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PM Narendra Modi launches Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY): In a first of its kind initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday unveiled a Rs 8,000-crore scheme to provide domestic cooking gas connections to five crore BPL families over the next three years. The scheme is touted to be a gamechanger by many analysts as it could free poor households from the health hazards of inhaling smoke from chulhas fuelled by firewood or dung. “We have shown how the petroleum sector is for the poor,” Modi said at the launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana here, nearly 400-km from Lucknow. (Reuters)
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Airtel, GBI announce partnership for West Asia: Airtel Business, the enterprise arm of Bharti Airtel, has partnered with networking player GBI to increase its direct reach in West Asian countries. “GBI being a key network asset for the region will not only improve our customers’ experience and reach but would also enable GBI’s customers to experience a seamless extension on the Airtel Global network spanning across 50 countries across 5 continents,” Bharti Airtel Director and CEO-Global Voice and Data Business Ajay Chitkara said in a statement.(Reuters)
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PAC asks Raghuram Rajan to explain ‘real causes’ of bad-loan menace: Asked to explain the “real causes” of ballooning bad loans at public sector banks, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has put the blame on “overall economic downturn”, among other reasons, in his submission to the key Parliamentary Panel. Congress leader K V Thomas-led Public Accounts Committee (PAC), whose term ended yesterday, has examined Rajan’s response but can ask the RBI Governor to appear before it in future once it is reconstituted, sources said. Various public sector banks may also be asked to appear before the panel again to explain their position. (Reuters)
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Paytm ropes in Wipro for payments bank business: Wipro will implement core technology solutions for Paytm’s payments bank business, which is expected to be rolled out in the second half of 2016. Mobile wallet and e-commerce company Paytm (One97 Communications Ltd), led by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, received in August an in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India to set up a payments bank. According to the company, Wipro will also manage integration of other key systems such as anti-money laundering solution and regulatory reporting solution, and will play a crucial role in helping Paytm interface its existing systems with the core banking solution. (Reuters)
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Govt eyes Rs 25-L cr investment for infra development: Nitin Gadkari: The government is expecting investments worth Rs 25 lakh crore over the next 3 years in the roads, railway and shipping infrastructure that includes setting up of 27 industrial clusters at ports at around Rs 8 lakh crore, said Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Apart from Rs 8 lakh crore on developing 27 industrial clusters, another about Rs 5 lakh crore would be spent on road, railway and ports connectivity projects, the Minister said on the sidelines of an event by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. (PTI)
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The new Renault Kwid in town: Renault-Nissan is emerging the most popular player in the mini car space — engine capacity of 800-1,000 cc — with the stylised mini Kwid a hit, reports FE. This is partly the result of both Maruti and Hyundai focusing on larger cars; last year volumes for the Alto, the country’s largest selling car stayed flat with sales in March dropping 11.46%. Hyundai, which drove into the sub-1000 cc segment with Eon some four years back has also not seen too much success — sales fell 13% in FY16 and 10% in March. Maruti and Hyundai prefer bigger vehicles which fetch them better realisations — in the January-March quarter, Maruti's realisations per unit rose 8.1% year-on-year to Rs 4.24 lakh units. </br>
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Vodafone picks Kotak, UBS, ICICI for $2-bn share sale: Telecom major Vodafone India is close to launching an IPO with its British parent picking six investment banks, including Kotak, ICICI and UBS, for the over $2 billion share sale process, sources said. The company has also picked ICICI Securities, HSBC andDeutsche Bank as joint book-runners. The share issue is likely to hit the market only early next year as the company is yet to file the papers with markets regulator Sebi, which is a time consuming process. (Reuters)
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Railways to plant 5 crore saplings on rail land before monsoon: Making an all out effort to enhance the green cover along the tracks, Indian Railway has firmed up an ambitious proposal to plant 5 crore saplings ahead of the onset of monsoon on land owned by it. We will undertake a massive tree plantation drive on rail land across the country before the onset of monsoon, said a senior official in the Environment Directorate of Railway Ministry. (Reuters)
Amul eyes Rs 50,000-crore turnover by 2020: Dairy major GCMMF, which sells products under the Amul brand, is looking to more than double its turnover to Rs 50,000 crore in the next four years on account of rising demand for milk and value-added items, a top company official said. The turnover of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) rose 11 per cent to Rs 23,005 crore during 2015-16 fiscal. (Reuters) -
Uber brings back surge pricing, CM Arvind Kejriwal warns of strong action: On a day the ban on diesel-run cabs came into effect, taxi aggregator Uber on Sunday brought back surge pricing in Delhi, prompting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to warn the operators of "strong action". Uber had introduced the provision during odd-even scheme, which was objected to by commuters and Kejriwal had asserted that such demand-linked hikes would be banned permanently. A day after the second phase of odd-even ended, commuters across the city, who availed the services of the app-based cab firm today, found that surge pricing, where fares are raised when demand is higher than the available cabs, was back. (PTI)
