Suchetana Ray

CAD, inflation in focus as oil inches towards $50 a barrel

A curious visit by a Panama minister

RIL to withdraw suit, begin KG drilling

How the strategic Chabahar port may bolster India-Iran ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi quoted Urdu poet Ghalib and spoke about ‘dosti (friendship)’ as India and Iran on Monday signed 12 pacts, including the agreement to develop Chabahar port — a significant development given the strategic location of the Iranian port with direct access to the Indian Ocean region.

Panama minister visits India. But what was she up to?

In the midst of the leaks, a junior minister from Panama came to India, met government officials, and left the country without doing what she had come here to do: make a speech at a conference of women entrepreneurs.

RIL to withdraw arbitration, begin KG drilling

RIL and its partner BP Plc are all set to begin their next phase of expansion at the Krishna-Godavari. In April, the Mukesh Ambani-led company invited tenders for drilling and recovering gas from three deep-sea clusters off the east coast of India including the R-series, Satellite-series and MJ-1 fields.

To revive power plants govt to ink gas deals with Gulf countries

In a bid to fuel stranded gas based power projects the government is negotiating long term contracts with leading gas suppliers in the Gulf region. The plan is to enter into contracts for importing 70-80 million metric standard cubic metres (mmscmd) of natural gas through long-term contracts of 10-15 years and at affordable rates. Given the price sensitivity of fueling a power project, the government wants these long term contracts in the price range of $5 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu).

No need for tax sops to draw funds: FM on Mauritius treaty

Jaitley explained that the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) was signed with Mauritius in 1983, at a time when the Indian economy was picking up and tax incentives in certain areas, such as, the Mauritius route, were needed. But 33 years later, the India story has evolved. “India is one of the most-attractive emerging markets today. So there is no need for any incentives to draw investments, they will come” the finance minister told HT.

Gas Buzz: RIL, ONGC, Cairn line up new investments

Companies are gung-ho as operational margins will increase with drilling cost going down, while the gas produced will fetch a higher price

Disinvestment blues: Govt may offer PSU stake only to institutional buyers

Most of the blue-chip public sector companies (PSUs) lined up for disinvestment this year are reluctant to allow the government to reduce its stake. Stake dilutions in the past have shown that there is no retail appetite and in the run up to the disinvestment there is a significant depreciation of the share prices. So the government is now exploring the option of stake sale in selected PSUs by offering shares only to institutional investors — foreign as well as domestic — through the Institutional Placement Programme (IPP).

NTPC threatens to cut power supply over payment of dues by discoms

State-owned power generation company NTPC Ltd has threatened to suspend supply of electricity to Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-run Delhi discoms if they fail to cough up the Rs 1,300 crore dues by May 10.

India agrees to pay 1.5% interest on oil dues to Iran

India has been eyeing deeper ties with West Asian country with $20-billion (Rs 1.33 lakh crore) worth of investment being lined up in oil and gas, petrochemical and fertiliser projects there.

Power corridor of Delhi to turn energy efficient

Power minister, Piyush Goyal’s favourite one liner is “energy saved is energy generated” and keeping with this he along with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is turning all government offices house across the various Bhawans in Lutyen’s Delhi, energy efficient.

Finance ministry prepares for global rating agencies

Sovereign credit rating agencies will soon be coming to assess the performance of India’s economy, and path of fiscal consolidation. Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das ensures full preparedness to meet the officials from agencies such as Fitch and Moody’s.

Lack of original documents may hit govt’s Panama probe

The government’s probe of the Panama papers expose has hit a roadblock.

Big B as ‘Incredible India’ ambassador? Coming soon

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is likely to replace Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador of the ‘Incredible India’ campaign, government sources said, and added the announcement will be made in the next two days.

RBI governor Rajan among lowest paid central bank chiefs in world

Raghuram Rajan might not be the top-paid executive at RBI, but with an annual package of close to Rs 24,00,000, the Governor is woefully under-paid in comparison to his counterparts the world over.

Cairn-Vedanta merger to go ahead if asset value is set aside in escrow a/c

Anil Agarwal’s plan to merge subsidiary Cairn India with flagship firm Vedanta Ltd, which recently hit a roadblock after the government expressed apprehensions about the proposed merger, may finally see the light of the day.

Energy ffficient pumps to reduce Govt’s subsidy bill

Saving energy is the buzzword these days among consumers and policy makers, keeping that in mind power minister Piyush Goyal is all set to launch a programme to provide farmers with energy efficient pumps. These pumps will lead to national savings of Rs 20000 crore from by 2019.

‘Will ensure that summer power outages are a thing of the past’ says Goyal

Summer power outages could end soon and electricity bills could come down, if all state governments adopt the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana or UDAY — a scheme to restructure the debt of state power utilities, minister for power, coal and renewable energy Piyush Goyal told HT in an interview.

500 Indians in Panama papers leak: SIT on black money asks for report

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has directed the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to look into the Panama-paper leak and present a report.

Panama-papers: Indian agencies to wait and watch

As the world woke up to a massive financial scam that enveloped global leaders, corporates, entertainers and several heads of states, Indian financial authorities chose to remain silent on the Panama money-laundering expose on Monday.

Govt looking to boost made in India solar panels

In a bid to push Make in India, the government will soon announce a policy to boost end-to-end manufacturing of solar equipments like polysilicon, wafers, cells and panels.

SitOrSquat to ThinkDirty: Here are the 5 must-have apps

In today’s age of smart people and their smartphones that are overflowing with apps, how do you decide which ones to use? It’s a very difficult question. So we help you with some recommendations.

Magazine’s up for grabs: 5 things we bet you didn’t know about Playboy

As the iconic Playboy magazine is put on the selling block, here’s a look at 5 things we bet you didn’t know about Playboy.

State-run oil companies to push start-ups

State-run oil companies will soon create a start-up fund to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, minister for petroleum and natural gas.

Hurdles in bringing Mallya back from London despite treaty with UK

India has an extradition treaty with the UK but criminal lawyer Majeed Memon said it is tough to convince British authorities that a foreigner on their soil can be considered fugitive for a financial crime he had committed in his home country.

Being forced to buy insurance? Regulator not keen to help

With the rise of insurance schemes available for investments, consumers are spoilt for choice but so are the evidences of wrong selling of these schemes.

KF house auction: What’s a Rs 150 cr asset compared to Rs 7000 cr debt?

The SBI-led bank consortium is auctioning Kingfisher House in Mumbai today in a bid to recover a part of the Rs 7,000 crore debt due from the now grounded Kingfisher Airlines (KFA).

Cairn Energy Rs 28,200 crore tax case: Numbers, specifics and more

UK’s Cairn Energy Plc. on Tuesday said it has been served a tax assessment notice of Rs 28,200 crore by the income tax department for recovering alleged dues. Here’s a quick recount of what has happened in this case so far.