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defBangalore: Electronics production in the country’s Defence sector touched Rs. 13,800 crore during 2013-14 and is expected to grow over 15 per cent this year, said Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA) President Subhash Goyal.

 

The production of strategic electronics stood at Rs. 12,000 crore in 2012-13 and has been growing steadily from Rs. 5,700 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 9,000 crore during 2010-11.

 

ELCINA has been holding the strategic electronics summit (SES) since 2010. This year it is being held in Bangalore on July 30 and 31.

 

The SES brings all stakeholders together on one platform to enable a better understanding of Defence requirements. The summit also aims to facilitate

DUBAI // Nearly 20 years ago a filmmaker and a musician tracked down a group of long-forgotten entertainers in Havana and turned them into global music and movie stars. Wim Wenders and Ry Cooder sparked a rebirth of traditional Cuban music with The Buena Vista Social Club. Now the filmmaker Ray Haddad and the British musician Jason Carter aim to do the same with the musical tradition […]

Op-Ed Contributors Overblown Fears of Foreign Fighters By CHAMS EDDINE ZAOUGUI and PIETER VAN OSTAEYEN July 29, 2014 BRUSSELS — Since the start of the Syrian civil war, the phenomenon of foreign fighters has been watched warily by Western governments. This is no surprise: Syria is the No. 1 destination for jihadists. Over the last few months, the fear that foreign fighters will return to the West and carry out terrorist attacks has […]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits India this week as Washington tries to revitalize ties it sees as a counterbalance to China’s rising power, but rapid progress is unlikely, despite the reformist reputation of India’s new leader. The visit by Kerry, and a trip by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel next month, follow the resounding election win of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May and are meant […]

inMUMBAI: 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

fsNew 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

egNEW 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

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ogNew 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

defNew Delhi: The NDA government has deferred its decision on the procurement of 16 multi-role helicopters for the Indian Navy as one of the two companies in the race for the deal is linked with Finmeccannica– the parent organisation of the scam-tainted firm AgustaWestalnd.

 

The Defence Acquisition Council headed by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley put off its decision on the procurement of the helicopters for the Navy from vendors including American Sikorsky and European NH Industries, which has Finmeccannica as one of its partners, highly-placed sources said.

 

Finmeccannica is the parent firm of AgustaWestland firm, whose Rs 3,600 crore contract for supplying 12 VVIP choppers to the IAF has been scrapped by the

The parent company of a scandal-hit Chinese food supplier said it is withdrawing all products made by the subsidiary. Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd, owned by Illinois-based OSI Group LLC, is at the center of a major food safety scandal, which has spread from China to Hong Kong and Japan, over allegations it mixed fresh and expired meat. In a statement posted on its website late Saturday, […]

|By TAP Staff| Dubai is behind UK’s Heathrow International airport by only fewer than 3,000 passengers daily to become the world’s biggest airport for international traffic. Considering that this number is equivalent to just 12 flights, Dubai can be expected to overtake Heathrow any time in future. “It can be expected Dubai will power ahead, having earned the right to the title of world’s leading airport,” said […]

fsNew Delhi: The government will come up with a new Bill to regulate the micro-finance institutions after consultation with states, finance minister Arun Jaitley told Lok Sabha on Friday. “We have started the consultation process with everyone, including state governments, to prepare a new Bill,” he said. The Micro Finance Institutions Development and Regulation Bill, 2012, was introduced in Lok Sabha on May 22, 2012, and was referred to the Standing Committee, which submitted its final report on February 17, 2014. The committee had urged the government to have wider consultations with state governments and stakeholders and bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament, he said. The Bill lapsed due to the dissolution of Lok Sabha and shall have

egThe 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

ogHindustan 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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defBEIJING: 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

More than 90% of enterprises in the Arab world can be considered small and medium-sized enterprises. The growing importance of small and medium-sized firms requires a need to help those enterprises and to develop sustainable growth, networks for change and management development. In this column I will introduce new role-models for small and medium-sized companies. An emerging role-model for medium-sized companies is Germany with its more than […]

fsNew 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

egNEW 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.

 

ogNew Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government plans to do away with the limit of one subsidized cooking gas cylinder per household.

 

The move comes before assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Jharkhand slated to happen later this year.

 

The issue is expected to be taken up soon by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA).

 

To reduce its subsidy bill and cut the fiscal deficit, the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had restricted the number of subsidized domestic cylinders per household to six every year in September 2012, revising it to nine the following January. The cap was revised in January 2014 to 12 cylinders pe

defBANGALORE: 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.

 

DP World, the world’s third-largest port operator, said it is confident of exceeding industry growth predicted to reach about 5 percent in 2014 as it adds capacity and global trade picks up. First-half throughput grew 9.3 percent on a like-for-like basis to 29.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units across its group of container terminals, it said in a statement to Nasdaq Dubai today. On a reported basis, gross […]

Following the U.A.E. Central Bank’s regulation to limit GRE exposure, Emirates NBD pledged to trim this. But its latest financial statement shows that lending to sovereign entities has only increased. As Dubai’s flagship bank, Emirates NBD’s lending is inevitably concentrated accordingly around the emirate’s government and its various entities. In times of crisis, as ENBD learned the hard way in previous years, that sizeable single-party exposure can […]

As Dubai’s flagship bank, Emirates NBD’s lending is inevitably concentrated accordingly around the emirate’s government and its various entities. In times of crisis, as ENBD learned the hard way in previous years, that sizeable single-party exposure can have devastating consequences. Emirates NBD’s exposure to debt-laden Dubai has risen in recent years. Reuters ENBD had some bitter pills to swallow in the aftermath of the global financial crisis […]

inNEW DELHI: Rebutting the department of industrial policy and promotion’s (DIPP) contention that import surges due to bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) harmed India’s manufacturing sector, the commerce department, part of the ministry to which the DIPP belongs, has said India needs to persist with the strategy of embracing such pacts to integrate itself more seamlessly to the world trade order.

 

In a letter to DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant, who has been vocal against FTAs and comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPAs), Rajeev Kher, his counterpart in the commerce department, said that instead of attacking (past) FTAs without any factual basis, it is better for the government to look ahead and use such partnerships for

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