India May Ask Banks to Lower Home Loan Interest Rates
Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said Indian banks should consider lowering rates on some housing loans while the central bank maintains high borrowing costs to curb inflation.
The government may ask banks to lower interest charges on housing loans of up to 2 million rupees ($50,000), Chidambaram said at a conference in New Delhi today. The Reserve Bank of India’s policies are aimed at curbing inflation while also boosting economic growth, he said.
Chidambaram today sought to allay concerns that banks would have to shoulder the cost of the government’s planned 600 billion rupee write-off of rural debt. The Bankex Index has slumped 12 percent since Chidambaram in his budget speech on Feb. 29 proposed the loan waivers.
Source: Bloomberg
Remorseless Hayden relishing bad reputation
Matthew Hayden’s recent comments about Harbhajan Singh have upheld his reputation as Australia’s most unforgiving on-field sledger. By David Hopps.
Matthew Hayden has escaped with a reprimand from Cricket Australia after a Brisbane radio interview in which he vilified the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh as an “obnoxious weed” and happily imagined teaching their spindly, young fast bowler, Ishant Sharma, a lesson in the boxing ring.
Cricket Australia’s reaction to Hayden’s extraordinary verbal attack was rapid, with punishment meted out within a day, but the lenient nature of their sentence will further antagonise the Indians and ensure that a controversial tour ends with recriminations on all sides.
Harbhajan’s four-Test ban for allegedly racially abusing the Australian batsman, Andrew Symonds, during the Sydney Test was overturned on appeal last month, but Hayden is Symonds’ best buddy — the story where they nearly drowned together while fishing in Queensland is part of Australian folklore — and he has now taken his chance of retribution.
He admitted on Brisbane radio that his on-field battles with Harbhajan had persisted for much of his career and claimed to be fed up with India’s complaints about Australian sledging, depicting them as bad losers. “It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan,” he said. “The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now. His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time. That’s why he has been charged more than anyone that’s ever played in the history of cricket.”
Australia’s sledging culture has insulted Indian self-esteem and they have taken a stand which could yet have long-term ramifications. ICC chief executives meeting in Kuala Lumpur bowed to Indian pressure to clamp down on on-field abuse. The ICC is writing to umpires and match referees to instruct them to take stronger action.
But if the cricket world really is changing, Hayden does not seem to have cottoned on. He revels in his reputation as Australia’s most unforgiving on-field sledger — many England players privately view him as a loudmouthed bully — and now it seems that he intends to rubbish some opponents off the field as well as on it.
Courtesy: Hindu
Second Round auction next week: Modi
The Cricket Board-floated Indian Premier League (IPL)will conduct a second players’ auction next week to enable franchises, that have money left after the initial auction held on February 20, from the five million USD cap, supplement their player base.
“We plan to hold an internal players auction next week with only the team mangement who have money left to supplement their players,” said Lalit Modi, IPL Commissioner and Chairman.
Each franchise was to spend a minimum of $3.3 million and a maximum of $5 million for buying players put up at the auction as well as paying for the five icon players whose value was fixed at 15 per cent over and above the costliest player bid successfully by that particular franchise.
Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag are the icon players for Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mohali and Delhi franchises respectively.
The first auction held last month saw 79 players snapped up by the eight franchises for sums ranging from $4,00,000 (base price) to $1.5 million (amount paid for Indian one-day and T20 captain by Chennai franchise India Cements).
Modi admitted that the response for the first auction was a bit above what was expected, while mentioning that it was not extra-ordinary considering it was a pioneering effort towards the dawn of a new era in the game.
“To be absolutely honest, the response garnered by the DLF Indian Premier League has been a tad above expectation. But I would not state it is out of the ordinary, when we consider that this was a first towards a bold, new cricketing era,” he said.
Source: Hindustan Times
India has the last laugh after a bitter summer: Aussie media
Australian media again highlighted off spinner Harbhajan Singh as India claimed epoch-making tri-series victory at Brisbane and described the young side’s feat as having “the last laugh after a bitter summer of explosive tensions”.
Harbhajan, who had hit headlines throughout the long tour for being at the centre of off-field controversies, proved to be the nemesis of Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds, claiming him in both the tri-series finals while also cheaply removing another detractor Matthew Hayden at Sydney.
“As cricket became a contact sport, Australia were pitchforked out of the finals in straight sets by an Indian side which had the last laugh after a bitter summer of explosive tensions,” said leading newspaper ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported the home side’s plight under the title ‘Australia sunk in straight sets’ after Ricky Ponting’s men lost to India by nine runs and 2-0 in the best-of-three finals.
“Instead of a fitting One-day farewell for retiring wicketkeeper (Adam) Gilchrist, it was controversial spinner Harbhajan Singh who laughed last and loudest, lapping up the triumph on the Gabba boundary in front of ecstatic expat fans,” the paper said.
Headline of the main article in another national daily The Australian aptly summed up the tour as it said - ‘A summer of spite ends in Indian glory’.
“A fresh, young India beat Australia by nine runs in last night’s ultimately gripping second final at Brisbane’s Gabba to wrap up the competition after winning by six wickets in Sydney on Sunday,” the Australian wrote.
