New labour commission by year-end, says Jatiya: A new labour commission will be set up before the end of the year, union labour minister Satyanarayan Jatiya said in Srinagar on Saturday. The centre was actively considering amending the National Labour Act as the existing laws were very old and did not meet the changed situation and demands, Jatiya told newspersons.

UTI subscribes to Reliance NCD issue: Unit Trust of India has picked up the entire chunk of RelianceIndustries' Rs 300-crore NCD issue. The issue, comprising three papers having tenures of 10 years, 15 years and 20 years, was privately placed with the trust in September before the US-64 controversy rocked the market. This is the first instance of a domestic corporate placing long-term instruments in the domestic market.

Pennzoil India to tap consumer products: Pennzoil India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the US multinational Pennzoil Products Company, has identified the consumer-products segment and retail trade as its core-growth areas. The company expects to triple its turnover over the next five years, enabling it to take the second position in the domestic market.

DoT carrot for ITI retirees: ITI employees opting for voluntary retirement will get STD/ISD?PCO facilities on an out-of-turn basis, courtesy the department of telecommunications. According to an ITI official, the move will help the company encourage its employees to opt for the retirement scheme.

Garden Reach unitseeks overseas partner: Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers' diesel-engine plant at Ranchi is seeking foreign collaboration to manufacture 2x10mw capacity engines. The plant management has sent its proposal to 20 foreign companies.

Elektro Holding sets up office in Bangalore: Elektro Holding Gesellschaft of Germany, which sold its Indian subsidiary AEG NGEF Ltd to GE Electrical Distributors & Control India Ltd, has set up its representative office in Bangalore. The office, located on Kasturba Road, will be headed by PK Sehgal, who has been designated managing director.

Regional bourses in state of panic: Regional bourses are in a state of panic as the start of the much-touted Inter-Connected Stock Exchange is caught up in continuous delays. The bourses feel that any further delay would throw a spanner in the works even as many are contemplating closure.

Skindia GDR Index firms up: The federal rate cuts on Friday provided the much-needed support to the GDR market indices, whichwere drifting southward on account of the US-64 fear. The week ended October 15 saw the Skindia GDR Index close at 530.56 points, posting a net recovery of 3.07 points over its previous week's close.

Court orders leave jute exchange rudderless: The East India Jute & Hessian Exchange's recently constituted board, headed by president Bhag Chand Jain, has been unable to take charge of the futures trading body owing to the deadlock created by two Calcutta high court orders. At present, the exchange is functioning without a board as members are waiting for the court to reopen on October 31 and issue a final clarification.

KN Bhandari is United India Assurance CMD: KN Bhandari, 57, has taken over as the the chairman and managing director of the Chennai-based United India Insurance. Bhandari was general manager of the Calcutta-based National Insurance before being appointed as the CMD of the country's number two general-insurance company. His predecessor, SK Kanwar, had joined as the chief of NewIndia Assurance recently.

Bagasse-based power projects: The Maharashtra cabinet has cleared the standardised government-support agreement for setting up bagasse-based co-generation power projects in the state. This move will pave the way for launching at least 11 such projects submitted by co-operative sugar factories with an installed capacity of 332 megawatt. The per megawatt cost is assumed at Rs 4 crore.

`Real-estate competition will intensify': International real-estate consultants Jones Lang Wootton have said that inter-state competition will intensify and those states which do not rise to the challenge will risk erosion of their position over the next decade. According to them, greater interaction with foreign markets will improve financing options for real-estate developers.

Trading body to protest: The Federation of Associations of Maharashtra, a representative body of the trading community, will observe "black Diwali saptah" from October 19 to protest against theprevailing violence and the failure of the government and law-enforcement agencies to control the law-and-order situation in Mumbai.

`BJP to make efforts to form government in MP': BJP president Kushabhau Thakre on Saturday said in Jaipur his party would make all efforts to form a government in Madhya Pradesh and retain power in Rajasthan and Delhi in the November assembly elections. Thakre, who came here this morning, had discussions on the party's poll strategy with the state leaders including chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The Bharatiya Janata Party president said the party would also make efforts to open its account in the north-eastern state of Mizoram.

EC issues directives to state ministers: The election commission on Saturday barred Madhya Pradesh ministers from coordinating activities of different departments in districts assigned to them as their visits "are bound to be construed by other parties as essentially disguised electioneering" and directed the Rajasthanministers not to use official cars to visit different districts to supervise relief works.

Hoechst ends rough week on sour note: A week that began for Germany's Hoechst AG with a profit-warning ended with more bad news as the group said talks to sell its paints unit for DM 3 billion ($1.85 billion) had failed over price. In a one-sentence joint statement sent after the close of trade on Friday, chemicals and pharmaceuticals company Hoechst and United States takeover specialist Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co said they had "terminated" an initial agreement reached last August over the Herberts unit by mutual agreement.

Caterpillar posts 13% drop in Q3 earnings: Machinery price discounting that led Caterpillar Inc. to report a 13- per cent drop in third-quarter earnings is occurring worldwide, not just in Asia and other troubled economic regions, chief financial officer Douglas Oberhelman said. "We're seeing it here in the US and Canada as well now," Oberhelman told Reuters in atelephone interview. Discounting in the third quarter was greater than in the second quarter and is continuing in what have become very competitive U.S. and Canadian markets, Oberhelman said.