Category: South Asia

BRUSSELS, September 26, 2011 (AFP) – European Union trade commissioner Karel De Gucht warned Monday that a long-planned free-trade agreement between Europe and India is in trouble failing more “flexibility” from both sides. “We remain fully engaged on these negotiations,” the Belgian said after talks in Brussels among the EU’s 27 trade ministers. “But I […]

WASHINGTON, September 23, 2011 (AFP) – The US military’s top officer bluntly accused Pakistan on Thursday of “exporting” violent extremism to Afghanistan through proxies and warned of possible action to protect American troops. In a scathing and unprecedented condemnation of Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen said the country’s main intelligence agency ISI was actively supporting Haqqani […]

NEW DELHI, September 21, 2011 (AFP) – India’s economic planning body has said any villager earning more than 50 cents a day is not poor and should not qualify for government welfare — a figure condemned by experts. Those with a daily income of 25 rupees (50 cents) in villages and 32 rupees (65 cents) […]

NEW DELHI, September 19, 2011 (AFP) – India’s top automaker Maruti Suzuki, already grappling with sliding sales, is in a test of nerves with its factory workers after production was hit by a dispute over alleged sabotage. Output at the Japanese-controlled firm’s Manesar plant in northern India has been thrown out of gear for three […]

LONDON, September 19, 2011 (AFP) – Indian-owned luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover is to open a factory to build low-emission engines in Britain with the creation of up to 750 jobs, the company said on Monday. The £355 million (0 million, 560 million euros) facility will be based near Wolverhampton in central England, with work […]

DHAKA, September 18, 2011 (AFP) – As Abdus Salam Murshedey strolls through his vast garment factory in Dhaka, hundreds of seamstresses stitch shirts for export shipments he says will be boosted by a relaxing of Indian import rules. Murshedey has built his company, Envoy Group, into a multi-million dollar firm with 18,000 employees on the […]

MUMBAI, September 16, 2011 (AFP) – India’s central bank on Friday raised interest rates for the 12th time in 18 months to combat near double-digit inflation, despite signs of slowing economic growth. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised its repo rate, at which it lends to commercial banks, by a quarter percentage point to […]

MUMBAI, September 14, 2011 (AFP) – India’s rupee slid to a near two-year low against the US dollar on Wednesday on worries about the deepening European debt crisis and as global markets tumble. The partially convertible Indian unit weakened to 48.02 rupees to the dollar on growing demand for the US currency from banks and […]

NEW DELHI, September 15, 2011 (AFP) – Bureaucrats in the Indian capital New Delhi will have to pay money out of their own pockets from Thursday if applications for driving licences, birth certificates and other paperwork are delayed. City authorities have set up a website to allow people to check the status of their applications, […]

ISLAMABAD, September 8, 2011 (AFP) – Pakistan and Iran on Thursday said a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline between the two countries was pressing ahead on schedule despite US objections to the project. The two signed an export deal last year for Iran to supply natural gas to its eastern neighbour from 2014, with sales to reach […]

NEW DELHI, September 6, 2011 (AFP) – US auto giant Ford has started construction on a $1 billion manufacturing and engineering complex in India as it bets on the country to help drive global growth, a company statement said Tuesday. The Detroit firm still has a long way to go to make the region a […]

NEW DELHI, September 7, 2011 (AFP) – For advertising executive Govind Nair, working in India’s outsourcing industry for a California telecoms firm means burning the candle at both ends for his customers. “They try to be considerate. They know there’s a 12-and-a-half-hour time difference between India and San Francisco but we still end up getting […]