Category: BUSINESS

The pink coloured Economic Survey document tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament today recommended that India must confront the societal metapreference for a son, observing that the adverse sex ratio of females to males has led to 63 million “missing” women. The colour of this year’s survey cover was chosen as a symbol of support for the growing movement to end violence against women, which spans continents. Laying special emphasis on gender development, the Survey cautioned that on several indicators, notably employment, use of reversible contraception, and son…

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A tender inviting concessionaires for an international airport at Jewar is likely to be out in August, according to a senior official of the nodal agency YEIDA. The Ministry of Civil Aviation cleared a proposal for Jewar airport in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida last year. It will be the second airport in the National Capital Region. “The bid document inviting concessionaires for Jewar airport will be made public in August. The aim is that we finalise the concessionaire by the end of this year,” Chairman of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial…

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Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has invited his counterparts from WTO member countries for a mini-ministerial meeting in India. Prabhu, who attended a ministerial dinner hosted by the WTO here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) last night, said he personally invited all of them for the mini-ministerial to be hosted by India in March. He also said it is for India to take the leadership role in reviving multilateralism in the world, as highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his opening plenary address at…

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Leading exchange BSE has revised the circuit limit for the shares of eight companies to curb excessive volatility in their prices. The firms are Orient Paper & Industries, Shah Foods, Aishwarya Telecom, Amba Enterprises, Lancer Container Lines, Meera Industries, Master Trust and Uniroyal Marine Exports. The new limits, effective tomorrow, will ensure stock prices do not fluctuate beyond a prescribed level during a session. In a notice, BSE said trading members of the exchange are hereby informed that the price band has been changed from their existing levels in the…

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Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant today said some states have improved in terms of ease of doing business after they were ranked very low on an index, as he credited the change to “name and shame”. Speaking at a session here at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Kant said he is a great believer in “name and shame” and that seemed to do the trick for poorly ranked states. Talking about the government’s focus on improving ease of doing business across the country, Kant said, “When we started ranking states…

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Benchmark Sensex zoomed 342 points today to close above the 36,000-mark for the first time, while the broader Nifty too breached the historic 11,000-level after IMF projected India’s growth getting back on track. Investor sentiment got a boost after the IMF said India will see its growth picking up to 7.4 per cent in 2018-19 to regain the status of the world’s fastest growing major economy. In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) update released yesterday in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meet, the International…

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Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said the Western world must realise they cannot go a long way without the help of the emerging economies and warned that no one would be able to resolve any problem of a ‘fractured world’ if things are not set right soon. Without naming any country, he said the West must realise that their population is ageing and the demand for their products would mostly come from the emerging world. Speaking in Davos at a session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual…

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Snapping its three-session winning run, the rupee today ended lower by 3 paise at 63.87 against the US currency following fresh bouts of dollar demand from importers amid the US political jitters. Trading was extremely volatile as the currency market witnessed wide swings against the backdrop of US government shutdown. The US government shutdown went into effect at midnight on Friday after Senate negotiators failed to reach an agreement on a last minute deal to keep the government funded amid a dispute over immigration and border security. The domestic currency…

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to address the boards of markets regulator Sebi and Reserve Bank on February 10, a senior official said. Soon after the presentation of Union Budget, it is a customary practice for the finance minister to address the boards of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Budget for 2018-19, which would also be the last full budget by the present NDA government, is scheduled to be presented on February 1. A senior regulatory official said…

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Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said his Ministry is trying to bring petrol and diesel under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). “We are trying that petrol, diesel and kerosene should also come under the ambit of GST. We are hopeful that the GST Council will agree to it shortly,” the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister told reporters in Ujjain. Responding to a query, the minister said the spike in petrol rates in the international market has impacted the cost of the fuel in India. “Besides,…

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