Few finance ministers announce any taxation measure that could upset the stock market. Ms Sitharaman decided to take that risk, observes A K Bhattacharya.
United States President-elect Donald Trump's plan to overhaul the government with a new department headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk and Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will be a biggest threat for China as it has to compete with far more efficient US political system, a policy advisor to the Chinese government said.
If growth reverts to the pre-Covid level, a lot of people may have to temper their rosy optimism, points out Debashis Basu.
'China is struggling to get out of its property bubble.' 'Japan took 35 years to walk out of its equity bubble.' 'Bubbles can be difficult to forecast.'
'We would like to develop Andhra Pradesh into a logistics hub not only for India, but also for South Asia.'
The Tata Group is one of the very few Indian MNCs which has carved out a niche in China's highly competitive market, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Also the companies should be self-sufficient in product designing and have maintenance and life cycle support facilities.
India already allows 100 per cent ownership of greenfield pharma businesses.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
'The procurement cycle still consumes too much time; little has changed.'
Even as Chinese troops continue squatting on territory that we claim as our own -- this was the lowest allocation for defence in percentage terms since the 1950s, reveals Ajai Shukla.
The company, which has opened an exclusive showroom in Gurgaon, plans to open more showrooms in metros and mini metros in the coming months, the company said in a statement.
Adani Group on Wednesday said it will invest over Rs 12,400 crore in an array of projects including a data centre, clean energy project, and a cement plant in Telangana. The group signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for the investments at the World Economic Forum in Davos in presence of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani. The conglomerate's flagship firm Adani Enterprises will invest Rs 5,000 crore in setting up a 100 MW data centre that will use green energy while its renewable energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd will spend an equivalent amount in setting up two pump storage projects.
The Indian Army is enhancing the combat prowess of its artillery units along the frontier with China by procuring an array of weapons systems, including an additional batch of 100 K9 Vajra howitzers, swarm drones, loitering munitions and surveillance systems.
The respondents were from over 22 states with 85 percent of them being under 35 years while 61 percent were interns or postgraduate trainees.
The ministry's year-end review is silent on the continued occupation by Chinese troops of territory that India has always claimed and patrolled.
The prospects of India becoming a credible manufacturer of defence platforms or major weapon systems for export are remote, says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Swedish Prime Minister Lofven lauded India as 'global power' and said the two countries are a 'perfect match'.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her American counterpart James Mattis reviewed ongoing initiatives to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation.
In what is seen as a significant move, the DAP featured measures to reduce delay in procurement of essential items by the three services as it proposed a new enabling provision to acquire them through capital budget under a simplified procedure in a time-bound manner.
Free provision of food, cash transfers, and jobs in villages see enhanced flow of funds despite a precipitous fall in revenue. Till May, defence spend was nearly 30 per cent less than the previous year.
Eyeing to capture wider market for embedded software systems, Florida-based Trioz Tech launched its operations in India by setting up a research and development centre in Coimbatore.\n\n
Kohler made the comments on aviation industry-wide speculation about New Delhi increasing FDI in defence sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent, with some expecting an announcement in the near future.
The defence ministry has lost sight of what it intended to achieve -- which was to nurture private defence firms that would compete on equal terms with the 9 defence PSUs and the 41 Ordnance Factory Board factories.
Rostec, a Russian state corporation set up to promote development, production and export of hi-tech industrial products for civil and defence sectors, has strongly backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' pitch.
The Essential Defence Services Bill, 2021, introduced by Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt amid din created by the Opposition over three new agri laws and the alleged Pegasus snooping controversy, seeks to replace an ordinance issued in June.
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.
India's economy grew 7.8 per cent in the March quarter, pushing up the annual growth rate to 8.2 per cent, according to official data released on Friday. Growth in the January-March period was lower than the 8.6 per cent expansion in the December quarter.
Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet gave the management of state-run companies the freedom to decide on divesting their subsidiaries. However, the very next day a meeting was held at the top level of the Government of India, for the presentation of proposals for more autonomy for state-run companies. Interestingly, no chiefs of any of these companies were invited. It is a problem that will stare the government in the face with the state-owned banks too, as talks have again begun for inviting strategic investments in these companies.
As many as 267 of 453 companies from the BSE500 index are trading above their consensus price targets, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg. Not all companies in the BSE500 index are tracked by analysts.
If the concerns over risking political capital are overcome, the long-term gains for the Indian economy will be immense, asserts A K Bhattacharya.
In the event of a war with China, AMCA deep strikes would target China's rail and road links with Tibet, isolating PLA divisions there.
The Russian and Indian officials would be soon meeting again to discuss the final delivery schedule of the remaining two missile squadrons, sources said.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
'If you see another 1000-point correction, people may start panicking.'
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
'Given China's past behaviour and their territorial claims, should we be sceptical regarding China's willingness to adhere to these agreements fully? The answer is yes.' 'As Ronald Reagan famously said in the context of the SALT talks, 'Trust, but verify!' India should also do the same.' 'This has already begun with foot patrolling, drones, satellite imagery and so on. India's military deployment did mirror China's and will continue to do so in the future.'
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
