Ahead of the GST Council meeting on Wednesday, the Centre on Monday sought to soothe the frayed nerves of states by releasing over Rs 35,000 crore as pending compensation. The central government has released GST compensation of Rs 35,298 crore to states and union territories today (Monday), the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in a tweet.

State Bank of India (SBI) and other public sector banks have decided to lend Rs 4,000 crore to Patanjali Ayurved for the acquisition of Ruchi Soya, which was facing bankruptcy proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

The money lent by banks will help the government owned banks to settle their exposure to Ruchi Soya with a haircut of 65 per cent. Apart from SBI, Union Bank is also one of the banks lending to Patanjali.

Majority of homebuyers and many lenders, including IDBI, have voted in favour of state-owned NBCC bid to acquire debt-laden realty firm Jaypee Infratech in an ongoing insolvency process, sources said.

The simultaneous voting to bids of both the contenders NBCC and Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty started on Dec 10 and ended tonight at 11.59 pm.

Domestic demand for mobikes may be under severe pressure, but Bajaj Auto has left its closest competitors, Hero Motors and Eicher Motors, far behind as far as market cap are concerned. While the market capitalisation of Bajaj has gone up by close to 20 per cent this calendar year, Hero and Eicher have foundered.

Hyderabad-based Turbo Aviation has announced its plans to launch a new low-cost airline 'TrueStar' by mid 2020.

The company has signed a partnership deal with a UK business group for a $100-million funding support to speed up the launch process, according to Turbo Aviation's managing director V Umesh. Turbo Aviation has already been operating the commercial airliner 'True Jet' since 2015.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the recently passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act, in wake of the intensifying protests that have rocked the country. The hearing will take place on December 18.

According to reports, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi listed the matter at the top court before Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde. As many as a dozen petitions challenging the Act have been submitted before the Court. The first petition was submitted by the Indian Union Muslim League.

Shares of Navin Fluorine International were trading higher for the third straight day, up 2 per cent at Rs 960 in intra-day trade on Monday after the company announced a capex plan of Rs 450 crore at Dahej through a wholly-owned subsidiary, which is to be incorporated.

The stock has rallied 8 per cent in the past three trading days, as compared to 1.5 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. In the past two months, it rallied 32 per cent against 6 per cent gain in the benchmark index.

Wholesale prices based inflation rose to 0.58 per cent in November, as against 0.16 per cent in October due to increase in prices of food articles.

The annual inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), was at 4.47 per cent during the same month a year ago (November 2018).

NEFT Timings: Customers of SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank or any other commercial lender can do National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) transactions 24×7 from today. The facility will now be available on any day of the week or month, including holidays. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed this facility to be available at all times throughout the year.

For smooth settlement of NEFT transactions, the RBI has decided to provide additional collateralised intra-day liquidity facility.

A plea was moved in the Delhi High Court on Monday against the police action on students at the Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday night.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar declined to list the plea for urgent hearing, saying there was no urgency in the matter.

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