China has cut interest rates for a fifth time in nine months in a fresh effort to boost growth in the real economy following the stock market rout, which extended into Tuesday.

The central bank said on Tuesday that the benchmark rate for a one-year loan will be cut by 0.25 percentage point to 4.6 per cent. The one-year rate for deposits will fall by a similar margin to 1.75 per cent.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), on Wednesday again plunged 312.59 points or 1.20 per cent during the morning session.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also plummeted 84.55 points or 1.07 per cent and was trading at 7,796.15 points.

Three people were killed in Ahmedabad, in the late night violence that erupted in many parts of Gujarat, following the arrest of Hardik Patel, who was spearheading a campaign demanding OBC status to Patel community. He was released later.

A few areas in Ahmedabad, Surat, Mehsana, Visnagar, and Unjha were placed under curfew on Wednesday, while in other places paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure law and order situation in the state as Gujarat remained closed for the day.

Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced a donation of $35 million (nearly Rs 231.77 crore) to the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the largest gift this top American educational institute has received from outside the United States.

The donation will be used for setting up a new facility at its campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and providing scholarships for students.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India, the country's largest investor, bought just under 86 percent of shares sold by the government earlier this week in state-run refiner and fuel retailer Indian Oil Corp, a regulatory filing showed.

New Delhi is seeking to raise as much as $11 billion by selling stakes in state-run firms this year. While LIC is a frequent back up for government sales, the sum it bought on Monday, amid a stock market rout, is likely to raise questions over the future of the sell-off programme.

In July, Google paired up with Tata Trusts to launch an initiative to provide rural women in India with internet literacy. Named “Internet Saathi,” the initiative will use “internet cycle carts” (bicycles, basically) to reach rural villages and educate women on the basic benefits of using the internet.

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart today announced that it launched Ping, which is designed as a fun new way to shop with friends. With this move, the seven-year-old start-up is attempting to make online shopping a more social affair.

“Shopping is primarily a social activity and going for it with friends and family has been the norm since time immemorial. Online shopping, on the other hand, has largely remained a solo experience. Ping aims to transform online shopping by allowing users to talk to each other [in] real-time in order to make decisions and decide on what to buy,” said Flipkart’s chief product officer, Punit Soni.

The National Green Tribunal today flayed Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for running its air conditioned buses without passengers for a major part of the day.

Irked at improper maintenance of the DTC buses, the green panel also issued notice to the Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, which supply buses, and directed their senior-most official to be present on next date of hearing.

Microsoft said today its Cortana virtual assistant software was available to users of Android mobile devices.

Microsoft Cortana is tech giant’s answer to Apple’s Siri and Google Now, which respond to voice commands on mobile devices.

Shares of power generation companies are trading at multi-year lows on the bourses.

Reliance Power (Rs 33) and Adani Power (Rs 20) are trading at lifetime lows, while state-owned power major NTPC is quoting at Rs 107, its lowest level since July 2006.

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