That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights.
21:21 That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights.
20:04 AIIMS doctors write to PM Narendra Modi urging him to understand the stress they are working under, Association President DR. Harjit Singh Bhati says, "Rajasthan Health Minister said 'will make doctors work on gunpoint', so we think PM can be our best representative" tweets ANI
20:00 Uttar Pradesh Minister alleges that UPA government had put pressure on CBI in 2G case
Uttar Pradesh minister of state (independent charge) for water supply and water resources Upendra Tiwari today alleged that efforts were made to save the accused persons in the 2G scam during the Congress-led UPA regime.
"It was during the regime of the Congress-led UPA government that the 2G spectrum scam took place. The then government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made efforts to save its own minister and other accused," Tiwari told reporters here today.
He alleged that the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in order to save the accused, had put pressure on the CBI. "In this case, the acquittal of the accused was quite natural," Tiwari said attacking the UPA leadership.
19:45 World economies need single currency: Anil Bokil
'One currency, one world' is needed for the sustainable progress of economies, Anil Bokil, founder of the Pune-based think-tank Arthakranti, said here today.
Bokil, the man behind the demonetisation move in India, said if the economies were to progress sustainably then there should be one currency driving the world.
He also said there should be transparency in transactions, which is possible only through banking services.
19:15 LIC increases stake in PNB to 14%
The country's largest insurer LIC has increased its stake in public sector lender Punjab National Bank to 13.93 percent through qualified institutional placement.
Post the acquisition of shares, Life Insurance Corporation's stake in the bank, which earlier stood at 9.89 percent, increased by 4.04 percent to 13.93 percent, according to a regulatory filing.
The mode of acquisition/sale was qualified institutional placement, the filing revealed.
19:02 China warns companies against reliance on foreign technology
China today warned manufacturers of industrial control systems against heavy reliance on foreign technology and asked them to increase localisation.
Vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wang Shengjun, while briefing lawmakers on cyberspace in an official report, said some key industrial control companies not only have their production control systems built by foreign companies.
They also allow related cyberspace security equipment to be foreign-produced and controlled. And worse, even Chinese staff have no permission for configuration and administration, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"The localisation rate of equipment and control systems in major industrial companies should increase," Wang said.
18:50 India have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sri Lanka in the third T20i in Mumbai, tweets ANI
18:45 First AC suburban service in Mumbai to commence tomorrow
AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran won the RK Nagar bypoll as an independent candidate. Dinakaran's victory over Jayalalithaa’s erstwhile seat might spell choppy waters for the EPS and OPS factions. After nineteen rounds of counting, Dinakaran got 89,013 votes, while AIADMK's Madhusudhanan got 48,306 votes and DMK's Maruthu Ganesh got 24,651 votes.
18:16 It's raining funds as Indian companies garner Rs 8.5 lakh crore from markets
In a major leg-up to fund-raising activities, Indian companies are estimated to have mopped up a whopping Rs 8.5 lakh crore from capital markets in 2017, rising by about a quarter with debt instruments remaining the most preferred route for financing business needs.
However, corporates may face increased pressure in 2018 in terms of availability and cost of debt capital in domestic markets and they may favour borrowing money from overseas markets or raising money from equities in the new year.
Out of the cumulative Rs 8.5 lakh crore garnered this year from capital markets, a large chunk or over Rs 7 lakh crore has been mopped up from the debt market, data compiled by analytics major Prime Database showed.
In 2016, firms had raised Rs 7.7 lakh crore and most of the funds were mobilised through debt markets that year too.
17:05 Natural gas to soon come under GST ambit
The new goods and services tax (GST) will likely include natural gas under its ambit soon.
On July 1, when the new national sales tax was implemented, it was decried as technologically tedious and expensive and had potential to torpedo political prospects of the ruling BJP.
However, the government made numerous changes, including easing the tax filing process and reducing rates on over 200 items, to save the day for the party in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat.
