&w=3840&q=100)
Navy, BEL sign contract for NMDA project to upgrade surveillance systems
The deal involves upgrading the existing National Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (NC3I) Network to the NMDA Network, with the integration of artificial intelligence-enabled software.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, and Manoj Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of BEL.
As part of the project, the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram — currently the nodal centre of the NC3I Network — will be transformed into a multi-agency NMDA centre, with representatives from various national agencies.
'The project will be executed on a turnkey basis and will be administered by the Indian Navy,' the statement added.
Last month, BEL received orders worth over ₹3,000 crore, including two contracts valued at ₹2,323 crore from two major Indian shipbuilders — Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), Mumbai, and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata. These deals include the supply of base and depot spares for missile systems installed aboard Indian naval ships. According to BEL, these components are vital for maintaining the operational readiness of key onboard systems.
Shares of BEL closed at ₹422.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
14 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
India's refurbished laptop market sees strong growth: Know the top-selling used models
NEW DELHI: The refurbished or second-hand laptop market in India is seeing a significant rise, driven by the demand for affordable technology and the convenience it offers consumers. A recent report by Cashify, an Indian e-commerce platform that deals in used and refurbished electronics, shows that the average resale value of a laptop in India is about Rs 14,499, while the average selling price (ASP) for a refurbished laptop stands at Rs 17,661. Windows-based laptops dominate the market, making up 64% of the resale supply and 63% of refurbished sales. However, Apple laptops also show strong demand, accounting for 36% of the supply and 37% of the sales, especially due to their premium quality and performance. 'For students, job-seekers, and creators, refurbished laptops offer affordable, reliable access to tech. While consumer adoption is starting to see a shift, we believe refurbished devices can also help startups and small businesses scale cost-effectively. It's not just about saving money; it's about building smarter, more sustainable systems. At Cashify, we're enabling this shift, making quality tech more accessible, without the cost to your wallet or the planet,' said Mandeep Manocha, co-founder and CEO of Cashify. Top 5 Refurbished Laptop Models in Demand Among the most in-demand refurbished models are the MacBook Air from 2017 and 2020, along with popular Windows-based laptops like the HP 15 Series and the HP Pavilion Series. The laptops that retain the highest resale value are typically high-end models such as the MacBook Pro 2023, MacBook Air M3 2024, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 6i Series, indicating that premium devices tend to depreciate more slowly. Fastest-selling refurbished laptops include the MacBook Pro A1706 and the 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro, as well as business-grade Windows models like the Lenovo ThinkPad E480 and HP EliteBook 830 G6, showing a strong preference among users for both performance and reliability.
India Today
14 minutes ago
- India Today
Modi's farmer firewall: The subtext of India's trade standoff with US
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood on stage at the National Conference on Agriculture in New Delhi on August 7, the political atmosphere was already thick with tension. Only a day earlier, US president Donald Trump had stunned observers by announcing a fresh 25 per cent tariff on a range of Indian exports—pharmaceuticals, auto components, steel—hours after US representative Ricky Gill left the capital following the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) meeting. It was an unmistakable escalation in a relationship that has seen friction bubble beneath the surface for in his response, didn't mince words. 'India will never compromise on the wellbeing of its farmers, dairy workers and fishermen,' he declared, adding pointedly, 'Even if I have to pay a personal price, I'm ready for it.' For domestic audiences, it was a reaffirmation of a longstanding nationalist plank. For Washington, it was a warning shot—one that underscored just how far apart the two democracies remain on a comprehensive trade agreement, especially on Modi government has long positioned rural India at the heart of its political and economic strategy. This isn't just about votes—it's about livelihoods, cultural values and the perceived threat of foreign encroachment on food sovereignty. And no sector illustrates this divergence with the US more acutely than over a decade, US trade negotiators have pushed for deeper market access into India's massive but highly protected farm economy. The most contentious demands have revolved around dairy, poultry and genetically modified (GM) crops. American agribusiness giants see India—a country of over 1.4 billion people—as a high-potential growth market for surplus US farm produce. But India has resisted what it sees as a backdoor entry for products that violate religious norms and food safety standards or could destabilise millions of small farmers. The dairy dispute is a classic example. India mandates that any imported dairy must come