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 […]
NEW DELHI: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, on Tuesday signed an agreement to pick an up to 50 per cent stake in PetroVietnam’s two exploration blocks in the South China Sea. OVL will take a 40 per cent stake in Block 102/10 and 50 per cent in 106/10 that lie outside the sea territory claimed by China. PetroVietnam, […]
UAE Exchange… handling 7.9 million customers worldwide UAE Exchange remittances top $25 billion DUBAI, 1 days ago UAE Exchange, the leading global money transfer, foreign exchange and payment solutions brand, said it handled $25.4 billion in remittances in 2013 and has a share of 6.1 per cent of the global remittance volume. Celebrating the brand’s 34th anniversary, UAE Exchange said in a statement that, it currently handles […]
NEW DELHI: DRDO is developing an air-launched version of the 1,500-km-range Nirbhay sub-sonic cruise missile which would be capable of being fired from the Air Force’s frontline Su-30MKI combat aircraft. “This Nirbhay missile would be capable of being used from air, land and ships and submarines. An air-launched version of the missile is also being planned,” DRDO chief Avinash Chander told PTI here. He said […]
By Nivedita Bhattacharjee MUMBAI Wed Sep 3, 2014 11:01am IST Android mascots are lined up in the demonstration area at the Google I/O Developers Conference in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, May 10, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Beck Diefenbach/Files MUMBAI (Reuters) – Google Inc’s (GOOGL.O) partnership with three Indian phone makers is set to rev up fast-growing demand for lower priced smartphones, and spell more trouble for […]
By Nivedita Bhattacharjee MUMBAI Wed Sep 3, 2014 11:01am IST Android mascots are lined up in the demonstration area at the Google I/O Developers Conference in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, May 10, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Beck Diefenbach/Files MUMBAI (Reuters) – Google Inc’s (GOOGL.O) partnership with three Indian phone makers is set to rev up fast-growing demand for lower priced smartphones, and spell more trouble for […]
New Delhi: Global defence equipment majors such as BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin could set up manufacturing units in India and bring in foreign direct investment (FDI) exceeding 49 per cent, provided the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) is Indian.
As the objective was to let only serious players enter the market, the defence FDI policy approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday categorically stated investee companies should be self-sufficient in product designing and have maintenance and life cycle support facilities for the products they manufactured here, said a senior department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) official.
The Union Cabinet had approved an increase in the composite foreign investme
MUMBAI: The Adani Group and Indian Oil Corporation are in talks to build a Rs 30,000-crore joint venture refinery at Mundra, which would give Gautam Adani an entry into the oil sector while the state-run company would get land port facilities for the proposed export-focused unit.
The proposed 30-million-tonne refinery at Mundra will make Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s native state, Gujarat, a bigger energy hub. It already has refineries of Reliance Industries, Essar Oil and Indian Oil, apart from two LNG terminals and the country’s biggest city-gas distribution network.
Industry sources said Gautam Adani has held initial talks with top executives at IOC and offered around 3,500-4,000 acres of land for th
NEW 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
New Delhi: The government is likely to start selling its stake in public sector banks (PSBs) in November. It is also expected State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest lender, will tap the markets this year. Financial Services Secretary G S Sandhu on Thursday said the government would seek a Cabinet nod for stake dilution in PSBs, adding the sale would be in tranches, based on banks’ requirement of funds. “It will be a combination of follow-on public offer (FPO) and, in some cases, it will be through qualified institutional placement. It may start around Diwali, most likely November,” he told reporters after a meeting with the heads of PSBs and other financial institutions. Asked whether large banks such as SBI and Punjab National Bank (PNB) would op
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
MUMBAI: The state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) plan to revive branded petrol such as IndianOil’s XtraPremium and Bharat Petroleum’s Speed, backed by aggressive marketing, to make the most of a significant excise duty cut announced in the budget.
Sales of branded petrol, which contain additives that enhance automobile’s performance, had plummeted in recent years as they became Rs 7-10 per litre more expensive than the regular fuel, forcing companies such as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) to pull out such products from most outlets. But with finance minister Arun Jaitley announcing a cut in central excise duty on branded petrol to Rs
Dressed in a green surgical gown and cap, British restaurateur Rekha Patel cradled her newborn daughter at the Akanksha clinic in northwestern India as her husband Daniel smiled warmly, peering in through a glass door. “I can’t believe we have our own child at last,” said Patel, 42, gazing in wonderment at five-day-old Gabrielle. “We are really grateful to our surrogate mother who managed to get pregnant […]
