Top 10 business news today: Aadhaar Bill passed, IndiGo does a first with A320 Neo, Vijay Mallya deplores ‘witch hunt’ Indian Railways on cleanliness, more

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1. Aadhaar Bill 2016 passed in Lok Sabha: Thousands of crore rupees will be saved by routing government subsidy through the Aadhaar system, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday, as the Lok Sabha passed a Bill to give statutory backing to the unique identity number scheme. The Bill "will empower the states to distribute resources of the State to deserving people and save the resources that undeserving people get," the Minister said while replying to short debate on the Aadhaar (Target Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016'.

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2. Eco-friendly A320 Neo debuts in India, delivered to IndiGo: Making its debut in India, the first eco-friendly A320 Neo built by European aircraft major Airbus landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here yesterday, and was delivered to budget carrier IndiGo. IndiGo is also the first airline among Asian airlines to have inducted the latest aircraft from Airbus. The delivery of the eco-friendly Airbus 320 (new engine option) planes to IndiGo, which is the largest customer of Airbus aircraft in India, was to be commenced from December last year but technical issues at that time forced a postponement.

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3. Vijay Mallya on Twitter deplores ‘media witch hunt’, reiterates faith in judiciary: The Member of Parliament Vijay Mallya on Friday said that he did not abscond from India and has full faith in the country’s judicial system. Vijay Mallya in a series of tweets said: “I am an international businessman. I travel to and from India frequently. I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder. Rubbish.” Mallya is in the middle of a controversy over Rs 9,000 crore owed to banks by the defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

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4. Send SMS to 58888, if your train coach needs cleaning: A railway passenger can now send an SMS to a prescribed number if the coach requires cleaning as the public transporter on Friday launched "Clean My Coach" initiative as part of its 'Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat' campaign. "It is a new beginning in cleanliness efforts with the use of technology," Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here after launching 'Clean My Coach Scheme' at New Delhi, Mumbai Central and Lucknow stations through video-conferencing.

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5. Diageo to 'review' Tribunal order, says $40mn paid to Vijay Mallya: Caught in the controversy surrounding flamboyant businessman Vijay Mallya, British liquor giant Diageo on Friday said it will "review" the Debt Recovery Tribunal's order freezing USD 75-million payout to him out of which has already paid USD 40 million. Mallya has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after a sweetheart deal he inked with Diageo, the current controlling owner of United Spirits, under which he is getting Rs 515 crore (USD 75 million) to exit from the board of the company founded by his family and taken to the top by him.

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6. HMSI launches new variant of CD 110 Dream priced at Rs 46K: Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Friday launched a new variant of its entry level bike CD 110 Dream with self start feature priced at Rs 46,197 (ex-showroom Delhi). The new variant, CD 110 Dream Deluxe (DX) was first unveiled at the Auto Expo 2016 held in February. The dispatches for the latest upgrade of Honda's most affordable motorcycle in India has started, HMSI said adding the bike delivers a mileage of 74 km/liter under test conditions.

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7. Air India flight delayed due to fight between cabin crew members: A Thiruvananthapuram-bound Air India flight from here carrying 158 passengers including some Members of Parliament and bureaucrats onboard was delayed by two hours after a fight broke out between two cabin crew members inside the cabin. Taking a serious note of the incident, Air India has suspended the crew members, pending enquiry, the airline said. The incident took place this evening when Air India flight was readying for Kochi for departure. The flight was, however, bound for Thiruvananthapuram.

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8. After food, prices of tea, coffee hiked in Parliament: After a hike in prices of food, now you will have to shell out more for tea and coffee in the Parliament House complex with their prices hiked manifold to Rs 5 per cup from on Friday. Tea and Coffee boards have raised the prices. Earlier, it cost just Re 1 for a cup of tea offered by Tea Board but now it is Rs 5. Coffee price was earlier Rs 1.50 a cup. Prices of food items in Parliament canteen were hiked from new year in varying degrees in view of controversies over the items being served there at subsidised rates.

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9. Crisil sees GDP growing at 7.9 pc in 2016-17: The country's GDP can grow by 7.9 per cent next fiscal if the monsoon is normal and government implements the reform measures announced so far, domestic rating agency Crisil said on Friday. The growth forecast, highest by any house and even above the government's own estimate of 7-7.75 per cent, has been arrived assuming a faster growth in agriculture, Crisil Chief Economist Dharmakirti Joshi said in a concall on Friday.

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10. Bombay High Court defers Service Tax Dept plea against Vijay Mallya to Mar 28: The Bombay High Court on Friday deferred till March 28 hearing on two applications filed by Service Tax Department for recovery of over Rs.32 crore from Kingfisher Airlines and its chief Vijay Mallya. One application challenged a magistrate's order granting anticipatory bail to Mallya and others in a case filed by the Department against them for recovery of Rs 32.68 crore Service Tax collected by the airline from passengers during 2010-11, but not deposited in the government treasury.