|By K Raveendran| The Dubai real estate scene today has several similarities with the pre-crisis situation of 2008, which ultimately led to the emirate’s property bubble. Conflicting signals, including a series of big ticket announcements, entry of new developers and growing concern about overheating in the market, are making it a thoroughly confusing proposition. The announcement of the Mall of the World, a domed, climate-controlled city more […]
Middle East funds are heavily bullish towards Saudi Arabian stocks after news the market will open to direct foreign investment, while they are bearish on the United Arab Emirates because of concern about high valuations. The latest Reuters survey of 15 leading investment managers,conducted over the past 10 days, showed two-thirds expected to raise their equity allocations to Saudi Arabia in the next three months, up from […]
World Briefing By KAREEM FAHIM July 30, 2014 Residents of the eastern city of Benghazi marched Wednesday in protest against Islamist militias, the city’s dominant force for years, in a burst of public fury a day after the Islamist fighters seized a local special forces base. Residents marched to a hospital, temporarily routing fighters from the extremist militia Ansar al-Shariah, who had been providing security for the hospital. But […]
Three young rebels, their AK47s propped against wooden stools in the afternoon heat, guard the entrance to the giant Ndassima goldmine carved deep into a forested hilltop in Central African Republic. Sat in a thatched shack at the edge of a muddy shantytown, the gunmen keep the peace – for a price – among hundreds of illegal miners who swarm over the steep sides of the glittering […]
NEW DELHI: Under fire for sitting on foreign investment proposals for singlebrand retailing, the department of industrial policy and promotion has set a maximum time frame of 90 days to process all applications pending with it.
As many as 13 applications from foreign retailers, including Forever 21, Furla and Swarovski, to open single-brand company-owned stores in the country have been pending with the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) for several months.
“We will ensure zero pendency of applications at DIPP and strict compliance to the timeline from now on,” a department official said. DIPP, under the ministry of commerce and industry, is mandated with first-stage vetting
Mumbai: State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited may go solo on its plans to build its second underground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage facility in Mangalore.
The company which was planning to rope in Total SA of France, to build the cavern jointly, said Total is not interested at present and may join the company at a later stage.
“We see merit in the project and have decided to go ahead. We will commission the detailed feasibility report shortly and then call for tenders in the next four-six months,” said a senior HPCL official.
The cavern, will cost HPCL Rs 700 crore and will store 60,000 tonnes of LPG. HPCL and Total, through their equal joint venture, South Asi
The U.S. sanctioned three Russian banks and a state-owned shipbuilder that serves Russia’s navy and oil and gas industry, joining with the European Union in escalating the penalties for Russia over its actions in Ukraine. “Russia is once again isolating itself from the international community, setting back decades of progress,” President Barack Obama said at the White House. “We can’t, in the end, make President Putin see […]
The Gulf states have become the most stable and influential force in the Arab world, with the decline of the Egyptian role, the spread of turmoil and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Algeria’s retreat on itself after the “black decade” of the 1990s. Because of political stability and increasing oil revenues, the Gulf states have accumulated financial wealth that has strengthened their political, economic and media influence in […]
DUBAI // Cinemas, restaurants and shops were packed as thousands escaped the scorching heat and enjoyed the first day of Eid Al Fitr in Dubai and Abu Dhabi malls. Dubai Mall welcomed crowds as many people who had spent the past month fasting for Ramadan made the most of the end of the holy month. Although most of those enjoying a public holiday were residents, the high […]
MUMBAI: India’s banking sector may be getting ready for a wave of consolidation as the country tries to build institutions of world-class proportions. Four big state-run banks — State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India — have already begun an exercise to identify takeover targets to gain access to franchises that would augment their capabilities, said three top bankers familiar with the move.
The top managements of the four banks are in the process of preparing a blueprint that would explain the rationale for absorbing one or two entities, said the people cited above, none of whom wanted to be named.
Employees at these state-run banks are engaged in the exercise after f
New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley will address the board of the Reserve Bank on August 9 amid expectations that the central bank will complement government actions by reducing rates to boost growth. “The meeting has been scheduled for August 9 where he would be addressing the board members and talk about announcements made in the Budget to perk up growth,” a source said. Jaitley is likely to inform the RBI board about the steps taken to contain the fiscal deficit and may underline the need to reduce interest rates to promote growth. It has been a custom that the finance minister addresses RBI board, consisting of RBI governor and existing three deputy governors, after the Budget. The meeting comes in the backdrop of the persistent high food
NEW DELHI: In a big push to 31,000-MW of electricity generation plants stranded without fuel, the power ministry has proposed a Rs 5,700 crore subsidy to help operationalise idle gas-based capacity, a loan restructuring scheme for such plants and the supply of coal to projects that will be commissioned before March 2015.
The proposals will benefit 24,148 MW of gas-based projects and 7,230 MW of plants that run on coal, set up at a total investment of about Rs 1,50,000 crore.
An additional 10,930 MW of coal-based plants that will be commissioned before March are also likely to gain. The ministry will approach the Union cabinet with a proposal to pool prices of imported gas and coal with domestic fuels to help stran
New Delhi: GAIL (India), under a petroleum ministry directive, has decided to buy a third of the LNG ships it plans to acquire to ferry the fuel from the US to India, from Indian shipbuilders. Considering that the PSU, whose massive LNG imports from the US would start in 2017, has lined up investments to the tune of $7.6 billion for hiring the required specialised vessels, the move would give a big boost to the Indian shipbuilding industry.
