LIVE: Target of blending 20% ethanol in petrol advanced to 2025, says PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday interacted with India Inc for information sharing and brainstorming on Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

6:47 PM

China to build important passageway to South Asia through Tibet: report

China has included building of an important passageway connecting Tibet with South Asia in the 14th Five Year plan which is due to commence from this year, the official media reported on Friday.

 

China will support Tibet in building the passageway to South Asia, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the 14th Plan document which was submitted to the National People's Congress, (NPC), China's Parliament.

 

The annual session of the NPC began here on Friday.

 

China's Tibet Autonomous Region will be supported to build an important passageway opening to South Asia, state-run Xinhua news agency reported briefly.

6:42 PM

MTAR Tech IPO subscribed over 200 times on final day on strong investors support

The Rs 597-crore initial public offering of MTAR Technologies was subscribed more than 200 times on Friday, the final day of the bidding process on overwhelming support from investors.

 

The IPO has received bids for 145.79 crore equity shares against an offer size of 72.6 lakh equity stocks, translating into a subscription of 200.79 times, data available on the exchanges showed.

 

The portion reserved for retail investors was subscribed 28.4 times, qualified institutional buyers category was subscribed 165 times and non-institutional category received 650.79 times subscription.

6:36 PM

ED summons former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti in money laundering case on March 15

6:33 PM

AIADMK first off the blocks with list of nominees for TN polls

The ruling AIADMK on Friday released its first list of six candidates for the April 6 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu ahead of arch-rival DMK and pending conclusion of seat-sharing with allies, including the BJP.

 

The party's star candidates,Chief Minister K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam will contest from their respective home constituencies of Edappadi in Salem and Bodinayakanur in Theni districts.

 

The AIADMK allotted 23 seats to ally PMK days ago, before DMK finalised seat-sharing with Indian Union Muslim League, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.

 

The ruling party, however, is yet to conclude the seat- sharing exercise with BJP and others. The IUML and MMK were allotted three and two seats respectively by the DMK and it gave six segments to the VCK.

6:08 PM

Saudi asks India to use cheap oil it bought last year to cool prices

International oil prices rose after OPEC and its allies ignored India's plea to ease production control, with Saudi Arabia asking New Delhi to instead use oil it bought at rock bottom rates last year.

Brent crude, the most widely used benchmark, on Friday rose nearly 1 per cent to USD 67.44 a barrel after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed not to increase supplies in April awaiting more substantial recovery in demand.

India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had in the run-up to Thursday's OPEC meeting urged the producers' group to ease production curbs to fulfil their promise of stable oil prices.

5:59 PM

Have full faith in Dy-EC in-charge of WB: Election Commission after TMC's allegation of bias

Rejecting allegations of the Trinamool Congress that Deputy Election Commissioner in-charge of West Bengal Sudeep Jain is biased,

 

the Election Commission on Friday said it has "full faith in the integrity and fairness" of the senior official.

 

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal had on Thursday demanded the removal of Jain, accusing him of being biased against it and breaking norms of the federal structure.

 

In a statement, the poll panel said that all its deputy election commissioners and other officials posted in the commission's headquarters or working in the field are "discharging their duties strictly as per the Constitution of India and the various extant rules regarding the conduct of elections".

5:46 PM

Latest LIVE: India's forex reserves increase by $689 mn to $584.55 bn

India's forex reserves increased for the second consecutive week, touching $584.554 billion as of February 26, up by $689 million, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

 

The overall reserves had increased by $169 million to $583.865 billion in the previous reporting week. The reserves, which have been steadily increasing over the last few months, had touched an all-time high at $590.185 billion for the week ended January 29 this year.

 

For the week ended February 26, the core currency assets the largest component of the overall reserves - rose by USD 509 million to USD 542.615 billion, the RBI said.

5:16 PM

Latest News: Pope Francis arrives in first visit to Iraq

Pope Francis has arrived in Iraq on a visit to rally the country's dwindling Christian community after decades of war.

 

The pontiff's landmark visit has been months in the making and is the first papal visit to Iraq, one that eluded his predecessors.

 

He brings a message of peace and coexistence to comfort the country's deep-rooted Christian minority, many of whom fled the country in the successive conflicts that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

 

His trip will begin in Baghdad, where he is due to deliver speeches and celebrate Mass in the capital's churches, and cover the holy city of Najaf, the plains of Ur in Nassiryah province, as well as Mosul and Irbil in the north.

