Domestic gas producers will have to wait for 45 days more to get some clarity on the new gas price, with the government saying on Wednesday that it had deferred the much-awaited decision on new pricing guidelines till November 15. Since it assumed power in May this year, this is the second time the National Democratic Alliance government has postponed its decision on the crucial issue.

“The decision has been extended till November 15. It is part of the decision-making process,” telecom and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. When asked the reason for the deferment, Prasad said: “I am surprised we are focusing on this when so many other important decisions have been taken today (Wednesday).”

Markets opened marginally higher led by oil and select financials but upside gains are likely to be capped ahead of the expiry of September derivative contracts tomorrow. Further, selling by foreign funds also weighed on sentiment.

At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 40 points at 26,816 and the 50-share Nifty was up 15 points at 8,032.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought additional information from Reliance Industries (RIL) on the takeover of Network18 and TV18 Broadcast. The two firms, which are being taken over by RIL through its Independent Media Trust (IMT), control an array of media properties, including leading business and general news channels CNBC TV18 and CNN-IBN.

"Sebi has sought additional information from time to time, which has been provided," RIL told Business Standard in response to an email query seeking comments. "Sebi has not asked for any revision of offer price," the RIL spokesman added.

In a bid to grab the opportunity created by diesel reaching market-parity price, Reliance Industries (RIL) has set the ball rolling on reopening its fuel retail outlets, after a gap of six years, and the company is in discussions with its dealers for a higher commission.

A detailed plan, covering issues ranging from dealer commission to the price at which auto fuel would be sold, is expected to be presented to the dealers in 20-25 days.

Ahead of the launch of its mobile phone services, Reliance Industries has increased its stake in Reliance Jio to almost 99 per cent. According to documents accessed by Business Standard, RIL increased its direct stake in Jio to 98.9 per cent as on March this year by pumping more capital into the company. The stake held by the Nahatas (Infotel Broadband promoter Mahendra Nahata and his son Anant) has fallen to just one per cent as they did not make any investments after 2010 in the rollout of services.

GenNext Ventures, the venture investment management arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), and Microsoft Ventures have signed a three-year partnership to set up GenNext Innovation Hubs, an initiative to ease the country’s start-up ecosystem.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by GenNext Ventures chairman and RIL board member R A Mashelkar and Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik.

Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, India’s largest private-sector company, and the University of Chicago have announced a collaboration to develop innovative technology that will help train medical students and clinicians for better diagnosis and improved healthcare.

The partnership will develop cloud-based software applications that can train medical professionals using case studies written by experienced physicians and state-of-the-art clinical reasoning methods, RIL said in a statement.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has announced that its group company Reliance Haryana SEZ Limited (RHSL) has returned 1,383.68 acres of land in Gurgaon acquired from Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) for setting up special economic zones (SEZs) owing to revision of strategic priorities.

Reliance Industries is set to invest $13 billion (Rs 78,000 crore) in energy projects, after it had recently revealed its plans to invest Rs 1.8 lakh crore across business by 2016. This includes a 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude refinery at its Jamnagar complex, Reuters reported today. This refinery will be used to refine cheap and heavy crude that is now more and mroe available in Asia.

Reliance Industries, controlled by Mukesh Ambani, operates the world's biggest refining complex in Gujarat. The two plants in Gujarat can process about 1.4 million bpd of oil. Reuters reporetd that the company had sought the approval of the environment ministry to invest Rs 77300 crore to build a new refinery and some polymer units.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the country's biggest private oil company and ITC, the largest cigarette maker, have lost over five per cent each in an over 2,500-point Sensex rally after election results in May.

Powered by funds flowing in from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic mutual funds, the markets have been trending up, with the S&P BSE Sensex and the CNX Nifty marking fresh highs.

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