MUMBAI: At one of the customary premonetary policy meetings with industry, former Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao wanted to know how many of those present would benefit from an interest rate cut. Almost all hands went up. The next question was how many would pass on the lower cost to customers. Almost no one raised their hands. Subbarao kept interest rates unchanged. The voice of […]
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 […]
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 […]
Children sit in their classroom in Dubai. IPO candidate Amanat is betting that healthcare spending and student enrolments in the Gulf will continue to grow rapidly. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images As U.A.E.-based greenfield company Amanat prepares to launch its initial public offering in Dubai next week, its target sectors healthcare and education appear increasingly crowded. Amanat is hoping to raise $374 million from investors, funds it will mainly […]
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 […]
US banking firm to host seminars across GCC DUBAI, 2 days ago US Freedom Capital, the premier EB-5 investment banking firm, is all set to launch its US immigration investment seminar across the GCC. The seminar will be covering Dubai, Abu Dhabi, in the UAE; Manama in Bahrain and Muscat in Oman, and will be part of a roadshow. The seminar will commence at the Shangri-La hotel […]
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 […]
Gold futures rose for the second straight day as the dollar’s decline boosted the metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. The greenback fell as much as 0.2 percent against a basket of 10 major currencies, erasing earlier gains, as yields eased on Treasury 10-year notes. Yesterday, the dollar slumped 0.9 percent, the most since Sept. 18, 2013, while gold climbed 1.2 percent, the biggest gain in two […]
By S. Sethuraman The world economy is yet to make a full exit of the 2008 financial crisis and its recessionary aftermath, so that growth prospects for 2014, the sixth year, have had to be revised down, with the disappointing and uneven recovery, mainly among advanced nations. And geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with limited impact so far, may hold greater risks […]
Regal position: escorting the Queen to Ladies Day at Royal Ascot Photo: Rex Features Forget Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. This week, we have had a glimpse behind the scenes of a real-life royal household, with the news that The Queen has been advertising for someone to remove chewing gum from the floors and furniture at Holyrood House. Her Majesty’s chosen cleaner must be available to prise pink […]
By S. Sethuraman The Reserve Bank of India’s Fourth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement on September 30 does not offer any hint of monetary easing in the near future, again citing risks to lowering at present the policy lending repo rate from 8 per cent it has maintained since April, in the current fiscal year. This leaves all other policy rates and reserve ratios unchanged, (reverse […]
By Surojit Mahalanobis It is better late than never. The news that the power minister Piyush Goyal has set up an inter-ministerial panel (IMC) to examine and move forward with effective allocation of the 214 coal blocks, after the Supreme Court’s recent order, is indeed acceptable. What is positive about the move is that the committee (IMC) would comprise engineers of power, steel, and mining sectors as […]
When Apple’s new operating system debuted, some were wondering whether they should upgrade to iOS 8 right away or wait a little while to make sure the mobile operating system was stable. Others were confident the upgrade would be flawless. Now, Crittercism, a mobile analytics firm, is showing why some had pause. When Crittercism analyzed data across iOS users from September 17 to September 22, the firm […]
The Rawabi project displayed at Cityscape Global in Dubai. Rory Jones for The Wall Street Journal New settlements in the West Bank are often heatedly discussed in Dubai. But at the emirate’s showcase real estate event Cityscape Global, it was Palestinian, not Jewish building that was on the tips of tongues. Rawabi, a controversial housing project billed as Palestine’s first planned city, was this week being sold […]
Actress Emma Thompson and her daughter Gaia take part in the “People’s Climate March” in central London Photo: REUTERS Down with climate change! Listen – and heed – Emma Thompson’s dire warning on global warming! There now, how’s that? Having satisfied everyone’s environmental conscience, let’s tackle the other burning (but, let me stress, not fossil-fuel) issue at the heart of the People’s Climate March in London at the […]
|TAP Special| Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, who has been replaced by Emirates Investment Authority chief executive Mubarak Rashid al-Mansouri as the new UAE central bank governor, was a hardcore dollar loyalist and had all along resisted any change in the dirham’s peg to the greenback. The outgoing governor has served in that position for over two decades and the entry of a financial professional as the […]
A project displayed at Cityscape Global 2014. Rory Jones for The Wall Street Journal Dubai’s showcase annual real-estate event appears to offer more substance than style this year: Cityscape Global had fewer glitzy property launches on day one than last year, and there were no backroom scuffles as investors scrambled to snap up units of premier developers. There was still plenty of real estate for sale as […]
Chinese-backed hackers infiltrated the computer networks of airline, shipping and information technology companies responsible for transporting personnel and weapons for the U.S. military, a Senate investigation found. There were 20 such breaches from June 2012 to May 2013, giving the hackers insight into military logistics and a foothold that could be used to disrupt operations, according to a report today by the Senate Armed Services Committee. While […]
Apple is generating plenty of buzz for its iPhone 6 and Apple Watch models, but behind the scenes it’s the iOS 8 that’s gluing all the innovations together. The tech giant will start rolling out the new version of its mobile operating system on September 17 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users as a free update. Apple is billing iOS 8 as a simpler, faster […]
|By TAP Staff| Gold traded near a three-month low as the dollar advanced on speculation the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates next year, curbing demand. Gold has declined 5.2 percent this quarter as the outlook for higher borrowing costs reduced demand for an inflation hedge. Fed policy makers will meet Sept. 16-17. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of 10 […]
RAK Ceramics For RAK Ceramics, the world’s biggest manufacturer of tiles, 2014 may become one of the most transformative periods in the company’s 23-year history. Investment firm Samena Capital this year bought a 31% stake in the company that in the past two decades has become the flagship business of Ras al Khaimah, the most northern of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, […]
By Christina Farr SAN FRANCISCO Sat Sep 6, 2014 6:41pm IST The leaf on the Apple symbol is tinted green at the Apple flagship store on 5th Ave in New York April 22, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid/Files SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc has invited top fashion editors and bloggers in unprecedented numbers to its Tuesday launch gala, further evidence that the iPhone maker is preparing to […]
By Kalyani Shankar Prime Minister Modi’s honeymoon with the public continues even as he completes 100 days in office. There are mixed reports about his performance as the opposition is looking for loopholes while his supporters are jubilant. But if one has to sum up his 100 days in office it could be described as “so far so good” as he has not committed any big blunder. […]
