Iran’s revenue from crude sales, the OPEC member nation’s most important export, dropped 30 percent because of the recent drop in global oil prices, according to President Hassan Rouhani. “International conditions are such that the country’s main source of income, i.e. oil revenues, has been cut by some 30 percent,” Rouhani said in remarks to the nation’s parliament that were published today by the Oil Ministry’s news […]
Alongside the Dubai Mall, one of the world’s largest shopping centers, sits an ersatz version of what would be an authentic retail experience in most Persian Gulf cities: an Arab souk. If, in the evening, you stroll through this air-conditioned, hassle- and haggle-free caricature of a market, staffed mostly by smiling South Asians, you can amble out onto the shores of man-made Burj Khalifa Lake, named after […]
Bank Muscat unit plans maiden sukuk in Q1 2015 DUBAI, 6 hours, 32 minutes ago The Islamic unit of Bank Muscat , Oman’s largest lender, plans to tap the Islamic bond market in the first quarter of next year, in what would be the first sukuk sale by a bank in the country, a bank official said on Wednesday. The lender has received regulatory approval for the […]
Al Gergawi … Islamic economy aims at developmentof societies Cross-border partnerships crucial to Islamic economy growth DUBAI, 10 hours, 0 minutes ago The growth of the Islamic economy has the ability to unlock economic opportunities and improve socio-economic stability through cross border partnerships, the opening ceremony of the 10th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) stated. The opening session was graced by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al […]
By G. Srinivasan The Modi Government is overly obsessed head over heels with economic reforms so much so that even before the results of the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections were out, it announced the decontrol of diesel price and a higher price for natural gas. These are the boldest reform strokes the stakeholders had been crying for that hold out the desirably salutary and intended impact […]
From L.S. Herdenia BHOPAL: After Assembly and Lok Sabha elections Madhya Pradesh is again in election mode. While Madhya Pradesh electors voted for Assembly at the end of 2013, the first five months of the current year were also marked by election fever, now the stage is set for local elections in November and December. Elections mean total suspension of developmental activities. The ruling Bharatiya […]
NEW DELHI: Life Insurance Corporation of India, the country’s largest insurer, will consider increasing its holding in companies in which the government plans to sell shares this year, possibly up to the 15% limit allowed. LIC, which is also the country’s largest investor, is expected to invest about Rs 55,000 crore in the equity markets this financial year, up from about Rs 51,000 crore in 2013-14. […]
New Delhi: In a bid to take advantage of the bullish stock market sentiment, the finance ministry has kicked off the exercise to cut government stake in public sector banks to 51% and enable them to raise fresh capital to meet their growth requirements. Sources told TOI that the ministry has moved a cabinet note as the government is keen that banks are well capitalized to meet […]
NEW DELHI: Private-sector power plants with a combined capacity of over 1 lakh MW, including plants of 36,500 MW that have been deprived of their captive coal blocks thanks to a recent Supreme Court verdict will get “firm coal linkage” if the Cabinet approves a plan put forth by the power ministry. Pooling of domestic (Coal India) and imported coal will be done to ensure these […]
NEW DELHI: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, on Tuesday signed an agreement to pick an up to 50 per cent stake in PetroVietnam’s two exploration blocks in the South China Sea. OVL will take a 40 per cent stake in Block 102/10 and 50 per cent in 106/10 that lie outside the sea territory claimed by China. PetroVietnam, […]
Mumbai: In the first big boost to the government’s “Make in India” initiative, aimed at making India a manufacturing hub, Airbus Defence and Space and Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) on Tuesday announced a joint bid for a government contract to supply military aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF). The IAF is looking to replace its fleet of Avro aircraft and the joint venture will supply Airbus’ […]
Global SWFs: Assets under Management (USD billion), 2014 GeoEconomica The sovereign wealth funds of the energy-rich Arab Gulf are some of the world’s largest pools of capital, collectively holding more than $1 trillion of assets. But their strategies, returns and approaches to risk aren’t often disclosed, something political risk consultancy GeoEconomica singles them out for in a new report. Gulf funds lag global peers in compliance with […]
