Page 3349 - Business Finance
India records double-digit air passenger growth for 45th consecutive month in May: IATA
India registered double-digit domestic air passenger growth for the 45th straight month in May even though volumes have fallen in recent months, airlines' grouping IATA said today. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the country's Revenue Passenger Kilometre (RPK) -- a measure of passenger volumes -- rose 16.6 per cent in May. Seasonally-adjusted passenger volume in India has fallen back in recent months alongside some mixed signs on the economic front, it said. "Nonetheless, the bigger point is that May was India's 45th consecutive month of double-digit annual RPK growth (16.6 per cent). "Passenger demand has continued to be supported by strong growth in the number of airport connections within the country too; 22 per cent more airport-pairs are scheduled to operate in 2018 compared to last year," IATA said. While industry-wide RPK increased marginally to 6.1 per cent in May, the grouping said growth this year is expected to slow slightly due to reduced stimulus .
Seeking Belt buckle role, Kazakhstan launches China-backed financial hub
ASTANA (Reuters) - Seeking to attract more foreign investment from its prime position in China's huge Belt and Road trade project, Kazakhstan launched a new financial hub on Thursday which has already secured the backing of its giant neighbour.
Tata Motors-owned JLR warns UK govt against a 'bad' Brexit deal
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has warned the British government that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise the country's biggest carmaker's investment plans, cost it over 1.2 billion pounds annually and may even force it to close down plants and exit from the UK. Britain is set to exit the 28-member European Union (EU) in March next year, ending its over 40-year relationship with the bloc. "A bad Brexit deal would cost Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) more than 1.2 billion pounds profit each year. As a result, we would have to drastically adjust our spending profile," JLR CEO Ralf Speth warned in a statement yesterday. Speth's comments came ahead of a crucial meeting between British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Cabinet at her country retreat of Chequers to hammer out the contours of a new post-Brexit customs arrangement with the European Union (EU) tomorrow. "I don't want to threaten anybody, but we have to make transparent the implications of the move. We want to stay in the UK. ...
Indians top list of tourists to Sri Lanka
India has topped the list of Sri Lanka's source markets for inbound tourism with nearly 33,000 tourists from the country arriving the island nation in the first six months this year, registering an impressive 18.7 per cent increase, according to official figures. China, which witnessed a growth a of 18.7 per cent, came second with 20,424 arrivals. Tourist arrivals from India grew by 18.4 per cent to 32,971 to provide the largest inbound market up to June, the figures released by the state tourist board showed. The overall tourist arrivals in the island nation rose 19 per cent to 146,828 in June 2018 year-on-year. Besides India and China, tourists arrival from UK and Australia also witnessed double digit growth. Visitors from the UK grew 16.1 per cent to 12,104 and Australia grew 57 per cent to 9,997. German arrivals fell 17.5 per cent to 7,024. Visitors from Japan saw an increase of 3.5 per cent to 3,074, while Malaysian arrivals rose 18.3 per cent to 2,019.
Turnover on NSE's F&O segment jumps
Nifty July futures at premium
Ford says no plans to hike China prices despite new tariffs
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said it has no plans for now to hike prices of imported Ford and Lincoln models in China, despite additional tariffs on U.S. vehicles due to be applied from Friday.
Govt working on institutional mechanism to deal with agri export issues:Teaotia
As India aims to double its farm exports by 2022, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia today said the government is working on an institutional mechanism to deal with sanitary and phytosanitary issues hampering agricultural shipments. Speaking after releasing a report here, she said the draft agricultural export policy, released some months back, aims to double exports from the sector in next five years. "We would double our agricultural exports by 2022. This is not a quantum jump...We are trying to focus on high value products, the value added agricultural products, focusing on some perishable commodities that need to be stored and transported properly. "We are also looking at the indigenous, ethnic and some non-ethnic categories," she said. The Secretary said the commerce ministry was looking through the agriculture export policy to provide an institutional mechanism for addressing market access barriers and to deal with sanitary and phyto sanitary issues "which certainly are the biggest
Bank of Baroda raises MCLR by 0.05% for various tenors
State-run Bank of Baroda has increased the marginal cost based lending rates (MCLR) by 0.05 per cent for various tenors of loans with effect from Saturday. "The bank has revised marginal cost of funds based lending rate from July 7," the bank said in a statement today. The loan tenor for overnight, one month, three months, six months and one year will each be levied 0.05 per cent higher interest rate at 8 per cent, 8.5 per cent, 8.15 per cent, 8.35 per cent and 8.50 per cent, respectively. Lenders review the MCLRs every month and depending upon the prevailing market conditions, it is increased/decreased. The rise in MCLR will make retail loans such as auto, home and personal loans costlier for the customers.
