BEIJING: Auto giant Mercedes-Benz's China unit apologised today after its parent company quoted Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in a social media post on Instagram.

"We are fully aware that the post deeply hurt the feelings of Chinese people, including our Chinese colleagues and we would like to extend the sincerest apology," state-run Global Times quoted the company as saying in a statement.

CHENNAI: Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India (HMI) are the No. 1 and No. 2 passenger vehicle companies in India, and have been arch rivals for more than two decades. But imagine what the Indian car market would have looked like if Maruti took over Hyundai India... Sounds unbelievable? But that's exactly what nearly happened back in 1999 when HMI's parent was battling the worst of the Asian crisis.

NEW DELHI: Mahindra & Mahindra-owned Italian design house Pininfarina is helping the Indian parent to conceptualise what it calls the dealership of future (DoF). The high-tech showroom will come with powerful virtual reality tools and large screens that will allow prospective buyers to see how a vehicle would look like with accessories and the colour of their choice.

At these facilities, customers can also touch and feel the vehicles as well as do a comparative analysis of models.

Punjab National Bank’s net profit rose 11.1 per cent to Rs 2.3 billion in the third quarter of the financial year due to higher provisioning for bad loans.

PNB had earned a net profit of Rs 2.1 billion in the year-ago quarter and Rs 5.6 billion in the quarter ended September 2017, when the growth rate stood at 2 per cent.

Telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday slammed Reliance Communications for "usurping" unspent prepaid balances and security deposit of its mobile customers after operations were shut down, calling it "unethical, immoral and unjustified".

Trai Chairman R S Sharma warned of punitive action if the billionaire Anil Ambani-led company fails to comply with its directive.

NEW DELHI: The Income-Tax Department receives 15-25 lakh Permanent Account Number (PAN) applications per week, and takes a few hours to two weeks to allot the 10-digit alphanumeric identifier, the government has informed Parliament.

The allotment of PAN is being carried out by the tax department through two service providers, NSDL e-Gov and UTIITSL, which collect applications, process them, digitise the data and submit the same to ITD for final allotment of PANs.

MUMBAI: Gold demand in India is likely to remain below its 10-year average for a third year in 2018 as higher taxes and new transparency rules on purchases may cap last year's rebound in buying, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Tuesday.

India is the world's second-biggest gold consumer and lower demand there could rein in global prices that have risen 8 per cent since mid-December, although a drop in imports of the metal would help India reduce its trade deficit.

Air India will get a one-time grant of 750,000 euros from Israel for launching direct flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, which is likely to be launched next month, a senior Israeli official said today. “The Ministry of Tourism will approve a grant to Air India in response to their request and according to the conditions of the directive, which includes a grant of 250,000 Euro per weekly flight, up to a total of three weekly flights,” Lydia Weitzman, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, told PTI here.

More than 15 years ago, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) -led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of the time made an incumbent's election pitch around the so-called ‘India Shining’. Key to this pitch was the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ project of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

Today, a decade and a half later, under another BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the scenario is quite different – now, it is the road transport ministry that seems to be calling the shots, not NHAI.

Markets regulator Sebi's decision to allow mutual fund houses to charge additional expenses from customers from beyond top 30 cities, as against 15 earlier will help in increasing penetration of such products, experts said.

"Sebi is now worried to develop the interiors of B-30 cities.

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