Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)'s crackdown on shady foreign flows will impact only a minuscule part of outstanding investments under the participatory note (P-note) route.

According to an assessment done by the regulator, only about $550 million (Rs 3,400 crore) worth of P-notes are held by entities that don't qualify under the country's new Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations. That's around 1.3 per cent of the total value of P-note investments, debt and equity, as on October 2014. According to Sebi data, the total value of investments coming through this route -typically used by entities that are not directly registered with Sebi - stood at Rs 2,65,675 crore ($43 billion).

Markets surged in opening trades to hit record highs with the Sensex topping the 28,800 mark but retreated later as traders turned cautious and booked profits at higher levels.

By 9:30, the Sensex was higher by 175 points at 28,618 whereas the Nifty gained by 88 points at 8,625. Sensex and Nifty have hit the fresh record high of 28,809 and 8,627, respectively.

HDFC Bank has become the first bank to rule out a joint venture partnership with any applicant for a payment bank.

We will not do a joint venture for a payment bank. We are a full bank ourselves and so we don’t need to form an alliance, said Aditya Puri, MD, HDFC Bank.

Shares of ICICI Bank has touched fresh record high of Rs 366, up nearly 2% on BSE after the stock turned ex-stock split today.

The stock opened at Rs 363 and has seen a combined around one shares changed hands till 0917 hours on NSE and BSE.

Sebi has directed Moneyworld Research to immediately stop providing investment advisory services with regard to the securities market and withdraw all the related advertisements.

Securities and Exchange Board of India said it prima facie found that Moneyworld Research and Advisory Pvt Ltd was offering trading tips to investors without obtaining requisite registration to act as an investment adviser.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has initiated penalty proceedings against real estate major DLF and its promoters. According to sources, the markets regulator is examining the role of over 40 entities in the matter of inadequate disclosures during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) 2007.

These proceedings are on under the Sebi Act sections pertaining to penalty for fraudulent and unfair trade practices (FUTP) and where there is no provision of a separate penalty.

Private sector commercial bank Axis Bank is expecting its credit card business doubling in terms of volume during the next three years. It is expecting the credit card spend to grow two to three times from the current Rs 1,000 crore, by the time, said Jairam Sridharan, president - retail lending and payments, Axis Bank.

Speaking to reporters in Chennai about the Bank's retail lending portfolio, he said, "The credit card business is expected to grow at a healthy level in the future. At present we have 1.5 million credit cards and we are expecting this to double in next three years."

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar was on Wednesday injured when he slipped during morning walk at his residence here and has been taken to Mumbai by air ambulance.

Mr. Pawar (73) suffered injury in his leg and apparently in his back and will be admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, sources said.

Markets opened flat but slipped into negative territory weighed down by profit taking in IT majors and index heavyweight ITC.

At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 52 points at 28,392 and the 50-share Nifty was down 13 points at 8,512.

Despite a 35 per cent rally in the equity market, India Inc has managed to raise only less than Rs 900 crore, lowest in more than a decade, through four initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2014. This was the main topic of discussion at the Primary Market Advisory Committee (PMAC), a Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) expert panel, meeting held on December 1, sources said.

At the meeting, the capital market regulator sought feedback from industry players on why there are few companies coming forward with IPO plans, despite encouraging investor appetite.

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