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 biggest IT company, Tata Consultancy Services, has decided to join hands with the IT arm of Malaysia’s Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) group for its operations in the country. FELDA is a government agency that focuses on resettling farmers in newly development farm areas. It holds 49% in FELDA Holdings which in turn owns […]
The Chinese are pouring in massive amounts of money into the Tibetan region and creating huge infrastructure, some of which may be militarily used against India, noted David Brown, the US Consul General for Chengdu according to a cable released by Wikileaks. The official was describing the massive ‘overinvestment’ he saw in the Tibetan town […]
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 […]
Vodafone has become the first operator to crack the whip on telemarketers under India’s tough new anti-spamming laws. According to India’s telecom regulator, the TRAI, the Indian operation of the UK-based service provider became the first to deposit fine money collected to violators of the code that became effective this month. “Vodafone penalized the first […]
Even as rumors fly of a meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Taliban leaders during the former’s visit to Saudi Arabia last month, a Wikileaks cable has revealed that the Saudis were initially against such a meeting. The cable, dating back to February last year and sent from the Islamabad embassy of the United […]
The Centre for Science and Environment, headed by one of India’s most vocal environmental activist Sunita Narain, has raised alarm at the increasing rate of destruction of India’s forests for industrial purposes. Responding to an ‘open letter’ by industry leaders, the CSE pointed out that despite the projected image of increasing protection for the environment […]
Former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, who has a reputation as one of the least corrupt politicians in the country, had warned the US government against the Pakistani government’s exaggeration of the terror threat and “stage management” of attacks to fleece money from it. In a meeting with a delegation of the US Congress Representatives led […]
The latest foreign trade figures for India holds both good news and bad news. The good news is that the export-growth that has been the most significant aspect of the numbers since January this year has held up in September too. The bad news is that despite that, the higher price of oil is creating […]
