The Punjab Wakf Board, which is the custodian of a large number of mosques and related properties, has opposed government’s move to prevent the leasing of land under Wakf boards. The board, in a memorandum to the central government, has opposed a law currently under the consideration of the parliament. If passed, the law will […]
The total number of passengers using the Indian Railways dipped slightly to 210 crore during the first three months of the financial year compared to a year ago, numbers from the ministry of railways showed. Though the dip was minor (0.7%), in terms of number of tickets sold, the difference was nearly 15 million (1.5 […]
The government has started conducting hydrological surveys to start the development of India’s fourth and fifth inland navigation routes – called National Waterways 4 & 5 – in South India and East India. Hydrological survey as the first phase of development, and serve as the prelude to the development of terminals etc.. The Inland Waterways […]
TechCrunch, arguably the world’s top profiler of technology start-ups, is launching its first event in India, at the country’s IT capital. Called ‘TechCrunch Bangalore’, the event follows the familiar recipe of hackathons, investment pitches and start-up networking. TechCrunch, though primarily a website, has in recent years successfully diversified into a broad platform for technology start-ups […]
The numbers are in – and they don’t paint a pretty picture of India’s economy, with growth continuing to slow and prices remaining very high. According to “Quick Estimates” by the government, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) declined by 2.2% in June, compared to an initial estimate of 1.6% decline in May. The IIP, […]
There is not a single person belonging to the scheduled castes among India’s top ranking bureaucrats — the 149 ‘secretaries’ to the government of India. Scheduled castes are those that are named in the ‘first schedule’ of the constitution for the purpose of protection from a historical trend of exploitation. Along with Scheduled Tribes (tribes […]
Almost two in every 5 faculty seats in central universities in India are lying vacant, according to numbers from the Human Resources ministry. Out of a total of 16,542 faculty positions in India’s central universities, 6152 were lying vacant as of March end, according to a reply furnished by the ministry in response to a […]
Samsung continued to hold the top slot in the Indian tablet market that doubled year-over-year, CyberMedia Research said in its updated Quarterly Tablet PC Market Review. Samsung held a share of 21.2% in the June quarter of 2013, down slightly from 23.9% it held in the September quarter of 2012. Micromax, which was number 2 in […]
As expected, the Reserve Bank of India today held key interest rates unchanged despite calls from industry lobbies for easing money supply, despite a dip in inflation to about 9.3 percent. The following are key reactions to RBI’s move. CII The quarterly GDP figures point towards a poor health of the economy even while industrial […]
Taiwanese peripherals and laptop maker Asus has signed on a second India-wide distributor to expand its reach across the market. Along with existing distributor Rashi Peripherals, Ingram Micro, a Fortune 100 company, will help the company widen its base, Asus India said. Unlike Rashi, Ingram is an international firm, and is expected to give marketing […]
By now, iBall has made a name for itself in the crowded Indian tablet market by coming out with well-crafted and almost high-end devices at mid-range prices. It recently introduced the quad-core Q9703, the most advanced tablet by an Indian brand. It was also the first to come out with a dual-core tablet, along with […]
SanDisk has tapped Freescale Semiconductor’s India head Ganesh Guruswamy to head its Bangalore-based India Design Center. Guruswamy, who has been appointed Vice President, will be in charge of leading the memory device maker’s Bangalore-based engineering teams to devleop what it called its next-generation consumer storage solutions, including USB flash drives, memory cards, microSD cards, and […]
The tussle between Ahmedabad-based Nirma group and union environment ministry got tighter today as the ministry took strong exception to Nirma refusing to abide by its order. The ministry warned Nirma group that it its refusal to honor the ‘stop work’ notice given by it would be counted as a ‘dereliction’ and would be counted […]
Close on its acquisition of Waze, an Israel-based mapping company, Google is all set to launch a new ‘intelligent’ version of its Google Maps product. The new product will focus on three things – an overall improvement in the quality and sophistication of the product, artificial intelligence and a more ‘social’ experience. In the new […]
India’s trade minister Anand Sharma today held a ’round table conference’ with foreign companies and others to address their concerns about the country’s foreign investment (FDI) policy for the retail sector. The meeting came after many foreign firms, such as Wal-Mart, seemed to have gone slow in firming up their plans for investing in the […]
The government of India has withdrawn its three month old circular on how to calculate taxes payable by captive research & development (R&D) units of foreign companies in India. The circular, which would impact tax rates of companies like IBM, Microsoft, Samsung, GE, Google and others in India, was issued on March 26. While the […]
While many exporters have never been happier thanks to the steep fall in the level of rupee to 60 per dollar, the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) has urged policy makers to take a longer term view. The association pointed out that while, in the short term, exporters will get more rupees […]
Private Equity firms invested about $2,330 million across 82 deals during the quarter ended June 2013, according to early data from Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and valuations in India. The investment amount was 17.7% higher than that invested in the same period last year ($1,980 million across 114 […]
One of India’s biggest neutraceuticals and health-food brands, Dabur, has clarified that it was not aware of exports of its products from India to the USA, leading to a US FDA alert. Media reports had said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency that approves drugs and medicines and maintains quality of packaged […]
Google has unveiled what seems like a winner for the search company — rich, targeted ads from online retailers next to search results. The new service, called ‘Product Listing Ads’, is far more sophisticated and ‘compelling’ than the link-based ads that used to appear till now. Not only are these richer in information, but in […]
