It was `my Budget', not by PMO: Sinha
Asserting that his widely-acclaimed Budget for 2001-02 is "my Budget", finance minister Yashwant Sinha has said that it was prepared under the guidance of Prime Minister and not by Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Mr Sinha said this during an interview to India Today when told that some people were claiming that it was a PMO Budget and not his.

RBI approval to four entities as PDs
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given `in principle' approval to Standard Chartered, UTI Securities India Pvt Ltd to act as primary dealers (PDs) in the government securities market. Three others, Bank of America Securities (India) Pvt Ltd, Bank of Baroda (subsidiary to be established), and HSBC Primary Dealership (India) Pvt Ltd have also been given PD licence, taking the total to 19 PDs, the RBI said in a release on Friday.

Maharashtra asks Centre to handle DPC
Maharashtra on Saturday asked the Centre to handle the Dabhol power project, promoted by the US energy major Enron, following the invocation of counter-guarantee by the project authorities due to payment default by the state after prolonged wrangling over the cost of power. ``Free us from the project (obligations). I have told the Prime Minister that he should intervene and free us by asking NTPC and the Power Trading Corporation (PTC) to takeover," state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said in New Delhi.

Bless charges dip to 10 per cent
Carry forward charges at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) slipped to a lower weighted average of 10 to 11 per cent on Saturday as compared to last week's 13 per cent average. The net outstanding carried forward value also dipped to Rs 2,552.42 crore from Rs 2870 crore on Saturday last.