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SUBSIDY DEPENDENCE FOR DISCOMS OF 16 STATES MAY RISE SHARPLY, SAYS ICRA

NEW DELHI: The subsidy burden for distribution utilities of 16 states is estimated at Rs 72,000 crore, 17% higher than the previous financial year, due to higher costs and cheaper tariff for the farm sector, said ICRA in a recent note. The note states that state electricity regulators in 16 out of the 29 states have issued tariff orders for the current fiscal so far, attributing the delay partly to the recently-held Lok Sabha elections.

The rating agency noted that subsidy dependence for utilities in Maharashtra is likely to increase sharply by about 55% on a year-on-year basis in FY15 as a result of tariff subsidy of 20% announced by the state government, and also for Jammu & Kashmir where the subsidy burden is projected to rise

INDIAN OIL, BPCL, HPCL TO REVIVE PREMIUM PETROL BRANDS ON EXCISE CUT

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

SEARCHING FOR THE IDEAL FDI IN DEFENCE PRODUCTION

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

SIX BANKS MAY GET `TOO BIG TO FAIL’ TAG

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

HIGHER POWER RATES NOT TO HIT STATE UTILITIES

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

FUEL SUBSIDY SYSTEM REVAMP LIKELY, ONGC GETS REASON TO CHEER

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

INDRA-2014 DRILLS ENDED SUCCESSFULLY IN RUSSIA’S FAR EAST

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

Middle East set to gain gold global market share

The Middle East will take a bigger share of gold demand as buyers from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates diversify investments and Dubai nears offering a contract for immediate delivery bullion. MKS (Switzerland) SA, a Geneva-based bullion trader and refiner, expanded into Dubai three years ago and employs 25 people there, with the gold trade an “important market,” said Frederic Panizzutti, chief executive […]

David Cameron, Nick Clegg et al: sweeten us up and the votes are all yours

Vote winner: Thailand’s rulers attempt to ‘return happiness to the people’ in Bangkok Photo: AFP/Getty Images What to make of the Thai military junta offering free haircuts (in lieu of actual freedom) to the people? It’s an unconventional way to capture hearts and minds, but there’s a fine tradition in the corridors of power of generously providing bread and circuses and tax cuts and Qatari bank transfers to […]

Egypt turns to Western advisors in reform bid

 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 […]

World Briefing: Iraq: Attacks Kill at Least 27 People

Two car bombings against members of an ethnic minority in northern Iraq and militant attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police officers killed at least 27 people on Friday, Iraqi officials said. The bombings struck in Tahrawa, a village inhabited by families from the Shabak ethnic group, killing seven people. The village is near Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. Police officials also said that 43 people were […]

Russia and Ukraine discuss ceasefire

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s president-elect Petro Poroshenko have discussed a ceasefire and other possible steps to de-escalate the crisis between their countries in a brief meeting in France, French officials said. The meeting hosted by French President Francois Hollande, before D-Day celebrations on Friday, took place as clashes continued in eastern Ukraine near a border crossing with Russia, killing at least 15 pro-Russian separatists overnight.   Putin and […]

Afghan presidential candidate survives blast

A suicide bomber and a roadside bomb have struck the convoy of Afghanistan’s presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah as it left a campaign event in the capital Kabul, the Interior Ministry said. Friday’s explosions killed four civilians but left the candidate himself unharmed. In a televised statement shortly after the attack, Abdullah said that several of his security guards had been wounded in the attack. The interior ministry spokesman […]

U.N. Official Urges Syria to Finish Chemical Arms Disposal

Acknowledging that Syria will miss the June 30 deadline for eliminating its chemical weapons, the top United Nations official overseeing the arsenal’s eradication said Wednesday it was “very, very critical” for Syria to export the final shipment, which is packed and ready to go but is trapped in an area contested by insurgents in the civil war. The official, Sigrid Kaag, said she would be traveling to […]

UAE weather: Falling temperatures and blowing dust and sand forecast

ABU DHABI // Residents will have more relief from the recent sweltering heat this weekend, with Thursday’s cooler conditions forecast to continue. The weather bureau says the drop of up to 7°C in many parts of the country is set to continue on Friday and Saturday as the north-westerly Shamal wind makes a welcome return, with cloudy, windy and hazy conditions. “It will be slightly hazy on […]

World Briefing: Saudi Arabia: MERS Toll Revised

Saudi Arabia revised sharply upward the number of cases of the new MERS virus within its borders and said it had been fatal in more than 40 percent of the cases. After a review of medical records, the country’s total number of cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome since the virus was isolated in 2012 is now 688, up from 575; the death toll is 282, not […]

Dubai tops global house price index

Dubai saw the steepest house price growth globally over the past year despite government cooling measures, Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index shows. House prices grew 27.7 percent over the 12 months to March 2014, the fastest pace among the 54 countries tracked on the index. However, house prices only climbed 3.4 percent in the first quarter, much slower than 9.2 percent growth in the same period […]

Obama praises hearing-impaired boy from UAE for academic excellence

ABU DHABI // A little boy who has overcome deafness to become an academic star at school has received a personal letter of praise from Barack Obama. “I am proud of you for pushing yourself academically,” the US president told Yusuf Batha, “and I am counting on you to continue to set a good example to help others whenever you have the opportunity.” Mr Obama also told […]

Egyptian Satirist Bassem Youssef Cancels His Show

Bassem Youssef, a heart surgeon who became a wildly popular political satirist following the 2011 revolt that felled the durable autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak, announced on Monday that his show would not be returning to the airwaves following months of uncertainty. While the announcement stunned his fans, it did not come as a surprise: the program, called El Bernameg (The Program in Arabic), had been the […]

Palestinians form consensus government

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Fatah and Hamas have unveiled a government of national consensus that will pave the way for elections for a new Palestinian president and parliament. The government of 17 politically-independent members, agreed on Monday, is already being put to the test, as Israel announced it would not negotiate any peace deal with it. The announcement came after the passing of a five-week deadline that […]

Asian shares ride Wall Street optimism; dollar down

Asian shares edged higher on Friday, catching a lift from another record close on Wall Street, while the dollar groaned under the pressure of slumping U.S. yields. The S&P 500 index .SPX posted its third record closing high in four sessions, as investors shrugged off the first quarterly contraction of the U.S. economy in three years and focused on signs of a strengthening labor market. MSCI’s broadest […]

U.S. Strategy to Fight Terrorism Increasingly Uses Proxies

WASHINGTON — During the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States military often carried out dozens of daily operations against Al Qaeda and other extremist targets with heavily armed commandos and helicopter gunships. But even before President Obama’s speech on Wednesday sought to underscore a shift in counterterrorism strategy — away from the Qaeda strongholds in and near those countries — American forces […]

Arabtec Owners Up Stakes Ahead of MSCI Upgrade Implementation

The main shareholders of U.A.E. construction giant Arabtec Holding are consolidating their control over the company as the country’s stock markets prepare for the implementation of an upgrade to emerging-market status by stock-index provider MSCI. Arabtec chief executive Hasan Ismaik raised his stake from 8.03% to 21.46% by buying shares on the market, the company said in an emailed statement Wednesday. This follows a move three years […]

Dubai based ‘White Water PR’ adopts the ‘pictorial’ website format

The firm aims to redefine the art of ‘Corporate Storytelling’ in the Middle East Dubai, May 28th, 2014: White Water PR, a Dubai based Public Relations agency, has launched its new website in the region to redefine the art of ‘corporate storytelling’. The website, ‘whitewaterpr.com’ is more pictorial in nature and the initial thoughts were inspired by the globally renowned ‘Snowfall’ format which was made popular by […]