The government has lowered the windfall tax on crude petroleum by Rs 1,300 to Rs 5,000 per tonne. The levy on jet fuel (ATF) has also been reduced to Rs 1.06 lakh per kilo litre (kL) from Rs 1.11 lakh/kL, according to media reports.

The Centre had earlier reduced the windfall tax on diesel and crude oil on November 16. The windfall tax on crude oil had been slashed to Rs 6,300 ($75.70) per tonne from Rs 9,800 a tonne, while for diesel, it was halved to Rs 1 per litre from Rs 2 per litre. The levy on the export of jet fuel and petrol was kept unchanged at zero.

The JSW group and SAIC Motor of China on Thursday signed a strategic joint venture (JV), with the Sajjan Jindal-led conglomerate holding a 35 per cent stake in the new entity. This marks the JSW group’s foray into the automobile sector -- a long-cherished dream of the 63-year-old billionaire.

A subsidiary of SAIC Motor, MG Motor India currently sells the MG Hector and Astor models of SUVs and the ZS and Comet models of electric vehicles.

Most exit polls on Thursday predicted a photo finish in Rajasthan, with a couple of them suggesting that the Congress could be on the cusp of breaking a quarter-century trend of the state’s electorate throwing out the party in power, and that the party was ahead of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana and set to return to power in Chhattisgarh.

The surprise, according to at least two exit polls, could be Madhya Pradesh (MP) where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might secure a historic landslide and the Zoram People’s Movement, contesting its first Assembly elections, likely to cross the majority mark in Mizoram.

Gandhar Oil Refinery (India) has made a robust stock market debut, with shares listed at Rs 298, a 76 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 169 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday. The stock of lubricants company started trade at Rs 295.40 on the bourses.

Post listing, the stock price of the company more-than-doubled or zoomed 104 per cent to Rs 344.60 on the BSE. At 10:02 AM; it was quoting at Rs 328.85, a 95 per cent premium over its issue price. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.33 per cent at 66,684.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday urged the people of Telangana to vote in record numbers in the assembly polls and strengthen the festival of democracy.

Polling is underway to elect 119 members of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, with voters queuing up to exercise their franchise amid tight security on Thursday.

The automotive engineering service provider Tata Technologies made its stock market debut with a bang on Thursday, far exceeding expectations on Dalal Street.

The stock listed at Rs 1,200, more than doubling investors' money. This was a premium of 140 per cent over the issue price of Rs 500. Just prior to its debut, the share was commanding a premium of 86 per cent or Rs 430 in the grey market. The share extended the rally and touched an intra-day high of Rs 1,400, up 180 per cent over the issue price.

The price of 24-carat gold jumped Rs 820 during early trade on Monday, with ten grams of the precious metal selling for Rs 63,380, according to the GoodReturns website. The price of silver rose Rs 700, with one kilogram of the precious metal selling at Rs 79,200.

The price of 22-carat gold climbed Rs 750, with the yellow metal selling at Rs 58,100.

Indian markets on Wednesday hit the historic $4 trillion market cap milestone for the first time. Currently, there are only three countries in the $4-trillion-plus mcap club--US, China and Japan. Hong Kong too, is part of the club. However, a large contribution is on account of companies belonging elsewhere, mainly China.

Market value of all BSE-listed companies currently is at a record high of Rs 333 trillion, translating into $4 trillion.

India’s busy market for initial public offerings is set to get a boost as shares of Tata Technologies Ltd., the first company from the salt-to-software conglomerate to list since 2004, begin trading in Mumbai Thursday.

Tata Technologies’ IPO raised Rs 3,040 crore ($365 million), with shares being sold at Rs 500 each, the top of the marketed range. Demand exceeded shares on offer by 69 times, as investors piled into the engineering unit of luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover’s owner Tata Motors Ltd.

Parent Tata Sons plans to tender 29.6 million shares in the Rs 17,000-crore buyback of flagship Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software exporter disclosed in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

If all the shares are accepted, Tata Sons will be able to mop up Rs 12,284 crore — nearly three-fourths of the buyback amount. At the end of the September quarter, the promoter holding in TCS stood at 72.3 per cent.

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