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INDIA GAVE BEFITTING REPLY TO PAKISTAN AFTER BEHEADING INCIDENT: GEN BIKRAM SINGH

NEW 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

Gold heads for thrid weekly drop

Gold headed for a third weekly loss in the longest run of declines since September as U.S. employment data may add to signs that the world’s largest economy is gaining traction. Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.3 percent to $1,279.30 an ounce, the lowest level since June 19, and was at $1,283.85 at 2:20 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal […]

BBM now on Windows phone too

BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday its popular messaging system BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger, would now be open to those using the Windows phone platform, a move that potentially makes the messaging service more appealing to its enterprise clients. BlackBerry, which is seeking to reinvent itself as a more software and services driven company as its smartphone market share has dwindled, has been lately touting new BBM features […]

New bubble build-up over Dubai

|By K Raveendran| The Dubai real estate scene today has several similarities with the pre-crisis situation of 2008, which ultimately led to the emirate’s property bubble. Conflicting signals, including a series of big ticket announcements, entry of new developers and growing concern about overheating in the market, are making it a thoroughly confusing proposition. The announcement of the Mall of the World, a domed, climate-controlled city more […]

Damac to list shares on Dubai bourse

Dubai luxury property developer DAMAC is offering investors the option of converting its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), listed on the London bourse, into ordinary shares that would be listed on Dubai’s main stock market. Investors would get around 23.08 shares per GDR. They have until Sept. 2 to decide on the offer, the developer said in a statement to the London bourse on Wednesday. No new shares […]

Damac’s Planned Back-Door Listing a Positive for Dubai’s Market

Damac Properties is recommending investors convert GDRs, listed on the London bourse, into shares that would be listed on Dubai’s stock market. Reuters A company needs to sell at least 55% of its stock to list on the main U.A.E. bourses – a regulation that has been blamed in part for the weak IPO market in the Arab Gulf country. After all, most big companies in the […]

BoA ordered to pay $1.27b for fraud

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Bank of America Corp to pay $1.27 billion of damages after a federal jury found the second-largest U.S. bank liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan ruled nine months after jurors found Bank of America and former Countrywide executive Rebecca Mairone liable for defrauding government-controlled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and […]

BRAND INDIA SET TO CHANGE, IN 90 DAYS

NEW DELHI: Under fire for sitting on foreign investment proposals for singlebrand retailing, the department of industrial policy and promotion has set a maximum time frame of 90 days to process all applications pending with it.

As many as 13 applications from foreign retailers, including Forever 21, Furla and Swarovski, to open single-brand company-owned stores in the country have been pending with the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) for several months.

“We will ensure zero pendency of applications at DIPP and strict compliance to the timeline from now on,” a department official said. DIPP, under the ministry of commerce and industry, is mandated with first-stage vetting

GAUTAM ADANI PLANS A 5000 MW PUSH INTO POWER SECTOR

NEW 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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HPCL TO GO SOLO ON ITS RS 700-CR LPG FACILITY

Mumbai: 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

Lawmakers Voice Skepticism on Iran Nuclear Deal

By DAVID E. SANGER July 29, 2014 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration officials engaged in nuclear negotiations with Iran ran into a wall of skepticism at two congressional hearings on Tuesday, with members of both parties insisting on a vote on any final agreement with the Tehran government and administration officials strongly hinting that they have little intention of complying. The disagreements surfaced after Wendy R. Sherman, the under secretary […]

Gold rises on Ukraine, Mideast conflicts

Gold hit its highest in nearly a week on Tuesday as violence flared in the Middle East and Ukraine, but gains were capped by uncertainty ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting and important U.S. data later this week. Israel’s military pounded targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country should prepare for a long conflict in the Palestinian enclave, […]

JPMorgan revenue drop forces job cuts

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. lender, is cutting hundreds of technology support employees in its corporate and investment bank amid a revenue decline, people with knowledge of the move said. Workers in locations including New York, Tampa, Chicago and Dubai were notified of the cuts this month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter. […]

Israel Destroys Home of a Top Political Leader for Hamas

A Palestinian displays a portrait of the deputy chief of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniya, in the rubble of his home in Gaza. By BEN HUBBARD and JODI RUDOREN July 29, 2014 GAZA CITY — Israeli airstrikes flattened the four-story home of Hamas’s top political leader in the Gaza Strip and destroyed offices of the movement’s radio and television station early Tuesday, suggesting a slight operational shift as the battle entered its 22nd […]

