The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday reported a 55 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,245.88 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 on account of decline in bad loans. The bank's net profit stood at Rs 3,375.40 crore in July-September quarter of the previous fiscal, SBI said in a regulatory filing.
Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal on Thursday warned about a rise in cyber frauds amid a massive surge in online transactions during the second wave of the pandemic, and asserted the company is working "relentlessly" and coming out with safety features to ensure customers are not vulnerable to fraudsters. In an e-mail outreach to customers, Vittal highlighted the modus operandi being adopted by fraudsters and also drew attention to cyber frauds related to digital payments. "With the growing second wave of the pandemic and lockdowns in various parts of the country, there has been a massive increase in online transactions. "Unfortunately, there has also been a corresponding increase in cyber fraud," Vittal said.
To prevent hoarding and check price rise, the Centre on Friday imposed stock limits on all pulses, except moong, held by wholesalers, retailers, importers and millers till October. The stock limits are imposed with immediate effect. An order in this regard has been issued by the Union food and consumer affairs ministry. Retail prices of pulses rose by more than 20 per cent during the January-June period of this year, according to the ministry's data.
After consumer price index jumped the 6.3-per cent mark in May and wholesale inflation set a record of 12.94 per cent, house economists at Swiss brokerage UBS Securities have warned that the country is facing more upside risks on the inflation front that is set to averaging at 5 per cent for the year. Rising prices of edible oils and protein rich items pushed retail inflation to a six-month high of 6.3 per cent in May, breaching the comfort level of the Reserve Bank and thus rendering reduction in interest rates a difficult proposition in the near term. Led by petrol price, that has crossed the Rs 100-mark in many states, wholesale inflation too accelerated to a record 12.94 per cent in May. While crude oil has crossed $70 a barrel on account of rising prices of crude oil and manufactured goods due to spike in commodities, and the low base of last year due to the lockdown.
India's services sector activity expanded at a slower pace in December as rates of growth in sales eased to a three-month low and staff hiring came to a halt amid weak business optimism, a monthly survey said on Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index fell from 53.7 in November to 52.3 in December. The index was above the critical 50 mark that separates growth from contraction for the third month in a row during December, but pointed to the slowest pace of expansion in the three-month sequence.
We had asked you, our dear readers, to tell us what it is really like for a south Indian to marry a north Indian. Geetika Choudhary shares her story!
With the increased death rate in the ongoing second wave of Covid-19, domestic cement companies are in no better condition than they were in the April-June quarter of FY21 when the country faced nationwide lockdown. "This wave has had high death rate which has impacted the business. "We are in no better situation than last (year) April. "Deaths of drivers, dealers, contractors and also employees have hit the industry really very hard since April (FY22)," M Ravinder Reddy, director of Bharathi Cements said.
People across the world, especially in India, started posting photos of the solar eclipse on social media this morning once the planetary event became visible from their cities.
Here's a recap of moments captured in India in the last week.
The total recoveries surged to 46,74,987 in the country so far.
Gross enrolments of new subscribers with ESIC were 1.49 crore during the entire financial year 2018-19, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said in a report.
The government has decided to observe January 23 as 'Parakram Diwas' to commemorate the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel said on Tuesday.
The action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers, RBI said.
This was because of the closure of retail shops and factories after the nationwide lockdown was imposed to prevent spread of Covid-19, and a sharp increase in the metal's price.
Inflation rate during August, the data for which is yet to be released, was likely to remain at about 7 per cent, said SBI Ecowrap.
One of the the biggest tax reforms since Independence, GST will create a national market for goods and services
You can increase or reduce the sum assured of a term cover, depending on changes in your overall liability, advises Bindisha Sarang.
SBI to introduce OTP-based ATM transactions and the new feature will not require any major change in the present process to withdraw cash.
For the fifth day in a row, the active cases of COVID-19 remained below 9 lakh.
While Reliance Jio added 3.65 million users in May, both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea continued to lose subscribers.
According to research firm IDC, a slowdown in smartphone shipments began showing up as early as late February, though companies insist that the March quarter was fine, albeit on a low base.
