The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Monday deferred a decision on Vodafone's Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion) proposal to buy out minority shareholders in its Indian arm as the Ministry of Home Affairs is yet to give its comments.
Strategic sales are tricky and were last undertaken when the Vajpayee government was in power.
The controversial report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G spectrum scam saying he was "misled" by the then Telecom Minister A Raja, was on Tuesday submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
'The no-rate cut policy and preference to wait for the Budget and clarity on the fiscal front demonstrate RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is maturing in his new role,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The department of telecom is considering a proposal to reduce the license fee and spectrum charges of telecom players to 2-3 per cent from the current six per cent in the Approach Paper of Planning Commission's 11th Five Year Plan.
Axis Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, plunging more than 5 per cent, followed by HDFC, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank. On the other hand, M&M, Infosys, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement and Tech Mahindra were among the gainers.
This is despite expectations of a stormy session, given the unresolved standoff on the Opposition's insistence on a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the telecom spectrum controversy.
SBI was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, jumping around 3 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement and PowerGrid. NSE Nifty rose 36.40 points to 15,337.85.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) was the star performer in Friday's session, spurting over 6 per cent to its all-time high, Other Sensex gainers included Bajaj Finance, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, Maruti, Axis Bank and SBI. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, ITC, M&M HDFC and Infosys shed up to 2.94 per cent.
Finance ministry is understood to have reservations on the ownership of minority stakeholders in Hutchison-Essar and is likely to raise the issue at the FIPB meeting.
In a letter sent to DoT last week, a senior ministry official said the Rs 1,650 crore did not reflect the current value of spectrum, the radio waves that enable wireless communications.
The parties have jointly applied to the Delhi high court, requesting that it accept their agreed terms of settlement, subject to such further orders as the court sees fit, it said.
Vodafone's long-pending tax dispute with the government might be heading for a resolution, with the finance ministry considering changing the Income-Tax Act's retrospective amendment and taxing indirect transfer of assets prospectively from 2012, the year the law was clarified.
'The committee has all the right to call anybody involved in the matter. But that will depend on the outcome of the January 20 meeting. We can call the PM on demonetisation if the members unanimously decide so.'
The ones who came more recently were clutching the green cards that gave them an escape hatch through which to return to green pastures: Arvind Panagariya, Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Subramanian and other perfectly honourable gentlemen like them, points out T N Ninan.
The government on Tuesday tabled in Parliament the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on 2G spectrum allocation, whose reported extracts have created a political storm and led to the resignation of Telecom Minister A Raja.
Can the finance minister manage our expectations, asks A K Bhattacharya.
Rahul Khullar's guiding credo was that a civil servant must never lose sight of his client: The little guy. The evil men are those who are decision-makers but abdicate their responsibility of taking decisions, leading people to lose confidence in public institutions.
Vodafone is locked in twin tax disputes with the government.
The controversial report of the JPC, which gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G spectrum scam saying he was "misled" by the then Telecom Minister A Raja, was on Monday tabled in Lok Sabha amid pandemonium.
The decision had been communicated to the department of telecommunications, a senior official of the department told Business Standard.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his engagements in the US on Thursday by meeting with leading American CEOs from five different key sectors and highlighted the economic opportunities in India.
A New York court has paused Cairn Energy's pursuit of US assets of Air India for the recovery of $1.2 billion arbitral award, so as to allow the British firm to reach a settlement with the Indian government on the long drawn dispute. The New York district court delayed the tax suit to November 18, according to court documents reviewed by PTI. This follows Cairn Energy and Air India jointly asking the court to stay further proceedings in view of the fresh government enacting a fresh law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country.
As deputy governor, Patel headed the RBI panel to draft the monetary policy report, which became the basis of the ongoing reforms at the apex bank
Given the many policy areas where the Centre and the states have not been seeing eye to eye in the last few years, it is time the Modi government convenes a meeting of the Inter-State Council, recommends A K Bhattacharya.
The judgment in the 2G case is a huge, huge, indictment of the criminal investigation and justice system, says R Jagannathan.
In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met the secretaries of all the government departments collectively and asked them to directly get in touch with him to resolve issues and expedite decision-making.
Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India was the approving authority.
The ministries and departments, where bureaucrats are parked after being moved out of key positions, reflect the priorities of the government.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee met telecom minister A Raja and defence minister A K Antony on Monday in an effort to resolve the issue, highly placed sources said, adding that there was no consensus on the spectrum slots to be auctioned.
Government websites -- including those of the Prime Minister's Office, home and petroleum ministries, and the department of telecommunications -- were out of service for many hours on Monday. An official attributed the cause to firewall problems.
PM has been regularly seeking people's inputs through mygov.in and his app, to assess the mood of the nation.
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In the process, Vodafone India's valuation rose 48.39 per cent since February 2012, when Piramal Enterprises bought 5.5 per cent stake in Vodafone India for Rs 3,007 crore (Rs 30.07 billion).
Though the Cabinet reshuffle on July 5 has a clear stamp of the Prime Minister's Office, the changes have also increased the coherence between the Bharatiya Janata Party, the government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Seeks capital gains tax payment prior to FIPB clearance.
The issue will now have to be resolved through arbitration.
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