India’s debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines is rejecting speculation that it soon will shut down and instead is taking steps it hopes will enable the carrier to turn a profit. Chairman Vijay Mallya, after announcing a second-quarter net loss of 4.69 billion rupees ($94 million), tried to stem worries about the carrier’s future by saying all airlines in India are operating in a tough environment. “Other airlines were making losses too. To write the epitaph for Kingfisher Airlines constantly is neither fair nor accurate,” he said.

NEW DELHI — India on Nov. 15 test fired the Agni IV long-range, nuclear-capable missile from a military base in the eastern part of the country, rebounding from a 2010 test failure. Under Project Director Tessy Thomas, the first female scientist to head a large missile project in India, the Agni IV was launched from a road mobile system at around 9 a.m. local time from Wheeler Island, off the coast of the state of Orissa.

NEW DELHI — India is laying out proposals that would facilitate innovation and develop the country’s defense industry. For the first time, the defense ministry has been involved with India’s Planning Commission in the creation of its latest Five-Year Plan, which covers from April 2012 onward.