Ranchi, Aug. 16: Chief minister Raghubar Das today expressed his willingness to go to Barkagaon, Hazaribagh, in some 10 days or so to declare a new land compensation package after a meeting with over 200 villagers and key stakeholders to end the acquisition deadlock around the three upcoming National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) coal mining projects amid growing politicised protests.

Mumbai: In a bid to retain the cream of its corporate customers, India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) is buying into their bond issuances. In the April-June quarter, SBI moved Rs.25,000 crore worth of exposure to high-rated corporates from its loan book to its investment book.

“A bond issuance is always a cheaper source of funding than a loan for a company. If our customers want to convert their loans to a bond exposure, then it makes sense to fund it since the customer will remain within our stable,” said a senior official at SBI, on the condition of anonymity as he is not permitted to be quoted in the press.

For the second time within a week, Pakistan on Tuesday offered India a bilateral arrangement for not conducting a nuclear test, saying it will send a positive signal to the NSG where both the countries have applied for membership. Pakistan’s offer to India for a bilateral arrangement on non-testing of nuclear weapons was initially announced by the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on August 12.

The proposal has received in-principle approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said here on Tuesday.

“Since expenditure secretary, economic affairs secretary and road secretary are all there in the NHAI Board, what is the need of forming committees after committees for project approvals? There is no problem in giving powers to NHAI Board,” Gadkari said.

In a big blow to IT giant Infosys following the Brexit, Royal Bank of Scotland, one of its major clients, announced cancellation of the contract with the company as it plans to open a separate bank in the United Kingdom. The cancellation of the deal is likely to affect about 3,000 jobs at the company.

The contract was for a period of five years valued at Euro 300 million. While it said on Saturday, the company would ramp down about 3,000 employees, it clarified later on Tuesday that there would be no layoffs and the employees will be redeployed in other projects.

DETROIT (MICHIGAN): Ford Motor Co. intends to have a fully driverless vehicle on the road within five years. The car will initially be used for commercial ride-hailing or ride-sharing services, with sales to consumers coming later.

"This is a transformational moment in our industry and it is a transformational moment for our company," said CEO Mark Fields, as he announced the plan yesterday at Ford's Silicon Valley campus in Palo Alto, California.

India's third largest national mobile operator Idea Cellular has announced rapid expansion of the 4G LTE services in 390 towns across 32 districts of Maharashtra and Goa.

Idea has been the first and only service provider to offer 4G services in 300 towns of Maharashtra and Goa.

The journey of 34 cars of Maruti Suzuki being transported in barges along river Ganga from Varanasi to Haldia, covering a distance of 1,620 kilometres in six days, would transform the way cars are transported across the country, and its real impact could be seen in the cost of logistics.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, extended gains while the Nifty 50 index traded near the flat line in mid-morning trade. At 12:20 PM, the Sensex was up 55.53 points or 0.2% at 28,119.94.

The Nifty 50 index was currently up 8.80 points or 0.1% at 8,651.35. The Sensex rose 71.49 points, or 0.25% at the day's high of 28,136.10 in early trade. The index fell 40.25 points, or 0.14% at the day's low of 28,024.36 at the onset of trading session.

Unrelenting curfew by the authorities and protest shutdown called by the separatists crippled Kashmir Valley for the 36th consecutive day on Saturday.

Authorities continued curfew and restrictions at ten district headquarters in the valley in addition to the trouble torn towns of Sopore, Handwara, Trehgam, Awantipora and some others, a senior police official said here.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.