Category: UNCLASSIFIED

Essar Oil said it has tied up credit arrangements worth Rs 5,000 crore from Indian banks to pay its sales tax bill of Rs 6,169 crore. Essar Oil is a subsidiary of Essar Energy, listed on the London Stock Exchange as ESSR. In April this year, the Supreme Court of India had rejected Essar Oil’s […]

India’s IT spending will buck the overall global slowdown and grow at a strong rate of 16.3% in dollar terms this year, International Data Corporation (IDC) said. The growth forecast is unexpectedly strong and bullish, given that Gartner recently predicted that global IT spending will grow only 3% this year. According to IDC, India’s total […]

In the era of cheap me-too 7-inch tablets, PC peripherals brand Intex has launched a standout ultra-slim tablet with a built-in keyboard like that of the Microsoft Surface. The Intex i-Buddy, priced at Rs 6,500 (the same as Micromax Funbook), seems better value for money than the Micromax model and many others in the 7-inch […]

After several years of relentless increases in spending on populist schemes such as the National Employment Guarantee scheme, food, fertilizer and fuel subsidies, the government has finally applied the brakes in the budget for 2011-12. Instead of increasing budgets to rope in more people under the schemes, the government has proposed to make the schemes […]

Banks in India will face increasing stress over the next two years due to a possible deterioration in asset quality and overall economic malaise, ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said. While other BRIC countries will also face slowing growth, India’s situation is the most dire among the four big developing nations, it said. “We believe […]

After many stumbles, the reform of India’s massive food-subsidy system is gathering pace. Starting this month, Kochi in Kerala will be among the select few cities in India where a new public distribution system (PDS) will be tested out. Unlike the current system, the new system will not route the subsidy on food and kerosene […]

Come next year, salaried employees who earn less than Rs 8 to 9 lakhs a year will not have to through the hassle of filing their annual income tax returns. According to the budget for 2011-12, from June 2011, government would change the laws to make it unnecessary for salaried employees to file annual IT […]

WishTel has launched the second version of its tablet, called IRA THING 2. The main upgrades are in the operating system — which is now Android Ice Cream Sandwich, processor (1.5 GHz) and RAM (512 MB). IRA THING 2 also plays full HD (1080p) videos through its HDMI port. Display remains at 7 inches. Resolution […]

In keeping with recent trends, India’s exports dipped again in June, this time by 5.5%. June exports were US $25.07 billion. Thankfully, imports too dipped, faster than exports. Imports were US $ 35.37 billion with a negative growth of (-) 13.46%. Balance of Trade was comfortable at US $ 10.3 billion, compared to $13-14 billion […]

Anna Hazare has made it clear that he will not break his next fast on the basis of assurances, written or otherwise, from the Prime Minister or anyone else. His fast starting next month will end only with the passing of a strong Lokpal bill, or his death, he said. “So many people are dying […]

Inflation continued to remain above 10% in June, led by high food inflation, latest government numbers show. Overall, on an all-India basis, consumer prices were up 10.02% in June, compared to prices in June 2011. Double-digit consumer price inflation is bad news for people with fixed income, such as those on salaries and pensions. Even […]

The following are the main points of the government’s announcement of 2012-13 supplements and changes to India’s Foreign Trade Policy – 2% interest subvention for Handlooms, Handicrafts, Carpets and SMEs Last year the government had agreed to create a special dispensation for labour intensive industry by extending the facility of 2% interest subvention for Handlooms, […]

Budget in numbers: ITEM 2012 2011 Gross Tax receipts 9,32,440 crore 7,46,651 crore Non-tax revenue 1,25,435 crore 1,48,118 crore Total expenditure 12,57,729 crore 11,08,749 crore Plan expenditure 4,41,547 crore 3,73,092 crore Fiscal Deficit 4.6% (proj) 5.1% (actual) Real Revenue Deficit 1.8% (proj) 2.3% (actual) Total Gov borrowing 3.43 lakh crore 3,45,010 crore Government debt/GDP 44.2%

Tata DOCOMO has cut the prices of its CDMA-EVDO high speed internet service to bring them in line with the reduced tariffs offered by major competitors like Airtel and Idea. It has introduced two new plans, mirroring those of its main competitors. Like Idea, users of Tata Phone Plus (+) can now get 6 GB […]