-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 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 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 Times of India Fears that policy paralysis will continue after the Congress party's poor show in the Uttar Pradesh assembly Elections unnerved investors, and the sensex lost 190 points on Tuesday to end the day at 17173, its worst close in six weeks. The trepidation in the markets also affected shares of a few Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Group companies, even though they were actually expected to gain because of the...

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...