New Delhi, Oct. 2: The government is weighing the option of going ahead with a 5 per cent stake sale in state-owned ONGC in the current fiscal to meet its divestment target, despite differences between ministries.

While the finance ministry is pushing the proposal as the exploration company does not have to bear any subsidy burden now, the oil ministry feels the sale may not get the right valuation because of a slump in global crude prices.

Facebook is seeking to fill in some of the gaps in the reach of its messaging app empire, announcing today a new standalone version of its Messenger app, Messenger Lite, specifically designed for older Android devices with limited storage and for slower, data-constrained Internet connections.

Idea being that not everyone in the world has the premium hardware and superfast data connectivity that its full-fat messaging product assumes.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today reported 4.72 per cent increase in total sales at 59,211 units in September.

The company had sold 56,539 units in the same month last year, HMIL said in a statement.

Market built on its early gains and scaled higher on buying pick-up, buoyed by manufacturing PMI for September that came in above the 50 mark for the ninth straight month signalling expansion.

The benchmark Sensex rallied 331 points led by realty, auto, energy and industrials.

Bajaj Auto reported a 2% decline in total sales in September at 3,76,765 units as against 3,84,400 in the same month last year.

Motorcycle sales during the month went up by 1% to 3,31,976 units as against 3,30,228 in September last year, the company said in a BSE filing.

In an attempt to diffuse the escalated tensions between two nations along the Line of Control (LoC) after India's surgical strike, National Security Advisors (NSA) of India and Pakistan have reportedly had talks, even though Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif warned that Islamabad was also capable of executing surgical strikes.According to The News International, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that Pakistan's Nasser Janjua and India's Ajit Doval spoke to diffuse tensions between the two countries.

Maruti Suzuki India has hit a new high of Rs 5,720, up 4.4% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after the company reported a strong 31% year on year (YoY) growth in its passenger vehicle sales in September 2016 at 149,143 units, on the back of highest-ever domestic sales.

The company had sold a total of 113,759 units in September 2015, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was up nearly 4% to Rs 606, also its record high on the BSE, after the company said it will invest over Rs 9,800 crore in expanding its Barauni refinery in Bihar and setting up a petrochemical unit at Panipat refinery in Haryana.

The board of directors of IOC in its meeting on Thursday approved expansion of Barauni refinery from 6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 9 MTPA capacity along with downstream Polypropylene unit at an estimated cost of Rs 8,287 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has bagged orders worth Rs 6,024 crore across various business segments.

"The construction arm of L&T has won orders worth Rs 6,024 crore across various business segments," L&T said in a BSE filing today.

Mumbai: State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, who was due to retire on 6 October, has received a year’s extension, said a SBI official from the chairman’s office on the condition of anonymity .

The move comes at a time when the country’s largest bank is set to merge its associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with itself.

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