India to remove cash withdrawal limits

The Reserve Bank of India said withdrawal limits would be nearly doubled from 24,000 rupees to 50,000 from February 20 and removed altogether from March 13.

Limits on cash withdrawals will be removed entirely from March 13, India’s central bank said Wednesday, as it left interest rates on hold for the second time since a ban on high-value rupee notes.

India to launch clean energy equity fund of up to $2 billion - sources

The Indian government and three state-run firms will jointly set up an equity fund of up to $2 billion for renewable energy companies to tap into to help New Delhi meet its clean energy goals, two government sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Private and public companies will be able to dip into an initial amount of more than $1 billion starting next fiscal year, said the sources with direct knowledge of the decision taken after a meeting of government officials more than a month ago. India's government hopes the Clean Energy Equity Fund (CEEF) will attract pension and insurance funds from Canada and Europe.

Around $600 million of the initial pool will come from the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, under the finance ministry, and the rest from state entities NTPC Ltd, Rural Electrification Corp and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, according to one of the sources.

The sources declined to be named as they are not authorised to talk to the media. Officials at the finance ministry, new and renewable energy ministry, NTPC, Rural Electrification, and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of raising India's renewable energy target to 175 gigawatts by 2022, more than five times current usage, as part of the fight against climate change by the world's third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter and to supply power to all of the country's 1.3 billion people.

The program will depend on getting as much as $175 billion in funding with 70 percent of that likely in bank loans and the rest as equity, the sources said.

The government reckons loans are not a problem but providing equity to investors may be difficult due to uncertainties over returns, one of the sources said.

"As we expand our clean energy capacity, there may be a shortage of equity next year," said the source. "Private equity is seen as risky in India but if the government itself creates a fund, that gives a lot of confidence."

India's clean energy push was set back earlier this year when U.S. solar company SunEdison filed for bankruptcy. The company is now looking to secure partners to see through its planned India projects.

Nevertheless, companies are still keen to invest in clean energy.

Japan's Softbank Corp, Taiwan's Foxconn and India's Bharti Enterprises have pledged to invest about $20 billion in India's renewable sector. Global solar giants like First Solar Inc, Trina Solar Ltd and Fortum are also expanding their presence.

(Reuters)

India signs $9 billion deal to buy French fighter jets

India has signed a deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France for around $8.7bn, the country’s first major acquisition of combat planes in two decades and a boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to rebuild an ageing fleet.

The first ready-to-fly Rafales are expected to arrive by 2019 and India is set to have all 36 within six years.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian signed the agreement with his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, in New Delhi, on Friday, ending almost 18 months of wrangling over terms between New Delhi and manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

Parrikar said the deal would “significantly improve India’s strike and defence capabilities”.

Air force officials have warned for years of a major capability gap opening up with China and Pakistan without new state-of-the-art planes, as India’s outdated and largely Russian-made fleet retires and production of a locally made plane was delayed.

India had originally awarded Dassault with an order for 126 Rafales in 2012 after the twin-engine fourth-generation fighter beat rivals in a decade-long selection process, but subsequent talks collapsed.

Modi, who has vowed to modernise India’s armed forces with a $150bn spending spree, personally intervened in April 2015 to agree on the smaller order of 36 and give the air force a near-term boost as he weighed options for a more fundamental overhaul.

But an industry expert says the deal does not stand to benefit India.

“I don’t think it’s a good deal,” Bharat Karnad, a research professor in national security studies at the Centre for Policy Reseach, told Al Jazeera.

“The original deal was for 126 aircrafts for a sum of $12-15bn. If you look at 36 being bought for $9bn without any transfer of technology, it ends up being a solution to ensure the health of the aviation sector in France.

“The aircrafts are far too few to have a great operation significance in war.”

Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said there was a lot of lobbying that took place behind the scenes to make this deal happen.

“It’s a big deal indeed for France and is expected to create up to 5,000 jobs here,” she said.

“The 36 planes will be built here before being sent to India ready for service. At many stages, it looked as if it wasn’t going to be signed but the French government and President Francois Hollande have been very instrumental and lobbied hard over the years.”

