The World Bank has priced the world’s first public bond created and managed using only blockchain in a A$100 million ($73.16 million) deal designed to test how the technology might improve decades-old bond sales practices.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the sole manager of the deal, said in a statement that the two-year bonds had priced to yield 2.251 percent and would settle Aug. 28.

Reliance Communications on Thursday said it has completed the planned sale of its media convergence nodes (MCNs) and related infrastructure assets, worth Rs 20 billion, to Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIO).

The transaction entailed 248 nodes covering close to 5 million sq. ft. of the area, used for hosting the telecom infrastructure, all of which now stands transferred to Jio, RCom said in a statement.

Lending major State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday said that its Composite Leading Indicator (CLI) has hinted a GDP growth of 7.7 per cent during the first quarter of 2018-19.

The bank has developed -- SBI CLI -- to detect early signals of turning-points in economic activity by taking the basket of 18 leading indicators.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) have moved higher by 2% to Rs 1,349 on the BSE after its board approved the proposal for buyback of equity shares of upto Rs 90 billion at a maximum price of Rs 1,500 per share.

“The board of directors of the Company at its meeting held today has approved a proposal to buyback up to 60 million equity shares of the Company being 4.29% of the total paid up equity share capital, at a maximum price of Rs 1,500 per share for an aggregate amount of Rs 90 billion,” L&T said in a statement.

The rupee on Thursday fell 27 paise against the dollar to trade near 70.08 again amid strong demand for the US currency after the US Fed released minutes of its policy meet yesterday.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the local currency opened at a low of 70.03 a dollar, down from its previous close of 69.81, and weakened further to trade at a 70.08, down by 27 paise.

A little more than three months after Arun Jaitley underwent a successful kidney transplant surgery, he is set to take back charge of Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministry at 11 am today. Piyush Goyal, who was the caretaker Finance Minister in Jaitley’s absence, will continue as Railways and Coal Minister.

Jaitley underwent surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on May 14. He had been keeping unwell since early April due to kidney-related problems and chest infection.

FMCG major P&G on Wednesday reported a 42.91 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 44.55 crore for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2018.

The company, which follows July-June financial year, had posted a net profit of Rs 78.04 crore during the April-June quarter a year-ago, P&G said in a BSE filing.

New Delhi: The finance ministry will ask LIC to hasten the process of stake acquisition in IDBI Bank, especially the valuation modalities, so that the government can ascertain if a capital infusion is needed in the ailing bank.

The government has no plans to infuse more funds into the bank and thinks LIC’s acquisition of 51 per cent stake in the lender would take care of its regulatory capital requirements.

US sanctions against Iranian oil exports take effect on 4 November, but the impact is already starting to show. India’s crude oil imports from Iran fell in the first half of August, according to a report by Edelweiss Securities Ltd, citing data from FGE, a global oil and gas consultancy. The accompanying chart has the details. A weaker August comes after a strong July. The US sanctions are expected to make it challenging for India to sustain oil imports from Iran, its third-biggest crude supplier.

Bajaj Auto may have reported a 39% year-on-year increase in its domestic sales in the three months to June, but analysts are concerned about the Pune-headquartered firm’s profitability, given it has triggered a price war.

The Bajaj Auto stock has lost 4% over the last one month and 9% over the last six months. The stock closed Tuesday’s trading session at Rs 2,727.55 on the BSE, down 0.24% over Monday’s close.

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