In a much-needed breather for the government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has agreed to pay an extra dividend to the government, agencies reported. The central government had sought Rs 13,000 crore additional dividend from the central bank. In August, the RBI had paid a dividend of Rs 30,659 crore for the fiscal ended June 2017 which was less than half the Rs 65,876 crore it had paid in 2015-16. The government had budgeted for a Rs 58,000 crore dividend from the RBI in its Budget for this fiscal year.

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence on violence during the celebration of the bicentenary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in Pune district of Maharashtra.

Violence had erupted in Pune on January 1 when Dalit groups were celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in which soldiers from the Mahar (Dalit) community, as part of the East India Company's forces, defeated the Peshwas of Maharashtra. The Peshwas were Brahmins, and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.

China Development Bank (CDB), the biggest foreign lender to India's Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom), on Friday withdrew a petition seeking to drag the indebted telecoms carrier into insolvency.

A lawyer for CDB told the National Company Law Tribunal that the Chinese bank had filed to withdraw the petition. The tribunal allowed CDB's plea to go forward.

The Indian pharma sector's December quarter revenue is estimated to remain flat, while profits are likely to slip owing to decline in US businesses and a sharp appreciation in rupee, says a report.

According to an Edelweiss Securities report, though the October-December quarter was action packed, earnings are likely to remain muted.

L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering has secured a Rs 14.83 billion offshore contract from ONGC.

L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen and Toubro, has signed an offshore contract for the 'Bassein Development 3 Well Platform and Pipeline Project' with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) valued at approximately Rs 14.83 billion, Larsen and Toubro stated in a BSE filing on Friday.

The State Bank of India may reduce its minimum balance requirement to Rs 1,000 from the current Rs 3,000 balance in metros, according to a report in the Economic Times.

The largest Indian bank suffered a huge backlash last week when finance ministry data revealed that it netted a windfall of Rs 17.72 billion, more than its second-quarter profit, from customers for non-maintenance of monthly average balance in savings accounts in eight months of 2017-18.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a meeting with top economists of the country on January 10.

This meeting is a usual practice before budget, and was conducted in 2017 as well.

Modi had also called for a similar meeting in December 2017, where the impact of demonetisation was discussed.

India’s second largest telecom operator Vodafone has announced a partnership with mobile handset manufacturer Samsung to offer cashback offers on a select range of 4G devices.

Vodafone subscribers can avail cashback of Rs 1,500 on the purchase of Galaxy J2 Pro, Galaxy J7 Nxt or Galaxy J7 Max devices. The cash back will be credited to their Vodafone M-Pesa wallets.

A total of 16 FIRs have been registered by the Mumbai Police, relating to statewide bandh that was called yesterday by the Dalit groups against the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

The Police said that they detained more than 300 miscreants in this regard.

Tata Steel, NMDC, Oil India, Jain Irrigation Systems, Jet Airways and Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) are among 36 stocks from the S&P BSE 500 index that hit their respective 52-week highs on BSE.

Of these 36 stocks, around 21 recorded new highs in intra-day trade. These include Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Sun TV Network, Hindalco Industries, APL Apollo Tubes, Bajaj Electricals, Rain Industries and Sterlite Technologies

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