Not heeding to the warning of their eldest brother Shairuddin, 25-year-old Aamir and 16-year-old Hashim set out from Ghaziabad on Wednesday evening to meet their family in the violence-hit Gokalpuri.
'Those who win indulge in shooting, looting, throwing bombs and burning houses.'
India's fuel demand in May slumped to its lowest in nine months as restrictions to curb the second wave of COVID infections stalled mobility and muted economic activity. Fuel demand fell 1.5 per cent to 15.1 million tonnes despite the low base of May 2020 and was down 11.3 per cent when compared to the previous month, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry. India was under one of the world's strictest lockdowns in May last year, which brought all mobility and economic activity to a grinding halt.
Churu in Rajasthan is sizzling with a record temperature of 50 degree Celsius.
ITC has extensively reset its strategy and will explore opportunities to craft disruptive business models to set up structural drivers helmed by digital and sustainability for its next horizon of growth and make the company future-ready, chairman Sanjiv Puri said on Wednesday. The company is pursuing an accelerated journey to build a dynamic utureTech' enterprise by investing in cutting-edge digital technologies to shape a new paradigm of competitiveness, create innovative business models and tap newer opportunities, he said while addressing shareholders at ITC's virtual annual general meeting. As part of the next horizon vision, the company is "proactively exploring inorganic opportunities" even as it has shrunk "business segments that were incongruent to our growth aspirations, such as the Lifestyle Retailing Business" while the existing growth platforms comprising megabrands will be scaled up and fortified.
These houses will have amenities such as LPG, electricity and toilets, she said.
As the country prepares to celebrate Durga Puja from Monday, here are some colourful avatars of the deity.
Sale of diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country, fell 12 per cent, while petrol sales fell 7.4 per cent year-on-year to 2.38 million tonnes although it rose 5.3 per cent from 2.26 million tonnes in July as commuters preferred driving to using public transportation.
While the state of West Bengal attempts to recover from the devastation caused by the combination of the coronavirus pandemic and the Amphan cyclone, a consortium of 38 footballers have decided to pool in their resources to help the affected people. This consortium -- named 'Players for Humanity', include the likes of Subrata Paul, Mehtab Hossain, Arnab Mondal, Subhashish Roychowdhury, Sandip Nandy, Pronay Halder, Pritam Kotal and Shouvik Ghosh amongst others.
'In the total of black wealth, only 1% or less than 1% constitute cash.' 'So, even if cash is completely weaned out, it impacts only 1% of the black wealth.'
The fund used to fight the coronavirus pandemic will be spent from CSR funds.
In order to promote the housing sector, Reserve Bank of India on Friday decided to rationalise risk weightage on housing loans, making the product attractive for both borrowers and lenders. With revision in the risk weightage, the requirement of capital provision for banks will come down. This will encourage banks to push housing loan products with attractive features.
In the show-cause notice, Trai said it is of the view that the claim of VIL for providing priority 4G network with faster data speeds is not in compliance with the extant regulatory framework.
According to Rajnish Kumar, the government investments alone cannot achieve it and there is a need for huge investments in the infrastructure sector which would result in boosting the GDP.
India has announced suspension of all tourist visas till April 15 in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.
The sentiment in the real estate industry turned optimistic during October-December 2020 and the outlook for the next six months is positive on the back of revival in demand for both residential and office properties, according to a survey by Knight Frank India-FICCI-Naredco. The 27th edition of 'Real Estate Sentiment Index Q4 2020 survey' of developers, banks, financial institutions and private equity players operating in the sector was released on Monday in a video-conference. As per the report, the 'Current Sentiments Score', for the first time in 2020, entered the optimistic zone at 54 points in Q4 (October-December) 2020, a significant jump of 14 points over the previous quarter.
A court in New Delhi on Wednesday pulled up the police for 'apparent absurdity' in clubbing a man's complaint about alleged burning down of his house during the north-east Delhi riots last year with another one and later arresting him in the same matter -- making him both a complainant and the accused.
The key demand drivers -- such as low home loan rates and income tax sops, particularly for affordable housing -- that supported the recovery in H2 FY2021, remain in place and will spur recovery again, feel experts.
People in different parts of the country have already started celebrating the festival of colours.