Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil exporter, on Wednesday said it was in talks with Reliance Industries and other Indian firms to invest in petrochemicals and refinery projects in the country.

“India is an investment priority for Saudi Aramco. There is a lot of growth potential. We are looking at additional investments in India. We are in discussions with other companies as well, including Reliance Industries,” Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority’s Saudi Forum meet.

IT industry association Nasscom on Wednesday broke with tradition and stopped the practice of forecasting annual growth.

Instead, it revealed the details of a survey of chief executives that showed they were “cautiously optimistic’’ about the growth prospects for 2019-20 given the increasing global macroeconomic headwinds.

Benchmark indices started on a positive note on February 21 tracking gains on banking counters, after the government announced infusion ₹48,239 crore in 12 public sector banks, buying by foreign and domestic institutional investors, and positive global cues.

The 30-share index was trading 8.47 points, or 0.02%, at 35,764.73. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty was trading 6.05 points, or 0.06%, higher at 10,741.50.

As part of a turnaround strategy for the loss-making Ssangyong Motor Company (SYMC), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), which owns 74.65% stake in the Korean automaker, is betting on a new product portfolio to ramp up volumes and increase revenues.

“Losses mean that revenue is less than expenses. Clearly we are working on all the levers that we need to have to reduce the expenses and the main lever is volume.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will deliberate on revival of state-run BSNL and MTNL on Thursday as the financial condition of both the firms have deteriorated over the last couple of years due to increased competition.

According to sources, the Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the highest decision-making body of the DoT, will discuss various options to revive the sick telecom firms.

But increasingly, Amazon sells its own products, including private-label goods, that compete with the offerings of independent merchants on its platform. A recent paper by economists Feng Zhu and Qihong Liu observed Amazon’s behavior over time, and found that it tends to introduce products in niches that smaller merchants did the work of discovering by finding out what consumers like.

Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai India dominated the list of top 10 passenger vehicles sold in January, not leaving space for any other carmaker for the third consecutive month.

Data collated from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer (SIAM) and independent research show that vehicles from Maruti Suzuki bagged seven positions, while Hyundai’s cars grabbed the remaining place in the monthly bestsellers chart.

Swedish network equipment firm Ericsson on Wednesday said it has won a contract from Vodafone Idea to deploy 5G-ready equipments in eight circles.

Currently, the equipments will be used for 4G services and can be upgraded to provide 5G services as per business requirement of Vodafone Idea, Ericsson said.

Azim Premji-promoted Wipro Group will expand its presence in Saudi Arabia through tie-ups with local companies. Wipro Technologies has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of communication and IT of Saudi Arabia.

“We have been working in that market for over 15 years. They are looking for transformation of industry in areas like oil and gas, health care, education and that would required a whole lot of talent,” said Anand Padmanabhan, president, strategic sales and geographies, Wipro. The company already has 1,200 IT professionals working in Saudi Arabia.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das will meet bank chiefs on Thursday to impress upon the need to improve transmission within the confines of it being a business decision. However, certain indicators suggest that bankers won’t be wrong in disagreeing with Das on the all-important rates issue.

So far, only State Bank of India (SBI) has reduced its home loan rates (up to Rs 30 lakh) by only five basis points (bps) after the policy rate cut of 25 bps on February 7.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.