‘Mark of recognition’

Friday’s agreement is a major vote of confidence in the Rafale, which had long struggled to find buyers overseas, despite heavy lobbying efforts by the administration of President Hollande.

Hollande hailed the deal as recognition of France’s aviation industry.

“The agreement … is a mark of the recognition by a major military power of the operational performance, the technical quality and the competitiveness of the French aviation industry,” Hollande said in a statement.

India says its locally made Tejas fighter, which took to the skies in July 33 years after it was cleared for development, will form a major part of its future fleet, but Parrikar has also said that India needed 100 new light combat aircraft by 2020 to replace Russian MiG-21s.

India is the world’s biggest arms importer, and despite Modi’s pledge to build a local manufacturing base, foreign defence firms view India as one of the most lucrative markets as Western states trim defence budgets.

Tensions have flared up between Pakistan and India following the Uri attack last week that killed 17 soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, at his UN General Assembly address on Wednesday, said he did not want an “arms race with India”. But Eenam Gambhir, India’s UN diplomat called the neighbours “a terrorist state”, blaming the neighbouring country of planning the attack in Uri.

Doctors remove 40 knives from man's stomach in India

A man in India spent two months swallowing knives and had 40 of them surgically removed from his stomach, according to the doctor who led the operation.

"He had a wild urge to consume metal. Even for us, the experienced surgeons, it was frightening," Dr. Jatinder Malhotra told CNN.

"We were so nervous... a small mistake could have taken the patient's life. In my 20 years of practice, I have never seen anything like it."

Malhotra said it took his team about two days to form a diagnosis and surgery plan.

The five-hour operation took place Friday in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, a Sikh holy city in the state of Punjab.

Malhotra said they found foldable knives, which when fully extended were about seven inches long.

"He [the patient] says he swallowed some knives folded, and some unfolded. When we took out the knives -- some were found folded, some were open, and some had even started rusting and were broken," Malhotra said.

The patient, a 42-year-old father of two, told CNN he's feeling much better.

"I'm sorry I let my family down. I'll be forever thankful to doctors and hospital staff for saving my life," he said.

Malhotra says the patient is now "out of danger" and is set to be discharged in a couple of days.

He won't be discharged until he's cleared by psychiatrists, which is set to happen in a couple of days, two doctors at the hospital told CNN.

But the big question remains -- why did he start eating knives?

"I don't know why I used to swallow knives," the patient told CNN. "I just enjoyed its taste and I was addicted ... how people get addicted to alcohol and other things, my situation was similar."

Malhotra believes the patient has a very rare mental disorder that most likely has not been published in any international medical journal.

The patient is currently under the continuous supervision of the hospital's in-house psychiatric team and will soon be visited by independent mental health experts, doctors said.

The patient told doctors that he has no idea why he started eating knives but that he "developed a taste for metal" and "loved the way blades tasted."

The patient even managed to keep his habit secret from his family, according to Malhotra.

Now, Malhotra says, the patient claims he won't even touch a knife anymore.

"I will never do such acts ever again," the patient said. "I'm a new person now."

If the urge does strike, Malhotra and his team gave him some advice -- "we told him if you ever feel like you need more iron in your body, try spinach."

 

(CNN)

Davido in N7m concert fee controversy

Singer, Davido, who was advertised to be among the artistes to perform at the Festival of India, which took place in Lagos on Saturday, was conspicuously absent.

This did not go down well with some guests who obviously wanted to see him in action.

Indeed, such people think that the inclusion of his name was a fluke, to the extent that some have expressed the opinion online.

But our correspondent spoke with the organisers who stressed that Davido was indeed invited.

The chief organiser, Rosiji, also confirmed this.

Although he said it was premature to say much on the development, other vital sources noted that the contract between the Festival of India and the artiste could run into N7m.

It was gathered that Davido informed them on Friday night, a day to the event, that he was indisposed.

It was further gathered on Thursday (yesterday) night that the organisers have accordingly communicated Davido’s lawyers, as they hope to get a refund of the fee said to have been paid.

Efforts by our correspondent to speak with the artiste or his manager did not yield fruits.

A call to his manager’s phone number and a subsequent text message had not been replied as of 8pm production time on Thursday.