When the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Narendra Modi was on Monday sworn in as the country’s prime minister and his colleagues took the oath of office, there appeared a fine balancing act to give representation to various regions and caste groups in the 46-member Council of Ministers.

It also seemed there was an attempt to balance groups within BJP’s state units, with an eye on Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana later this year.

NEW DELHI: Even before the new finance minister gets down to preparing the next budget, he has to grapple with unpaid subsidies of at least Rs 1 lakh crore left behind by the UPA government.

While the food subsidy bill accounts for almost half the amount with unpaid subsidies adding up to over Rs 50,000 crore. Then, there are dues of Rs 38,000 crore to fertilizer companies and another Rs 24,000 crore to public sector oil marketing companies, which sold cooking gas and kerosene below the international price.

BEIJING: Chinese police have busted 23 terror and religious extremist groups and caught over 200 suspects in the restive Xinjiang province in May. The provincial capital of Urumqi saw a deadly terror attack on Friday that killed 31 people and injured 94 others.

CAIRO: Egyptians voted for a new president on Monday, with the ex-army chief who overthrew the country's first democratically elected leader and crushed his Islamist movement expected to win in a landslide.

The two-day election is the first since the frontrunner and former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, a move that unleashed the bloodiest violence in Egypt's recent history.

LUCKNOW: At least 20 people are feared dead after Gorakhdham Express crashed into a stationary goods train at Chureb railway station in Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh on Monday morning.

The express train, traveling from Gorakhpur to Hisar via New Delhi, crashed into the goods train on platform no 1 of the station.

Mumbai, May 25: The new government needs to finds ways to meet the massive funds requirement of PSU banks.

Nationalised banks will require at least Rs 2 lakh crore (Rs 2 trillion) over the next 4-5 years to meet the Basel III requirements and fund their asset growth.

The onus will be on the government, which is the majority shareholder in public sector banks, to support them either by partially funding these needs, or creating an environment that enable these lenders to raise funds.

New Delhi, May 25: Car makers want the Narendra Modi government to continue with the sops on excise duty — or lower it further — as well as announce laws to phase out old trucks.

They are also in favour of general tax reforms such as the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST).

Mumbai: Shares in State Bank of India (SBI) gained as much as 2.85%, adding to Friday’s 9.6% jump, after earlier hitting their highest level since April 2011, as brokers raised target price and estimates on the stock, citing January-March earnings.

Singapore: India has proposed a framework for the bankruptcy of financial institutions that will align the country with international standards.

Analysts suggested, however, that the regulation will increase the cost of senior funding for Indian banks if it is implemented according to the draft submitted to the market for comments.

Bangalore: Early on Sunday, the 160,000-odd employees of Infosys Ltd received an email sent by co-founder and chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy.

“We have achieved much in the past year…reaching where we want to be won’t be easy,” Murthy said in the email, urging all employees to “think big and act boldly”. The message was similar in tone to the one addressed to shareholders earlier in May in the company’s annual report.

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