(LiveMint) Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday hinted that public sector firms such as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) may not be allowed to bid for buying government stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), for which a buyer may have to shell out as much as Rs.90,000 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had on Wednesday decided to sell the government’s entire stake in the country’s second-largest state refiner BPCL and India’s largest shipping company Shipping Corporation of India (SCI). It also approved privatisation of Container Corporation of India while also giving nod to paring stake below 51 per cent in…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(ET) NCP and Congress on Wednesday night formally announced their decision to join hands with the Shiv Sena to form a stable government in India’s financial capital. The trio will parade around 170 MLAs before governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari by the weekend to stake claim. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is the party’s chief ministerial choice. Sena is keen on a full term for him, with NCP still insisting on 2.5-year rotational CM. Soon after NCP-Congress announcement,Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut said ‘Maharashtra wants Uddhav Thackeray as CM’. The newly elected MLAs belonging to the three parties have been asked to assemble…
(ET) On Wednesday, Reliance Industries, which is fast nearing the Rs 10-lakh-crore market value mark, overtook BP Plc to become the world’s sixth-largest energy company in terms of market capitalisation. The RIL stock has rallied 6% in the past two days after the group’s telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm said it will increase call and data charges. The stock — which has risen 36% so far this year — is trading at 21 times FY20 estimated earnings and 3.5 times book value. The RIL stock ended up 2.47% at Rs 1,547 on the BSE Wednesday. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, with…
(LiveMint) The capital market regulator has tightened disclosure norms for reporting loan defaults, a move that will help investors draw an informed conclusion about a firm’s financial health and prevent a sudden erosion of their wealth when such an event is discovered—as was the case in recent instances. Any default in repayment of principal or interest to lenders by listed companies which continues beyond 30 days from the pre-agreed payment date will have to be disclosed to shareholders within 24 hours of such an event, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a statement after a board meeting on…
(FE) Facing a fund crunch to execute its ambitious highway development programme, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) may soon get the go-ahead from the Cabinet to explore options like launch of an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) and securitisation of toll receipts. The Cabinet may also give its approval soon to make NHAI’s asset monetisation programme through the toll-operate-transfer (ToT) route less cumbersome. Apart from funding highways, NHAI is in dire need of funds to finance its burgeoning debt which reached Rs 1.8 lakh crore by the end of March this year. Analysts estimate NHAI’s borrowings to go up to…
(FE) With his party and its government in Assam opposed to the National Register of Citizens, especially over the exclusion of many Hindus from the final list, Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday told Rajya Sabha that whenever the NRC exercise is extended to the whole country, it will have to be repeated in Assam. Replying to a question by nominated MP Swapan Dasgupta during the Question Hour, Shah also reiterated the government’s commitment to the Citizenship Amendment Bill, saying it is of the firm belief that Hindu, Buddhist, Parsi, Sikh and Christian refugees from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and…
(ET) The government kicked off a blockbuster disinvestment plan on Wednesday, lining up the sale of five public sector units (PSUs), including majority stakes in bluechip oil company Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Shipping Corporation of India. Also on sale will be a 31% stake in Container Corporation of India (Concor) along with management control. Based on current market prices, the sale of stakes in these three companies will fetch the government about Rs 78,400 crore, taking it close to the disinvestment target for the fiscal year. The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA), which met under the chairmanship of…
(Tribune) The Centre has given the green signal for the construction of an airport in Mandi district, said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur after meeting Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi today.The Chief Minister said the upcoming airport would be constructed as a joint venture by the state government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for which the authority would prepare a detailed project report within a week while the government would speed up the land acquisition process. He also discussed the expansion of other airports and requested the minister…
(Tribune) Even five years after the signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Union Government on generating 7,500 mw solar power energy, the authorities have failed to achieve the target in this regard. In March 2014, the then NC-Congress government of Omar Abdullah had signed the MoU with the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, for the implementation of solar power projects of the capacity of 7,500 mw, but on ground, nothing has been done so far. Under the MoU, solar projects of the capacity of 5,000 MW in Ladakh and 2,500 mw in Kargil,…
(NDTV) Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in Rajya Sabha today that the government is in the process of setting up 69 more gas station in the national capital, however, land availability is a major concern. The move came amid concerns over long queues at Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (IGL). Responding to queries during Question Hour, Mr Pradhan said there are 397 Compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Delhi and IGL gas is made available in all these stations. “We are also in the process of opening 69 more stations. Land is a big constraint in Delhi. Whenever we get…