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.

NEW DELHI: State-owned Coal India will continue to offer domestic coal to non-power sectors in lieu of 50 per cent of the import component in the ongoing fiscal.

The development assumes significance as the government is working to eliminate coal imports.

The world's largest coal miner "offer of domestic coal 'as is where is basis' to non-power FSA (fuel supply agreement) consumers in lieu of 50 per cent of the import component will be continued in 2017-18", the official said.

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their first meeting would set forth a vision to expand the US-India ties in an ambitious manner and discuss ways to advance common goals like fighting terrorism and expanding security cooperation in the Indo- Pacific region.

The leaders of the world's two largest democracies with a combined population of 1.6 billion will meet on June 26 at the White House to discuss a gamut of bilateral issues, including India's concerns over possible changes in H1B visa rules.

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