The controversial Land Acquisition Bill is set for further delay as its consideration was on Tuesday deferred by the Lok Sabha till the next session bowing to the wishes of opposition members.
The government will invite bids by this year-end for three mega projects worth around Rs 14,500 crore (Rs 145 billion) in the road sector, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said on Friday. Earlier, he had said that 20 km of roads will be built in a day in the next two years amounting to an investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore (Rs 2,000 billion).
With proceedings in Parliament being disrupted, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday discussed ways to resolve the logjam over Walmart lobbying and quota in promotions issues.
India and the 10-member ASEAN grouping on Thursday announced concluding a deal for a free trade agreement that will break duty barriers for goods in the 1.5 billion people strong market.
How Kamal Nath left the Opposition leaders stumped... Why Montek Singh is avoiding the poverty line... Mamata Banerjee's newest enemy. All this, and more, in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
How Kamal Nath left the Opposition leaders stumped... Why Montek Singh is avoiding the poverty line... Mamata Banerjee's newest enemy. All this, and more, in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's dinner on Thursday for the Bharatiya Janata Party top brass failed to break the impasse over the Foreign Direct Investment in retail issue with the opposition party insisting on a discussion in Parliament on it under provisions which entail voting.
State Chief Minister Kamal Nath, former Union minister Suresh Pachouri and other party leaders accompanied her to the temple.
Speaking at the function, Nath asked exporters to provide inputs for a mechanism for refund of local taxes to them. "We are in the process of formulating the scheme and will incorporate valid suggestions from exporters," he said.
Trade ministers of four key World Trade Organization members -- India, Brazil, the US and EU -- will make another attempt in Brussels later this week to bridge the gaps on the contentious issues of farm subsidies and market access.
FDI in April, 2007-08 was $1.64 billion which was less than half of the figures in April this fiscal. "I want to dispel fears of any economic slowdown and investment drying up," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.
The government claims to have secured significant gains and succeeded in fully protecting India's interests in agriculture and other key areas.
In an interactive session with PBS television's talk show host Charlie Rose at the 33rd anniversary summit of the US-India Business Council, Nath said, "Indian investment in the United States in the last two years is more than the US investment in India in the last two years, and India has created more jobs in the US than the US has created in India."
The government has decided to set up a joint venture company with industry body Ficci for encouraging investment in the country."The Invest India company, a joint venture between the department of industrial policy and promotion and Ficci, would be funded by the government and managed by the chamber," commerce and industry Minister Kamal Nath said
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath is pushing for a major policy change, one that would result in foreign travellers to India being refunded the value-added tax they pay on purchases made here.
India will take up with Italy trade-related issues, particularly market access problems faced by Indian exporters, when Commerce Minister Kamal Nath meets his Italian counterpart later this week.
Foreign direct investment into India is set to double and cross $11 billion this fiscal, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said.
Members of Parliament belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday exposed the chinks in the United Progressive Alliance's armour by getting question hour suspended in the Rajya Sabha with their demand to bring the Coalgate scam into focus
With the second phase of Parliament's Budget session set to start next week, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday held a strategy meeting with senior leaders at a time when the Opposition is expected to raise the coal scam and 2G spectrum issues.
The government on Thursday clinched a "broad consensus" on the contentious Land Acquisition Bill, paving the way for its consideration and passage in Parliament in the Budget Session which resumes on Monday after a month-long recess.
Government agreed to a key demand of the BJP, which had suggested that instead of acquisition, the land could be leased to developers so that its ownership will remain with the farmers and would provide them with regular annual income.
A trade summit aimed at exploring business opportunities between India and the Gulf region is scheduled to be held in Dubai in December.
India will ask the US to ease norms for export of marine products in lieu of reducing import duty on its cult bike Harley Davidson, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Wednesday.
An all-party meet on the anti-rape bill, which seeks to provide stricter punishment for crimes against women, ended inconclusively on Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said it will continue to raise in both houses of Parliament the issue of diesel price hike, which is hitting the common man, but not stall proceedings.
India is emerging as a "parking lot" for global investors, but the capital flows in the market taking it to the 20,000-point mark "sometimes causes concerns" for the government, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday.
It is the anti-rape law that poses the biggest challenge.
Ahead of WTO's latest effort to revive the stalled trade talks, India on Friday asked the US to make substantial cuts in farm subsidies.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Patricia Hewitt on Wednesday launched the India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee aiming to strengthen bilateral relations.
Not convinced by the assurance that business takeovers would be decided on commercial basis, India told the French authorities in no uncertain terms that colour and nationality should not be criteria in such deals
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has opposed a Group of Ministers' recommendation to set up the long-awaited National War Memorial at the India Gate complex, saying it will affect the ambience of the area and restrict people's movement at the popular hangout zone. In separate letters to Defence Minister A K Antony, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, she said an alternative site should be found for the memorial.
While winding up his speech against foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Rajya Sabha V Maitreyan thanked all those who supported his stand and said the government had committed a blunder.
Pained by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati's critical remarks against him, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Wednesday said it would be difficult for him to work in such circumstances.
Some of the prominent United Progressive Alliance ministers on Sunday came under fire from Team Anna at the fast venue of Anna Hazare with the activist's close aide Arvind Kejriwal claiming that cases could have been registered against 14 ministers if there was a Lokpal.
Unwilling to wait till Delhi Metro's Phase-III is completed, the Centre wants construction work on "some sections" of the Phase-IV project to start immediately once the detailed project report is completed.
Notwithstanding the Samajwadi Party's move to keep it on tenterhooks in Rajya Sabha, the government on Friday expressed confidence that it would have a smooth sailing in the trial of strength in Parliament on the foreign direct investment in retail.
India on Friday rejected the US charge that it is blocking the Doha Round of trade talks but said the officials of the two countries will intensify their engagement in Geneva to streamline the differences on cut in duties on industrial and farm goods.
On the eve of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, India on Monday asserted it will not be rushed into a global trade deal that displaces millions of its poor farmers.
A decision on the way ahead for the ambitious Food Security Bill is expected to be taken on Wednesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi holding deliberations on the matter.
Today, the telecommunications revolution, the Internet, a concern for global warming and a desire for a healthy lifestyle are redefining urban living.
