The government has given clear instructions to the state governments to take necessary steps to ensure smooth transportation of essential commodities. "If the situation demands, the law of the land will prevail. The law of the land says the permit of truck operators could be revoked if the situation demands. The government is committed to provide full support to the state governments," said Brahm Dutt, secretary, ministry of road transport and highways.
With the stock markets yet to recover and banks lowering fixed deposit rates, companies accessing public deposits are seeing investors parking funds.
A majority of Indian CEOs do not expect economic prospects to improve in 2009 and feel growth is constrained by the liquidity crunch, negative sentiment and demand recession in the economy.
The government is expected to announce the second stimulus package in the next three days.
Permitting realty firms to tap ECBs, relaxing borrowing norms for non-banking finance companies, increasing the ECB limit 50 per cent to $750 million under the automatic route (that is, without central bank permission) and raising the price ceiling at which overseas loans can be raised are among proposals the committee is considering. For realty, the committee may relax norms only for integrated township projects, said a top finance ministry official.
The decisions come within 24 hours of the home loan package offered by public sector banks. Chennai-based Indian Bank reduced interest rates of domestic term deposits of Rs 1-5 crore (Rs 10-50 million) by 150-25 basis points across various maturities.
The government on Sunday announced a package of Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion) under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme and 2 per cent interest subsidy up to March 31 next year. But the textile industry had demanded 4 per cent interest subsidy along with reintroduction of the duty drawback scheme.
The infrastructure sector, however, felt the package was insufficient and wanted additional measures. "The government's package is inadequate. We expected at least $20 billion relief package, giving emphasis to the infrastructure sector.
Investors, at a recent property exhibition concluded by magicbricks.com, were seen selling flats at 30 per cent discount to the market rate compared with the builders' offer of 15-20 per cent, according to reports. Investors normally comprise about 30 per cent of the property markets.
The Mumbai terror attacks have once again put Indian IT and business process outsourcing firms on high alert. Over the next four to five weeks, many of these firms plan to meet or video-conference with their clients to update them of the country's security scenario.
The government is likely to announce early next week a series of measures to boost economic activity in the country.
The country's new home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, today said he prefers a Congressman as his successor in the finance ministry, setting off speculation about the implication of his statement.
Hotels are not typically equipped to handle terrorist attacks and present ideal soft targets around the world, according to experts. Even the private security guards that the hotels hire do not always have the expertise to use weapons. This is set to change now, hotel officials say.
Since Thursday, several carriers, mainly international, have cancelled their flights in and out of Mumbai due to sparse load factor or the inability of the crew to reach the airport. Amongst the domestic carriers, Kingfisher Airlines combined around eight flights. Air India also clubbed some of its flights in the domestic routes. Jet Airways, JetLite, IndiGo and SpiceJet did not cancel any flight.
For instance, India's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services -- which is headquartered in south Mumbai where terror struck -- asked its employees to operate out of any of the offices in north Mumbai until further advice. Similarly, Aegis BPO that has a corporate office in Mumbai has asked its employees in Mumbai to operate from home as they all have broadband connections and BlackBerry(s), said Aparup Sengupta, CEO, Aegis BPO.
In response to liquidity problems faced by the mutual fund industry because of a surge in redemptions, RBI on October 14 announced a 14-day term repo facility to meet liquidity requirements of mutual funds. The facility was further extended till March 31 next year.
The announcement comes in the wake of the consolidation of Future-Axiom's other mobile brands under the brand name 'One Mobile'. The company plans to open 1,500 stores and touch points in the country by December 2009, giving it a reach in 58 cities.
The domestic steel industry had been lobbying for a 10 per cent import duty to discourage imports and provide support to the falling domestic prices. According to steel industry, cheaper steel import was contributing to its sagging sales. Leading steel companies like Steel Authority of India Ltd and JSW have witnessed a 25-30 per cent dip in consumption demand.
The Union government today filed a fresh affidavit in the Bombay high court, which is hearing a dispute over supply of gas from Krishna Godavari basin, stating that any sale price less than $ 4.2 per mmBtu is not compatible with decisions taken by a ministerial panel.
The power major generates about 95 million tones of fly ash from its various units annually. Fly ash is an important raw material for cement business. However, the official did not specify where the projects would come up, or what would be the investment involved in the envisaged cement projects and NTPC's share in the JV.
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