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Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, the journalist who found prominent mention in the Hindenburg Research report that triggered turmoil in the share prices of the Adani Group and cast international glare on Indian probity in corporate governance, breaks his silence two-and-a-half years after a court in Ahmedabad issued a gag order asking him not to speak or write anything that may go against the interests of the Adani Group. Guha Thakurta said he was not willing to hazard a guess on the future of the Adani...

The very first paragraph of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s relatively short speech presenting the Budget for 2023-24 made it amply clear that this was her last full-fledged budget before the next general elections. She talked of envisioning a “prosperous and inclusive India, in which the fruits of development reach all regions and citizens”, especially the youth, women, farmers and those belonging to the other backward classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (Scs), and Scheduled Tribes...

On December 9, the Defence Ministry suspended Defsys Solutions Private Limited from its list of vendors preventing it from doing business with the Indian military. The blacklisted firm, owned by infamous arms dealer Sushen Mohan Gupta, was involved in the alleged scandal relating to the purchase of AgustaWestland helicopters by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The Narendra Modi government hopes to embarrass the Congress-led UPA with its investigation into the so-called...

Book: Ideology and Organization in Indian Politics: Polarization and The Growing Crisis Of The Congress Party (2009-19) Author: Zoya Hasan Publisher: Oxford Price: ₹1,495 Can the Indian National Congress sink to lower depths? Will the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi revive the electoral fortunes of India’s Grand Old Party? Will 2024 witness something unexpected to keep Narendra Modi’s government in power in the way the Pulwama-Balakot episode did in 2019 by successfully diverting attention...

Gurugram, New Delhi and Bengaluru: The government of India is seeking the extradition of arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari on grounds of his alleged failure to declare his foreign assets under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, and for alleged money laundering. Andrew Peretti reported from London for NewsClick that closing arguments in the extradition case were heard at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London, on October 4 and a final decision...

Antilia, the 27-storey house of Reliance Group chairman and the country’s second-richest man Mukesh Ambani and his family—built at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore—is one of the most recognisable buildings in the South Mumbai skyline and reportedly the most expensive private residence in the world. Since its construction in the mid-2000s, Antilia has also been the subject of a long-running dispute over the legal validity of the sale of the land on which it stands, which earlier belonged to an orphanage...

In a major move, the Ministry of Finance has introduced new guiding principles for the government of India’s disinvestment deals. The Probe has accessed an office memorandum signed by Aseem K Jha, the Under Secretary to the Government of India, which elaborates on the “guiding principles” to be followed during the disinvestment process to bring in the “highest degree of integrity and probity” in the transactions. Amongst the other principles, the most significant decision of the government has...

After coming into existence in June 1966, the Shiv Sena, set up by cartoonist Balasaheb Thackeray, experienced electoral success for the first time when its candidates won a majority of seats in the Bombay (now Mumbai) Municipal Corporation, the wealthiest civic body of its kind in the country. The party's victory was aided by factionalism within the Congress on the issue of the creation of the new state of Maharashtra from the erstwhile Bombay Presidency province. It played an active role in...

On 6 June, The Probe published an interview by these reporters with Amardeep Sharma, former Managing Director of Almas Global Opportunity Fund (AGOF), a Cayman Islands-registered entity. While Sharma claimed that everything about the “winning” bid by Star9 Mobility Solutions Private Limited – of which AGOF is an important part – to acquire a majority stake in the public sector undertaking Pawan Hans Limited (formerly Helicopter Corporation of India) is above board, several doubts and unanswered...

On 16 May, it was reported that the privatisation of the government-owned helicopter service provider Pawan Hans Limited had been “put on hold.” Just 17 days earlier, on April 29, the government had declared Star9 Mobility Solutions Private Limited’s Rs 211 crore bid as the winning bid for the government’s 51% stake in the helicopter company. On the day reports that the deal had been put on hold appeared, these reporters had published in The Wire and NewsClick an article investigating the...