SOUTH ASIA: In brief

Business Asia, March 3, 2000

* New Delhi -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private lending arm, said it plans to increase its investments in Indian companies by as much as four-fold in the 12 months ending June. IFC plans to target infrastructure-related projects, companies developing software for the health-care industry and education to US$200 million, up from US$50 million in the same period last year.

-- Reuters

* Mumbai -- United Western Bank, a regional Indian lender, is considering merging with three smaller privately held Indian banks, the Financial Express reported. The three banks are Sangli Bank, Ratnakar Bank and Ganesh Bank of Kurundwad. Plans for a merger come after central bank officials met with chief executives of the four lenders. Without a merger, the banks -- while currently profitable -- will eventually go out of business, a central bank official said.

-- Bloomberg

* Dhaka -- Bangladesh's biggest jointventure, Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Limited (KAFCO), expects to resume exports after recently being shut for 35 days for maintenance. Australia is among the countries to which KAFCO exports. The US$500 million plant was built in 1994 in southeastern Chittagong. The maintenance should raise the plant's per-day production capacity of urea fertiliser by 275 tonnes to 2000 tonnes.

-- Reuters

* New Delhi -- India's central bank said there was an urgent need to adopt fiscal discipline to make the government more accountable and its spending policy more transparent. "Fiscal responsibility has to balance between a credible rule and need for flexibility in fiscal management," said Y.V. Reddy, a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank. "The proposal for a Fiscal Responsibility Act has gained significant national consensus and needs to be pursued with great care, so that it is not too rigid."

-- Bloomberg

* New Delhi -- Foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings from tourism in India rose in 1999 despite negative factors such as conflict with Pakistan, according to the government. It said foreign tourist arrivals grew by 5.2 per cent to 2.47 million in 1999 over the previous year. The country's foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector increased to 124.95 billion rupees (US$2.86 billion) in 1999, an 8.3 per cent rise.

-- Bloomberg

* Beijing -- China Southern Airlines, the largest airline in mainland China, has leased two Boeing 777 aircraft to Biman Bangladesh Airlines to carry Muslim pilgrims to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The announcement marks the second consecutive year the Chinese airline has leased its Boeing 777 aircraft for such religious pilgrimages. During a seven-week period in February and May, China Southern Airlines will provide a crew of 96 Chinese pilots and cabin attendants to transport about 20,000 Bangladeshi pilgrims to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The pilgrims are expected to visit the holy city of Mecca, which is regarded as one of the most revered religious destinations on Earth.

-- Asia Pulse