AIR India's turnaround plan, which has been reviewed by consulting firm Deloitte and accepted by the airline's board, says the company will start making operating profit from this financial year itself. Air India has been running under losses since 2007.
Kapil Sibal, telecom minister, said many companies borrowed heavily to pay for 3G licences late last year. These companies were now facing difficulty in raising resources for the business, upsetting the calculations they had made while bidding aggressively for the licences, he said.
The cap of 25% on sales to group companies likely to be removed.
Telcos such as Loop, Etisalat and Videocon have done little to churn the subscriber base.
A memorandum of understanding between the defence and telecom ministries for vacation of spectrum was signed two years ago.
The plan includes expanding the number of flights of AI Express from 204 a week to over 250 a week with a new thrust on West Asia.
The Japanese giant will also consider increasing its capacity, which could mean a new plant or expansion of existing units, after its ongoing expansion to 500,000 vehicles is completed in phases.
The note recommends allowing FDI in domestic firms through the issue of partly-paid up shares and convertible warrants, but with certain riders.
The proposal gains significance because the merger plan was given a quiet burial under former telecom minister A Raja.
The conclave also focused on the need for more spectrum, a key issue for India.
Google will also use artificial intelligence to provide customers with more solutions.
In an interview at the GSMA conference in Barcelona on Tuesday, Mittal broke his silence on the scam and the very public spat between Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications: "My plea is that the industry shut their mouths; zip up and let the various investigative agencies do their job," he said.
The commerce ministry has sought a review of foreign direct investment policy in the pharmaceutical sector, in the light of recent takeovers of domestic companies by multinationals.
Foreign cigarette companies could soon find it harder to sell their products in India. The government is looking into a proposal to ban foreign direct investment (FDI) in the wholesale marketing arms of these companies. It is also exploring the possibility of shifting the import of tobacco products from the open general licence (OGL) to the restricted list.
MNP allows a subscriber to change his or her service provider without changing the mobile number.
Key government departments have come to a consensus on the definition of a "group company" in the context of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the wholesale cash & carry trade. Under current policy, while 100 per cent FDI is permitted in wholesale trade, a cash & carry entity can sell only up to 25 per cent of its turnover to group companies.
For over a year Sanjay Chandra, managing director of the Unitech group, has been under a cloud for various reasons.
Telcos say tariffs could be cut by up to 20 per cent. While post-paid customers constitute only 5 per cent of the total customer base of 670 million, they make up over 15 per cent of revenues thanks to their relatively higher average revenue per user (Arpu).
A committee of secretaries will be meeting soon to consider a draft proposal, which suggests that decision-making on all policy issues pertaining to FDI be transferred from the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) in the Ministry of Commerce to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Finance.
GE India is embarking on a major localisation drive under which 60-70 per cent of the products that it sells will be manufactured in the country in the next five years. At present, the localisation is about 10 to 20 per cent.
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