Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, April 8, 2011 (AFP) – Emerging market giant China has pipped neighbouring rival India in English language proficiency skills, despite the South Asian nation’s strong anglophone tradition, according to a new study. Both countries were given a “low-proficiency” score, with China standing 29th, one place ahead of India in a list of 44 […]

Apr 09, 2011 (LBO) – A dollar peg in the Maldives which is coming under pressure from excess domestic money has hit the airline business and also cut the real wages of expatriate workers, a media report said. Minivan News an online publication said Galaxy Enterprises which is the general sales agent for SriLankan Airlines […]

LONDON, April 7, 2011 (AFP) – Debt-laden Britain said Monday that 2,600 troops would lose their jobs in a first wave of redundancies forced by defence cuts, with 150 Nepalese Gurkha troops among the first to go. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that 1,000 soldiers and 1,600 Royal Navy personnel would be laid off. […]

HYDERABAD, April 5, 2011 (AFP) – One of India’s best-known spiritual leaders, known for his apparent miracles and long list of influential followers, is on life support in hospital, doctors said Tuesday. Satya Sai Baba, 85, who has devotees in more than 100 countries, was admitted to a hospital funded by his organisation in the […]

NEW DELHI, April 2, 2011 (AFP) – Indian police on Saturday charged a former telecom minister with abuse of power and conspiracy in an alleged mobile spectrum fraud that cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenue. The south Indian politician, A. Raja, was also accused of cheating, forgery and criminal misconduct on a […]

NEW DELHI, April 1, 2011 (AFP) – India has eased regulations governing foreign companies and their Indian joint venture partners as it seeks to halt a decline in direct foreign investment. Foreign companies with an existing joint venture in India will no longer need the local partner’s permission if they want to set up a […]

NEW DELHI, March 27, 2011 (AFP) – Investors have turned bearish on India despite government forecasts of nine percent economic growth, as concerns over widespread corruption and high inflation knock confidence, analysts say. Only a few months ago investors were pouring into Indian equities, seeing the country as a promising high-growth market and talking about […]

NEW DELHI, March 26, 2011 (AFP) – India’s prime minister has reaffirmed his Congress-led government’s commitment to economic reforms as the administration battles a host of corruption scandals. Economic liberalisation had “ended old opportunities for corruption and favouritism… but human ingenuity and the desire to make a quick buck are such that the greedy are […]

NEW DELHI, March 24, 2011 (AFP) – India’s fake pilot scandal began unravelling when a female captain landed her packed airliner on the nose instead of the rear wheels as she touched down in the holiday hotspot of Goa. Parminder Kaur Gulati, flying for the fastest-growing airline in the booming Indian sector, IndiGo, was investigated […]

NEW DELHI, March 24, 2011 (AFP) – Two of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, took their charity roadshow to New Delhi on Thursday where they hope to coax their Indian peers to part with some of their wealth. Buffett, 80, and Gates, 55, who are close personal friends, were to meet […]

NEW DELHI, March 16, 2011 (AFP) – India is set to raise borrowing costs on Thursday for an eighth time in just over a year as it struggles to bring down an inflation rate that is the highest of any major Asian economy. “We maintain the bank will increase rates by 25 basis points,” said […]

MUMBAI, March 9, 2011 (AFP) – Car sales in India jumped nearly 23 percent in February from a year earlier, industry data showed Wednesday, as customers snapped up new models in a booming auto market where loans are cheap. The Indian market, Asia’s third-largest, is projected to triple over the next decade to six million […]