Diversified conglomerate ITC on Thursday forayed into the fresh fruit and vegetables market with a new brand Farmland. Beginning its journey in the highly untapped packaged fresh vegetables market in India with four variants of potatoes, the company plans to come up with more such offerings every quarter in line with its new-found focus on branded fresh and processed food and beverage market.

According to S Sivakumar, head of agri business, ITC, the product category is currently the largest among all fresh fruit and vegetables in India, seeing a total business of Rs 70,000 crore. The new products will be priced at up to 15 per cent premium to unorganised market prices. And their retailers will be allowed to adjust prices depending on retail market prices.

As part of the Lokshahi Bachao Abhiyan, or the campaign to save democracy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha will address public meetings in Gujarat in mid-November.

The campaign is led by former Gujarat chief minister Suresh Mehta. Gujarat is scheduled to vote on December 9 and 14.

Facing same predicament like most public sector lenders, Punjab National Bank’s credit costs might stay elevated for the second quarter ended September 2017. Credit cost is the amount set aside for bad loans. However, the pace of slippages, advances becoming bad loans, is expected to moderate.

While operating profits will see traction or improvement, the tepid demand for credit will be a drag on interest income, a key component in revenues, said an analyst.

India’s ONGC Videsh has turned its focus to buying stakes in overseas oil and gas assets to meet output targets after a delay by Iran in awarding development rights for a gas field, its managing director said on Thursday.

Indian firms led by ONGC Videsh, the foreign investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, have been negotiating with Iran for development rights of Farzad B gas field since its discovery in 2008.

India’s information technology (IT) industry could significantly fall short of its targeted generation of 130,000-150,000 new jobs this year as large companies such as Cognizant, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra (TechM) shed people to embrace automation and focus on productivity of the workforce.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the software industry lobby, had estimated that 130,000-150,000 jobs would be created even as it forecast a lower growth of 7-8 per cent this year.

Bajaj Auto on Thursday introduced a new variant of its performance motorcycle model Pulsar NS200 equipped with enhanced safety feature ABS, priced at Rs 1.09 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The Pulsar NS200 is powered by a 200-cc liquid cooled engine.

Ford Motor India on Thursday said it has tied up with e-commerce major Amazon to sell an upcoming updated version of its compact SUV EcoSport.

Under the partnership, the first 123 customers would be able to book the compact SUV online for 24 hours starting November 5.

BENGALURU: ITC Foods, the branded packaged food division of diversified conglomerate ITC, expects its instant noodles brand Yippee to join the Rs 1,000-crore revenue club by 2020 and emerge as the fourth power brand, turbo-charging the unit's ambitious growth plans.Yippee, which was launched in 2010 and includes both noodles and pastas, already has a share of 22.5% in a market that is roughly valued at about Rs 4,000 crore.

India’s largest state-owned lender State Bank of India (SBI) said it has reduced interest rates for retail loans in order to boost lending.‍​

The bank has cut the interest rate on home loans by 5 basis points (bps) to 8.30% per annum—the lowest rate for home loans in the market. The new rate is effective 1 November.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump have resolved to fight against the global scourge of terrorism together, the White House said after Mr. Modi offered his condolences to Mr. Trump over phone following the New York terror attack.

Mr. Trump spoke with Mr. Modi and accepted his condolences following Tuesday’s terrorist attack in New York City that left eight people dead and about a dozen others injured, the White House said.

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