State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, is expecting competition in the banking space to hot up with the introduction of new entities.

The banking landscape is changing with a host of new players looking to start operations. Apart from two new universal banks, 11 payments banks will start operating in India over the next 18 months. In addition, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will announce licences to start small finance banks. Around 70 entities had applied for small finance bank licence.

Eyeing a higher share of the domestic passenger vehicle market, India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, is further expanding its sales network. The Delhi-headquartered company, which already has the widest sales network in the country, added 50 outlets in the quarter ended June 30, 2015.

With the expansion, the number of Maruti sales outlets has increased to 1,670, covering 1,336 cities and towns. Notably, 90 per cent of the expansion has been done in areas where Maruti did not have presence earlier.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Monday weakened 1.3% against the US dollar—the steepest fall since 3 September, 2013, following a global sell-off across risk assets, including the domestic equity markets.

At 2.22pm, the home currency was trading at 66.62, down 1.24% from its previous close of 65.83. The local unit opened at 66.39 per dollar and touched a low of 66.68—a level last seen on 4 September, 2013.

Mumbai, Aug. 23 (PTI): Market regulator Sebi will discuss tomorrow the suggestions of the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) on the misuse of participatory notes to launder black money.

The market cop has barred over 1,000 local entities for suspected tax evasion through stock markets.

India's premier defence research organisation DRDO has now roped in yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda Limited to manufacture and market in the country and abroad some herbal supplements and food products developed by it.

DRDO on Sunday entered into licensing agreements with Ramdev's company for transfer of Seabuckthorn technology based products developed by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).

Banking shares continue under pressure, with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Bank Nifty cracking over 5% or nearly 1,000 points in intra-day trade as the global markets crashed owing to concerns over economic slowdown in China, the world’s second largest economy.

Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Yes Bank, Bank of Baroda and Federal Bank are down more than 7% each.

Shares of oil and gas companies witnessed selling pressure with some of them hitting 52-week lows after concerns over sluggish economic growth in China led to sell-off in global commodities. Further, Iran's plans to boost crude oil production in an effort to boost market share also dampened sentiment.

NYMEX Crude Oil for Oct 2015 was nearing its 52-week low down 2.7% at $39.34 in electronic trade on Monday. Further,Brent crude for October was trading lower by 1.7% at $44.28.

Indian Oil Corp on Monday said all units at its 274,000 barrels per day (bpd) Koyali refinery in western Gujarat are running normally except the 44,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU), where a minor fire occurred during a planned maintenance shutdown.

"There has been no fatality; however there are five cases of injuries to employees of Gujarat Refinery," the company said in a statement issued on Sunday.

State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited has registered its best ever performance since its formation in 1974 with profit of Rs 2733 crore for the financial year 2014-15.

The new profit also beats by a mile the company’s decade-high profit of Rs 1,734 crore last fiscal, said chairman and managing director Nishi Vasudeva. During FY2014-15, HPCL registered gross sales of Rs 2,17,061 crore, while earnings per share rose to Rs 80.72 and market capitalisation increased by Rs 11,500 crore.

Even as its peers make a beeline to open shop at the GIFT City, the country's second-largest lender HDFC Bank has said it is not keen to have a presence in the country's first international finance centre in Ahmedabad.

The Aditya Puri-led bank feels its presence in global IFCs like Dubai, Bahrain and Hong Kong is enough to take care of its overseas business.

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