Cabinet approves 78 days productivity-linked bonus for rail employees

21:08 A jawan of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) was today killed and another injured in suspicious firing at a camp of the paramilitary force in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

It is being verified as to whether it was a terror attack or a case of fratricide, SSP (Ramban) Mohan Lal told PTI.

16:44 Trial run of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) in the 30 km stretch, which is proposed for opening in the last week of November this year, will commence after October 15 after completion of the rail works, a senior
official has said.

16:33 Former Union minister N D Tiwari was admitted today to a private hospital after he suffered a brain stroke, his son Rohit Shekhar Tiwari said.

16:32 An Egyptian has been arrested by the customs department at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country over 10 kg of gold.

16:15 The Puducherry government has announced the formation of a Disaster Response Fund (DRF) to provide immediate relief to victims of natural calamities in the Union Territory.

16:13 The Union Cabinet today approved rationalisation of 17 Government of India Presses by merging them into five units.

16:12 Amid the political tussle in the state, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today took a dip in the river Cauvery even as his rival TTV
Dhinakaran took a swipe at him, saying no amount of holy dips
could wash off his "betrayal".

16:10 Acting tough on illicit liquor manufacturers, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to add a new section in the Excise Act to provide for death penalty for spurious liquor makers if its consumption causes death or permanent disability.

16:07 Drug firm Zydus Cadila today said it has received the final approvals from the US FDA to market Desoximetasone ointment and Labetalol hydrochloride tablets.

16:06 Amid fears of an economic slowdown in the country, Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, today said that the government has taken note of the indications and it will take additional moves, if necessary for the revival, Financial Express reported.

Jaitley said this while announcing decisions taken during the Narendra Modi Cabinet meeting today.

15:53 Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group is close to acquiring Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s insurance business, which is likely to be valued at nearly $4 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

15:50 Private equity investment activity in the country improved in August following big- ticket transactions that drove the overall deal tally to as high as $13.8 billion so far this year, says a report.

15:46 Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is setting up a company to invest in local entertainment, as a part of the country's long-term effort to reduce its reliance on oil.

15:35 Car sales in India are expected to grow by nine per cent this year riding on the back of GST regime as well as new product launches, Moody's Investors Service said today.

15:20 The Finance Ministry says it is examining three reports on the quantum of black money held by Indians inside the country and abroad that were commissioned by the previous UPA regime and submitted more than three years ago, reports PTI. Responding to an RTI query filed by a PTI correspondent, the ministry said information on the findings of the reports was "exempt from disclosure" under the RTI Act as they were under examination and were yet to be "taken to" Parliament.

15:13 The government will transfer three more ITDC properties to states for development, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. ITDC’s Hotel Jaipur Ashok and Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel, Mysore is to be transferred to the Rajasthan and Karnataka government, respectively. He said 468 acres land will come in the central pool after the ITDC hotel transfer.

On rationalising printing presses, Jaitley said 17 government presses are to be modernised and combined into five units.

15:02 Two more persons were detained by British police as part of their investigation into the London Tube bomb attack last week, bringing the total number of arrests to five, reports PTI. A 48-year-old man and a 30-year-old man were detained by Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command under the UK's Terrorism Act this morning, after a search at an address in Newport, South Wales, the Metropolitan Police said.

14:58 One cannot expect a homebuyer to wait indefinitely for the possession of a property when the builder is not in a position to hand it over, the apex consumer commission has said, while asking real estate firm Unitech to refund over Rs 49 lakh to a customer, reports PTI. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) asked Unitech to refund Rs 49,21,840 with 10% interest per annum to a Delhi resident Sanjeev Miglani, who had booked a flat with the firm's project at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

14:48 A bomb scare at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) following the detention of a passenger with a 'suspicious object' in his possession created some tense moments at the airport, reports PTI. However, on examination, it was found that the object was only a power bank he was carrying.

14:43 State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has made a significant oil discovery to the west of its prime Mumbai High fields in the Arabian sea, a senior official told PTI. The discovery in the well WO-24-3 is estimated to hold an in-place reserve of about 20MT, he said.

14:33 Markets regulator Sebi has revoked a trading ban imposed on 114 entities, which had come under the scanner for alleged manipulation and misuse of stock market platform for tax evasion, saying it did not find any adverse evidence against them, reports PTI. This comes after Sebi, earlier this month, had revoked ban on a total of 307 entities in the First Financial case as well as in the matter of dealing in shares of Eco Friendly Food Processing Park, Esteem Bio Organic Food Processing, Channel Nine Entertainment and HPC Biosciences.

