Banking shares continued under pressure with the Nifty Bank index hitting 15-months low on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

At 03:03 p.m. Nifty Bank index, gauge of private and public sector bank index, was down 1.7% or 257 points at 15,614 as compared to 0.47% decline in the Nifty 50. The bank index hit an intra-day low of 15,453, its lowest level since October 13, 2014, in early morning trade.

ICICI Bank-country's largest private sector lender- has managed to cross home loan disbursal of Rs 1 lakh crore, it said in a release. The lender said that it is the first amongst the private banks to have crossed this mark.

Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said that several steps taken by the bank such as taking home loans to smaller towns, making applications easier for the borrowers and offering doorstep services and disbursing loans quickly has helped them in taking the lead.

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India today said it will offer driver airbag as an option in all variants of its entry level models Alto 800 and Alto K10.

Alto 800 variants with driver airbag are priced between Rs 2.62 lakh and 3.78 lakh while Alto K10 is priced between Rs 3.45 lakh and Rs 4.08 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

BENGALURU: State Bank of India, the nation's top lender by assets, has launched a new wealth management services unit, and branches to cater to start-ups, as competition with private sector rivals is rising and as its core business is seeing sluggish growth.

The wealth management unit and the first bank branch for start-ups will begin operations from India's technology hub Bengaluru before these are expanded to other parts of the country, SBI, majority-owned by the Indian government, said in a statement.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee recovered marginally in mid-day trade after weakening to a 28-month low against the US dollar, as some exporters sold dollars.

At 2.10pm, the rupee was trading at 67.14 per dollar, down 0.42% from its previous close of 66.85. The local currency had hit a low of 67.20 —a level last seen on 4 September 2013—after opening the session at 67.05 a dollar.

New Delhi: The India-Pakistan foreign secretary-level talks scheduled to be held on Friday have been rescheduled, the Press Trust of India reported, citing the Pakistan foreign ministry.

The talks were meant to chalk out the way forward after the two countries announced the start of a fresh bilateral dialogue in December.

With 60 per cent of the world’s population still offline, institutional and regulatory barriers to efficiency are exacerbating the problem of low and unevenly distributed “digital dividends” from growing Internet penetration across countries, a new World Bank study has found.

In its annual World Development Report (WDR) the Bank appeared to strike a balance between outlining the positive outcomes from a deepening digital economy in countries such as India, and the fact that automation of jobs was in some cases leading to inequalities in the labour market between high-skill and low-skill workers.

Despite a string of brand failures around it, Pulsar has managed to stand out from the crowd. With not less than eight models under its fold, Pulsar has been the most hardworking brand for Bajaj Auto, India's second-largest two-wheeler manufacturer.

After a three-year hiatus, the Pune-based company launched three Pulsar models in quick succession during the last calendar year.

Reliance Communications (RCom) today said stock exchanges BSE and NSE gave their go-ahead to its deal to acquire Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian telecom unit, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL).

"We wish to inform you that we have received observation letter from BSE Ltd and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)," Reliance Communications said in a BSE filing.

IT major Infosys today said the recent H1B visa fee hike by the US is likely to have less than 0.3% impact on its margins.

The company is also working on utilising other levers like increasing onsite recruitment to mitigate the situation in the longer term.

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