Look at computer models for the Venice-like Arabian Canal proposed for central Dubai, or the plans for the world’s biggest shopping mall, and it seems as if the collapse of the United Arab Emirates real estate market six years ago never happened. Citibank estimated earlier this year that there were already two thirds of a trillion dollars worth of construction projects underway in the UAE. That was […]
Storage giant EMC is making bold moves in the hybrid cloud market, acquiring three companies in the space and announcing that it has “redefined” the hybrid cloud for the enterprise with the roll out of the Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Solution. First, the acquisitions. EMC grabbed The Cloudscaling Group, Maginatics, and Spanning Cloud Apps for undisclosed amounts. The company said these acquisitions help forward its hybrid cloud vision […]
For the latest smartphone in the Droid line, Verizon and Motorola tackled one most common complaint from users of those devices: battery life. The two companies unveiled the Droid Turbo on Tuesday, and Motorola said the phone’s battery can last for a full two days — 48 hours — of normal use. The oversize battery has a huge 3,900 milliamp-hours (mAh) of power. By comparison, the iPhone […]
Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters are headed to Kobani to help Syrian Kurds who have been fighting Islamic State militants since September for control of the town just south of the Turkish border. Saleh Moslem, co-chairman of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Reuters that some peshmerga fighters were expected to arrive in Kobani late Tuesday. Kurdish officials said 80 fighters, equipped with artillery and machine guns, […]
By Praful Bidwai With its impressive performance in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has clearly reconfirmed its status, established by the Lok Sabha elections, as the principal pole or central point of reference in Indian politics. Behind its latest success, and not least its marginalisation of established regional parties in the two states, lie medium- and long-term factors which are likely to […]
By Subrata Majumder There were two intent of Prime Minister Modi’s labour reforms. One, it was to protect the lower category of workers who are deprived of their social security after changing the jobs. Second, it was to encourage the entrepreneurs to set up factories by letting them free from factory Inspector Raj. Huge amount of Provident Fund is lying unclaimed because of complex bureaucratic procedures. […]
Shares of Indian companies with key markets in Europe such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Bharat Forge, Motherson Sumi and Crompton Greaves have crashed by as much as 19% since mid-September on concerns their earnings may get adversely affected by the slowdown in the region. However, analysts say investors should buy some of these stocks. “We are positive on companies such as Tata Motors, Bharat Forge […]
New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Monday scrapped the selection of six chiefs of public sector banks, recommended under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, following a high-level panel finding irregularities in the process followed. The probe into selections for banks such as Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank followed the arrest of tainted Syndicate Bank Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) S K Jain […]
NEW DELHI: The NDA government has finally taken the first step towards formulating a policy for hydropower projects on the Ganga — Alakananda and Bhagirathi rivers —in Uttarakhand. Water resources minister Uma Bharti informed the National Ganga River Basin Authority on Monday that a committee comprising officials of the environment and water resources ministry had been asked to review the reports of three committees dealing with […]
Gulf Cooperation Council countries may see their current-account surplus decline by $175 billion next year if oil prices stay about $80 a barrel, according to the International Monetary Fund. The projected surplus for the six GCC countries may plunge from $275 billion to about $100 billion next year, Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the IMF, said in an interview in […]
IMF Middle East director Masood Ahmed says risks associated with Dubai’s property market have decreased, in part due to steps taken by local authorities to stamp out speculation. Reuters A recent surge in Dubai real estate prices has become less of a worry for the International Monetary Fund, its Middle East director said Monday, reversing his earlier calls for additional reforms to prevent another market bubble. An […]
UAE Exchange… handling 7.9 million customers worldwide UAE Exchange remittances top $25 billion DUBAI, 1 days ago UAE Exchange, the leading global money transfer, foreign exchange and payment solutions brand, said it handled $25.4 billion in remittances in 2013 and has a share of 6.1 per cent of the global remittance volume. Celebrating the brand’s 34th anniversary, UAE Exchange said in a statement that, it currently handles […]
