Investments in domestic capital markets through participatory notes (P-Notes) have plunged to 41-month low of Rs 1.57 lakh crore in December.

Market experts believe the trend is likely to continue as Sebi may further tighten the regulations governing P-Notes amid persisting concerns that this route is being used for illicit fund flows.

Given the Kakodkar panel observations on how unsafe the Railways are, coupled with falling funds for depreciation, it does appear a cash-strapped public carrier is crimping on safety, the result of which has been three major accidents in the last two months resulting in over 190 deaths already—while this narrative may be partially true, the possibility of sabotage can’t be ruled out either. While talking of needing Rs 1 lakh crore for safety needs, the Kakodkar panel had said as far back as 2012 that, thanks to the increased axle load, even the 60 kg/m rails were fully stressed, and it was “not prudent to use 52 kg/m rails in Indian Railways”; it went on to add there were 43,000 ICF coaches that “are no more safe at the present operational speeds”.

HDFC Bank said on Tuesday that its fiscal third quarter net profit was at Rs 3,865 crore, rising about 15% and beating most analyst estimates.

A Reuters poll had forecast HDFC Bank’s third quarter net profit at Rs 3,788 crore.

Many oil companies, including state-run ONGC, have received notices from the tax department to pay service tax on cash calls paid to consortium partners as well as on cost petroleum and royalty paid to the government. According to an industry source, tax notices adding up to $1 billion have been served on these companies over the last few months. An ONGC executive, requesting anonymity, confirmed to FE that the company has received a service tax demand of Rs 2,000 crore.

Maruti Suzuki launched its new compact SUV Ignis which we believe is likely to be another winner due to its superior features, performance and higher fuel efficiency than its competition. Our analysis suggest that at the introductory launch price for Ignis, profitability of the car will be significantly lower than for Maruti Swift and we expect the company to raise prices after assessing the order book. Maintain Buy with an unchanged target price of R6,300.

The State Bank of India and other public sector banks on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the Aircel-Maxis case as a substantial amount of theirs was involved as loans. A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice NV Ramana and Justice DY Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea by the bank after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the matter before the bench. The Aircel-Maxis matter was listed for hearing on February 3.

The market on Tuesday opened flat with the Nifty above 8400. It traded up 23.65 points or 0.3% at 8415.15 while the Sensex traded up 73.91 points or 0.3% at 27191.25.

Shares such as GAIL, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank and SBI were among top gainers while Bharti, HUL, Infosys, Asian Painrs and Wipro were amongst the losers.

The domestic gems and jewellery industry, which went through a lot of turmoil in 2016, has urged the government to increase the mandatory PAN card limit to Rs 5 lakh and above, and reduce the import duty on gold to atleast 5% in the Union Budget 2017-18.

All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF), the apex body for domestic gems and jewellery industry, has recommended the Finance Minister to increase the mandatory PAN card limit to Rs 5 lakh and above.

The Chennai police have come under fire after a video purportedly showing some police personnel setting an auto rickshaw ablaze went viral on on micro-blogging website Twitter last evening. On Monday, the Jallikattu protests turned violent, demanding a permanent solution and not an interim stay on the ban.

The video which was aired by a news channel was also shared by several well-known personalties, including Kamal Haasan.

A charitable foundation backed by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife has said it has bought a Canadian artificial intelligence start-up as part of a mission to eradicate disease.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Toronto-based Meta, which uses AI to quickly read and comprehend scientific papers and then provide insights to researchers.

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