MUMBAI: Reliance Industries counter saw a block deal of about 39 crore shares or 12% of the company equity changing hand on Wednesday morning.

Though the details of the buyers and sellers were not known, market participants said that the block deals were the inter-se transfer of equity holding among promoter group entities.

GUWAHATI: State-owned oil major ONGC has said the preliminary discussion for its acquisition of India's third-biggest fuel retailer HPCL has started and is going on at the ministerial level.

"The talks are going on at ministerial level. We have not discussed it at the ONGC board. The petroleum ministry wants this to happen because if integration takes place, there will be value creation," ONGC Director (onshore) Ved Prakash Mahawar told PTI here.

Days after a group of the Congress' Goa legislators blamed the central leadership for failure to form the government in the state, despite being the single largest party after the Assembly polls, party MLA Vishwajit Rane on Wednesday said that he, along with five to six other MLAs, would quit the party if vice-president Rahul Gandhi does not respond adequately to a letter written to him by them.

The Sensex struck a positive note on Wednesday in the beginning on continued foreign inflows ahead of the expected hike in US interest rates. However, caution prevailed after retail inflation rose to 4-month high of 3.65% in February and that of wholesale prices shot up to a 39-month high of 6.55%.

The Sensex had soared 540.69 points in the previous three sessions following the BJP's landslide win in UP and Uttarakhand. The 30-share index was trading higher by 26.22 points, or 0.08%, at 29,468.85.

Tata Motors will offer voluntary retirement scheme to trim costs as part of restructuring although the number of employees is still being worked out.

"Tata Motors confirms that as part of the on-going organisation effectiveness project, where we have already finalised the top two levels (L1-L2) of our management structure, a proposal on VRS package has been presented and approved by the board," a Tata Motors Spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

State Bank of India (SBI) has floated a one-time settlement scheme for borrowers defaulting on loans taken to buy tractors.

The country’s largest bank has also voiced reservations against the move to waive farm loans, saying this will affect the repayment culture in the country.

Coal India (CIL) may part with about 43 per cent of its cash reserves, effectively eroding the company’s net worth by 44 per cent, while paying out its interim dividend on Wednesday. The world’s largest coal miner would be stretching itself in a bid to implement Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) guidelines in the dividend payout.

While DIPAM guidelines, which CIL is implementing this year, mandate a minimum five per cent of its net worth or 30 per cent of its net profit be given out as dividend, the coal behemoth, according to company estimates, is expected to pay a Rs 16,600-crore interim dividend.

Reliance Communications today said it has received approvals from markets regulator SEBI and the stock exchanges for proposed demerger of its wireless business into Aircel Ltd.

"Reliance Communications has received approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), BSE and NSE for the proposed scheme of arrangement for demerger of the wireless division of the company into Aircel Ltd and Dishnet Wireless Ltd," the company said in a regulatory filing.

Airtel has finally revealed what its Suprise offers are, by offering 30GB of free data. The Airtel Surprise offer is valid for a period of three months from March 13. The monthly limit for the offer is 10GB per month. The offer is valid only for postpaid users, and the subscribers will get 10GB of free data each month, which will total up to 30GB. The deadline for users to avail this offer is March 31.

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, on Tuesday, announced one-time settlement (OTS ) scheme worth Rs 6,000 crore for tractor loans. In a tweet, the bank said, “Special SBI OTS for tractor and farm mechanization loans 2016-17. Avail of benefits until March 31.” According to CNBC TV18, SBI said, “We are willing to take a haircut of 40 percent on outstanding tractor loans as of September 30, 2016.” It further said that “agriculture lending portfolio in Uttar Pradesh should not be less than Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore”.

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