Inflation falls to 5.74 per cent
New Delhi: Inflation fell below six per cent after more than two months and stood at 5.74 per cent during the last week of 2006-07 against 6.39 per cent a week ago despite rise in prices of major food products as well as some fuel and manufactured items.

This resulted in average inflation standing at 5.18 per cent for 2006-07, within RBI's projection of 5-5.5 per cent. Inflation had averaged 4.46 per cent during 2005-06.

The fall in inflation during the week ended March 31 might ease pressure on RBI to tighten monetary policy.

However, price data to be released next week would play a crucial role in RBI's annual monetary policy review slated for April 24. Wholesale prices-based inflation had stood at 3.98 per cent during the corresponding week of 2006.
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FDI inflows at $11.8 billion in April 06 - February 07
New Delhi: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India will cross $12 billion dollars this fiscal with inflows of $11.89 billion recorded till February compared to 4.31 billion dollars during the 11- months of the previous year a growth of 176 per cent in dollar terms according to a government release here.

FDI inflows in February 2007 amounted to $698 million, compared to only $127 million in the same month of previous fiscal, showing a growth of 450 per cent.

The manufacturing sector has also shown robust growth 12.1 per cent in April-February.

Record manufacturing growth is significant in the context of high priority being accorded by the government to manufacturing as a source of employment generation, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said.
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TRAI wants landing stations opened for ILD players
New Delhi: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has said that cable landing station facilities, owned by a few operators, should be opened up for other international long distance (ILD) operators - a move that will boost competition in the bandwidth connectivity segment.

The proposed regulation would enable provision of international bandwidth connectivity at cable landing stations in a fair, equitable, transparent and equitable manner to ILD operators and Internet Service Providers, the regulator said in a statement.

The access to cable landing stations by other licensees is necessary for creating a conducive environment and boosting competition in the international bandwidth connectivity / leased circuits segment, the statement added.
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TN not to sell power to Maharashra, Punjab
Chennai: Tamil Nadu has stopped the sale of electricity to Maharashtra and Punjab from March 15 as wind mills could not generate enough power due to lesser wind speed, State Electricity minister N Veerasamy said on Friday.

Tamil Nadu was supplying power generated from the wind mills to these two states. The Minister said the government was taking steps to solve the problem of powercuts and improve the situation.

However, he said there would be no powercuts during the night and farmers using motor pumps for irrigation during nights did not have any problem.
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