The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today posted 8.1 per cent rise in total sales in March at 1,39,763 units as against 1,29,345 vehicles in the same month last year. The company’s domestic sales increased 7.7 per cent during the month to 1,27,999 units as against 1,18,895 units in March 2016. For 2016-17 fiscal, the company posted a 9.8 per cent jump in total sales at 15,68,603 units, against 14,29,248 vehicles in 2015-16. It turned out to be the company’s best ever year in term of sales.

India’s oil marketing companies today cut petrol price by Rs 3.77/litre and diesel by Rs 2.91/litre following the fluctuations in crude prices which have been swinging between the push and pull from coordinated output cuts by major producers on one side, and rising US stockpiles on the other. The new prices will be effective from midnight tonight – this is the first change in rates in two-and-a-half months.

Petrol is currently priced at Rs 71.14 a litre in Delhi and Diesel at Rs 59.02 per litre. Petrol price will now be reduced by Rs 3.77 per litre, excluding state levies, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) indicated in a statement.

We think RIL’s recent rally (last 2M, RIL up 23% vs. Sensex 6%), after positive news flow on Jio (100 million plus subs; monetisation from April 1; attractive offerings), was driven by the Street’s overall under-ownership of the stock. Despite the recent outperformance, RIL has unperformed the Sensex by 40% since Jan-2008 (after the last bull-run). This was driven by a long (and large) capex phase, delayed monetisation (particularly Jio), and a sharp decline in E&P fortunes.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has closed the window to let Indians who were abroad during the 50-day period of demonetization deposit the now-illegal cash. However, non-resident Indians will still be allowed to deposit their money but with a rider.

The RBI disallowed the deposit of the decommissioned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes for the general public on December 30, 2016. However, Indians who were abroad from November 8 till the deadline, were allowed to deposit the notes till March 31, including NRIs.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has merged its operations with its four associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, in a move that will create one of the top 50 banks in the world.

SBI has merged its operations five its four associate banks - State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore, and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. It has also merged its operations with the Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

The government has lowered interest rates on small saving schemes like PPF, Kisan Vikas Patra and Sukanya Samriddhi scheme by 0.1 per cent for the April-June quarter, a move that would prompt banks to cut their deposit rates.

For April-June, these have been lowered by 0.1 per cent across the board compared to January-March. However, interest on savings deposits has been retained at four per cent annually.

Shipment of smartphones to India may be increasing but the number of brands are declining as several small-time brands have either shut shop or suspended production. According to Counterpoint Research data, the number of smartphone brands in the country in January 2017 stood at 75, down from 110 in calendar year 2016. In January 2016, the number of brands stood at 85.

Most of the brands which have gone off-shelves were in the sub-R5,000 category.

Reliance Jio, from April 1, will become chargeable for 4G data services on its network. This is because the freebies are finally ending. Yet, Jio is offering data packs at really aggressive prices. Reliance Jio had announced its plans in the country in 2016, and since then an interesting tariff war among telecom companies has spewed. Many rivals like Airtel and Vodafone have accused Jio of disrupting the telecom market. In a bid to compete, rivals Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL and Idea Cellular have also announced similar offers.

New Delhi: State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) is planning to enter the aerospace sector.

India’s largest power generation equipment maker plans to collaborate with Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) for manufacturing space grade solar cells and partner for satellite launches. Bhel also plans to enter the maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) business for aircraft engines.

Indian shares fell on Friday as investors booked profits in recent outperformers, but were poised for a third straight gain on month fuelled by a crucial victory for India’s ruling party in a key state election and big foreign inflows into markets. The NSE index was down 0.2 percent at 9,153.35 as of 0618 GMT, while the benchmark BSE index was 0.3 percent lower at 29,562.59.

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