Karnataka waives farms loans, raises levies on petrol, diesel, power
Presenting its maiden budget, the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka on Thursday waived farm loans totalling Rs 34,000 crore, giving relief to distressed farmers across the state, while proposing higher levies on petrol, diesel and liquor and power to mop up more revenue.
Property portals must be brought under MahaRera: Consumer body
City-based consumer body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) has urged MahaRera to bring property portals under its ambit to further increase transparency and accountability in the real estate sector. In a letter to MahaRera chief Gautam Chatterjee, a copy of which is with the PTI, MGP said, "Real estate web portal companies operating in Maharashtra have to be treated as 'real estate agent' under Rera." It has also sought registration of such portals under MahaRera in the next 60 days. "With regard to the definition of real estate agent, we have no doubts that property portals like Magicbricks.com, Makaan.com, 99acres.com, among others, are acting as agents, facilitating buying/selling of properties. As such they are legally liable to register themselves with MahaRera," MGP chairman Shirish Deshpande told PTI. He further said MGP has approached MahaRera and is awaiting its response. "MGP is of the view that registration of property web portals under MahaRera will create more ..
Govt plans to sell 7-8 mn tons of wheat at Rs 1,890/qtl to bulk consumers
Saddled with huge stock, the government plans to offload 7-8 million tonnes of fresh wheat in the open market at Rs 1,890 per quintal rate for meeting the demand from flour millers and other bulk consumers. According to sources, the open market sale scheme (OMSS) is likely to be launched for disposal of wheat for the 2018-19 marketing year (April-June). The food ministry is likely to sell 7-8 million tonnes of wheat grown in 2017-18 crop year that ended last month. The rate at which the grain will be offloaded would be around Rs 100 per quintal higher than the last year, they added. Last year, the OMSS rate for wheat was fixed at Rs 1,790 per quintal - ex-Ludhiana. Sources said that the ministry had offered 5.4 million tonnes of wheat under the OMSS but only 1.5 million tonnes stock was sold. "The wheat price to be fixed for sale under OMSS would be higher for this year. The industry may not purchase under the OMSS this year because there is enough grain available in the open market ..
Vegoils: Palm oils extends losses to 1-week low over China-U.S. tariff threats
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a third straight session on Thursday, hitting their lowest in a week as traders took a cautious stance over mounting China-U.S. trade war friction and on a lack of bullish news.
RIL launches JioGigaFiber, rolls out plans for hybrid online-offline retail model (Roundup)
Riding high on Jio tide, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D. Ambani on Thursday said the company has doubled its subscriber base to 215 million in 22 months and is all set to launch much talked-about fibre-to-the-home broadband services JioGigaFiber soon.
Yes Bank shares gain 4% on Sebi's nod for mutual fund biz
Shares of Yes Bank today rose by 4 per cent after the company received approval from capital markets regulator Sebi to start mutual fund business. The stock went up by 3.96 per cent to settle at Rs 348.80 on BSE. During the day, it soared 4.54 per cent to Rs 350.75. At NSE, shares of the company jumped 3.88 per cent to close at Rs 348.60. The stock was the top gainer on both the key indices during the day. The company's market valuation rose by Rs 3,159.27 crore to Rs 80,423.27 crore. In terms of equity volume, 11.36 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 2 crore shares changed hands at NSE during the day. This approval is subsequent to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) approval granted to Yes Bank to sponsor a mutual fund followed by Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) in-principle approval received subsequently, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
Karnataka budget makes fuel, liquor, power costly
Petrol, diesel, liquor and power will soon be costly in Karnataka as the budget for 2018-19 on Thursday proposed higher levies on them to generate additional resources.
