Opinion
Appeal
The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.CIL Tells Arms To Ink Fuel Pacts With New Plants
NEW DELHI: State-owned CoalIndiahas directed its subsidiaries to enter into fuel supply pacts with power units that are coming up between January 2012 and March 2015, bringing a respite to fuel-starved power companies. The development comes in the wake of the coal ministry, last month, directing the public sector...
Incumbents Must Pay New 2G Price: DoT
NEW DELHI:India’s beleaguered mobile phone companies are set for a Rs. 1,20,000-crore shocker. A Cabinet note prepared by the telecom department proposes to make it compulsory for all operators to match the auction-determined price for their existing 2G airwaves for the remaining period of their licences. Industry calculations show...
Gokarn Sees Room For Rate Cut
MUMBAI: Dismal growth numbers may force the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates and soften its monetary policy stance. While a diesel price hike by the government will make the central bank’s job simpler, RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn on Monday hinted that there was some...
PMO, FinMin Differ Over Brownfield Pharma FDI
NEW DELHI: The row over the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for the pharmaceutical sector refuses to die down. Ministries have again locked horns over who will regulate brownfield foreign investment in the sector, forcing the Prime Minister’s Office to advise a group of ministers (GoM) looking at the...
New Power Buy Norms May Cut Tariff
MUMBAI: The power ministry’s guidelines for short-term procurement of electricity for less than or equal to one year is likely to bring cheer to cash-strapped distribution companies. The new rules are expected to reduce power cost. The ministry had noted that the guidelines are aimed at promoting competitive procurement...
Profits Shown Only For Better Ratings: Oil Companies
NEW DELHI: State-owned oil companies have vehemently denied that they are making huge profits and asserted that only the government subsidy helped them to report a net profit of less than 1% of their turnover in 2011-12. This profit is reported in order to maintain creditworthiness, the companies said...
India's Naval Massive Modernization Program
The extensive modernization ofIndia’s navy represents its desire to become not only a major regional player, but a major global one as well. Throughout most of the 20` century,India’s naval priorities were essentially focused on containingPakistanand securing the maritime approaches to Indian territorial waters. This keptIndia’s naval outlook confined...
Govt Backs Banks' Entry Into Commodity Futures Trading
NEW DELHI: The government is set to remove the legal hurdle in the entry of banks into commodity futures trading, despite the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s reservations on the issue. Banks can now trade in shares, bonds and currencies, but Section 8 of the Banking Regulation Act prohibits them from...
Retrospective Taxation Likely To Spare Most Foreign M&A Deals
New Delhi: The controversial provision to retrospectively tax indirect transfer of Indian assets through deals executed overseas is likely to spare a large number of transactions by excluding those where the Indian assets account for less than half the total deal size. The retrospective amendment to the Income-Tax Act,...
Economic Slowdown Proving Costly To UPA-2
By Nitya Chakraborty The threat to the UPA-2 government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh is now real. The growth data released on May 31 showing all round decline of the Indian economy has only accentuated the crisis in the centre. It has come at the worst possible time for...
Punjab Economy In Shambles
By B.K. Chum in Chandigarh Can the rot that has pushed Punjab’s economy to its terminal stage be stemmed? The question has gained importance because of the latest revelations about the growth rates. According to states 2011-12 growth data submitted by the Union ministry of statistics to the Planning...
Policy Paralysis Contributes To Slow Growth
By Anjan Roy India’s economy is now faring worse than during the global financial melt-down of 2008. That speaks a lot about the reverse turn in the fortunes of Indian economy in a short time. It reflects the policy drift that we have been witnessing for the last couple...
Indian Tea Becoming A Craze In China
From Ashis Biswas KOLKATA: This is an utterly unexpected twist in the story of tea as a major international commodity– some Chinese now prefer to drink “black “ Indian tea instead of their own home grown green variety ! Nor is this a passing phase. Whenever the Chinese show...
Pranab, Sharma Differences Persist On Export Sops
NEW DELHI: The finance and commerce ministries have not yet found common ground on exporter sops a week before the foreign trade policy is to be announced. While the finance ministry has not yet given its consent to the popular interest rate discount scheme, fearing it can be a...
P-Note Investments At All-Time Low In April
MUMBAI: Foreign investors taking exposure to Indian stocks through participatory notes (PNs) have pared their positions. The government’s clarification that it would not tax PN holders did little to boost the prospects of these offshore derivatives in April. The share of p-notes in total investments by foreign institutional investors...
Trade Deficit Dips Marginally, Exports Rise 3.23 Per Cent To $24.45 Billion In April
NEW DELHI: India’s trade deficit for April declined marginally to $13.48 billion compared to the March 2012 figures, while the exports grew by 3.2% to $24.45 billion on account of recent depreciation in the rupee despite a slowdown in demand from overseas markets like the US and Europe. The...
PM’s Investment Tracker System To Speed Up Projects
NEW DELHI: A day after official data showed the slowest GDP growth in nine years and amid rising concerns over the persistent slump in investment demand, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday set up an investment tracking system to ensure speedy implementation of projects with outlays of R1,000 crore...
Power Demand Reaches New High, Loadshedding Continues
NEW DELHI: The power demand in the city today breached all previous records, touching a new high of 5,178 mega watt as loadshedding continued to haunt people in the blistering heat due to mismatch in demand and supply. The previous highest power demand in the city was recorded only...
