ECONOMIC & LEGAL NEWS

SBI HIKES HOME LOAN RATES: After HDFC and ICICI Bank, the country's largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI) has hiked home loan rates by 50 basis points and interest on deposits by 25-50 basis points.

INDIA REJECTS FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH MAURITIUS: India has rejected a proposal from Mauritius for a free trade agreement (FTA) due to apprehensions that it could turn into a channel for goods from other countries to evade import duty in the Indian market.

INFOSYS FLOATS AMERICAN DEPOSTORY SHARES WORTH 1BN: Infosys Technologies surprised the bourses by issuing 16m American Depository Shares (ADSs), which, as per latest quotes on the Nasdaq, is worth $1.05bn.

OFF-THE-SHELF SOFTWARE USERS TO PAY SALES TAX: Causing ripples of apprehension in the IT industry, the Supreme Court has ruled that off-the-shelf computer software is liable to tax under the provisions of the Sales Tax Act.

BUSINESS NEWS

EASIER REGISTRATION NORMS HELP FIIS: Foreign funds are making a beeline for the Indian stock market. Close to 50 FIIs have registered with Sebi over the past three months

SBI, JK BANK SNIP RATES ON SHORT-TERM DEPOSITS: Riding on a sudden spurt in inflow of short-term funds from high-networth individuals (HNIs)and private funds, banks are reducing the interest rates on short-term deposits

MORE FOREIGN JOBS FOR INDIAN PROFESSIONALS: Indian professionals wanting to pursue careers abroad will get qualitatively improved offers by May '05 from the US and other developed countries

STATE OF MAHARASHTRA WAIVES DUTY ON WINES: The state government, in a measure to encourage wine producers, has waived the excise duty, currently levied at a rate of 50% of the manufacturing cost, for a ten-year period from September '01.

CABLE & WIRELESS TO INVEST $10 MN IN INDIAN OPERATIONS:British telecom firm Cable & Wireless (C&W) said it would invest $10 million in expanding its Indian operations over the next 18 months.

INTEL MICROPROCESSORS TO BE DESIGNED IN INDIA: Intel Inside" will soon spell "designed in India". Having just beaten Israel to emerge as Intel's largest design centre outside the US , India centre is now learnt to be working on designing a microprocessor completely in India.

MARUTI CUTS PRICES OF ZEN, WAGON R: Maruti Udyog has decided to cut Zen and WagonR prices in the Rs 8,000-13,000 range across India.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND JOINT VENTURES

GESTETNER AND RICOH TO BECOME ONE ENTITY IN INDIA: Domestic office automation giants Gestetner India and Ricoh India announced their merger into a single entity.

MICROSOFT TRIALS FOR NO-FRILLS XP: Microsoft is rolling out trials for developing a low-cost Windows XP edition in India in a couple of months

FIPB REJECTS PROPOSAL FOR UAL MERGER WITH SEAGRAM: Foreign Investment and Promotion Board(FIPB) has put a spoke in liquor major Pernod Ricard's plans to merge United Agencies (UAL) with Seagram India

VEDANTA PAYS $48M FOR KONKOLA MINES : Vedanta Resources, the London-listed metals and mining group, has announced the acquisition of the 51% controlling stake in Konkola Copper Mines (KMC) in Zambia for a total cash consideration of $48.2m.

POLYPLEX'S THAI UNIT TO SET UP $45-M FILM FACILITY IN TURKEY: Domestic companies with a global footprint are finding better valuations overseas than on home turf. Polyplex Corp, the fifth-largest manufacturer of metalised polyester packaging film in the world, is learnt to be investing about $45 million on a third 24,000 MT film line, which is to be located in Turkey.