NEW DELHI: Banks lost a whopping Rs 16,789 crore on account of frauds in the last fiscal, the finance ministry said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The Reserve Bank has informed that as per the fraud monitoring reports submitted by the scheduled commercial banks and select financial institutions, "the amount lost on account of frauds during 2016-17 was Rs 16,789 crore", said Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla in a written reply.

S&P BSE Sensex was away 46 points from hitting 34,000 while NSE Nifty was just short off 8 points from kissing 10,500 level for the first time ever on Friday. India’s stock markets edged up higher in the mid-morning trade after opening almost flat in the early session today. Blue-chip shares of Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Wipro, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries inched up and were among the top gainers of Sensex.

In a major crackdown against leak of price sensitive information about listed firms, market watchdog Sebi today conducted searches at premises of more than 30 market analysts and dealers and seized documents, computers, mobiles and laptops. The searches follow a probe into circulation of unpublished price sensitive information about various listed companies, including some blue chips, through WhatsApp messages and social media chatrooms.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has created National Highways Investment Promotion Cell (NHIPC) to attract domestic and foreign investment for national highway projects.

“The cell will focus on engaging with global institution investors, construction companies, developers and fund managers for building investor participation in road infrastructure projects,” read NHAI’s release.

New Delhi: In a move aimed at combating black money stashed abroad, India signed an agreement with Switzerland Thursday that would allow automatic sharing of tax-related information from January 1 next year, the CBDT said.

"With the completion of the parliamentary procedure in Switzerland and signing of mutual agreement, India and Switzerland are set for automatic exchange of information for the period beginning from January 1, 2018," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said.

To create ‘service differentiation’ in the highly exclusive luxury performance segment, India’s largest luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz inaugurated its first dedicated AMG Service Bay at the AMG Performance Centre, Pune, on Thursday. “The dedicated AMG service bay will offer personalised, prioritised servicing at the shortest turnaround time. Only trained manpower from Mercedes-Benz Academy will be working on the AMG and Specialty cars, using AMG special tools recommended by Mercedes-Benz.

Maruti Suzuki India chairman and chief executive RC Bhargava said on Thursday that the company is committed to meeting its target of delivering its first electric vehicle (EV) by 2020. However, while the government has an ambitious plan to have an all-EV market by 2030, Bhargava believes that only some 14.4 million of the 71 million cars to be sold by 2030 would be EVs. A survey of the potential EV market, commissioned by Maruti, will start in another two-three weeks and will conclude by February 2018.

Coal India subsidiaries have finally issued electronic letters of intent for supplies of 27 million tonnes of coal annually for 25 years to 10 companies that won them through an e-auction on discounts offered over their existing tariffs.

It is expected to soon fire up 9,000 MW of thermal capacity that has been languishing due to want of coal while consumers can save close to Rs 126 crore every year.

NEW DELHI: Fresh restrictions on work visas for technology workers proposed by the Trump administration are set to further exacerbate difficulties faced by Indian outsourcing companies. The proposed regulations — like the HR 170 — as well as the doubling of visa fees announced earlier, have increased the burden on local technology firms placing them at a disadvantage compared to overseas rivals, according to a software industry lobby.

"The US government's immigration policy is creating an artificial distinction between one company and another," said R Chandrashekhar, president of the National Association for Software and Services Companies.

In what is the biggest-ever outsourcing deal for an Indian IT company so far, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has bagged a mega $2.25-billion contract by Nielsen, a television rating management firm.

The new deal assures $320 million worth of business annually for the Mumbai IT giant., from 2017 to 2020. Prospective annual revenue from 2021 till 2024 is being seen at $186 million, and at $139.5 million in 2025.

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