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1. Karnataka, Gujarat lift ban on Maggi noodles</br> Paving the way for Maggi noodles' return, Karnataka and Gujarat have lifted ban on manufacturing and sale of Nestle India's popular instant food brand. The announcements by the two states follow clean chit given by three government-approved laboratories to Maggi noodles, which was banned by central food regulator FSSAI and various state-level watchdogs in June on quality issues. The company is now planning to relaunch the product soon. The Congress-led Karnataka government today decided to allow manufacture and sale of Maggi noodles in the state as it decided to withhold the Centre's directive banning it, saying it lacked clarity. (Reuters)
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2. Indian Railways Rail Neer scam: 3 accused sent to police custody till Oct 23</br> A special court today sent two senior Indian Railways officers and a businessman arrested in connection with the alleged corruption in supply of packaged drinking water in Rajdhani and other superfast trains to five-day CBI custody. The agency, which had sought six days police custody, said the two public servants — Sandeep Silas and MS Chalia –were in conspiracy with arrested accused Sharan Bihari Agrawal and instead of taking Rail Neer, they had allowed some private firms to supply water in the trains which resulted in a loss of Rs 6.25 crore to the exchequer. The agency alleged that searches were conducted during the probe in which approximately Rs 28 crore was recovered out of which around Rs four lakh was counterfeit. (PTI)
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4. Fiat launches Punto Abarth, crossover Avventura at Rs 9.95 lakh </br> Italian-American auto major Fiat Chrysler Automobiles today launched two performance oriented products – premium hatchback Punto Abarth and crossover Avventura powered by Abarth – priced at Rs 9.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The two new products are part of the company's revival strategy plans in India where it has been struggling to win consumers. "All these are part of the jigsaw that we are putting together. We are understanding what is needed for Fiat to be great again in India," Fiat Chrysler Automobiles India President and Managing Director Kevin Flynn said. He said the Abarth Punto is designed indigenously and is a "homegrown, home engineered" product that is targeted at racing enthusiasts. The Abarth Punto, powered by a 1.4 litre petrol engine, delivers power of 145 hp. </br>(Image caption: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles India President and Managing Director Kevin Flynn poses for pictures during the launch of Fiat Abarth Punto and the Fiat Abarth Avventura, in New Delhi (PTI))
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5. AirAsia India slashes domestic ticket prices to Rs 1,299</br> No-frills carrier AirAsia India today offered rock-bottom fares, starting at as low as Rs 1,299 for domestic flights, as part of the parent AirAsia's global sale offer for a limited period. Internationally, the Malyasian budget carrier has lowered its fares for as many as destinations across 20 countries, a release said. Additionally, AirAsia India passengers can fly to international destinations connected by AirAsia Group airlines to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok with all-in-fares starting from as low as Rs 4,499 and Rs 4,999, respectively, it said. Passengers availing the offer, however, would be allowed to travel with only one piece of cabin baggage weighing not more than 7kg, the airline added. (Reuters)
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6. RBI Guv Raghuram Rajan blasts IMF for being soft on easy money policies of West</br> Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today took his umbrage against the accommodative monetary policies of the developed nations to the doors of the IMF and blamed it for remaining a sideline player and even praising such polices which are wreaking havoc in emerging markets. Multilateral lenders like IMF must look out for and contain the spillover effects of the near-decade long easy flow of hot money, he said. His comments are significant as the Governor, who was a chief economist at the Fund earlier, is slated to address the IMF meeting next month in Turkey. "The International Monetary Fund is supposed to look at these (easy money polices) in a global sense, but the IMF has been sitting on the sidelines, and even applauding these kinds of policies ever since they were initiated and hasn't really questioned the value of these kinds of policies," Rajan said. (PTI)
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7. Wal-Mart paid millions of dollars in bribes in India: report </br> The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart made "suspicious payments" towards "thousands of small bribes" totalling millions of dollars to local officials in India, according to a media report. The Wall Street Journal said in a report that Wal-Mart's "suspected bribery" unearthed in India involved thousands of small payments to low-level local officials to help move goods through customs or obtain real-estate permits. "The vast majority of the suspicious payments were less than USD 200, and some were as low as USD 5, the people said, but when added together they totalled millions of dollars," the daily said. According to the report, federal investigators "found evidence of bribery in India, centering on widespread but relatively small payments made to local officials there" duringu00a0the course of its "high-profile federal probe" into allegations of widespread corruption at Wal-Mart Stores Inc's operations in Mexico. (Reuters)
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8. Snapdeal ships 6 million orders in Diwali sales </br> E-commerce major Snapdeal today said it has shipped six million orders as part of its Diwali sales till now. The online marketplace, which kicked off its sale earlier this month much like its rivals Flipkart and Amazon, said 70 per cent of the orders came from its mobile website and app. "We have had a phenomenal response. We have shipped six million orders during this Diwali sale so far. 98.6 per cent of the deliveries during Diwali sale were on time and 98.9 per cent orders were dispatched within 24 hours of order placement," Snapdeal Vice President (Category Management) Rahul Taneja said. The company saw 17-fold growth in sales, 10-times growth in orders and 5-fold increase in users during the first sale on October 12 that focussed on electronics, he added. "We saw 5 million downloads of our app on the first day of the Diwali sale. About 70 per cent of the orders came from our mobile website and app," Taneja said. (Reuters)
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9. Air India rejigs domestic flight operations for winter </br> Air India (AI) has rejigged its domestic flight operations for the winter schedule, that comes into effect this Saturday, and has also increased the frequency of its service to London's Heathrow airport during the period. As part of the winter schedule, the airline has also added capacity on certain routes by replacing Airbus A319s with A320s, among others. AI will operate a third daily flight on the Delhi-London route from November 1, it said in a release here. It already operates two services per day on this route. The state run-carriers fly daily to London from Mumbai as well. Also, as part of the winter operations, it has restructured its 13 domestic transit flights and will now operate these flights without a stopover, it said. (Reuters)
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10. IndiGo lowers IPO size to Rs 3,000cr;one promoter to sell less </br> Low-cost carrier IndiGo's operator InterGlobe Aviation tonight lowered its IPO size by over Rs 200 crore to nearly Rs 3,000 crore with one promoter deciding to sell less number of shares in the public offer. The reduction came on the first day of the roadshow for the much-awaited IPO, which is being seen as a test case for the revival of big-ticket share sales in the primary market. The promoters of the company, which is among the few profitable airlines in the country, will now sell nearly 23 million shares, down from about 26.1 million they had earlier proposed for the Offer For Sale component of the IPO. The decision was taken hours after the company management began the IPO roadshow in Mumbai this morning, where it was announced that the public issue would be a fresh issue aggregating up to Rs 1,272.2 crore and offer for sale of up to 26,112,000 shares. (Reuters)
