Minister Narendra Modi's government

India plans to sell a 5-percent stake in insurance giant LIC in what could potentially be the country's largest initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Feb. 13.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is desperate for proceeds from the IPO of the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the sale of other state assets to help fix its tattered public finances.

At least 10 people were killed on Saturday and 150 injured when a train came off the tracks in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the chief medical officer in Muzaffarnagar, where the crash happened, told Reuters, quoted by The Gulf Today. 

A police official earlier said 20 people had been injured but did not mention any people killed.

India's cabinet on May 24 approved a long-awaited policy to boost local manufacturing of high-tech defense equipment and cut down reliance on expensive imports.

Under the new Strategic Partnership model, the government will pick Indian companies to tie up with foreign organizations to manufacture fighter jets, armored vehicles, helicopters and submarines locally.

Government rules restricting foreign ownership in the Indian defense sector to 49 percent are undermining New Delhi's drive to lure greater investment in manufacturing, a senior executive at European conglomerate Airbus Group said on March 14.

India has chosen to buy anti-tank guided missiles from Israel, rejecting a rival U.S. offer, as the right-wing government clears projects worth $13.1 billion to modernise its ageing military, official sources said Oct. 26.