11 July 2011

Cabinet reshuffle deferred by a day


 The much awaited cabinet reshuffle has been put off by a day. The sources, however, told CNN-IBN that it's unlikely that the top four in the Government would be disturbed.
The Defence, Finance, Home and Foreign ministers are likely to stay on the course, but the Corporate Affairs Miniter Murli Deora has already asked to be relieved of his duties.
With elections round the corner in Uttar Pradesh, Salman Khursheed, the Congress' minority face, could get a portfolio up-gradation. MoS Beni Verma would also be hoping to be made a Cabinet minister.
"It's the Prime Minister's prerogative to decide what work he wants a minister to do," said Congress Spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed.
Of the allies, DMK will take a call on nominating fresh faces to the cabinet only after its general council meet later this month, while Mamata Banerjee could nominate either Dinesh Trivedi or Mukul Roy as her successor in the Railway Ministry.
However, the Congress has refused to accommodate Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was lobbying hard for a Cabinet berth.
Ajit Singh, who was bargaining for a ministership in exchange for a Cabinet portfolio, may also have to wait a little longer.
As for the Opposition, its demands are clear - they want the Prime Minister to drop two ministers - P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal - for their handling of the 2G case.
"The nation wants to know, if the ministers, who have now been dragged into the 2G spectrum scam like P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal will be asked to go as the ministers in the impeding Cabinet reshuffle," said BJP Spokesperson Shahnavaaz Hussain.
The Congress is especially worried about some social sector ministries, which have failed to send across a positive message to the aam admi. The Prime Minister may also have to take a long hard look at some infrastructure related portfolios like power and surface transport that are lagging behind as per their planned expenditure and planning.

Nestle to buy 60% of Chinese candy maker


Nestle , the world's largest food company, offered to buy 60% of Chinese candies and pastries group Hsu Fu Chi International for about USD 1.7 billion to expand in one of the world's biggest consumer markets.
The Hsu family, which owns 56.48% of the Singapore-listed company, will sell a 16.48% stake to Nestle, but the family will retain 40% in the firm under a joint venture deal, Hsu Fu Chi said in a statement.

Nifty trades with moderate loss


Equity benchmarks continued to trade lower with moderate loss on the back of selling in technology, financial, metal, realty and cement companies' shares. Bharti Airtel and BHEL too were adding some more pressure on the market, with falling 0.8% & 1.8%, respectively.
The market was also reacting to weak global cues, tracking second quarter earnings season and European leaders meet on Italy concerns. Asian markets were down 0.5-1%.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,807, down 50 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 19 points to 5,641.  

08 July 2011

NTPC to receive Rs 10,000 cr loan


Country's largest power producer NTPC today said it has inked a Rs 10,000 crore (over USD 2 billion) loan agreement with State Bank of India for financing its projects.
The loan amount would be the largest extended by SBI to any Indian or foreign corporate.
NTPC said the loan would be utilised for financing capital expenditure of its ongoing and new projects.

Govt set to challenge SC order


The government will soon take a decision on filing review petition on the black money Special Investigation Team (SIT), reports CNBC-TV18's executive editor Shereen Bhan.
CNBC-TV18 had reported last night that the government was looking at a review petition of that Supreme Court SIT order.
There was been a great deal of discomfort within the government post that order, which came from SC on Monday. Large quarters of the government feel that this a situation of judicial overreach.
Sources say the government is now considering its legal options and it could file a review petition. The government can approach a nine-member SC bench for a review. The matter is currently being deliberated by the Law Ministry. 
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