Business

Washington, Nov 10 (PTI) Demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are the two major headwinds that held back India's economic growth last year, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said, asserting that the current seven per cent growth rate is not enough to meet the country's needs.

Addressing an audience at the University of California in Berkley on Friday, Rajan said for four years -- 2012 to 2016 -- India was growing at a faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds.

BEIJING, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng met with Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and chairman of TerraPower, in Beijing on Thursday.

During their meeting, Han told Gates that China stands ready to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with the U.S. on new energy and energy-related technological innovation to continuously optimize its energy structure.

New Delhi, Nov 9 (PTI) IT firm Wipro Friday said its acquired entity, Appirio, has set up a new office in Porto, Portugal to expand its European operations and meet the growing business requirements of the region.

Appirio -- a global services company that helps clients create next-generation worker and customer experiences using cloud technologies -- has offices in Amsterdam, Dublin, London, Paris and Stockholm presently.

Bhubaneswar/Guwahati, Nov 8 (PTI) The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to people as the demonetisation move, undertaken "hurriedly and arbitrarily", failed to eliminate black money.

OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik said the announcement to ban high-value currency notes was followed by prolonged cash shortage for weeks, which created significant disruption throughout the economy.

POTSDAM, November 7. /TASS/. Russia is ready to deliver to European nations as much gas as customers will require, Deputy CEO of the Russian gas holding Gazprom Alexander Medvedev said on Wednesday.

The gas demand will grow over years, the top manager said. "We in Russia are to supply as much gas to Europe as Europe needs," Medvedev said. At the same time, Russia "does not intend to take 100%" of extra exports, he added.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. Russian State Duma's committee on international affairs will hold a joint session on Thursday together with Turkish Grand National Assembly's foreign policy commission.

ZHUHAI, November 8. /TASS/. Russian Helicopters inked a contract for supply of 20 Ansat helicopters to the China Association of Emergency Medicine at the Airshow China exhibition, a spokesman of the Russian holding told reporters on Thursday.

"The Russian Helicopters holding made a contract for delivery of 20 Ansat helicopters in the interests of the Association of Emergency Medicine of the People’s Republic of China within the framework of the Airshow China international air show," he said.

8 Nov 2018; DW: France is leading a 10-country defense initiative in a bid to "face new threats" outside existing structures. Germany is wary that the project could entangle its military in foreign interventions and undermine the EU.

New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI) On the second anniversary of demonetisation, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Thursday questioned the rationale behind the Modi government's note ban move and termed it as "a self inflicted deep wound" on the Indian economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016, announced a ban on then in use Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination bank notes with immediate effect.

Kolkata, Nov 8 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said that demonetisation was a "disaster" for the country on its second anniversary.

The chief minister said she had been describing it as a "dark day" since demonetisation was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.

"#DarkDay Today is the second anniversary of #DeMonetisation disaster. From the moment it was announced I said so," Banerjee wrote on her Twitter handle.

"Renowned economists, common people and all experts now agree," she said.