S Korea concerned over anti-dumping duties: South Korean vice-minister for commerce, industry and energy Hong Geon-choe during his meeting with industry minister Sikander Bhakt in New Delhi on Friday expressed concern over the anti-dumping duties being levied by India on some items imported from Korea. He also sought speedier clearance of investment proposals.

Reliance official questioned again: Reliance Industries Ltd group president VBalasubramanian was on Friday again questioned by the Delhi police in connection with the cases involving Romesh Sharma, suspected to be a front man of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Amod Kanth, joint commissioner of police told newsmen in New Delhi that it would not be in the interest of the investigations to make public more details, adding "I have not disclosed even one-hundredth of what we know."

Hughes Ispat project opened: The Rs 8,500 crore telecom project by Hughes Ispat Ltd was inaugurated by Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi on Friday at Turbhe in Navi Mumbai. Promoted by Hughes Electronic Corporation, Alltel Corporation and Ispat Group, the first exchange was launched at Turbhe in the presence of deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde, union minister of state for communications K Purkayastha. HIL, which has been awarded a 15-year licence by the centre to build and operate a telecommunications network in the Maharashtra circle including Mumbai and Goa, expects to commission over fivelakh lines in the next three years.

Jayasuryia to chat on Indian Express online: On November 3, 1998 between 12 noon and 2 pm, Sri Lankan cricket sensation Sanath Jayasuryia will be participating in a live Internet chat hosted by Ceat on a service created by The Indian Express Online Media Ltd. Jayasuryia will be reaching out to the web community from the Net Express Cyber Cafe, located on the ground floor of Express Towers in Nariman Point, Mumbai. The chat with Jayasuriya (at www.expressindia.com) will be the second bonanza from Express Online in recent weeks which is meant for cricket fans around the world. The ongoing Wills cup is already being covered live for Kingfisher at (www.kingfisherworld.com).

MTAIC planning to buyback its shares: Matsushita Television and Audio India Ltd (MTAIC), a joint venture between Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd and Jiwarjka Group, is planning to seek shareholders approval to buyback its shares. The board of directors passed a resolution to thiseffect at a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. The company has reported a net profit of Rs 82.7 lakh during the quarter ended September 1998 as against a net loss of Rs 1.38 crore in the financial year ended March 1998. During the quarter, the company achieved turnover of Rs 29.40 crore.

IOC ties up with Mitsubishi, Destack for power projects: Indian Oil Corporation has selected US multinational Destack and Japanese giant Mitsubishi as joint venture partners for two of its power projects costing Rs 2,088 crore. Destack and Mitsubishi have been selected as the engineering, procurement and construction contractors for the 500 mw Savli power project in Vadodhra and another 110 mw plant at Kosi-Kalan (UP) respectively, IOC sources said. The two multinationals would have a 26 per cent stake in the projects, which would be set up near IOC's refineries in these places, the officials said.

Claro, Diamines offers no good: The open offers from Claro India and Diamines and Chemicals may not cheer theirshareholders. After waiting for years in these counters they would have lost all hopes of an exit opportunity in these dud stocks. They now have the option of either booking heavy losses or holding on to the scrip. They are getting an opportunity to offload their shares of Diamines and Chemicals at a price of Rs 2 when its current market price is Rs 5. The acquirers of Claro India offer to buy equity shares from shareholders for Rs 2.5 although the offer price is certainly higher than the current market price of Rs 1.5.

CII opposes CRR at 11%: The Confederation of Indian Industry has said that maintaining capital reserve ratio at 11 per cent would adversely affect the industry's financial position. It had strongly advocated the reduction of CRR to release the much needed funds for productive purposes. President Rajesh V Shah said the corporates were looking for greater flexibility in foreign exchange cover and measures to encourage new exporters. Reserve Bank's silence was indeed disappointing, Shahadded.

Taiwan world's largest computer producer: Taiwan will edge out Japan as the world's largest notebook computer producer by the end of this year with the production of 5.8 million notebook computers. The figure represents a 32.1 per cent increase over the last year's figure, Nick Chang, managing director (India) of the Taipei World Trade Center said in New Delhi on Friday.

Consumer price-based inflation at 16.3%: The annual rate of inflation based on consumer prices shot up to 16.3 per cent in September as against 8.25 per cent calculated on the basis of the wholesale price index for the same month last year. In August, the inflation based on consumer price index for industrial workers had stood at 15 per cent compared to 8.18 per cent.

WHO stresses food security for people: WHO has called upon South-East Asian countries to take urgent steps to ensure food security for their people. Observing that most of them had not established policies and plans of action relevant to allparticipants in food safety it suggested to governments to regularly evaluate and revise their food legislation to ensure it best protects their populations and facilitates international trade in safe food.

Japanese award for Indian industrialist: M M Arunachalam, chairman of the Murugappa group of companies, has won the `Order of the sacred treasure, gold and silver star' from the Japanese Emperor in recognition of his exceptionally remarkable contribution to the promotion of friendship and close ties between India and Japan during the past 50 years. The award will be presented to Arunachalam by Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Hirabayashi in New Delhi later.

BJP blames UF govt for price spiral: The BJP, in a statement issued by general secretary Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi on Friday squarely blamed the Congress-supported UF government for the steep rise in prices as it failed to have a proper assessment of the crop damage. The UF government was lambasted for having overestimated last year'sagricultural production. The oilseed production was estimated to be 27 lakh tonne higher, pulses by 11 lakh tonne and wheat by 32 lakh tonne. Even for onion and potato shortages, it blamed the UF government for its lopsided agricultural policies as well as the failure of its mechanism to assess the actual damage and take preventive steps to stop exports at the right time.

Separate WTO dept in commerce ministry advised: Disinvestment commission chairman GV Ramkrishna made a forceful plea in Mumbai on Friday for setting up a separate department in the commerce ministry to deal with the World Trade Organisation. Addressing Indian Merchants' Chamber on `Indian industry and globalisation' he said the implications of WTO agreement could be serious but lamented the woeful lack of knowledge and pre-emptive steps by the government and industry on its implementation. An investment agreement under WTO will come into force from December 31, 1999 which would allow any foreigner to invest in Indian capital marketsand industry.

Agro advantage Maharashtra from Nov 6: Maharashtra is making serious efforts to forge ahead in the agro sector by inviting global investors. The state is all set for its mega show--agro advantage Maharashtra--in Mumbai between November 6 and 9 which will be inaugurated by the prime minister. Ten countries, including France and Germany will participate.