In a note for the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the ministry has proposed raising gas price for state-run firms immediately and that for RIL from April 2014, sources privy to the development said.
A meeting of the CCEA is likely to be held next week.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has long been demanding special category status for his state.
The government on Friday approved sale of its minority stakes in four public sector firms -- Hindustan Copper, Oil India, MMTC and Nalco-- to raise up to Rs 15,000 crore.
The government is expected to take a decision tomorrow on the issue of allowing foreign airlines to buy up to 49 per cent stake in cash-starved Indian carriers.
Admitting that prices of sugar, pulses and vegetables are rising, the government today said it is planning to increase the subsidy for distribution of pulses through ration shops to provide relief to the common man.
This will enable security agencies to tap any call, real-time chat and data without help from the operators.
Post-sale, the government stake would be 75 per cent, which will help NTPC to comply with the minimum public shareholding norms.
In a major decision to liberalise the broadcast sector, the government on Friday decided to raise FDI cap to 74 per cent in various services of the sector, except the TV news channels and FM radio where the cap of 26 per cent will apply.
The government holds 85.82 per cent stake in SAIL.
A CCEA meeting is scheduled for tomorrow but the approval for the Cairn-Vedanta deal is not listed on its agenda so far.
Oil ministry will move Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs once comments from ministries of finance, law, home, environment and corporate affairs are received.
State-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on Thursday said it has appointed four merchant bankers - Goldman Sachs, JM Financial, DSP Merill Lynch and ICICI Securities - to manage the Rs 5,600 crore (Rs 56 billion) follow-on public offer.
In what seemed a political understanding, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from a cabinet committee meeting where the government finally cleared two disinvestment proposals she had been opposing.
The government is unlikely to come up with the IPO of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in the current financial year ending March 2022, as the valuation of the state-owned behemoth is taking more than anticipated time, and the preparatory work is still far from complete. There are still some issues that need to be addressed with regard to the valuation of LIC, a senior official of one of the merchant bankers said. Even after the valuation, there are several regulatory processes that have concluded, the official said.
Around 27 Indian IT firms, including majors like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies and Wipro Ltd, are understood to have submitted their expressions of interest (EoIs) to develop a technology platform for the Centre's Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS) project.
To stay on the right side of the Trinamool Congress, the Centre has opened its coffers for West Bengal.
The proposal was mooted by the department of industrial policy and promotion in the ministry of commerce and industry.
The government on Thursday decided to substantially hike the post-matric scholarship amount and other benefits given to students from scheduled tribes and those disabled.
The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on a pilot basis in 52 select districts for the remaining period of the XIth five year plan.
The postal department would be floating tenders for procurement of hardware and development of software. Pilots will be held in rural and urban post offices and the final roll out will be completed by September 2012.
The airline intends to raise the money to meet its cash flow requirements and had got the shareholders' approval for the same on July 24.
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had on July 22 cleared the sale of stake by RIL to BP in 21 blocks.
The 15 proposals were cleared following recommendations by Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
Although the Oil Ministry has the authority to decide on Reliance selling 30 per cent interest to BP in 23 exploration blocks, including the prize eastern offshore KG-D6 gas fields, the ministry on Tuesday decided to refer the deal to the CCEA, sources privy to the development said.
According to a decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices will consider the above elements while recommending the MSP. The CACP, an advisory body under the agriculture ministry, recommends MSPs of over 20 crops, including wheat and rice.
The government on Friday said it has started implementing liberal FDI rules under which proposals up to Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) foreign equity would be cleared by the Finance Minister without seeking approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Share of central government will be Rs. 5,100 crore and of the state governments of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal will be Rs. 1,900 crore.
The government on Friday approved the acquisition of drug company Ranbaxy Laboratories by Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo envisaging foreign investment of around Rs 21,500 crore (Rs 215 billion).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to decide on a Planning Commission proposal to allocate a portion of power generated from Centrally-owned utilities for open access to large consumers.
Another roadblock to be removed from FDI path; Load on insurance chest.
Norway-based telecom company Telenor has raised its stake in its Indian joint venture with Unitech Wireless to 60.1 percent from 49 percent at an investment of Rs 1,493 crore.
The new credit-linked subsidy programme, called Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme, was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The financial implication of the new scheme, to be implemented over a four-year period, is estimated at Rs 4,485 crore (Rs 44.85 billion), Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters.
Government has approved follow-on public offer of Power Finance Corporation worth Rs. 5,732 crore.
At present, a project with investment of more than Rs 600 crore in sectors routed through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board has to be referred to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
The new rules for foreign investment issued by the Cabinet committee on economic affairs have two specific problems. Both lie in the new provision that any company which has an Indian majority shareholding and Indian control will be treated as an Indian company.
The government's disinvestment programme made a muted re-start with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approving the part-sale of its stake in two power companies -- NTPC and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam -- but postponing a decision on the overall disinvestment policy.
The government's decision to divest its stake in power PSU NTPC would be delayed as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs could not meet on Thursday due to pre-occupation of key ministers.
Following the two-tranche disinvestment, the government and the company would get Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) each, Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
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