Country's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday said it plans to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore through issuance of infrastructure bonds during the current financial year. The proposal to this effect was cleared by the executive committee of the Central Board, in its meeting, held on Tuesday, the bank said in [...]

The monthly domestic air passenger traffic touched 1.29 crore to cross the pre-COVID level in December 2022, with Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia terming it as a healthy trend and a good sign for the industry. In December 2019, the domestic air passenger traffic stood at 1.26 crore. "2022 sets new record in air passenger [...]

Thousands of employees of three state-owned power companies went on a 72-hour strike on Wednesday to protest against the privatisation of power firms even as the government invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA), a leader from the employees' union said. The government has asked the officials concerned to take all necessary steps to [...]

The government has exempted public sector entities from the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norm which mandates at least 25 per cent public float for all listed companies. The exemption would apply on these entities regardless of the government's direct or indirect holding. The exemption from MPS norm will be valid for a "specified period" even [...]

Rating agency Icra on Tuesday revised its growth estimates for the Indian road logistics sector to 11-13 per cent for the current fiscal against the previous estimate of 7-9 per cent. The rating agency said the growth is supported by a strong demand environment, coupled with the continuation of firm freight rates, also supported by [...]

Outstanding loan portfolio of the micro-finance institution (MFI) sector across India will increase around 20.3 per cent at Rs 3.25 lakh crore in 2022-23 compared to the previous fiscal, said the MFIN, a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) recognised by RBI. During the last fiscal, the total outstanding of the MFI sector was Rs 2.7 lakh crore, [...]

The net profit of operating public sector enterprises jumped 50.87 per cent to Rs 2.49 lakh crore during 2021-22, with ONGC, Indian Oil Corp, Power Grid, NTPC and SAIL emerging as the top five performers, according to a government survey. The net profit of operating central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) stood at Rs 1.65 lakh [...]

The country's coal output went up by 16.39 per cent to 607.97 million tonnes (MT) during the April-December period of the ongoing fiscal. India's coal production was 522.34 MT in the corresponding period of previous fiscal. The coal production by state-owned Coal India -- which accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic output of [...]

Market benchmarks overcame bouts of volatility to close in the green for the second straight session on Tuesday, propped up by robust demand for banking, IT and pharma stocks amid a supportive trend overseas. However, a depreciating rupee and sustained foreign fund outflows capped the gains, traders said. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 126.41 points [...]

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has defended India's move to import crude oil from Russia notwithstanding the growing disquiet over it by Western powers, saying that Europe has imported six times the fossil fuel energy from Russia than India has done since February 2022. Jaishankar, who arrived here from Cyprus on the second leg of [...]

Indian media and entertainment sector is likely to grow 12-14 per cent to clock Rs 1.6 lakh crore revenue in FY24, rating agency Crisil said in a report. The revenue growth of the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) from advertising would be led by digital platforms, followed by TV and print, it added. "Ad revenue, [...]

State-owned Convergence Energy Services Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), on Tuesday said the prices discovered for the 6,465 electric bus tender were 29 per cent lower than what it costs to operate diesel buses. This unified tender constitutes demand for electric buses from six Indian states & UTs – Delhi, [...]

The Indian economy and exports will be moderately impacted in 2023 by weak global demand and recession in large economies and to improve its current account, the country should aim at reducing energy import bill, economic think tank GTRI said on Tuesday. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that in 2022, India will pay [...]

Public-private partnership in port infrastructure has been an important source of investment in the sector and the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has a pipeline of 44 projects for total investment of Rs 22,900 crore till 2024-25, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday. Moreover, the government is working on the guidelines for [...]

Payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) touched a record high of Rs 12.82 lakh crore in December. During the month, 782 crore transactions in volume terms were done on the platform, which was launched in 2016. "UPI has made major contribution in ushering digital payment revolution in the country. In December 2022, UPI has [...]

Equity benchmarks declined in early trade on Tuesday amid mixed trends in Asian markets and continuous foreign fund outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex went lower by 159.01 points to 61,008.78. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 47.65 points to 18,149.80. From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, [...]

