Mumbai: Market benchmark Sensex failed to capitalize on early momentum and plunged over 362 points on Monday to end at 23,191.97, dragged down by profit-booking amid contraction in exports last month.

The broader NSE Nifty too struggled and settled below the crucial 7,100-level. Sentiment took a hit after country’s exports dipped for the 14th month in a row, down 13.6% in January to $21 billion due to fall in petroleum and engineering goods shipments, even as trade deficit showed improvement.

New Delhi: Reliance Communications Ltd’s (R-Com’s) plan to combine its wireless business with smaller rival Aircel Ltd to create a new entity is unlikely to be concluded within the 90 days that the telcos gave themselves to finalize the merger, company officials and analysts said

The merger is subject to the condition that the two parties each reduce their debt to less than Rs.10,000 crore. That condition is unlikely to be met unless R-Com manages to sell its tower assets and Aircel sells some of its spectrum.

In a departure from its current practice, state-owned carrier Air India has decided that in the future, it will hire all pilots on contract, thus doing away with the permanent-employee status for them.

Sources said that the airline is set to hire 532 pilots in the future and of these, 200-250 will be recruited in the current year. The practice of hiring pilots on a contractual basis was started last year when Air India recruited 70 pilots who are currently undergoing training. Now, the airline has decided to institutionalise this practice.

NEW DELHI: In a few months, colourful, lighter and easier-to-handle cooking gas cylinders will make their way into Indian kitchens, long used to heavy and potentially hazardous steel containers. Most importantly, the new composite cylinders, made of fibre, will be safer because they do not explode even when engulfed in fire, potentially saving thousands of lives, who fall victim to kitchen accidents every year.

NEW DELHI: The luxury retail arm of real estate major DLF plans to launch a new luxury property, The Chanakya, and bring in brands such as Longchamp, Hunkemoller, G Star Raw, Juicy Couture, La Perla and Chanel Beauty to its Emporio and Promenade malls this year, a top official said.

"It's a very exciting time for retail and we are excited that new brands looking to enter the country are doing it with us," said Dinaz Madhukar, senior vice president at DLF Luxury Retail.

Tata Motors, the country’s biggest vehicle maker, is said to be working on reducing the engine size for its diesel vehicles, in the wake of sales restrictions in this regard imposed for the Delhi-National Capital Region.

The company is looking to downsize engines to below 2,000cc (two litres) for its models from its sports and utility vehicle portfolio, to be able to resume sales in these areas. The Supreme Court had in December banned all sale of diesel vehicles of an engine size above 2,000cc in Delhi-NCR till end-March, as an anti-pollution measure.

Homegrown utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra plans to invest Rs 8,000 crore on its automotive plants in Maharashtra over the next seven years as part of its expansion plans.

"The company plans to make an investment of Rs 8,000 crore at the automotive plants in Maharashtra as part of its expansion plans," Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) today said in a regulatory filing.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) regulation on differential tariffs, which came into force from February 8, has thrown operators like Vodafone India and Idea Cellular into a tizzy. These operators do not have an operator-agnostic application like Bharti Airtel’s Wynk for movie and music downloads but have tie-ups with Hungama Play exclusively for their subscribers, where subscription charges are waived off for the first three months.

NEW DELHI: BML Munjal University has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Axis Bank to jointly work towards promoting cooperation and advancing academic and business exchanges.

The MoU will provide students who are enrolled in the first year MBA program, with an avenue to opt for an additional course. The objective of this new optional co-certification course is to make students aware of Banking Sector in India; as well as the products and services offered by Axis bank.

NEW DELHI: State-run BHEL today said that it has commissioned a 101 MW gas-based Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP) on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis, in Tripura.

"The power plant has been commissioned at Monarchak, 66 km from Agartala city. The order for the Advanced-class gas turbine-based 101 MW CCPP was placed on BHEL by North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited ( NEEPCO)," the company said in a press release.

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