Top Business News of The Day: Sensex drops 127 pts, RIL tumbles over 2 pc; Jet Airways to restart domestic operations in Q1 2022; New bill can help millions, including Indians, get Green Card in US by paying supplemental fee and more.

Top news of the day from the world of business, finance and economy

September 13, 2021 09:05 am | Updated 05:17 pm IST

A view of the BSE building in Mumbai. File

A view of the BSE building in Mumbai. File

5:16 P.M.

Sensex drops 127 pts, RIL tumbles over 2 pc; NCLAT gets third Acting Chairperson in a row, No full-time head since Mar 2020 and Jet Airways to restart domestic operations in Q1 2022.

Apple shares rise from Epic ruling-led slide; New bill can help millions, including Indians, get Green Card in US by paying supplemental fee and Aluminium prices hit highest since 2008.

Ola Futurefactory to be world's largest all-women factory; Coal India might raise coal prices by 10-11% and India Inc spent over Rs 1,600 crore on mitigating second Covid-19 wave.

5:05 P.M.

NCLAT gets third Acting Chairperson in a row; No full-time head since Mar 2020

Justice M Venugopal has been appointed as the Acting Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), as the key appellate tribunal continues to be without a permanent head now for more than one-and-a-half years.

This is the third time in a row that an Acting Chairperson is at the helm of the NCLAT, which is handling several crucial appeals related to matters under the insolvency and competition laws, after the retirement of Chairperson Justice S J Mukhopadhaya on March 14, 2020, PTI reported.

4:38 P.M.

Sensex drops 127 pts; RIL tumbles over 2 pc

Equity benchmark Sensex dropped 127 points on Monday, weighed by losses in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

The BSE index ended 127.31 points or 0.22%  lower at 58,177.76, while the NSE Nifty slipped 13.95 points or 0.08% to 17,355.30.

Reliance Industries was the top loser in the Sensex pack followed by ICICI Bank, HUL, HDFC Bank, M&M, Ultra Cement, IndusInd Bank and Tech Mahindra. On the other hand, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Maruti and Kotak Bank were among the gainers, PTI reported.

4:30 P.M.

India Inc spent over Rs 1,600 crore on mitigating second Covid-19 wave: study

India Inc. has spent over Rs 1,600 crore combating the second wave of Covid-19 in the financial year 2020-21, a study said on Monday.

The study comprising over 350 public listed companies conducted by CSR knowledge and impact intelligence platform -- 'CSRBOX' stated that Indian companies launched over 750 corporate social responsibility initiatives in response to the second wave, PTI reported.

Around 57% of the CSR initiatives to combat the second wave of Covid-19 were targeted at direct beneficiaries – Covid-infected people, the report titled 'CSR Response to COVID 2.0' said.

4:15 P.M.

Apple shares rise from Epic ruling-led slide

Apple Inc's shares stabilized on Monday after losing about $84 billion in market capitalization following a U.S. judge's mixed decision on the iPhone maker's fight with "Fortnite" game maker Epic Games last week.

The court issued a permanent injunction that would let app developers to route its players to alternative platforms to make payments, allowing them to avoid Apple's 30% App Store fees. Shares were up about 0.8% before the opening bell on Monday, Reuters reported.

3:58 P.M.

Piyush Goyal, Liz Truss talks to decide next steps for UK-India trade deal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is scheduled for virtual talks with his UK counterpart, Liz Truss, on Monday to discuss the next steps to launch negotiations for a UK-India trade agreement, the UK government said.

The UK's Department for International Trade (DIT) said the talks between Secretary of State Truss and Goyal come as part of preparations towards a free trade agreement (FTA) with India, PTI reported.

3:56 P.M.

Money inflows into global equity funds drop in the week to Sept. 8 -Lipper

Global equity funds lured fewer inflows in the week to Sept. 8 as investors turned cautious due to uncertainty over the pace of economic recovery and shied away from riskier assets.

Investors purchased a net $8.54 billion in global equity funds in the week, a 54% drop compared with the net buying in the previous week, Reuters reported.

3:27 P.M.

New bill can help millions, including Indians, get Green Card in US by paying supplemental fee

Millions of people stuck for years in the employment-based Green Card backlog in the US, including a sizable number of Indians, can hope for a lawful permanent residency in America by paying a supplemental fee if a new House bill is passed into law.

The move, if included in the reconciliation package and passed into law, is expected to help thousands of Indian IT professionals who are currently stuck in an agonising Green Card backlog. A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the US, PTI reported.

3:18 P.M.

Trust between govt, industry critical to leverage opportunities created by COVID: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the trust between government and industry is critical for leveraging the opportunities thrown up by the COVID-19 pandemic while assuring that the proposed DFI, the National Bank for Infrastructure Financing and Development (NaBFID), will become functional soon, PTI reported.

3:15 P.M.

