As Piyush Goyal, union coal and energy minister, remains firm on the decision to offload an additional 10% stake in Coal India, bringing down the government's share in the state-owned miner from the existing 79.65%, he is challenged with another outcry poised to break out March-end this year.

Four major trade unions affiliated with the Congress-backed INTUC and the Leftist CITU, AITUC and HMS together — representing about 80 % of the miner's workforce — have consented to a series of action plan to protest the disinvestment move as well as force the government to address key issues related to contractual workers.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty pared some of their gains on Monday in late hour of trade and closed on a flat note on account of selling in frontline blue chip stocks taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments also came under pressure after Moody’s poll stated that the greatest challenge facing the Indian economy is exposure to external shocks such as interest rate hike in the US and slowdown in China and the risk has risen since last year. Sensex closed 50.29 points up at 24,485.95, while Nifty 50 index settled 13.70 points up at 7,436.15.

Mumbai: The capital markets regulator has suggested the finance ministry set up a task force to attract global pension funds to India, according to two people privy to the developments.

The task force will have representatives from the finance ministry, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and market participants, who have experience in dealing with pension funds. The idea is to draw long-term and more stable money into the Indian capital markets.

HDFC Bank on Monday reported 20.1 per cent growth in net profit to Rs. 3,356.8 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal on higher interest income.

The private sector bank had a net profit of Rs. 2,791 crore in the October-December quarter of last fiscal.

The government announced the list of awardees of civilian gallantary awards Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri on the eve of the Republic day.

Actor Rajinikanth, media baron Ramoji Rao, former J&K Governor Jagmohan and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will be awarded the Padma Vibhushan.

The earnings season so far has been by and large disappointing with most heavyweights not living up to expectations —TCS, Wipro, ITC and Idea Cellular have all turned in numbers that were below estimates — and just a couple of strong performances from Infosys and Reliance Industries. A sluggish economy, in which there is very little investment taking place and unutilised capacity remains high, has virtually killed the demand for capital goods.

2015, a slow year: Tata Motors underperformed the Sensex by 20% last year as the high-margin China market slowed down, new model ramp-up was slower than market expectations and JLR margins came down from 19% in F2Q15 to 12% in F2Q16. Despite a mixed macro outlook for 2016, we believe TTMT will have a better year ahead.

Jaguar’s best phase ever: We introduce the Morgan Stanley Proprietary model cycle index and note that Jaguar is embarking on its most ambitious model cycle since 2000, and we expect 34% FY15-18 volume CAGR (compound annual growth rate) in the brand.

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways is targeting a higher share of non-railway revenue in the next five years to augment tariff-based operations. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has asked SBI Cap, the investment banking arm of the State Bank of India, to draw up a plan that will lean heavily on asset monetisation and providing end-to-end solutions to customers.

The other element of improving railway finances over the medium term is the creation of a holding company structure for the organisation that will allow the Railways to leverage its companies more for both raising resources and also keeping them within the organisation, Prabhu told ET. SBI Caps is in charge of this process as well.

Adani Gas-Indian Oil combine, GAIL Gas, Gujarat Gas and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd​ (BPCL) are among 18 companies that have bid for licence to retail CNG to automobiles in 20 cities like North Goa and Bhatinda.

Of the 34 cities that oil regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board​ (PNGRB) had offered in the sixth round of bidding, 56 bids from 18 companies were received for 20 cities, official sources said.

Switzerland is "extremely keen" on greater cooperation in India's fight against suspected black money stashed in Swiss banks and is putting in place a new law on automatic information exchange that will take about a year to come into force, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.

Till the time the new law comes into force, the Swiss government will continue to provide account details as per the evidence provided by the Indian authorities under an existing arrangement, he added.

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.