The government is looking to give Bharat Global Ports a certain amount of domestic exposure after it set up the state-owned consortium to increase India's global maritime heft, officials aware of the development said. The intended domestic exposure is meant to give the consortium experience and build its credentials for international projects.
The United States' efforts to isolate Iran for its alleged clandestine development of a nuclear weapons capability will figure in the strategic talks between Washington and New Delhi this week, but whether India will be issued a waiver from sanctions against those nations that do not dramatically curtail oil imports from Iran will not be a part of the discussions, a senior US official has indicated.
The legislative amendment was passed on Thursday by voice vote as part of an en bloc (all together as a single unit) amendment during floor consideration of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).
The US has extended waivers that exempt nine countries, including India and China, from fully complying with American sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports, citing their significant reduction in oil import from Tehran.
The United States has not made a determination yet on any potential Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) waiver to India with regard to its purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia, the Biden Administration said Tuesday.
Russia has already begun delivery of the first S-400 systems, and the question of sanctions, or of a waiver to sanctions, preoccupies New Delhi.
"We will be guided by our national interest," he said.
The Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has registered a case against former PWD minister and senior AAP leader Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption in a Rs 571-crore CCTV project. According to the ACB, Jain allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 7 crore to waive the liquidated damages penalty of Rs 16 crore imposed on Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The project, which was executed when he was a PWD minister in the previous Arvind Kejriwal government, was related to the installation of 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras across all 70 assembly constituencies.
US sanctions against Iran kick in from November 4, which will block payment routes. Sources said India and Iran are discussing reverting to rupee trade after November 4.
'Indian and Iranian sources both confirmed to me that India and Iran are moving ahead to implement a payment system on buying oil from Iran and hope to finalise it very soon,' says Aveek Sen.
Agriculture and allied activity loans are not eligible for the interest on interest waiver announced by the government last week, the finance ministry has clarified.
In a festival gift to borrowers, the finance ministry on Wednesday approved guidelines for a scheme for grant of ex-gratia payment of the difference between compound interest and simple interest for six months of loans up to Rs 2 crore.
In her first interview to CNN-IBN's Suhasini Haider after taking over as the US Ambassador to India in April 2012, Nancy J Powell, compared India's 'lower'oil cuts unfavourably to Japan that has already received an American sanction waiver after it cut oil imports by a whopping 80 per cent in April. India has announced a 34 per cent cut so far.
The waivers mean that financial institutions in the countries do not risk being cut off from the US financial system.
The government is buying out the shares of India Ports Global, which are now held in a 60-40 ratio by the JNPT and Deendayal Port Trust in Kandla.
Sensex heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 2.76 per cent. In percentage terms, major laggards were Yes Bank, Indusind Bank, RIL, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Axis Bank -- plunging as much as 6.62 per cent.
At BSE, 1,799 scrips declined and 714 advanced, while 184 remained unchanged.
Bush said that the waiver would 'facilitate the transition to democratic rule in Pakistan'.
After drastically cutting imports from Iran, India is hoping to win waiver from US financial sanctions on its oil trade with Iran so as to continue to getting supplies from the Persian Gulf nation.
President Trump, in a move that could have implications on India's energy security, on Monday decided not to grant sanctions exemptions to any oil customers of Iran, further squeezing Tehran's top export commodity.
India has long been a leader in non-proliferation, stood side by side with all of us in the international community to say that Iran should not acquire a nuclear weapon," US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told reporters in New Delhi.
The partial withdrawal would mean that Iran would stop exporting enriched uranium stocks as stipulated by the 2015 agreement.
Referred to as 'Badlav Patr (document of change)', Congress leader Randeep Surjewala and All India Congress Committee's Bihar in-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil presented the manifesto that promises farm loan waiver and 50 percent subsidy in electricity bills to farmers up to 100 units of consumption. The manifesto also promised that it will reject the Centre's farm laws if voted to power.
Sources also said that India meets the criteria for a US sanctions waiver for procuring S-400 missile defence systems from Russia and the Trump administration has 'enough flexibility' on the issue.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States is calling on all nations not to have major weapons transactions with Russia. He made these marks after the conclusion of the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the defence and foreign ministers of India and the United States.
The sanctions have a singular purpose, denying the world's largest state sponsor of terrorists the capacity to do things like they did this past couple weeks, attempted assassination campaign in the heart of Europe, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
An influential Republican senator has asked India to "just quit" buying oil from sanctions-hit Iran.
.jpg)
Two powerful US Senators have urged President Joe Biden not to impose provisions of the punitive Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act against India for buying the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia.
The United States has made it clear to India that it is "discouraging" it from proceeding with its acquisition of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia but Washington will have to weigh "important geostrategic considerations" while taking a decision on growing calls for a presidential CAATSA waiver to New Delhi, President Joe Biden's nominee for Coordinator for Sanctions Policy has told lawmakers.
The US has already imposed sanctions on Turkey for the purchase of a batch of S-400 missile defence systems.
This is the third time that the two leaders are coming face to face, the last meeting being in May at Hanoi.
An obscure Indian bank has been an unlikely beneficiary of Western sanctions against Iran, handling billions of dollars from frozen oil payments that boosted its interest margins, but is now having to prepare itself for life after the windfall.
The surge in oil prices has also affected the rupee, which hit a 6-week low of 70.25 on Friday against the dollar.
Oil accounts for about a third of India's total imports and higher dollar prices combined with a rupee near all-time lows have increased its cost.
New Delhi is vulnerable to US sanctions under a 2017 law called CAATSA.
The Saudi and Iraq offer to replace Iranian crude supplies comes with a catch: Higher prices for the same quality of crude. The new government will face a tough decision over fuel price hike, says Aveek Sen.
We must stop stigmatising business failures. Particularly when startups are mushrooming all around, the financial system, backed by the RBI and the government, can explore ways of extending support to restart the journey of a failed entrepreneur by finance as well as counselling, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Special Judge M K Nagpal fixed May 12 for consideration of the charge sheet after the CBI submitted that the prosecution sanction against Sisodia has already been procured from the competent authorities.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances