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By Anjan Roy Responding to the strident criticisms of his budget proposals for introduction of retrospective effect to tax law changes going back to 1962, the finance minister has now stated that tax claims will not be applicable to and tax claims be made in cases where final tax...
By Praful Bidwai Fully eight weeks after the results of the Assembly elections which brought defeat and humiliation to the Congress in four out of five states, the party is waking up to reality and acknowledging that it’s in deep crisis. Not only does it have serious difficulties in...
NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a missile defence shield which can be put in place at short notice to protect at least two cities.United States,RussiaandIsraelare the only other nations who have such a missile defence shield. The shield has been tested successfully and...
NEW DELHI: The oil ministry’s move to disallow Reliance Industries (RIL) recovery of $1 billion cost at its KG D6 block until gas production improves, is unlikely to hurt the company significantly. For the government, the move at this juncture would mean an immediate revenue flow of $100 million...
NEW DELHI: Extending an helping hand to power-starved Bihar, the Centre has agreed to allocate 50% of electricity from upcoming 1,320 MW NTPC’s Barh unit inPatnadistrict. It has also agreed to expeditiously take up the fuel linkage issue related to Barauni expansion with the Coal Ministry. The assurance was...
Mumbai: The Hinduja Group, owned by the London-based non-resident Hinduja family, will sell a minority stake in truck financier Ashok Leyland Finance or ALFL to private equity investors to raise roughly R100 crore by June and an additional R100 crore by January 2013, a senior company official said. “The...
NEW DELHI: n Exports toIndiashowed a record jump of 40.96% in 2011-12, whileJapan’s imports fromIndiagrew only 18.39% Since the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) took effect last August, trade between the two countries has grown a bit faster compared with the traditional growth. However, this is in favour...
NEW DELHI: GSM telecom service providers, who are meeting Communications Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday, will question three key recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the re-auction of 2G (second-generation) spectrum. These would include the assumption that the base price for 1,800 MHz spectrum must...
NEW DELHI: With excess coal becoming an issue of contention in the Sasan ultra mega power project (UMPP) of Reliance Power in Madhya Pradesh, the government has decided to be cautious and allot coal blocks only after a higher degree of certainty about reserves. The ministry of power is...
NEW DELHI: Weeks after Pakistan opened up a long-standing barrier to Indian imports by moving to a negative list of trade items from a restrictive positive list, 45 Indian CEOs are headed to Lahore for a two-day conference with the who’s who of the Pakistani establishment including prime minister...
NEW DELHI: The government appears to have buckled under political pressure, as the finance ministry is set to take a diluted version of the Insurance Bill to the Cabinet in the coming week. The revised Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill proposes to retain the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in...
By Anjan Roy The union cabinet has cleared a long pending change in banking regulation which can have deep impact on how banks are run in the country. The amendment bill raises the voting right of bank shareholders. A bill making the necessary changes in the banking act will...
Badal Clueless On Action Programme By B.K. Chum in Chandigarh Eight weeks are too short a period to judge the performance of a new ministry. But the eight weeks yardstick cannot be applied to the incumbent Badal-led Akali-BJP government which took oath on March 14 as the coalition, for...
India will soon approve a deal withPilatusfor 75 PC-7 Mk.2 basic trainer aircraft to train it’s rookie air force pilots. The deal is expected to be approved shortly, withIndia’s apex Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) scrutinizing the final contract. A Korea Aerospace company, whose KT-1 trainer was runner-up in...
Blackstone Group LP (BX.N), the world’s largest alternative asset manager, is close to securing a major managed account on behalf of CalPERS, one of private equity’s largest investors, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. In an increasingly competitive fundraising environment, diversified private equity firms have been...
CHANDIGARH: With the USD 4 billion Bathinda oil refinery getting commissioned, fund-starved Punjab government will now give incentives, which were promised by it for the setting up of the ambitious 9 million tonne per annum project. An Empowered Committee headed by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is likely...
NEW DELHI: Armed with the attorney-general\’s opinion that the Electricity Act makes it obligatory for power distribution companies (discoms) and bulk consumers to sign agreements for electricity purchase, the Centre has directed all states to institute mandatory open access regimes in distribution. The toughening of stand comes after similar...
NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on food and consumer affairs has recommended CBI to look into cases of irregularities in the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) exchanges. “Despite regulatory mechanism in the FMC, there are reported cases of trading irregularities and market manipulations…The Committee recommends that FMC should seriously...