PM Modi arrives in Kabul

December 25, 2015

Kabul, Dec 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today arrived here on a visit during which he is expected to hold talks with Afghan leadership, including President Ashraf Ghani, and inaugurate the Parliament building which has been constructed by India at a cost of USD 90 million.

modi

Modi who flew in the wee hours from Moscow, where he had annual summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was received by Afghan National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar and deputy Foreign minister Hekmat Karzai.

"From Russia to Afghanistan. A pre-dawn arrival in Kabul begins a day of engagements with another dost," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

On his arrival Modi said, "delighted to be in Kabul among friends. Will meet Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai".

Modi will be holding talks with Afghan leaders on key bilateral issues, including security co-operation and discuss the ways to help war-torn country where India has committed over two billion assistance.

The Prime Minister will also be inaugurating the Parliament building and expected to address the Afghan lawmakers.

The Parliament building project, which was initially conceived at a cost of USD 45 million, was started by India in 2007 as a mark of friendship and cooperation to help rebuild Afghanistan.

Significantly, prior to the Prime Minister's visit, India has delivered three Mi 25 attack helicopters to Afghanistan, in what is seen as a shift in its strategy towards the strife-torn country.

Defence sources said that three such choppers have already been delivered to the Afghan government, which will boost its capability against Taliban terrorists.

The Parliament building project, which was initially conceived at a cost of USD 45 million, was started by India in 2007 as a mark of friendship and cooperation to help rebuild Afghanistan.

Situated between historic landmarks King's Palace "Darulaman" and the Queen's Palace - the building has elements of Mughal and modern architecture and has Asia's largest dome as its key feature.

The building will house the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House) with a seating capacity of 294, a 190-seat Meshrano Jirga (Upper House), besides other facilities like conference hall and press room.

Meanwhile, Mi 25 choppers were taken to Afghanistan in a C-17 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force, sources said.

While Afghanistan has repeatedly sought India's support in beefing up its military's fighting capability in terms of machinery, India had shied away till now.

The development came after the recent visit of Afghan National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar to New Delhi.

Afghanistan has till now been dependent on the US air support in its operations against the Taliban.

However, with the American forces pulling out that country to a large extent, the Afghan forces will be using the Mi 25 now.

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Agencies
June 22,2020

Mumbai, Jun 22: After downgrading India's outlook to negative from stable, Fitch Ratings on Monday revised the outlook on nine Indian banks to negative.

The outlook on the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) was revised to negative from stable due to the banks' high dependence on the Centre to re-capitalise them.

Accordingly, the IDR outlook of the Export-Import Bank of India, the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda, the Bank of Baroda (New Zealand), the Bank of India, the Canara Bank, the Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank Ltd have been downgraded to negative.

"At the same time, Fitch has affirmed IDBI Bank Limited's (IDBI) IDR while maintaining the outlook at negative," Fitch said in a statement.

The rating actions follow Fitch's revision of the outlook on the 'BBB-' rating on India to negative from stable on June 18, due to the impact of the escalating coronavirus pandemic on India's economy.

"The IDRs for all the above Indian banks are support-driven and anchored to their respective SRFs," the statement said.

"They are based on Fitch's assessment of high to moderate probability of extraordinary state support for these banks, which takes into account our assessment of the sovereign's ability and propensity to provide extraordinary support."

According to the statement, the negative outlook on India's sovereign rating reflects an increasing strain on the state's ability to provide extraordinary support, due to the sovereign's limited fiscal space and the significant deterioration in fiscal metrics due to challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The rating action does not affect the banks' Viability Rating (VR). EXIM does not have a VR as its role as a policy bank makes an assessment of its standalone credit profile less meaningful."

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Agencies
June 2,2020

Singapore, Jun 2: Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded 11 Indian banks along with as many non-financial companies and infrastructure majors besides four government-related issuers following a downgrade of the Indian government's issuer rating to Baa3 from Baa2 with a negative outlook.

The rapid and widening spread of the coronavirus outbreak, deteriorating global economic outlook, volatile oil prices and asset price declines are creating a severe and extensive credit shock across many sectors, regions and markets, said Moody's.

The Indian banking sector has been affected given the disruptions to India's economic activity from the coronavirus outbreak, which is weakening borrowers' credit profiles, it added.

The 11 lenders include Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Export-Import Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, IndusInd Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and Union Bank of India.

The 11 non-finance companies are Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Oil India, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Petronet LNG, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Reliance Industries, UPL Corporation and Genpact.

The 11 infrastructure companies are NTPC, NHPC, National Highways Authority of India, Power Grid Corporation, Gail India, Adani Green Energy Restricted Group (RG-2), Adani Transmission Restricted Group, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Transmission, Adani Electricity Mumbai and Azure Power Solar Energy.

The four Indian government-related issuers are Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, Power Finance Corporation and REC Ltd.

"Government-related issuers in India have been affected because of disruptions to India's economy which will weaken borrowers' credit profiles," said Moody's.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: India has uplifted 271 million people out of poverty, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.

In her second Budget presentation, the finance minister said the Budget for 2020-21, is woven around aspirational India, economic development and caring society.

The government aims to achieve seamless delivery of services through digital governance, she added.

"We shall strive to bring ease of living for every citizen," Sitharaman said.

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