Business & Economy

Air Force renegotiating deal
with Mirage plane makers

What is India News Service, Wednesday, 22 October 2004, 2000 hrs IST

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is renegotiating the three-year-old deal with Dassault Aviation of France for 10 Mirage 2000H fighters on the grounds that some components in the new aircraft do not match the exact specifications stipulated in the contract.

Senior IAF sources said the contract for the 10 Mirages \97 meant as \93replacements\94 for several of the French fighters in service with the IAF since the mid-1980s that have been lost in accidents or retired \97 needed amending.

Two IAF Mirages had crashed over the past three weeks, taking to five the total number involving the French-built fighters. \93The contract for the 10 Mirage 2000H fighters for $ 312 million has to be renegotiated to incorporate this amendment,\94 a senior IAF officer said.

BSNL cuts tariff for basic, mobile service customers: BSNL has assured its customers that in the next three to four months they will not be facing any network-related problem.

Tax holiday in food processing tempts France: France has shown keen interest in investing in the food processing sector in India following the opening up of this sector and tax holiday announced by the government.

NCAER scales down GDP growth to 6.62%: RBI may hike interest rates by 0.5 per cent in its busy season Credit Policy due to concerns on inflation which is likely to remain over 7%.

National biotech policy to be unveiled by Jan 2005: The minister said the government plans to extend the same benefits enjoyed by the IT sector to the biotechnology sector.

Indian FDI outflow crosses $ 5 b: The Left parties in India may still be crying foul over the UPA government's efforts to attract the foreign direct investment (FDI) to India, but they may be astonished to hear that the FDI outflow from India has crossed $ 5 billion by 2003, according to a report released by the United Nations, Unctad Investment Division.


Amara Batteries ties up with Maruti: Automotive battery manufacturer Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL), manufacturers of Amaron Batteries, has signed up with Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) for the supply of batteries for its models. Amara Raja is expecting to supply over 100,000 batteries to the car manufacturer over the next one year.

L&T to hire 600 pros in Bangalore, Mysore: Engineering giant Larsen and Toubro Ltd on Monday said it plans to hire over 600 professionals in one year for its embedded solutions and engineering services centres at Mysore and Bangalore.

TCS announces 300 pc interim dividend: Tata Consultancy Services announced an interim dividend of 300 per cent, the first dividend payout by the Tata Group company after its listing on the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange two months ago following the initial public offering.



Overall:

Air Force said it was unhappy with Mirage parts: It is asking the French manufacturers why spares are not as specified in the original deal.

BSNL cut tariff: It is also promising better network to its mobile users.

L&T will hire 600 pros: Its embedded solutions unit and engineering services are expanding.