5:10 PM

I-T raids on Taapsee, Anurag Kashyap: FM says they were raided in 2013 as well

In comments seen as defending income tax raids on Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the same persons were raided in 2013 as well, but no issue was made out then as it is being done now.

 

Refusing to comment on individual cases, she said it is in the national interest to know if some evasion is happening.

 

"First of all, I am not commenting on any A or B individual. (But) since the names were taken, (I want to say) the very same names were raided in 2013," she said in an interaction with journalists at IWPC (Indian Women's Press Corps).

 

It "wasn't an issue (in 2013). It's an issue now," she said.

 

She, however, did not talk about the outcome of the 2013 raids and if any follow-up action was taken in the last seven years.

4:44 PM

SBI Payments, NPCI launch solution to enable contactless transactions

SBI Payments and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have joined hands to launch RuPay SoftPoS that will enable merchants to make contactless transactions of up to Rs 5,000 through their smart phones.

 

The solution has the capability to transform NFC (near field communication) enabled smartphones into merchant Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals for retailers, SBI and NPCI said in a joint release on Friday.

 

Merchants will now be able to accept contactless payments of up to Rs 5,000 through a simple tap and pay mechanism on their smart phones.

 

RuPay SoftPoS will provide cost-effective acceptance infrastructure to retailers at nominal cost, it said, adding this will be able to proliferate digital payment acceptance among millions of underserved Indian MSMEs.

4:09 PM

Latest News: $1.4 bn Cairn award: FM says its her duty to appeal

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday indicated the government's intent to appeal against an arbitration panel asking India to return $1.4 billion to UK's Cairn Energy Plc, saying it is her "duty" to appeal in cases where the nation's sovereign authority to tax is questioned.

 

Last year, the government lost two high-profile arbitrations over the levy of taxes on British firms, using legislation that gave it the power to levy taxes with retrospective effect.

4:07 PM

Latest News: Biden looks forward to engaging with Quad partners in Indo-Pacific

US President Joe Biden looks forward to engaging with his counterparts in Australia, India and Japan in the Indo-Pacific region as soon as possible, according to a senior administration official.

 

Quad comprises Japan, India, Australia and the United States. The four countries had in 2017 given shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the "Quad" or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China's aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region.

 

President Biden has had warm and productive early conversations with his counterparts in Australia, India, and Japan, and looks forward to engaging even more directly with our partners in the Indo-Pacific as soon as possible, a senior administration official told PTI.

3:59 PM

OCI cardholders require special permit if they want to undertake missionary, 'Tabligh' activities: MHA

All Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders are required to take a special permission from the central government if they want to be involved in any missionary, 'Tabligh' or journalistic activities in the country.

 

The OCI cardholders have parity with Indian nationals in the matter of tariffs in air fares in domestic sectors, entry fees for visiting national parks, national monuments and museums in India.

 

An official from the Union Home Ministry said these rules were part of the 'brochure' published by it in 2019 and were recently consolidated and notified.

 

The ministry, in its notification issued on Thursday, said the OCI cardholders are entitled to get multiple entry lifelong visa for visiting India for any purpose but "required to obtain a special permission or a special permit from the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer or the Indian Mission to undertake research and to undertake any missionary or Tabligh or mountaineering or journalistic activities".

3:48 PM

Latest LIVE: Express solidarity over violent attack in Sweden: Modi at virtual summit with Swedish PM

3:41 PM

Latest News: Xiaomi to bring smart TVs in India under Redmi brand

Chinese tech major Xiaomi will soon introduce smart TVs under the 'Redmi' brand in India as it looks to further expand its position in the burgeoning smart TV segment in the country.

 

Speaking to PTI, Xiaomi India Category Lead (Smart TV) Eshwar Nilakantan said when the company had introduced its smart TVs in 2018, its aim was to increase the smart TV penetration in the country and "democratise" the segment.

 

"In 2018, the penetration was 18 per cent, less than one-fifth of the TVs sold were smart and we wanted to democratise the segment like we had done for smartphones. Since then, the 18 per cent has grown to a little over 55 per cent. We have grown with the market and sold over 5 million smart TVs," he said.