Paytm to launch FASTag-based parking service across country; starts with DMRC

Digital payment and financial services firm Paytm plans to deploy FASTag-based parking services across the country after having launched first such project with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) said it has enabled the country's first FASTag-based metro parking facility in partnership with the Delhi Metro Rail . PPBL will facilitate the processing of all FASTag-based transactions for cars having a valid FASTag sticker that will eliminate the need for stopping to pay cash at the counter, PTI reported.

3:11 P.M.

J.P. Morgan opens new campus in Hyderabad

J.P. Morgan announced the launch of its new campus in Hyderabad. The 822,000 square feet campus located in Salarpuria Sattva Knowledge City, HITEC City, is one of JPMorgan Chase's key campuses globally and its largest in Asia Pacific.

It will consolidate the global financial services firm's presence in Hyderabad for employees across technology, risk, operations and support services, Reuters reported.

3:07 P.M.

Tata Motors drives in CNG trim of Tata 407 at Rs 12.07 lakh

Tata Motors on Monday said it has launched the CNG version of its light commercial vehicle Tata 407 priced at Rs12.07 lakh.

Tapping into the benefits of CNG, the vehicle offers profits of up to 35% over the diesel variant, PTI reported.

3:03 P.M.

Policy support, fundraise may give VIL relief but sizable tariff hike must: Edelweiss

Measures reportedly being mulled by the government to ease telecom industry's stress and fundraising may give Vodafone Idea the much-needed breather, but structural issue undermining the sector can be fixed only with "sizable" tariff hike for 4G prepaid customers, according to a note by Edelweiss.

The telecom sector has been keenly watching out for the relief package, which could include redefinition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) to exclude non-telecom items, cut in levies such as Spectrum Usage Charges and easier terms and conditions for surrendering radiowaves to the government, PTI reported.

2:59 P.M.

Stocks struggle for momentum on inflation and taxation fears

World stocks started the week on the backfoot on Monday, slipping to 2-1/2 week lows on further signs of accelerating inflation as well as tax and regulatory pressures on the world's biggest companies.

MSCI's world stocks benchmark slipped 0.2% and an index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 1.2%. Chinese blue-chip index fell 0.5%, Reuters reported.

2:49 P.M.

Uber will appeal Dutch ruling that drivers are employees

Uber will appeal a Dutch court ruling that drivers are employees of the company and not independent contractors that make use of its platform, the company said on Monday.

Earlier, the Amsterdam Disctrict Court sided with labour union FNV and found that drivers for the company are emloyees and entitled to the rights that implies, Reuters reported.

1:54 P.M.

Dollar hits two-week high as Fed tapering expectations grow

The dollar stengthened to a two-week high versus a basket of major currencies on Monday as market expectation builds that the Federal Reserve could taper its stimulus sooner rather than later despite a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The dollar index rose 0.3% to 92.880 in early European trading hours, its highest level since August 27, Reuters reported.

1:43 P.M.

NXP Semiconductors selects TCS as partner to drive IT innovation

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday said it will work with NXP Semiconductors to help accelerate its digital transformation. TCS will drive its integrated IT services strategy across applications, IT infrastructure and workplace services spanning enterprise, manufacturing and engineering functions, PTI reported.

NXP is driving innovation in the automotive, industrial & IoT, mobile, and communication infrastructure markets.

1:26 P.M.

Iran cuts Oct crude prices to Asia

Iran has set the official selling price (OSP) of its Iranian Light grade for its Asian buyers at $1.45 above the Oman/Dubai average for October, down $1.20 from the previous month, Reuters reported.

 

Asian markets had a sluggish  start to the week, and the Indian stock market also opened flat amid weak global cues. A major news came from the aviation industry after new owners of Jet Airways said they will start domestic operations from first quarter of 2022. While the other aviation firm,SpiceJet settled with lessor of Boeing Co's MAX aircraft, CDB Aviation,  in a bid to the company looks to start operating the aircraft by the end of September.

After announcing its electric scooter, Ola today said its manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu will be run entirely by women as it looks to Aatmanirbhar Bharat through Aatmanirbhar women.

1:00 P.M.

Ola Futurefactory to be world's largest all-women factory

Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said the company's manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu will be run entirely by women.

Futurefactory will employ over 10,000 women, making it the world's largest women-only factory and the only all-women automotive manufacturing facility globally, he added.

" An Aatmanirbhar Bharat requires Aatmanirbhar women. Today, I am proud to announce that Ola FutureFactory, will be run entirely by women," Aggarwal said in a blog post.

12:45 P.M.

Aluminium prices hit highest since 2008

Aluminium prices jumped to their highest in more than 13 years on concerns over supply in China, the world's biggest consumer and producer of the metal, Reuters reported.

The most-traded October aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 5.1% to 23,770 yuan ($3,683.27) a tonne, the highest level since March 2008. While the three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit its highest since July 2008 at $3,000 a tonne.

Output curbs in China and political turmoil in its top source of bauxite have boosted aluminium prices by about 50% this year.

12:20 P.M.

