New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley is likely to significantly increase public investment in infrastructure in Union Budget 2017, offering fiscal stimulus to boost economic growth at a time when private investment shows no signs of a pick-up.

There is near unanimity that the economy needs to be spurred through higher public investment, unlike last year when there was a significant divergence of opinion over the need for fiscal stimulus, said an official with knowledge of the thinking within the government. The official requested anonymity.

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning a makeover for stock trading rules and some of the key norms governing stock exchanges, clearing corporations and market intermediaries such as brokers and depository participants (DPs).

About a month ago, Sebi commenced a study of markets, trading behaviour, functioning of intermediaries and the ability of institutions such as exchanges and clearing corporations to handle increased market activity, two people familiar with the development said, requesting anonymity as they are not authorized to speak to reporters.

Mumbai: Shares of Axis Bank Ltd gained for the sixth consecutive session as they hit a two-month high ahead of its December quarter earnings on Thursday.

The stock gained nearly 10% since 10 January, while so far this year it gained 8.8%. In intraday trade, the stock touched a high of Rs 491.70 a share—a level last seen on 15 November 2016 and rose 0.6%.

Motihari: The role of ISI in the recent train disaster in Kanpur was being suspected after Bihar police on Tuesday arrested three people who they claimed were working for the Pakistani intelligence agency to target Indian railways.

The ISI link to the 20 November train disaster, in which 150 people were killed, was being suspected after the interrogation of the trio, police said. During interrogation, the three arrested persons provided some “positive lead” about the Indore-Patna Express derailment in Kanpur, District Superintendent of Police (SP) Jitendra Rana said.

Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Russian petrochemical giant Sibur signed a memorandum of association at the recently-concluded Vibrant Gujarat Summit at Gandhinagar to set up South Asia’s first butyl rubber halogenation unit at RIL’s integrated petrochemical site in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

In a press statement, RIL said the unit will produce 60,000 million tonnes of halogenated butyl rubber every year under Reliance Sibur Elastomers Pvt. Ltd (RSEPL)—a joint venture (JV) of which RIL owns 74.9% and Sibur 25.1%. RIL and Sibur entered the JV in February 2012.

State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday said it had concluded its issue of dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes worth $500 million, having maturity of five years and a coupon of 3.25%, to be paid semi-annually. The bonds will be issued through the bank’s London branch on January 24 and will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

This is the first time in the current financial year that SBI has tapped the dollar bond market for funds.

At a time IndiGo and SpiceJet are locked in a spat over the methodology adopted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for computing on-time performance (OTP) of airlines, data for December once again show SpiceJet topping the chart on this parameter, registering a 70% OTP in the top four airports — Mumbai , Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, reports Malyaban Ghosh in New Delhi. It was closely followed by Jet Airways (64.3%), Vistara (64.2%) and GoAir (63.6%). According to the data, IndiGo, the largest airline by market share, and Air India had the lowest OTP at 61.6% and 59%, respectively, during the month.

The Hyundai Motor Group said it plans to lift US investment by 50 per cent to $3.1 billion over five years and may build a new plant there - the latest auto firm to announce fresh spending after President-elect Donald Trump threatened to tax imports.

Under pressure to deliver on campaign promises to revive US industrial jobs, Trump has warned of a 35 per cent tax on vehicles imported from Mexico, where many automakers have taken advantage of the country's lower labour costs.

Vodafone has toughened the tariff wars by announcing offers worth four times the normal, for its SuperNet 4G customers. The network provider claimed to have reached 200 million customers and is celebrating by introducing such offers. In the new offer, any user who buys the 1GB data pack for Rs 250, will now get 4GB data with a validity of 28 days. Additionally, Vodafone will also give 22GB of data when you recharge your number with Rs 999. For that price, earlier customers could get only 10GB of 4G data.

Kolkata: Unfazed by its earlier failed attempts to expand overseas, state-owned miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) will again scout for reserves of coking coal and high-grade low ash thermal coal in countries such as the US, Colombia, Canada, Australia, Indonesia and South Africa.

Mozambique, where last year it had to surrender a block taken for exploration because of its unfavourable geology, is not among the target countries this time, according to bid documents released by CIL.

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