(TH) The Centre is planning to splurge over Rs.100 crore to host the US President Donald Trump in his first visit to India on February 24.In his two-day tour starting on February 24, Trump will spend around three hours in Ahmedabad for which Ahmedabad authorities will spend Rs. 80 to Rs.85 crore to beautify the city, Reuters reported.The total expenditure on Trump’s visit to Gujarat is equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of the annual budget of Gujarat. More than 12000 police officers are to be deployed around the world’s largest cricket stadium – Motera, which has the capacity to host around…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(PTI) Tata Power is planning to increase its network of electric vehicle charging stations to 700 by next year, a top company official said. The company has already installed 100 fast charging stations in various cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad, which it plans to take to 300 by March 2020. “We are mapping the locations where EVs are launched and we will be setting up charging stations in those cities. Our aim is to take this number to around 700 by next year,” company’s CEO and Managing Director Praveer Sinha said.The government’s decision to lower the GST rate on…
(PTI) The impact of Coronavirus outbreak will be felt on global steel industry for at least two to three years, as China is the largest producer of the alloy, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday. The minister also asked Indian steel companies to enhance output, particularly special steel, to grab larger global market share. A strategy paper was being prepared for producing 10 million tonnes of special steel at a cost of Rs.50,000 crore with 50,000 employment potential in the present scenario, he said.India is the second largest global producer of steel with an annual output of over 106 million…
(PTI) The oil ministry on Thursday justified the steep Rs 144.50 per cylinder hike in cooking gas LPG prices, saying the rates are based on the international market price that had increased over 26 per cent last month. It also said domestic consumers have been largely insulated from the hike by way of the large increase in subsidy. “The LPG price is derived based on the international market price for the previous month,” the ministry said in a statement. “On account of a sharp increase in the international price of LPG during January 2020 from USD 448 per ton to USD 567 a tonne, there has…
(Tribune) On the second day of his winter sojourn, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur inaugurated and laid foundation stones of various projects in Kangra district. The programme of the CM in Kangra was circled around his friend Munish Sharma, who had recently joined the BJP. Munish was the pivotal force behind getting various projects announced for Kangra. The CM inaugurated Government Degree College, Takkipur, completed at a cost of Rs 6.50 crore. Addressing a public meeting at Takkipur, he said the government was committed to providing quality education to the youth. He also announced the renaming of this college as Atal…
(LiveMint) Employees of the state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), who participated in a nation-wide strike on 8 January, have alleged that the company cut four days’ salary. Of the total salary cut in January, one day was based on the principle of “no work no pay” and the remaining three days were penal deduction, said Praveen Kumar P, general secretary, Cochin Refineries Employees Association, an affiliate of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). “Unions’ argument is that the imposed wage cut is illegal and against natural justice. Unions went on the strike following all the legal proceedings, including 14…
(ET) The government is hoping to reach the target of raising Rs 65,000 crore from stake sales in state-run companies in the current financial year through offer for sale (OFS) issues in PFC, NMDC and SAIL. Sources said the department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM), which is responsible for state-run asset sales, is also eyeing another Rs 1,000 crore or so from a Coal India share buyback or OFS as well as selling some portion in the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI). The IPO of IRFC, the finance arm of the Railways, is also expected to fetch about Rs…
(ET) In a bid to standardize the various parts of the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem, several constituents, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), have come together to define standards. The move is primarily aimed at commercial vehicles that will ply with swappable batteries. The OEMs — which include Mahindra & Mahindra, Lucas TVS, Okinawa, Kinetic, GEM, Ashok Leyland, Exicom, Amara Raja Batteries and Exide — are involved in preparation of these specifications. “We have coordinated this effort and did iterations in the documents based on feedback from all different stakeholders,” said Prabhjot Kaur, CEO of the Centre for Battery Engineering and EVs (C-BEEV). The centre comes under the…
(ET) Building on IndianOil’s focus on reaching out to the remotest corners of the country and contributing towards environmental protection its eastern region has decided to raising awareness about protecting one of the remotest and least talked about migratory bird habitats in West Bengal. Purbasthali is a remote village and till recently an inconspicuous dot on the traveller’s map of Burdwan district. The sleepy silence of Purbasthali is broken from early December every year with the arrival of migratory birds who have flown from halfway across the world. The Ox Bow Lake formed from the mighty Ganges caresses past villages like Chupi and Kasthashali to become…
(ET) The government sold nearly 2.91 per cent stake in Coal India (CIL) last week and raised more than 3,200 crore in a subdued stock market. Since April last year, the Centre has pared around 4.82 per cent in the state-owned company, raising about 5,700 crore in this financial year. Currently, the government’s stake stands at 66.14 per cent. It has to reduce its holding by another 1.14 per cent to bring down its stake to the minimum public holding limit of 35 per cent in listed companies. Last week, the Centre sold 179.57 million shares in CIL at around 177.9 a piece…