IMPORTS A MAJOR THREAT TO THE DOMESTIC TEA INDUSTRY

GREENFIELD-BROWNFIELD Greenfield land is a term used to describe a piece of previously undeveloped land, in a city or rural area, either currently used for agriculture or landscape design, or just left to nature. In contrast, Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations

A surge in import of low-priced tea to the country after the removal of quantitative restrictions in April 2001 continues to be a major threat to the domestic tea industry.Nepal, Kenya, Indonesia and Vietnam are the countries from which bulk of the tea imports comes.
TOP EXPORTER OF TEA IN 2008
COUNTRY -SHARE Kenya -23.3 %
Sri Lanka- 18.2 %
China -18 %
India -11.9%
Vietnam -7 %
PRASADA RAO TAKES OVER AS BHEL CMD B. Prasada Rao assumed charge as Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL). Mr. Rao took over to lead the company at a crucial juncture when BHEL is building capacity and capability to contribute fully for meeting the country’s power forecast for the XI Plan and beyond. GE MERGES HEALTHCARE UNIT WITH WIPRO  Medical technologies and services giant GE Healthcare said it had merged its healthcare business unit in India with its joint venture partner Wipro to accelerate growth and focus in India along with the entire South Asian market. 
INDIA, THAILAND SET TO EXPAND FTA  Enthused by the likely gains from the recently signed ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), India and Thailand are all set to expand their FTA pact beyond goods to new areas of services and investments with focus on further consolidating their economic ties.  Expanding commercial ties would help the two Asian economies to take their bilateral trade to $10 billion in 2011 from $6 billion at present. The bilateral FTA, which became operational in 2006, allows free trade in 82 items, including plastics, auto components, refrigerators and air-conditioners. However, the FTA has been implemented in a limited way through what is known in the trade parlance as the early harvest scheme or trading in only a few of the goods included in the pact.  Besides the bilateral trade pact, the two countries would expand their commerce through the recently signed FTA between India and the ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). DRAFT PAPER ON GST SOON - ASIM DASGUPTA  A draft paper on Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be finalised for discussion within a month to facilitate implementation of the new tax regime by April 1, 2010, according to Chairman of the Empowered Group of State Finance Ministers Asim Dasgupta.  On implementation of the GST regime, it would do away with most of the indirect tax levies such as the Central excise duty and service tax and subsume State levies like the value added tax (VAT) and octroi duty. In Wipro GE Healthcare, GE holds 51 per cent stake, while the balance is with Wipro. Wipro GE Healthcare, which distributes 85 per cent of GE’s various healthcare and medical diagnostic products in India, will now incorporate Life Sciences, Medical Diagnostics and Medical Systems divisions. Stating that the joint venture company plans to increase the number of products it manufactures in India.