-The Economic Times Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday assured industry that the Centre is making renewed efforts to open up foreign direct investment in multi-brand Retail, despite Uttar Pradesh (UP) election results where the winning Samajwadi Party has opposed FDI in Retail in its manifesto.  Singh told a delegate of senior members of industry body Assocham that the Centre is taking fresh efforts to evolve consensus amongst the various stakeholders on...

-The Times of India   With elections in five states out of the way, the government-run fuel Retailers on Monday ratcheted up their demand for an increase in petrol prices by as much as Rs 5 a litre. The demand could leave the government with a political cleft stick, coming on the day Congress received a severe drubbing in the assembly polls.  Piling losses of state-run firms appear to leave little choice for...

-The Indian Express The Samajwadi Party’s sweep in India’s biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, and Congress’s defeat in Punjab and Goa will further shrink the elbow room the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre has to push through key initiatives such as foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand Retail, pension reforms and legislation such as the goods and service tax (GST) that require support from states. The Centre had postponed some of these...

The Samajwadi Party's resounding victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls is certain to add more heft to the Federal Front - the alliance of non-Congress, non-BJP chief ministers put together by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.  Mulayam Singh Yadav's party was handed a decisive mandate by the electorate, and it will not have to be dependent on Congress, or any other party for its survival.  The snub by voters in...

-Reuters The Congress party trailed in fourth place as vote counting neared its end in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, a bitter election blow to Rahul Gandhi who had staked his political future on reviving his party's fortunes in the state. Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that ruled India for most of its 65 years of independence, had campaigned tirelessly to revive his party in the politically crucial state where it has...