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By Harihar Swarup Indian people have reason to be thoroughly disillusioned with two national parties—the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. A sharp decline in the performance of the Congress party would not have been a matter of much concern, had its major national alternative, the BJP,...
By S. Sethuraman The Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington (April 20-22) will address on how to outgrow the global crisis with co-ordinated actions for the future with the accent on social and financial inclusion designed to reduce inequalities, create jobs...
NEW DELHI: Wind power producers could find themselves bound to give generation schedules if the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has its way. The regulator feels that if the producers give the exact schedule, give or take 30 per cent, it will help in keeping continued supply of electricity. A...
NEW DELHI: Coal ministry will have powers to overrule the proposed independent coal regulator that will decide price of the fuel, allot mining licences, monitor quality and adherence of rules by mining companies. Though the coal ministry has maintained that it will surrender all its powers to the regulator,...
NEW DELHI: Sriprakash Jaiswal has revived the turf war – literally – over NTPC’s North Karanpura power project in Jharkhand. The coal minister has raised the red flag over building such ‘super structures’ on coal-bearing land on the ground these would block efforts to rapidly ramp up production of...
NEW DELHI: Coal and lignite are set to become dearer as the Government has approved revision in royalty rates to a flat 14 per cent and 6 per cent of the prices respectively. The new rates are likely to come into effect in about a month after the revision...
A lower share of subsidies for downstream companies and any fuel price rise will add to the positives MUMBAI: The commissioning of the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, operated by a 49:49 joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Mittal Energy, on March 29 will help HPCL reduce...
NEW DELHI: India will raise retail prices of subsidised fuels, including diesel, once parliament approves the finance bill for the current fiscal year early next month, a senior government source with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Parliament is expected to consider the finance bill on May 7...
NEW DELHI: The country’s diesel consumption rose a massive 11.9 per cent in 2011-12, leading to an expected 4.9 per cent growth in the sale of petroleum products in the just-ended financial year. That will mark a four-year-high growth, which is significantly above 2.9 per cent in 2010-11. The...
MUMBAI: Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the local currency rating of ONGC and GAIL. However, it retained stable outlook for these companies. ONGC has been downgraded to Baa1 from A2 and GAIL to Baa2 from A3. The rating reflects Moody’s view that both ONGC and GAIL cannot be completely...
NEW DELHI: When Mumbai-born Yasmine Hilton takes charge of Shell India in October, she will run the biggest multinational energy operation in the country, but she will have to steer growth in a policy regime that has exasperated state firms and Reliance Industries, and frustrated her suave and well-connected...
Oil markets are better-supplied for the first time since 2009 as “sluggish” demand and Opec output at more than a three-year peak eased inventory depletion, according to the International Energy Agency. Global oil inventories may have increased by more than 1 million barrels in the first quarter, the Paris-based...
GENEVA: India has vaulted to the top of the list of Iran’s oil customers, overtaking China, in a first quarter buying surge ahead of tighter sanctions against Tehran this summer, data published by a leading industry consultant showed. Direct imports to India from Iran were 433,000 barrels per day...
Keeping the high costs of hardware upgrade in mind, India’s Rafale negotiators will be well-advised to seek firm contractual assurances. They will also keep in mind that the order is a life-or-death situation for Rafale and leverage that advantage to extract maximum benefits from the French firm. Dassault Aviation...
After the Army chief General V. K. Singh warned to the central govt. that his entire tank fleet is devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks, the government is fast-tracking orders to arm the T-90S main-battle tanks with missiles and specialized ammunition to outclass Pakistan on the western...
CHENNAI: Indian Navy today commissioned its third Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) squadron in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, a move that would enhance the coastal security along the East Coast. Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command, commissioned the INAS 344, known as ‘Spirited...
Preparations are on in full swing at the Wheelers Island off the Odisha coast for a series of tests of the three variants of the Agni Missiles. This will include testing India’s longest range ballistic missile Agni-5 which is termed as an ICBM Missile. Prior to the first development...
NEW DELHI: The erstwhile NDA English School has been upgraded to an ARMY Public School, while Tiny Tots School has also been upgraded to NDA Army Pre-Primary School. Both the schools will function under the aegis of the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES), which is at present running 123...