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By Kalyani Shankar Should the cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar reject his Rajya Sabha nomination? Was there any politics behind the super cricket star’s nomination? Should he have got Bharat Ratna instead? Will Sachin join politics? These are some of the questions, being debated after the “Little master” has been...
By Rashmi Saksena DAMASCUS: It is spring time inSyria. Juicy oranges heaped in ‘souks’ (markets) are being sold at Rs 5 a kg. The olive trees are weighed down by fruit and almonds are being served by the plateful in the coffee houses that dot every lane in Damascus....
By Nora Chopra Union Defence Minister AK Antony is Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s new hatchet man. It seems Sonia Gandhi has found a replacement for Pranab Mukherjee.Antonyis all set to be the leader of Lok Sabha and can even be made deputy PM if Pranab-Da moves over to Rashtrapati...
NEW DELHI: With the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) talking tough on enforcing the 25 per cent shareholding deadline, companies facing the heat have started turning to the finance ministry for an extension. Senior finance ministry officials confirmed the development but strongly declined the possibility of extension...
NEW DELHI: Exports fell for the first time since the 2009 global financial crisis in March this year, as demand weakened in the US and Europe. Exports dropped 5.7 per cent to $28.6 billion from the same period a year earlier. Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar warned in January that...
HYDERABAD: In June 2008, when Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo acquired Ranbaxy Laboratories, Daiichi’s chief executive Takashi Shoda said, “Acquisitions are more attractive than alliances,” setting the stage for more Indian companies to be taken over by their powerful European and American counterparts. But, today, Big Pharma thinks otherwise. With...
MUMBAI: The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on changing rules to give corporates more leeway in repaying foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) that have turned into millstones in a dismal market. With stocks of many companies trading well below the conversion price, the authorities are revisiting...
NEW DELHI: India is speeding up its efforts to sign an agreement for importing gas through the US-backed $10-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. At the same time, it is going slow on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project that would have moved huge quantities of gas from the south Pars field...
NEW DELHI: Cairn India has sought government’s permission to sell crude oil to Reliance Industries’ refinery in the special economic zone (SEZ), putting the oil ministry in a fix because such supplies are regarded as deemed exports, which are forbidden by the production sharing contract. The oil ministry has...
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) and three public sector oil companies — Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) — have entered into joint venture agreements for setting up three cross-country natural gas transmission pipelines. According to a statement...