By IANS,

Gandhinagar : The Gujarat government has sent a list of 11 industrial towns in the state to the central governmemt for their inclusion in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), an official statement said here Tuesday.

The 11 towns, which include Ankleshwar, Jamnagar, Bharuch, Anand and Mehsana, fall within the Delhi-Mumbai dedicated freight corridor.

Surat, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Porbander are already covered under the JNNURM - a central government initiative to promote planned development of cities.

By IANS,

New Delhi : Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy Tuesday sought to boost affordable housing, proposing an interest rate of 7.5 percent on loans for houses costing between Rs.5 lakh and Rs.30 lakh.

The proposal was made at a pre-budget discussion with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Reddy also advocated an interest rate of 6.5 percent for houses costing less than Rs.5 lakh.

"It was a pre-budget meeting and we discussed budgetary issues," he said after the meeting.

By IANS,

Mumbai : Public sector electricity major Power Grid Corp of India Tuesday reported a net profit of Rs.1,690.6 crore for 2008-09 as against Rs.1,448.5 crore recorded the year before, an increase of 16.7 percent.

The company is involved in construction, operation and maintenance of inter-state transmission system and regional power grids.

Power Grid Corp said in a statement that its turnover rose 38.3 percent last fiscal to Rs.7,028.5 crore from Rs.5,081.5 crore in 2007-08.

The company has declared a dividend of 70 paise per equity share of Rs.10.

By IANS,

Mumbai : Indian equities markets ended trade on a positive note Tuesday after having come under selling pressure for most of the day, with a key index coming out of the negative terrain to post sizeable gains.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which had opened lower at 14,788.27 points, was languishing in the red for the better part of the day before staging a comeback post-noon.

By IANS,

Mumbai : A key index of the Indian equities markets fell from the day's highs at close of trade Tuesday after making a comeback and registering significant gains Tuesday.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Sensex, which opened at 14,788.27 points, rose 32.12 points or 0.22 percent to end trade at 14,907.64 points (provisional).

The Sensex hit an intra-day high of 15,022.19 points and a low of 14,621.97 points.

By IANS,

New Delhi : Japan Airlines Tuesday announced reduction in the number of flights it operates on several international routes, including to Delhi, as part of its strategy to improve profitability by adjusting capacity.

"Till June-end, we will have four flights a week to New Delhi. After that, we will fly only three flights," an airline official based here said.

The airline had earlier this year reduced its daily flights to four a week.

"We expect to fly daily on the New Delhi-Tokyo sector only after October," he added.

By IANS,

Mumbai : Indian equities markets pulled back further into the green about an hour before the close of trade Tuesday, with a key index ruling 109.31 points higher than its previous close.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened at 14,788.27 points, was trading at 14,984.55 points - 109.03 points or 0.73 percent higher than Monday's close.

Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) rose 0.93 percent to stand at 4,525.65 points.

By IANS,

New Delhi : The total earnings of Indian Railways during April-May stood at around Rs.13,709 crore, compared to Rs.13,266 crore earned during the corresponding period last year, reflecting an increase of 3.34 percent.

Freight earnings have gone up 2.34 percent to Rs.9,340 crore during the period under review from about Rs.9,127 crore in the year-ago period, the railways ministry said Tuesday.

By IANS,

Washington : Vikram Pandit, the Indian-American chief executive of ailing banking giant Citigroup, has taken a swipe at recent efforts to prevent US banks that received government capital from hiring foreign workers, saying the new growth driver for US financial markets was Asia.

"It's important that the most talented people in the world continue to believe that American companies are employers of choice," he said stressing the importance of globalisation at a conference of business, economic and government leaders in Detroit Monday.

By IANS,

Raipur : State-run steel manufacturing unit Bhilai Steel Plant has set a target of 5.8 million tonnes of hot metal production for 2009-10, it was announced here Tuesday.

The Bhilai unit, the largest steel producing plant of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), is planning to produce 5.8 million tonnes of hot metal, 5.53 million tones of crude steel and 4.77 million tones of saleable steel during the current fiscal, an official statement said.