The government is planning a complete overhaul of the way the power sector is financed and subsidies are delivered, attempting to address a funding shortfall delaying the construction of electricity projects and worsening a chronic power deficit that threatens to sap growth in India’s energy-hungry economy.This exercise is based on a report submitted by a panel headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, to the power...

Protests against a proposed Indian nuclear power plant this weekend highlight a growing problem facing developers, experts say, as the country tries to upgrade or build much-needed infrastructure.Thousands of fishermen, farmers and their families in Jaitapur in western Maharashtra state turned out in force on Saturday to denounce the loss of homes and agricultural land, as well as voice fears about radiation and pollution.The long-running protest has already seen a...

ALMOST any night of the week, Barkha Dutt can be found under the harsh glare of television lights, asking tough questions and demanding frank answers. But last Tuesday Ms. Dutt, the most famous face of India’s explosively growing 24-hour cable news business, found herself the subject of the kind of grilling she normally metes out.Before a jury of four of her peers, she parried questions and struggled to control her...

India continued to be the largest recipient of remittances in 2010, with the figure rising from $49.6 billion in 2009 to $55 billion. It was also the country with the second largest number of emigrants (those migrating abroad) after Mexico, according to the World Bank's just-released Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011. Interestingly, even as 11.4 million people from India went abroad, 5.4 million came into the country, making India No. 10...

The decision of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to force mining companies to share 26 per cent of their profits with local and project affected people hasn’t gone down well with the industry.Union Mines Minister B K Handique had said the Bill in this regard had been approved by the GoM.Hemant Nerurkar, managing director, Tata Steel, said: “I don’t think that is the way forward. Look at the world: no...