Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met business leaders to hear their grievances on issues ranging from high capital cost to ease of doing business to certainty on taxation matters, as he interacted for the first time with the Indian industry chambers since taking charge over a year ago.
In a fresh bid to break the Bofors jinx, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday cleared proposal to acquire 814 artillery guns for Rs 15,750 crore.
For the second successive year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Diwali with troops on Wednesday, saying the world looks at India with respect because of their valour and "character", in comments that come against the backdrop of protests by several veterans over OROP.
'While China has been hiking its defence spending, India has done precious little in implementing the Manmohan Singh government's decision of raising a 90,000-strong China-centric Mountain Strike Corps,' says Rajeev Sharma.
India has more than 45 million SMEs, accounting for nearly 40 percent of gross domestic product.
Higher disposable incomes, rural push and infra push to boost auto sector
'One of the great assets that India has is its enormous intellectual content, enormous intellectual developmental content, and some of the things we need to be working on are unmanned systems, for example, the enormous opportunities for us to jointly partner and develop -- not simply sell our equipment to India -- but actually partner and develop in areas like drones, areas like advanced aircraft and even areas around certain missile systems, where we can have a win-win.'
While India allows 100 per cent FDI in a large number of the sectors, there is a ceiling on foreign investment in sensitive segments like multi-brand retail, insurance, defence and telecom.
On the final day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, that country on Tuesday extended its Defence Cooperation Agreement with India by another 10 years. The pact, which was to expire in June next year, will now be in force till 2025.
Instead of announcing new schemes, focus will be on those already announced and key sectors.
Indices reversed all its losses during late trades.
'There is now a new paradigm and that is also somewhat begrudgingly recognised by China. They are not all that thrilled that we have come to all these agreements.'
The PM's vision of a lean, agile, mobile and technology driven force requires more than 1.7 percent of GDP that it now gets.
The finance minister hiked the total defence expenditure from Rs 203,672 crore in FY 2013-2014 to Rs 229,000 crore for FY 2014-2015. Though the increase appears substantial, it is insufficient to undertake the military modernisation necessary to meet the emerging threats, feels Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Mukherjee conferred with the Jordanian monarch on a wide variety of subjects, including terrorism, UN Security Council reforms, enhancement of bilateral trade.
Riding on e-commerce wave is the youngest state, which faces competition from neighbours.
On day 1, says retrospective taxation should be avoided; Sets up special investigation team to unearth black money.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said even though India's options have increased, Russia will remain the country's "most important" defence partner as Moscow offered to fully manufacture in this country one of its most advanced helicopters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi late on Friday night for annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday that is aimed at building on the already close strategic ties, particularly in the fields of nuclear energy, hydrocarbons and defence.
India on Monday did some plain-speaking with China over its blocking of the Indian bid to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN and warned the global community of "serious consequences" if it continues to adopt "double standards" in dealing with terrorism.
Defence projects worth a whopping Rs 80,000 crore were on Saturday cleared by the government which decided that six submarines will be made indigenously and over 8,000 Israeli anti-tank guided missiles and 12 upgraded Dornier surveillance aircraft will be purchased.
'I am quite optimistic that sooner or later, my wishful thinking would turn into a reality.' The only hitch is that the INC president's own career ambitions may be hurt if the Congress merges with the BJP,' says Sudhir Bisht.
The 'Make in India' concept in the defence sector has the potential to help India meet 70 per cent of its defence needs in a few years.
'In India, China's capacities to conduct new types of warfare is critically underestimated,' says Claude Arpi.
India and the United Kingdom on Thursday announced deals worth 9 billion Pound (Rs 90,550 crore) as they signed a civilian nuclear pact and decided to collaborate in the field of defence and cyber security besides launching a railway rupee bond in London.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that it is imperative to maintain high growth rates.
Modi is keen to get more investments into Gujarat.
Boosting trade and simplifying visa regime, apart from security and defence cooperation, were among the key bilateral issues. The two leaders also discussed regional and international matters of mutual interest.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday discovered a "special connection" with Mongolia when he entered the Buddhist country's Parliament to deliver a speech, the first foreign leader to do so on Sunday -- a holiday.
'She has to get the funds, cut through bureaucratic flab, speed up modernisation, ensure planned acquisitions stick to timelines, make organisational changes and ensure the military is capable of performing the task that it is given,' says Brigadier S K Chatterjee (retd).
Will private firms really boost Make in India in the defence sector? Ajai Shukla seeks answers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not taking along an industry delegation to the US but top representatives of India Inc are likely to travel to New York and Washington to be part of the power-packed business meetings and receptions being hosted for him.
India's plans to relax foreign direct investment (FDI) rules across a broad spectrum of industries have received the final approval from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA).
The defence ministry on Friday scrapped a scam-tainted tender worth over Rs 6,000 crore to procure 197 light helicopters from foreign vendors and decided to allow indigenous players to manufacture these choppers for the armed forces.
For a rising country like China with its sights set on global and regional power, any coming together of the US and India is the worst case scenario. Hence, China is concerned with the emerging equations between New Delhi and Washington, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
United States Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned on Monday amid reports of differences with President Barack Obama who apparently wants to install a new leadership at the Pentagon as he enters the last two years of his presidency facing new global challenges like the rise of IS.
In 28 months, Manohar Parrikar as defence minister developed easy relationships with the top brass of the three Services as was rarely ever witnessed before. He threw caution to the winds and managed to pull the forces out of a downward spiral in operational capabilities.
Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects and believes it could acquire atomic bombs "at will", the BBC reported on Thursday.
In all the noise surrounding the Dok La confrontation, Claude Arpi focuses on a crucial issue that has hardly been covered -- the construction of roads for the armed forces and the local population to reach the most remote border posts.
Sensex closed the day 416 points higher.
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