Future, even present, wars -- at least those involving such tech giants as China -- include hi-tech battlefields, which a Pakistan-obsessed India has not sufficiently prioritised. Today's generals plan on how to disrupt an enemy city's power supplies, rail networks, airports, ports, and government departments, not just by bombing or torpedoing them; they also examine the option of tripping up the computer networks that run these, notes David Devadas.
State-owned companies have been set stiff targets to increase accountability as they get ready for divestment. Nikunj Ohri explains why meeting them will be challenging.
The changes are in view of the requests received from interested bidders and the prevailing situation arising out of COVID-19.
Apart from navigating the bank through the Covid crisis, Jagdishan may also have to deal with the latest development on the auto loan lending practice scam. He will be expected to deliver consistent profit growth of 20 per cent-plus quarter after quarter, irrespective of the operating environment.
It is estimating that this would help monetise assets worth Rs 10,000 crore.
The new provision under the Income-Tax Act may enable the authorities to seize trustees' personal assets if there's a breach of objectives governing registered charitable trusts.
Chidambaram has not been named as an accused in the FIR and the CBI is yet to file a chargesheet in the matter.
Only those who stick to the old I-T regime will get this benefit.
Personal competence, where it should have been acknowledged and appreciated, was sacrificed for that oft heard line: Party-is-supreme. It angered that at a time when lives are at stake amidst the pandemic, the government didn't deem continuity in leadership important for the health portfolio, observes Shyam G Menon.
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
This comes at a time when the COVID-19 crisis is expected to derail the government's revenue maths for 2020-21, hitting the mop-up from sources such as taxes and divestment.
The government on Monday signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Earlier this month, the government had accepted an offer by Talace Pvt Ltd, a unit of the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, to pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt. Following that, on October 11 a Letter of Intenet (LoI) was issued to the Tata Group confirming the government's willingness to sell its 100 per cent stake in the airline.
'Let us hope that this Budget delivers.' 'It needs 10 per cent plus real GDP growth in 2021-22, the rebound year,' notes Omkar Goswami.
The HC asked him to furnish a bail bond of Rs two lakh and a surety of like amount.
The government is considering a proposal to privatise some state-owned banks in phases.
If cleared, the ONGC arm will become the first subsidiary company of an existing Maharatna to get into this superior league among government-owned entities.
If the fear of ED could drive the powerful people of today to be honest or at least be minimally corrupt, will it not be a great thing for our nation?, asks Sudhir Bisht.
This was the one Budget that required radical departures on all these fronts, when it had none, asserts, Shreekant Sambrani.
India Ratings expects long products demand growth to be sharp, supported by a demand push from the government-led infrastructure investments in affordable housing, railways, rural electrification and road networks.
Coming from a family that has a 140-year history of growing coffee, Siddhartha, 59, initially dabbled in stock trading and wanted to work as an investment banker in Mumbai after completing his Master's in Economics from Mangalore University.
Move aimed at avoiding crowding of public issues during the Centre's mega disinvestments in coming months.
Centre might move swiftly on its next round of strategic sales in CPSEs
Some overseas investors refuse to be part of roadshows, citing environment risks
It was not immediately clear when Garg submitted his voluntary retirement scheme application to the government. It was also not known if the government would accept the application. If he hadn't applied for VRS, he would have retired from government service at the end of October 2020 on attaining of 60 years of age. Garg did not answer phone calls seeking his comments.
After its unsuccessful bid to sell Air India in 2018, the government this time has decided to offload its entire stake.
The department of investment and public asset management is scouting for investment bankers and legal advisors to carry forward the transactions.
While the Union Cabinet had in November last year approved the sale of the government's entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL, offers seeking expression of interest (EoI), or bids showing interest in buying its stake, were invited only on March 7. The EoI submission deadline was May 2, but on March 31 it was extended up to June 13. On Wednesday, the government said this deadline is further being extended up to July 31.
The government has received three preliminary bids for buying of controlling stake in India's second-largest fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. Mining-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta had on November 18 confirmed putting in an expression of interest (EoI) for buying the government's 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL. The other two bidders are said to be global funds, one of them being Apollo Global Management.
22 companies won bids for the 31 contracts on offer; 15 were new entrants to the oil and gas business. Three years on, none of them have started production.
A host of companies have been lined up by the disinvestment department as candidates for stake sale.
'If the Union Budget can provide incentives for animal spirits to come as well as induce demand stimulus and consumption, the Budget would have done a wonderful job.'
An overarching law governing public healthcare is a glaring gap in India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In India it is left to individuals to quarantine themselves voluntarily. Moreover, the 123-year old The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, governs healthcare emergencies in India.
The government holds 85.96 per cent in NHPC.
Both have been robustly muscular leaders who began as immensely charismatic politicians conveying an impression that they were makers of history, raring to go. Both have been hyperactive on the world stage. But in the final analysis, Abe is departing on a sombre note, unceremoniously and apologetically, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The finance minister was speaking after launching the maiden IDF scheme of IIFCL Mutual Fund in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The government is keen to close the sale before March 31, 2021, to help meet a record Rs 2.1 lakh crore target which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set from divestment proceeds in the Budget for 2020-21.
The divestment target remaining unchanged, from the 2019-20 interim Budget, this year means the Centre will now have to depend on non-tax revenue sources like dividends from the RBI, PSBs and PSUs, as there are real concerns of a tax revenue shortfall. The fiscal deficit target of 3.4% of GDP for 2019-20 is likely to be retained as well.
A revival in investment is likely to be a key near-term initiative.
In a bid to resurrect Air India privatisation, the government is planning to give flexibility to potential investors to decide on the humongous debt with the national carrier, a top official has said. The flexibility to potential investors on the quantum of the Rs 60,074 crore debt that they want to absorb will replace the current condition of the buyer taking over more than a third of the debt and transferring the rest to a special purpose vehicle, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.
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