Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the government has no business to be in business and his administration is committed to privatising all PSUs barring the bare minimum in four strategic sectors. "It is government's duty to support enterprises and businesses. But it is not essential that it should own and run enterprises," he said. Modi also said the Centre's policy is to either monetise or modernise public sector enterprises, with the intent that the government has "no business to be in business".
'The government has realised that the finances of the government are in a precarious state.' 'We are borrowing to fund the ever-burgeoning revenue deficit.' 'Then you are paying interest on the fresh borrowing.' 'For the first time, the government has realised that this cannot go on.'
Even as India's internet base continues to widen, with the country set to have over 900 internet users by 2025, a parallel rise in cyber threats has become a matter of huge concern. Experts say that the sudden surge in digital adoption left little time to develop a cybersecurity backbone for the country. This has put large amounts of data at risk.
The government is looking to sell shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) held through Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) and is soon going to appoint an intermediary to manage it. The plan is to sell about 8 lakh shares of RIL that will help the government garner around Rs 180 crore. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) will appoint an intermediary that will act as a custodian of these shares. The intermediary, based on its market analysis, will offload these shares at the best price, said an official. A final approval on the proposal is expected soon.
If the nominations are not in place, the heirs need to go through a lengthy process to get access to the money cautions Bindisha Sarang.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a statewide curfew for 15 days from 8 am on April 14 to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus in its second wave. With Section 144 being imposed across the state, Thackeray essential services have been exempted from the restrictions. The curfew will be in place till 7 am on May 1.
The policies that have lapsed for more than two years and were not allowed to be revived earlier can also be revived now, LIC said in a statement.
The PM also asserted that the traditional practice has now become part of every person's life.
Using recent developments for reaching out to DMK and JD-U ensures needed thrust for the congress and its government. Aditi Phadnis reports
'A country cannot be run on lines that everyone should be in agreement and those who disagree should be silenced.' 'If this is how they look at democracy, then I can only wish good luck to the future of parliamentary democracy in India.'
There is no official announcement yet on the fate of the 123 passengers and nine crew members as hopes receded about finding any survivors, considering that the plane crashed and exploded in a mountainous area.
While IDBI Bank's 140 million customers and 1800-odd branches will come in handy for LIC to hawk insurance, the bank can use LIC's massive agent network to sell its retail loans. But if it is run the same way it had been in the past and LIC is a proxy of the government, then it has no future, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
ULIPs are not a curse on investors. You can reap more benefits from ULIPs by following these strategies.
TVS Motor Company, the only company in India to manufacture mopeds, said domestic sales dropped by 25.58% in April-Oct and exports fell by nearly 40%.
Despite the incessant disruptions and bitter clashes between political parties witnessed in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, lawmakers from across the political spectrum will display rare unanimity in the coming days to pass two bills aimed at protecting their interests.
The Centre is likely to privatise profit-making enterprises, reversing its previous position of first closing or merging loss-making state-run units. The NITI Aayog, which is in the process of selecting public sector units for privatisation, is likely to put out its first list, focusing on companies in non-strategic sectors, along with those that have got Cabinet approval for stake sale, or are in final stage of due diligence. "The shortlisted firms will be put out in three-four tranches, with the first list comprising non-strategic ones, followed by strategic sectors with a focus on privatisation and not divestment," said a senior government official privy to the plan. He said the first report was expected in early April. The think tank approach is in sync with the government's new strategies on privatisation and asset monetisation.
Plans with loan clause denied approval; regulatory ban coming.
When turbans are allowed on school and college campuses, or sacred ash on the forehead, can one ban the hijab? asks T N Ninan.
To date, USAID has provided $5.9 million to assist India in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.
How should one billion Indians, for whom deprivation has become an inescapable way of life, join us in celebrating 75 years of Independence? And where do we go from here? asks Kalyan Singhal.
Companies think they are too big to bow before regulators.
