The Sensex struck a positive note today by jumping 154 points, in keeping with firm Asian shares.

Fresh capital kept the flow on in the wake of continued buying by domestic institutional investors amid positive global indicators.

Private sector spending should come back on track in 2019, SN Subrahmanyan, CEO and MD of Larsen and Toubro, said on Monday. Speaking to a business news channel, Subrahmanyan said L&T’s working capital cycle has taken a beating is partly because private sector investments had gone into a shell over the previous two-three years and also owing to increased dependence on government projects which at times have financial hold backs for a minimum three months to clear. The company’s working capital cycle has jumped to 22%.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s largest oil refiner and retailer, has shifted its focus to have more than 50% market share of the electric vehicle charging and infrastructure space as the country moves to convert its passenger and commercial vehicles to electric by 2030. The PSU oil marketer is the first oil company to start a pilot project for charging of electric vehicles at its fuel station. The initiative, in partnership with Ola Cabs, in Nagpur will serve the cab aggregator’s electric vehicle fleet. IOC aims to meet the electrical energy requirements of vehicles from its entire 26,500 retail outlets in future. Murali Srinivasan, executive director at Indian Oil, told FE if the country has to achieve the 100% electric vehicles target by 2030, it would be inconceivable without including oil and gas retail outlets as the source for setting up charging facilities.

To make India a global hub for satellite manufacturing, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has floated a tender inviting private firms to bid and build 30 satellites, nearly half of its requirement over the next five years.

The space agency has lined up 60 satellite launches over the next five years, including a repeat mission to the moon with a rover.

A report by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has revealed that India has a higher rate of malnutrition than North Korea and Myanmar.

According to the World Economic Forum, India fared poorly on the Global Hunger Index (GHI, pdf) for 2017 as India ranked 100 out of 119 countries on the GHI, while last year it was at 97 out of 118.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, one of India’s oldest vehicle manufacturers, is testing autonomous tractors, trucks and cars, while moving closer to bringing electric vehicles to the United States, Chairman Anand Mahindra said on Monday.

The company, which opened a new North American headquarters north of Detroit on Monday, is considering when to begin US sales of the vehicles, Anand Mahindra said in an interview.

Reliance Industries gained over 2% on Tuesday and was the top index gainer after the company hit the overseas debt market with a $800-million bond sale programne as it seeks to pare a portion of its high cost debt that stands at over Rs 2.14 lakh crore.

The stock rose as much as 2.26% to Rs 939 on the BSE.

Responding to some media reports, which alleged that "210 Government sites made Aadhaar info public", the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has said that the Aadhaar data is fully safe and secure, and there has never been a breach or data leak at the UIDAI.

The UIDAI in a notification said that data on these mentioned websites was placed in a public domain as a measure of proactive disclosure under Right to Information (RTI) Act by government and institutional websites, which included the beneficiaries' name, address, bank account, and other details, which also included the Aadhaar number and were collected from the third party/users for various welfare schemes.

Hong Kong: Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) which defaulted on dollar bonds last week in the highest-profile debt failure since India’s new bankruptcy code was passed, faces risks of insolvency if it can’t sell its assets at high enough valuations, according to SC Lowy Financial HK Ltd.

“We think the valuations they have provided are optimistic,” said Mihir Chandra, head analyst at the distressed loan and bond trading firm. “If they can’t sell assets at the valuations that they’ve guided to, then the more likely outcome is an insolvency process.”

Global brokerage firm Nomura remains bullish on the shares of Maruti Suzuki, after India’s largest car-maker signed a pact to with Toyota Motor Corporation to roll out electric cars in India. On Friday, the Japanese car-maker entered into an in-principle agreement with Maruti Suzuki to consider a joint structure for the introduction of electric cars in India in 2020. The Indian car-manufacturer’s parent Suzuki said in a statement, “ Suzuki will manufacture electric cars for India and supply some units to Toyota,” adding that Toyota will also provide technical support.

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.