A little over 11,500 MW of thermal generation capacities from 36 power units at 27 stations are idling due to want of coal. These plants, some of which have been shut for about three months, were to receive the dry fuel from Coal India.

According to data compiled by the government, as of October 31, 500 MW unit at the Mejia Thermal Power Station and 600 MW unit at Raghunathpur have been lying idle for about three months. The reason is shortage of coal.

Key indices on Wednesday opened in green. The benchmark BSE Sensex recovered by almost 53 points in early trade today on buying in pharma, IT, consumer durables and FMCG stocks after recent losses.

The 30-share index rebounded by 52.74 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 33,423.50.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) plans to finalise the new telecom policy by February next year while a draft would be ready by the year-end.

"We are trying to bring new telecom policy by February. For this, the working group has started the process. We expect to finalise draft by end of December and place it for public comments," the Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said on Tuesday.

New Delhi-based public sector lender Punjab National Bank is planning to rationalise its branch network by shutting down or relocating up to 300 loss-making branches over the next 12 months.

Sunil Mehta, managing director and chief executive, said turning loss-making branches into profit-making units by tweaking the business strategy was priority.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday called demonetisation a “watershed moment in the history of Indian economy”. He quoted data extensively to make a case for the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on November 8 last year to put 86 per cent of currency out of circulation.

In a blog and at a press conference later at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters here, Jaitley said the note ban had achieved its objectives of reducing the cash component in the economy, widening the tax net, exposing unaccounted wealth and reducing anonymity of cash.

Axis Bank hit a 52-week high of Rs 550, up 4% on the BSE in early morning trade, after the private sector lender said the board will meet on Friday, 10th November 2017 to consider fund raising plans.

“A meeting of the board of directors of Axis Bank will be held on Friday, 10th November 2017 at Mumbai, to inter-alia, consider raising of funds by issue of equity / equity linked securities through permissible mode at an appropriate time,” Axis Bank said in an exchange filing.

Leading industry body Assocham would take a 17-member delegation to St Petersburg in Russia to boost trade and technology tie-ups between the two countries. The visit, supported by the MSME ministry, would take place between November 13 and 19 and is an initiative to support Indian business connect with global companies for technology, trade and partnership, director (east) of Assocham Perminder Jeet Kaur said in a statement. The event would include an exhibition, B2B & B2G meetings and panel discussions.

Sensex and Nifty lost up to 1%, ended down after the slump in the shares of Reliance Industries, Lupin and State Bank of India. However, domestic stock markets hit the fresh record highs in the early afternoon trade. The sell-off in the stocks of heavyweight companies such as Lupin, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, RIL, Tata Motors and Sun Pharma led the indices into the red. Indian stock markets are weighing on the mixed sentiments about Q2 corporate earnings. BSE Sensex lost 360.43 points or 1.07% to finish at 33,370.76 points while NSE Nifty washed off 101.65 points or 0.97% to end at 10,350.15 points.

Private sector ICICI Bank today said its board has approved a proposal to sell part-stake in fully-owned broking business subsidiary ICICI Securities through an initial public offer (IPO).

It, however, did not mention the size of the stake it wants to divest.

Mumbai | Bengaluru: Former Infosys executives BG Srinivas and Ashok Vemuri are the frontrunners to be the IT company's chief executive, even as the firm explores creating a deputy CEO role to ensure management continuity, said people with knowledge of the matter.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company is not having an easy time picking a new leader after former CEO Vishal Sikka resigned in August following a bruising battle with founder NR Narayana Murthy over corporate governance issues. Cofounder Nandan Nilekani returned to the company as non-executive chairman to steady operations.

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