summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the destiny of the people of South Asia is interlinked and inter-dependent.

The Prime Minister told the conclave that he believed Indians have always been open to global influences and "ours will always be an open society. Even in the economic sphere, we are as open today as any free market democracy in the world.
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Mukherjee says NPT flawed
Tokyo: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee speaking at the Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo dismissed the NPT as a "flawed" treaty. He said he remained conscious of the sentiments of the Japanese people on nuclear matters.

Mukherjee touched upon the topic of India's civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States, an issue which is being hotly debated within the academic circles in Japan.

He said India has an impeccable record on non-proliferation and has also consistently been a leading advocate of the elimination of all nuclear weapons. He said if India did not sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is not because of its lack of commitment for non-proliferation, but because India considers NPT as a flawed treaty and did not recognise the need for universal, non-discriminatory verification and treatment.
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Telecom FDI hike to lead to people movements in telcos
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet's guidelines for raising foreign direct investment (FDI) to 74 pc will result in Bharti Airtel having to reassign its director, network, Norman Donald Price. As per the new norms, the chief officer in charge of technical network operations and the chief security officer have to be resident Indians.

Tata Teleservices however has received some relief as it can retain CEO Darryl Green, since the guidelines allow foreign citizens to occupy senior managerial positions. With this, Tata Tele's application for a national long-distance (NLD) licence, which has been held up due to the foreign CEO issue, will be cleared.

Another relief is that companies with existing FDI at 74 pc will no longer be required to adhere to the earlier clause that a serious Indian promoter holding at least 10 pc in the licensee company be consulted before appointing a CEO, CFO or CTO.

Service providers like call centres, BPOs, tele-marketing and tele-education companies registered with the department of telecommunications (DoT) can also breathe easy as the FDI guidelines do not apply to them.
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