DMK MP Kanimozhi on Friday moved the Delhi High Court seeking that charges against her in 2G spectrum allocation case be quashed.
Kanimozhi’s counsel pleaded before the court that his client was not involved in granting of 2G licenses and there was no evidence to charge her in the 2G scam.
The DMK MP was arrested because a firm part-owned by her, Kalaignar TV, allegedly served as the landing place for a 214-crore bribe for jailed ex-telecom minister Raja.
The debt-laden national carrier Air India is set for more troubles beginning April with its employees, who have not been paid their dues for the past five months, on Thursday threatening to go on strike from April 2, as three rounds of talks with management failed in Mumbai.
According to sources, the strike warning followed the demand of the unions for a written commitment from the management that it would clear the entire dues before April 1.
The country’s second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India on Thursday launched a new version of its premium sedan Sonata, priced between Rs 18.53 lakh and Rs 20.61 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
“The all new Sonata powered by our GDi engine offers best-in-class features. Competitively priced the Sonata offers a stylish new choice to the premium customer,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing Director and CEO B S Seo said in a statement.
The company had showcased the sixth generation version of the Sonata at the 11th Auto Expo here in January.
Defending champion, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), successfully retained the crown by vanquishing Air India 3-0 in the men’s team championship of the All India Public Sector Badminton Tournament 2011-12 at the K V B R Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda here today.
The World Bank will not reduce financial assistance to India for poverty alleviation measures because of the recent official data that showed a decline in the number of poor people in the country.
The international funding agency takes a long-term view on its commitments and the poverty data released on Monday will not have any bearing on that commitments, World Bank Country Head N Roberto Zagha said on the sidelines of an event here yesterday.
Newly-elected Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Thursday announced a partial rollback in rail fare hike.
Roy announced rollback in rail fare hike in Sleeper class, General class, Sub-Urban, AC Chair car and 3rd AC while fares of 1st and 2nd AC will remain unchanged.
Replying to the debate on the Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha, Roy also put on hold Trivedi’s proposal of setting up a committee to examine whether there should be an independent tariff regulatory authority.
He scrapped Trivedi’s proposal to expand the Railway Board.
The country’s three telecom majors Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Loop Mobiles and their top officials were summoned today by a Delhi court for allegedly violating the TRAI regulations on mobile number portability.
The top corporate executives who were issued summonses with a direction to appear before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav on May 25 are Bharti Airtel’s CEO Sanjay Kapoor, its Director (Legal and Regulatory Affairs) Jyoti Pawar and Vice-President (Head and Regulatory Affairs, Mobile Services) Ashwani Rana.
Tata Motors Ltd. unit Jaguar Land Rover Wednesday said it has agreed to form a joint venture with Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. to manufacture the U.K.-based auto maker’s luxury vehicles in China.
Both companies will hold an equal stake in the joint venture, which will also make co-branded vehicles, according to a statement on the Jaguar Land Rover website.
The joint venture company will set up a research and development facility, a plant to manufacture engines, and it will look after vehicle sales as well.
Kingfisher Airlines Tuesday decided to suspend all international flights from March 25 and further curtail domestic operations even as Government warned the ailing carrier that its flying licence can be cancelled if it failed to meet safety norms.
“We have decided to suspend our international operations as we are not on IATA platforms. So, there is no sense flying abroad,” Mallya, who was summoned by the DGCA, told reporters here.
Kingfisher will not operate its international flights in the summer schedule starting from March 25, airlines sources said.
The stage is set for the long-awaited merger of Mahindra Satyam with its parent company Tech Mahindra Ltd.
The boards of the two companies will meet Wednesday to take a decision. The announcement will be made at a joint press conference.
The merger was proposed after Anand Mahindra-owned Tech Mahindra purchased Satyam Computer Service Ltd in 2009 and renamed it Mahindra Satyam.
The government auctioned the Hyderabad-based IT services firm Satyam after its founder and chairman B. Ramalinga Raju admitted to committing India’s biggest accounting fraud.
India’s Internet economy is expected to reach Rs 10.8 trillion by 2016, as the country’s growth rate in this segment is far ahead of many of the developing nations, says a report by Boston Consulting Group.
According to a report in the Boston Consulting Group’s Connected World series, the Indian Internet economy contributed Rs 3.2 trillion to the overall economy in 2010, representing 4.1 percent of GDP, and is projected to rise to Rs 10.8 trillion by 2016.
The government on Monday said it proposes to bring down expenditure on subsidies towards food, oil and fertilisers to 1.75 percent of the GDP in the next three years, from 2 percent estimated in 2012-13.
“…would restrict the expenditure on central subsidies to under two percent of GDP in 2012-13. Over the next three years, it would be further brought down to 1.75 percent of GDP,” Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the government’s review petition in the Rs 11,000 crore Vodafone tax case.
The government had filed a review petition asking the court to reconsider its verdict delivered in January which gave its order in favour of Vodafone and helped improve foreign investor confidence.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the General Budget had proposed amendments in the Income Tax Act with retrospective effect from 1962 to bring into net overseas deals concerning domestic assets.
