Business

New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) US aerospace major Boeing has handed over first of the 22 Apache Guardian attack helicopters to the Indian Air Force, nearly three-and-half years after a multi-billion dollar deal for the choppers was sealed.

Senior IAF officials said the addition of AH-64E (I) Apache helicopter is a significant step towards modernisation of the force's chopper fleet.

The helicopter has been customised to suit IAF's future requirements and would have significant capability in mountainous terrain, they said.

New Delhi, May 10 (PTI) Industrial output contracted 0.1 per cent in March due to slowdown in the manufacturing sector, official data showed Friday.

Factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had expanded 5.3 per cent in March 2018.

During the entire 2018-19 fiscal, industrial output witnessed a 3.6 per cent growth as against 4.4 per cent in the previous fiscal, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Mumbai, May 10 (PTI) Better asset quality and a 100 bps dip in credit cost helped the largest lender State Bank Friday report a net income of Rs 838 crore for the March quarter as against a net loss of Rs 7,718 crore a year ago, and also guide towards sunnier days.

For the full year to March, SBI, which controls a fourth of the nation's banking system, booked a net income of Rs 862 crore as against a net loss of Rs 6,547 crore. The management attributed the lower profit to the 100 percent provisions made for some key stressed accounts which are near the full resolution.

Mumbai, May 10 (PTI) State Bank, which leads the consortium of the lenders of Jet Airways Friday said they have received bids from Etihad Airways and a few unsolicited parties to take over the grounded airline.

The consortium of 26 lenders which now owns 51 percent in the airline, had invited expressions of interest between April 8 and 12 and had received four preliminary bids.

Friday was the last day to submit financial bids by the qualified bidders.

Mumbai, May 10 (PTI) The Tata Steel Group Friday said the proposed merger of its European operations with German's Thyssenkrupp has almost fallen through as they are not in a position to rework the remedy packages to assuage the concerns of the European Commission.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump let loose with a morning round of tweets that sugar-coat the consequences of his trade war with China.

Trump minimized the worth of China’s purchases of U.S. goods and services, which support nearly 1 million jobs in the U.S., misstated the trade deficit and ignored the inevitable rise in many costs to consumers when imports are heavily taxed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is shifting $1.5 billion in funds originally targeted for support of the Afghan security forces and other projects to help pay for construction of nearly 80 miles (130 kilometers) of wall at the U.S.-Mexican border, officials said Friday.

Congress was notified of the move Friday. It follows the Pentagon’s decision in March to transfer $1 billion from Army personnel budget accounts to support wall construction. Some lawmakers have been highly critical of the Pentagon shifting money not originally authorized for border security.

HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban government announced Friday that it is launching widespread rationing of chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic products in the face of a grave economic crisis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trade talks between the U.S. and China broke up Friday with no agreement, hours after President Donald Trump more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

Trump asserted on Twitter that there was “no need to rush” to get a deal between the world’s two biggest economies and later added that the tariffs “may or may not be removed depending on what happens with respect to future negotiations.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the Trump administration more than doubling tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports, will Americans soon see higher prices on store shelves?

Yes, but it may take a few weeks. U.S. import taxes on $200 billion of Chinese goods jumped to 25% on Friday, from 10%, as President Trump followed through on his threat to hike duties after he accused Chinese negotiators of backtracking on previous concessions they had made in ongoing trade talks .