India importing 14 mt of oil from Iran, says Pranab
India, the second-largest consumer of Iranian oil after China, said it was now importing 14 million tonnes of crude from Iran and has ?substantially? reduced its imports from the country as the deadline to comply with Western sanctions against Tehran looms. ?Where Iran is concerned, we are buying Iran oil,? finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on Sunday after a group of 20 finance minister meetings in Washington. ?In terms of percentage it has been reduced substantially, because currently I think our imported oil is 1,60, 170 mt, so 14 million is out of that 170 million,? he said.
Soni: Mobile TV spectrum far below requirement
The information and broadcasting ministry on Tuesday said it could not put in place a regulatory framework for mobile TV service as the available spectrum for the service was far below requirement. This was stated in Lok Sabha by information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni in response to a question by MPs Sanjeev Ganesh Naik and Supriya Sule. ?The ministry could not put in place a regulatory framework for mobile TV service due to non availability of adequate spectrum in UHF Band V (585-698 MHz),? Soni said. She said it had been estimated that at least 96 MHz spectrum would be required for Mobile TV services on a pan-India basis.
USIBC calls for $50-billion sovereign fund with India
To majorly enhance business ties between the two countries, industry body USIBC has proposed to the White House an India-specific Economic Cooperation Agreement and the setting up of a $50-billion sovereign debt fund in collaboration with India. The agreement, its proponents have argued, would be unprecedented in terms of the economic cooperation for the US with any countries so far ? something on the lines of the nuclear deal that changed strategic relations between India and America. These suggestions are part of five-point proposals that USIBC has put forth to the Obama administration, which it says are achievable goals in mid-term and will reinvigorate the bilateral economic ties.
Low supplies by CIL could derail generation target
If Coal India continues to fall short in supplying fuel to power plants, the electricity generation capacity addition target for the current plan period (2012-17) would have to be curtailed to 45,000 MW from the proposed 76,000 MW, says a report. According to the report of the Working Group on Power, availability of coal as indicated by CIL would support only about 7,500 MW of CIL-linked new power generation capacity as against 38,000 required to meet the power ministry?s proposed target of 76,000 MW during the current plan period. In the Business As Usual (BAU) scenario, as described in the report, in order to meet the generation requirement of 76,000 MW proposed by the ministry of power, coal requirement works out to be around 842 MT.
Govt deputes 8 officials for I-T overseas units
The government has deputed eight tax officials to the newly created Income Tax Overseas Units (ITOUs) in various countries including the US, the UK and Germany, as part of its efforts to deal with the menace of black money. ?Posting orders in respect of officers to be posted to the newly created ITOUs in Indian missions at Cyprus, France, Germany, Netherlands, UAE, the UK and the USA have been issued and posting order in respect of officer to be posted to Japan will be issued shortly,? minister of state for finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. At present, such officers are already posted in Mauritius and Singapore.
CII report on India Inc?s contribution to US today
Top Indian and American officials from various fields will come together at the Capitol Hill on Wednesday for the release of a CII report that will reveal the significant contribution of Indian companies to the US economy. To be released in presence of top American lawmakers, academics, executives and officials, the report would list out contributions and the impact that Indian companies have made on the US economy and society ? especially in terms of job creation and community engagements.
India is one of the fastest growing sources of FDI into the US, and yet the story of Indian companies ? their presence and contributions ? is not as frequently talked about, organisers said.
