DUBAI // An online push by the Roads and Transport Authority and a private website to encourage car-pooling among commuters has been warmly received. The RTA website, Sharekni, allows users to register and find others who want to share the daily drive. Carpool Arabia does the same thing but is privately operated. They both say commuters are keen to avoid relentless rush-hour traffic, the challenge of finding […]
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 […]
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
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), a major stakeholder in the proposed refinery cum petrochemical complex at Pachpadra, may give in to the Rajasthan government’s demand to increase the state’s share from 26% in HPCL-Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL).
Chief minister Vasundhara Raje vowed to renegotiate the terms under which the previous Congress government persuaded HPCL to set up the refinery. In her budget speech, Raje had targeted the conditions in the agreement and termed it as unique and against the interest of the state. She pointed out that despite giving land, interest free loan of Rs 3,736 crore each year (for 15 years) and oil wells, the state controls only 26% while HPCL has stake of 76%.
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BEIJING: In a sign of expanding military-to-military engagement between India and China, permanent representatives of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Navy have, for the first time, taken office in Beijing.
Group Captain Ashish Srivastava of the Indian Air Force and Captain Sushant Dam of the Indian Navy will begin their terms as the Air and Naval attachés in the Indian Embassy in Beijing on Friday.
Earlier, India only had a Defence attaché from the Indian Army, along with a Deputy Defence attaché, posted in Beijing.
The question of expanding India’s military representation had been discussed by both sides over several years, with China finally agreeing to the move this past year. Tr
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.
BANGALORE: Indigenous military projects such as missiles have shown consistently shorter development cycles over the years thanks to deft planning and handling of the projects, the former DRDO Director-General V.K. Saraswat said on Thursday.
Citing the bouquet of missiles that came out of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme through 2008, Dr. Saraswat said the later Agni III and V missiles had taken three to five years to develop compared to the earlier ones such as Prithvi that needed around a decade.
The former top military scientist was addressing members of the defence and aerospace industry at a conference organised by the SAE India and Project Management Institute.
The Arab Spring raised awareness of the mobilizing power of Facebook and other social media. Companies and governments have struggled to get to grips with social media over the past few years. Some—notably governments—have treated social media as an existential threat. Others view it essentially as a branding or marketing tool for pushing messages at constituents or customers. Charlene Li, founder of strategy firm Altimeter Group and […]
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
When Finance Minister Arun Jaitley kept the FDI cap in defence at 49 per cent, he said: “Our assessment of the market is that the 49 per cent FDI limit in the sector would be a significant step in establishing domestic defence market. The public opinion and Parliament’s opinion in India is ready to accept the proposal that I have made.”
Mr. Jaitley was also in consonance with the policy sentiment that has evolved within the government over many years. As far back as in 2004, key economists argued before the Planning Commission that 100 per cent FDI in high technology would enable India to reduce or limit its technology imports; in 2008, the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council constituted by former Prime Minister Ma
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India has said that up to six banks will be designated as systemically important, or SIBs, for the domestic financial market and will need to have higher capital than their peers to prevent the financial system from collapsing if there is a crisis.
The central bank said it would now go about identifying these banks which are too big to fail and would release a list of names in August 2015, according to a report uploaded on its website on Tuesday evening.
State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank may be among the six, according to consultants and analysts. Banks falling in this category will have to set aside more capital per l
NEW DELHI: Consumers of Tata’s ultra mega power project (UMPP) and Adani’s power plant at Mundra in Gujarat might not see a major escalation in their procurement price after the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) gave its nod to include compensatory rate in the final rate of sale of power.
The beneficiary utilities in Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Maharashtra are already buying power for Rs 3.61 to Rs 3.7 a unit, according to the annual revenue requirement reports submitted to state regulators.
The levelised tarifforiginally offered by Tata’s imported coal-based UMPP is much lower at Rs 2.26, but after the compensatory tariff of 52 paise, it would work out to Rs 2.8. Power from
NEW DELHI: The government plans to tweak the system of calculating fuel subsidies to make ONGC’s public offer more attractive for investors. It plans to make subsidy sharing more predictable and transparent so that analysts can properly assess the ONGC’s earnings outlook.