14:30 Peer-to-peer lending (P2P) platforms will be treated as non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and thus regulated by the RBI, the central bank said. P2P lending is a form of crowd-funding used to raise loans which are paid back with interest. It can be defined as the use of an online platform that matches lenders with borrowers in order to provide unsecured loans.

14:22 Drug firm Strides Shasun has received approval from the United States health regulator for generic Omega-3-acid ethyl esters softgel capsules used for reducing lipid in the blood, reports PTI. The company's has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its capsules which are generic version of Lovaza capsules. It has partnered with Par Pharmaceutical to market the product in the United States.

14:18 The Madras High Court said there will be no floor test till it decides on the plea of the 18 disqualified AIADMK legislators.

14:06 Mahindra & Mahindra has acquired 100% stake in Erkunt Traktor Sanayii and 80% in Erkunt Sanayii for Rs 800 crore. The Turkish entity is one of the country's top five tractor makers. This would be M&M’s second tractor acquisition in Turkey this year. In January 2017, it had acquired Turkish company Hisarlar. Turkey is Europe's largest tractor market and globally commands a 3% market share in the agri-machinery industry. The Turkish acquisition is part of M&M's plan to double its global revenue to USD 5 billion by 2019. It is targeting 50% revenues from global markets by 2019.

13:53 The Board of Control for Cricket in India has recommended cricketer MS Dhoni for Padma Bhushan, reports CNN-News18.

13:46 The Shiv Sena again attacked the Centre over fuel price hikes and asked if rates had been kept high despite a slump in global crude oil prices to pay for interest on the loan taken from Japan for the bullet train project, reports PTI. Two days ago, the Sena, a constituent of the ruling NDA at the Centre and in Maharashtra, had said high fuel prices were the main reason for suicides by farmers in the country.

13:44 Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker whiskey and Smirnoff vodka, expects its first-half sales growth to suffer from the timing of Chinese New Year and a ban on selling alcohol near Indian highways, the British company told Reuters. The Supreme Court had banned liquor outlets within 500 metres of national and state highways in April, in a move that was expected to hit revenue for liquor makers such as Diageo, the world’s biggest, and French rival Pernod Ricard.

13:39 Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said its US arm has received final approval from US Food and Drug Administration for its Nitroglycerin sublingual tablets used for preventing chest pain due to coronary artery disease. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc has received final approval by the US health regulator for Nitroglycerin sublingual tablets USP in the strengths of 0.3 mg, 0.4 mg, and 0.6 mg, the company said in a statement. The tablets are generic versions of Pfizer Inc's Nitrostat sublingual tablets in the same strengths, it added.

13:33 Three Indian corporate czars - Lakshmi Mittal, Ratan Tata and Vinod Khosla - have been named in Forbes' special list of the world's '100 Greatest Living Business Minds', reports PTI. Lakshmi Mittal is the chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, Ratan Tata is Tata Group's Chairman Emeritus and Vinod Khosla is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems.

The special list also includes Donald Trump. Forbes referred him as the "Salesman and Ringmaster Extraordinaire: Owner, Trump Organisation; 45th President Of The United States". Others in the list include Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson; Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett; Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates and News Corporation Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

13:30 The Madras High Court began hearing a batch of petitions challenging the disqualification of 18 pro-Dhinakaran MLAs by the Tamil Nadu speaker. Eight of the 18 MLAs had moved court on Tuesday, challenging the action against them under the anti-defection law. They attacked Speaker P Dhanapal's order disqualifying them as MLAs as 'unauthorised' and 'illegal' in their individual petitions. The petitioners sought to restrain the speaker, government chief whip S Rajendran, Chief Minister K Palaniswami and the Assembly secretary from interfering with their rights as elected representatives. For more updates, click here

13:25 British oil explorer Cairn Energy said final hearing in the international arbitration it has initiated against a Rs 10,247 crore retrospective tax demand raised by India has been pushed back by about six months to August 2018, reports PTI. Cairn initiated arbitration against the government using a new law that gave it powers to impose taxes retrospectively, to slap a tax demand of Rs 10,247 crore on a decade old internal reorganisation of its India unit. The company, however, did not provide reasons for the delay.

13:09 BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has accused two people in the Congress of having strong links with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, reports CNN-News18. He alleged that political interference helped Dawood escape when the latter was caught in Bahrain. He said the UPA government again helped Dawood to escape after the match fixing controversy.

