The Centre on Saturday termed the media reports that said President KR Narayanan had sent a communication to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee raising questions regarding the implementation of the new telecom package as `mischievous and baseless'. "No such communication has been either received by the Prime Minister. Reports of this nature are unfounded and designed to impair relations between the head of state and the Government as well as create confusion," a release said.

Forex reserves rise by $47 m

The country's foreign exchange reserves declined by Rs 219 crore to Rs 1,42,544 crore in rupee terms, but increased by $47 million to $32,951 million during the week-ended on July 16, according to the weekly statistical supplement of the RBI. Foreign currency assets dropped by Rs 219 crore to Rs 1,30,811 crore against the previous close of Rs 1,31,030 crore.

Global carriers to slash discount

International carriers led by Air India hasdecided to pull back the discount level to 9 per cent in August from the existing 15 per cent. The decision has been taken at a meeting of the board for airline representatives on Friday. Aviation analysts said that the reduction in the fares is only temporary considering the fact that the airlines will have to reduce the fares in the off-peak season starting from November.

Bharat Forge net vaults to Rs 16.07 cr

Bharat Forge, the flagship company of the Kalyani group, has more than doubled its net profit to Rs 16.07 crore during the first quarter ended June 30, 1999, from Rs 7.21 crore in the same period last year. Buoyed by higher production volumes for motorcycles, the country's largest forging company posted a whopping 26 per cent increase in net sales to Rs 139.78 crore.

Tanfac net up to Rs 1.82 cr

Tanfac Industries, an Aditya Birla group and Tidco joint venture has achieved a higher profit of Rs 1.82 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, despite a lower turnover. The salesturnover was Rs 14.38 crore as against Rs 17.28 crore in the same quarter last year. Profit after tax has been maintained of Rs 1.04 crore mainly due to cost saving measures.

Torrent Pharma net up to Rs 11.76 cr

Torrent Pharmaceuticals, the flagship company of the Rs 2,000-crore Torrent Group, has posted a 7.6 per cent increase in gross profit (before interest & depreciation) to Rs 15.27 crore during the first quarter of the current fiscal. Its net profit increased by 15.1 per cent to Rs 11.76 crore from Rs 10.21 crore over the same period in the previous year.

Skindia GDR Index loses 61 points

The Skindia GDR Index fell by 61.46 points (6.46 per cent) for the week-ended July 22, after the index touched a new high of 988.13 points for the week-ended July 15. During the week the spreads between the bid and ask of the 40 most actively traded Indian GDRs widened to 7.37 per cent on July 22 from 7.15 per cent on July 15.

Auto sector

Anticipating a boom in the automobile sector inthe first decade of the new millennium, Indian auto component-makers are seeking high technology from Europe to cater to the emerging market for sophisticated passenger cars.

Coca-Cola premises raided

Coca-Cola premises across Europe have been raided by European Commission inspectors investigating the company's trading practices. The raids are part of an operation to find whether the company has abused its market position.

Slash fat fax bills

Business travellers can now pay lower prices on international faxes sent via some Net services. Everything you need to know about your new faxes is available via TW's web browser interface.

Not so green as yet

The Indian paper industry is yet to meet the high standards of being environmentally correct, reveals CSE's Green rating Project.

Reoperative surgery comes of age

Until a few years ago, Indians preferred to go abroad to undergo a bypass. But things have changed. Overcoming fear, heart patients are beginning to consider asecond bypass.

--Compiled by Mukund Sharma