Currently they are unable to assess the amount and the timing of the huge subsidy payout. This diminishes the interest of top institutions in the stock.
The oil ministry may soon approach the Cabinet to overhaul the fuel pricing system to incorporate some of the observations of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, which recently submitted a report on the matter.
The pricing system has a direct impact on O
Russian-Indian international naval drills Indra-2014 ended in Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok. “Russian and Indian naval sailors fulfilled all tasks completely,” head of the press service of the Russian Pacific Fleet Captain First Rank Roman Martov told Itar-Tass on Sunday.
At the final meeting aboard the guards missile-carrying cruiser Varyag Assistant Commander of the Pacific Fleet Rear Admiral Andrey Ryabukhin noted that interoperability and trust between two fleets reached a very high level.
For his part, Commander of the Indian Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral Atul Kumar Jain said at this meeting that naval sailors had acquired a very good experience and were on the way back home with the posit
DUBAI // About 25,000 pupils will have tablet computers this academic year as the Ministry of Education expands its programme to bring smart learning to classrooms. The Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Programme, launched last year for pupils in Grade 7 and some in Grade 8, will be expanded to Grades 1 and 5 in chosen schools. It will also be introduced to other pupils in Grade […]
Saudi Arabia plans to open its stock market, the Arab world’s biggest, to direct investment by foreign financial institutions in the first half of next year, the market regulator said on Tuesday. The opening of the Saudi market, capitalized at about $530 billion, is one of the most keenly awaited economic reforms in the largest oil exporting nation. The bourse would be one of the world’s last […]
Western advisers are drawing up plans for reshaping the Egyptian economy, sources said, with the apparent blessing of president-elect Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who so far has spoken only vaguely in public about reviving the state’s finances. The driving force behind the consulting project is the United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has showered Egypt with billions of dollars in aid since Sisi removed […]
United Arab Emirates, June 2014 – GL Events exhibitions, the organizer of Piscine Middle East exhibition has confirmed the attendance of 2 800 visitors during the second edition of Piscine Middle East held in Abu Dhabi from the 22-24th of April. Most part of these visitors was architects, developers and key buyers specialized in pool and spa industry. The event hosted visitors from 50 different countries. 88% […]
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso is to formally sign a controversial EU-Israel research programme with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The outgoing head of the European Union executive will hold talks with Netanyahu on Sunday before taking part in a signing ceremony the next day allowing Israel to become the only non-European country to benefit from the EU’s Horizon 2020 scientific research programme. After months of dispute, the […]
A male in his 20s has died and three others are injured after a shooting at the campus of Seattle Pacific University, a hospital spokeswoman said. Police said on their verified Twitter account on Thursday that a lone suspect entered a university building, shot two males and two females, and began reloading. The gunman was arrested after he was disarmed by university staff, police tweeted. The university announced […]
ABU DHABI // School pupils from the American Community School in Abu Dhabi said the simplicity of their “The Engineers” robot was key to them clinching top spot at a national robotics competition on Friday. The World Robot Olympiad-UAE drew 180 students from across the country, battling it out in the elementary, junior high and high-school categories at the Fairmont Hotel in the capital, but it was […]
ABU DHABI // School pupils from the American Community School in Abu Dhabi said the simplicity of their “The Engineers” robot was key to them clinching top spot at a national robotics competition yesterday. The World Robot Olympiad-UAE drew 180 students from across the country, battling it out in the elementary, junior high and high-school categories at the Fairmont Hotel in the capital, but it was “The […]
WHO team makes five-day visit to UAE International experts and local authorities agree to continued exchange of information in attempt to reduce risk of further infections ABU DHABI // International infection experts yesterday praised the work of UAE health authorities in attempting to better understand the deadly Mers coronavirus after completing a mission to assess the risk the virus poses to the country. A team from the […]