16:50 Official EC trends: TTV Dhinakaran continues to lead with 68392 votes, AIADMK's E. Madhusudhanan at 36217 votes, DMK's N. Marudhu Ganesh at 18924 , BJP's Karu Nagarajan at 1126 votes at the end of counting round 14 , tweets ANI.
16:31 Plan for all-electric cars by 2030 not viable, says Mercedes chief
Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz has urged the government "not to rush with the all-electric vehicles push" and thus "foreclose better technological options" for future generations as the rest of the world is racing to run on hydrogen and not electricity.
The car manufacturer also called for adopting a less ambitious plan of promoting e-cars arguing that a nationwide electrification of the auto industry is just not commercially and technologically viable.
Mercedes-Benz India managing director and chief executive Roland Folger said, " By 2040, the whole world will be driving home hydrogen cars. To me the whole plan to go electric nationwide looks like a rushed with idea."
More importantly, he added, with such a rush we are foreclosing options for better technologies for the future generations.
The auto industry in the country was taken by surprise after the Narendra Modi government announced last year that the entire auto industry would go electric by the turn of 2030.
16:00 TMC wins Sabang Assembly constituency by-poll by 64,192 votes.
West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Sunday won the Sabang Assembly constituency by-poll by a massive margin of 64,192 votes.
Trinamool candidate Gita Rani Bhunia got 1,06,179 votes while her nearest rival Rita Mondal of the Left Front backed Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) secured 41,987 votes.
Amid a continuous downslide popularity over the past few years,the by-poll offered an opportunity for the CPI-M, which contested the seat for the first time as the Left Front, during its 34 year rule, had fielded Biplobi Bangla Congress candidates.
15:40 IRFC hopeful of raising Rs 1,000 crore from capital gains bonds
Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is hopeful of raising Rs 1,000 crore from the recent issue of capital gains bonds, its Managing Director S K Pattanayak said today.
With an aim to raise Rs 500 crore with the green shoe option to retain over-subscription, IRFC is looking at mopping up Rs 1,000 crore from the capital gains bonds, he told PTI here.
Stating that IRFC opened the issue on November 10, Pattanayak said the bonds have a lock-in period of three years and presently yields an interest of 5.25 per cent per annum, payable on October 15 every year.
The bonds have benefits under Section 54EC of the Income Tax Act, 1961, he said.
IRFC is among the four institutions authorised by the Union Finance Ministry to issue such bonds. The other three non-banking financial companies are NHAI, REC and PFC.
15:07 PM Modi likely to attend WEF Davos Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to make his debut at the World Economic Forum's annual jamboree of the global elite in the snow-laden Swiss resort town of Davos next month, where he is also expected to address a special plenary session.
While the final list of participants would be released next month itself for the five-day Davos Annual Meeting of Geneva-based WEF beginning January 22, 2018, sources familiar with the programme said Indian presence will be really big this time with over 100 CEOs including Mukesh Ambani, Chanda Kochhar and Uday Kotak, as also Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan and top filmmaker Karan Johar expected to participate.
Modi is expected to be accompanied by some union ministers and top government officials, while a large India Inc delegation led by apex industry chamber CII will also be present at the meet, whose theme will be 'Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World'.
14:40 Narayana Murthy trashes AI as hype, asks IT leaders to be less greedy
Corporate thought-leader and Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy has flayed the high wage hikes that senior managements have been apportioning to themselves when the software industry is in trying times and has advised them to make "sacrifices" to maintain common man's faith in capitalism.
Conceding that times are difficult for the IT services sector, Murthy dismissed the commonly attributed threats of artificial intelligence and automation as "more hype than reality".
Terming the trend of no hikes for juniors and freshers as "worrisome," Murthy rued that the senior level people have been taking handsome hikes.
14:11 Jai Ram Thakur to be Himachal Pradesh’s next Chief Minister
Five-time MLA Jai Ram Thakur will be Himachal Pradesh’s next chief minister. The decision was taken at a meeting of BJP legislators on Sunday.
Earlier, a lack of consensus among the newly elected MLAs had resulted in the two central observers - Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Singh Tomar - returning to Delhi from Shimla to hold fresh consultations with the central leadership.