12:52 Patrolling has been stepped up along the Indo-Nepal border in Maharajganj and adjoining districts to nab jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan, reports PTI.

12:47 When Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar, the brother of absconder mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, was picked up from his home in south Mumbai late on Monday, he was busy watching the "Kaun Banega Crorepati" show and eating biryani, Thane Police Commissioner Parambir Singh told IANS. Kaskar was picked up from the home of his sister, Haseena Parker, late on Monday by a crack team of the Thane Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) and later placed under arrest.

12:30 The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rocked Mexico has surged to 224 people, including 117 in the capital, Interior Minister Miguel Osorio Chong told AFP. The dead included at least 21 children crushed beneath a primary school that collapsed on Mexico City's south side during the 7.1-magnitude quake, authorities said.

12:21 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the Haryana government on the anticipatory bail plea filed by the three trustees of Ryan International School in connection with the murder of a student in its Gurguram school. However, the single bench of Justice Inderjit Singh did not grant a stay on arrests in the matter. The court has posted the matter for next Monday.

12:15 The Border Security Force shot dead two Pakistani intruders along the Indo-Pak border today when they refused to surrender while crossing over to Indian territory, reports PTI. The incident took place along the Indo-Pak border in Ajnala sector of Amritsar at BOP Shahpur where BSF troops spotted two Pakistani nationals who crossed over to India and refused to surrender.

12:13 In a major embarrassment for the Bihar government, the inauguration of the Rs 389.31 crore Ganga pump canal scheme by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was cancelled on Wednesday after a canal wall collapsed and the gushing waters inundated parts of a township, reports PTI. The wall broke up after being forcefully hit by the Ganga river waters when the pump was switched on for a trial run on Tuesday at Bateshwarsthan in Bhagalpur district.

12:07 Which stocks are on the wish-list of foreign and domestic brokerages today, click here to find out

12:00 Good Morning Moneycontrol users. This blog will keep track of key global and local developments impacting business and markets through the day. Important local and global political developments will also find resonance here. 

11:59 The latest discovery of India’s largest oil explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, to the west of its Mumbai High offshore fields is estimated to hold in-place reserves of about 20MT, reports Reuters. The Mumbai High field annually produces oil and natural gas of about 9-10MT of oil equivalent. The company discovered hydrocarbon reserves west of Mumbai High at well WO 24-3 in July.

11:09 Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said anger was building up in India against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over its failure in creating jobs, reports IANS. People who had voted the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) out in 2014, were now going to get angry against the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi said interacting with students at the Princeton University here on Tuesday. He spoke on a range of issues and expressed his concern over the "centralisation" of political system in India.

11:00 German industrial group thyssenkrupp considered options including a breakup of the company before deciding to pursue a European steel joint venture with Tata Steel, reports Reuters. “Before deciding on a joint venture the thyssenkrupp executive board examined and worked out all the available options: A tie-up with a German partner, a spin-off, an IPO, the sale of the steel business and even a break-up of the entire company,” it said. “The joint venture with Tata is the only option that gives our steel business a viable long-term future.”

10:57 Leading telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone has slammed the regulator Trai's decision to reduce call connect charges, saying that the move will benefit only one operator and worsen the financial health of stressed industry. Vodafone, the country's second largest operators in terms of number of subscribers, has termed the Trai's decision as "retrograde regulatory measure". Airtel said, "The suggested IUC rate, which has been arrived at in a completely non-transparent fashion, benefits only one operator which enjoys a huge traffic asymmetry in its favour."

10:54 SBI Life Insurance Company has raised Rs 2,226 crore from anchor investors as its initial share sale opened for public subscription today, reports PTI. BlackRock, Canada Pension Fund, Government of Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HSBC, HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Kotak Mutual Fund, Reliance Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund and UTI Mutual Fund are among the 69 anchor investors. The leading insurer would allot 3.18 crore shares to 69 anchor investors at an average price of Rs 700, garnering Rs 2,226 crore to the company, SBI Life informed to the exchanges.

10:48 For AA-rated Indian borrowers such as Hindalco Industries, choosing loans over rupee-denominated bonds is becoming a no-brainer after a drop in lending rates to the cheapest in seven years, reports Bloomberg. ‘‘Today, if we have to raise money, we will prefer loans any day,” Alphonso Richard Das, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Head of Treasury at Mumbai-based Hindalco, said. “The big-bang improvement in banks’ lending rate post-demonetisation has prompted AA and lower rated corporates to gradually prefer loans over bonds.”

