NEW DELHI: Bitcoin prices surpassed $12,000 on Wednesday for the first time since January 2018. The interest in the cryptocurrency rose after Facebook unveiled its own digital unit Libra.

On a year-to-date basis, bitcoin has risen 216 per cent to $12,155 on June 26 against $3843.52 on January 1. The currency is still way below its record level of $20,000 witnessed at the end of 2017.

Mumbai: Domestic equity benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 150 points in early trade on Wednesday tracking gains in index heavyweights ICICI Bank, L&T and RIL, amid heavy foreign fund inflow.

After swinging over 200 points within the first 15 minutes of trade, the 30-share index pared opening losses to trade 111.08 points, or 0.28 per cent, higher at 39,546.02 at 0930 hours. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty was quoting 32.60 points, or 0.28 per cent, up at 11,829.05.

The government is likely to announce a revival package for state-run telecom firms BSNLand MTNL in the next few days as a severe cash crunch has again jeopardised timely payment of salaries for June.

According to sources, cabinet secretary PK Sinha on Tuesday held a more than an hour-long meeting with department of telecommunications (DoT) officials, including secretary Aruna Sundararajan, to chart out a revival plan.

Indian conglomerate Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has acquired a controlling stake in IT services company Mindtree, CNBC TV18 channel reported, citing sources. The report comes within months of Mindtree rejecting a hostile takeover bid from L&T, saying the plan was of no value for the firm or its shareholders.

L&T’s hostile bid to acquire a controlling stake in Mindtree is the first in India’s software services industry and is rare in India’s corporate sector, where unsolicited suitors are usually deterred by founders with large shareholding.

A day after Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor criticised government think tank Niti Aayog’s proposal to ban non-electric two- and three-wheelers, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India said adoption of electric vehicles was still a major challenge in India and the industry needs more time to stabilise after the switchover to BS-VI norms.

In a statement, the company said the government needs to look at the impact on employment, cost of technology and availability of raw materials, among others.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is among the 100 most influential women driving the UK-India relationship forward alongside one of Britain's senior-most Cabinet ministers Penny Mordaunt.

The '100 Most Influential in UK-India Relations: Celebrating Women' list was launched by UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid to mark India Day in the Houses of Parliament in London on Monday.

Defence Development Research Organisation (DRDO) has issued a recruitment notification inviting application for 351 Technician A posts. Applications began on June 3, 2019. Today is the last day for submission of applications.

To apply for the posts, the candidates have to apply in a specific prescribed format and they have to go through the official notofication.

India has told foreign e-commerce firms such as Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart that they must ensure compliance with new foreign investment rules aimed at deterring them from providing steep online discounts, three sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said that while the government was prepared to listen to concerns about its new foreign direct investment rules (FDI), it was committed to protecting small traders from predatory behaviour by foreign-funded companies, the sources said.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is learnt to have asked state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) to put all tenders and purchase order on hold, as the company is facing financial crisis.

The finance department of BSNL issued order in this regard on June 2, directing all its circle heads to take prior approval of corporate officer located in Delhi before floating any new tenders for capital expenditure, according to official sources.

NEW DELHI: State-owned LIC has sold over 1.92 crore shares, representing about 2 per cent stake of Asian Paints, through open market transaction.

With the sale of these shares, stake of LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) in Asian Paints has now come down to 3% from 5% earlier, as per a regulatory filing by the insurer.

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