WTO rejects US plea on Indian shrimp exports: The appellate body of the World Trade Organisation has rejected the United States' argument for blocking shrimp exports from India. The panel found that the US measure is not within the scope of measures permitted under article XX of Gatt and upheld India's contention that the US measure against shrimp and shrimp products import is unjustified.

Tata Sons may hive off TCE: Tata Sons has initiated moves to transfer Tata Consulting Engineers out of its fold. A proposal to transfer TCE has already been put before the board of Tata Sons.According to sources, the transfer is being undertaken "for certain operational reasons". Company insiders say the company is likely to be transferred to Tata Electric Companies.

Crisil downgrades IPCL debentures: Crisil has downgraded two non-convertible debenture programmes of IPCL amounting to Rs 203 crore from AA+ to AA-. It has, however, reaffirmed the P1+ rating assigned to IPCL's Rs 350-crore commercial paper programme. The revised rating of IPCL's NCD programmes continues to indicate high safety.

NTPC offered 16% in Dahej LNG plant: The petroleum ministry is of the view that National Thermal Power Corporation should be offered 16 per cent equity in the proposed $600-million LNG project at Dahej. At a recent review meeting of Petronet LNG chaired by petroleum minister Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy, it was decided that in case this was not acceptable to the power major, the matter should be dropped altogether. NTPC is seeking a 26 per cent stake in the project.

Paper Products expandscapacity: Paper Products has expanded its capacity with the acquisition of Thapar group company APR Ltd's assets. The acquisition, which will enable Paper Products to enter the carton segment of packaging, will be funded through a mix of debt, preference shares and internal accruals. The unit at Hyderabad is expected to add Rs 50 crore in a full year to Paper Products' turnover.

HLL to launch Savlon soap: Hindustan Lever is all set to enter the medicated category of the toilet soaps market with the launch of its Savlon soap, pitting it against Reckitt & Colman's Dettol soap. Although Savlon is an international brand owned by Johnson & Johnson, HLL entered into a pact with the company eight months back for using the trademark for its soap products.

IOC's Haldia-Barauni pipeline plans: Indian Oil Corporation is likely to commission its Rs 670-crore Haldia-Barauni pipeline by the year-end, six months ahead of schedule, according to IOC director (pipelines) SN Jha. He said the government hasalso approved three new branch pipelines, Panipat-Meerut, Gurukshetra- Sarahanpur and Mathura-Tundla.

IOC to market `tie-up' petroleum products: Indian Oil Corporation plans to market at least half the combined output of Reliance Petroleum and Essar Oil from next year, leaving room for other national oil companies to step in. The two giant refineries at Jamnagar will produce nearly 20 million tonne of petroleum products by 2000, two years before marketing rights are scheduled to be freed.

Sensex drops 61 points: The Sensex crashed by another 61 points on Tuesday on heavy selling by foreign funds and punters, ending the day at 2,811.31 points. Brokers said the market was still reacting negatively to the US-64 imbroglio. A fresh fall in the global markets added to the negative sentiment.

Thomson sub-investment ratings for banks: International rating agency Thomson BankWatch has assigned sub-investment grade (LC4) ratings to 14 public sector banks and two private sector banks in thecountry. The ratings indicate that the capacity of these banks to service their local currency obligations in a timely manner is not strong.

Bihar pays Rs 50 cr to NTPC: The Bihar government on Tuesday paid Rs 50 crore to the National Thermal Power Corporation as first instalment towards the clearance of dues amounting to Rs 1,390.39 crore on the Bihar State Electricity Board, minister of state for energy Shyam Rajak said. NTPC had earlier threatened to snap power supply to the state from Wednesday if it failed to even partially clear its dues.

NTPC issues ultimatum to Delhi, UP: After Bihar and West Bengal, it is now the turn of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to face the wrath of NTPC. The corporation has asked both the Delhi Vidyut Board and Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board, who owe NTPC a whopping Rs 1,100 crore and Rs 1,775 crore respectively, to clear their dues or enhance the letter of credit limits to avoid a power blackout.

Cell operators' body opposes Trai move: The CellularOperators Association of India has opposed Trai's move to make a caller pay for calls made to cellular phones. COAI has opposed the move on the ground that the technology used by the Department of Telecommunications would not permit such a move. Trai had proposed charging the calling party Rs 3.90 per minute for calls made to cellular phones.

Gujarat plan outlay at Rs 5,450 cr: The annual plan for Gujarat for 1998-99 has been fixed at Rs 5,450 crore, an increase of 21 per cent over last year's outlay of Rs 4,500 crore. The plan was finalised on Tuesday between tate chief minister Keshubhai Patel and Planning Commission deputy chairman Jaswant Singh. The plan panel also finalised the plan outlay for Kerala at Rs 3,100 crore.

SC reserves judgment on presidential reference: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved judgment on the presidential reference raising nine queries over the consultation process to be adopted by the chief justice of India for appointment of judges to the apex court and highcourts after hearing marathon arguments over three days.

Merrill Lynch posts Q3 loss: Merrill Lynch and Co Inc, the largest US brokerage, on Tuesday reported its first quarterly loss in almost nine years and said it will cut 3,400 jobs, or about 5 per cent of its global workforce, after being hurt by trading losses abroad and a slowdown across key businesses. Merrill said it lost $164 million, down from a profit of $502 million in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue fell to $3.8 billion from $4.1 billion.