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defNEW DELHI: The Obama administration will push for the stalled mega deals for M-777 ultra-light howitzers and Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) when US defence secretary Chuck Hagel comes visiting from Thursday.

 

There will be talks on ways to further bolster the already expansive strategic partnership, ranging from sharing of intelligence and cooperation on counter-terrorism to joint combat exercises, but the cornerstone will remain the US offer to provide India with “ground-breaking” weapon technology on par with its closest allies.

 

Having bagged defence deals worth over $10 billion over the last decade, the US is obviously hungry for more. Of the different co-development and co-prod

inThe finance ministry is likely to put out a note soon, detailing its road map to capitalise state-run lenders while explicitly stating the government’s intent to maintain control over public sector banks with at least 52% stake.

 

This marks a shift from the previous UPA government’s decision to keep 58% shareholding in state-run banks. It is in keeping with the Narendra Modi-led government’s stand articulated in the Budget 2014-15 that it would encourage banks to raise capital from the market.

 

The government will push banks this way to the point of its own stake falling to 52%, to reduce reliance on the budget.

 

It has set aside only Rs 11,200 crore for bank capitalisation this f

fsNEW DELHI: The central government’s worries on the Insurance Bill aggravated on Tuesday with Congress accusing it of adopting double standards on the issue and dismissing threats from the treasury benches that a joint session may be convened, forcing BJP ministers to knock on the doors of parties like SP and BSP to muster the numbers in the Rajya Sabha. Congress sources maintained the government was reportedly keen on passing the insurance bill in Parliament in this session so that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can showcase it to the US during his visit in September and hence wants to hurry through the process without sending it to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha. BJP leaders, on the other hand, alleged Congress was playing politics on

egNEW DELHI: The power ministry plans to create a fund to provide long-term finances to hydropower developers, and aims to play an active role in resolving state level sues that are blocking such projects.

 

“Hydropower did not get the desired attention as concerned ministries and departments were working in silos, and problems with states and central authorities could be resolved.

 

However, the new government is working in tandem as a team and we are hopeful to resolve pending issues to give conducive environment to hydropower sector,” power, coal and renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.

 

He said one of his first projects Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated was the

ogJAIPUR: The Rajasthan government while censuring previous Congress government for ignoring state’s interests while signing memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), has banked on the HPCL’s own consulting firm, SBI Caps’ report.

 

Chief minister, Vasundhara Raje, during her budget speech, said that based on appraisal report, the project will earn revenue of more than 68,000 crore within 15 years, from the day of production.

 

According to government officials, the data was cited from the report prepared by HPCL-appointed consulting firm, SBI Caps. Riding on these figures, the government is firming its stand on renegotiating the terms. “These facts came

Mumbai’s towering billboards, which hawk everything from the latest Bollywood movies to soda, block out more than some sunlight. They’re also a physical hurdle preventing Air India Ltd. from reaching its potential on what should be one of its most lucrative routes. The height of billboards near India’s financial hub means the Boeing 777-300ER jets the carrier uses for non-stop flights to Newark, New Jersey, near New […]

Egypt plans to build a new channel parallel to the Suez Canal in a 60 billion Egyptian-pound ($8.4 billion) venture to boost capacity at the vital global waterway, marking a new era of regeneration after the 2011 revolution. Construction of the new passage is scheduled to take three years, though President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has ordered it to be completed in a year, Mohab Mamish, head of the […]

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inNEW DELHI: The government is working on developing a bankruptcy framework to offer easier exit routes to sick companies while helping revive those with viable options, said Kalraj Mishra, the new minister for micro small & medium enterprises (MSMEs).

 

Another issue the ministry is dealing with is availability of land for industrial units. It is asking states to create land pools by listing out all unused land available with them.

 

“Entrepreneur bankruptcy framework will be developed to enable easy exit of sick units,” Mishra told ET. “It has been a major demand of the MSME sector for a very long time. The details will be worked out soon.”

 

SMEs employ close to 40 per cen

ogNEW DELHI: In a move aimed at ensuring India’s energy security, the Narendra Modi-led government plans to import huge volumes of natural gas from Russia. The Centre is working out the contours of a $40-billion (Rs 2.4 lakh-crore) mega onland pipeline project carrying gas from Russia to India, in one of India’s biggest energy projects till date.

 

Top government officials told HT that the move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brazil on the sidelines of the Brics summit.

 

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) along with the ministry of petroleum and natural gas are preparing a blueprint to examine the feasibility of this new project, they added.

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Op-Ed Contributor Eight Days in Gaza: A Wartime Diary By ATEF ABU SAIF August 4, 2014 Sunday, July 27 For the last two hours we’ve heard nothing but sonic booms and the sound of rockets and mortars. Shells have fallen on our street a few hundred yards from my father-in-law’s house, where my wife and I, and our five kids, are staying, and on the street behind us. My wife, […]

Women walk out of a branch of HSBC at Dubai Internet City in Dubai. Reuters With the largest presence of any international bank in the Middle East, HSBC’s results usually serve as a good indicator of the health of the region’s financial services industry. Going by the bank’s results for the region published on Monday, that outlook looks encouraging: the banking giant posted a 8.8% rise in […]

ogNEW DELHI: Stung by Reliance Industries’ alleged bid to “influence” the foreign third arbitrator appointed by the Supreme Court in the KG-D6 block case, the government is set to approach the court with a plea that the relevant arbitration be done strictly within the country sans a foreign umpire.

