Mumbai: The 30-share benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and 50-share CNX Nifty rose to all-time highs in intra-day trade and at close for a second day on Friday as energy shares surged on optimism Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a decision on raising natural gas prices by the end of this month.

The Sensex closed at a fresh high of 25,396.46 points, up 1.51%, or 376.95 points, while the Nifty ended at a fresh high of 7,583.40, up 1.46%, or 109.30 points.

Mumbai: Car makers including Honda Cars India Ltd and Hyundai Motor India Ltd are tweaking the looks and features of existing vehicles in their line-up more frequently to attract young customers put off by ageing models.

In the past six months, Honda has launched the All New City, and Hyundai the new Elantra.

Software exports from Odisha has touched about Rs 2,400 crore in 2013-14, an increase of 23.4 per cent over the previous fiscal, according to the provisional data compiled by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).

IT units in the state had exported Rs 1,945 crore in 2012-13, including Rs 1,705 crore by the STPI registered units.

The Group of Technology Companies (GTech), the industry body of IT/ITeS Companies in Kerala, has appealed to the state and central governments to devise a long term strategy to ensure benefits of the IT industry are spread to the smaller cities and towns of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is soon going to embark upon a plethora of foreign visits that will keep him busy till the end of this year.

Modi, who was sworn in last month, will begin his foreign trips with Bhutan, which will be later this month.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met business captains on Friday in his pre-Budget consultations, who pressed him for “bold decisions” to ensure a return to high growth.

Taxation laws were a prime point in their lobbying. They want Jaitley to end any retrospectivity for income tax, simplify these rules and further defer implementation of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules from the scheduled 2016-17 financial year. They also wanted early rollout of a Goods and Services Tax and a review of the Direct Taxes Code.

HDFC Bank's Managing Director (MD) Aditya Puri retained his position as the highest-paid banking chief in the country in financial year 2013-14 (April-March). Puri, who is also the longest serving chief of an Indian bank, received remuneration of Rs 6.07 crore in 2013-14, or 20.9 per cent more than what he earned in the previous year.

Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO (chief executive officer) of ICICI Bank — the largest private sector lender in the country — received an increment of only two per cent during this period. She earned Rs 5.23 crore in 2013-14.

Commercial banks plan to involve restructuring agencies such as SBI Caps and IDBI Capital Markets to examine the feasibility of forming a special asset reconstruction company (ARC) to manage and revive large-size infrastructure-stressed loans.

On Wednesday, the Union government held discussions with ARC representatives and some bankers on the proposal. A senior executive with Indian Banks Association (IBA) said the pressure on balance sheets of public sector banks (PSBs) due to provisioning for stressed loans is immense.

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests has turned down a request by the GMR Group to extend the validity for preparing the terms of reference for a hydel power project being set up in Arunachal Pradesh.

They had been living harmoniously for decades until work on a sewer line ruptured ties between Hindus and Muslims at Chausana village in UP’s Shamli district late Wednesday night.

The two communities clashed over displacement of a Hindu place of worship for the purpose of laying down a sewer pipeline, which was proposed by the Muslim pradhan of the village.

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