Chief correspondent, India
Ross's Feed
Oct 29, 2012

Anti-corruption crusader rattles India’s political class

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (Reuters) – From a shabby house in one of
New Delhi’s grimmest suburbs, a mild-mannered former tax
official has launched a salvo of accusations of corruption
involving some of India’s most powerful people, rocking the
political establishment.

In quick succession, Arvind Kejriwal has publicly levelled
charges of shady dealings against the son-in-law of ruling
Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, the outgoing law minister and
the leader of the main opposition party.

Oct 14, 2012

Analysis – India wins over markets, but now comes the hard part

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s Finance Minister P. Chidambaram exudes the self-confidence of a man who, in the eyes of India’s cheerleading financial markets, can do little wrong.

In the 11 weeks since he took office, the benchmark BSE index .BSESN has surged around 8 percent, due in large part to his hard-charging drive to boost investor sentiment that had soured under his predecessor, Pranab Mukherjee.

Oct 14, 2012

India wins over markets, but now comes the hard part

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s Finance Minister P. Chidambaram exudes the self-confidence of a man who, in the eyes of India’s cheerleading financial markets, can do little wrong.

In the 11 weeks since he took office, the benchmark BSE index .BSESN has surged around 8 percent, due in large part to his hard-charging drive to boost investor sentiment that had soured under his predecessor, Pranab Mukherjee.

Oct 8, 2012

Punchups, kidnappings mar efforts to privatise power

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – It is rough being an employee of Torrent Power Ltd(TOPO.NS: Quote, Profile, Research) in Agra. Furious residents regularly take staff of the power distributor hostage or beat them up, stone-throwing mobs besiege the firm’s high-walled compound, and one official recently had to be hospitalised after he was hit on the head with a brick.

On some days there are more than 10 protests staged around the city against Torrent, which won the franchise to supply power to Agra in 2009. When it took over, rampant theft and a failure by authorities to crack down on defaulters meant that 70 percent of electricity consumed in the city was not paid for.

Oct 7, 2012

Insight: Punchups, kidnappings mar India’s efforts to privatize power

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – It is rough being an employee of Torrent Power Ltd in the Indian city of Agra. Furious residents regularly take staff of the power distributor hostage or beat them up, stone-throwing mobs besiege the firm’s high-walled compound, and one official recently had to be hospitalized after he was hit on the head with a brick.

On some days there are more than 10 protests staged around the city against Torrent, which won the franchise to supply power to Agra in 2009. When it took over, rampant theft and a failure by authorities to crack down on defaulters meant that 70 percent of electricity consumed in the city was not paid for.

Oct 7, 2012

Punchups, kidnappings mar India’s efforts to privatise power

NEW DELHI, Oct 8 (Reuters) – It is rough being an employee
of Torrent Power Ltd in the Indian city of Agra.
Furious residents regularly take staff of the power distributor
hostage or beat them up, stone-throwing mobs besiege the firm’s
high-walled compound, and one official recently had to be
hospitalised after he was hit on the head with a brick.

On some days there are more than 10 protests staged around
the city against Torrent, which won the franchise to supply
power to Agra in 2009. When it took over, rampant theft and a
failure by authorities to crack down on defaulters meant that
70 percent of electricity consumed in the city was not paid for.

Jul 20, 2012

Indian scientists try to crack monsoon source code

NEW DELHI/BHUBANESHWAR (Reuters) – Scientists aided by supercomputers are trying to unravel one of Mother Nature’s biggest mysteries — the vagaries of the summer monsoon rains that bring life, and sometimes death, to India every year.

In a first-of-its-kind project, Indian scientists aim to build computer models that would allow them to make a quantum leap in predicting the erratic movements of the monsoon.

Jun 28, 2012

Govt posts guidelines on controversial GAAR taxes

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India published draft guidelines on Thursday to implement rules that target tax evasion but have provoked an outcry among foreign investors at a time when the country needs capital inflows.

The general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR), introduced in the budget in March this year, target companies and investors routing investments through tax havens.

Jun 28, 2012

India to post clarifications on controversial GAAR taxes

NEW DELHI, June 28 (Reuters) – India will publish on
Thursday clarifications on a set of rules targeting tax evasion
that sparked an outcry among foreign investors at a time that
the country needs capital inflows, a government official said.

Finance Secretary R.S. Gujral told reporters the draft rules
to be posted on Thursday would cover the general anti-avoidance
rules, which target companies and investors that route
investments through tax havens such as Mauritius.

Jun 28, 2012

PM to clarify tax policy within 2-3 weeks – official

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will seek within the next two to three weeks to clear up confusion over tax policy that has rattled investor confidence in Asia’s third-largest economy, a government official said on Thursday.

Singh plans to issue an “explanatory note” on portfolio investments, an official in his office told Reuters, without giving details about what the statement would say or which tax issues it would address.