Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said there is no proposal to withdraw the Rs. 2,000 notes that were introduced post-demonetisation. The Rs. 2,000 banknotes were introduced along with new Rs. 500 currency following the withdrawal of old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes from November 9, 2016.

“There is no proposal to withdraw the Rs. 2,000 denomination banknote,” the Minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. Mr. Jaitley further said the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes returned to currency chests of the RBI amounted to Rs. 12.44 lakh crore (as on December 10, 2016).

To counter threat from Reliance Jio, state-run telecom firm BSNL today launched a new plan that offers 2 GB of 3G data per day and unlimited calling within its network for Rs. 339.

“The benefits customer will get under the Combo STV (special tariff voucher) of Rs. 339 are unlimited calls in BSNL network and unlimited data with fair use policy of 2 GB per day with validity of 28 days,” BSNL said in a statement.

Russia is open to localising component production of its modern Sukhoi super jet even as it is talking to Mahindra and Mahindra for partnership for the MC 21 civil aviation aircraft, Russian Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov said here.

“We have a very good example of a modern aircraft, the Sukhoi super jet project. We are open to both exporting it to the Indian market as well as localising some of the components production.

State-run power giant NTPC has recorded highest ever annual cumulative gross power generation of 263.95 BU (billion unit) so far this fiscal surpassing the 262.42 BU achieved in the entire 2015-16. The power producer has registered an annual growth of 4.71 per cent over last year, an official said. NTPC pit head coal stations, having capacity of 25,840 MW, recorded day plant load factor (PFL) or capacity utilisation of 95.71 per cent on March 16, 2017 and cumulative monthly PLF of 91.4 per cent till date. As many as 29 units of NTPC coal plants have generated a PLF of more than 100 per cent on March 16, 2017.

Our analysis suggests that the Gujarat plant of Suzuki will be margin accretive to MSIL from FY2019 due to VAT incentives received by Suzuki for the plant for sales in Gujarat and richer product mix as the company prioritises Baleno production at this plant. We maintain our Add rating and target price of R6,400 on the stock as we believe upside is limited from current levels due to expensive valuations.

YES Bank has come up with an initiative, Yes Aspire to Innovate, a scholarship programme which recognises and rewards 30 exceptional scholars for their entrepreneurial vision, leadership qualities and holistic academic performance. The Express Group is the media partner for the programme.

The programme offers a scholarship of Rs 2 lakh, a pre-placement interview opportunity and a year-long mentorship by the YES Bank senior leadership to each of the 30 scholars chosen from 15 select B-schools across the country.

Continuing its record-setting spree, the Nifty climbed over the 9,200-mark for the first time and the benchmark Sensex surged 239 points in early hours today, with foreign investors continuing to pump up money.

The broader NSE Nifty crossed the key 9,200-mark by surging 64.70 points, or 0.70 per cent, to trade at an all-time high of 9,218.40.

Shares of cigarette companies are in focus with ITC rallying over 5% in morning deals, after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Thursday cleared a proposal to cap the cess on tobacco and cigarettes.

ITC surged 7.5% to Rs 288 on BSE in intra-day trade. The stock was trading close to its lifetime high of Rs 292, touched on February 7, 2017.

Opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party legislators on Thursday stormed the State Bank of India's corporate office at the Nariman Point demanding an apology from SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya for her statement that crop loan waiver disrupts credit discipline among borrowers as they expect future loans to be waived as well. Agitated Congress and NCP legislators led by the leader of opposition in the state assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil shouted slogans for over half-an-hour and threatened to table privilege motion in the state legislature. Opposition members left the SBI office after learning that Bhattacharya is out of Mumbai.

State-owned ONGC will invest over Rs 21,500 crore to develop India's deepest gas discovery by 2022-23, helping it more than double output from its prime KG basin block.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which had last year firmed up an investment of Rs 34,012 crore ($5.076.37 billion) in bringing to production 10 oil and gas discoveries in its Bay of Bengal block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5), plans to invest another Rs 21,528.10 crore ($3.2 billion) in developing the ultra-deepsea UD-1 find.

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