Millions of Indian government workers are set to strike today to protest rising prices and proposed sales of stakes in state-run companies, in one of the biggest industrial actions in Indian history, and the 14th general strike since India’s economic reforms in the 1990s.
Banking, postal and other important services are likely to be affected as all 11 of India’s central trade unions, each with at least 400,000 members, take part in the mass strike.
17 state-owned companies in India have been told by their government to start investing in public infrastructure projects, said the Financial Times on Wednesday, after a series of political inaction, coupled with an exit of foreign capital, saw the nation’s economic growth rate decline from 9 percent to 7 percent last year.
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is a major government initiative in India that aims to promote ecologically sustainable growth for the country, while addressing India’s energy security challenges. But, disputes between the private and public sectors threatens to cast a dark shadow over the project. Will India’s National Solar Mission get its chance in the limelight?
The Indian government will lift previous restrictions, which prevented foreign investors from directly buying or selling any Indian equities, on January 15th in a bid to boost its capital inflows amidst a year of big losses on the benchmark Sensex.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is under immense pressure as public uproar over the country’s new poverty benchmark intensifies. With the new poverty threshold guidelines, millions of Indians stand to lose their food and welfare benefits.
As part of a new food security legislation, the Planning Commission proposes a daily income threshold of Rs 32 ($0.64) for urban areas like Delhi and Mumbai and Rs 26 ($0.52) for rural areas. The World Bank’s poverty line is $1.25 per day.
GMR Group chairman Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, a first-generation entrepreneur hailing from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh,
this week pledged $340 million (Rs 1,540 crore), which is equivalent to his personal share in the infrastructure conglomerate,
to improve education among the undeserved sections of the society.
The move came the same day Warren Buffet, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway,
arrived on his maiden trip to India to promote philanthropy among the the country’s richest.
India has spent US$80 billion to modernize its military to keep up with China and now, India has become the world’s number one arms importer according to Swedish think-tank keeping tabs on global arms transactions. India makes up 9 percent of global arms purchases while China has 6 percent of market share in comparison.
Finance Minister Pranab Muhkerjee announced India’s 2011 Union Budget yesterday. So what does India’s 2011 Union Budget mean for India Inc?
At a glance:
.77 percent tax surcharge cut in corporate tax for domestic firms. Not a major reduction, but a welcome relief. In addition, minimum alternate tax has been raised marginally to off-set the surcharge cut.
Nearly two years ago, President Obama rankled many people in India
when he said US tax law unfairly benefited companies that created jobs in Bangalore, while hurting those that hired in Buffalo.
This week, however, the president’s commerce secretary offered a friendlier message:
Let’s do business.
In his second stop during a weeklong tour of India, the secretary, Gary Locke, said he wanted to help American companies