 

Armed with a law ministry opinion conveyed to it recently, the petroleum ministry will also take the firm stand that RIL’s foreign partners, BP and Niko, should not be made a party to the arbitration, which was initiated by the Indian company, sources familiar with the matter told FE.

 

The government’s move would escalate the conflict between it and RIL over the alleged suppression of gas production at the once-pro

By STEVEN ERLANGER and JODI RUDOREN August 3, 2014 JERUSALEM — The Israeli military continued its substantial military attacks around Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday while defending its decision to announce the death of a missing Israeli soldier at 2 a.m., only hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on national television to say that he had no new information about the case. Army spokesmen said on Sunday that the […]

Close call: Dr Naomi Platt with her dog, Bonnie, near her home in Devon Photo: Stuart Clarke Am I the first person to be told that they have malaria and feel a sense of relief? Possibly. However, my diagnosis five weeks ago was given while I was working in a small rural hospital in Sierra Leone, where contact with the Ebola virus was a real possibility. I’d had […]

egNEW DELHI: A visiting US team has told Indian negotiators it would link pacts on the power sector to the agreement the two countries draw on climate change and one would not happen without the other.

 

This message was conveyed by the US team to India in a meeting held with the power ministry on Wednesday. Power Minister Piyush Goyal and other ministry officials attended the meeting.

 

The US team, headed by Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate change, also called on Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar in its bid to stitch an agreement on various climate change issues.

 

Sources said the meeting with the environment ministry focused on areas where the two countries

ogNEW DELHI: Petrol became cheaper by Rs 1.09 per litre in Delhi from Friday after state oil companies slashed the price of the fuel for the first time since mid-April because benchmark gasoline rates in the international market dropped.

 

Companies, however, raised the price of diesel by 56 paise in Delhi, helping to reduce the gap between pump and market rates by about Rs 1.50 per litre and increasing the prospects of deregulating the fuel soon.

 

If the trend continues, diesel pricing could be freed from state control in three months, government and industry officials said. Prices of diesel sold to bulk consumers such as the railways and state transport companies at market rates have been reduced, IOCsaid in a statement.

defNEW DELHI: Outgoing Army chief General Bikram Singh on Thursday said that India has given a befitting reply to Pakistan after the beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistani troops in 2013 along the Line of Control (LoC) even as he did not rule out the possibility of skirmishes on the western front in future.

 

Talking to reporters before demitting office, he admitted that face-offs between Indian and Chinese army soldiers take place while patrolling their ‘claimed areas’ along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) but they are dealt with in accordance with the existing mechanisms.

 

Asked if India had given a befitting reply after the January 8, 2013 beheading incident, he said, “It has been done. Please

Family members mourned on Thursday in Tel Aviv at the grave of Staff Sgt. Guy Algranati, 20, who was killed on Wednesday. By MICHAEL R. GORDON and MARK LANDLER July 31, 2014 NEW DELHI — A 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza conflict negotiated by the United States and the United Nations took effect Friday morning, a diplomatic bolt-from-the-blue that will suspend the bloody 24-day military campaign and set the stage for […]

By SOMINI SENGUPTA July 31, 2014 UNITED NATIONS — In the midst of Israel’s battle with militants in Gaza over the past three weeks, skirmishes opened on a second front in recent days: Its strikes on United Nations facilities and the steep civilian casualties brought a barrage of rebukes and warnings from senior United Nations officials around the world, reaching a fever pitch just before the announcement of a […]

Tata group will invest about $35 billion over the next three years to focus on new business areas such as infrastructure, defence and aerospace, as well as expanding its global footprint. The salt-to-software group has operations in more than 100 countries and combined revenue of $103 billion at the end of the fiscal year in March, with 67 percent coming from outside India. The Tata group includes […]

(Reuters) – A Florida family scavenging for sunken treasure on a shipwreck has found the missing piece of a 300-year-old gold filigree necklace sacred to Spanish priests, officials said on Tuesday.   Eric Schmitt, a professional salvager, was scavenging with his parents when he found the crumpled, square-shaped ornament on a leisure trip to hunt for artifacts in the wreckage of a convoy of 11 ships that […]

egNEW DELHI: Gautam Adani plans to acquire power plants with a total capacity of 5,000 mw, but he will avoid aggressive bids to ensure good returns, a source close to the tycoon said a day after Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group outbid him to buy 1,800 mw hydro power capacity from Jaypee Group.

 

Gautam Adani is directly involved in evaluating offers and negotiations, something he left to company executives in the past, the source said. The company is in talks with several power sector players, including GMR, Lanco, Indiabulls, Avantha Power and Athena, the source said.

 

Another person in the Adani Group said there are many sellers in the market, offering projects with a combined capacity of nearly 50,000 mw.

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ogMumbai: 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

defBangalore: Electronics production in the country’s Defence sector touched Rs. 13,800 crore during 2013-14 and is expected to grow over 15 per cent this year, said Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA) President Subhash Goyal.

 

The production of strategic electronics stood at Rs. 12,000 crore in 2012-13 and has been growing steadily from Rs. 5,700 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 9,000 crore during 2010-11.

 

ELCINA has been holding the strategic electronics summit (SES) since 2010. This year it is being held in Bangalore on July 30 and 31.

 

The SES brings all stakeholders together on one platform to enable a better understanding of Defence requirements. The summit also aims to facilitate

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