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.Defence Offsets Set To Zoom Past $4 Billion Mark
NEW DELHI: The country has already attracted over $4.27 billion through defence “offsets” through arms contracts inked since October, 2007. The defence procurement policy specifies that a foreign armament company, which bags an arms deal over Rs 300 crore, must plough back at least 30% of the contract value...
DTDC Acquires 52 Per Cent Stake In Eurostar
Mumbai: DTDC Courier & Cargo, an express courier company where the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group holds 40% stake, said it has acquired a 52% stake in the UAE-based Eurostar Express. The joint venture in Dubai will be 52% owned by DTDC, 33% by the UAE-based Eurostar Group and 15%...
Moody's Downgrades LIC, Three Banks
MUMBAI: Global rating agency Moody’s on Monday downgraded Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC) foreign currency insurance financial strength rating from Baa2 to Baa3. The rating outlook is stable. It also cut the standalone bank financial strength rating for Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank from C- to...
Govt To Decide First On 2G, Dial TRAI On Other Aspects
NEW DELHI: The government has worked out a strategy to defuse the crisis in the telecom sector triggered by the recent recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Official sources said there is a near-consensus that the government should look at different aspects of the recommendations separately...
Reform Bills Will Have To Wait For Now
NEW DELHI: It is almost certain now that key economic bills relating to reforms in the insurance, banking and pension sectors will not come up in the current session of Parliament. While the insurance bill failed to get Cabinet approval last week, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, though cleared...
Gloom To Deepen: India Inc
India Inc expects the economic climate to turn worse before its gets better, with a deteriorating fiscal situation and a drop in foreign investments likely to define the country in the medium term, an ET Poll of CEOs to gauge business confidence has revealed. Along with dimming confidence in...
April Inflation Up To 7.23%, Kills Hopes Of Rate Cut
NEW DELHI: The spectre of stagflation has come to hauntIndia’s policymakers again with headline inflation accelerating to an unexpectedly high 7.23% in April from 6.89% in the previous month on dearer food and manufactured items, amid signs of a further weakening of investment climate. This has complicated the central...
Hillary’s Lifeline For Mamata
By Amulya Ganguli Given Mamata Banerjee’s mercurial temperament, it is not easy to say how serious she is about her effusive welcoming of American investment in West Bengal. Considering that she tries to outdo the Left in her aversion to the private sector – after all, she evicted the...
The Right’s Spell Is Broken In France
By Praful Bidwai The Socialist Party’s Francois Hollande has become the president of France by ousting the conservative incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, in one of the most bitterly contested and polarising election campaigns in recent European history. This breaks the Right’s spell over the French presidency since 1995. This is...
Fabindia gets green light to hike foreign stake to 49.5%
NEW DELHI: Fabindia has got the foreign investment promotion board’s (FIPB) clearance to induct up to 49.5% FDI in the company. This would allow the company to expand its business in the country without being restricted by the norm that foreign investment in the sector should only be by the...
State Oil Companies Like IOC, HPCL, BPCL May Hike Petrol Prices By Rs 8 This Month To Recover Past Losses
NEW DELHI: State oil firms plan to raise petrol prices after the end of the budget session of Parliament this month and revise them every fortnight to recover 5,000 crore past revenue losses as they haven’t increased rates since December due to political pressure. So far, the oil ministry...
IAF To Loose Conventional Edge Over PAF
With the defence ministry dragging its feet on crucial defense purchases, for the first time since independence the Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to lose conventional edge overPakistan. It’s fighter squadron strength is set to hit an all time low of 31 in the next two years. Since...
IRDA Bans Products With Highest Nav Guaranteed
MUMBAI: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has asked life insurers to stop selling highest net asset value (NAV)-guaranteed products. In a recent communication to all life insurers, the regulator has said, “The marketing of products labelled as highest NAV product shall not be allowed”. These products contribute...
Pharma Inc-Gom Meet To Tackle ‘Thorny’ Pricing
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: As key stakeholders in the pharma industry — associations of drug makers, drug retailers and civil society groups — meet the group of ministers (GoM) led by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on pharma pricing in New Delhi on Monday, two issues will be hotly debated: The span...
Power Companies May Be Pushed To Hike Tariff
NEW DELHI: As many as 18 upcoming power projects with an aggregate capacity of over 25,000 MW might be forced to violate their tariff commitments and seek a much higher price from consumers. This is because the coal ministry has rejected a request from the developers of these projects...
Rahul Khullar To Take Over As Trai Chief
NEW DELHI: Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar is set to take over as the next chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, two people familiar with the development told ET. Khullar, who has one more year to go in the commerce ministry, is likely to resign soon to take...
India Inc Hit By A Double Whammy
Indian firms are being squeezed by rising input costs and cooling demand, resulting in a slowdown in earnings and revenue growth compared to recent quarters. An ETIG analysis of 600 companies that have announced results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, shows that net profit, excluding firms in...
A Year Of Crisis Management For The Economy
By S. Sethuraman Heading into mid-year, we see more dark clouds on the horizon as against a slow but steady recovery for the global economy led principally by Asian majors like China and India, postulated at the start of 2012. Electoral politics has taken over much of economic space...
