Reuters - The government can raise 3.81 trillion rupees ($82 billion), equal to 0.88 percent of GDP every year, in stake sales in state firms and banks in the next five years, the finance commission said.

Reuters - India and Pakistan held their first official talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks on Thursday, a meeting that is unlikely to lead to an immediate breakthrough but may help thaw relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Reuters - The government will not defer plans to sell stakes in state-run firms, required to bridge its yawning fiscal deficit, despite a poor response to two of its recent sales, a finance ministry official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Reuters - The delayed third-generation mobile spectrum auction is likely to happen during the next financial year beginning in April, Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja told reporters on Tuesday.

Reuters - The Maoists have offered a 72-day ceasefire if New Delhi calls off an offensive against them, media reports said on Tuesday, but the government said it would wait for a formal offer before it responded.

Reuters - Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday that Indian concerns about militant groups based in Pakistan would form the main focus of her talks on Thursday with her Pakistani counterpart.