Investors pumped Rs 491 crore in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) in February as they seem be taking advantage of the lower domestic prices caused due to declining international rates, appreciating rupee and reduction in custom duty. This came following a net investment of Rs 625 crore in January and Rs 431 crore in December. Prior to this, gold ETFs had seen an outflow of Rs 141 crore in November, data available with Association of Mutual Funds in India showed.
In a major boost to its military might, India on Wednesday successfully test-fired surface-to-surface strategic missile Agni-5 that can strike targets at ranges up to 5,000 km with a very high degree of accuracy, officials said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that decision on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) should have been taken during 1971 war between India and the neighbouring country.
Buying or selling securities based on rumours about expected changes in tax rates or sectoral sops can backfire, advises Sarbajeet K Sen.
The government is planning to merge Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) with the loss-making state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) this month, a senior official has said. BSNL chairman and managing director PK Purwar at a recent event organised by the All India Graduate Engineers and Telecom officers Association (AIGETOA) said that the government is giving the telecom firm an opportunity for a turnaround. "The government has taken a policy decision that BBNL is going to be merged into BSNL. "This means all work of BBNL at the pan-India level is going to come to BSNL," Purwar said at the All India Conference of AIGETOA on March 13.
Barack Obama has said that he had ruled out involving Pakistan in the raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout because it was an "open secret" that certain elements inside Pakistan's military, and especially its intelligence services, maintained links to the Taliban and perhaps even al-Qaeda, sometimes using them as strategic assets against Afghanistan and India.
The inflows meant assets under management of gold ETFs climbed by over 4 per cent to Rs 13,503 crore at the end of August from Rs 12,941 crore at July-end.
Alibaba is playing a big role in helping to train the senior management of the upcoming Paytm Payment Bank
Singh visited Tawang on Thursday for the 'Maitree Diwas' celebrations to boost civil-military friendship in the region bordering China.
The Indian Navy has a big role to play in support of our strategic objectives in the Indian Ocean. The increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean is a matter of concern and need to be factored. Hence, the requirement of an Aircraft Carrier is a foregone conclusion, asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
He suggested that the new structures will emerge within one year's time.
Gandhi said that the BJP government has clearly mishandled the economy that was built by the United Progressive Alliance government, and is now resorting to selling the country's assets as a "last resort" to generate some money.
Pakistan has raised a 25,000-strong special force and put in place extensive measures to protect and manage its strategic assets, including its nuclear arsenal, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said.
Exposure to debt funds and gold is essential even if current returns from these asset classes are low, suggests Sanjay Kumar Singh.
The representative body of the global airline industry has asked governments of countries like India, which have huge unrealised potential in aviation, to use the sector as a strategic asset and devise policies that spur competitiveness.
Underlining that cross border attacks have greatly "diminished" Pakistan's international standing, an American think-tank expert has said that as a result of India's new policy of retaliation Pakistan is in a bind of "its own making".
Pakistan has raised a 20,000 strong force to provide foolproof security to its nuclear weapons and strategic assets, the military said in Islamabad on Thursday.
Given the security dilemma prevailing between India and China, India should curb the operation of Chinese telecom companies in India, asserts Dr Rup Narayan Das.
'Whatever comes in the minds of the Pakistani generals and Pakistan military, they just go for it.' 'They do not care about the consequences for their country or the consequences to the people of Pakistan.'
If the Taliban have proved one thing over these two decades, it is that they are way smarter than their big brother, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The missile successfully flew in its pre-set trajectory meeting its mission objectives
The United States and the world community are aware that Pakistan's nuclear installations are well secured, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told the media. Pakistanis are a progressive and moderate nation and there is no question of nuclear installations or materials falling into the hands of militants, he said.
Christine Fair, an expert on Pakistan-based Jihadi groups, has predicted that even if there is an India-Pakistan rapprochement and a resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio, it will not result in Pakistan reining in these strategic assets that are invaluable to it to wage it proxy wars against India.
Following the 9/11 terror strikes, when the US had made up its mind to bombard Afghanistan, Pakistan''s Inter-Services Intelligence and then President Pervez Musharraf made full efforts to save the Taliban and tried to persuade a red-faced Bush administration to hold a dialogue with the Taliban, as the Inter-Services-Intelligence always regarded it as one of its strategic assets.
Pakistan has pressed its demand for an atomic deal similar to the one granted to India by the US, saying the security of its strategic assets and growing energy needs qualify it for "civil nuclear cooperation at the international level".
The Pakistan military believes that American and British military will withdraw from Afghanistan -- and when they do, they will need old Taliban friends such as Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin to minimise the influence of India in its Afghan backyard.Although Pakistan's military chiefs have been talking about an 'imminent' assault since last June, all the evidence has pointed to deep reluctance to launch a massive ground offensive.
The $9.6-billion deal is contingent upon government nod as the deal involves change of ownership of strategic assets like the giant Rajasthan oilfields.
The package includes raising of Rs 15,000 crore sovereign bonds to meet the immediate capital requirement of both the companies, 4G spectrum allocation worth Rs 20,140 crore, Rs 29,937 crore for VRS covering 50 per cent of their employees, and Rs 3,674 crore for goods and services tax that will be levied on allocation of radiowaves.
India will decide on going ahead with the foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan only after operations to flush out terrorists from the IAF base at Pathankot is over.
'Nasr' is a high-precision weapon system with the ability to be deployed quickly, the army said.
Pakistan's offer to normalise relations with India is an attempt to buy temporary peace due to its economic and politico-strategic compulsions, notes Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
By all accounts the diabolical policy that Pakistan has followed on Afghanistan has been motivated in large measure by its unrelenting enmity towards India. It is a different matter that in its quest for attaining 'strategic depth', Pakistan has ended up creating a 'strategic black hole' that could one day devour it, says Sushant Sareen
The Bangalore-headquartered company is believed to be evaluating two-three companies, which are in the revenue bracket of $100-200 million to eliminate some gaps that exist in its services offerings and increase focus on certain verticals, which have been least affected in the midst of the economic slowdown. It's reliably learnt that the company is looking at healthcare and energy and utilities as the two major areas for possible acquisitions.
"There is no possibility of extremists coming into the government in Pakistan and therefore taking over the (nuclear) assets...through the political or the democratic system," he said.
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pinarayi is exploring the potentials of 'socialism with Indian characteristics'. The next five years under Pinarayi's watch will be a transformative period for Kerala's development, observes M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan on Monday said a media report about the United States secretly providing aid to the country to guard its nuclear weapons painted a "distorted and exaggerated" picture of Islamabad's efforts to ensure safety of its atomic arsenal.
India-China relations have always attracted Parliament's attention and there have always been useful and productive and constructive discussions how to engage with China, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitions abroad may run the risk of foundering on constraints at home.
Fali Major said that all theat perceptions in the present geo-political scenario around the country has been 'catered to.'
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