The Supreme Court’s declaring privacy as a fundamental right will enhance citizens’ trust in digital services and help in their wider adoption, IT industry body Nasscom said today. In a landmark decision, a nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar has ruled that “right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 and entire Part III of the Constitution”. Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar said the ruling also “significantly boosts India’s attractiveness as a safe destination for global sourcing”. It will ensure that protection of citizen’s privacy is a “cardinal principle” in India’s growing digital economy, he said.

Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd is expecting its turnover to almost double to Rs 1,500 crore in the current fiscal on new product launches, good monsoon and business acquisition in Europe, a top company official said today. Part of the Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, it today launched an advanced insecticide ‘Tromph’ to be used mainly in rice and cotton crops and aims to have 20 per cent share in this Rs 150 crore segment, its MD & CEO Ashok Sharma said. “We expect our turnover to almost double at about Rs 1,500 crore this financial year from Rs 800 crore last year.

With lenders’ bets on project loans turning awry, ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar has said project financing is set to undergo fundamental changes wherein greater focus will be on planning and diligence. “To bring back investments, the fundamentals of project financing will have to change. Projects will have to be much more completely tied-up before they get funded,” Kochhar said at the launch of a book, edited by former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan, here last evening. The ICICI Bank’s managing director and chief executive said this shall include backward and forward linkages, land availability, natural resources and financial closures. She, however, was quick to add that project finance will continue to be done by banks.

Petrol price has been on a rise, and how. But unlike earlier, this time there has been no fuss around the increase in the price of a traditionally politically sensitive item, on which even a minuscule hike would lead to strikes and street protests in the good old times. Many of you might be surprised to know that this time petrol price has risen by a whopping Rs 5.27 per litre in less than two months, and that too barely to anyone’s notice.

NEW DELHI: Senior IAS officer Rajiv Bansal today took charge as the interim Chairman and Managing Director of Air India.

Bansal replaces Ashwani Lohani, who has assumed office as Railway Board Chairman.

Lohani, who was at the helm for nearly two years, handed over the Air India CMD charge to Bansal.

NEW DELHI: Idea Cellular has sought the telecom department’s nod for its proposed $23-billion merger with Vodafone India, which will create the country’s largest telco by subscriber and revenue market share, a person aware of the development said.

“Idea filed for approval late last week,” the person said. Idea and Vodafone did not respond to emails seeking to confirm the development as of press time on Tuesday.

Indian markets continued to climb tracking positive cues from global markets ahead of Jackson Hole meeting which could determine market trajectory in the absence of any domestic triggers.

The BSE Sensex surged 276.16 points, or 0.88%, to close at 31568.01, Nifty ended at 9852.50, after moving up 86.95 points, or 0.89%.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled the design of the new Rs 200 currency note on Thursday, which will be issued on Friday.

The Rs 200 note would be yellow in colour with a motif of Sanchi Stupa on the reverse, representing the country’s cultural heritage. It will also have a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre.

Two train accidents in five days had a fallout on Wednesday with railways minister Suresh Prabhu indicating he had offered to quit and Railway Board Chairman AK Mital resigning with Air India chief Ashwani Lohani, a railway engineer, named as his successor.

Hours after the second derailment on Wednesday, Prabhu, 64, said he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking "full moral responsibility" for the back-to-back accidents that triggered calls for his resignation from the Congress. Prabhu said the prime minister had asked him to "wait", suggesting he had offered to quit.

Public lender Bank of India has reduced interest rate on savings bank accounts by 50 basis points to 3.5 per cent on deposits of up to Rs 50 lakh.

However, the bank will continue to pay 4 per cent interest on deposits of above Rs 50 lakh.

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