IPA Staff
16581 stories by IPA Staff
Delhi High Court’s Quick Dismissal Of Umar Khalid’s Bail Appeal Is Surprising
By Harshit Anand Everything got done within a matter of seconds. To a couple of non-lawyer friends, it seemed appalling, the brevity of it all. But court practitioners know this is how fates get sealed in our courts — matter name/number is called out, judgment is pronounced, the next...
Two-Rate GST Structure Approved; New Rates From September 22
NEW DELHI: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Wednesday reached a consensus to move to a simplified two-tier rate structure and exempt individual health and life insurance premiums from GST. However, Opposition-ruled states raised concerns about the lack of a...
Health Ministry Looks To Reduce Drug Development, Approval Timelines
MUMBAI: The Union health ministry is planning to amend the New Drugs and Clinical Trials (NDCT) Rules, 2019 to reduce delays in drug development and approval timelines in the country, with the overall statutory processing time for test licence applications expected to be reduced from 90 to 45 days....
India Services PMI Hits 15-Year High In August
NEW DELHI: The Indian services sector growth touched a 15-year high in August, driven by a sharp rise in new orders and output, amid substantial improvement in demand conditions, a monthly survey said on Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index was up from 60.5...
Switzerland Eases Norms To Implement FTA With India
NEW DELHI: Switzerland, the biggest economy of the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA), has adopted all the necessary regulatory amendments to implement the customs concessions agreed in the trade agreement with India. The agreement that was signed in March 2024, will become operational from October 1. Other members...
Indian Shadow Banks’ IPO Boom Falters Amid Mounting Credit Stress
MUMBAI: India’s once-burgeoning pipeline for new stock sales by shadow banks is stalling as strains across the sector prompt lenders to scrap or delay listings. TPG Inc.-backed SK Finance Ltd. and Belstar Microfinance Ltd. are the latest firms to shelve plans for initial public offerings, according to people familiar...
After Passing SCO Summit Test, Narendra Modi Faces Lula’s BRICS Meet On Monday
By Nitya Chakraborty After successfully passing the test of strategic autonomy for India at the just concluded summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Tianjin in China on August 31 and September 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces another test on Monday September 8 at the virtual meeting...
Timelines For Approval Of Legislations Look Increasingly Impractical
By K Raveendran The three-month timeframe set by the ruling of a two-judge Supreme Court bench requiring governors and the President to take a decision on bills referred to them, now being re-examined by a 5-member constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai, appears to have entered...
Proposed GST Reforms Are Aimed At Giving Some Relief To Textiles Exporters
By Dr. Nilanjan Banik One measure that will surely provide some respite to middle-class budgets is Prime Minister Modi’s proposal to the GST Council to reduce goods and services (GST) slab rates from the current four-tier structure of 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28% to a simplified two-tier system of...
Maharashtra Politics Has A New Twist After Maratha Quota Decision
By Dr. Gyan Pathak After the Maratha reservation movement activist Manoj Jarange ended his five-day hunger strike on September 2 and the agitation was called off for now after the Maharashtra government accepted several of their key demands, the politics in the state has now a new twist. Though...
Oil Import Bill Plays A Big Role In India’s Evolving Fiscal Strategy
By T N Ashok NEW YORK: Crude oil prices since 2020 have been a lesson in volatility: a pandemic plunge, a war-fuelled spike, and then a long, low-grade dance between OPEC+ policy and new supply from the Americas. For India — an import-dependent, fast-growing fuel consumer — those global...
India, China Relations Enter A Phase That Looks Increasingly Inevitable
By M A Hossain Sometimes, history moves not through bold declarations but through quiet recalibration. That is what unfolded in Tianjin on August 31, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. This was no...
NDA Led Bandh To Protest Rahul Gandhi’s Abuses Did Not Impact Normal Life In Bihar
By Sushil Kutty Prime Minister Narendra Modi shouldn’t have teared up lamenting the cuss words spoken against his late mother at a Bihar rally of the opposition attended by Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav, the two ‘Mahagathbandhan’ leaders driving the NDA nuts these days of run-up to the Bihar...
Mohan Bhagwat’s Support To RSS Cadres Movement Against Varanasi And Mathura Mosques Is Ominous
By Krishna Jha Concluding his three day lecture series in Delhi, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat made it clear that he would continue with his long held policy of letting his men keep hitting at the very roots of Indian democracy. He declared that while the RSS would not take...
Vietnam Completes 80 Years Of Independence Aspiring For A Brighter Future
By Amiad Horowitz HANOI: On Tuesday, September 2, the people of Vietnam filled the streets of their capital for the largest parade in the nation’s history, marking the 80th anniversary of their independence. From dawn—and in many cases, more than 24 hours earlier—crowds gathered along the parade route to...
India Seeks WTO Consultations With US Over 50% Duty Imposed On Certain Copper Products
NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday sought consultations with the US under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) safeguard agreement over 50 per cent tariffs imposed on certain copper products by America. This move comes after India reserved the right to impose retaliatory duties on select US products in response to...
India Hopeful Of Concluding Trade Pact With US By November: Piyush Goyal
NEW DELHI: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday expressed hope that India will conclude the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US by the fall or November this year. He said that “a little bit” of geopolitical issues overtook the trade matters in the negotiations for...
SBI Raises $500 Million In Five-Year Dollar Debt Sale At 4.5% Coupon Rate
MUMBAI: The nation’s largest lender State Bank of India has said it has closed its foreign debt issue raising $500 million from international debt investors through unsecured fixed rate notes, offering 4.5% to investors in annual reruns. The issue of unsecured fixed rate notes comes after the nation’s sovereign...
