The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the participation of the private sector in the entire range of space activities, including planetary exploration missions, Union minister Jitendra Singh said. The newly-created Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) will provide a level playing field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure, Singh, who is the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, said.
It came down from $1.94 billion in 2009-10 to $1.17 billion the next year and to $1.11 billion in 2011-12.
The idea is to do away with the need for the approval of the Core Group of Secretaries on Divestment for privatisation of companies, especially in non-strategic sectors.
'We can only hope that the government has finally 'got it' and will stay focused on improving productivity, demand, and governance,' says Debashis Basu.
Gandhi said that the BJP government has clearly mishandled the economy that was built by the United Progressive Alliance government, and is now resorting to selling the country's assets as a "last resort" to generate some money.
Modi's government plans to support domestic demand
The challenges before the coming Budget are more daunting than those in 2021, reveals A K Bhattacharya.
The executive order, which was signed by Trump on Thursday, prohibits certain purchases involving publicly traded securities or any securities that are derivative of or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities of any Communist Chinese military company.
Axis Bank emerged as the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 6.62 per cent, followed by SBI at 5.88 per cent.
It is rare for Cabinet ministers to tick off state-owned companies publicly, yet that was what then petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan did for ONGC. Speaking at an event on June 29, Pradhan said he has asked India's premier exploration company to find fresh oil acreages fast. "Do it yourself through some joint venture (or) through a new business model. But the government cannot permit you to hold resources for an indefinite time." The reason for this stricture is India's rising dependence on imported oil and gas. Or, to put it another way, falling domestic production (see chart: "Crude truth"), especially from ONGC, which faces a simple problem.
'Job opportunities will be available in pharma, retail, medical, virtual business operating sectors, IT sector, telecommunications, infrastructure development, healthcare sector and e-commerce.'
Around 75 per cent, or 372 stocks, that are part of the BSE500 are trading at least 10 per cent below their all-time high levels, despite the index hitting a record high 20,515 points on the BSE in intra-day trade on Wednesday, surpassing its previous high of 20,390 touched in March 12. The index, which accounts for 93 per cent of BSE listed companies' market capitalisation, has gained 8 per cent from its recent low of 18,983, touched on April 19. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex gained 6 per cent over the same period, but is still nearly 4.5 per cent away from its all-time high of 52,517 that it hit on February 16.
Unlike RIL, the Adani group has not yet brought in any big stakeholders to refinance debt or expand.
Hike in planned public-sector capital expenditure will be credit-positive for infra cos
Keki Mistry, bottom, left, vice-chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), tells Joydeep Ghosh that debt fund investors could become risk-averse, leading to problems for other non-banking financial companies.
Gadkari, who handles key infrastructure-related portfolios, said there is no problem with the road sector at present and money is not an issue anymore.
Companies with more than Rs 10,000 crore of debt would seek refinancing.
Of the 40 CEOs polled from across the country, 60 per cent identified a fractured electoral mandate as a bigger risk than trade wars, volatile oil prices, and inflation.
No change in retail prices as oil marketing firms to absorb increase
'The force of reforms. The force of investment. The force of formalisation. The force of digital and green technology. And the force of youth and entrepreneurship. I am convinced that these 5 forces will propel India's rise over the next several decades,' predicts Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla group.
Bhogapuram international airport, Ramayapatnam and Bandar ports, the Muktyala lift irrigation scheme and a bridge across the Krishna river are some of the projects likely to be hit.
Very gradual fiscal consolidation glide path with looser-than-expected fiscal policy; good quality spending mix and reasonable assumption on fiscal math; and focus on privatisation, asset monetisation and long-term funding for infrastructure investments, according to Morgan Stanley, are the three key themes from the Budget 2021.
'What we are actually missing in India is a platform wherein the government engages with cybersecurity experts, gets them employed and then utilises their capability to deter such attacks.'
Though startups find 17 mentions in the Budget speech of the finance minister, and have been promised tax exemptions, the reality is that only 2 per cent of the 4,648 applications received from startups for income tax exemption had been approved as of February 2019, according to an answer to a Parliament question. As India's startup space bubbles with activity - new, young players are tapping into opportunities opening up - there are local anti-portfolio stories circulating about investors missing opportunities in 'unicorns', or companies that have reached valuation of $ 1 billion, says Vandana Gombar.
The Budget kept away from mood dampeners such as an increase in taxes (capital gain taxes) and even the much-feared introduction of Covid cess and wealth taxes, says Nimesh Kampani, chairman, JM Financial.
Unlike bank FDs that are considered risk-free investments, NCDs do carry a certain amount of risk, primary among them is the risk of default, either servicing the interest payment or meeting their principal repayment obligations.
The main purpose of the meeting is to assess their views on reforms that are required to attract long-term capital into the country.
Observing that MSME sector plays an important role in the growth of the Indian economy, RBI said the restructuring of the borrower account has been extended by further one year to March 31, 2021.
Saudi Aramco chairman and head of the Kingdom's cash-rich wealth fund PIF Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan will join the board of Reliance Industries Ltd as an independent director in a precursor to a $15 billion deal. Reliance chairman and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, who had two years back disclosed the talks to sell a 20 per cent stake in the company's oil-to-chemical unit to Saudi Aramco, announced the appointment of Al-Rumayyan at the company's annual meeting of shareholders. Harvard educated Al-Rumayyan, 51, will replace Yogendra P Trivedi, 92, who has expressed a desire to retire, Ambani said. On the sale of a 20 per cent stake in the O2C business, he said the deal is likely to conclude this year.
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.
Experts feel select companies in banking, automobiles, financial services & real estate will gain from lower interest rates
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.
To attract bidders, the government had decided to hive of around Rs 35,000 crore of the company's debt into a separate subsidiary, leaving around Rs 23,286 crore to be absorbed by the new bidder.
The move could streamline capital flows and help finance current account deficit
At $37 per dose, the Pfizer vaccine is much more expensive compared to $3 per dose for the Covishield.
Artificial Intelligence will create 2.3 million machine learning jobs by 2020.
Experts say the focus is on preserving liquidity as there is uncertainty over the duration and impact of the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to check the spread of COVID-19.
'We get to know secrets such as some of India's top-rated firms do not always make payments when due and many State-owned, listed, enterprises that borrow in bond markets default regularly.' 'Without naming the bank, he says that ever-greening of poor loans by a part of India's shadow banking lay at the doorstep of India's banking, notably 'one private bank'.' Viral Acharya's Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India won't be music to many ears, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Survey shows fiscal consolidation despite slowdown in growth.
Barring stray references such as the 'dual control' of banks and shifting the goalposts during demonetisation, he is not in a fault-finding mode with the government, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
