Fuel supply by Coal India Limited to power sector drops 5% to 277 MT in April-November
NEW DELHI: Coal supply by state-run CIL to the power sector declined by 5.3 per cent to 277.46 million tonne (MT) in the April-November period of the ongoing fiscal. The state-owned company had supplied 292.88 million tonnes of coal to the power sector in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to official data. […]
Stainless steel industry seeks zero duty on ferro-nickel, scrap in upcoming Budget
By Abhishek Sonkar NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Budget, the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) has urged the government to remove import duty on ferro-nickel and stainless steel scrap. Currently, ferro-nickel and stainless steel scrap attract basic customs duty (BCD) of 2.5 per cent. In its recommendations to Finance Ministry for the upcoming Budget […]
Air India privatisation unlikely to conclude this fiscal
NEW DELHI: Privatisation of Air India may spill into next fiscal year as the divestment process is unlikely to conclude in the remaining a little over three months of 2020-21, an official said. Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group and US-based fund Interups Inc were among “multiple” entities that put in preliminary bids last week for buying […]
Contempt plea cites non-compliance of 2017 order, Supreme Court seeks states’ response
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has sought a response from all state governments on a contempt petition over non-compliance of its September 2017 direction to the executive in all the states to frame appropriate guidelines or recruitment rules for the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) within a deadline of six months. Citing issues of environmental […]
We need more funds from Modi government to repair highways due to floods: Yediyurappa
BENGALURU: Karnataka on Saturday appealed to union minister of Road Transport & Highways, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Nitin Gadkari to release adequate grants to take up flood damage repair works as Karnataka has suffered severe damages to infrastructure including National Highways. For the last one year, BS Yediyurappa has come under severe attack from […]
Donald Trump downplays Russia in first comments on hacking campaign
By JILL COLVIN and MATTHEW LEE WASHINGTON:Contradicting his secretary of state and other top officials, President Donald Trump on Saturday suggested without evidence that China — not Russia — may be behind the cyber espionage operation against the United States and tried to minimize its impact. In his first comments on the breach, Trump scoffed […]
Joe Biden introduces his climate team, says ‘no time to waste’
By KEVIN FREKING WILMINGTON: Just as the United States (US) has needed a unified, national response to COVID-19, it needs one for dealing with climate change, President-elect Joe Biden said Saturday as he rolled out key members of his environmental team. “We literally have no time to waste,” Biden told reporters as introduced his choices. […]
Fight over Federal Reserve powers stalls $900 billion aid plan
By ANDREW TAYLOR and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER WASHINGTON: An arcane battle over emergency Federal Reserve powers foiled efforts on Saturday to lock down an agreement on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. The deadlock was just the latest stumble in a partisan, months-long fight over pandemic relief and the lack of progress is backing […]
MG Motor India plans 3% price hike to offset impact of higher costs
NEW DELHI: MG Motor India on Friday said it will increase prices of its vehicles by up to three per cent from January to offset the adverse impact of higher input cost. The company also said it will introduce a seven-seater version of its Hector Plus model next month. In a statement, MG Motor India […]
Renault to hike vehicle prices by up to Rs 28,000 from next month
NEW DELHI: Automaker Renault India on Friday said it will increase price of its entire model range by up to Rs 28,000 from next month. The company, which sells models like Kwid, Duster and Triber, said the price hike from January would vary across variants and products. “The price increase is a result of the […]
CBI books Hyderabad-based firm for over Rs 7,926-crore bank fraud
NEW DELHI: The CBI has booked Hyderabad-based Transstroy (India) Ltd and its directors for alleged bank fraud of over Rs 7,926 crore in a consortium led by Canara Bank, in one of the biggest banking scams in the country, officials said on Friday. The agency carried out searches at the premises of the company and […]
Global partnership COVAX secures 2 billion coronavirus vaccine doses
NEW DELHI: Global vaccine partnership COVAX has lined up almost two billion doses of existing and candidate COVID-19 vaccines for use worldwide, including 200 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine through an agreement between the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, the Serum Institute of India and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. COVAX, the global initiative to […]
After Pfizer, US Approves Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine
NEW DELHI: The US biotechnology company Moderna has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) has authorized the emergency use of mRNA-1273, Moderna’s vaccine against COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age or older. The Moderna approval comes exactly a week after the US Food and Drug Administration okay-ed a shot from Pfizer […]
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine set to get clearance by year-end: Report
NEW DELHI: The Oxford University vaccine against COVID-19 being produced by AstraZeneca is likely to get regulatory approval from the UK’s independent regulator by the end of this year for a rollout to begin in early 2021, according to a UK media report. The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which had been formally tasked […]
Honda pulls the plug on production at Greater Noida facility: Reports
NEW DELHI: Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) has decided to pull the plug on production at its Greater Noida plant in Uttar Pradesh, sources said on Saturday. The automaker, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese Honda Motor Co, had set up the Greater Noida plant in 1997. Industry sources said the plant would, however, […]
Narendra Modi government must indemnify vaccine makers against all lawsuits: Adar Poonawalla
NEW DELHI: Vaccine manufacturers need to have protection against all lawsuits for their vaccines especially during a pandemic, Serum Institute of India (SII) Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla has said. He also said that the vaccine makers are going to propose this to the government, while speaking at a virtual panel on the challenges of […]