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MUMBAI: Moody’s Investors Services on Thursday said it was reviewing ratings for ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank for a possible downgrade, following a change in its rating methodology. The agency, clarified however, that the debt and deposit ratings for these private sector lenders remained unaffected. In another...
By S. Sethuraman The AIADMK supremo, Ms. Jayalalithaa, building on the massive mandate she secured in the May 2011 elections, has put Tamil Nadu back on its growth trajectory to reclaim its place in the top league of states, with a slew of fiscal balancing measures, fulfilling her poll...
By Praful Bidwai Such is the strength of chauvinist hyper-nationalism in India and Pakistan that the launch of the Agni-V, officially called an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), followed by the Hatf-IV-Shaheen-1 A launch in Pakistan, was greeted with machismo, raucous celebration and sabre-rattling. Most Indian political parties lavished praise...
By B.K. Chum in Chandigarh The expected has happened. The optimism expressed in this column six weeks ago that Pakistan may shelve the Kashmir issue “temporarily” has been turned into a reality. The Pakistani establishment has now officially admitted having put the Kashmir issue on the backburner. Their focus...
From K. Raveendran in Dublin The buzzword in the IT world, if there was one, in the eighties was the hardware, with the likes of IBM dominating the scene entirely. In the next decade, the focus shifted to software as Microsoft relegated everything else to insignificance. Then came the...
From P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A concerted move by the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML), riding high after securing a fifth ministerial berth in the Kerala Cabinet, to strengthen its hold on the Calicut University has suffered a major setback. The setback is being construed as an offshoot of...
NEW DELHI: Top Indian honchos today — Mr Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Mr Mukesh D. Ambani, and Mr Anil Agarwal — are all vying for the biggest slice of India’s energy pie. So, when steel magnate, Mr Mittal, dived into oil refining, all eyes turned to the refinery project in...
NEW DELHI: On March 29 this year, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) fully operationalised its nine million tonnes a year or 180,000 barrels a day Guru Gobind Singh Refinery at Phullokari, Bhatinda, Punjab. With this,India’s refinery capacity reached close to 212 million tonnes or 4.24 million barrels a day. Mr...
BATHINDA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will tomorrow inaugurate the Rs 21,500 crore joint venture refinery of the Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Lakshmi Narayan Mittal near here amidst hope of further cementing trade ties between India and Pakistan. The petroleum products of the refinery are expected to be exported...
NEW DELHI: The government has accepted the proposal seeking hike in prices of gas supplied by Oman to an Indian fertiliser plant in the Gulf nation to $ 1.5 per mmBtu for this year, a move that will ensure uninterrupted supply of urea to the Indian market. The government’s...
Crude oil prices are shooting through the roof, but India may have to continue to rely significantly on imports. India’s oil exploration firms have missed their targets yet again. After committing to produce 206.8 million tonnes of crude oil in 2007-12, the 11 {+t} {+h} Plan period, they actually...
NEW DELHI: Billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal and an IOCL company are formally opening a $4 billion (Rs 210.36 crore) refinery on the northern border with Pakistan as the countries that have fought three wars seek to stimulate trade. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to inaugurate the plant on...
COLOMBO: The Indian Oil Corporation has expressed interest in the Sri Lankan government’s plans to refurbish the island’s only refinery that will cost USD two billion. “We have expressed our interest”, Suresh Kumar the IOC’s Colombo chief told PTI. He said that Lankan IOC have had several rounds of...
NEW DELHI: After the adverse tariff and compression charges order, the capital’s monopoly compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) player Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) may lose its marketing exclusivity to new players. Downstream petroleum regulator, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is finalising an...
NEW DELHI: State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has resumed cargo operations at the nation’s third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Dabhol after it repaired fenders at the port that were damaged by rough sea. A ship carrying maiden or the so called commissioning cargo, which will be...
MUMBAI: State-run energy explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has approved a proposal to invest Rs 600 crore for development of the Western Periphery as a part of the Mumbai High South Field, Phase III Redevelopment. The project, scheduled to be completed by December 2014, is expected to result...
CHENNAI: State-run Indian Oil Corp today said restricted availability of fuel in four southern states was “temporary” due to partial shutdown of Mangalore Refinery Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and supply would resume soon. “The diesel supply problem experienced currently is temporary and is owing to partial shutdown of MRPL from...
MUMBAI: The earnings of India’s most valuable company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), will likely remain weak over the next two fiscal years, but will gain momentum after that, brokerage firms’ analysts said in research reports written after meeting the company’s management. The company’s operating profit may even double from...