Discounts Lead To Marginal Increase In Volumes; Companies Nervously Await Budget. NewDelhi:Car sales entered the new year on a cautious note as high interest rates and petrol prices continued to suppress demand and incremental volumes flowed in from new-year discounts. Market leader Maruti Suzuki, that had witnessed a decline in year-on-year volumes over the last few months, managed to enter 2012 on a positive note, albeit near flat. The company’s January sales grew 0.6% at 1.01 lakh units.

The fertiliser industry is seeking a higher cap on urea cost than the proposed $340 a tonne for the purpose of calculating subsidy to the new plants. With the fertiliser ministry in the process of finalising recommendations for a New Investment Policy in Urea, the industry also wants that the gas price cap corresponding to the urea price band be increased to $20 a million British thermal unit.

Sterlite Industries has completed taking 23 out of the 30 environment protection measures mandated by the Supreme Court for its copper smelter plant at Tuticorin, officials of the company told visiting journalists on Saturday.

The plant has come under focus lights after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had ordered it shut citing grounds of pollution, which was subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court on the condition that the company would undertake specific environment protection measures.

Wind turbine maker Suzlon has bagged an over Rs 600-crore contract from CLP India, the Indian subsidiary of Hongkong-based power company CLP, for setting up a 100-MW project in Rajasthan.

Suzlon has signed a contract with CLP India for a 100-MW wind power project. The project, which would be set up in Rajasthan, comprises 48 wind turbines. It is scheduled to be commissioned by January 2013, a company statement said today.

Agartala: Tripura, which grows 25 varieties of bamboo, is about to make the most of this natural wealth by developing India’s first bamboo park. The idea is to help expand industries based on this produce, also known as green gold.

Industries, Commerce and Forest Minister, Jitendra Chowdhury said the bamboo park would produce hundreds of value-added items and also facilitate export of bamboo products.

Lucky Cement qualified for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol of United Nations and earned precious carbon credits.
CDM allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits. These CERs or carbon credits can be traded and used by developing nations to finance their industrial projects.