Vodafone slashes int'l roaming rates in select markets

Vodafone today launched a new international roaming pack offering unlimited roaming for travellers to the US, the UAE and Singapore.
Customers who opt for this pack will not be charged additionally for calls and data while roaming in these countries, the second largest telco said in a statement.
There is no cap on the number of calls or amount of high speed data that can be used. Also, calls include all incoming calls and outgoing calls anywhere in the world. This means customers travelling in the US can even make calls to Hong Kong at no extra charges.
--------------------------------------------------------- SBI, Credai ink pact for affordable and green housing projects

State Bank of India and realty body Credai today signed an agreement to collaborate on affordable housing and green housing projects. Under this partnership, SBI will support Credai as their national banking partner.
"This initiative will help millions of home buyers fulfill their dream of owning a home. In the long run, it will give a boost to the real estate industry and economy as a whole, elevating the citizens from aspirants to actual home owners," SBI managing director for national banking Rajnish Kumar said in a statement.

The duration of the pact is for three years. ---------------------------------------------------------- Steel merchants want phased roll out of BIS quality standards

The Metal & Stainless Steel Merchants Association (Massma) today urged the steel ministry to implement BIS quality control order in a phased manner and carry out a survey by an independent agency before doing it.
"We want the steel ministry to have a re-look at the stainless steel products quality control order and get a survey done from an independent global or national agency on pro's and con's of the order before implementing it fully," Massma, an apex body of stainless steel producers, importers and stockiest said in a statement here.
The stainless steel products quality control order of 2016 notified by steel ministry in June last year, makes stainless steel producers and importers to register their products with BIS.

"The government order has led to shortage of imported raw material and has created monopoly of a single stainless steel manufacturer in the country. Apart from the BIS order, government has also imposed about seven different anti-dumping duties and initiation of countervailing duty/anti-subsidy probes," Massma chairman Manoj Kunango said.
A survey by the independent agency will help analyse and collect suggestion, views and comment from the industry, SMEs, MSMEs, user-industry, trade and service providers across the country and implement BIS quality control order in a phased manner, which will help the industry to grow, provide better quality products to the domestic consumers," he said.

The current scenario and confusion created by quality control order has resulted in nonavailability of BIS standard stainless steel in the market paralysing businesses.