Diversified consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever (HUL) on Thursday briefly became the country’s fourth-largest company in terms of market capitalisation (m-cap), edging past cigarettes-to-soaps major ITC for the first time in 13 years. Since 2005, ITC’s market capitalisation had always been higher than that of HUL.

In a move that may lead to a considerable decline in Mumbai Metro project cost, the state government has asked for a rebate from the contractors handling the project following a change in tax rate under the goods and services tax (GST).

Under the new indirect tax regime, the GST on construction cost has been reduced to 12% from 18% earlier.

If the Reserve Bank of India puts Punjab National Bank (PNB), along with Canara Bank and Union Bank of India, under the so-called Prompt Corrective Action (PCA), the financial sector equivalent of intensive care unit, close to 14 per cent of the total banking credit could be potentially impacted. Of these, PNB accounted for 5.49 per cent as at the end of financial year 2016-17.

Superhero mash-up "Avengers

Disney Studios announced on Thursday that the third "Avengers" film has minted 1.686 billion dollars at the box office worldwide after 20 days of release, reported Variety.

Earlier, "Avengers: Infinity War" became the fastest film to hit the $1 billion worldwide mark, needing only 11 days to do so. It reached the milestone one day earlier than "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

With the aim of providing safe and better mobility to commuters, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon start ranking roads periodically on various parameters, including safety management.

Projects on marquee economic corridors of Delhi-Vadodara, Agra-Mumbai and Mumbai-Kolkata will be audited first and once the success rate of the gradation exercise is established, it will be extended to other highway contracts.

Even as the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted the petition for insolvency, Reliance Communications (RCom) is in talks with Ericsson India for a settlement of the dispute to pay Rs 11.5 billion to the latter, said sources.

RCom in its reply to queries from the stock exchanges on the possible settlement with Ericsson said, “Appropriate disclosures will be made in accordance with applicable regulations, as and when any disclosable event occurs.”

Markets regulator Sebi today further extended the deadline till June 1 for putting in place a new system for depositories to monitor the foreign investment limits in listed Indian companies.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has extended the last day for the second time after taking into consideration representations from various quarters.

VTB-backed Numetal on Thursday disclosed in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that its bid value in the second round of bidding for Essar Steel is Rs 370 billion, short of double its first offer of Rs 190 billion, and about Rs 65 billion higher than ArcelorMittal’s bid in the first round.

Defying a global trend, India’s flagship national oil company ONGC did not cut its capital spending on exploration and development after oil prices collapsed between 2014-16, Moody’s Investors Service said today. In a report, Moody’s said while ONGC did not reduce capital spending on oil and gas exploration and production, it halted the pace of its international expansion as a response to the oil price slumping from USD 140 per barrel to under USD 40.

The government on Tuesday allowed injured, ill and infirm old aged persons to use alternative means of authentication in place of national biometric ID Aadhaar to confirm their identity for bank accounts.

In a gazette notification, the government said Prevention of Money-laundering rules have been amended to provide for alternative means of identification, for such select category of people who face difficulties in their biometric authentication.

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