Domestic players such as L&T and Pipavav are among the obvious beneficiaries of the decision, which is in line with the Modi government’s thrust on the domestic manufacturing sector. Although some analysts are doubtful about the feasibility of Indian ship makers meeting such huge demand g
New Delhi: The NDA government has deferred its decision on the procurement of 16 multi-role helicopters for the Indian Navy as one of the two companies in the race for the deal is linked with Finmeccannica– the parent organisation of the scam-tainted firm AgustaWestalnd.
The Defence Acquisition Council headed by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley put off its decision on the procurement of the helicopters for the Navy from vendors including American Sikorsky and European NH Industries, which has Finmeccannica as one of its partners, highly-placed sources said.
Finmeccannica is the parent firm of AgustaWestland firm, whose Rs 3,600 crore contract for supplying 12 VVIP choppers to the IAF has been scrapped by the
|By TAP Staff| The Saudi decision to open up the stock market to foreigners could eventually lead to the Middle East North Africa region becoming as large as 5.2 percent of MSCI emerging markets benchmark. The significance of the Saudi entry to the region’s profile is brought out by the fact that even after UAE and Qatar’s upgrade to emerging market status over a month ago, the […]
Qatar’s state spending increased 12.7 percent last fiscal year, the lowest rate in 11 years, as slow growth in current expenditure offset a sharp rise in funds spent on infrastructure projects, data showed on Sunday. Expenditure rose to a record high of 231.7 billion riyals ($63.6 billion) in the year that ended in March, from 205.6 billion riyals in 2012/13, preliminary finance ministry data released by the […]
The European Union reached outline agreement on Friday to impose the first economic sanctions on Russia over its behavior in Ukraine but scaled back their scope to exclude technology for the crucial gas sector. The EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the chiefs of Russia’s FSB security service and foreign intelligence service and a number of other top Russian officials, saying they had helped […]
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday iterated the Modi government’s promise to keep tax rates low and ruled out any new retrospective taxes when he replied to the debate on the Finance Bill, 2014, in the Lok Sabha, which passed it later.
Stating that the government will not interfere with the judicial proceedings regarding tax notices issued with respect to indirect transfer of Indian assets under the 2012 retrospective changes to the Income Tax Act, Jaitley removed an irritant by making the higher long-term capital gains tax rate on debt mutual funds proposed in his Budget strictly prospective.
The minister had in his maiden Budget announced a new committee under the Central Board of Dir
New Delhi: The government will come up with a new Bill to regulate the micro-finance institutions after consultation with states, finance minister Arun Jaitley told Lok Sabha on Friday. “We have started the consultation process with everyone, including state governments, to prepare a new Bill,” he said. The Micro Finance Institutions Development and Regulation Bill, 2012, was introduced in Lok Sabha on May 22, 2012, and was referred to the Standing Committee, which submitted its final report on February 17, 2014. The committee had urged the government to have wider consultations with state governments and stakeholders and bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament, he said. The Bill lapsed due to the dissolution of Lok Sabha and shall have
The power sector is one of the biggest concerns in terms of potential non-performing loans of banks given the host of headwinds the sector is facing. About a quarter of banks’ total exposure to the power sector is to the stressed players. Slowdown in the economy, shortage of coal, mounting losses of state electricity boards (SEBs) and non-remunerative tariffs have stymied the sector. The government’s high-level panel to revamp the power sector headed by former power minister Suresh Prabhu will have to address these challenges at the earliest and create a roadmap for the long-term sustainability of the sector.
As the gap between demand and supply of coal is increasing, the dependence on imported coal will rise from 150 million tonn
More than 90% of enterprises in the Arab world can be considered small and medium-sized enterprises. The growing importance of small and medium-sized firms requires a need to help those enterprises and to develop sustainable growth, networks for change and management development. In this column I will introduce new role-models for small and medium-sized companies. An emerging role-model for medium-sized companies is Germany with its more than […]
Dubai construction company Arabtec’s former boss has sold about $4 million worth of shares in the group this week, cutting his stake slightly, stock exchange data showed. Arabtec’s shares have swung around wildly this year on apparent tensions between chief executive Hasan Ismaik and Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, also a major Arabtec shareholder. Ismaik resigned abruptly in June. Ismaik cut his stake to 28.77 percent […]
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared a Bill to raise the foreign investment ceiling in private insurance companies from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, but inserted a provision that the management and control of these companies must be with Indians. This cap will be composite — both foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investment. Experts said this meant voting rights of foreign investors would not be capped at 26 per cent but they cannot have contractual agreements for control of insurance companies. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs this morning gave its approval to changes in the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, which will now be taken up in the current session of Parliament. “The Cabinet has cleared raising the for
NEW DELHI: Power plants in India are not importing coal despite global prices of the fuel slumping to decade-low levels. Power generating companies are rather operating at lower capacity on domestic coal that is short in supply, as distribution companies (discoms) are not willing to pay for costly power fuelled by imports.
A Mumbai-based trader, who did not wish to be identified, said global prices had fallen to a 10-year low due to weak demand from China that is reducing dependence on imports by encouraging production from own mines.
He said prices of 4,200 kcal/kg thermal coal in international markets were hovering around $36.50 per million tonne as against $52 per million tonne two years ago.
