Mumbai: A liquidity crunch and concerns over asset quality is expected to weigh on the second attempt by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to privatize operations on toll roads.

Industry experts said response to the second round of toll-operate-transfer (TOT) auctions will be subdued compared to the robust first round.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s announcement of a price hike across its vehicles from 1 January did not go down well with investors. The stock reacted negatively on Thursday, although it recovered some the next day.

That a routine price hike done by auto firms in January to pass increases in costs onto consumers should worry is strange. The reason is that investors perceive the hike this time around would hit demand.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) shares fell over 4 percent today as the benchmark equity index BSE Sensex plunged 550 points Monday in view of exit poll results ahead of outcome of state elections, weakening rupee and crude oil price rise amid rise in US-China trade tensions. The RIL shares fell 47.30 points, or 4.17 percent, to Rs 1085.95, losing the most among the 30-participants of the index today.

About fifty months after the Supreme Court cancelled 204 captive coal block licences saying these were allocated in an illegal and arbitrary manner, production from the blocks are far below the level before the court’s decision. As the court had, in its September 2014 order, allowed 42 operational blocks of the cancelled lot to function till March 2015, these mines’ production peaked in FY15 at 43 million tonnes (MT) but has since plunged headlong.

Taking cues from the exit poll as well as weak global trends, Sensex on Monday tanked over 400 points while Nifty has given up 10,600 in pre-opening trade. At 9:19, Sensex was in red at 35,169.39, down by 503.86 or 1.41%. The Nifty50 was at 10,550.30, down by −143.40 or 1.34%.

A team of officials led by the CBI's Joint Director, S Sai Manohar, left for London on Sunday to attend a crucial hearing in the extradition case of embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Monday, sources said. Manohar will take the place of Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who had been attending the trial till now. The government had sent Asthana on forced leave, divesting him of all powers after he and CBI Director Alok Verma entered in a bitter feud.

India removed Travis Head and Shaun Marsh in the first session of the fifth and final day to close in on victory in the opening Test against Australia here Monday.

Set a target of 323, Australia reached 186 for six at lunch at the Adelaide Oval. The visitors need another four wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Tata Motors’ compact SUV, Tata Nexon, has been awarded a full 5-star adult occupant safety rating by Global NCAP, an internationally-renowned safety accreditation body. The rating is for all variants of Nexon, the first and only car in India to achieve a full 5 stars adult safety rating from Global NCAP, the firm said.

The country’s third largest software exporter, HCL Technologies, on Friday said that it will buy some software assets from US-based IBM Corp for $1.8 billion, marking the largest purchase ever by an Indian IT services firm.

HCL Tech will buy seven software platforms from IBM, giving it a larger clientele and allowing it to step up its presence in areas such as commerce, security and marketing — an over $50-billion market opportunity that the company said would help boost profit.

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought response from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) and its partners on the government’s petition accusing it of “unjust enrichment of over $1.729 billion” by siphoning gas from deposits they had no right to exploit.

Justice Rajiv Shakdhar while seeking response from the RIL, its partners – UK-based BP Plc and Niko Resources of Canada – posted the matter for directions on December 15.

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