The Rafale controversy has put the spotlight on the financial crisis at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
DELAYED PAYMENTS from the Indian Air Force has landed the once debt-free Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in a spot. By the end of this year, HAL’s dues will balloon to 20,000 crore, crippling its ability to carry out day-to-day operations. Its financial woes have given ammunition to the opposition, which had been targeting the Narendra Modi government for having bypassed the public-sector company to award offsets related to the Rafale deal to Anil Ambani’s Reliance.
“The financial situation at HAL would have been different if the Rafale offsets were given to it. It is a huge contract,” T. Suvarna Raju, former chairman and managing director of HAL, told THE WEEK. Insiders say HAL, which has paid 5,000 crore to the defence ministry in dividends in the past four years, had to borrow around 1,000 crore recently to pay salaries to its 30,000 employees.
The crisis at HAL has intensified the war of words between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Rahul alleged in Parliament that the government had favoured Reliance at HAL’s expense. Sitharaman retorted that the government had given HAL contracts worth 1 lakh crore, and that the Congress was weeping crocodile tears.
Denne historien er fra January 20, 2019-utgaven av THE WEEK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 20, 2019-utgaven av THE WEEK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
