The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni on Tuesday appealed to the IIT council to maintain a status quo on the existing joint entrance examination till 2014. &ldquo;It is heartening to know that IIT council is scheduled to meet on 27 June to discuss the way ahead on the issue of proposed common entrance test. IIT alumni appeal to them to defer any change in the existing JEE and maintain status quo until 2014 in the interest of IITs, lakhs of aspirants and the nation," said Somnath Bharati, Secretary, IIT Delhi Alumni Association. The statement also said that since IIT council does not have the legal mandate to decide the structure and style of the admission process to IITs and it rests only with the IITs' senates, any deviation thereof will be strongly protested.

IIT alumni appeal for status quo on JEE till 2014 

Business Standard

India and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday decided to conclude the negotiations for the much-awaited free trade agreement or the Bilateral Investment and Trade Agreement (BITA) by October-November this year. Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said issues of concern that were stalling the talks have been "identified.

India-EU to conclude trade talks this year

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the coal ministry had allocated some blocks to companies without following the screening committee route.

Screening panel route flouted in coal block allocation: BJP

The Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) has called for setting up a high-powered Working Committee to monitor the speedy implementation of investment proposals signed at the recently concluded Global Investors&rsquo; Meet (GIM 2012).

Monitor all GIM investment proposals: BCIC

The prices of poultry products are expected to rise further in the light of a steep increase in the cost of poultry feed ingredients, according to Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation (APPF), an apex body of poultry farmers.

Prices of poultry products may go up again

As many as 45,000 Gujaratis from all over the world are expected to attend the third &ldquo;Chaalo Gujarat -World Gujarati Conference&rdquo; during the Labor Day weekend of August 31 to September 2 in New Jersey. The Association of Indian Americans in North America (AIANA) has chosen &ldquo;Gujarat, Gujarati Gujaratism&rdquo; as the theme for this year's event. Sunil Nayak, president AIANA said &ldquo;We want to showcase Gujarat and its glorious past, the enterprising present and the bright future. The event will be quiet different as compared to the earlier two ventures. This will be a unique and modern event to showcase Gujarat." One of the highlights of the event will be a three-dimensional film on Gujarat in Gujarati and will be screened for the first time on a giant screen.

45K Gujaratis likely to attend world conference

The application of glass in green and eco-friendly buildings has been growing at 18 per cent year-on-year (YoY) since the last four to five years, said Sanjay Ganjoo, vice-president of All India Glass Manufacturers Federation.

Glass usage in green buildings growing at 18%

Indian executives were the least willing to take a pay cut for an ideal job, said a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and London School of Economics (LSE). The study-'Making Executive Pay work -Psychology of Incentives', showed that around 50 per cent of the executives in India choose a clearer pay package than a more ambiguous one of the same or potentially higher value. The executives from across the world said that they would take a 28 per cent pay cut for their ideal job.

'Indians least willing to take pay cuts for ideal job'

Trades between FIIs generated a volume of Rs 4.51 crore on the BSE Tuesday-an decrease of 74.48% from Rs 18 crore clocked on Monday. As many as four stocks witnessed trades of 1.48 lakh shares on Tuesday.

FII-TO-FII: Grasim Ind traded at 5% premium

Private equity firm Milestone Capital is likely to close the sale of its promoters stake in the next two months, a source close to the development said here on Tuesday. The real estate-focused fund with assets of around Rs 4,000 crore under management, was put on the block after the death of its founder Ved Prakash Arya last year.

Milestone Capital stake sale likely in two months

Bombardier Transportation will start exporting semi-finished Bombardier Flexx Metro 3001 bogies from its manufacturing facility in Savli near Vadodara.

Bombardier to export bogies from Savli plant

State minister for law and parliamentary affairs S Suresh Kumar on Tuesday announced withdrawal of his resignation. The withdrawal of his resignation comes after state advocate general Vijay Shankar cleared him of the charges that he took a special housing site from the government violating rules.

Suresh Kumar withdraws resignation

The recent war of words between the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and its alliance partner Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), seems to have come to an end after the former assured its allies it would decide on the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections after consulting them.

Will pick PM candidate after talks, BJP assures allies

Information technology company HCL Infosystems Ltd is planning to hive off its hardware business into a separate unit in a bid to give &ldquo;sharper focus&rdquo; on the &ldquo;rapidly-evolving computing technology market,&rdquo; the company said on Tuesday.

HCL Info to hive off hardware business into separate unit

The value of India-South Africa bilateral trade is expected to reach $15 billion by 2014, according to Pule Malefane, consul-general, Republic of South Africa.

Indo-S Africa bilateral trade to reach $15 bn

With cash-starved Kingfisher Airlines defaulting on lease rentals of around Rs 1,000 crore, lessors have taken back 34 aircraft, according to a report. But the Vijay Mallya-owned carrier maintained it returned the aircraft voluntarily.

Lessors take back 34 aircraft

The total outlay of the State Credit Plan (SCP) for the year 2012-13 has been proposed at Rs 1,10,945 crore, according to BA Prabhakar, chairman and managing director of Andhra Bank and president of the State-Level Bankers Committee (SLBC).

State Credit Plan target at Rs 1.1 lakh cr

The ongoing strike in the textile industry in Ahmedabad is set to get murkier. Even as the Textile Labour Association (TLA) re-initiated negotiations with Ahmedabad Textile Mills Association (ATMA), the striking workers of four textile mills have threatened to involve workers from other mills if their demands for interim relief of Rs 1,600 per month are not met by Wednesday.

Striking textile workers up the ante, issue ultimatum to TLA

State-run UCO Bank needs close to Rs 14,000 crore over the next five years to meet the new Basel-III capital norms, chairman and managing director Arun Kaul said on Tuesday. The bank has decided to cut its foreign presence and lend more to retail and SME sectors to preserve capital.

BS Reporter