from cattle not fed bovine-derived blood meal—a restriction rooted in Hindu dietary beliefs. US dairy producers view this as an unscientific non-tariff barrier. Likewise, India maintains high tariffs on poultry imports, particularly frozen chicken legs—a commodity where the US is globally competitive. Though India lost a WTO (World Trade Organization) dispute over its earlier ban on US poultry (citing avian flu risks) in 2015, its domestic poultry industry and small-scale producers continue to oppose any significant market opening, fearing a flood of cheap imports that could devastate local GM crops, the fault lines are even deeper. India has approved GM cotton but consistently resisted introducing GM food crops into the consumer market, citing bio-safety and farmer dependence on proprietary seed technology. US-based lobby groups had been pushing India to open up for GM variants of mustard, brinjal, rice, etc. Incidentally, most of these are indigenous crops and face resistance from farmer lobbies in India. Trade lobbyists also argue that the acceptance of GM variants in human consumption crops would mean shutting the doors of importers in matter is tangled in legal complexities, with Supreme Court judges Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol, in July last year, pronouncing a split verdict on the validity of the Centre's 2022 decision granting conditional approval for environmental release of GM mustard crops. The matter is now listed to be heard by a bigger US is one of the world's largest GM crop exporters and sees India's caution as a form of protectionism. Washington has demanded streamlined regulatory approval processes and wider acceptance of agricultural biotechnology—demands that remain political landmines in India's polarised discourse around food, science and sovereignty. 'The resistance to GM crops is linked to the food security of the country, retaining the rights and control of the crop for the farmers. This should not be lost at any cost,' says Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convenor, Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) affiliate working in the economic groups such as the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, along with Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, anchored by SJM, have been vehemently opposing the opening up of the farm sector, including for GM crops. Layered onto these specific disputes are broader philosophical differences on the nature of farm support US frequently challenges India's minimum support price (MSP) mechanism—particularly its generous procurement and stockholding policies—as trade-distorting under WTO norms. But for India, the MSP regime is a non-negotiable pillar of its food security architecture. It guarantees a floor price to farmers and ensures buffer stocks for the government's massive food distribution schemes, which benefit hundreds of millions of low-income the BTA (bilateral trade agreement) discussions, India's red lines on agriculture were being pushed in return for no significant concessions by the US,' says Pradeep Mehta, founder secretary general of CUTS, a leading think-tank focused on trade negotiations. 'It is all 'take' and no 'give'—and that is not the template for a balanced negotiation.'After the massive farmers' protests of 2020-21, which forced the Narendra Modi government to repeal three controversial farm laws, any move seen as undermining MSPs would be political suicide. As Modi himself hinted in his speech, the 'personal price' of protecting farmers is one he is prepared to pay—a statement that may resonate with rural voters but effectively freezes any room for agricultural concessions in Indo-US trade the Trump administration, this hard line is frustrating. His return to office has revived the 'America First' playbook, and India's tight controls on agri-trade are once again being framed as 'unfair'. Trump views trade not as a long-term strategic alignment but as a scoreboard of economic wins and losses. His doctrine of 'reciprocity' demands that if American goods face high tariffs or non-tariff barriers, equivalent measures should be imposed in return. Under this rubric, India's continued duties on US wine, almonds, apples and processed foods are now back under the Trump administration has already started reviewing India's access to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)—a duty-free benefits programme India lost during Trump's earlier term. India has quietly lobbied for its reinstatement, arguing that its removal hurt small and medium exporters. But Trump's current team appears even more combative, signalling that no such restoration will come unless India makes concrete concessions on agricultural market access, digital trade and tariff impasse is not limited to bilateral channels. The divide also plays out at the multilateral level, especially at the WTO, where India often leads the Global South resistance to reforms pushed by the US and EU. The most prominent of these disagreements is over food subsidies. The US wants tighter rules, more transparency, and stricter caps on what it sees as trade-distorting backed by countries like Indonesia and South Africa, argues that food security concerns in developing nations must take precedence. Modi's government, in particular, has projected India as a champion of Global South concerns—something that puts it on a collision course with US trade orthodoxy.'I am absolutely confident that PM Modi will not compromise on issues related to farmers, dairy and agriculture,' says Suresh Prabhu, former Union commerce minister. 