India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) hopes to agree new cheaper drilling contracts for its western offshore fields, two sources involved in the matter said, in its biggest ever cost-saving drive in response to lower crude prices.

The state-owned explorer wants to end existing expensive contracts for drilling rigs signed in the fiscal year 2014-15 when crude prices averaged $85 a barrel and to sign new ones at a lower price.

Facing a severe financial crunch, the railways ministry is said to be mulling an increase of up to 10 per cent in passenger fares. If approved, the increased rates will fetch Indian Railways (IR) an additional Rs 5,000 crore, partially offsetting the impact of the Pay Commission recommendations and the cut in the Centre’s financial assistance or Gross Budgetary Support (GBS).

The ministry is likely to announce the decision soon, seeking to maximise gains from the increased volumes in the peak season beginning March.

Cigarettes to consumer goods major ITC Ltd on Wednesday unveiled three major projects in West Bengal, where it is headquartered, which could mean an investment of nearly Rs 3,000 crore.

These projects involve two integrated consumer goods manufacturing facilities in Uluberia (400,000 sq ft) and Panchla (800,000 sq ft) and an information technology (IT) facility (2.7 million sq ft) in Rajarhat, near the state’s capital.

Tata Motors today reported 16% increase in its global sales, including that of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles, at 93,355 units in January.

The company had sold 80,499 units in January 2015, Tata Motors said in a statement.

NGAPORE: Gold rose for an eighth session out of nine on Wednesday, climbing towards a 7-1/2-month high as investors sought the safe-haven asset amid tumbling stock markets and concerns about the global economy.

NGAPORE: Gold rose for an eighth session out of nine on Wednesday, climbing towards a 7-1/2-month high as investors sought the safe-haven asset amid tumbling stock markets and concerns about the global economy.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday was trading little changed against the US dollar in mid-day trading session.

At 2.14pm, the home currency was trading at 67.91, down 0.02% from its previous close of 67.90. The local currency opened at 67.90 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 67.84 and 67.99, respectively.

Caracas: Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC), India’s biggest explorer, may invest as much as a half billion dollars to revive a faltering Venezuelan field.

The company’s overseas unit ONGC Videsh Ltd, which owns a 40% stake in the San Cristobal field in the Orinoco heavy-oil belt, is seeking to boost output with partner Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said P.K. Rao, director of operations at ONGC Videsh.

Punjab National Bank (PNB), the fourth largest state-owned bank by assets, announced December quarter earnings on Tuesday that highlighted the huge problem of troubled loans haunting public sector banks, sending an unambiguous message that despite the rosy GDP numbers, what lurks beneath is ugly.

Gross non-performing assets touched 8.5% of the loan book, jumping by more than half from September-end, as a result of a review of loans initiated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as part of a cleaning-up exercise. Stressed assets, which include bad loans plus restructured assets, increased to 17.6%.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries are now looking to supply coal to consumers above the trigger level to clear its 40 million tonne pithead stock, without which it has to think of scaling down production.

The trigger level for the power sector, under the new coal distribution policy, was decided at 65% of the annual contracted quantity (ACQ), whereas the fuel supply agreements (FSAs) were signed for an ACQ of 65% of the total requirement.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty fell for the third straight session and hit their fresh 52-week lows on Wednesday on rising concerns over a spike in bad loans of public sector banks amid global sell-off. Sensex closed 262 points down at 23,758.90, while Nifty settled 76.80 points down at 7221.40. Weakness in the Indian rupee against dollar too weighed on the market sentiment.

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