Hong Kong police clashed with about 9,000 protesters in the Mong Kok district overnight after authorities cleared barricades, and student leaders asked the government to hold promised talks by Oct. 22. Police, some in full riot gear, battled with demonstrators for control of major roads in the busy shopping district north of the city’s harbor, less than 24 hours after authorities had cleared protest barricades and opened […]
Ever been out to a fancy dinner at a Manhattan restaurant and had your credit card rejected? President Barack Obama knows your pain. After signing an order today directing the government to switch to payment cards with embedded microchips, rather than the less-safe magnetic strips, Obama related his own tale of credit misadventure during the United Nations meetings last month. “I went to a restaurant up in […]
By Subrata Majumder Paradoxically, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi succeeded in persuading the Japanese and Chinese investors, he failed to influence the big American investors. Instead, his political wave and speech impelled the Indian Diaspora only. While a number of billion dollar projects were signed during his visit to Japan and the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, no major deal was signed during his […]
NEW DELHI: Having proved himself as a ‘rock star’ abroad and a vote-getting machine at home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now going to do what people are telling him to do: Take policy decisions that cannot be put off any longer. The first of these is a Cabinet reshuffle likely by the end of this month – after Diwali. A brace of decisions on economic […]
Hyderabad: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the central bank is in talks with the Centre to set up a financial resolution authority (FRA). “We really need a financial resolution authority so that we can close financial institutions in trouble, without necessarily merging those and taking the losses. We need to clean institutions…while resurrecting those functioning well. FRA will be the entity that […]
NEW DELHI: Fuel stockpiles at the thermal power stations hit a new low in 25 years at 7.2 million tonnes, as Coal India and its subsidiaries failed to meet their production targets, as per latest official data. According to latest data (October 13) by the Central Electricity Authority, total fuel stocks at 103 coal-based stations have come down to 7.2 million tonnes. This 7.2 million tonnes […]
New Delhi: Oil companies’ gains on diesel sales jumped 87 per cent within a fortnight on a historic slide in global crude prices. Their profits from diesel, recorded for the first time ever, continue as the government delays a decision on deregulating its price. “The over-recovery on high-speed diesel (HSD), applicable for the second fortnight effective October 16, is now Rs 3.56 per litre. The over-recovery […]
Asian stocks clawed back some of this week’s losses on Friday after a solid set of U.S. data calmed turbulence in global financial markets, though underlying worries about slowing world economic growth kept investors on edge. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS gained 0.2 percent, though it is likely to log its sixth straight week of losses with a fall of 0.5 percent so […]
KOLKATA: NTPC is firming up plans to enter power distribution, an area the state-run company has mostly stayed away from so far despite producing more than a quarter of India’s total electricity output. It plans to bid for distribution rights in cities that may open up the segment to the private sector. Just a handful of Indian cities at present have private distributors, all in joint […]
NEW DELHI: To expedite infrastructure projects — road and rail — along the border with China for strategic reasons and also for better connectivity, principal secretary to Prime Minister has called a meeting of top officials of key ministries such as defence, rail and road, head of Border Roads Organization (BRO), national security adviser and others on Thursday. Sources said the agenda of the meeting to […]
|By TAP Staff| Flydubai, Dubai’s low-cost carrier, is following its big brother Emirates airlines to debut a benchmark-sized sukuk issue for which it has mandated seven banks. “As part of the diversification of our financial strategy, we are in discussion with our advisers to explore the possibility of issuing a bond and we will continue to explore all financing options available to us,” flydubai said in a […]
United Arab Emirates-based Amanat Holdings, a healthcare and education start-up, will launch its 1.375 billion dirham ($374 million) initial public offer next Monday, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The offer period for the flotation, in which 55 percent of the company will be sold to investors at 1 dirham a share, will run until Nov. 4, said the statement issued at a media event. Amanat […]