Maruti Suzuki said there are many reasons for this downturn in the auto market such as liquidity crunch, increased prices of products due to regulatory issues, higher taxes and rise in insurance rates.
The strike notices were given by workers' unions of various sectors such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper, banks and insurance.
Under the new model, the IT services firm will replace the current structure of its various strategic business units, service lines and geographies with four strategic market units and two global business lines.
Auto experts from CarJasoos will answer all your questions related to buying, selling or maintenance of new or used cars.
Recently, world headlines buzzed with Elon Musk's announcement that he was shelving his audacious bid for social media platform Twitter. Away from the media spotlight, questions are being asked about the maverick billionaire's plans in India, too. A few days ago, a Reuters report said Musk's flagship Tesla had put on hold its plan to launch electric cars in India.
Patients and pregnant women, people out to buy essential items, and those travelling to or from railway stations, bus stops and airports will be exempted from the night curfew that kicks in at 11 pm on Monday due to rising COVID-19 cases in Delhi, according to a DDMA order.
Automaker Citroen on Wednesday said it has commenced home deliveries of C5 Aircross SUV, its first model in the Indian market. The company, which is a part of Stellantis group formed by the merger of two global auto majors FCA and Groupe PSA, is taking online bookings for the model and then directly delivering the SUV to customers from its Tiruvallur-based (near Chennai) manufacturing plant. It is the first of its kind sales initiative in the country. Citroen currently has showrooms across ten cities in the country, including Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Kochi, and Gurugram. For customers outside these cities, it has launched a 100 per cent direct online buying for its flagship model.
Buying in India is usually cheaper unless you have a pre-existing disease
'The target for next year is unlikely to be more than that of this year. The more you divest in any cycle, the less your potential pipeline for the next,' said an official. 'The first two issues we want to tackle and complete in FY20 are Air India and Hotel Ashok.'
'We need to encourage the next generation of farmers to continue in farming'
Banks are allowed to invest up to 10 per cent of the paid-up or unit capital in Category-I or Category-II Alternative Investment Funds
The good news is investors can make 5 to 6 switches during a year among funds depending on the insurance companies without incurring any costs.
If there were an Olympics for bank frauds in India, Rishi Agarwal, founder and former chairman of ABG Shipyard Ltd, a nephew of the Ruia brothers of the Essar group, would bag the gold, pushing Nirav Modi to his right, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
UV Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd has made the highest bid of Rs 16,000 crore to buy Anil Ambani group's Reliance Communications and Reliance Telecom, which are in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Last year it was the highest bidder for taking over Aircel's assets for an upfront payment of Rs 150 crore. Surajeet Das Gupta and Dev Chatterjee dig deeper to find out more about this little known company.
In a set of FAQs on applicability of Goods and Services Tax on banking, insurance and stock brokers sectors, the revenue department has clarified that transactions relating to securitisation, derivatives, future and forward contracts are exempt.
'For the government, statehood is one of the end-points of the journey. A vast distance has to be traversed to reach there. There are many turns on the road, some resting points, and possibly, many cul-de-sacs.'
Reliance Industries Ltd, the nation's most valuable company, on Thursday said it has raised $4 billion (around Rs 30,000 crore) in debt through the largest ever foreign currency bond issuance by an Indian entity. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate plans to use the proceeds of the three tranche issues to retire existing borrowings. The issue was "nearly 3 times oversubscribed with a peak order book aggregating around $11.5 billion," the company said in a statement. This is the largest ever foreign currency bond transaction in India, eclipsing ONGC Videsh Ltd's $2.2 billion US dollar bonds issue of 2014.
Strict lockdown-like restrictions are already in place in the southern stateand the Pinarayi Vijayan government decided to clamp the complete shutdown in the wake of severe spike in the positive cases.
Large number of buyers has put purchases on hold because of a combination of factors, including high fuel prices, higher insurance cost, and firm interest rates.
