News on Agra & Current Affairs

Vishal Sharma / Agra September 15, 2008 The unorganised sector is unable to compete on account of the 8% duty; the price difference between branded and unbranded pumps declines and sales drop Agra’s unorganised mechanical pump manufacturing sector is paying 8 per cent excise duty on every pumpset it manufactures. The duty, in force since January 1, 2007, has affected the margins of small units, which are finding it difficult to compete with players in the organised sector. Players in the organised sector are exempt from the tax till a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. Sanjeev Mittal, managing director, Atul Pumps Pvt Ltd, said the excise policy was different for Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)-certified units, which were exempt from excise duty till a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. Non BIS-certified units were liable to pay 8 per cent excise duty on every pumpset produced. According to him, this was a quality control measure adopted by the government to introduce standardisation in the pumpset ind

Vis hal Sharma / New Delhi/ Agra September 08, 2008 Six production units of the Rs 125-crore disposable medical and surgical devices major Romsons Group began production after remaining under lockout for nearly three weeks due to worker unrest. The workers finally managed to extract an assurance from the company management that it will refrain from any action against them. According to sources in the Romsons Group, the workers had gone on a strike about three weeks back against the management’s decision of firing a few company employees for indiscipline. All the group factories in Agra had been under lockout after the strike. The management had been holding discussions with a delegation of workers led by representatives from the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu). An accord was reached between the two parties with certain terms and conditions, which included the reinstatement of all six employees fired from the company following a three month suspension with a full-pay. The company