State Bank of India (SBI) plans to remove transaction charges on point-of-sale (PoS) terminals for merchants who have an annual turnover less than Rs20 lakh, in a bid to boost cashless payments.

“We are looking at removing MDR (merchant discount rate) for merchants who have a turnover of Rs20 lakh and below on our own,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman of India’s largest lender, on Monday.

After a brief lull, hostilities between Bajaj Auto and the company’s labour union have resumed. The Bajaj Auto union, Vishwa Kalyan Kamagar Sanghatana (VKS), on Wednesday said it will go on a hunger strike on January 7 and 8. Dilip Pawar, president of the union said eight workers who had been removed should be reinstated.

According to Pawar, the management had deliberately transferred active union members and given false charge sheets and show cause letters to the workers.

Once a popular investment tool with foreign investors, participatory notes (P-Notes) apppear to be losing much of their sheen following the continuous tightening of rules by the regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The product has become less attractive, market players say, because the new rules have resulted in costs going up.

Investments in Indian capital markets via P-notes declined to R1.79 lakh crore in November 2016, the lowest in three years. Data from SEBI revealed that in November 2007, the share of P-notes accounted about 45% of the total foreign portfolio investments — across debt, equity and derivatives. By end 2016 this amount had fallen to single digits at 7.5%.

Air India is offering tickets at the price of Rajdhani! Yes, the state-run airline has come up with yet another offer that compares fares with that of Rajdhani AC-2nd class travel. This time the advantage is that you can book your tickets 20 days in advance, as opposed to the 4-hour window announced by Air India last time. The ‘Republic Day’ special offer of Air India starts from January 6 and will go on for a three-month period. You can now travel from various cities (see list below) at fares ranging from Rs 1080 to Rs 4730.

Benchmark indices continued to gain in the after-noon trade tracking global markets cues on upbeat economic data and rise in oil prices as investors were optimistic ahead of corporate earnings and Union Budget 2017.

Sensex hit its highest in nearly two months, while the broader NSE Nifty hit a near one-month high in today’s session led by gains in metal, oil & gas, banking and auto sectors.

Tata Motors was up 3% to Rs 503 on the BSE in intra-day trade after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a strong 30% jump in US sales at 12,573 units in December 2016 against 9,638 units a year earlier.

“Jaguar sales were 4,294 units, a 259% increase from 1,197 units in December 2015; Land Rover sales reached 8,279 units, a 2% decrease from 8,441 units in December 2015. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) North America December U.S. sales for both brands hit 12,573 units, a 30% increase from 9,638 units in December 2015; making it the best ever December retail month,” the company said in a release.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday gained 0.42%, most in one month, against the US dollar tracking gains in the Asian currencies markets.

The rupee closed at 68.05 per dollar—up 0.42%, its maximum gains since 6 December, from its previous close of 68.33. The home currency opened at 68.28 against the dollar. Since 1 April 2016 till date, rupee has fallen 2.5%.

Mumbai: Market traded sideways and ended lower on Wednesday, hit by selling by foreign investors towards the close of the session amid a subdued trend in Europe.

The Sensex succumbed to the pressure, before ending down 10.11 points, or 0.04%, at 26,633.13. The gauge had gained 47.79 points in the previous session. NSE Nifty also closed in negative territory with a minuscule fall of 1.75 points, or 0.02%, at 8,190.50.

New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) is examining the representation of various political parties for not allowing the presentation of the Union Budget during the poll process of five states and will take a call on it soon.

Chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi said various political parties have represented to the Election Commission regarding the issue of presentation of Union Budget which is likely to be presented on 1 February by the central government as it falls during the election campaign to five states.

India’s pioneering online automobile transactional marketplace Droom has firmly entrenched its foothold as a complete eco-system for buyers to have an impeccable automobile owning experience. In its latest effort to sustain such a status, Droom has tied up with Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank, to provide quick sanction of loans on both new as well as used cars.

Loans are an integral element in almost all new and used car purchases and Droom’s recent collaboration with Axis bank is evidence of its continued efforts to cover the 360 degree eco-system of online automobile transactions.

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