The verdict in the crucial case filed by Star India against the sector regulator’s move to control a-la-carte pricing of television channels in India is expected to be delivered next week, a key industry official said. “The judgment has been reserved by the Madras High Court. There has been a representation by the Government, TRAI […]
Telecom minister Manoj Sinha today said that the government has ‘no plans’ to merge state-owned telecom service providers Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. Sinha also said that BSNL is going ahead with the outsourcing of operations and maintenance activities of 26,287 towers across the country to third parties. “At present, there […]
The government has reduced the Goods and Services Tax on amusements parks and events such as circus, pageants, drama, functions and concerts. While the GST rate on amusements parks has been reduced to 18% from 28%, all ticket sales of up to Rs 500 each for events has been made GST free. The new rate […]
The government has cut the GST rate of ‘affordable houses’ covered by the ‘Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme’ to an effective rate of 8% from an effective rate of 12%, and also said that most customers should not have to pay any GST on such flats at all. The reduction in GST has been made to […]
SpiceJet reported a 32% increase in its net profit to Rs 239.99 crore for the three months ended December from Rs 181.14 crore in the same quarter last year. The airline’s capacity grew by 14% during the same period. SpiceJet reported an operating revenue of Rs 2,081.95 crore in the quarter, up 27% on year. […]
Smaller operators Idea Cellular and Telenor handily beat bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel in a 4G network quality field test conducted by the telecom regulator in the Gujarati city of Surat. In fact, the survey agency was not able to get a Youtube video playing over Jio’s network in all five locations where […]
Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler maker unveiled what it called India’s first adventure bike in the 200cc class, the XPulse, as well as 125cc variants of its Maestro scooters. The XPulse is Hero’s second offering in the premium motorcycle segment after the Xtreme 200R that was unveiled just a week ago. The new scooter range […]
UK’s Vodafone is looking to combine its stake in Indus Towers, India’s largest tower company, with Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of market leader Bharti Airtel, on the basis of $5 bln valuation for its asset, the Economic Times reported, quoting unnamed sources. The move would seem to indicate an upcoming merger of Indus Towers and […]
Zee Group’s DTH arm Dish TV said it intends to go ahead with its merger with rival Videocon D2h, having made an assessment of the possible impact of bankruptcy proceedings against D2h’s promoter group by banks. It said it will make further filings with the Registrar of Companies on the merger. “Upon evaluation of the […]
World Is One News, the only India-based television news channel with correspondents across the world, said it has signed up its first distributor in the Middle East in the form of Etisalat for the cable markets of UAE and Qatar. Besides Etisalat, it said the channel is also being launched on Du and Ooredoo networks. […]
Hero Moto Corp Ltd reported modest improvements in its top and bottom lines, with revenue rising by 5.9% and net profit up 4.3%. The company able to keep costs under control, but a dip in non-operating income prevented the gains from trickling through to the bottom line. Against an increase of 5.9% in net sales, […]
International credit rating agency Fitch said it revised its outlook on the Indian telecom sector to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ and sees the sector returning to revenue growth in 2018. “We expect gradual price discipline in India’s telecoms sector to drive a mid-single-digit revenue recovery in 2018, following 2017’s falls,” the firm said in the context […]
JSW Energy Ltd reported a sharp decline in its profit on a sequential basis due to a steep increase in fuel costs, but the company’s numbers were an improvement on a year-on-year basis. The company’s profit before tax fell to just Rs 70 cr from Rs 417 cr in the preceding quarter due to lower […]
Future Retail, the flagship company of the Future Group led by Kishore Biyani, reported an 81% jump in its net profit due to higher operating leverage afforded by increasing revenue and a sharp dip in interest costs. Net profit for October-December rose to Rs 183 cr from Rs 101 cr in the year-ago quarter and […]
Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the most aggressive state in terms of targeting traditional schools known as madrasas for upgradation. In the last two years, the state has sought to upgrade 10,854 madrasas under the Center’s ‘Quality Education in Madarsas’ scheme. This is more than 70% of the total proposals submitted by all states under the […]
The number of people appearing for the Joint Entrance Exam for admission to centrally funded engineering colleges continues to fall, with the latest numbers showing a year-on-year decline of 3.3%. JEE 2018 saw only 11.35 lakh students appear for the exam, compared to the 11.86 lakh that appeared for JEE 2017. The Joint Entrance Exam […]
The Central Board of Secondary Education, the country’s largest national-level school certification body, is tweaking its rules of affiliation, the government said. “Although no financial and organizational lacunae have been observed, still, considering the future needs, the Board is considering to revamp the affiliation byelaws,” Prakash Javadekar, union minister for human resources development, said. The […]
GTPL Hathway, Gujarat’s biggest cable provider, has unleashed a new set of tariffs that offer as much as 39 GB for just 1 rupee. The new tariff plans have been unveiled along with its new fiber to home service. “Currently, the services are launched in Ahmedabad only, but there are plans to progressively launch in […]
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd or BSNL, the state-owned telecom operator, said it has cancelled its order to stop unlimited free calls on its landlines on all Sundays. The order was issued two weeks ago and had said that the facility of unlimited free calling on Sundays would be abolished from February. On Saturday, the company […]
An online poll conducted by Ultra News with 1,200 respondents indicated continued strong support for incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi compared to challenger Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. The poll reached out to around 21,400 people on Facebook, out of which around 6% indicated their choice one way or the other (see below). […]