'As commerce and industry minister in the first Modi government, taking care of these was our guiding principle while dealing with all countries, WTO and trade negotiations. We deployed several tools to protect these critical, vital national interests.'During Prabhu's time, New Delhi had resisted US pressure on reaching the deal at WTO's controversial Agreement on Agriculture, which would have pushed India to phase out the MSP mechanism and limit buffer stocks. India had used this stalemate to resist other conversations, such as building rules of e-commerce, thus further frustrating Washington. It all added to the friction, which has now come to a head. Trump's tariff escalation announcement is widely viewed in New Delhi as a retaliatory strike—not just against the stalemate in trade talks but also against India's growing strategic independence. Ironically, this escalation came just after India had hosted the IMEC convening, which included representatives from the US, EU, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. For India, IMEC is perhaps its most ambitious diplomatic balancing act yet—linking the country to western infrastructure partnerships while maintaining its non-aligned voice in BRICS and the Global South. That balancing act now appears under unpredictability only sharpens this tension. While Modi has built a working relationship with multiple US presidents—from Barack Obama to Joe Biden—Trump's transactional style and tendency to announce major policy moves via press statements or social media make quiet diplomacy increasingly difficult. Indian negotiators are wary of investing political capital in deals that could be upended result is a chilling effect. Even as India and the US continue to engage in high-level dialogues on defence, semiconductors, AI and space collaboration, the trade portfolio remains conspicuously frozen. While the US commerce secretary and India's trade minister have reiterated their commitment to resolving differences, there is no roadmap or timeline for a free trade agreement (FTA)—a deal once seen as the crown jewel of Indo-US ties.'There is first a need to build domestic consensus on agricultural reforms and create buy-in at home. Domestic ownership of agri reforms needs to be the foundation for any potential agricultural trade liberalisation. No other path is politically viable,' recommends the Modi government, this freeze may be a calculated choice. Instead of conceding to Washington, India is looking elsewhere. Trade agreements with the EU and Australia have moved forward, and bilateral investments with the UAE and Saudi Arabia are on the rise. India is also spearheading alternative payment systems, like Unified Payments Interface (UPI) linkages and rupee-dirham trade, to insulate itself from currency weaponisation and future economic the bigger message lies in Modi's August 7 speech. It was not just about agricultural policy. It was a declaration that India will chart its economic future on its own terms—even if that means losing trade benefits or enduring tariff pressure. The personal tone he adopted—acknowledging the political cost—signals that India's strategic autonomy is no longer a theoretical concept. It is the guiding principle of its economic US may still be India's most important partner in defence and technology, but on trade, the fault lines are growing too visible to ignore. Whether those lines can be bridged through backchannel diplomacy or will become permanent fractures will define the next phase of this complex, high-stakes relationship. For now, the signal from New Delhi is clear: India's farmers, and the politics they anchor, will not be sacrificed at the altar of a fast-tracked trade to India Today Magazine- EndsTune InMust Watch
Time of India
43 minutes ago
- Time of India
Amid tariff fury, India backs Trump-Putin's planned talks in Alaska
NEW DELHI: Faced with US president Trump's fury over energy imports from Russia, India welcomed the announcement about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug 15, saying it stood ready to back these efforts to end the conflict. Recalling PM Narendra Modi's message to Putin earlier that "this is not an era of war", MEA said in a statement that the meeting holds the promise of bringing to an end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and opening up the prospects for peace. While the Trump-Putin meeting suggests fresh momentum in US President's efforts to broker peace, whether he can get Ukraine to surrender any territory remains debatable. Trump has said that "there will be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was quick to reject any ceding of land by his country. For India though, in the present circumstances, the three sides agreeing to a peace deal is the best thing that could happen as it would also turn Trump's secondary sanctions against India groundless. Indian ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, met Senator Lindsey Graham, a lead votary of sanctions against countries doing business with Moscow, and explained to him the Indian perspective on energy security, including increasing energy trade with the US. "India welcomes the understanding reached between the US and the Russian Federation for a meeting in Alaska on 15th Aug 2025," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, adding that India endorses the upcoming summit meeting and stands ready to support these efforts. Modi had spoken to Putin Friday about deepening ties with Russia and underlined India's "unwavering" support for resolving the conflict through diplomatic and political means.