Tata Communications surged around 5 percent on the bourses today after CNBC-TV18 reported that the government is planning to divest 26 percent of its residual stake in the firm.
The government’s 26 percent stake in Tata Communications is valued at Rs 17,000 crore at current market price and the stake sale is likely to be completed by the first half of calender year 2012.
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The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 73 points in early trade today, snapping a three-session losing streak, on fresh buying by funds and retailers at attractive lower levels.
The 30-share barometer, which had lost over 645 points in the past three sessions, recovered by 73.11 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 17,346.48 with metal, realty and capital goods sector stocks leading the recovery.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty, moved up by 13.95 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 5,271.35 points.
The Supreme Court will hear the government’s appeal in the Rs 11,000 crore Vodafone tax case on Tuesday.
The government has filed a review petition asking the court to reconsider its verdict delivered in January which gave its order in favour of Vodafone and helped improve foreign investor confidence.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the General Budget had proposed amendments in the Income Tax Act with retrospective effect from 1962 to bring into net overseas deals concerning domestic assets.
Kingfisher Airlines’ Chairman Vijay Mallya has been summoned by the aviation regulator to give a clear outlook for the financially troubled carriers’ operations and future plans.
“He (Mallya) has been called to meet the director general to give a clear picture of the day-to-day operations, the status of aircraft and flight schedule,” sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told IANS.
The Delhi High Court Monday quashed charges of hosting objectionable content against Microsoft India and set aside a trial court order for initiating criminal proceedings against the company.
Justice Suresh Kait accepted the company’s plea that Microsoft was not providing a platform to people to interact with each other and post or publish their views, but one engaged in developments and sale of software and computing solutions.
The company’s counsel told the court that no defamatory material was posted on its websites.
Tata Steel and Wipro have been named among the world’s most ethical companies by the American think tank, Ethisphere Institute, company officials said.
These are the only two Indian companies to have featured in the 2012 list of World’s Most Ethical Companies prepared by US-based Ethisphere Institute.
“It is a great honour for Tata Steel to be recognised under such an important and prestigious parameter. Ethical business principles and practices have been the key differentiators of Tata Group and Tata Steel since inception,” said H. M. Nerurkar, managing director, Tata Steel.
The government is confidant of raising around Rs 90,000 crore in the next three years through auction of telecom spectrum, in line with its proposal to sell airwaves at market-linked prices.
As per the Union Budget proposals presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament today, “…Rs 40,000 crore (of non tax revenue) is estimated to be from telecom spectrum auction in 2012-13.”
Another Rs 25,000 crore of non-tax revenue is estimated from telecom spectrum in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively, it added.
Springing pleasant surprises, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday provided reliefs for tax payers. Higher tax exemption limit for individuals, significant benefits for senior citizens, and retention of corporate tax to its existent level were some of the major tax-related highlights of Union Budget 2012-13.
However, a 2% jump in service tax from the current 10% came as a dampener.
Revisions in Direct Tax:
Income Tax
1) Individuals:
Income upto Rs 2,00,000 – Nil
Rs 2,00,001 to Rs 5,00,000 – 10%
Rs 5,00,001 to Rs 10,00,000 – 20%
Steel makers’ long-pending demand to give them a level-playing field vis-à-vis imports gets rewarded in the Budget with the Finance Minister raising import duty to 7.5 per cent from 5 per cent earlier.
“The Finance Minister’s decision to enhance basic customs duty on non-alloy, flat-rolled steel to 7.5 per cent from five per cent and duty reduction on imported plant & machinery for setting up iron ore beneficiation from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent will help to keep our costs competitive,” Essar Steel’s CEO and MD Dilip Oommen said.
Delayed rainfall in the northeast is likely to affect the overall tea production in Assam this year.
The deficient rainfall in Assam this year has already delayed the arrival of the first flush of tea leaves, which is considered to be very important for the overall production.
Assam accounts for 13 percent of the world’s tea production and around 800 tea gardens in Assam account for 51 percent of India’s annual tea production. Last year, the state had recorded bumper production of 508.74 million kgs (mkgs).
‘Budget in right direction but short on growth incentives’
Tamil Nadu’s corporate sector Said Fridy Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has acquitted himself well given the circumstances by which he is bound and the budget is in right direction but short on growth initiatives for various sectors.
According to industrialists and corporate officials assembled at the budget viewing session organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here Friday, Mukherjee’s budget mirrored his political maturity for taking in his stride the political issues and assert 6.9 percent growth projection.
The All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation Friday called for a country-wide shutdown March 17 to protest against the government’s budget proposal to increase basic customs duty on standard gold bars, gold coins and platinum by two percent.
“All jewelers and all associations across India have unanimously called for a total bandh of all jewellery establishments March 17, which may also extend to March 18 and 19 based on joint decisions as a mark of protest against the Budget,” the jewellers body said in a release here.