The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a hike of Rs 100 in cooking gas subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). The scheme currently provides poor households a targeted subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) . The PMUY beneficiaries will now get a subsidy of Rs 300 per LPG cylinder on market price.

As a result, PMUY beneficiaries in Delhi will now pay Rs 603 for every 14.2-kg LPG cylinder against the market price of Rs 903.

HDFC Bank disbursed home loans worth Rs 48,000 crore in July-September, representing 14 per cent growth sequentially and 10.5% growth over the year-ago period on erstwhile HDFC’s loan book. July-September was the bank’s first quarter after merging with mortgage financier HDFC Ltd. HDFC Bank did not sell home loans earlier, but acted as a distribution agent for HDFC.

“Home loan disbursals during the first quarter post-merger were the best ever at Rs 480 billion. This is a growth of 14.0% over the quarter ending June 30, 2023, and a growth of 10.5% over the quarter ending September 30, 2022,” said HDFC Bank in a notification to the exchanges.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) announced on Wednesday that its Power Transmission & Distribution business has secured an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) order from West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited. The order is for setting up wet Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) systems at its thermal power plant located in Sagardighi, West Bengal.

The project features include three FGD absorbers catering to four thermal power units (2x300 MW, 2x500 MW).

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said he believes artificial general intelligence (AGI), artificial intelligence that surpasses human intelligence in almost all areas, will be realised within 10 years.

Speaking at the SoftBank World corporate conference, Son said he believes AGI will be ten times more intelligent than the sum total of all human intelligence. He noted the rapid progress in generative AI that he said has already exceeded human intelligence in certain areas.

A sudden cloud burst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim resulting in a flash flood in the Teesta River in Lachen Valley. The situation was exacerbated by the release of water from the Chungthang dam, leading to 23 army personnel being washed away, according to defence officials as reported by news agency PTI.

The floods began around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Shares of Nestle India surged 4 per cent to Rs 23,333.65 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade in an otherwise weak market after the company announced that the board will meet on October 19 to consider a stock split proposal. The board will also consider declaration of second interim dividend for the year 2023, if any.

The stock of packaged foods company was trading close to its 52-week high of Rs 23,390 hit on July 17, 2023. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.72 per cent at 65,042 at 09:22 AM.

The price of 24-carat gold declined Rs 660 during Wednesday's early trade, with ten grams of the precious metal selling at Rs 57,380, according to the GoodReturns website. The price of silver fell sharply by Rs 2,000 to Rs 71,000 per kilogram.

The price of 22-carat gold fell Rs 600 to Rs 52,600.

Vedanta Ltd will complete the sale of its steel assets by the end of this financial year, its chairman Anil Agarwal said in an interview on Tuesday. The company began the review of its steel and steel raw material business - formed through the acquisition of ESL Steel in 2018 for Rs 5,230 crore - in June, looking to sell the company to focus on its core mining businesses.

Last week, Vedanta announced its board had approved a pure-play, asset-owner business model that would ultimately result in six separate listed firms.

In a sign of further escalation of tensions between New Delhi and Ottawa, India has told Canada to withdraw 41 of its diplomats from the country by October 10, The Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday.

India has told Canada that if any of these diplomats stay after October 10, their diplomatic immunity will be revoked. Earlier, New Delhi had said it wanted "parity" in the number and grade of diplomats between India and Canada. Notably, Ottawa has many more diplomats in New Delhi than India has in Canada.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Chittorgarh, criticised Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government, highlighting concerns about corruption and women's safety. He expressed pain over the high crime rates in the state, particularly crimes against women, riots, and atrocities against Dalits and backward classes. The Prime Minister stated that the Congress has made these issues a tradition in Rajasthan. He also added that they would take action against the "corruption" of the Congress-led state government once the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the upcoming state assembly elections in Rajasthan.

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