NEW DELHI: The Congress has decided to back three crucial economic reform legislation that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will bring in the winter session of Parliament beginning November 24. These are the constitution amendment Bill for implementing the Goods & Services Tax (GST), the insurance laws (amendment) Bill and the coal ordinance. NDA needs the support of the Opposition party to pass important legislation, as […]
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who prefers to cut hierarchy and have direct interaction – be it bureaucrats or students – will next meet chiefs of public-sector banks. The proposed meeting comes amid rising bad loans and reports of various irregularities in state-owned banks. The prime minister is likely to take stock of the banks’ performance – an exercise usually undertaken by the finance minister. “Credit […]
Demonstrators protest outside a Labour gala dinner, which Ed Miliband attended Photo: Getty Images Professor Brian Cox has made explaining the inexplicable his life’s work. In recent episodes of his television series – Human Universe – the physicist has tramped from Ethiopia to Peru, via Morocco and Ohio, in an attempt to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. He has asked whether we are alone in the galaxy, […]
By Harihar Swarup Can government ever find out black money deposited by Indians in foreign banks, particularly in Switzerland? Judging by records of the past governments, one wonders if Modi government can perform a feat—unearth back money stashed in foreign banks. Making election promises is one thing and fulfilling them is another thing. One of the main electoral promise of Narendra Modi was to unearth black money […]
New Delhi: Output of core industries grew at an eight-month low of 1.9 per cent in September, down from 5.8 per cent in August, indicating overall industrial production will be subdued. This could have repercussions on the gross domestic product for the second quarter. Official data showed on Friday infrastructure industries had slowed down the most since January when production grew 1.6 per cent. Output had […]
Mumbai: The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) has come out with a new product planner rule, by which an insurance company can file only five products for approval in a year. However, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s largest insurer, might be given a special dispensation by the regulator. In order to reduce the time taken for product approvals, Irda has asked life insurers for […]
New Delhi: State-owned NTPC Ltd’s concerns over the revised electricity tariff norms came home to roost with India’s largest power generation utility posting a 17% decline in its second quarter profit. NTPC posted a net profit of `2,071.63 crore for the quarter ended 30 September, compared with `2,492.90 crore a year earlier. Also, revenue increased by only 1% to `17,267.32 crore compared with a year ago. […]
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: The elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from UP next month will decide future alliances by different political parties for 2017 assembly polls in the state. At present all the major political parties are busy in giving final shape to list of candidates but leadership of various political parties are under pressure to accommodate important leaders for future politics. It would […]
SINGAPORE: India’s state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd aims to double its refining margins once it completes the expansion and upgrade of its Kochi refinery in southern India to process high sulphur crudes by 2016, a senior company official said. The refiner’s margins dropped to $3 a barrel this year, from $4.50 to $5 a barrel last year, but levels will increase by a about $3 to […]
By Kalyani Shankar Will Delhi go for fresh polls or is the BJP in a position to give a stable government? After the people of Delhi chose a hung Assembly, the Capital does not have a popular government since 17 February when the Aam Aadmi party chief Kejriwal resigned as chief minister claiming he was not allowed to get the Jan Lokpal bill passed. Now grapevine […]
By Nora Chopra The much awaited reshuffle of the Congress party is likely to be deferred indefinitely till the organizational elections next year. Disillusionment is fast taking over within the party in the wake of a defeat after defeat since 2011 when state after state started falling like nine pins. The worst was of course the Lok Sabha polls where the party faced a defeat like never […]
BANGALORE: State-run power generator NTPC is awaiting forest department clearance to set up its first wind energy project in the country. The 100-MW project, with an estimated cost of Rs. 650 crore is to come up at Guledagudda in Bagalkot district, Karnataka, said R Venkateswaran, Regional Executive Director (South). A few months ago, the company floated tenders but was not successful, and now it is […]
New Delhi: The geopolitical wrangling and heartburn over India’s mother of all defence deals, the lucrative $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project, is still not over. First, it was the Americans, then the Europeans and now, the Russians. Even as India and France inch forward to stitch up the contract for acquisition of 126 Rafale fighters for the IAF, Russian ambassador Alexander Kadakin last […]
Tunisians celebrate the results of the country’s recent elections. Reuters A heavily oversubscribed IPO by one of Tunisia’s key companies and smooth parliamentary elections held last weekend are helping the country attract more attention from foreign investors. Shares in Delice Holding, a consortium of companies that make dairy products, started trading on October 16 following an IPO that was almost 16-times oversubscribed. The company, which has a […]
Rashid bin Ali Al-Mansoori Qatar SE chief named board member of WFE SEOUL, 10 hours, 0 minutes ago Rashid bin Ali Al-Mansoori, CEO of Qatar Stock Exchange, has been elected as a board member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) during the 2014 annual meetings held in Seoul. The meetings also resulted in the election of a new board chairman, vice chairman, chairman of the Working […]
By S. Sethuraman Entering the sixth month post-bifurcation, Telengana and the truncated Andhra Pradesh are still in such unsettled conditions that governance and credibility are at a discount in the new State of Telengana while Seemandhra, battered recently by a super-cyclone, faces baffling problems of land acquisition for capital-building and fiscal management. Both states are in massive budget deficits and have vainly looked to the Centre […]
By G. Srinivasan The Modi Government is overly obsessed head over heels with economic reforms so much so that even before the results of the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections were out, it announced the decontrol of diesel price and a higher price for natural gas. These are the boldest reform strokes the stakeholders had been crying for that hold out the desirably salutary and intended impact […]
From L.S. Herdenia BHOPAL: After Assembly and Lok Sabha elections Madhya Pradesh is again in election mode. While Madhya Pradesh electors voted for Assembly at the end of 2013, the first five months of the current year were also marked by election fever, now the stage is set for local elections in November and December. Elections mean total suspension of developmental activities. The ruling Bharatiya […]
New Delhi: In a bid to take advantage of the bullish stock market sentiment, the finance ministry has kicked off the exercise to cut government stake in public sector banks to 51% and enable them to raise fresh capital to meet their growth requirements. Sources told TOI that the ministry has moved a cabinet note as the government is keen that banks are well capitalized to meet […]
NEW DELHI: Private-sector power plants with a combined capacity of over 1 lakh MW, including plants of 36,500 MW that have been deprived of their captive coal blocks thanks to a recent Supreme Court verdict will get “firm coal linkage” if the Cabinet approves a plan put forth by the power ministry. Pooling of domestic (Coal India) and imported coal will be done to ensure these […]
By Amulya Ganguli The writing is on the wall. To save itself, the Congress has no option but to bid farewell to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Therefore, the 100-odd supporters of the party who recently clamoured for the elevation of Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra to senior party positions are mistaken. If the 129-year-old party is to have a future, it has to make a new beginning under a new […]
By Praful Bidwai With its impressive performance in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has clearly reconfirmed its status, established by the Lok Sabha elections, as the principal pole or central point of reference in Indian politics. Behind its latest success, and not least its marginalisation of established regional parties in the two states, lie medium- and long-term factors which are likely to […]
Shares of Indian companies with key markets in Europe such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Bharat Forge, Motherson Sumi and Crompton Greaves have crashed by as much as 19% since mid-September on concerns their earnings may get adversely affected by the slowdown in the region. However, analysts say investors should buy some of these stocks. “We are positive on companies such as Tata Motors, Bharat Forge […]
New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Monday scrapped the selection of six chiefs of public sector banks, recommended under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, following a high-level panel finding irregularities in the process followed. The probe into selections for banks such as Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank followed the arrest of tainted Syndicate Bank Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) S K Jain […]
