Inflation jumps to 6.09 per cent
New Delhi: inflation rose to 6.09 per cent during the first week of the current fiscal due to a rise in the prices of fruits, vegetables and other items. This could lead to increasing pressure on interest rates ahead of the RBI's annual monetary policy on April 24.

Wholesale prices-based inflation had fallen below six per cent at 5.74 per cent for the week ended March 31.

The intensity of surge in inflation can also be gauged from the fact that it was just 3.81 per cent in the year-ago period.

Prices of vegetables rose by a whopping 23 per cent durinig the week, while that of fruits marginally declined 0.1 per cent. Overall, prices of the fruits and vegetables category rose nearly 10 per cent.
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Reliance's agri-retail project in West Bengal comes up against Left wall
Kolkata: CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu has opposed Reliance Retail's operations in West Bengal saying his party was opposed to Reliance's agri-retail project in West Bengal, as it would affect millions of small traders, signalling more problems for the scheme.

He said the issue had to be discussed by the party's central committee and politburo before a decision is taken.

Basu's comments could create more problems for Reliance as the former chief minister still wields considerable clout within the party.
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Flights from Delhi, Mumbai capped
New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to cap the number of flights from Mumbai and Delhi till the end of September.
The two metro airports, which are being upgraded, have been facing severe congestion leading to aircraft spending several minutes waiting to take-off or land.

Hourly movements at the Delhi airport have been frozen at 35 during simultaneous use of runway and 30 during single runway operation, while hourly movement at the Mumbai airport has been frozen at 30, the release said.

The dual runway operation period at Delhi has been extended from nine to ten hours and it would now be between 0800 hrs and 1200 hrs in the morning and between 1600 hrs to 2200 hrs in the evening.

Delhi International Airport and Mumbai International Airport are being advised to expedite commissioning of more rapid exit taxiways in their respective airports, the release said.
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Nath says no limit put on number of SEZs
New Delhi: The government has said any freeze on number of special economic zones (SEZs) would not be feasible given the country's demographic reality.

Kamal Nath Commerce and Industry minister said, "The number of SEZs are not important but it is the number of units in a zone that matter. It is not possible to acquire large tracts of land for SEZs because of density of population, he said.

He said in countries like China there were only a few SEZs but each had thousands of units.
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Retail gold buying at a high on Akshaya Tritiya
Hyderabad: Jewellery shops across the city saw a heavy turnout from early morning to as people bought gold on the auspicious Akshaya Trithiya day, as they believed that purchases made on this day would bring prosperity for the entire year.

Many big shops remained open till midnight as the auspicious day started on April 20.

Those who could not afford to purchase big jewellery items bought smaller gold coins or nose rings, silver lamps and anklets. Jewellers said the day's sales were 15 to 20 per cent higher than normal days.

Sale of gold on Akshaya Trithiya day last year stood at 20 tonnes and is likely to go up by at least 20 per cent this year, World Gold Council sources said.

Riding on the Akshaya Tritiya wave Indian Bank, ICICI and UTI Bank also sold gold coins varying from two grams to eight grams in their branches.
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