Govt exempts taxes on transfer of assets by Air India

The government has exempted taxes on transfer of assets by Air India to SPV Air India Assets Holding Ltd, PTI reported.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said no TDS shall be deducted under section 194Q in case of transfer of goods by Air India Ltd to AIAHL. Besides, no TDS shall be deducted under section 194-IA of I-T Act on payments made to Air India for transfer of immovable property to AIAHL.

The CBDT noted that Air India would not be considered as 'seller' for the purposes of deduction of TCS and added that transfer of capital asset under plan approved by central government from Air India Ltd to AIAHL would not be regarded as transfer for the purpose of income tax.

11:55 A.M.

India cuts import taxes on vegetable oils

India has cut base import taxes on palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil, as the country trues to cool near-record price rises, Reuters reported.

The base import tax on crude palm oil has been reduced to 2.5% from 10%, and the tax on crude soyoil and crude sunflower oil has been cut to 2.5% from 7.5%. The base import tax on refined grades of palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil is cut to 32.5% from 37.5%.

Crude palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil imports will now demand 24.75% tax in total, including a 2.5% base import duty and other taxes. Refined grades of palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil would carry a 35.75% tax in total.

11:30 A.M.

SpiceJet settles with Boeing MAX aircraft lessor CDB Aviation

SpiceJet has settled with another lessor of Boeing Co's MAX aircraft, CDB Aviation, as the company looks to start operating the aircraft by the end of September after India cleared the 737 MAX to fly last month, Reuters reported.

In August, India's air safety regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation cleared 737 MAX aircraft to fly with immediate effect, after nearly two-and-a-half years of regulatory grounding.

SpiceJet had said in August it expected the grounded 737 MAX jets in its fleet to return to service at the end of September after a settlement with lessor Avolon on leases of the aircraft.

11:10 A.M.

Jet Airways to restart domestic operations in Q1 2022

The new owners of Jet Airways said the airline will restart domestic flying operations from the first quarter of 2022.

Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the successful resolution applicant of Jet Airways said the process of reviving the grounded carrier was on track with the existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) already under process for revalidation.

The Consortium said it is working closely with the relevant authorities and airport coordinators on slot allocation, required airport infrastructure, and night parking.

Senior Members of the Jalan Kalrock Consortium along with Jet 2.0 Operations Team led by the newly appointed Capt. Sudhir Gaur, Accountable Manager, and acting CEO visited key airports last month and held productive meetings with them, the new owns said in a statement.

The revival plan for Jet Airways is being implemented as approved by NCLT and all the creditors will be settled as per the plan in the coming months, the statement added.

11:00 A.M.

Epic Games to appeal ruling in Apple case

Fortnite game maker Epic Games plans to appeal a ruling in its antitrust case against Apple after a federal judge on Friday gave a mixed decision, Reuters reported.

In a legal filing, Epic said it would continue its legal fight.

While the judge said Apple would have to loosen some rules on developers, it allowed the iPhone maker to continue its prohibition of third-party, in-app payment systems.

10:20 A.M.

FPIs pump in ₹7,605 crore so far during Sept

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pumped in a net sum of ₹7,605 crore in September so far after buying to the tune of ₹16,459 crore in August, PTI reported. 

"The stability in Indian currency and increasing bond spreads between the US and India made Indian debt better placed on the risk-reward basis, which would have caught investor fancy resulting in rather sudden and high inflows,"  Himanshu Srivastava, associate director (research) of Morningstar India told PTI .

He added that how investment in Indian equities has been volatile in recent times.

10:00 A.M.

Coal India might raise coal prices by 10-11%

Coal India might increase prices of the dry fuel by at least 10-11% to mitigate the impact of increased costs and an impending wage revision, PTI reported.

The wage revision, which is due from July this year, is likely to cost the miner an additional ₹10,000 crore. Sources told PTI that a 10% price hike could result in a 20-30 paisa per-unit jump in power price.

“Coal India has informally discussed the matter with board members and most of them have acknowledged the need to hike prices of coal. The miner is awaiting the government’s nod following which it will take the final call,” sources told PTI.

9:30 A.M.

Sensex, Nifty open flat

The Indian equity benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty made a muted start amid weak global cues.

Sensex opened 0.07% lower at 58,262.11 and Nifty opened down 0.03% at 17,363.55. IT, banks, pharma and energy saw selling while metals, media and FMCG traded in green.

9:15 A.M.

Oil jumps to one-week high

Oil prices rose to one-week high on concerns over U.S. supplies after damage from Hurricane Ida, and expectations of higher demand, Reuters reported.

Brent crude rose 0.7% to $73.40 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude also rose 0.7% to $70.21 a barrel.

"To compound matters, more oil refiners in Louisiana have resumed operations, raising demand for crude oil," ANZ analysts said in a note.

9:00 A.M.

Asian shares open dull

Asian shares made a dull start to a week packed with major U.S. and Chinese economic data and the launch of Apple's latest iPhones, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.7% while Chinese blue chips fell 0.3%. Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%.

China will release data on retail sales, industrial output, and urban investment on Wednesday while U.S. will release consumer prices data on Tuesday and retail sales on Thursday.

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