Source: Times of India
US pushes India on nuclear deal
NEW DELHI: The United States on Wednesday urged India to quickly complete all steps required to conclude a civilian nuclear technology deal with Washington before the US presidential polls in November.
“Time is very tight” to get the deal through the US Congress before the United States goes into election mode, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Richard Boucher, told reporters in New Delhi.
“I am certainly aware that things fall apart … but on the other hand, my job is to make things work. What I am focused on right now is how to make things succeed. We both want this to happen,” said Boucher, who is on a two day visit here.
“We are kind of playing in overtime right now,” added the diplomat, the latest in a line of US officials who have recently told India to move ahead with the deal.
The agreement, which would give New Delhi crucial access to civilian atomic technology even though it has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, requires final approval of the US Congress, where it currently has bipartisan support.
Source:Economic Times
Indian Premier League: Good bye sports
Whatever maybe the outcome of this “Great Tamasha,” it is bound to change the face of cricket and could well entice cricketers to put a price on their heads as TV channels and other stake holders come out with innovative methods to reap profits.
And now for 44 days from April 18, India’s great cricket tamasha gets underway as the modern gladiators owned by Bollywood stars and industrialists battle for a prize money of US $5 million which is five times the prize money at the 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean.
So, all those complaints of overdose of cricket and hectic tour schedule have all been pushed into the background and truly the Indian Premier League (IPL) has become Indian Paise Lob for it is just the money making the stars go round. And all this to counter the earlier Indian Cricket League (ICL) launched by media magnate Subhash Chandra.
Courtesy: Organiser
Cricket’s new order
The official Indian Premier League (IPL), and the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) are two rival, cash-rich competitions, which threaten the stability of international cricket as we know it.
Here we pick through the details and explain how a brilliant English concept which started in 2003 (Twenty20 cricket) could, in a worst case scenario, spell the death knell for Test cricket, with its roots stretching back to the 1870s.
For much of the decade, Zee Telefilms, the biggest media company in India, had made a series of bids to broadcast top international cricket for Indian audiences.
Despite always offering the largest bids in terms of money, it was rebuffed time and time again by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
In 2007, Zee, still holding a bundle of cash it wanted to spend on cricket, decided to set up its own competition - the ICL.
Courtesy: BBC Sport
Lalit Modi’s IPL threatens English cricket
The full scale of the threat to English cricket posed by the billion-dollar Indian Premier League was revealed to The Daily Telegraph yesterday when the man leading the revolution said “the majority of the England players have been in contact with us”.
Lalit Modi, the chairman of the IPL, has stood by a deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board in which it was agreed that England players would not be used during the first season.
But yesterday he confirmed that agreement cannot hold. He said: “We would very much like the English players to participate in our league. All our owners are determined to have them play with them.
“I know a lot of our owners are in touch with the English players. I know that the players’ agents have been in touch with me, and I’ve been telling them that we cannot do anything for the moment. After this season, it will be more difficult to do that.”
Courtesy: Telegraph UK
Partly Loaded
With the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal in a sling just like visiting US defence secretary Robert Gates’ injured shoulder, the Bush administration’s focus has shifted to the business of doing business. And India seems willing. The political route to herald a special relationship has clearly proved tortuous, so the calculation is, the military road paved with defence contracts might be a straighter one for the moment. Gates’ high-level sales pitch was aimed at ensuring a level playing field for Washington, especially when India decides on the largest-ever contract for 126 aircraft—worth $10 billion—after the March 3 deadline for bids.
Bubbling just below the surface is the guilt factor.
Since India’s domestic politics is currently responsible for delaying the nuclear deal, there is growing talk in Washington of the “enormous political capital” President George Bush spent pushing the agreement through his own recalcitrant legislative system. Only to have it languish
in the bylanes of Delhi’s coalition politics. It would be nice if India were to make a gesture, which could be seen as a good return on Bush’s investment.
Signals from New Delhi too are on the same frequency, sources say. Indian interlocutors have literally invited the Americans to sell “some planes” to keep things smooth on the rising graph of bilateral relations. It suits the Indian armed forces too, who want to diversify vendors and balance the Russian dominance. To further soothe frayed nerves, India assured Gates that the long-hanging logistics agreement, and a communications agreement which allows transmission of classified information, would be signed before the year ends. The latter would prevent a situation like the one during the 2004 tsunami when Indian and US ships “didn’t know how to talk to each other”.
Courtesy: Outlook India
Indian luxury trains world’s best
With the jet set and their, well, jets, and today’s harried businessmen and top executives perpetually racing against time, who could imagine that an extended rail journey would prove, somewhat literally, a runaway success. Judging by the response to India’s luxury trains, clearly the romance of the rail still appeals to a growing and affluent clientele.
Sample this: there are no bookings available on The Palace on Wheels for 2008 while another luxury train, Deccan Odyssey, will be as difficult to board. More importantly, The Society of International Railway Travellers has rated them both among the top 25 trains of the world. The other Indian train to make it to the list is the charming Raj-era narrow gauge toy train— the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
Courtesy: India Today