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By Praful Bidwai The contrast between India’s two recent science and technology (S&T) projects couldn’t have been starker. One, by delivering accurate early warnings about Cyclone Hudhud, saved thousands of human lives, and prevented destruction of property on a monstrous scale. The other put India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Mangalyaan spacecraft successfully into a distant orbit around the planet—a technological achievement, but without much scientific, leave alone […]

Mumbai: After years of regulatory dithering, foreign and domestic institutions might look forward to entry into the commodity derivatives market. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) are meeting next week to consider the proposal, suggested by a sub-committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council. Allowing domestic financial institutions such as banks and mutual funds was made by the commodities markets […]

NEW DELHI: Eighty-eight infrastructure and industrial projects, involving investment of nearly Rs 3 lakh crore – which is more than the Centre’s budgeted income tax collections for the current financial year – have become operational over the past few months. This will help in adding jobs and easing pressure on banks, which had lent to the projects that got stuck due to lack of government clearances.   […]

Iran, which faces sanctions on crude exports, sees no need for OPEC to hold an emergency meeting, a sign that markets may need to wait a month before the world’s biggest producer group responds to falling prices. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has consulted with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about political and economic reasons for the collapse in prices, the ministry’s news website Shana reported today. No […]

The founder of drinks maker PIPER says an IPO would help bank roll the firm’s international expansion strategy. Piper Dubai-based PIPER is considering an initial public offering of shares to help fuel the “feel good” drink maker’s global growth plans. “We are looking at ways to raise new capital to expand the brand globally,” said PIPER Founder Jeremy Miocevic. A share sale would help fund the production […]

By S. Sethuraman   As the slow-grinding economy enters the second half of fiscal 2015, a tinge of optimism pervades policy-making circles in Modi Government that recovery would now begin to gather some steam to hit at least a minimum of 5.5 per cent GDP growth, in a distinctly improving macro-economic environment.   Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now put in place a new economic team to […]

NEW DELHI: After announcing several labour reforms last week, the Narendra Modi government is considering allowing workers to participate in board decision of state-run firms such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Coal India, NTPC, Indian Oil Corporation and BHEL. The policy proposal, an initiative of the labour ministry, is expected to be initially confined to state-run enterprises, but its scope could be enlarged later to include […]

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NEW DELHI: Private power producers have raised several concerns over bidding norms for ultra mega power plants (UMPPs), particularly the design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) model where lenders’ exposure to the project is not fully secured.   Under the model, developers are required to transfer the power plant to the government at the end of the contract period, a provision that makes potential lenders jittery.   Last week, Adani Power, […]

There were six in contention; four were dropped, and one became the Chosen One: The Rafale.   In French, ‘Rafale’ poetically means a ‘sudden gust of wind.’   It was one of the six fighter aircraft in competition for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, MMRCA, when the Indian Air Force wanted to acquire 126 polyvalent fighter planes.   In April 2011, the IAF shortlisted two birds — […]

Rescue team members carry avalanche victims to safety at Thorong La pass Photo: AP In the wake of one of Nepal’s worst trekking disasters, the rescue efforts are just beginning. Already, harrowing stories are emerging. Hundreds of tourists and Nepalis have been caught up in the recent snow storms and avalanches in the Himalayan mountains, killing more than 40 and injured nearly 200. One British visitor spoke of […]

Oil’s collapse into a bear market is excessive because there’s no oversupply to justify the selloff, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The bank is “near-term constructive about prices” after they fell too much, too soon, analysts including Jeffrey Currie, the head of commodities research in New York, wrote in a report e-mailed today. While expectations of a glut have driven down crude, the risk of a […]

This was not the first time something had gone wrong with the car Photo: ALAMY (POSED BY MODEL) There are some experiences that you know shorten your life, even if only by tiny increments. One of them is dealing with car trouble and car dealerships. On Monday I took our Citroën – groovy in design but prone to unreliability – to the main dealer for a minor service. […]

By Barun Das Gupta   KOLKATA: One of the first priorities of the NDA Government on coming to power was to address the task of speedily narrowing down the asymmetrical gap in India’s defence vis-à-vis China along the entire Himalayan border.  In fact, this should have begun in right earnest more than half a century ago, immediately after India’s disastrous military defeat at the hands of the […]

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government made a volte face of sorts on Friday when it cited the same reasons that the previous Congress-led regime had given to keep secret the names of people who have allegedly stashed black money in overseas accounts.   In an application to the Supreme Court, which had directed the government to reveal those names, the government said such a step would […]

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: India Friday called for building the SAARC power grid so that excess power produced in one region of South Asia can be used to meet deficits elsewhere.   Addressing the fifth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation energy ministers meet here, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said that with the implementation of such a grid, hydel power generated in India’s northeast, for instance, could be transported […]

NEW DELHI: India is likely to next month sign a deal to lay an oil pipeline to Nepal for supply of petrol, diesel and ATF, said Sunil Kumar Thapa, Commerce Minister of the Himalayan nation.   Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Nepal in August had “assured that India will assist in putting up a pipeline,” he told reporters after meeting Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan […]

New Delhi: Shortly after 10 am on Friday, while the prime minister was exhorting an annual meeting of top military commanders from the Army, Navy and Air Force to be ready for any call to arms, India’s newest missile blasted off from a canister at the Chandipur test range on the coast of Odisha.   This was the Nirbhay long-range cruise missile, which can hit a target […]

[embedded content] The Prizm lens is Oakley’s latest contribution to snow goggle science that offers an enhanced, super-high contrast view in even the flattest light conditions. Available in a variety of colors, this new technology is also offered for nearly every goggle frame in the Oakley snow sports lineup. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it […]

Syrian Kurdish refugees wait behind the border fences to cross into Turkey near the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc on Friday. Reuters SURUC—Some 1,000 people fleeing Islamic State insurgents in Kobani, remain stranded in a no-man’s-land at the Turkish-Syrian border. Some have been sleeping in their vehicles for a month, waiting for the fighting around the city to end, meanwhile risking their lives. Cars, taxi cabs, trucks, […]

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: 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 […]

NEW DELHI: DRDO is developing an air-launched version of the 1,500-km-range Nirbhay sub-sonic cruise missile which would be capable of being fired from the Air Force’s frontline Su-30MKI combat aircraft.   “This Nirbhay missile would be capable of being used from air, land and ships and submarines. An air-launched version of the missile is also being planned,” DRDO chief Avinash Chander told PTI here.   He said […]

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