The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued a consultation paper on Tuesday on proposed regulations for crowdfunding, the term for collecting small amounts of capital from a large number of investors through social networks or other web-based platforms.

Sebi wants reactions by July 16. It has proposed that crowdfunding only take place through Sebi-recognised platforms. Entities which qualify include stock exchanges, depositories, technology incubators and associations of private equity or angel investors.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has tightened norms governing debt public offerings.

Bringing in some elements of initial public offering (IPO) guidelines, the regulator has prescribed minimum subscription limit of 75 per cent for public issue of debt securities. Failing to garner minimum subscription of 75 per cent of the base issue size, the issuer will have to refund application money to investors within 12 days of issue closing.

The headcount in India’s top private banks is on the rise, despite a slowing economy and uncertain business environment. Large private banks in the country appear to be on a hiring spree, with many of them doubling their staff count in the last five years.

ICICI Bank, the largest private sector lender in India, closed last financial year with 72,226 employees compared to 35,256 staff at the end of March 2010. HDFC Bank increased its headcount to 68,165 from 51,888, while Axis Bank almost doubled its number of employees to 42,420 during this period.

The West Bengal government has asked the Hindustan Motors management to submit a detailed revival package for its closed Uttarpara plant in the next two days.

"The management has been told to submit a revival package by June 19 and also how the company plans to clear the dues of workers," Labour Secretary Amol Roy Chowdhury told reporters after a tripartite meeting called by him. The management side was represented by its CEO Moloy Chowdhury and a senior executive of the company. All the six registered trade unions of the plant were also present at the tripartite.

Less than 24 hours before its annual general meeting, the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reached out to its shareholders through a document titled 'India has never been here before. Facts you did not know about KG-D6'.

"This compilation is an attempt to inform and debate with facts so that rhetoric and illogic don't drown out the serious issue of India's energy security," RIL said. In the 38-page report, across 10 chapters, RIL explained how it entered the exploration and production business; the history of the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (Nelp) and the introduction of production-sharing contracts (PSCs).

The BJP being in power both at the Centre and in Gujarat may pave the way for an amicable out-of-court settlement of the decade-old dispute between ONGC and the state government over the quantum of royalty.

Official sources said one possible option could be to ask ONGC to accept a formula that could prospectively reduce its subsidy outgo. The state-run firm may, however, have to agree to pay the Rs 10,000-crore dues to Gujarat till September 2013 as directed by the Gujarat High Court in November last year.

We reiterate our buy rating on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with a target price of Rs 2,570 per share, valuing the stock at 20x FY16f EPS of Rs 128. The 20x multiple is at the higher end of TCS’ historical valuation range. We expect this to sustain on higher predictability of growth/margins and better positioning to benefit from the demand upturn.

Markets have turned absolutely flat after making a marginally lower opening weighed down by global markets and financials.

By 9:30, the Sensex was lower by 2 points at 25,189 and the Nifty slipped by 3 points at 7,531 mark.

On the global front, Asian shares struck a cautious tone on Tuesday as the double-whammy of a deepening conflict in Iraq and a gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia sapped investors' appetite for risk.

Shares of information technology (IT) companies are trading higher for the fourth consecutive trading session as the Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, MphasiS, Hexaware Technologies, Mindtree and Tech Mahindra are up 1-2%, each in early morning deals on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The government might go for a one-time increase in the price of diesel to bring down the entire underrecovery of oil marketing companies (OMCs) on this count to zero and raise the rates for subsidised cooking gas, in phases (tranches of Rs 50 each are possible).

The Narendra Modi government is also likely to go for a rise in kerosene oil prices in phases, for the first time since June 2011.

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