The US State Department was concerned about the terrorist-charities increasingly taking over the functions that should ideally be carried out by the Pakistani government. In a cable written on 30 December 2009, the US State Department urged the US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson to convey its worries over the development to the local government. […]
Subhash Chandra’s Zee group and Rupert Murdoch’s Start group will float a new joint venture to start a digital cable revolution in the country. Zee will merge its distribution arm Zee Turner, while Star will merge its Star Den arm. The idea behind the JV is to make the big investments required for competing with […]
The three state-owned oil companies have restarted their fuel supplies after the Airline promised to pay its dues as soon as it gets an equivalent amount from the Government of India. The Government of India owes the carrier around Rs 1,150 crore which will now be redirected to the oil companies. The money is owed […]
Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications, one of the largest telecom operators in the country, has decided to sell its stake in tower subsidiary Reliance Infratel to pay off its substantial debt. “The Board [of RCOM] has approved taking the process to the next stage of detailed due diligence, etc., with a view to completing such a […]
Pakistan diverted most of the money it received for counter-insurgency operations from the US to non-military uses, the country’s then finance minister Shaukat Tarin told Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Pakistan in late 2009. In a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, Tarin also requested Patterson to share how much money the US pays […]
With Yuvraj Singh also excusing himself from the upcoming West Indies tour, India is all set to go to the Caribbean without its top five players. The Indian squad leaving for West Indies will now not have MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir or Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj, according to sources, has quoted a […]
RS Butola, chairman of India’s largest oil company Indian Oil has suggested an increase of Rs 1.35 per litre of petrol to ensure proper profit margins for the oil companies. Speaking at a energy event, Butola said that the state-owned oil companies, which increased petrol prices by Rs 5 per litre two weeks ago, said […]
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s top authority on domestic air transport, has blamed bad weather for yesterday’s crash of Apollo hospital aircraft in Delhi. In its preliminary report on the matter, it held that the 9-seater aircraft was simply too small and flimsy to survive the bad weather and crashed. DGCA authorities had […]
Sushma Swaraj defended herself against allegation of being close to the Bellary brothers of Karnataka, alleging that it was Arun Jaitely, Venkiah Naidu, Anant Kumar and Yeddyurappa who may have played any role in their political rise. Outlook magazine released an audio recording of Sushma’s comments to this effect. “I have had no hand in […]
India’s economy slowed down more than expected in the fourth quarter last year, slowing to just 7.8%, compared to 8.6% for the year a whole. The fourth quarter growth is below the 8% guidance that most economists have given for the current year. However, even last year’s full year number of 8.6% growth has been […]
World’s biggest software company, Microsoft, should be praying for the victory of Google’s Android operating system against its own ‘Windows Mobile’ OS, if numbers revealed by Citi ground analyst Walter Pritchard are anything to go by. Against the $2 or so that companies like Microsoft charge for letting manufacturers put their product (Windows) on their […]
UK based Serco Plc will buy out Intelenet, one of India’s bigger independent BPO companies with an employee strength of around 32,000, for up to £385m (Rs 2,500 crore), the Mumbai-based firm said. Around £50 million of the payment will be conditional on meeting milestones. Intelenet Global Services, started by TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) and […]
Bangalore is all set to be the first city in India where Google will include actual street photographs in its Google Maps product. The feature, called Street View, is now available only for advanced cities like those in the US and Europe. With this feature, internet users can take a virtual walk in Bangalore’s streets […]
Jairam Ramesh is like no other. He is one of those people who inspire envy in everyone. Whether you are a colleague, a ‘star anchor’, a journalist hanger-on of power ministers or an apologist for any of India’s prominent political parties. Sometimes it seems everyone in Delhi hates Jairam Ramesh. And boy, does he give […]
The industry, through the Federation of Chambers of Indian Commerce & Industry, has opposed the move to prevent private companies from buying large tracts of land for project needs. The FICCI said any such move to make the industry totally dependent on the government will create room for political interference and favoritism in how projects […]
Union minister for Human Research Development minister Kapil Sibal has defended the staff of India’s premier management and technical institutions in the ongoing controversy set off by environment minister Jairam Ramesh. Sibal pointed out that he does not believe it is the fault of the faculty alone that has kept research in India on such […]
Would you have accept a similar Lokayukta in your state capital? This is one of the questions that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sent to state chief ministers in what many are calling a clear attempt to stall the Lokpal bill. Other questions include the advisability of including the Prime Minister, senior judges and the […]
Anna Hazare, the veteran Gandhian agitator who recently led a successful campaign to get a central corruption ombudsman, has turned his guns on India’s ‘most advanced’ state — Gujarat. The mass leader, who had praised Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi when he was agitating for the ombudsman (Lokpal), said he was surprised to discover the […]
India’s defence minister AK Antony has complained that Pakistan is using some of the weapons it gets from the US for fighting terror against India. Speaking at a function in Kannur in Kerala, Antony said the matter has been repeatedly brought to the notice of the US Government. “They get a lot of weapons from […]
India oil bill — the money it pays to overseas countries to import crude oil — crossed the $10 billion mark for the first time in April this year, numbers released by the government a few minutes ago have revealed. In April, India imported crude oil worth $10.2 billion, up from $6.9 billion just four […]
