Virtually putting the onus on Pakistan to end the Kargil conflict, the G-8 leaders on Sunday condemned violation of the Line of Control, called for an immediate end to fighting in the region and termed as ''irresponsible'' any military action to change the status quo of the LoC.

Inflation rate falls to 87-week low

A fall in the prices of primary food articles, especially fruits, saw the Wholesale Price Index-based annual inflation rate fall to an 87-week low of 3.53 per cent for the week ended June 5. This is the lowest rate since September 27, 1997, when it touched 3.47 per cent.

Patent office

The Calcutta high court has rejected the Government's prayer to set up the National Patent Office at New Delhi, for which funds have been earmarked in the Ninth Plan. Justice Ajoy Nath Ray in his June 16 judgement said that under the prevailing Indian Patents Act, the head office of the patent organisation should be at Calcutta with branchoffices at New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, and the concept of a national patent office was absent in the act.

Firms interest expenses

Interest expenses accounted for slightly more than 5 per cent of net sales of 319 big private-sector companies (sales above Rs 100 coree) in 1998-99, acording to an FE study. The aggregate interest cost of these firms in 1998-99 was Rs 10,014 crore, a 19.5 per cent rise over the 1997-98 level of Rs 8,382 crore.

Cheminor Drugs application

The Hyderabad-based Cheminor Drugs has filed an abbreviated new drug application in the US for fluoxetine hydrochloride, an anti-depressant. Cheminor's efforts to tap the US generics market would require big brother Dr Reddy's Laboratories to secure a US Food and Drug Administration approval for its bulk drugs unit.

IA employees retirement age

Indian Airlines may not go in for an immediate revision in the retirement age of its employees from 60 to 58 years, with no decision taken by the board which met on June18 to discuss the issue. This has put to rest speculation in aviation circles that the airline will follow Air India in revising the retirement age.

HM to up Lancer output

Hindustan Motors plans to step up production of the Lancer model. The company's marketing pitch for the vehicle in the non-metro cities is paying off with smaller centres accounting for over 35 per cent of sales, officials said. The company sold 671 vehicles in May this year.

Foreign equity in housing

The much-hyped proposal for foreign investment in housing is not likely to be brought before the cabinet. The primary reason for this is that Jagmohan, the minister for urban development, unlike his predecessor Ram Jethmalani, is not enthusiastic about foreign equity participation in the sector.

Saddam in Forbes' richest 100

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has made it into the list of the world's richest people, according to Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Most of the dictator's $6 billion personal fortunewas amassed through "plundering the country's treasury and a smuggling operation masterminded by his son, Uday," reported the paper.

Assocham charts strategy

Assocham has stated that growth rate of GDP can be pushed up to 7.4 per cent if public investments are stepped up by Rs 10,000 crore, a liberal monetary policy is adopted and the real exchange value of the rupee depreciated. A paper on policy options to boost growth in 1999-2000, stated that if the CRR is cut to 9 per cent and the bank rate to 7 per cent, the growth rate would improve to 5.9 per cent from 5.8 per cent expected under the present policy framework.

WorldTel seeks TNEB nod

WorldTel of UK has made a proposal to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for making use of the latter's transmission towers for setting up optical fibre cable connectivity within the state.