10:39 Bitcoin will probably see another splintering off in November as miners and developers debate how best to scale the cryptocurrency’s rapidly growing marketplace, investor Roger Ver, Chief Executive Officer of Bitcoin.com told Bloomberg.

In recent weeks a group of miners -- people who crunch complex math problems to generate and transact the digital currency -- have split off from the legacy bitcoin to use a new version known as Bitcoin Cash. Ver, who has been widely dubbed “Bitcoin Jesus” for his proselytizing on behalf of the cryptocurrency, is moving some of his funds into the new offshoot as he anticipates what would be the second split in the currency of 2017.

10:14 The British police arrested a third man in connection with the bombing on a London Underground train that wounded 30 people, reports PTI. Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command investigating the Friday attack arrested the 25-year-old from Newport, South Wales on Tuesday.   On Saturday, an 18-year-old man was detained at Dover port, and a 21-year-old was arrested in Hounslow in west London.

10:05 Tata Steel and thyssenkrupp AG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a 50:50 joint venture for their European assets. The flat steel business of the two companies in the Europe will be combined along with thyssenkrupp's steel mill services.

10:02 The lawyer of the bus conductor, who is accused of murdering a seven-year-old boy at Gurgaon's Ryan International School, said he was waiting for the charge sheet prepared by the city police's Special Investigation Team to defend his client, reports PTI. The lawyer, Mohit Verma, said the charges levelled against his client by the SIT need to be examined point-wise in order to defend the case.

"We want strong facts like the CCTV footage installed in the Ryan International School's corridor pointing to the toilet and the crime scene. We need to know the timing of the deceased and bus conductor Ashok Kumar entering into the toilet. Also, the facial expression and body language of Kumar when he came out of the toilet," Verma stated.

09:57 A Mathura farmer had received a measly loan waiver of one paisa as a defunct bank account of his had been automatically taken into consideration under an Uttar Pradesh government scheme, reports PTI. District Magistrate Arvind Malappa Bangari said Chiddi Singh would get his due waiver of Rs 1 lakh after he gets his functioning bank account linked with the Aadhaar card.

09:46 L&T Hydrocarbon has bagged an order worth Rs 1,700 crore in Kuwait, reports CNBC-TV18. The company will complete the Kuwait order in the third quarter of 2020.

09:42 The Rs 8,400 crore initial public offering by SBI Life opens for subscription today. The insurance company, which is targeting 35-40% growth in new business premium in FY17, has set the price band for the issue at Rs 685-700 per equity share. The joint venture between SBI and BNP Paribas Cardif, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas, would be offering a discount of Rs 68 per share on the offer price to its eligible employees.

09:38 Hyderabad-based Bodhtree Consulting is up 5% after it bagged an Rs 100 crore order from the Medical Council of India to cover 550 medical colleges in the country under the Digital Mission Mode Project II.

09:36 The Royal Orchid Hotels stock is down over 4% in trade. On Tuesday, Ashish Kacholia sold 8.37 lakh shares, or 3.07% stake, at Rs 125.16 per share. He held 10.73 lakh shares, or 3.94% stake, in the company at the end of the June quarter.

09:25 Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals and Tata Global Beverages are trading over 1% lower after witnessing a series of block deals on Tuesday. A combined 86 million shares changed hands in the three Tata Group companies. However, details of the buyers and sellers were not available.

09:23 Telecom stocks are trading 3-6% lower after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) more than halved interconnect usage charge (IUC) to six paise with effect from October 1. This is a big blow to older telecom firms, such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, and a potential boost to newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm.

09:09 Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, calls pessimists about United States 'out of their mind', reports Reuters. He expects the Dow Jones Industrial Average to be “over one million” in 100 years, up from Tuesday’s close of 22,370.80. He said that’s not unreasonable, given how the index was roughly 81 a century ago.

08:58 Trains services are running with a slight delay in Mumbai, with commuters inconvenienced by cancellation of services. A number of long distance trains have been diverted or cancelled. The main runway at Mumbai airport remains closed, resulting in the diversion of 56 flights. Runway 14 and Runway 32 are operational at present. In view of heavy rains, dabbawalas have called off their tiffin service for Wednesday. A holiday has been declared in school and colleges in Mumbai. A high tide is likely at 12.04 and 18.04 hours. For more updates, click here

08:44 Mahindra & Mahindra is set to acquire a big tractor company in Turkey, reports CNBC-TV18. The company has zeroed in on one of Turkey's top five tractor makers, with the acquisition in 'final stages'. An announcement to this effect is expected shortly.

