The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to increase random checking of VVPAT slips from one booth per assembly segment to five in Lok Sabha polls for better voter confidence and credibility of electoral process.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi however did not agree to the request of 21 opposition parties leaders that VVPAT slips of 50 per cent EVMs be matched, on the ground that it will require huge manpower and not be feasible in view of infrastructural difficulties.

TVS Motor Company has strengthened its position in Bangladesh by launching four new motorcycles there.

The products include premium motorcycle TVS Apache RTR 160 4V single disc, 125cc motorcycle TVS Max 125, 100cc motorcycle TVS Metro special edition and utility vehicle TVS XL100 Heavy Duty i - Touch Start". These products will target the growing customer demand in each of their respective segments.

Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs) such as Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Indian Oil (IOC) dropped up to 3 per cent in the morning trade on Monday as the international crude oil prices rose to their highest level since November 2018, owing to OPEC's ongoing supply cuts, US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, and strong US jobs data.

At 10:30 am, HPCL was trading over 3 per cent lower at Rs 255.15 apiece on BSE while BPCL was down 1.66 per cent at Rs 352. Shares of IOC were trading over a per cent lower at Rs 156.45 apiece on BSE.

Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) were locked in the upper circuit for the third straight trading days after rising 5 per cent to Rs 97.35 on the BSE on Monday after the private sector lender announced merger with non-banking finance company Indiabulls Housing Finance (IHF).

The bank made the disclosure on Friday after market hours. The approval is subject to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other regulatory & statutory approvals.

Putting speculation to rest and eyeing a comeback, Paytm Mall, the online marketplace firm of Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led One97 Communications, is planning to hire as many as 500 back-end tech team members. The company is targeting Rs 10,000 crore in business over the next 12 months.

The news comes amid reports that the company was planning to scale down its online marketplace business and eventually exit it. The company, however, has been through some internal reshuffle as well as changes so that it can revamp and reboot. According to sources, while Amit Sinha, chief operating officer (COO) at Paytm Mall, is still overseeing the business, he might be given another role in the company.

State Bank of India (SBI) Monday invited bids for stake sale in ailing Jet Airways.

SBI, which is the lead lender of a consortium of domestic lenders that has extended loans to Jet Airways, is looking for "change in control and management" of the carrier, according to a public notice.

Bajaj Auto Thursday launched the 2019 edition of its premium motorcycle Dominar 400, priced at Rs 1.74 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The new Dominar 400 comes with a liquid cooled 373.3cc engine that delivers significantly higher 40 PS power, up from 35 PS in the previous generation, the company said in a statement.

Cash on hand Rs 1.76 lakh crore and debt of Rs four lakh crore may sound outlandish, but the deliberate false declaration was made in his affidavit by a candidate for the by-election to the Perambur assembly segment in Tamil Nadu.

The figures, which sarcastically refer to the notional value of 2G spectrum scam and the debt burden of the Tamil Nadu government, were mentioned by the son of a freedom fighter in a bid to expose chinks in the Election Commission's screening process of the mandatory declaration.

The BJP has topped the chart of political advertisers on Google with an advertisement spent share of around 32%, while its rival Congress is ranked sixth with a meagre 0.14% share.

According to Google's Indian Transparency Report, released on Thursday, political parties and their affiliates have spent Rs 3.76 crore on advertisements since February 19, 2019.

Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) shares hit an all-time high of Rs 2,057, up 2.3 per cent, in intra-day trade on the BSE on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6 per cent in the first bi-monthly monetary policy meet of the financial year (FY) 2019-20.

Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to the commercial banks, in case of any shortfall of funds.

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