HDFC Bank expects to amalgamate its home loan major parent HDFC into itself by September next year, a top official said on Friday. Both HDFC and HDFC Bank held general meetings on Friday to seek shareholder approvals for what is billed as the largest merger in Indian corporate history at over $40 billion. At the time of announcing the merger on April 4 this year, the entities had said the merger will take 12-18 months.
Regulatory capacity, hyperactivity and excessive prescription are the biggest challenges the financial sector is facing, said Meleveetil Damodaran, former chairperson, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Summit on Wednesday, Damodaran highlighted the need for simpler, clear, and continuous regulations in the financial sector. He opined that the industry had felt it challenging to keep pace with the changing regulations.
'If there are any symptoms/variants of concern, states can prepare accordingly.'
An additional 1,400 CISF personnel have been sanctioned to secure the expanding terminal areas of the Delhi airport and also to meet the challenge of its growing passenger traffic, officials said on Thursday.
Unfortunately, in India, infrastructure projects are lost in a miasma of political and personal vanity, observes Shyam G Menon.
The talks took place in a beach resort in Benaulim on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
India proposes to organise a briefing of the Security Council on December 15 on 'Global counter-terrorism approach - principles and the way forward" under the 'Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts'.
Will G20 showcase an India that is inclusive, culturally rich, diverse and tolerant, asks Ramesh Menon.
The Adani Group on Friday said it has acquired 27.26 per cent equity stake in NDTV from Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy -- founders of the news broadcaster. "RRPR, an indirect subsidiary of the company and member of the promoter/promoter group of NDTV, has acquired a 27.26 per cent equity stake in NDTV from Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy by way of inter-se transfer...," said a regulatory filing from Adani Enterprises. On December 23, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy had announced to sell 27.26 per cent out of their remaining 32.26 per cent shareholding in the NDTV to the Adani Group.
Amid growing concerns over the spurt in COVID-19 cases in China and some other countries, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the focus is to ensure that no unknown variant of the virus enters India and at the same time there is no impediment to travelling.
The government on Wednesday approved the inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling long-pending demands from these states.
Disgruntled Janata Dal-United leader Upendra Kushwaha on Monday resigned from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party, less than two years after returning to the party, and announced formation of the 'Rashtriya Loktantrik Janata Dal'.
The ruling Democratic Party will retain majority control of the United States Senate as two of its candidates are projected to win their pivotal races against Republican rivals, in a major boost to President Joe Biden in the second half of his term, both for his legislative agenda and his ability to appoint judges and other key officials.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that primary schools will be closed from Saturday in view of spike in pollution levels in the national capital.
Unfazed by the widespread criticism of his comments against the Hindi film The Kashmir Files, Israeli director and IFFI international jury chair Nadav Lapid said he stands by his remarks as he "knows how to recognise propaganda disguised as a movie".
Even as authorities on Friday morning began demolishing the North Goa-based restaurant linked to the death of BJP leader Sonali Phogat for violation of norms, the action was stopped midway after its owner claimed that the Supreme Court gave a stay on it.
Indian officials will focus on expanding the country's footprint in oil-rich Siberia when they meet their Russian counterparts at the four-day 7th Eastern Economic Forum beginning Monday in Vladivostok. The two sides will discuss the possibility of joint oil exploration in the area and cooperation in running offshore oil and gas fields Western companies are in the process of exiting, officials said in New Delhi. Pavan Kapoor, India's ambassador to Russia, will lead the official-level talks at the summit scheduled September 5-8.
Besides vice president N A Harris, treasurer Ajay Kipa, all other newly elected executive committee members, and the six eminent footballers co-opted in the committee, except Bhutia, were present in the meeting.
He said despite efforts by the UN, the threat of terrorism is only growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa.
Nearly eight months after the government repealed the three controversial farm Acts, it has constituted a high-powered panel under the chairmanship of former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal to make the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism more effective and transparent as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his televised address announcing the repeal. The names of three members from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the main grouping that spearheaded the year-long agitation at Delhi's borders, have been withheld, pending receipt by the government, stated a gazette notification. NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad Professor Sukhpal Singh, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative chairman Dilip Sanghani, secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Food and Consumer Affairs, Cooperation and Textiles, along with representatives from the state governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha will also form part of the panel.
With Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan virtually losing the majority in the 342-member National Assembly after the defection of two key allies, backdoor efforts are underway to reach a deal between the premier and the joint opposition to dissolve the lower house, according to a highly placed source.
India has so far reported nine cases of monkeypox, including one death.
Justice Chandrachud explored the possibility for conflicting rights to exist within one constitutional framework.
The most likely scenario is that in order to stop Ukraine from retaking any Russian occupied territory, Russia may well use a small (1 to 2 kilo tonne) tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, warns military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
I thought Saudi Vellakka a glancing, loving depiction of the judicial system as a pageantry filled with performers trying to do right by everyone, do everything by the book, and failing despite their best attempts, observes Sreehari Nair.
The Congress on Sunday took a strong exception to the exclusion of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the Karnataka government's newspaper advertisement on freedom fighters and termed the Bharatiya Janata Party action 'pathetic'.
'If you persist in opposing the government, they set the ED or the NIA on you. And the courts have not given us much hope.'
Few people know Ratan Tata as well as R K Krishna Kumar does. Widely perceived to be among the managers closest to Tata, Krishna Kumar assesses Ratan Tata, the man and business leader, in this exclusive interview to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Running a fractious House full of members every bit as well versed in parliamentary law as the chair, has, in the past, reduced several Rajya Sabha chairmen to tears.
"There was neither any talk of dismissing the army chief nor was this on the cards," Khan told journalists after chairing an emergency Cabinet meeting.
The Pakistan Parliament witnessed multiple adjournments and heated arguments, but the voting on a no-confidence motion against him appeared to be a distant possibility.
'The way the society functions, I don't know, they are more concerned about animals than humans.'
The Union Cabinet has approved the modalities for holding 5G spectrum auctions, and 72097.85 MHz of radio waves will be put on the block by July-end, an official release said on Wednesday.
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'He made me feel like a crorepati even without sitting in the hot seat.'
Pakistan's Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday nominated himself for the post of prime minister, while Imran Khan's party threatened to withdraw its lawmakers from Parliament if the former Punjab chief minister was allowed to contest the election for the top post on Monday.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
Democracy is the heart of our body politic and elections are its life blood. Because there is some disease that affects it, we cannot apply leeches to drain it off, killing the body in the process, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Pakistan's powerful Army has contradicted Prime Minister Imran Khan's remarks accusing America of hatching a conspiracy to topple his government, saying there was no evidence of interference in the country's internal matters, according to a media report.
It is for the investigating agencies to probe all aspects of the assassination, including a possible Chinese hand, or if the killer was just a disgruntled element who acted on his own and wanted to earn some dark space in history like Nathuram Godse or Lee Harvey Oswald, notes Japan expert Rajaram Panda.