Fate of divestment panel this week
The fate of the Disinvestment Commission will be decided this week. Minister of heavy industry and PSEs Manohar Joshi has sought an appointment with Prime Minister AB Vajpayee in this regard. The term of the commission expires on November 29.

Pfizer sues Warner-Lambert
In a surprise move, Pfizer Inc sued Warner-Lambert Co, claiming that Warner-Lambert violated a major provision of their pact to jointly market the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor. It asked a Delaware state court to stop the merger of Warner-Lambert and American Home Products Corp.

Sardinha is new Goa CM
Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned on Wednesday ahead of the trust vote in assembly and an 11-member cabinet headed by Francisco Sardinha and comprising congress rebels were sworn in ending a week of turmoil in the state. Dayanand Narvekar of the congress breakaway group was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.

Steel firms seek import policy review
New generation steel companies, which have been plagued by a spate of cheap imports despite imposition of the floor price mechanism, in a representation to the steel ministry have urged equating benefits of deemed exports to those of physical imports. The firms seek a series of steps to keep in check the inflow of steel imports, well below their respective floor prices.

Air India's revival plan
AI will submit a comprehensive revival plan to the civil aviation ministry very soon, said the civil aviation minister Sharad Yadav. He said Air-India has been asked to draw up a revival plan which will include the airline's present status and future plans. The ministry will come out with a new civil aviation policy in a couple of months, Yadav said.

Delhi to patent unique products
India has decided to patent its unique products, from Darjeeling tea to Pashmina shawls, based on their geographical origins in a bid to protect them from foreign poachers. The onus would be on state governments to lobby the Government to include the products of their own states in the list of commodities that will be registered.

RPL eyes Bangladesh as export market
Reliance Petroleum is eyeing Bangladesh as a potential export market for the products of its 27 million-tonne Jamnagar refinery. According to top industry sources, the idea which makes "very good commercial sense" is merely at a formative stage. A Reliance spokesman said: "It is not the company's policy to comment on speculation."

Vodafone bid
Vodafone AirTouch Plc chief executive Chris Gent said on Wednesday the British mobile phone group would send Mannesmann AG shareholders its takeover offer in November. Gent said after a meeting with the mayor of Duesseldorf, where Mannesmann is headquartered, that the outcome of Vodafone's bid would be known by January end.

`Zee still in race for ICO Global'
Subhash Chandra's Zee group is still in the running for a controlling stake in satphone company, ICO Global Communications, for which a decision will be taken within the next few weeks. "We are very much in the race for picking up the controlling stake in ICO Global. A decision is expected in 3-4 weeks," media moghul Subhash Chandra said.

HPCL, MRPL's pipeline stake
HPCL and MRPL may consider reverting their stakes in the Mangalore-Bangalore pipeline (MBPL) from 13 per cent to 26 per cent. While company officials were unavailable for comment on the issue, top industry sources said this was being done to ensure that neither Indian Oil Corporation nor Reliance Petroleum would participate in the equity of the project.

Sahara targets 18% market share
Sahara Airlines plans to kick off the new millennium by more than doubling its existing network and capacity. The airline has targeted a market share of 16-18 per cent in the year 2000. Its present share of domestic skies is 9 per cent.

NIIT board approves Esop
The board of NIIT has approved the employees' stock option plan at its meeting here on Monday. In the first phase, NIIT plans to cover about one third of the employees by issuing options up to a maximum of 5 per cent of its current equity base of Rs 38.65 crore.

Tata Sons buys JRD's bungalow
The Tatas have finally made up their mind. Their holding company Tata Sons has bought out JRD Tata's bungalow "The Cairn" located in south Mumbai for Rs 50 crore. The property will be converted into a museum of JRD Tata.

Sensex up 50 points
The rally in the software scrips fizzled out as operators and FIIs booked profit in these counters and shifted to mainly commodity and FMCG stocks. As a result, after the initial spurt, the BSE Sensex closed at 4686.11, 20 points, up almost 50 points over its previous close of 4636.31.

BoB plans insurance arm
Bank of Baroda is planning to float a separate subsidiary for undertaking insurance business. The bank is in the process of appointing a consultant to advise it on starting insurance business in the country.

Compiled by Mukund Sharma