After requesting the finance ministry to “handhold” it to meet a likely 45% surge in the Indian Railways’ staff bill in FY17 from the 7th Pay Commission, the railway ministry is now firming up a consolidated proposal for a Rs 1.1-lakh-crore non-lapsable National Railway Safety Fund (NRSF), with up to 60% of the resources expected to come from the exchequer.

The proposed fund — Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh — is in sync with the Zero Accident Mission that the transporter has embarked on, a senior official told FE.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has registered a 28.8% increase in domestic sales last month at 41,861 units. Domestic sales grew by around 29%, whereas, exports fell by 17% to 22,274 units. Total sales went up by 8% to 64,135 units during the month.

"With strong performance of Grand i10, Elite i20 and CRETA in December, Hyundai domestic volume grew by 28.8% with 41,861 units," said Senior VP-Sales and Marketing, HMIL, Rakesh Srivastava.

Stock exchanges will be allowed to go for listing from April this year. On the first day of the year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued the final circular in which it steered clear of any dilution the “fit and proper”.

However, shareholders would be allowed to issue a self certification of their ‘fit’ status.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, isn’t likely to cut its key lending rate till at least end-March, chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told reporters after opening a digital (‘sbiINTOUCH’) branch in south Mumbai.

She was responding to queries on further room for transmission of the Reserve Bank of India’s policy rate cuts. On Tuesday, HDFC Bank had reduced its base rate (BR) by five basis points, to 9.3 per cent.

The Supreme Court ban on registration of diesel vehicles of 2,000cc and above capacity in the national capital region appears to have impacted sales volume of Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota. The ban, imposed on December 16 to address deteriorating air quality, is in place till March 31. After reporting sales growth of 19 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively, in October and November last year, M&M's sales in December saw a moderate growth of one per cent. Bulk of the company’s products (such as Scorpio and XUV500) have an engine capacity of over 2,000 cc and have been hit by the ban imposed by the Supreme Court.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Friday opened marginally lower but soon erased all the losses and was trading little changed against the US dollar in thin trade.

The local currency opened at 66.20 per US dollar and touched a high and low of 66.16 and 66.21, respectively. At 9.12am, the rupee was trading at 66.16 per US dollar, down 0.01% from its previous close of 66.15. In 2015, rupee weakened 4.7%.

MUMBAI: Stock markets opened on a subdued note on the first trading day of 2016, with the benchmark BSE Sensex sliding over 51 points in early trade on profit-booking after recent gains.

The 30-share index, which had gained 157.51 points in the previous session, fell 51.29 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 26,066.25 in early trade.

Petrol price was on Thursday cut by 63 paise a litre and diesel by Rs 1.06 a litre, the third reduction this month on the back of softening in global oil rates.

Petrol will now cost Rs. 59.35 a litre in Delhi with effect from midnight on Wednesday, as against Rs. 59.98 currently. A litre of diesel will cost Rs. 45.03 as opposed to Rs 46.09 presently, said Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

Country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Friday reported a 8.5 per cent increase in total sales in December at 1,19,149 units as against 1,09,791 units in the same month in 2014.

The company said its domestic sales increased 13.5 per cent during the month to 1,11,333 units as against 98,109 units in December 2014.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) has mulled raising coal prices by an average 13-13.5% across all grades, though the price of the lowest-grade coal between 2,200 and 2,500 GCV (gross calorific value) may be raised by 40-43%, a CIL director told FE on the condition of a

“The proposal of the price rise has been tabled at the level of the functional directors, but before that, there is already an in-principle approval from the coal and power ministries regarding increasing prices,” the director said.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.