Subhomoy Bhattacharjee

All stories by Subhomoy Bhattacharjee

Next NDA Meeting May Propose Bihar Package

Next NDA Meeting May Propose Bihar Package

Rediff.com6 Jun 2024

'There is also a possibility that Andhra Pradesh may demand a similar package. But as of now, we are only working on a package for Bihar.'

India Gains Upper Hand In China Port Rivalry

India Gains Upper Hand In China Port Rivalry

Rediff.com15 Apr 2024

The Sittwe deal is more significant than Chabahar in Iran, where India has rights to operate only two terminals and not the port itself.

Now Get Customised Insurance

Now Get Customised Insurance

Rediff.com3 Apr 2024

From April 1, when we buy insurance for a car or take out a health cover, insurance companies can offer a product totally customised for us.

Tax Sops Coming In Interim Budget!

Tax Sops Coming In Interim Budget!

Rediff.com23 Jan 2024

To offer additional support at the low end of the income ranges, the Centre will consider a large-scale jump in exemption rates under the old income-tax regime in the vote on account, or interim Budget, according to a senior official in the know. Those will include an extension of the income tax exemption rates close to Rs 7 lakh and additional measures for women farmers.

Why removing govt officers isn't easy

Why removing govt officers isn't easy

Rediff.com17 Nov 2023

Compulsory retirement is part of a half-yearly exercise now for cases where government wants to weed out officers, but without taking the disciplinary proceedings route.

Mining an opportunity: Firm, transparent laws key to attract investments

Mining an opportunity: Firm, transparent laws key to attract investments

Rediff.com8 Aug 2023

Parliament has cleared the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023, recently. The objective of the Act is to invite investments from the private sector, including foreign companies, for mining minerals such as lithium and other critical minerals. Other than lithium, some of these minerals were classified as atomic minerals, including beryl and beryllium, niobium, titanium, tantalum and zirconium.

'HDFC merger template for faster growth'

'HDFC merger template for faster growth'

Rediff.com20 Jul 2023

'If we want faster growth and want greater flow of credit towards the private sector, it's important to have many more of such large entities.'

Want To Send Your Car To The Graveyard?

Want To Send Your Car To The Graveyard?

Rediff.com1 Jun 2023

One of the challenges for those car graves is that Indian owners often find markets for their old cars rather than send them to scrapyards.

'ONGC is venturing into high-risk ultra-deep water exploration'

'ONGC is venturing into high-risk ultra-deep water exploration'

Rediff.com25 May 2023

'We plan to add over 100,000 square kilometres every year, to reach an ambitious target of 500,000 square kilometres by 2025.'

Who Will Mine The Lithium Reserves?

Who Will Mine The Lithium Reserves?

Rediff.com3 Mar 2023

Faced with one setback after another in expanding the scope of mining in the country, almost all the major miners of the world have wound down their operations in India.

How a tortoise made due diligence process NPA-free

How a tortoise made due diligence process NPA-free

Rediff.com28 Dec 2022

Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.

New Parliament will be paperless -- here's what to expect

New Parliament will be paperless -- here's what to expect

Rediff.com23 Nov 2022

In the new Parliament House, with a soft launch this Winter Session, paper is expected to disappear. For the guidance of ministers, secretaries can scribble notes on linked pads even from their offices to respond to queries from members.

Why public sector companies are unable to attract talent for higher posts

Why public sector companies are unable to attract talent for higher posts

Rediff.com18 Sep 2022

Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet gave the management of state-run companies the freedom to decide on divesting their subsidiaries. However, the very next day a meeting was held at the top level of the Government of India, for the presentation of proposals for more autonomy for state-run companies. Interestingly, no chiefs of any of these companies were invited. It is a problem that will stare the government in the face with the state-owned banks too, as talks have again begun for inviting strategic investments in these companies.

How Coal India is chasing the monsoon to reduce coal supply disruptions

How Coal India is chasing the monsoon to reduce coal supply disruptions

Rediff.com14 Aug 2022

Way before the rains arrived at Talwandi Sabo Power plant in Punjab, the one check the coal ministry was carrying out was the availability of coal stock with the generator. Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), the 1,980-Mw thermal power plant of Sterlite Energy, part of the Vedanta Group, which supplies about 15 per cent of Punjab's power, is one of the most difficult locations to manage coal supplies. It is nearly 1,700 km from the mines of Mahanadi Coalfields in Odisha, the longest coal route in India and possibly the trickiest as it cuts through the traffic heavy rail lines between Delhi and eastern India.

GIC Re part of Rs 500-crore insurance pool to cover imports from Russia

GIC Re part of Rs 500-crore insurance pool to cover imports from Russia

Rediff.com21 Jun 2022

Overcoming its initial concerns, national reinsurer GIC Re has contributed to the formation of an insurance pool to cover most imports from Russia. While it will be called the fertiliser pool with a corpus of Rs 500 crore, it can be used to cover the risks of oil and gas imports too. This was decided by a clutch of Indian insurance companies, led by the state-owned ones. GIC Re's share is about 40 per cent in the pool. Last month, GIC Re had shot off a letter to all non-life insurance companies that underwrite marine risks not to ask it for reinsurance of cargoes that originate from Russia.

The growing tussle between the govt and CAG

The growing tussle between the govt and CAG

Rediff.com22 May 2022

In a first, the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) officers reached out to several ministries in the last week of April as part of a confidence-boosting measure. The meeting brought the CAG officials and those from the ministries across the table to discuss the pain points in their relations. CAG of India Girish Chandra Murmu took this novel step because of growing tensions between those audited and the auditor.

Sri Lanka: 'Political stability must be restored'

Sri Lanka: 'Political stability must be restored'

Rediff.com7 May 2022

'For the common man, the economic conditions are not going to get better.'

E-wallets fast becoming the cards of choice

E-wallets fast becoming the cards of choice

Rediff.com22 Apr 2022

In the excitement over the allocation of bank licences for the private sector, a new category of licence offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year went almost unnoticed. That was when the RBI consolidated the rules for prepaid payment instruments (PPI), popularly understood as e-wallets or gift cards. In the process, the regulator has fast-forwarded a bottom-up card usage industry in India that is completely different from the world of bank-linked credit and debit cards.

The many shortcomings of Aadhaar

The many shortcomings of Aadhaar

Rediff.com14 Apr 2022

Aadhaar is falling behind on technology, missing out on confidentiality and has gaps in its data archiving policy and preserving confidentiality in delivery of the cards to people, says a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The performance report, 'Functioning Of Unique Identification Authority Of India', tabled in Parliament on the last day of the budget session notes, assigning a unique identity to all resident Indians was supposed to be the key feature of Aadhaar. But "There were instances of issue of Aadhaar with the same biometric data to different residents indicating flaws in the de-duplication process and issue of Aadhaar on faulty biometrics and documents". It says close to half a million such records had to be cancelled by the Unique Identification Authority of India up to 2016.

Sagarmala project: Poor planning on container traffic haunting shippers

Sagarmala project: Poor planning on container traffic haunting shippers

Rediff.com31 Mar 2022

Since January this year, Indian exporters have begun to dread the shipping news. That's because most of it would be about another lot of shipping companies deciding to avoid Indian ports on account of delays.

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