Union Minister JP Nadda was also believed to be in the fray.
The leadership issue cropped up following the shocking defeat of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who was defeated from the Sujanpur constituency by Rajinder Rana of the Congress.
Dhumal’s defeat came even as the BJP comfortably won the Assembly elections in the state with victories in 44 out of 68 seats.
14:08 Latest leads as counting continues for the RK Nagar bypoll in Tamil Nadu:
TTV Dinakaran (Independent): 39,548
E Madhusudhanan (AIADMK): 19,525
N Maruthu Ganesh (DMK): 10,292
14:03 Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife, mother to visit Pakistan on Dec 25
Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife and mother will visit Pakistan on December 25 to meet the Indian prisoner on death row, Pakistan's foreign office has said.
They will arrive by a commercial flight on December 25 and leave the same day. The Indian deputy high commissioner will be the accompanying diplomat.
13:34 Govt empowers I-T dept to get defaulters’ addresses from banking, municipal authorities
The government has amended rules and empowered the taxman to use banking, insurance and municipal corporation's database to obtain address of a 'hiding' or an 'untraceable' income tax defaulter for issuance of notices or summonses to them and extract due taxes.
Till now, tax authorities could only issue notice to a defaulting or erring taxpayer as per the address provided by them in their PAN (Permanent Account Number), the ITR (income tax return) or any tax-related communication.
13:03 Railway mulls extra charges during festivals, discounts for odd-hour travels
Premium charges during festivals such as Diwali, Durga Puja and discounts for travelling odd-hours, choosing a less popular route or train or one having no pantry services, are some of the proposals the Railway Board is considering on dynamic-pricing.
During a meeting with senior officials last week, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal as well as the board underlined the need for flexible dynamic-pricing in order to offer competitive fares vis-a-vis airlines.
12:30 India's GDP to grow at 7.5 percent in 2018: Nomura
The Indian economy is expected to witness sharp recovery in the January-March quarter and its GDP growth likely to be around 7.5 percent for 2018, says a Nomura report.
According to Japanese financial services major Nomura's Composite Leading Index (CLI), some growth consolidation is likely in Q4 (October-December), followed by a sharp recovery in Q1 (January-March) 2018 due to ongoing remonetisation and improving global demand.
12:05 Triumph targets more sales from India's smaller cities
British premium motorcycle maker Triumph is training its sights on India's smaller cities as it targets around 15 percent of its total sales in the country from those markets next year.
Aiming double digit sales growth for 2018, the company has also lined up at least four new product launches for next year, by when it will locally assemble 90 percent of its products sold here.
"Our target for next year is that 10-15 percent of our total sales should come from tier-II cities," Triumph Motorcycles India MD Vimal Sumbly said.
11:40 North Korea slams new UN sanctions as an 'act of war': state media
North Korea on Sunday slammed the latest UN sanctions imposed on it over the isolated country's widely-condemned intercontinental ballistic missile tests, describing the move as an "act of war".
"We fully reject the latest UN sanctions... as a violent breach of our republic's sovereignty and an act of war that destroys the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and a wider region," Pyongyang's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.
11:15 Dhinakaran widens lead: After the third round of counting, Independent candidate TTV Dinakaran is leading with 15,868 votes in the RK Nagar bypoll, followed by AIADMK's Madhusudhanan who has 7,033 votes and DMK's Maruthu Ganesh, who has 3,750 votes.
11:00 Philippines storm death toll climbs to 182, hundreds still missing
The death toll from a tropical storm in the southern Philippines rose to 182 early on Sunday, with 153 people still missing, police said, after rescuers pulled dozens of bodies from a swollen river.
Tropical Storm Tembin has lashed the nation's second- largest island of Mindanao since Friday, triggering flash floods and mudslides.
10:30 Air Deccan takes wings again
India's first low-cost carrier Air Deccan, which ceased operations after being acquired by erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines in 2008, took wings again as a commuter airline on Saturday with its maiden flight taking off for Jalgaon from Mumbai.
