Ahead of his arrival in the US, a federal court here has issued summons against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged role in the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat when he was the state's chief minister.

The summons against Modi were issued yesterday by the US Federal Court for the Southern District of New York following a lawsuit filed by the New York-based American Justice Center (AJC), a non-profit human rights organisation, along with two survivors of the violence.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said Pakistan “spoiled the talks” by talking to Hurriyat leaders just ahead of foreign secretaries of the two nations were scheduled to meet in Islamabad last month.

“New government has given a new signal. So they (Pakistan) spoiled the talks, they spoiled the game,” Swaraj told Indian reporters in New York after her meeting with the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) foreign ministers on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly session.

After opening in red, markets have turned flat in the morning trades as gains in oil and metal shares cap losses in the defensive stocks.

At 10.40 AM, the 30-share Sensex is down 3 points at 26,465 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 1 point at 7,913.

The dollar hit a four-year high as the yield difference between US Treasuries and German Bunds widened to the highest in nearly 15 years on Thursday, while global equity markets fell sharply as the stronger dollar pointed to potential earnings losses.

Weak European economic data on Wednesday also helped push the euro lower, while the strong dollar knocked down oil, gold and other commodity prices on Thursday.

Asserting that there is a high tide of hope for change in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the country will be open and friendly for business and ideas to make it a new global manufacturing hub.

We will create world-class infrastructure that India badly needs to accelerate growth and meet people's basic needs. We will make our cities and towns habitable, sustainable and smart; and we will make our villages the new engines of economic transformation, Modi said.

For the first time, the 100 richest tycoons in India are all billionaires, with Mukesh Ambani topping the league, according to Forbes.

With a net worth of $23.6 billion, up $2.6 billion from past year, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani topped the list for an eighth consecutive year. Ambani was followed by Dilip Shanghvi, founder of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, who got richer by $4.1 billion this year. Shanghvi is at number 2, after he displaced steel baron Lakshmi Mittal ($15.8 billion), who slipped to fifth place.

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio Infocomm, on Thursday, said it had raised $750 million as a loan backed by Korea Exim Bank, to partly fund infrastructure spending.

The loan is guaranteed by Reliance Industries and will be primarily used to finance goods and services procured from Samsung Electronics for the infrastructure roll-out of Reliance Jio, the company stated. The loan is for 12 years that includes a two-year availability period and repayable over 10 years thereafter. This is the first loan between Reliance group and Korea Exim Bank. The deal is Korea Exim Bank’s largest telecom infrastructure financing till date and the largest deal in India.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, committing himself to PM Narendra Modi's 'Make In India' project, on Thursday said the long term GDP growth potential of india is eight to ten percent and that India is poised on high growth trajectory.

Ambani said 'Make in India'is a coinage typical of "narendra bhai modiji". It is about present and future, and not past as described by "made in India".

There is a marginal improvement in the flood situation in lower Assam districts, and the water level has also receded in the worst hit areas of Goalpara and Kamrup Districts

According to sources, the death toll in the state has gone up to 33 and over eight lakh people have been affected badly by the floods.

Shares Jaypee Group companies such as Jaiprakash Associates, Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd (JPVL) and Jaypee Infratech have plunged by up to 24% after Reliance Power called off a deal with Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd (JPVL) to buy the JVPL’s entire hydel power portfolio.

“Due to prevailing regulatory uncertainties and tariff issues, which impact valuations, Reliance Power and JPVL have terminated discussions regarding Reliance Power’s acquisition of JPVL’s hydro portfolio of three projects, with an aggregate capacity of 1,791 mega watts, Reliance Power said in a statement.

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