Indian Bank revises FCNR (Banking) term deposit rates
: Public sector Indian Bank today revised the interest rates on Foreign Currency Non-Resident (banking) term deposits with immediate effect. The city-based bank, in a statement said the interest rates, (in USD) for FCNR (banking) deposits has been revised to 3.59 per cent for deposits of one year and above, but less than two years, from the existing 3.51 per cent. For deposits of two years and above but less than three years, the rates have been fixed at 3.77 per cent as against the earlier 3.70 per cent. Interest rates on deposits for three years and above, but less than four years, has been revised to 3.89 per cent as against 3.82 per cent. For deposits of four years and above but less than five years, the rates will now be 3.92 per cent compared to 3.84 per cent earlier. For deposits of upto only five years, the interest rates has been revised to 3.93 per cent as against 3.86 per cent, it added. The bank shares were trading at Rs 337.65 apiece, up by 0.43 per cent ...
Europe shrugs off Asian gloom, euro shuffles higher
LONDON (Reuters) - European shares headed for a third day of gains on Thursday, as reassuring economic data from Germany and a report that its big carmakers could be spared from U.S. tariffs offset another gloomy session for Asia.
Sensex snaps 2-day rising streak, slips 71 pts
Benchmark Sensex broke its two-day winning streak to end about 71 points lower at 35,574.55 today, tracking losses across Asian peers ahead of imposition of US tariffs on Chinese exports. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries slumped 2.53 per cent after the conglomerate's Chairman Mukesh Ambani unveiled a mega fixed-line broadband initiative and announced plans for an e-commerce platform that may rival the likes of Amazon. Consumer durables, realty, IT, metal, teck, pharma, capital goods, power and oil and gas suffered losses as participants pulled money off the table. Unabated foreign fund outflows and a weak rupee added to the gloom, brokers said. Asian stock markets mostly ended lower as caution crept in ahead of the July 6 deadline of imposition of US tariffs on Chinese goods. After opening higher, the 30-share Sensex quickly slipped into the red, largely in line with weak Asian cues, and hit a low of 35,517.79. It finally finished at 35,574.55, down by 70.85 points, or 0.20 per ..
Online hiring activity declines in June: Report
Online hiring activity declined both on monthly as well as yearly basis in June even as the production and manufacturing sector showed strong recruitment activity, says a report. The Monster Employment Index for the month of June stood at 254, down 3 per cent over the year-ago period. On a month-on-month basis the index fell 8 per cent. "The slower online hiring growth could be owing to the on-going mergers & acquisition landscape across several sectors where employers are exhibiting caution in their hiring plans," said Abhijeet Mukherjee, CEO, Monster.com- APAC & Gulf. The production and manufacturing sector on the other hand continued an upswing owing to favourable demand conditions. Mukherjee further noted the telecom and ISP sector struggled amidst a difficult landscape but hopefully the new telecom policy expected by July-end will provide the much-needed stability. Sector-wise, online demand exceeded the year-ago level in 13 of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the ...
CEAT Ltd inks MoU with TN govt to set up manufacturing unit
Tyre manufacturer CEAT Ltd today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up its manufacturing unit near here at an outlay of Rs 4,000 crore. At an event held at the Secretariat here, Industries Department, Additional Chief Secretary K Gnanadesikan exchanged documents with CEAT Ltd, Managing Director and CEO, Anant Goenka in the presence of Chief Minister K Palaniswami. According to the MoU, CEAT Ltd would produce tyres and tyre related products at the facility to come up at Madhuramangalam village near here at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore spread over 10 years. The facility would create about 1,000 jobs once it becomes operational. Industry sources had recently told PTI that with the setting up of a manufacturing facility, indirect job creation in the area will be 3,000 apart from the 1,000 direct jobs. The signing of MoU comes in the backdrop of the State cabinet giving its approval for establishing the unit. According to ..