The flight, DN 1320, got airborne at 2.55 pm for Jalgaon in North Maharashtra, around 400 km from Mumbai, where it landed at sharp 4 pm amid the traditional water cannon salute.
The flight was inaugurated by Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil along with Air Deccan chairman Captain G R Gopinath.
10:05 Tejashwi Yadav defiant after father Lalu Prasad's conviction
Former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav said his father and RJD chief Lalu Prasad's conviction in a second fodder scam case was a "conspiracy" against their family and they would move the Jharkhand High Court against the special CBI court's verdict.
The RJD was not worried and it would fight against any such conspiracy, he said.
"It is a conspiracy against Laluji and his family. We will move the High Court and we are confident that we will get justice there," he said.
09:50 After the second round, TTV Dinakaran is leading with 7,276 votes in the RK Nagar by-election. He is followed by AIADMK's Madhusudhanan who has 2,737 votes, while DMK's Maruthu Ganesh has received 1,181 votes so far.
09:40 What does the truncated week ahead hold in store for the markets? Here are 10 things to track.
09:20 The rebel has taken a big lead in RK Nagar. Here's the latest from the counting:
TTV Dinakaran (Independent): 1,891
E Madhusudhanan (AIADMK): 646
N Maruthu Ganesh (DMK): 360
K Nagarajan (BJP): 66
NOTA: 102
09:15 Counting of votes for the RK Nagar bypoll, the outcome of which can have a bearing on political equations in Tamil Nadu, has begun.
The outcome of the result is crucial for all key contenders - the ruling AIADMK, rival leader TTV Dhinakaran, and the main opposition DMK.
Unfazed by some exit polls indicating an edge for rival AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran, both AIADMK and DMK have expressed confidence that they would win the seat.
For the ruling regime helmed by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam, it will be seen as an acid test of whether voters prefer them after the demise of their formidable leader late chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
The bypoll held on December 21 had seen a record 77.68 percent voter turnout.
09:00 Good morning. It's Christmas eve and the big news this morning is from Tamil Nadu, where counting has begun for the bypoll in Chennai's RK Nagar, the Assembly constituency once held by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. We'll bring you the latest on that and the other big news stories as the day progresses.
That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights.
Uttar Pradesh minister of state (independent charge) for water supply and water resources Upendra Tiwari today alleged that efforts were made to save the accused persons in the 2G scam during the Congress-led UPA regime.
"It was during the regime of the Congress-led UPA government that the 2G spectrum scam took place. The then government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made efforts to save its own minister and other accused," Tiwari told reporters here today.
He alleged that the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in order to save theaccused,had put pressure on the CBI. "In this case, the acquittal of the accused was quite natural," Tiwari said attacking the UPA leadership.
'One currency, one world' is needed for the sustainable progress of economies, AnilBokil, founder of the Pune-based think-tankArthakranti, said here today.
Bokil, the man behind thedemonetisationmove in India, said if the economies were to progress sustainably then there should be one currency driving the world.
He also said thereshould be transparency in transactions, which is possible only through banking services.
The country's largest insurer LIC has increased its stake in public sector lender Punjab National Bank to 13.93 percent through qualified institutional placement.
Post the acquisition of shares, Life Insurance Corporation's stake in the bank, which earlier stood at 9.89 percent, increased by 4.04 percent to 13.93 percent, according to a regulatory filing.
The mode of acquisition/sale was qualified institutional placement, the filing revealed.
China today warned manufacturers of industrial control systems against heavy reliance on foreign technology and asked them to increaselocalisation.
Vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wang Shengjun, while briefing lawmakers on cyberspace in an official report, said some key industrial control companies not only have their production control systems built by foreign companies.
They also allow related cyberspace security equipment to be foreign-produced and controlled. And worse, even Chinese staff have no permission for configuration and administration, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"Thelocalisationrate of equipment and control systems in major industrial companies should increase," Wang said.
garners Rs 8.5 lakh crore from markets
In a major leg-up tofund-raisingactivities, Indian companies are estimated to have mopped up a whopping Rs 8.5 lakh crore from capital markets in2017,rising by about aquarterwithdebt instruments remaining the most preferred route for financing business needs.
