Emerging-market stocks fell as the European Union and U.S. said they’re imposing tougher sanctions against Russia to punish President Vladimir Putin for supporting Ukrainian rebels. The Ibovespa fell the most in a month after Brazilian industrial production declined. India’s S&P BSE Sensex Index dropped for a second day as motorcycle manufacturer Hero MotoCorp Ltd. slid 1.6 percent. Stocks in South Korea and China advanced as automakers and […]
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 […]
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 […]
DUBAI // Cinemas, restaurants and shops were packed as thousands escaped the scorching heat and enjoyed the first day of Eid Al Fitr in Dubai and Abu Dhabi malls. Dubai Mall welcomed crowds as many people who had spent the past month fasting for Ramadan made the most of the end of the holy month. Although most of those enjoying a public holiday were residents, the high […]
Large sections of Gaza, including Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood, have been destroyed in the current 20-day battle with Israel. By JODI RUDOREN and BEN HUBBARD July 27, 2014 JERUSALEM — Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction that dominates the Gaza Strip, has more to boast about in its current 20-day battle against Israel than ever before. Forty-three Israeli soldiers have been killed in fierce fighting. Gunmen infiltrated Israel through tunnels five times. Rockets […]
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
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
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
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
The United States faces an awkward rival in its first attempts in 40 years to export crude oil – Iran. Iran, whose economy has been throttled by Western sanctions that have halved its crude shipments, is now selling higher quality and cheaper oil to China that leaves little room for the U.S. crude to enter the world’s top energy consumer. While buyers in Japan and South Korea […]
|By TAP Staff| The Saudi decision to open up the stock market to foreigners could eventually lead to the Middle East North Africa region becoming as large as 5.2 percent of MSCI emerging markets benchmark. The significance of the Saudi entry to the region’s profile is brought out by the fact that even after UAE and Qatar’s upgrade to emerging market status over a month ago, the […]
Israel says it has resumed its raids in Gaza because Palestinians have ignored the 24-hour extension of a humanitarian cease-fire that was requested by the United Nations. The military said Sunday “following Hamas’ incessant rocket fire throughout the humanitarian window, which was agreed upon for the welfare of the civilian population in Gaza, the IDF will now resume its aerial, naval and ground activity in the Gaza […]
A resolution to stop the illegal catching of sharks for their fins and throwing their bodies back into the sea will take effect from September 1. Dr Rashid bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, issued the resolution regulating the hunting and trading of sharks yesterday. It also aims to prevent the trading of live sharks caught in the fishing waters of the UAE, unless a permit […]
The European Union reached outline agreement on Friday to impose the first economic sanctions on Russia over its behavior in Ukraine but scaled back their scope to exclude technology for the crucial gas sector. The EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the chiefs of Russia’s FSB security service and foreign intelligence service and a number of other top Russian officials, saying they had helped […]
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
New 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
Hindustan 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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The extra cost from rerouting hundreds of airliners around Ukrainian airspace, shut down following the downing of a Malaysian Air flight last week, is set to translate into higher ticket prices for passengers. “If you lengthen routes, you use more fuel so it is more costly,” Air France-KLM Group (AF) Chief Executive Officer Alexandre de Juniac said in Paris today. “At the end of the day, we […]
Dubai construction company Arabtec’s former boss has sold about $4 million worth of shares in the group this week, cutting his stake slightly, stock exchange data showed. Arabtec’s shares have swung around wildly this year on apparent tensions between chief executive Hasan Ismaik and Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, also a major Arabtec shareholder. Ismaik resigned abruptly in June. Ismaik cut his stake to 28.77 percent […]
NEW 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.
New 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
BANGALORE: 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 […]
NEW 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
