NEW DELHI: India's second-largest IT services firm Infosys has set up a digital innovation and design centre in Providence, US, and said it has hired over 100 people in the state of Rhode Island.

This hiring is part of its target of creating 500 jobs in the state by 2022, Infosys has said in a statement.

The benchmark Sensex gained over 150 points in early trade on Wednesday, snapping its four-session losing streak, on the back of positive macroeconomic data and better-than-expected earnings by some bluechip companies, amid positive global cues.

The 30-share barometer was trading higher by 169.36 points, or 0.47%, at 36,322.97. The gauge had lost over 720 points in the previous four days. The NSE Nifty too climbed 29.20 points, to 10,860.60. Barring teck, all the sectoral indices, led by realty, FMCG, power and bankex, gained up to 1.50 %.

In a boost to firms like ONGC and Reliance Industries, the government is likely to raise the price of domestically produced natural gas by over 10 per cent to over USD 3.72 per million British thermal unit with effect from April 1, sources in know of the development said. The price of gas produced from difficult fields will rise to about USD 9 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) from current USD 7.67, they said. This will be the fourth straight increase in gas prices.

The government may refinance three-fourth of Air India’s Rs 29,000 crore debt, which has been transferred to a special purpose vehicle, through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) or fresh loans.

Air India has written to the ministry of civil aviation to refinance or restructure the debt as it will help reduce the interest burden.

TRAI has given time till March 31 for consumers to opt for channels of their choice under the new framework for broadcasting and cable services, the telecom regulator said Tuesday.

In a statement, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said it has also asked all distribution platform operators (DPOs) to create 'best fit plan' for its subscribers who have not exercised their options yet.

The government Tuesday informed Parliament that loans worth Rs 7,277.31 crore of public sector banks under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) have turned bad at the end of March 2018.

Loans extended under PMMY from the inception of the scheme up to March 2018 by all member lending institutions (MLIs) were Rs 5.71 lakh crore, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Stressing that tax concessions have been provided with a view to help poor and middle class people living on a tight budget, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that now individuals earning up to Rs 9.5 lakh can escape liability by taking advantage of saving schemes.

Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill in Lok Sabha, the Minister said he did not propose any change in the tax rate but only provided few rebates which will boost spending and help the economy.

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday cleared the Finance Bill 2019. While moving the Finance Bill for consideration and passage in Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal took a swipe at the Congress, saying unlike the previous UPA dispensation, the Modi government in its interim budget did not reduce levies of SUVs which are used by rich persons.

Goyal said that the tax related proposals in the Finance Bill are aimed at helping the poor and the middle class people living on a tight budget.

Led by increased prices of coal amid lower provisioning for future expenses, Coal India posted a 50 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 4,566.74 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, beating Street estimates. The company's net income grew 12.58 per cent to Rs 23,385.43 crore, despite the firm offering lower quantity at e-auctions.

India’s headline and core inflation rates are set to converge in the coming months as the economy slows, increasing the chance of more interest rate cuts.

The core measure -- which strips out volatile fuel and food costs -- has remained sticky at around 6 per cent and is a key reason economists cautioned against more rate cuts after last week’s surprise easing. It softened to 5.4 per cent in January, according to economists at Yes Bank Ltd.

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