The RBI on Monday said state-owned SBI, along with private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank continue to be Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) or institutions which are 'too big to fail'. SIBs are perceived as banks that are 'too big to fail (TBTF)'. This perception of TBTF creates an expectation of government support [...]

The Centre on Monday said an additional 19 first mile connectivity projects of state-owned CIL and SCCL will be implemented by 2026-27. First mile connectivity refers to the transportation of coal from pitheads to dispatch points. "The Ministry of Coal will be taking up additional 19 First Mile Connectivity (FMC) projects for Coal India Ltd [...]

The Indian economy recovered from the COVID-induced downturn during 2022 and is poised for further improvement in the coming quarters though downside risks emanating from geopolitical tensions, strengthening dollar and elevated inflation will continue. The positive trajectory in the growth trend and improved fundamentals will help the nation in neutralising the impact of global headwinds [...]

Equity benchmarks started the first day of trade of the New Year on a positive note and ended with smart gains, propelled by buying in index majors Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank amid a firm trend in European markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 327.05 points or 0.54 per cent to settle at 61,167.79 on [...]

The Goods and service tax (GST) collections in Himachal Pradesh increased by 25 per cent to Rs 4,052 crore till December this fiscal from Rs 3,172 crore in the year-ago period, an official spokesperson said here on Monday. In a release issued here, he said that the State Taxes and Excise Department collected Rs 341 [...]

Six years after the shock move to ban 86 per cent of the currency in circulation, cash is still the king with official data showing close to doubling of cash with the public. The value of the currency in circulation (or public holding of cash) stood at Rs 32.42 lakh crore as on December 23, [...]

Unemployment rate in the country has zoomed to a high of 8.3 per cent in December, the highest in 2022, according to data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The unemployment rate during November was at 8 per cent, while in September it was the lowest at 6.43 per cent and was at the [...]

Indian traders should follow seven steps, including knowing trade policy and rules of origin of respective products in Australia in order to take full advantage of the recently implemented free trade agreement, according to a study by GTRI. The India-Australia free trade agreement came into effect on December 29, 2022. The Global Trade Research Initiative [...]

India's manufacturing sector activity rose to a 13-month high in December, supported by healthy inflows of new business and strong demand conditions, according to a monthly survey. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 57.8 in December, up from 55.7 in November, as business conditions improved to the greatest [...]

India's power consumption logged a double-digit growth of over 11 per cent to 121.19 billion units in December 2022 compared to the year-ago period, according to government data. The robust growth of power consumption indicates sustained momentum of economic activities in December. Experts say power consumption and demand will further increase in January due to [...]

With special emphasis on youth, the last budget of the present Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan is expected to be focused on social welfare schemes to counter inflation, one of the key issues on which the party would contest the assembly elections in 2023. The budget would also have a reflection of Rahul Gandhi's [...]

New supply of residential properties rose 51 per cent last year to 3,57,635 units across seven major cities as builders launched more projects to tap rising demand, according to Anarock. In its annual report for 2022, the leading housing brokerage said new launches increased to 3,57,635 units last year from 2,36,693 units in 2021 across [...]

India's petrol and diesel demand soared in December as increased consumption in agriculture sector helped build on the momentum generated by the festive season, preliminary industry data showed on Sunday. Petrol sales soared 8.6 per cent to 2.76 million tonnes in December, as compared to 2.54 million tonnes of consumption in the same month last [...]

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Sunday claimed that the state is on the growth trajectory after acheiving considerable financial stability during 2022. It is for the first time that the state is not dependent on the Centre for payment of salaries of its employees, which has been possible due to increased oil royalty, excise, [...]

Domestic passenger vehicles sales rose by 23 per cent to a record of 37.93 lakh units in 2022 led by the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors as the companies rode on easing of pandemic related challenges and semiconductor shortages to cash in on pent up demand, specially for SUVs. Other manufacturers like [...]