By Nantoo Banerjee Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Defence Minister Arun Jaitley may not be fully aware how the United States made India play a pawn under the UPA’s 10-year-long Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh regime in America’s psychological war against the People’s Republic of China, trying to contain the latter’s geo-political ambition and keep control of the vital South China Sea that handles $5.5-trillion-worth global cargo movement […]
By Ashok B Sharma Recent unprovoked firing by Pakistan at the Line of Control and as well as at the international border shows the utter helplessness and desperation on its part. India has suspended the dialogue process as Pakistan opted to talk to Kashmiri separatists which the former said was against the spirit of the Shimla Agreement and Lahore Declaration. Subsequently, Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing at […]
By S. Sethuraman A global economy, wobbling six years after the financial market crash of 2008, cannot need anything better than a firm commitment of the world’s financiers to build a more robust, sustainable, balanced, job-rich economic order. Global unemployment is at its all-time peak, especially in Europe and large parts of developing world. Finance Ministers of 188 nations met at the 2014 Annual Meetings […]
Stock markets across the Middle East tumbled on Sunday, led by Dubai and Saudi Arabia where the main indexes sank 6.5 percent, as declines on global bourses and falling oil prices sparked a broad sell-off in the region. Global markets took a big hit on Friday as investors fled to the safety of government bonds after a raft of weak indicators from Europe and China collided with […]
|By TAP Staff| The Board of Directors of Emaar Properties has approved a Special Cash Dividend of AED 9 billion (US$ 2.45 billion) to be distributed to the company’s shareholders taking the total value of dividends distributed this year to over AED 17.12 billion (US$ 4.66 billion) – one of the largest announced by any listed company in the UAE. The total value of the dividends is […]
Investcorp chairman, CEO to retire next June DUBAI, 2 days ago Investcorp, a leader in alternative investment, said on Thursday that its executive chairman and chief executive Nemir Kirdar would retire on June 30, 2015 after more than 30 years leading the alternative investment firm. Mohammed al-Shroogi, currently president of Gulf business at the Bahrain-based company, and Rishi Kapoor, chief financial officer, will be appointed co-CEOs from […]
By Ashok B Sharma India’s foreign trade has badly suffered since the beginning of the global financial crisis in August-September 2008 and the subsequent shock of the sovereign crisis in Eurozone added to the problem. Over dependence on markets in the developed countries was the cause for shrinkage in Indian exports. As the recovery in developed countries and increase in demand is slow, India should […]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) hired senior bankers from Rothschild and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) for its investment banking business in the Middle East. The New York-based bank named Majed Al Mesmari, previously at Rothschild, as head of investment banking coverage in the United Arab Emirates, it said in a statement today. Fahad Al-Deweesh has joined from British lender Standard Chartered to lead investment banking coverage in […]
|By TAP Staff| The herd mentality on the UAE stock market is once again visible, with a flurry of new stock listings that could scupper the market’s nascent revival. Prospective companies do not seem to be in a mood to wait and want to go to the market ahead of others. The first IPO in five years came when Emaar Malls Group floated an issue and attracted […]
A worsening of the domestic political environment in Kuwait is a potential risk for the country, says Moody’s. European Pressphoto Agency A contentious relationship between Kuwait’s government and parliament has hindered development and diversification, while high dependence on volatile oil exports is causing the Arab Gulf state’s economic performance to fluctuate, according to a new Moody’s Investors Service report. It still has a ‘Aa2′ sovereign rating and […]
By G. Srinivasan The inexorable humid weather in the capital in the festive month of October has robbed the exuberant moments of celebrations, even as the weather patterns across the country seem to be swinging in extremes. India and other developing countries may continue to be in a denial mood that weather-related aberrations are not directly due to the broad climate change that is sweeping the universe […]
IMF FORECAST: SELECTED MENA ECONOMIES Note: Data for some countries are based on fiscal years. 1Movements in consumer prices are shown as annual averages. 2Percent of GDP. 3Percent. 4Includes Bahrain, Libya, Oman, and Yemen. 5Includes Djibouti and Mauritania. Excludes Syria because of the uncertain political situation. IMF The International Monetary Fund has revised its 2015 economic growth projection downward for the Middle East and North Africa by […]
