Importance of CPI

 Alongside, the monthly inflation data, Mr. would also lead the people and market analysts to take into account the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is often overlooked. "Now the people will look at both WPI and CPI. Earlier the CPI used to be ignored. ANTI-DUMPING DUTY ON FIBRE BOARD IMPOSED  India has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of a certain type of fibre board to protect the domestic industry from cheap shipments from countries like China, Malaysia and Thailand.  The duty ranged between $308.7 per cubic metre and $395.5 per cubic metre. Plain medium density fibre board is widely used for partitions, furniture and cabinets.  Acting on the petition of domestic producers on alleged dumping of the board from China, Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had carried out an anti-dumping probe and recommended the duty. The DGAD said the domestic industry had suffered material injury due to the dumped imports of plain medium density fibre board from these countries.  Unlike safeguard duty, which is levied in a uniform way, anti-dumping duty varies from product to product and country to country. Both duties are allowed under the multilateral trade rules after investigations to stand the World Trade Organisation (WTO) scrutiny. India has slapped anti-dumping duty on several items such as yarn, fabrics, some of the stainless steel products and chemicals imported from China and other nations.  A recent WTO report had said that India was second only to Argentina among the G-20 nations in initiating anti-dumping investigations during January-July 2009. India had started 15 anti-dumping investigations in the first seven months of 2009, while Argentina accounted for 19. GVK BIO GETS EUROPEAN OUTSOURCING AWARD  GVK Biosciences (GVK Bio) along with Wyeth Research won the European outsourcing award 2009 for the best new partnership. 
REPLACE BPLR SYSTEM WITH BASE RATE: RBI PANEL  A Reserve Bank of India committee suggested that the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) system should be replaced with a base rate mechanism to introduce greater transparency in pricing of loans given by banks.  Under the proposed mechanism, all banks will be required to declare a base rate and charge interest rates over that depending on the credit profile of the borrower and repayment period.  At present, banks fix interest rates on loans with reference to BPLR. "The proposed base rate will include all those cost elements which can be clearly identified and are common across borrowers," said the RBI working group report on BPLR.  The banks, however, will be permitted to lend money below the base rate for loans with a maturity of less than one year or for priority sector advances.Under the current mechanism, many banks lend money below BPLR which does not make business sense. The RBI committee also suggested scrapping of the administered lending rates for small borrowers up to Rs. 2 lakh as the system has not helped in increasing the flow of credit to them.  The working group further suggested that the proposed mechanism should apply to all new loans and those loans which come up for renewals. It has also suggested that only four categories of loans should be kept out of the purview of the base rate mechanism. PRANAB MUKHERJEE LAUNCHES NSDC  Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee launched the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a unique PPP (public-private partnership) enterprise which has been mandated to skill 30 per cent of the overall target of 500 million people by the year 2022.  Incorporated as a not-for-profit organisation by the Union Finance Ministry under Sec. 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, the NSDC has been formed as a 51:49 shareholding venture between the private sector and the government, with contributions from all prominent industry bodies to its initial capital. INDIANS DOING BUSINESS ABROAD AMONG MOST CORRUPT: REPORT  At least 30 per cent of the 2,742 business executives surveyed across the world regard Indians among the most corrupt when doing business abroad, according to the latest report by an NGO, Transparency International India (TII).  "The Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption and the Private Sector (GCR) claims that Indian and Chinese companies play an active role in global business but engage in bribery when doing business abroad. The Competition Act enacted in 2002, which promotes and sustains competition in markets and protects the interest of consumers, has remained a non-starter in India. 13 INDIAN FIRMS MAKE IT TO THE FORBES ASIA LIST As many as 13 Indian companies, including Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies and Tata Steel, have made it to the list of Forbes’ 50 best-listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the Forbes list, there are four Indian entities  Reliance Industries,  Bharti Airtel, 

 Tata Consultancy Service — among the top ten firms in terms of market value.  Reliance Industries and Tata Steel feature in the top ten league in terms of sales.  Other Indian firms that have made it to the prestigious list include Adani Enterprise, Axis Bank, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Jindal Steel & Power, Larsen and Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.  The Indian league has four newcomers this year.  They are: Adani Enterprises, Axis Bank, Jindal Steel & Power and Tata Consultancy Services.  Among the Indian firms returning to the list include Bharat Heavy Electricals, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries.  China has again outdone the rest of Asia Pacific with the most number of firms (16) represented in the league.  Taiwan moved up the ranking this year and is in the third place with five companies on the list, all of which are from the technology sector. Japan and Australia share the fourth place with four companies each on the list.  Selection criteria  The list included companies that have revenue and market capitalisation of at least $3 billion and a five-year record of operating profitability and return on equity.  The other criteria for being in the list include long-term profitability, sales and earnings growth, stock price appreciation, projects earnings, quality of management and entrepreneurial skills. Infosys Technologies and The award was received by M. Kantipudi, President GVK Bio, at a function held in Madrid recently. GVK Bio had sent nominations in two categories — ‘Best new product’ and ‘Best new partnership/ acquisition/ merger’ and was declared finalist in both the categories.