Weeks after Environment minister Jairam Ramesh called for abolition of subsidy to gas-guzzling diesel cars, Sunita Narain’s Centre of Science & Environment has urged the government to introduce new taxes on diesel cars in the upcoming budget. India has low taxes on diesel to keep food prices down, but the policy has led to the […]
One of the world’s biggest trade unions, the Switzerland-based UNI Global Union has called the Indian government’s decision to allow foreign retail majors into the country a ‘sell out’. The Union, which has around 20 million (2 crore) members, said it is ‘appalled’ by the decision, particularly the lack of regulatory oversight, and will stand […]
HLL Lifecare, India’s largest contraceptive maker and the firm behind Nirodh, Moods and Mala D, has launched a new product based only on the female reproductive cycle. Called CycleBeads, the product is comprised simply of a string of coloured beads. As the beads are moved one by one on each day, the woman is able […]
China may emerge as India’s largest trading partner this year, going by a 20% jump in trade numbers in the first eight months. India’s northern neighbour was in the second place according to the numbers for the year-ended March 2011 — the latest full year for which trade numbers are available from the Government of […]
After a string of failures to successfully launch IPTV and true video-on-demand services by telecom players, it seems to be the DTH operators who are taking the lead in India. Tata Sky, one of India’s biggest DTH operators, announced it had launched a true video-on-demand and a free recorded-TV service using broadband. To avail of […]
Reliance Industries Limited and BP announced BP taking a 30% stake in 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the producing KG D6 block, and the formation of a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies for the sourcing and marketing of gas in India. The joint venture will […]
The Centre for Science and Environment or CSE, the most vocal of India’s homegrown environmental organizations, has punched holes in a government move to set fuel efficiency and emission norms for cars. It accused the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the Government body that came up with a draft proposal, of playing into the hands […]
Thanks to the combined effect of the festival season and overall caution about India’s slowing economic growth, hiring dipped to a year-low in October this year. According to the Job Speak Index compiled by India’s largest recruitment site Naukri.com, recruitment activity levels were at 921 points in October, a fall of 16% from hiring levels […]
India’s largest and oldest angel investor group, Indian Angel Network (IAN), has announced a program to fund 24 start ups in the mobile and Internet space with up to Rs 75 lakhs each. An ‘angel’ network is one that typically comes in even before the firm is in a position to seek venture capital. ‘Angels’ […]
Americans continued to buy more online during the September quarter despite the economic uncertainty and high unemployment rate, latest data from digital tracking agency comScore suggested. Total spending by American consumers online was $36.3 billion, up a healthy 13% compared to the same quarter of 2010. The growth, however, owed more to a higher acceptance […]
Suddenly it is raining Android-touch-screen-qwerty-candy-bar phones. Days after Motorola created ripples in the market by launching a very functional Android-touch-screen-qwerty-candy-bar Fire for Rs 9,000 ($200), LG’s followed suit with the LG Optimus Pro C660 on Letsbuy and Flipkart. The phone, priced at around Rs 10,000 by the online retailers, is very very similar to the […]
The government is aiming for a 5% increase in total food production this year to 245 million tonnes, the ministry of Agriculture said. Food grain production, mostly wheat and rice, had jumped 6.4% last year to 232 million tonnes from 218 million tonnes during the previous crop year. The increase in food grain production will […]
Indian enterprises spent a whopping $35 billion on “green IT and sustainability” initiatives last year, market research agency Gartner said. The number, comparable in size to the overall Indian domestic spending on IT itself, seems to indicate that green IT and sustainability have moved on from just being a fad or fashion. Gartner said the […]
Gartner, the World’s top IT market analysis firm, has revised downwards its predictions for the adoption of cloud-based email and collaboration services – considered one of the ‘low hanging fruits’ for the Cloud market. The firm said companies have not moved to the Cloud for email and collaboration services (such as messaging, document-creation, sharing etc.) […]
With growing complaints about Americans rejecting visa applications by Indian techies for visiting their customers there, Indian trade minister Anand Sharma’s office has issued a statement that he pressed the Americans for a more predictable visa process. At present, many Indian companies are forced to make several applications to make up for the higher than […]
However much American leaders may praise India as the World’s “largest” democracy, a 2006 diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks reveals that they were under no illusions about the state of governance in India. The then US ambassador to India felt that the emergence of a separate ‘corruption economy’ and ‘corruption elite’ and that the Congress […]
After Idea Cellular, it is the turn of the country’s biggest Internet Service Provider BSNL to slash 3G data rates in an effort to test demand. The state-owned company has unveiled three new 3G data plans that are cheaper than any other on offer right now, except for the unlimited @750 offer from its partner […]
Japan has completely removed import duties on 87% of the items traded between the country and India thanks to last week’s trade agreement, commerce secretary Rahul Khullar said. Malyasia, with which too India inked trade pacts last week, will allow freer import of India’s basmati rice, mangoes, eggs, trucks, motorcycles and cotton garments from now […]
Gurgaon-based Canaan Partners, known for its early stage investments into tech and related sectors, has pumped in $4.4 million (Rs 20 crore) into Loylty Rewardz, a “loyalty and relationship management company.” Established in 2006, Loyltly helps “conceptualize, develop and operate loyalty programs — such as discounts, rewards, contests etc.. “Loylty Rewardz helps brands achieve successful […]
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari tried to extract financial concessions from the US in exchange for talking with India, according to a US diplomatic cable dating to February last year and leaked by Wikileaks. When the US pressed him to hold talks with India, Zardari said his personal position has to be shored up through […]
