Mumbai: BSE benchmark Sensex jumped over 250 points and NSE Nifty breached the 11,000 mark in early trade Wednesday led by gains in IT and metal stocks amid heavy buying by domestic and foreign institutional investors.

The 30-share index was trading 255.89 points, or 0.70 per cent, higher at 36,872.70.

The Maharashtra Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) held that a Pune-based company (a step-down arm of South Korean steelmaker Posco’s Indian arm) is not eligible to claim input credit tax (ITC) for goods and services tax (GST) paid on the hotel stay provided to its executive in lieu of residential rent-free lodging as it doesn’t amount to furtherance of business.

Amazon.com and Walmart’s plans to dominate India’s online retail landscape have been ambushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political priorities heading into a tightening election. The vote, likely to be held in or around May, has increased the influence of local retailers that lobbied for growth-crimping curbs on the US giants. On cue, India this month rolled out constraints on foreign e-commerce players, including Jeff Bezos-led Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, which together control 70% of its online shopping.

Inventory losses and lower refinery margins affected finances of state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), which on Tuesday announced a 87% year-on-year (y-o-y) fall in net profit to Rs 248 crore during the December 2018 quarter. The comparable figure a year ago was Rs 1,950 crore.

The oil marketing company had made an inventory gain of Rs 1,477 crore in the December 2017 quarter against a loss of Rs 3,465 crore in the December 2018 quarter.

During the hearing of Essar Steel’s insolvency case at the Ahmedabad bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Standard Chartered Bank (SBC) counsel argued that SBC was discriminated against and not counted as a secure financial creditor and, as result of which, the bank was getting mere `60.71 crore against `3,487 crore, which is hardly 1.7 percent of total claim.

The counsel told NCLT on Tuesday that SBC too should be treated equally with other members of committee of creditors (CoC).

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will hold the second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam at the end of February.

The summit would be held on February 27 and 28. Kim and Trump met in Singapore last year, marking the first bilateral meeting between leaders of the two countries.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case of cheating against a Mumbai-based private company for allegedly duping Bank of Baroda (BoB) to the tune of Rs 274 crore.

According to the CBI officials, a written complaint was received last month from SK Sharma, deputy general manager from BoB, alleging that M/s PSL Ltd, its directors and other accused persons, during the period of 2011 to 2016 were party to a criminal conspiracy to cheat BoB.

Every time Bangkok fruit seller Veerachai Roopsuwanakul tries to buy an air purifier, he gets the same response: "Out of stock."

"We never imagined the air could get so bad," said Veerachai, who now wears a face mask to filter out dust. "We can’t find a purifier in shops or online."

The Digital Communications Commission on Tuesday directed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to seek views from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the allocation of 700 MHz premium spectrum worth Rs 65,000 crore to the Railways for signalling purposes without auction.

"Indian Railways has asked for 10 MHz of spectrum in 700 MHz band for setting up public safety and security service.

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir has said that he sees lot of similarities between Indian skipper Virat Kohli and former Pakistan captain and the country's prime minister, Imran Khan.

"If I look at Virat Kohli as a batsman and captain... I can say he is similar to Imran in the manner that he, like Imran, sets an example by doing something himself and then expects his team to do the same," Qadir said on a TV show on Tuesday night.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.