Steel production rises 10 per cent in Apr-Feb period
New Delhi: Steel production in the country in the April-February period grew 10.1 per cent at 44.3 million tonnes as against 40.237 million tonnes in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

Exports during the period under review increased 9.3 per cent to 4.3 million tonnes from 3.934 million tonnes in the same period of previous fiscal, an official release said.

During the period, the public sector company SAIL produced 11.402 million tonnes of saleable steel, up five per cent over same period previous fiscal while the company's hot metal production in the period declined marginally at 13.215 million tonnes.

NMDC produced 23.79 million tonnes of iron ore in the period, up 16.6 per cent year on year. The company operated at 144 per cent capacity utilisation, the release said.
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Centre not to freeze exports of iron ore
New Delhi: The government is likely to decide against freezing iron ore exports at current levels but may continue with the recently imposed export duty on all grades of iron ore.

The Planning Commission has raised strong objections to cap iron ore exports and has suggested that the Rs300 per tonne export duty on ore is a strong enough deterrent for exporting the mineral, an official source said.

Earlier the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had suggested to PMO to freeze iron ore export at current levels and encourage value addition within the country.

However, it is understood that the Planning commission has favoured unhindered exports of iron ore as the entire production of the mineral is not consumed in the domestic market. Moreover, it has suggested that mineral resources of the country should be established afresh before any policy decision on the subject is taken.

The issue of iron ore exports has divided the mining and the steel industries with ministry of steel and ministry of mining taking sides on the issue. While the mining industry wants ore exports to continue unhindered, steel industry feel that this would exhaust country's rich resources that should be protected for value addition within the country.

The steel ministry has also suggested that ore exports should be frozen at current levels and then brought down gradually over three to five year period.
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NCAER data says economic status of Hindus, Muslim similar
New Delhi: At the national level Hindus and Muslims are closer in average household income, expenditure, savings and ownership of select consumer goods.

And in rural India, the gap between the two communities' narrows down further and is in some cases in favour of Muslims. The Sikh community is the most prosperous one in India, with highest household income, expenditure and ownership of cars, two-wheelers, TV sets and refrigerators. Christians and other smaller communities are not too far behind either.

The National Council of Applied Economic Research's (NCAER) data analysis is from its National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure (2004-05), at 2004-05 prices.

The survey was from a sample of approximately 63,000 households out of preliminary listed sample of 4,40,000 households spread over 1,976 villages (250 districts) and 2,255 urban wards (342 towns) covering 64 National Sample Survey (NSS) regions in 24 states/UTs.

The survey found that on an average a Hindu household has an income of Rs168 per day, while an average Muslim household earns Rs160 a day. In rural India, an average Hindu annual household income (AHI) is Rs49,077 with Muslims close behind with AHI of Rs47,805.

Moreover an average Muslim household, at the national level, spends more than a Hindu one, with annual household routine expenditure (AHRE) at Rs40,327 compared to Rs40,009 for the latter.

A Sikh household AHRE is highest at Rs60,475 with Christians at Rs45,291. In rural India, Muslim AHRE (Rs33,711) is higher than Hindu (Rs32,555) and compares well with Christian (Rs38,068).

Muslims who are the bottom as far as income is concerned come out on top when AHRE is measured as a percentage of AHI. They spend over 69 pc of their income on routine household expenditure followed by Sikhs (66 pc and Hindus (64 pc)

The smaller religious communities (excluding Christians and Sikhs) taken as the whole are an affluent lot with AHI of over Rs1 lakh. Sikhs and Christians leave larger communities way behind with AHI of Rs91,153 and Rs70,644 respectively.

At the national level, regarding ownership of goods Hindu and Muslim households are almost identical — cars (5.1 pc and 4.3 pc), two-wheeler (35.3 pc and 31.3 pc), refrigerator (17.9 pc and 15.9 pc) and radio (49.5 pc and 51.3 pc). In rural India and Muslim households have an edge on not just AHRE, but even car ownership (2.6 pc versus 2.4 pc of Hindu households).
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CAS response gets industry worried
New Delhi: The poor market response to the conditional access system (CAS) — for which viewers must access free-to-air and pay channels through a set-top box had led to differences among broadcasters, cable operators and multi-system operators (MSOs).

Following this the Trai has called a meeting on April 5 to resolve these differences.

Broadcasters and cable operators want the government to allow a voluntary extension of CAS to other parts of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai (CAS was made mandatory in designated areas of these cities from January this year).

The MSOs — which own the cable infrastructure and have cable operators as franchisees — want CAS to be expanded by administrative fiat and made mandatory.

The meeting also takes place against the backdrop of mandatory enforcement of CAS in Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bhopal — which has made the cable industry even more unhappy.

Broadcasters like Star, Zee and Sony have suffered a dip in the ratings of their popular shows in CAS areas, resulting in advertisers asking for discounts on advertising spots. This is forcing them to support voluntary CAS expansion, though they were champions of mandatory imposition earlier.

The MSOs say broadcasters don't have compelling content for people to justify paying to watch these channels, which is why they have floated the idea of making CAS voluntary.
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