The BSE Sensex and Nifty fell on Wednesday, retreating from record highs hit earlier in the session as investors pared positions in blue-chips such as Tata Motors after foreign investors marked their first sale of cash shares in three weeks.

Foreign institutional investors sold Indian shares worth Rs 102 crore ($16.5 million) on Tuesday, marking their first sale since October 28. Overseas investors have been key drivers of the stock market rally this year, buying a net $15.47 billion worth of shares so far in 2014, according to regulatory data.

Axis Bank-country’s third largest private sector bank-has launched a self-service terminal that enables customers to deposit as well as withdraw cash from the same machine.

Customers can initiate a deposit transaction through these terminals even without using a debit card. If the customers PAN details are available with the bank then there is no restriction on the amount of cash being deposited, the bank said.

NTPC Ltd, a maharatna PSU, that is in the course of implementing two super thermal power plants in Odisha, has now decided to commit investments in solar energy sector in the state.

“The state government has suggested to us that we should invest in solar power and we are okay with the proposal. Nationwide, NTPC has been mandated to generate 3,000 Mw solar power,” said NTPC chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury after meeting chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The country’s largest power producer, NTPC Ltd has evinced interest to develop the 2,400 Mw coal-based power station proposed at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district through the joint venture (JV) route.

NTPC’s chairman and managing director, Arup Roy Choudhury today called on chief minister Naveen Patnaik and presented the proposal to the latter. But it is not clear the percentage of stake NTPC would have in the JV company.

If there was one outlier in the fast moving consumer goods, or FMCG, universe in the last few years, it was ITC. When most FMCG companies started to feel the chill of a slowdown as high inflation cut into consumers' spending power, the Kolkata-based maker of Vivel soaps and Bingo snacks continued to maintain steady revenue growth of 25-30 per cent a quarter.

The board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday cleared big-bang market reforms, including a move to replace the two-decade-old insider-trading rules with the new prohibition of insider trading (PIT) regulations, and amending the existing delisting regulations.

Six people have lost their lives in the clashes between the supporters of self-styled godman Rampal and the Haryana Police in Hisar.

Bodies of four women were handed over to police by Rampal's staff. Two others, including an infant, were taken to a hospital where they died, police said here today.

An AK-47 rifle wielding man allegedly tried to abduct Aurobindo Pharma’s Director K Nityananda Reddy from his car near a park and opened fire when Reddy and his brother resisted in the posh Banjara Hills this morning.

No one was injured in the incident that spread panic in the upscale area. Police said the attacker fled leaving behind his weapon.

Three Indian cities - Amritsar, Jaisalmer and Thiruvananthapuram - feature in the top 100 list of highest quality service in hotels in terms of giving the best value for money, as per a study by leading global hotel search website trivago.

This top 100 list scans cities from India to Peru and from the United States to Australia.

Benchmark indices are trading in a tight range with Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone. After touching record highs in the opening trades, markets slipped on account of profit booking at higher levels.

By 10:25, the Sensex was lower by 3 points at 28,160 mark whereas the Nifty dipped 8 points at 8,418 levels.

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