BEIJING: India, the world's largest producer of mangoes, has become the first South Asian nation to export the fruit to China, the state media reported on Tuesday.

This has become possible with the two governments signing the protocol of phytosanitary requirements for exporting mangoes from India to China as part of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ongoing visit of China.

Accordingly, India will ensure that the mangoes are free of pests and issue an official phytosanitary certificate for them, Xinhua News Agency reported.

India will carry out supervision and field inspections of the mangoes for export to China before and during the harvest season, in view of the concerns of the Chinese side. Prior to the export season, the relevant annual reports will be provided to China.

The picking and packing of mangoes for export to China will be subject to strict quarantine supervision. The mangoes will be imported via the cities of Beijing, Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai and Nanjing, the report said.

The protocol not only provided a passport for Indian mangoes into China, but also strengthened the protection of Chinese agricultural goods and reduced the risk of pest invasion, an official with the general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of China, Qi Xiuqin said.

The protocol took effect on the date signed, and will remain in force for one year, the first year serving as a trial period. It will be automatically extended for an additional 12 months, provided that neither side gives notice to amend or terminate the agreement at least three months prior to the expiration date.

It will be automatically extended for an additional 12 months, provided that neither side gives notice to amend or terminate the agreement at least three months prior to the expiration date.

As part of the bilateral agreement between India and China on the latter's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Beijing had agreed to the import of 17 types of fruits and vegetables from India. The protocol on mangoes is the first agreement to be signed by the two countries under the WTO bilateral deal, official sources said.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com, June 24, 2003

India's largest software services company Tata Consultancy Services has joined the $ 1 billion club. The company has generated revenues in excess of Rs. 4,800 crore ($1 billion) for the year ending March 2003, without consolidating the revenues of group company CMC.

S Ramadorai, TCS' CEO, is expected to make an announcement on Friday along with the company's results for fiscal '02-03. TCS is unlikely to reveal its bottomline as legally it is still a division of Tata Sons, though it has commenced teh process of demerger to become a company.

TCS is targeting a place in the top 10 software services in the world by 2010. Currently the company is ranked at 14th Place by the Kennedy research. It may move a notch up because of '02-03 revenues though it will still not enter the top 10.

TCS had closed fiscal '01-02 with revenues of around Rs. 4,100 crore after consolidating CMC's revenues of around Rs 550 crores, it had just missed the magic figure of Rs. 4,800 crore on a consolidated basis.

The '02-02 fiscal year has been good for TCS and it has recorded a growth in excess of 35% in its topline due to large deals bagged by the company. Analysts expect TCS to report revenues of around Rs 5,500 crores if it reports a growth of 35% on year on year basis. In that case revenues will rise by more than Rs 1,400 crores over last fiscal. In fiscal '01-02 the company had reported a growth of around 32% on its top line.

Compared to TCS, Infosys reported Rs. 3,722.7 crore of revenues for the fiscal year '02-03, with profits of Rs 957 crore. Its topline growth was 39% for the full fiscal year. The Wipro group posted a net profit of Rs 858 crore on revenues of Rs 4,334 crore for the year, which included revenues of consumer and other subsidiaries.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, June 20, 2003

The state-owned Rs 500 crore Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPCL) has found a rich reserve of gas and oil from the first well it has explored in the Ahmedabad exploration block.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, was awarded the block spread over 200 square km by the Centre under its NELP-II scheme during June 2001.

It has already initiated an evaluation of the reserve and will finalise the commercial production plan in a week's time after it completes drilling another 200 metres to reach the bottom of the 2,000 metre deep well.

Incidentally, though Gail India Ltd has made claims of finding gas and oil at Ingoli village under the Ahmedabad block, it is only a non-operating partner with 40 per cent interest.

"We have encountered oil and gas from various depths such as 1,179-1,186 metres, 1,195-1,255 metres and also 1,360-1,380 metres. Detailed data concerning the flow of oil and gas is currently under evaluation and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation in due course of time will announce the details regarding the commercial viability of the find in the first exploratory well drilled in this block. At this moment, commenting on the amount of gas and oil hidden below will be highly premature, but we can only say that there is a good amount of reserve of gas and oil in this particular well," D J Pandian, managing director of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, told Business Standard on Wednesday.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation will also drill six other wells in the same area, awarded to it under the NELP-II scheme which, according to Pandian, will be over in the next six months.

Drilling of this well (PK1) was commenced on May 7 and during the course of drilling, which has now reached up to a depth of 1,750 metres, a number of drill stem testing have been carried out by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.

During November 2002, a preliminary survey by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation advised of further exploration and indicated a huge amount of natural gas hidden in this block as well as in the Tarapur Block, which is yet to indicate any presence of gas and oil in the wells.

"As far as our survey and preliminary exploration is concerned, we have got an indication of a good reserve in both the blocks, specially in the Ahmedabad exploration block which spreads through a vast area from Sarkhej to Bavla," said Pandian.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation was given the rights for exploration of the Ahmedabad block and Tarapur block, after it succeeded in extracting gas from Hazira field in the Surat district.

At present, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation is producing an average of 3 million cubic metres of gas every day from its Hazira setup, while it is expecting a rich resource in both Ahmedabad and Tarapur blocks.

In another project, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation is also producing gas from the Sabarmati river-bed in which Niko Resources of Canada holds majority stake and the corporation is a minority partner.

Courtesy: www.business-standard.com, June 19, 2003

Discovery Equals Half of Bombay High Crude Share

Reliance Industries today announced a series of expansions and discoveries it said would further consolidate its position as one of the world's position as one of the world's top petrochemical producers and provide it with the potential to emerge as the country's leading gas producer.

Mukesh Ambani, addressing his second shareholders meet as RIL chairman, said the company has found additional gas reserves at the Krishna-Godavari basin, where it announced the world's largest gas discovery of the year in October 2002. Mr. Ambani also announced that the company has struck oil in an onshore block in Yemen.

"The Yemen discovery is expected to be equivalent to about half of Reliance's share of crude oil from the Panna-Mukta-Tapti offshore fields in Bombay High," he added but did not give details.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, June 17, 2003

Mumbai, May 31. India's foreign exchange reserves continue to scale new heights and crossed the $80 billion mark following inflows of $1.591 billion during the week ended May 23. Foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.591 billion to touch $80.816 billion in the reporting week, according to the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement-released here today.

Foreign currency assets rose by $1.596 billion to $77.426 billion, it added.

The rise is mainly due to fresh inflows and revaluation of non-U.S. currencies, including the euro, against the U.S. dollar, analysts said. Gold reserves remained static at $3.389 billion. Special drawing rights declined by $5 million to $1million.

Loans and advances to the Central Government declined by Rs. 3 crores to Rs. 8,854 crores, the RBI added.

Courtesy: The Hindu, June 01, 2003