(ET) India will honour payments for ongoing defence procurement to be made to foreign vendors but new acquisitions could get slightly delayed as the government has put in place several expense limitations, even as plans are being put in place to resume operations by defence public sector units (PSU). The lockdown and its economic toll will not impact committed liabilities that have been budgeted for the armed forces for programs like the Rafale fighter jet deal and the S400 air defence systems, sources told .India is also looking at quickly ramping up local defence production, with defence minister Rajnath Singh…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(PTI) India needs to be cleverer in lifting the lockdown and open up its economy in a “measured way” soon as it does not have the capacity to support people across the spectrum for too long, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday. He was deliberating on the economic impact of the COVID-19 in a conversation with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Rajan also asserted that India cannot afford to be a divided house especially in times when “challenges are so big”. The dialogue between Gandhi and Rajan was a first of its kind initiative that was broadcast on Congress’ social…
(PTI) BSP president Mayawati on Tuesday asked the Centre to exercise utmost care while procuring coronavirus testing equipment from abroad to ensure that the fight against the pandemic is not weakened. Referring to the corruption in import of equipment during the 2010 Commonwealth Games when the Congress was in power and alleged diversion of funds, the former UP chief minister said the BJP government need to take a lesson from it. “The present BJP government at the Centre should take a lesson from it and take utmost care while seeking testing equipments related to corona especially from abroad so that the…
(ET) India’s Reliance Industries Ltd said it will consider its first rights issue in almost 30 years when its board meets on Thursday, in another attempt to slash its debt. In an exchange filing late on Monday the oil-to-retail conglomerate said a rights issue would be on the table at the meeting although it gave no details of what exactly was under consideration. The discussions come after Facebook revealed plans to spend $5.7 billion to buy a 9.99 per cent stake in Reliance’s digital arm, raising questions about why the Indian company would need to raise addi0tional capital through a rights offer. “Reliance’s rights issue is…
(ET) Shrikant Madhav Vaidya will steer India’s largest state-run oil refiner and fuel retailer IndianOil as the oil industry grapples with an unprecedented market volatility and demand crash due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Cabinet’s appointments panel on Tuesday cleared Vaidya, 56, currently director (refineries) in the company, as the next chairman. He will succeed Sanjiv Singh, who demits office on June 30, sources said. A chemical engineer from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Vaidya has 33 years of experience in refining and petrochemicals operations. He steered the rollout of BS-VI grade auto fuels ahead of time in the NCR and introduced…
(ET) Assam based Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has resumed work on project worth Rs. 2043 crore. These projects include bio refinery project, Indo-Bangladesh pipeline project and work of an office in Guwahati. Managing Director of NRL S K Barua tweeted, “NRL has resumed works of its capital projects in Assam worth over Rs.2000 Crs observing all health protocols. I thank #GovtOfAssam #GovtOfIndia #PetroleumMinistry for support in facilitating the process for reigniting the economy.” NRL is coming up with a biorefinery and the key raw material is bamboo. Last year Fortum 3 BV 100 percent subsidiary of Fortum Oyj, Finland with Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), an Indian state-owned oil Refinery Company and…
(AU) प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी की सरकार ने कोरोना से जंग को अब तेज कर दिया है। साथ ही रैपिड जांच से अपना फोकस अब आरटी-पीसीआर जांच पर कर दिया है। आने वाले दिनों में अमेरिका की मदद से भारत में हर दिन एक लाख कोरोना जांच संभव हो सकेगी। इसके लिए यूपी, बिहार, दिल्ली, महाराष्ट्र, गुजरात सहित कई राज्यों में स्वचालित आरएनए मशीनें खरीदने की प्रक्रिया भी शुरू हो चुकी है। अभी देश की 29 लैब में यह मशीन है जहां हर दिन सबसे ज्यादा जांच हो रही है। भारतीय आयुर्विज्ञान अनुसंधान परिषद (आईसीएमआर) के वैज्ञानिकों ने एक अध्ययन के…
(LiveMint) In a major development, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has allowed the Common Service Centre (CSC), an SPV (special purpose vehicle) under the Ministry of IT and Electronics, to start the Aadhaar updation facility at 20,000 centres that operate as Banking Correspondents (BCs). “To make Aadhaar updation easier for citizens, the UIDAI has permitted CSCs which are designated banking correspondents of banks, to offer Aadhaar update services. Around 20,000 such CSCs will now be able to offer this service to citizens.” Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted. The UIDAI has set the June deadline for start of work after…
(ET) Axis Bank is set to acquire nearly 30% of Max Life Insurance Co. from Max Financial Services Ltd, the flagship listed company of Analjit Singh, for ₹1,600 crore, two people familiar with the development. India’s fourth-largest private sector bank will become a strategic partner of the life insurance firm, in which Max Financial will eventually hold 70% after a two-stage transaction. “In the secondary share sale transaction, Max Financial Services Ltd will divest 28.6% stake in Max Life Insurance for about ₹1,600 crore to Axis Bank,” said one of the persons on condition of anonymity as the deal has yet…
(PTI) Seven people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Odisha on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 118, officials said. Of the seven cases, four were reported from the western district of Sundergarh and three in the coastal district of Bhadrak, they said. With these seven fresh COVID-19 cases, the number of active cases in the state increased to 80, while 37 people have recovered till now. One person died in Bhubaneswar on April 6, according to the officials. The total cases in Bhadrak district has climbed to 19 while in Sundergarh it is 10, an…