Category: BUSINESS

After rallying for two sessions, the BSE benchmark Sensex Monday tumbled over 505 points to slip below the 38,000-level as worries about global trade war and prevailing rupee crisis dampened investors mood despite the government announcing steps to stem a steep fall in the Indian currency. The broader Nifty too nosedived over 137 points to end below the 11,400-mark.Subdued Asian and European markets due to escalating trade war between the US and China mainly led to a caution on domestic bourses, brokers said.The government Friday announced an array of steps,…

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As many as 20 lakh people have joined the modified Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), taking the total number of account holders in the flagship financial inclusion programme to 32.61 crore as on September 5, according to finance ministry data.The government earlier this month relaunched PMJDY as an open-ended scheme with higher insurance cover and double the overdraft (OD) facility. The Union Cabinet decided to continue the scheme beyond the four-year period ended August 14 with an aim to take the formal banking system from “every household to every adult”. During…

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A Singapore-based forex dealer said the measures would not do much to bolster the rupee.  The Indian government late on Friday announced a slew of steps aimed at stemming a steep decline in the rupee, which has fallen rapidly this year, and it left the door open to announcing more measures. After an economic review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s finance minister said the government plans to take measures to cut down “non-necessary” imports, ease overseas borrowing norms for the manufacturing sector and relax rules around banks…

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Petrol and diesel prices Friday scaled new highs as rates were increased on account of rupee depreciation and rise in international oil rates.While petrol price was increased by 28 paise a litre, diesel rates went up by 22 paise, according to a price notification of state-owned oil marketing companies.Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 81.28 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 73.30 a litre.In Mumbai, petrol is retailed at 88.67 per litre, for Rs 84.49 in Chennai and Rs 83.14 in Kolkata. Diesel costs Rs 77.82 per litre…

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday rubbished Vijay Mallya’s claim of having met him before fleeing to London in 2016, saying he never gave him an appointment after becoming a minister in 2014 but the fugitive liquor baron misused his position as an MP to accost him once in Parliament.Terming Mallya’s offer to settle overdue loans of over Rs 9,000 crore to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airline as “bluff offers”, the minister said he did not even take the papers Mallya was carrying during that brief encounter. Jaitley’s comments came in response…

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The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 100 points and the NSE Nifty reclaimed the 11,300-mark in opening trade Wednesday following fresh purchases made by domestic investors ahead of key macroeconomic data to be released later in the day.However, a weakening trend on other Asian bourses on worries over lingering trade conflict between the US and China forced investors to adopt a cautious approach here.The 30-share Sensex was up 133.29 points, or 0.35 per cent, at 37,546.42 with sectoral indices led by FMCG, power, IT, teck, infrastructure and PSU stocks…

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Internet major Google is learnt to have agreed to follow the RBI’s local data storage norm for payment services but wants time until December to comply with, according to a government source.”Google during the US visit of Law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad conveyed to him that they are ready to comply with RBI rules but want two months more to comply with data storage rule,” a government source told reporters.Prasad visited Google headquarters in California in August-end where he met Google CEO Sundar Pichai.Google runs digital payment services…

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India’s second largest software services firm Infosys said Monday it has signed a three-year partnership with the Australian Open as its official digital innovation partner.Infosys will leverage its expertise in emerging technologies like Big Data and Analytics, Artificial Intelligence as well as Virtual and Augmented Reality, to provide unique, innovative and engaging experiences for fans, Infosys said in a statement.The financial details of the deal were, however, not disclosed.Partnering with Infosys is an exciting next step in our ongoing quest to innovate the Australian Open and engage new audiences across…

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 Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education, he told the New York Times in an interview.Ma was an English teacher before starting Alibaba in 1999 and built it into a multibillion-dollar internet colossus, becoming one of the world’s richest men and a revered figure in his homeland.His own worth has soared along with that of the company, which was valued at USD 420.8 billion based on its share price at the close…

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 Union Minister Piyush Goyal Friday expressed disappointment over some companies running a campaign to run down electric vehicles to promote their hybrid cars in India.Speaking here at the Global Mobility Summit ‘MOVE’, the minister alleged that the companies promoting hybrid vehicles “want us to settle for the second best”. “I am extremely sad that there is a campaign going on to promote hybrid cars in this country and the campaign is trying to run down electric vehicles in order to promote hybrid cars,” the minister for coal and railways said.”The sad…

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