NEW DELHI: The highways ministry on Thursday directed National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to put the show cause notices to developers in abeyance. NHAI had issued the notices to around 20 construction companies asking them to explain why they should not be barred from future projects for two-to-three years due to failure to complete the awarded projects. Highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asked NHAI to review each case on its merit before taking "any further action".

CHENNAI: Gold demand plummeted to a seven-year low in the July-September quarter at 146 tonnes, down by 24 per cent in comparison to the same period in 2016. Data from the World Gold Council (WGC) shows that this latest fall in demand comes after three consecutive quarters of growth. Also, the 146-tonne figure is the lowest for the period in this decade.

Jewellers attribute the fall to the introduction of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that impacted consumer sentiment. "It was on for almost 50 days and it hit sentiments, leading to a 35 per cent drop in purchases.

New Delhi: The net profit of state-owned refiner HPCL zoomed 147 per cent to Rs 1,735 crore in the second quarter of the fiscal because of higher inventory gains and refinery margins. "The increase in profit is due to higher crude throughput, better refinery margin, higher domestic market sales and inventory gains against inventory loss compared with the corresponding period of last year," HPCL chairman and managing director Mukesh K. Surana said.

New Delhi: India plans to invite bids for setting up 20 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity—the world’s largest solar tender—at one go, in an attempt to spur domestic manufacturing of solar power equipment.

The effort will help further lower the country’s solar power tariffs and provide a boost to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s Make in India plans.

Robots have replaced many U.S. manufacturing workers, but new mechanical exoskeletons being tested by Ford Motor Co may help factory workers to function like bionic people, reducing the physical damage of millions of repetitive tasks over many years. The U.S. automaker said on Thursday that workers at two U.S. factories are testing upper-body exoskeletons developed by Richmond, California-based Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc, which are designed to reduce injuries and increase productivity.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday asked Ericsson India, the telecom equipment vendor of Reliance Communications (RCom), to file a bank certificate in relation to the payment details from RCom within 10 days. The case will be heard on November 23. The NCLT is hearing an insolvency petition filed by Ericsson as an operational creditor against RCom, Reliance Infratel and Reliance Telecom.

India cricket captain Virat Kohli said he will exit brand associations that he does not believe in.

The 29-year-old cricketer, a youth icon who is famously passionate about fitness, had recently ended a long-standing association with cola maker PepsiCo by not renewing his endorsement contract.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today said its construction arm has won orders worth Rs 4,023 crore across business segments.

"The construction arm of L&T has won orders worth Rs 4,023 crore," the engineering and construction major said in a BSE filing.

The benchmark BSE Sensex dropped by 57 points to 33,194.35 in early trade today after banking, telecom, auto, oil & gas, and pharma stocks declined following weak global cues.

The 30-share index declined by 56.58 points or 0.17 per cent to 33,194.35. The gauge had gained 32.12 points in yesterday's highly volatile session. The NSE Nifty too was trading lower by 36.20 points or 0.35 per cent to 10,272.75. All the sectoral indices led by metal, auto and oil & gas were trading in the negative terrain, falling by up to 0.92 per cent.

In a move likely to benefit around 47 lakh central government employees and give a boost to the housing sector, the Centre on Thursday revised House Building Advance (HBA) rules, that will allow them to borrow more than triple the amount from the government. The earlier Rs 7.50 lakh could has been increased to a ceiling of Rs 25 lakh now.

The move is on the lines of the accepted recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.

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