However, corporates may face increased pressure in 2018 in terms of availability and cost of debt capital in domestic markets and they mayfavourborrowing money from overseas markets orraisingmoney from equities in the new year.
Out of the cumulativeRs8.5 lakh crore garnered this year from capital markets, a large chunk or over Rs 7 lakh crore has been mopped up from the debt market, data compiled by analytics major Prime Database showed.
In 2016, firms had raised Rs 7.7 lakh crore and most of the funds weremobilisedthrough debt markets that year too.
AIADMKleaderTTVDinakaranwon the RKNagarbypollas an independent candidate.Dinakaran'svictory overJayalalithaa’s erstwhile seat might spell choppy waters for the EPS and OPS factions. After nineteen rounds of counting,Dinakarangot 89,013 votes, whileAIADMK'sMadhusudhanan got 48,306 votes andDMK'sMaruthuGanesh got 24,651 votes.
the new goods and services tax (GST) will likely include natural gas under its ambit soon.
On July 1, when the new national sales tax was implemented, it was decried as technologically tedious and expensive and had potential to torpedo political prospects of the ruling BJP.
However, the government made numerous changes, including easing the tax filing process and reducing rates on over 200 items, to save the day for the party in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat.
Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz has urged the government "not to rush with the all-electric vehicles push" and thus "foreclose better technological options" for future generations as the rest of the world is racing to run on hydrogen and not electricity.
The car manufacturer also called for adopting a less ambitious plan of promoting e-cars arguing that a nationwide electrification of the auto industry is just not commercially and technologically viable.
Mercedes-Benz India managing director and chief executive Roland Folger said, " By 2040, the whole world will be driving home hydrogen cars. To me the whole plan to go electric nationwide looks like a rushed with idea."
More importantly, he added, with such a rush we are foreclosing options for better technologies for the future generations.
The auto industry in the country was taken by surprise after the Narendra Modi government announced last year that the entire auto industry would go electric by the turn of 2030.
West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Sunday won the Sabang Assembly constituency by-pollby a massive margin of 64,192 votes.
Trinamool candidate Gita Rani Bhunia got 1,06,179 votes while her nearest rival Rita Mondal of the Left Front backed Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) secured 41,987 votes.
Amid a continuous downslide popularity over the past few years,the by-poll offered an opportunity for the CPI-M, which contested the seat for the first time as the Left Front, during its 34 year rule, had fielded Biplobi Bangla Congress candidates.
Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is hopeful of raising Rs 1,000 crore from the recent issue of capital gains bonds, its Managing Director S KPattanayaksaid today.
With an aim to raise Rs 500 crore with the green shoe option to retain over-subscription,IRFCis looking at mopping up Rs 1,000 crore from the capital gains bonds, he toldPTIhere.
Stating thatIRFCopened the issue on November 10,Pattanayaksaid the bonds have a lock-in period of three years and presently yields an interest of 5.25per centper annum, payable on October 15 every year.
The bonds have benefits under Section54ECof the Income Tax Act, 1961, he said.
IRFCis among the four institutionsauthorisedby the Union Finance Ministry to issue such bonds. The other three non-banking financial companies areNHAI, RECandPFC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to make his debut at the World Economic Forum's annual jamboree of the global elite in the snow-laden Swiss resort town of Davos next month, where he is also expected to address a special plenary session.
While the final list of participants would be released next month itself for the five-day Davos Annual Meeting of Geneva-based WEF beginning January 22, 2018, sources familiar with the programme said Indian presence will be really big this time with over 100 CEOs including Mukesh Ambani, Chanda Kochhar and Uday Kotak, as also Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan and top filmmaker Karan Johar expected to participate.
Modi is expected to be accompaniedby some union ministers and top government officials, while a large India Inc delegation led by apex industry chamber CII will also be present at the meet, whose theme will be 'Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World'.
