Bharti Airtel’s cut in 3G data rates has caught the headlines, but Airtel’s 3G is still more expensive than the pre-existing plans offered by some other operators. For example, Airtel’s plan is offering 300 MB of 3G data for Rs 100. In comparison, MTNL offers 1 GB of data for Rs 76 (weekly) and Rs […]
Trade and Industry minister Anand Sharma has spoken out in uncharacteristically blunt terms against a Parliamentary Committee report suggestion on the policy for land acquisition for industries. The report had suggested excluding “manufacturing and industrial activity” and public-private project (PPP) from the definition of ‘public purpose’ for land acquisition. The recommendation, if accepted, would make […]
The Aditya Birla Group today announced that it has agreed to take a 27.5% stake in Living Media India Ltd. (India Today Group), through a private investment company. This brings the multi-national conglomerate into the company of others like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and the Anil Ambani Group that have significant investments in the media […]
In what may be good news for thousands of fans of Mandriva Linux, the company behind the operating system has decided to set up an independent community to lead the development of the operating system. Mandriva Linux, formerly Mandrake Linux, had stopped coming out with regular updated versions of the popular operating system late last […]
The North European countries seem to love their Indian IT service partners. Indian IT services companies such as TCS, Cognizant and HCL scored considerably higher in a satisfaction survey among companies in the Nordic countriesin in KPMG’s Outsourcing 2012 study. “Cognizant also had not one dissatisfied client, which makes the company the top performer among […]
The Indian IT infrastructure market comprising of servers, storage and networking equipment will reach $2.05 billion in 2012, a 10.3 percent increase over 2011, according to Gartner, Inc. The IT infrastructure market is expected to reach $3.01 billion by 2016, the research agency said. Revenue growth will be primarily driven by ongoing data center modernization, […]
State-owned mobile operators MTNL and BSNL are estimated to have increased their losses by 50% to more Rs 13,000 crore last year, according to numbers from DoT. The bigger company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd or BSNL had a loss of about Rs 6,300 crore in 2010-11 and is likely to see it zoom to about […]
Indian government has extended by five months the deadline for cutting radiation from cellphone towers by 90%, the government informed the Lok Sabha today. The directive cutting radiation limits for cellphone towers was issued after a multi-year consultation between the government, the industry, scientific bodies and consumer associations. The directive was supposed to come into […]
A departmental inquiry could not find any involvement of ministry officials in the ‘gift scam’ at the ministry of external affairs and the inquiry has now been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the ministry said. The alleged scam has been pursued by RTI activist Subhash Agarwal, who filed an RTI query […]
The controversy over the allocation of 2G spectrum under former telecom minister A Raja to CDMA operators refuses to die. The latest was the turn of a government official to write a letter pointing out how two traditional CDMA operators do not have to re-buy their 2G spectrum like Uninor, MTS and others. He argues […]
The defence ministry has refused to divulge the reason for imposing a ban on construction in the Demchok area of southeastern Ladakh — part of the land disputed between India and China. However, the Chinese are building infrastructure on the other side of the line of control, including military facilities, according to local residents. Residents, […]
The government has cut the amount of gold someone can bring as personal baggage from abroad even as India’s gold imports are expected to have increased to 1.08 million kg last year, worth $55 billion at current prices. The government has cut the amount of gold a person can bring into the country to 1 […]
India Against Corruption, the rainbow coalition of activists headed by Anna Hazare, has accused all political parties of planning to pass a toothless Lokpal bill, and promised to launch an even bigger campaign against any such move. Last year, Hazare had organized the biggest political protests in India since the JP Movement of the 70s, […]
Rahul Khullar, the new chief at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has a reputation for being a no nonsense boss. Khullar, a 1975 batch IAS officer of Delhi cadre, also has a few other qualities that will make his tenure at the TRAI second to none of those of his predecessors — he […]
As exports face headwinds from the western economies, particularly in debt-ridden Europe, India’s balance of trade or trade deficit is projected between USD 262 billion and USD 280 billion in the fiscal 2012-13, according to trade body Assocham. Trade deficit is the shortfall between how much a country needs to pay for its imports versus […]
The Economic Survey of India, the basis on which the country’s economic policies are formulated, sounds an optimistic beat for India’s growth during the next twenty years, even as short term risks remain. It forecasts 9% plus growth for the next two years and another ‘step up’ after that for the next 20. The most […]
Giving some respite to the government and the oil companies, the effective price of crude oil for India fell by about 1.9% in the second half of April, according to numbers released by the Government of India. Effective price paid by Indian companies for crude oil fell to Rs 6174.90 per barrel in the second […]
The government of India does not have any information on complaints regarding the issue of ‘below poverty line’ or BPL ‘ration’ cards, according to a reply by the Rural Development ministry to BJP MP Varun Gandhi. Varun Gandhi, MP from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, had sought details about the complaints that it may have received […]
India’s fourth largest IT services firm Wipro Ltd may have to redraw its plans to open a 8000-person IT centre in Kolkata due to delays from the state government. Wipro had applied for setting up a special economic zone (SEZ) on January 20. However, the state government, headed by Mamata Bannerjee is against the policy […]
You would be forgiven for thinking phone companies have just forgotten about people who enjoy typing on real buttons, not just on the ‘virtual keypads’ on phone displays. Over the last one year, smartphone buyers have spoilt for choice, with company after company launching bigger, faster and smarter phones almost on a weekly basis. Since […]
