Nabard has been able to disburse barely 50 per cent of the sanctioned loans under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund schemes. The apex agricultural bank disbursed Rs 3,205.86 crore towards 26,991 infrastructure projects all over the country under its three RIDF schemes up to January 15, 1999.

Yahoo buys Broadcast.com for $5.7 bn

Yahoo! Inc on Thursday said it will buy Broadcast.com Inc, the No.1 broadcaster of audio and video programs via the web, in a deal valued at $5.7 billion that reinforces Yahoo's position as one of the top Internet media companies. Terms of the deal call for Yahoo, the most popular spot on the web, to trade stock worth $130 per Broadcast.com share in a pooling-of-interests transaction that Yahoo expects to close in the third quarter this year.

MRL net up 17%

Madras Refineries has posted a net profit of Rs 150.99 crore, up 17.04 per cent, on a turnover of Rs 3,822 crore for 1998-99. The net profit for1997-98 was Rs 129 crore, against a turnover of Rs 2720 crore for the period.

Jindal Vijaynagar Steel

Jindal Vijaynagar Steel, the Sajjan Jindal group company which has received conditional approval for additional loans from IDBI and ICICI, has targeted production of 1.1 million tonnes of hot-rolled coils for the 1999-2000 fiscal. The promoters, apart from pledging their entire holdings, have agreed to the institutions' condition of contributing 20 per cent of the cost overrun.

SAIL changes

SAIL faces a major management shuffle following the resignation of commercial director KAP Singh, who is joining Ispat Mexicana of the LN Mittal group. According to insiders at the Government-owned steel-maker, some managing directors may be shifted.

Gail eyes higher turnover

Gail expects to post a 24.7 per cent rise in turnover during 1998-99 because of its enhanced gas-transmission capacity. The company's net profit for the fiscal gone by should stagnate at around Rs 1,000 crore though.During 1997-98, the public-sector gas-transmission company had earned a net profit of Rs 1,020 crore.

Chitkala Zutshi is MSEB secretary

Chitkala Zutshi, IAS, has taken over as secretary of MSEB. Zutshi has assumed various posts, including deputy commissioner (sales tax), Pune district collector, joint director (industries), director (handlooms and textile cooperatives), commissioner of state women's commission and secretary of the women and child welfare department.

MSEB technical staff to strike work

Technical workers of MSEB will observe a token strike on April 29 to demand pension and other monetary benefits. A release issued by the union said that the power supply in the state would be severely affected due to the strike.

Sinha refutes Guruswamy's charge

Finance minister Yashwant Sinha has refuted his sacked advisor Mohan Guruswamy's charge that the finance ministry had instructed UTI regarding sale of ITC shares to BAT. "I would like to state clearly that there is no suchchit of paper in the finance ministry instructing UTI regarding sale of ITC shares to BAT," he told a TV programme.

Bank of Maharashtra credit plan

Bank of Maharashtra, the lead bank for Pune district, launched a Rs 250.39-crore credit plan for 1999-2000 under the service area credit plan. Nearly 440 branches of commercial banks and cooperative banks are functioning under this service area.

Kamath is Andhra Bank CMD

Ramdas Janardhan Kamath, executive director, Canara Bank, has been appointed chairman and managing director of Andhra Bank. Kamath assumed charge as CMD of the bank on March 26, 1999.

Agriculture may boost exports

Improved global demand and higher domestic agricultural output were likely to boost exports in the current financial year, analysts said on Thursday. Commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde hopes for a turnaround in exports in the year to March 31, 2000, after growth slipped to close to zero last fiscal year against a targeted 20 per cent.

Sinha urgedto drop surcharge

The Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry has sought a firm commitment from finance minister Yashwant Sinha that the surcharge levied on corporate tax and income tax would not be carried forward to the next year's budget. The chamber said in a post-budget memorandum that the Government should review the surcharge so that the positive trend of higher voluntary compliance was not reversed.

Chidambaram on Government's role

Former finance minister P Chidambaram on Friday, speaking at a convocation function in Mumbai, called for minimising the role of Government control in the management of national wealth and stressed the need to abolish poverty. He added that even in the liberalisation era, the Government had a very visible presence, and nothing much had changed in spite of eight years of economic reforms.

DaimlerChrysler record sales in March

In a sign of the US economy's continued strength, several major auto makers, including DaimlerChrysler AG, reported recordMarch sales, powered by demand for pricey trucks. DaimlerChrysler said daily adjusted March sales for Chrysler brand vehicles jumped 16 per cent.

Third-largest News Corp holder

Liberty Media Group Chairman John Malone is poised to become the third-largest shareholder in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, in two transactions valued at $2.1 billion. In the first transaction, Liberty will buy half of a 5 per cent stake in News Corp, held by MCI Worldcom Inc, for about $700 million.

Drama at the race course

High drama was witnessed at the Mahalakshmi Racecourse on Thursday, when trainers owing allegiance to the Western India Trainers Association refused to saddle their runners for the First Extra Day's races, scheduled for a 3:30 pm start.