INDIA PLANS TO ROLL OUT 5G BY 2022, SAYS SUNDARARAJAN
MUMBAI: India plans to roll out state-of-the-art 5G telecom services in the next four years, a senior official said, as the nation rushes to catch up with its Asian peers. “We are not there yet,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said in an interview in New Delhi, adding that complete roll-out of 5G will be done by 2022. “5G won’t be driven by supply, it’ll be driven by demand and the rest of industry needs to wake up to this.” The South Asian nation, traditionally a laggard while embracing latest technology in telecommunications, will follow South Korea, Japan and China where 5G service will be offered within the next 2 years.
Vedanta may win 40 oil and gas blocks in OALP auction
NEW DELHI: Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd is likely to bag as many as 40 oil and gas exploration blocks in India’s maiden open acreage auction, officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. An Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) has cleared award of blocks offered in OALP-1, bidding for which closed on May 2, they said. The recommendations of the panel will now go to ministers of finance and petroleum for approval, they said. The Union cabinet had in April delegated its power to ministers of finance and petroleum to award oil and gas blocks to their winners in the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) auction.
Petrol crosses ₹77 a litre mark, diesel at ₹68.50
NEW DELHI: Petrol prices have crossed the ₹77 a litre mark for the first time in two months due to firming international rates. Petrol price in Delhi was on Tuesday hiked by 9 paisa a litre to ₹77.06 while diesel rates went up by 6 paisa to ₹68.50 per litre, according to daily price notification issued by state-owned oil firms. Fuel prices in Delhi are the cheapest in all metros and most state capitals due to lower sales tax or VAT. Retail selling prices have been firming up since July 30 as international rates inched up. Rates have risen by ₹0.90 a litre in case of petrol in nine days while diesel prices have risen by ₹0.88 per litre. Petrol touched an all-time high of ₹78.43 on May 29.
RBI sold $8 bn in treasuries to aide rupee in April, May
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold $8 billion in US Treasuries in April and May as part of its intervention strategy in the currency market to prop up the rupee. The RBI’S holdings fell to $148.9 billion as of end-may from $157 billion in March, data from the department of the Treasury showed. That coincided with net sales of $8.25 billion of the greenback in the domestic spot market in the same period, according to RBI data. Despite the RBI’S presence, the rupee lost 3.3% against the dollar in those months as foreign funds exited high-yielding emerging markets for safer havens amid rising US interest rates.
Shyam Metalics files for ₹909 crore share sale
NEW DELHI: Shyam Metalics and Energy, a leading integrated metal producing company, has filed draft papers with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise ₹909 crore through an initial public offer (IPO). Shyam Metalics plans to utilize the proceeds for payment of debt, including that of its subsidiary SSPL and for other general corporate purposes.
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