Five people were killed and two suffered injuries in a flash fire that broke out in the hydrogen gas compressor of the hydrocracker unit of the Indian Oil refinery early Friday. The emergency response services of the refinery responded immediately and the fire was controlled within a few minutes, said a spokesman.

Essar officials arrested

Two senior Essar Oil officials were arrested by the directorate of revenue intelligence on Wednesday night for alleged evasion of customs duty by the company over imported machineries. SR Agrawal (director) and PR Ashok (general manager) were arrested by the DRI at its Ahmedabad office.

Sebi postpones Herbertsons hearing

Markets regulator Sebi postponed the hearing in the Herbertsons case, scheduled for Friday, to May 19. The hearing for both liquor barons Kishore Chhabria and Vijay Mallya in connection with the takeover battle for Herbertsons Ltd was rescheduled following a request from theconcerned parties.

Raymond net up 80% to Rs 80.77 cr

The textiles to cement major Raymond Ltd on Friday reported an 80 per cent spurt in its net profit to Rs 80.77 crore for the year ended March 31, 1999. The company posted a gross turnover of Rs 1,576.54 crore (Rs 1,518.91 crore) and a total income of Rs 1,307.35 crore (Rs 1,225 crore), Raymond said.

Indal net up 7%

Indal said on Friday it posted a 7 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 76.36 crore for the year to March 31, 1999, against Rs 71.37 crore the previous year.

Maruti sales up by 30%

Bucking the recessionary trend in the auto sector, Maruti Udyog posted a 30 per cent jump in sales during the first month of the current fiscal, selling 30,372 vehicles (23,377).

Dealer Selection Board

The Centre has restored the functioning of the Dealer Selection Board (DSB) after abruptly dismantling it barely 10 days ago. The volte-face is being attributed to tremendous pressure from political quarters as also protestsfrom the oil companies.

BIFR rejects DSJ plea

The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction has rejected an application by DSJ Communications, publisher of Dalal Street Investment Journal, to be declared a sick company as it did not perform any industrial activity. Under the Sick Industrial Companies (special provisions) Act, the board considers only those companies cases which are engaged in industrial activity.

Mico buyback

The Mico board has approved and commended to shareholders for their approval/authorisation to buy back shares, not exceeding 25 per cent of the capital and free reserves of the company, from the existing shareholders on a proportional basis through tender offer at a price not exceeding Rs 4,200 per share.

Charges against Ashwin Mehta

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to quash charges framed against Harshad Mehta's brother Ashwin Mehta in a 1991 securities scam case in which it was alleged that State Bank was cheated of Rs 669 crore.

RBI tohold price-based auction

The Reserve Bank will conduct the first-ever price-based auction of two Government of India securities on May 11. The central bank will decide the cut-off price, and bids below this cut-off price will be rejected, an RBI release said.

Renuka Choudhary joins Congress

Prominent Telugu Desam Party leader and former union minister Renuka Choudhary on Friday joined the Congress. She said the TDP had changed its colour from yellow to saffron and the entire family of its founder NT Rama Rao had left the party.

Uco Bank clarifies

This refers to the news item reported on March 4 that a string of new private banks led by ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and IndusInd, and the public- sector Uco Bank cut their deposit rates ranging between 150 and 100 basis points. The fact is that Uco Bank did not cut its deposit rates on that day while the other three banks mentioned did so. Uco Bank cut its deposit rates later in April. We regret the error.