The Sensex washed out initial gains and the NSE dropped below 9,600 in the late morning trade on Wednesday on account of selling pressure, mainly in the metal counter.

The 30-share gauge resumed higher before dropping to 31,079 at 1209 hours, down 24.49 points, or 0.08%.

German luxury car maker Mercedes- Benz on launched two SUVs -- Mercedes-AMG G 63 'Edition 463' and Mercedes-AMG GLS 63 priced at Rs 2.17 crore and Rs 1.58 crore (ex-showroom Pune), respectively.

The launch boosts the company's presence in the performance SUV segment and takes Mercedes-Benz's SUV portfolio to eight products, Mercedes-Benz India said in a statement.

Air India and other domestic airlines are "running in profit", Union Minister Jayant Sinha said today, even as the government mulls possible privatisation of the debt-laden national carrier.

He said the government would have to bring a "transformation" in Air India to make it a "good" airline.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has issued a circular allowing commodity exchanges to launch options trading in commodities. Initially, an exchange can launch options in only one commodity and the position limits for options will be double that of the respective futures contract. The settlement of commodity options will be complex as they become futures contracts on settlement. This mechanism has been introduced to allow option-holders to give or take delivery, which is not possible in the current legal framework.

Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Tuesday increased its authorised capital by Rs 775 crore to Rs 2,500 crore.

“The authorised capital of the company shall be Rs 2,500 crore divided in to 1,000 crore equity shares of Rs 2 each, Rs 150,00,000 shares of Rs 100 each and 350 shares of Rs 100,00,000 crore each with rights privileges and conditions attached thereto...,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

In order to cope with the financial stress it is facing, state-run telecom player BSNL has presented an 18-point wishlist to an inter-ministerial panel. Its demands include temporarily allotment of 2100 MHz spectrum for 6 months to a year, allocation of 700 MHz airwaves and reduction in license fees.

The panel, formed to look into the telecom woes of the telecom sector, is meeting industry players this week in order to understand their problems. Apart from BSNL, another government-owned firm, MTNL, met the panel today.

Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications' (RCom) Rs 11,000-crore deal to sell its tower business to Canada's Brookfield Infrastructure is nearing closure and is likely to be taken up by the Union Cabinet in the next couple of weeks.

RCom had announced signing of the binding agreement with Brookfield in December 2016 and sources said it has got almost all approvals for the said transaction, including that from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Security and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), National Stock Exchange (NSE), BSE, corporate registration and shareholders.

Infosys has warned that the company’s performance and stock, in exchanges both in India and the US, could be affected because of actions of activist shareholders, hinting at the public interventions in the firm’s affairs by its founder NR Narayana Murthy.

Infosys also had warned of difficulties in executing its strategy if the management and board continued to spend time on responding to allegations against the company as it did over the past year, Infosys said in its 20-F filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd today expressed concern that it is likely to feel the ‘stress’ this financial year because of intense competition and asked the telecom department to speed up its receivables. BSNL officials met the inter-ministerial group here today as part of the ongoing dialogue between the industry and the government to discuss the sector’s financial headwinds. “BSNL is not facing any problem in raising loans and already has a credit line available,” sources said after the 30-minute meeting with the IMG.

Regulator Sebi today barred Shreebhumi Constructions and its directors from the capital market for not complying with public issue norms. A probe by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) found that the company had allotted redeemable preference shares worth Rs 1.95 crore to 241 people in 2011-12 and 2012- 13. Since these shares were issued to more than 50 investors by the company, this qualified to be a public issue, which requires compulsory listing on recognised stock exchanges. Among others, the firm was also required to file their prospectus, which it failed to do.

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