The Government is expected to name the new finance secretary on Monday, a day before the present incumbent Vijay Kelkar goes on leave before his departure to IMF. Sources said there is no move to name an officiating finance secretary who will hold charge till the elections are over. The new incumbent will join as officer on special duty and take over as finance secretary on July 31 when Kelkar relinquishes office.

SBI unions accept 7-day banking

SBI has managed to convince its staff in accepting redeployment, total computerisation, extended working workers and seven-day banking. It has also charted out a "career path" for its clerical and subordinate staff who will be promoted as junior officers.

India stands sixth in AT Kearney index

India stands at the number six position in the latest FDI Confidence Index of the management consultancy firm AT Kearney. The June report of AT Kearney has put India at the number six slot, up by onenotch from the December 1998 index. US, China, UK, Brazil and Mexico are ahead of India in the FDI index. AT Kearney probes CEOs and other top decision-makers of the world's top 1,000 firms twice a year about their foreign investment plans.

Excise adjudication backlog

Pendency of adjudications in excise cases alone involve a staggering Rs 8,060 crore till April 1, 1999, according to a review by Central Board of Excise and Customs. The the number of cases remained almost stationary--47,911 cases as on April 1, 1998 to 47,801 cases on April 1, 1999. CBEC said lack of work force and new cases came in the way of reducing the backlog.

Shell ropes in Goldman Sachs

Dutch giant Shell is believed to have appointed Goldman Sachs, represented by the Kotak Mahindra Capital Company domestically, as its merchant bankers for possible strategic acquisitions in India. Indications are that the mandate essentially covers Shell's interest in India's LPG, LNG and refining sectors.

NIIT shortlists 20firms for acquisition

NIIT has shortlisted 20 US-based software companies as part of its acquisition drive. The company is the process of zeroing in on the companies which it finally intends to completely acquire or enter into strategic alliances with, NIIT sources said.

BDA vice-chairman slams Mallya

The Vijay Mallya-Kishore Chhabria feud for control of Herbertsons has taken a new twist with BDA vice chairman UK Ganguli charging Herbertsons and Mallya of misrepresenting facts and suppressing material facts relating to operations of BDA.

Canara Bank to move BIFR

Canara Bank will on Monday move an application before BIFR for attachments of two flats owned by ABCL to recover Rs 10 crore advanced to the firm. The flats, measuring about 1700 square feet, are located in suburban Juhu and valued at more than Rs 1 crore.

Airline board turns down I-T wing claim

The board of airline representatives has turned down the IT department's claim to directly cough up arrears due to thecomputer reservation system companies. The IT department has recently asked all airlines operating out of India to make direct payment until the tax arrears of the CRS companies are settled.

IOC, HPCL figure in CII list

Eight PSUs including IOC, ONGC, Bhel, Gail and MTNL figure in the list of 10 top companies during 1998-99 prepared by CII. The companies are selected on the basis of overall financial performance. Among the companies, five belong to the oil and gas sector.

Rahul Khosla joins ANZ Grindlays

Visa International's country manager-south Asia Rahul Khosla is moving over to ANZ Grindlays Bank as its head of personal banking. Khosla, formerly with BankAm, had taken charge at the helm of Visa International in December 1998 after BankAm decided to exit retail banking.