This would be M&M’s second tractor acquisition in Turkey this year. In January 2017, it had acquired Turkish company Hisarlar. Turkey is Europe's largest tractor market and globally commands a 3% market share in the agri-machinery industry.

The Turkish acquisition is part of M&M's plan to double its global revenue to USD 5 billion by 2019. It is targeting 50% revenues from global markets by 2019.

08:32 Central banks unwinding quantitative easing, potential crises in China and Italy, elevated global trade imbalances and a backdrop of populism are some of the potential sources of the next financial crisis, the latest research from Deutsche Bank suggests. Looking for the potential source of the next financial shock, Deutsche Bank strategists warn there are "a number of areas of the global financial system that look at extreme levels", reports CNBC.

08:22 An undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 magnitude struck in the remote Southern Ocean south of New Zealand on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake, at a shallow depth of 10 km, was recorded 211 km west of the sub-Antarctic Auckland Island, off New Zealand’s South Island, the USGS said. There were no tsunami warnings issued immediately after the quake.

08:18 At least 138 people died when a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.1 struck central Mexico on Tuesday, toppling buildings in the heavily populated capital where rescuers scoured frantically under the rubble of ruins for survivors, reports Reuters.

08:06 Booming shipments of cars and electronics in August drove up Japan’s exports at the fastest pace in nearly four years, further evidence that overseas demand is strong enough to support healthy economic growth, reports Reuters. The 18.1% annual increase in exports was the fastest since November 2013 and was well up on July’s 13.4%, and marked a ninth straight month of expansion.

08:04 The three major US stock indexes edged higher on Tuesday, logging closing records, with financial stocks providing the biggest boost a day ahead of the Federal Reserve’s concluding statement from its two-day policy meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.45 points, or 0.18%, to 22,370.8, clocking its sixth straight record close. The S&P 500 gained 2.78 points, or 0.11%, to 2,506.65, hitting its fifth record closing high in the last six sessions.

07:56 US homebuilding fell for a second straight month in August as a rebound in the construction of single-family houses was offset by persistent weakness in the volatile multifamily home segment, reports Reuters. The report from the Commerce Department showed building permits racing to a seven-month high in August. However, permits for single-family homebuilding, which accounts for the largest share of the housing market, dropped.

The mixed readings suggested housing could remain a drag on economic growth in the third quarter. Housing starts slipped 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.18 million units, the Commerce Department said. Starts for July were revised higher by 35,000 units. Building permits surged 5.7% to a rate of 1.30 million units in August, the highest level since January.

07:54 Gold was steady on Wednesday, with investors in wait-and-see mode ahead of the outcome of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting in the United States. SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.25% to 846.03 tonne on Tuesday from 843.96 tonne on Monday.

07:52 Oil prices rose on Wednesday after Iraq’s oil minister said OPEC and other crude producers were considering extending or even deepening a supply cut to curb a global glut, while a report showed a smaller-than-expected increase in US inventories.

While options being considered by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers include an extension of cuts in output by months, it is premature to decide on what to do beyond March, when the agreement expires, Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi told an energy conference in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, US crude stocks rose last week while gasoline and distillate stocks decreased, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed on Tuesday.

07:41 US President Donald Trump escalated his standoff with North Korea over its nuclear challenge on Tuesday, threatening to “totally destroy” the country of 26 million people and mocking its leader, Kim Jong Un, as a “rocket man.” In a hard-edged speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump offered a grim portrait of a world in peril, adopted a more confrontational approach to solving global challenges from Iran to Venezuela, and gave an unabashed defence of US sovereignty, reports Reuters.

07:39 Asian stocks were mostly steady on Wednesday after Wall Street again rose to record highs, although movements were limited as a wait-and-see mood prevailed before the Federal Reserve reveals its monetary policy stance later in the day. Japan's Nikkei was flat and South Korea's KOSPI was off 0.2%. The SGX Nifty too is indicating a soft start.

07:31 Trains services on the Central and Western Railway are running normally, except on the Harbour line. However, a number of train services have been cancelled due to the incessant rains.

06:33 Good Morning Moneycontrol users. This blog will keep track of key global and local developments impacting business and markets through the day. Important local and global political developments will also find resonance here.