Modern marriage: Till de-glitching does us part

It seems that Generation Y has mistakenly taken its inspiration for matrimony from the short-lived marriages of Hollywood celebrities. Although many of them are in happy relationships now, their early attempts at marriage were famed for their brevity. Take Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton – they managed two years. Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries lasted three. Renée Zellweger and Kenny Chesney quit after six months. Till […]

UAE and Qatar compete as Saudi Arabia looks on

The Gulf states have become the most stable and influential force in the Arab world, with the decline of the Egyptian role, the spread of turmoil and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Algeria’s retreat on itself after the “black decade” of the 1990s. Because of political stability and increasing oil revenues, the Gulf states have accumulated financial wealth that has strengthened their political, economic and media influence in […]

Sharjah mandates banks for first sukuk issue

The emirate of Sharjah has appointed HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered to manage a debut sukuk transaction, according to two sources away from the transaction. One of the sources said that Sharjah Islamic Bank and the investment banking arm of Kuwait Finance House, KFH Financial, were also mandated on the deal. The transaction could come as early as September. Sharjah would become the […]

POST FM NUDGE, BIG BANKS WORK ON BUYOUT BLUEPRINT

MUMBAI: India’s banking sector may be getting ready for a wave of consolidation as the country tries to build institutions of world-class proportions. Four big state-run banks — State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India — have already begun an exercise to identify takeover targets to gain access to franchises that would augment their capabilities, said three top bankers familiar with the move.

The top managements of the four banks are in the process of preparing a blueprint that would explain the rationale for absorbing one or two entities, said the people cited above, none of whom wanted to be named.

Employees at these state-run banks are engaged in the exercise after f

FM MAY BRIEF RBI BOARD ON STEPS TAKEN TO CUT DEFICIT, NEED TO LOWER RATES ON AUGUST 9

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley will address the board of the Reserve Bank on August 9 amid expectations that the central bank will complement government actions by reducing rates to boost growth. “The meeting has been scheduled for August 9 where he would be addressing the board members and talk about announcements made in the Budget to perk up growth,” a source said. Jaitley is likely to inform the RBI board about the steps taken to contain the fiscal deficit and may underline the need to reduce interest rates to promote growth. It has been a custom that the finance minister addresses RBI board, consisting of RBI governor and existing three deputy governors, after the Budget. The meeting comes in the backdrop of the persistent high food

POWER MINISTRY MULLS RS 5,700 CRORE SUBSIDY FOR OPERATIONALISING GAS-BASED IDLE POWER CAPACITY

NEW DELHI: In a big push to 31,000-MW of electricity generation plants stranded without fuel, the power ministry has proposed a Rs 5,700 crore subsidy to help operationalise idle gas-based capacity, a loan restructuring scheme for such plants and the supply of coal to projects that will be commissioned before March 2015.

The proposals will benefit 24,148 MW of gas-based projects and 7,230 MW of plants that run on coal, set up at a total investment of about Rs 1,50,000 crore.

An additional 10,930 MW of coal-based plants that will be commissioned before March are also likely to gain. The ministry will approach the Union cabinet with a proposal to pool prices of imported gas and coal with domestic fuels to help stran

GAIL TO BUY 1/3 OF LNG SHIPS FROM INDIAN BUILDERS

New Delhi: GAIL (India), under a petroleum ministry directive, has decided to buy a third of the LNG ships it plans to acquire to ferry the fuel from the US to India, from Indian shipbuilders. Considering that the PSU, whose massive LNG imports from the US would start in 2017, has lined up investments to the tune of $7.6 billion for hiring the required specialised vessels, the move would give a big boost to the Indian shipbuilding industry.

Domestic players such as L&T and Pipavav are among the obvious beneficiaries of the decision, which is in line with the Modi government’s thrust on the domestic manufacturing sector. Although some analysts are doubtful about the feasibility of Indian ship makers meeting such huge demand g

Qatar spending growth slowest in 11 years

Qatar’s state spending increased 12.7 percent last fiscal year, the lowest rate in 11 years, as slow growth in current expenditure offset a sharp rise in funds spent on infrastructure projects, data showed on Sunday. Expenditure rose to a record high of 231.7 billion riyals ($63.6 billion) in the year that ended in March, from 205.6 billion riyals in 2012/13, preliminary finance ministry data released by the […]

Wait for compensation is nearly over for crash victims’ families

AL AIN // The long wait for compensation may soon be over for families of the victims of the UAE’s deadliest road accident. The Court of Appeal is to rule on the Dh4.2 million case on September 24, more than 18 months after the crash in Al Ain on February 4 last year. The victims – 19 from Bangladesh, one from India and one from Egypt – […]

DEBT MF TAX WILL BE MADE PROSPECTIVE, FINMIN WON’T APPEAL RETRO TAX VERDICTS

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