The Cabinet on Friday fixed a minimum or base price of Rs 14,000 crore for the Supreme Court mandated auction of telecom spectrum.
Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala can breathe easy, as bankers have approved the debt restructuring package he had sought three months ago.
The Inter-Ministerial Group for modernising Delhi and Mumbai airports would shortlist the preferred bidders for the airport revamp joint ventures within the next few days, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Wednesday.
In a relief to telecom operators, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) is believed to have suggested setting a 20 per cent lower base or bid start price at Rs 14,111-15,111 crore for the proposed spectrum auction.
This is the tenth hike in the price of petrol in just over a year. With this hike, inflation is likely to rise sharply once again.
A group of ministers, constituted to look into pricing and utilization of natural gas produced from new fields like the KG-D6 of Reliance Industries, is likely to hold its first meeting on August 27.
The empowered group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is being convened soon to discuss a combination of a price hike and a reduction in government duties.
A week after the steep hike in petrol prices by Rs 5 a litre, the government on Monday said a ministerial panel is likely to meet in the next few days to take a decision on raising diesel, LPG and kerosene rates.
It is pertinent to mention that the ministry of defence had agreed to vacate the spectrum only during middle of this year.
A hike in diesel and domestic LPG prices has been deferred for now, but an increase in petrol prices later this week looks imminent.
The government expects to raise up to Rs 12,000-15,000 crore (Rs 120-150 billion) through Coal India IPO, billed as the country's largest ever.
A Rs 3-4 a litre hike in the price of petrol, which had been freed from government control last June, is also on the cards immediately after polling in the last phase of Assembly elections is completed on May 10.
The vacation of additional 2G and 3G spectrum may generate additional revenue of about Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion) on the basis of prices according to spectrum auctioned last year, DoT said in a note for the empowered group of ministers.
The Jordanian-drafted resolution did not make any mention of the militant group Hamas, with the US expressing outrage at the "omission".
Dismantling a legacy of United Progressive Alliance rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has abolished all the 30 GoMs and EGoMs and told ministries and departments to take decisions on pending matters.
Instead of the original plan of auctioning four 3G licences per circle, bundled with 5 MHzs of spectrum per licence, the schedule will depend on spectrum availability in each circle.
The decision had been communicated to the department of telecommunications, a senior official of the department told Business Standard.
Government has approved follow-on public offer of Power Finance Corporation worth Rs. 5,732 crore.
With food inflation ruling at uncomfortable level, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Thursday ruled out freeing of diesel prices from government control, saying the move was not politically and practically feasible.
After natural gas prices, the government looks set to bite the bullet on auto fuel prices, with a panel of ministers scheduled to meet on June 7 to decide on freeing petrol and diesel prices.
With the government making a distinction between the privately-run Reliance Natural Resources Ltd and the government-run NTPC Ltd in relation with the gas dispute with Reliance Industries Ltd, the ministry of power is likely to take up NTPC's case with the Empowered Group of Ministers.
Oil Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday said his ministry is not in favour of raising diesel and domestic LPG prices as response to spurt in global crude oil prices, as the move will add to already high inflation rate.
The empowered group of ministers on fuel pricing is to meet this week to take a view on the price of diesel.
State-owned oil firms have seen their losses on diesel sales widen to over Rs 6 per litre, even as a ministerial panel meeting on raising prices has not yet been scheduled.
National estimates of the percentage of the population falling below the poverty line are based on surveys of sub-groups, with the results weighted by the number of people in each group.
Prioritising portion control fosters a healthier approach to well-being in the long run, explains Shilpa Joshi.
A committee of secretaries is already looking into the issue of pricing, which companies like RIL, British Gas and British Petroleum have said should be market-determined.
The EGoM has fixed priority for the 25 million standard cubic metes per day of gas Reliance plans to start pumping from September this year and 40 mmscmd from March 2009. It has asked the company to first supply gas from KG-D6 field, the first major field of NELP to go on production, to existing gas-based urea plants, which are now getting fuel below their full requirement.
On April 5, the Empowered Group of Ministers put a cap on size for SEZ to 5,000 hectares after land acquisition in Nandigram, West Bengal turned violent killing 14 persons in police firing.
On December 26, the probe agency busted a suspected IS-inspired terror group and arrested 10 men, including a 'mufti' from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, who it said were planning suicide attacks and serial blasts targeting politicians and government installations in Delhi and other parts of north India.
The Centre has turned down the proposal of the empowered group of state finance ministers to keep alcohol out of goods and services tax.
After the empowered group of ministers' meeting on the 3G spectrum auction, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was surrounded by journalists.
The empowered group of ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on July 27, is likely to discuss setting priority for usage of the gas that is likely to be available in next five years, two sources privy to the development said.
The EGoM is to consider fixing users for about 50 million cubic meters per day of KG-D6 gas, official sources said. This is in addition to the initial 40 mmscmd output that was previously distributed primarily to urea and power plants.
The calculations done on June 25 were mostly based on the average international price in the first fortnight of June.
The government told the Bombay high court on Friday that the empowered group of ministers decided that Mukesh Ambani-led RIL will start supplying gas from the KG basin to Anil Ambani's Dadri power project and other upcoming power plants once it is ready to begin operations.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) may go with Oil Minister Murli Deora's proposal to free petrol prices from government control, which would trigger a hike of Rs 3.73 a litre, official sources said.
A decision on the legal right of the poor to get wheat or rice at Rs 3 per kg was deferred on Thursday as Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar could not attend the meeting of a panel of ministers on the Food Security Bill on health grounds.
When Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee entered the Committee Room in North Block for the empowered group of ministers' meeting on fuel price hike on Monday, he found Communications Minister A Raja already sitting there.
