The Central Vigilance Commission recommended major penalty proceedings against over 1600 central government officers in the last three years, according to data from the ministry of personnel, pensions and public grievances. The ministry, headed by V Narayanasamy, however, did not give the details of how many of these recommendations were heeded. Instead, the ministry redirected […]
Overruling environmentalists’ protests, the Forest Advisory Committee — the final experts body under the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) — has recommended clearance for Mayawati’s ambitious eight-lane expressway from Greater Noida to Saharanpur along the Upper Ganges Canal. The project, which will involved cutting down 42,100 trees in five districts, will however have to […]
India’s total mobile penetration is only 51%, international technology market research agency Gartner said, well below the official estimate of a teledensity of around 75% by the TRAI. The number of mobile users in India increased by just 9% in 2011, hitting 638 million (63.8 crore) at the end of last year, the agency said. […]
If you are wondering what is the best way to save tax, mutual funds are the way to go, according to an analysis by Crisil Research, part of the CRISIL rating agency. According a study of the tax saving mutual funds, called ‘equity linked savings scheme’ or ELSS in India, showed that they offered more […]
Worldwide software as a service (SaaS) revenue is forecast to reach $14.5 billion in 2012, up 17.9 percent from 2011, said Gartner. SaaS-based delivery will experience healthy growth through 2015, when worldwide revenue is projected to reach $22.1 billion, it added. “After more than a decade of use, adoption of SaaS continues to grow and […]
India’s embattled national carrier Air India reported better traffic and revenue numbers for February and proceeded to set up direct import of aviation fuel. The passenger revenue during February 2012 went up 32% to Rs. 949 crores from a year ago. Total number of passengers who flew on Air India also went up 13.4% to […]
The government’s strategy in dealing with the allegations made by Army chief General VK Singh seems to be to attack the fact that the allegations have been made public. While minister of state Pallam Raju said matters of defence preparedness should not have been made a matter of public debate, another cabinet minister, Vayalar Ravi, […]
Many consumer rights groups have faulted trading in agricultural commodity price futures for the rapid rise in prices, but now, even the trade bodies are joining in. Industry body Assocham gave out a strongly-worded statement decrying what it called the Harshad-Mehta-scam-like situation in India’s commodity exchanges, fueling a fantastic rise in prices. “Turmeric, which was […]
If the traditional, big Indian mobile operators were dreaming of increasing tariffs in what is often called the world’s most competitive market, they have got another thing coming. It was in July last year that big operators, such as Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance, proclaimed the end of the cheap-tariff era and hiked call rates by […]
The government has not taken any disciplinary action against any defence personnel against whom complaints have been received in the last two years, according to numbers laid in the Rajya Sabha. Asked by member P Rajeeve to give the number of persons in the army, navy, air force or other wings against whom disciplinary actions […]
Satellite TV channels from most of India’s neighbours figure in a list of ‘harmful’ channels compiled by Indian security forces, according to information provided to the Rajya Sabha by the government this week. Not surprisingly, Pakistan is home to the highest number of ‘harmful’ channels, as determined by Indian security agencies. Also interesting is the […]
Tata Communications said it has established a fibre optic connection between India and Europe, making it the first company to offer a round-the-globe fibre network. The latest, 9,280 km Eurasia (TGN-EA) cable connects Europe to India through Egypt, The latest cable runs “across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, uses fibre-optic technology based on microscopic […]
Rating agency Crisil has warned that new RBI regulations that limit the amount of money gold-loan companies could provide will reduce the growth rate of the industry from 80% to 20-25% per year. New regulations from the Reserve Bank of India prohibit companies from loaning more than 60% of the value of the gold that […]
Were you tempted by the Rs 2,900 Akash tablet, or the Rs 3,250 Penta tablet from BSNL, but put off by their resistive touch-screen displays? Help is at hand, in the form of Wishtel, an Indian company that has brought in a decent capacitive-touch tablet at Rs 5,500. The Wishtel IRA and ‘IRA Thing’ tablets […]
Uninor, the joint venture between the Unitech group and Norway’s Telenor has emerged as the fastest growing Indian telecom operator over the last several months. In the six months ended February, the company’s average subscriber addition per month is 2.23 million, higher than any other company in India. Uninor’s closest competitor is Idea Cellular, which […]
The growing prevalence of the Internet will push the beloved personal computer to the sidelines, new prediction from technology market research firm Gartner says. “The reign of the personal computer as the sole corporate access device is coming to a close, and by 2014, the personal cloud will replace the personal computer at the center […]
After Wipro, Toshiba, Lenovo, HP, Samsung, Asus and Acer, it is Dell’s turn to launch an ‘Ultrabook’ in India. The third largest PC brand in the world will launch its 13-inch Ultrabook, the Dell XPS 13, on Tuesday in Mumbai. The Dell XPS 13 is priced at Rs 80,000 in India. The XPS 13 will […]
A combined amendment bill put forth by the opposition in India’s upper house on NCTC Rajya Sabha was defeated by 105 votes to 82 in a surprise outcome today. The amendment, intended to take the sting out of the National Counterterrorism Center legislation brought in by the government. Though the government had only 94 votes, […]
In India’s world of outsourcing and me-too IT companies, Bangalore-based Ittiam Systems stands out. Founded more than ten years ago with the vision of leveraging India’s intellectual capacity to create intellectual property (such as patents), instead of simply helping others do their job, the company has just crossed the $20 million revenue mark. Interestingly, the […]
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating an alleged scam in the procurement of wireless land-phones, known as FWTs or fixed wireless terminals, by BSNL. In reply to a question by member of Parliament P Lingam and others, the ministry of communications and IT said that the CBI started the investigations on the basis […]
