"We have received various representations over the new eligibility criteria which enables foreign bidders to score higher than Indian bidders. This, in the long run, may lead to a major chunk of infrastructure projects being bagged by foreign companies. To ensure a level playing field, we are considering whether an additional weight of 30 to 33 per cent should be given for projects developed or constructed in India," a senior government source said.
In the last one year, it has brought down its operating ratio to 0.52 from 0.64. The ratio measures that part of the income which goes to meet the operational expenditure of a railway. To put it in perspective, the operating ratio of the rejuvenated Indian Railways stood at 0.78 during 2007-08.
3G mobile services, to be launched in India on August 22, is set to have serious competition. The reason is simple: if you are looking for high quality video streaming of movies and want to play multiplayer on-line games, it's not 3G services alone you need to look at.
The development took place irrespective of the recent escalation in tension and war of words between India and Pakistan. The matter has been referred to the external affairs ministry which is learnt to be favourably disposed towards it. Once it gets South Block's go-ahead, DMRC will send a team of its officials to Karachi to prepare a detailed project report. DMRC Managing Director Elattuvalapil Sreedharan said this will include all aspects of the project.
Global railway companies have emerged the top contenders on technical parameters for the country's first railway station modernisation and operation project in New Delhi, the first of private-public partnership schemes.
The Planning Commission has recommended that the private company in 50:50 joint sector infrastructure projects should be selected through competitive bidding.
Each logistics park will have a container terminal for both domestic and international operations, mineral-handling terminals, cement and fertiliser terminals, automobile terminals, storage and distribution as well as trans shipment facilities, conventional, cold storage and product-specific warehouses as well as hotels, banks, food parks and entertainment centres. Logistics companies said the multi-modal logistics parks offer a huge growth opportunity.
With 3G mobile services, which provide high-speed downloads of data, movies and videos, around six month away, mobile phone makers are getting ready to offer handsets for as little as Rs 3,500, against the currently available minimum price of over Rs 8,000.
A study by Internet research firm JuxtConsult reveals that one out of every seven regular Internet users is from the rural belt.
Multinational mobile companies such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and LG, who dominate the mobile handset space with over 75 per cent of the market share, might face a new challenge. This time it's not from Chinese unbranded products, which have been flooding the Indian market.
Passenger car prices could increase by Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 if Parliament approves a transport ministry proposal to amend the Motor Vehicles Act to extend the use of speed governors, currently restricted to commercial vehicles, to all vehicles.
According to research firm IDC, China shipped 85 million GSM handsets in the last fiscal. And it says China's percentage share is likely to go up since these phones offer swanky features ranging from 3 megapixel camera, terrestrial TV, music and MP3 players.
As all airlines have raised carriage charges, private couriers have increased their tariffs 8-20 per cent. India Post, on the other hand, has not tinkered with its tariffs at all. As a result, India Post's tariff is 70 per cent cheaper for domestic destinations and 30 per cent cheaper for international destinations.
The next time you walk into your trendy branded mobile retail store you might come out buying an MP3 player, a Sony Play Station or even a laptop rather than a mobile phone.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to allocate one block of 3G spectrum in each service area except Delhi and Mumbai to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) at a price equivalent to the highest bid in the respective service areas.
The Department of Telecommunications has decided to hike four-fold the reserve price for broadband wireless access services in the country.
The tour packages started by IRCTC include rail and road travel, hotel accommodation, meals and sightseeing.
Despite the meetings, exchange of letters and reports that made more than 400,000 users of Blackberry services twitch, the Department of Telecommunications has washed its hands clean. Denying reports of a spat between the DoT and Canada-based provider of BlackBerry services, Research in Motion, a senior department official said, "We have always backed our operators, and this is no different."
In order to increase its payload capacity and save fuel, the railways are considering a proposal to procure aluminium wagons by 2012-13, when the dedicated freight corridor is scheduled to become operational. The final decision would be taken after a cost-benefit study, said senior railway ministry officials. Aluminium wagons will be costlier than the steel and stainless steel wagons that are in use currently.
Telcos may have begun their WiMAX rollouts, but the results are yet to show. Consider this. Tata Teleservices which deployed its first WiMAX network in Bangalore in March, and is expecting to gather a subcsriber base of about 2 lakh by the end of the year, has enrolled just about 7,000 customers in the city.
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