NEW DELHI: Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland is looking to strengthen presence in the country's logistics sector that is estimated to touch USD 370 billion by 2020.

The company is enhancing its range of fully built vehicles in order to tap the sector which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16 per cent.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said he is hopeful of rolling out the biggest tax reform GST from July 1 which will make goods and services cheaper and tax evasion difficult.

The Finance Minister also said achieving a growth rate of 7-8 per cent is plausible and if economies pick up globally then the country's growth rate can go up further.

The benchmark BSE Sensex declined further by about 222 points to 29,263.74 and the NSE Nifty slipped below the 9,100-mark in early trade today due to selling in pharma, auto and oil stocks.

The 30-share Sensex fell by 221.71 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 29,263.74 with 25 of its constituents trading the negative zone. The barometer had lost 163.54 points in the previous two sessions.

Two-wheeler auto-major TVS Motor said it would close financial year 2017 with a 14.3 per cent market share, close to its target of 15 per cent. The company also said it would be launching one new bike and scooter and that it had plans to invest Rs 350 crore in financial year 2018.

K N Radhakrishnan, CEO, TVS Motor, said that during the third quarter, the company's market share was 15 per cent. But from November to February, due to demonetisation, poor monsoon and other factors, the industry slowed down and so did the company's growth.

Leading Indian automobile companies are facing the impact of a recent credit squeeze from banks in neighboring export markets like Sri Lanka and Nepal. Those impacted include Maruti Suzuki, Renault, Nissan and Bajaj Auto among others.

The development comes on the heels of demonetisation.

Some of the coal-fired power plants in Odisha which have commenced commercial operations or are at very advanced stages of commissioning are up for grabs. Companies looking to augment power capacities through the inorganic route are eyeing these assets in Odisha.

JSW Energy, part of the Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, is believed to be in the race for buying out the thermal power assets of Monnet Power and Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL) in Odisha. Monnet Power’s 1,050 Mw coal-based power plant near Angul was in advanced stage of commissioning.

Ahead of the merger with parent State Bank of India (SBI), associate banks have started rolling out voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) for their employees with a very short deadline.

The VRS rolled out by the State Bank of Patiala has asked the employees to accept the offer within 15 days, between March 22 and April 5. A further seven days, till April 12, has been given to withdraw the application. An employee of the bank said the timeline given was too short.

The US government's restrictions on carriage of electronic items, laptops, and iPads from 10 airports in West Asia (Middle East) and North Africa will benefit Air India and European airlines. Going by the directive, all US-bound passengers originating or transiting through airports like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Doha will have to carry these devices in checked luggage only.

The move augurs well for India. At present, Air India flies non-stop from Delhi and Mumbai to New York, Newark, Chicago, and San Francisco. It flies one-stop to Newark via London and plans to launch a non-stop service between Delhi-Washington from July.

TVS Motor has bagged a patent for its antilock brake system (ABS) for motorcycles. The new system helps to overcome the problems, defects and drawbacks encountered in the previous models. The company is currently using the ABS technology in its high-end motorcycle TVS Apache, in collaboration with German component manufacturer Continental Corporation.

The company says that the presence of ABS in a motorcycle prevents locking of the front and rear wheels by automatically regulating the braking force acting on the front and rear wheels at the time of braking operation.

State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Tuesday launched a plan that will provide 2GB data per day for Rs 339 per month.

"To compete with Jio and other private players, we have introduced the cheapest plan with a rental value of Rs 339 per month. Under this plan, the consumer will get 2GB per day," said Sanjiv Tyagi, General Manager, BSNL.

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