MUMBAI: Country's largest lender State Bank Of India is all set to become the first bank to offer wallet services for feature phone users. SBI is set to launch mobile wallet "Batua" next month and the service will be available to existing as well as non-SBI customers. The application will be available on Java-enabled mobile phones.

"We want to cater to both India and Bharat and this new initiative is part of our efforts to cater to Bharat," a State Bank of India official, who did not wish to be named, said.

Seeking to strengthen Indo-UK economic ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left for Britain to begin his first visit to the country during which he will have a hectic schedule that will start with talks with his British counterpart David Cameron.

"Leaving for UK. I am hopeful this visit will strengthen economic ties between India and UK & bring more investment to India. #makeinindia," he tweeted before starting his three-day visit.

Villages in India face a sharp spike in food prices in 2016, as a second year of drought drives up the cost of ingredients such as sugar and milk, and poor transport infrastructure stops falling global prices from reaching rural areas.

India's first back-to-back drought in three decades also complicates government spending calculations as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries to prune a subsidy regime that has long propped up the rural economy, and he can ill afford to alienate rural voters after a bruising weekend electoral defeat in Bihar.

Indian equity, forex, money and commodity markets will remain closed today on account of Diwali Balipratipada.

On Wednesday, special ‘Muhurat’ trading session was held for an hour to mark the beginning of Samvat 2072, the Hindu New Year.

Domestic handset-maker Intex Technologies on Tuesday launched another smartphone Aqua Super at a price of Rs.10,390 in a further expansion of its series of 3GB RAM phones.

The 4G-enabled phone comes with a 5-inch HD IPS display and is powered by a 1GHz Mediatek quad-core processor.

Bajaj Auto saw sales decline 1.09% to 2,02,042 units in October as against 2,04,281 units in the year-ago month, SIAM said.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bike sales decline marginally to 1,61,585 units as against 1,62,204 units in October last year.

The behaviour of ex-servicemen protesting the notification on OROP scheme is unlike that of a soldier and they have been misguided, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday, a day after the war veterans decided to return their medals.

He termed one rank, one pension (OROP) decision as his biggest achievement in the last one year and said it was the BJP government that had finalised the measure.

Shares of refinery companies are under pressure with the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index falling nearly 4% in late noon trades.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Cairn India have plunged more than 5% each, while Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) down 3%-4% on the BSE.

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Idea Cellular and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries from the Nifty 50 companies have hit their respective 52-week lows on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Adani Ports has dipped 5% to Rs 262, its 52-week low on the NSE. The stock slipped 8% in two trading days from Rs 285 after the company through its subsidiary Adani Kattupalli Port, has entered into an in principle agreement for the strategic acquisition of the Kattupalli Port in Tamil Nadu from L&T Shipbuilding.

Car sales surged 21.8 per cent in October, 12th consecutive month of growth, as robust festive season purchases brought much needed cheer to the auto industry.

According to the data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic car sales in October this year stood at 1,94,158 units as compared to 1,59,408 units in the same month of 2014.

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