Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman lined up a record allocation for Indian Railways in her budget on Wednesday, at Rs 2.4 trillion, as the national transporter is looking for massive infrastructure expansion in coming years ahead.

During last year’s Budget, Sitharaman had allocated Rs 1,40,367.13 crore for the rail sector. "This is the highest ever outlay in the history of railways, almost nine times the outlay made in 2013-14," the finance minister said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying that he should stop making the people of Bihar "suffer" due to his governance.

Talking to ANI, the BJP leader said, "Bihar CM Nitish Kumar used to say that I will die but not form a coalition with Tejashwi Yadav. He must stop making the people of Bihar suffer due to his governance."

Gold prices fell Rs 170 on Wednesday, with 10 grams of the yellow metal (24-carat) trading at Rs 57,270. Silver prices fell Rs 100 from yesterday's close to Rs 72,300 per kg.

The price of 22-carat gold fell Rs 150 from yesterday's close to Rs 52,500, according to the GoodReturns website.

In Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad, 10 grams of 24-carat and 22-carat gold was selling at Rs 57,270 and Rs 52,500, respectively.

A selloff in Adani Group’s stocks intensified Wednesday, as the completion of a key share sale by the Indian conglomerate’s flagship firm failed to offset wider concerns arising from a US short seller’s fraud allegations.

Nine of the 10 stocks tied to billionaire Gautam Adani dropped in early Mumbai trading, with Adani Total Gas Ltd. leading the declines with a 10% plunge, a daily limit. Adani Enterprises Ltd., which completed a $2.5 billion follow-on stock sale Tuesday, lost 3.2%.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2023-24 in Parliament today, the last full Budget of the Modi government in its second term.

This year's Budget holds much significance as the country is scheduled to have the next Lok Sabha election in April-May 2024.

Shares of Apar Industries hit a new high of Rs 1,999, as they rallied 18 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade, extending its previous day surge after the company reported 210 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 170 crore in December quarter (Q3FY23), led by strong operational performance.

In past two trading days, the stock has zoomed 42 per cent. It surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,864, touched on January 5, 2023.

Gautam Adani, the richest Indian businessman, slipped out of the top 10 rankings of the world's richest, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Currently, his net worth stands at $84.4 billion. Bernard Arnault is the richest person on the earth with a net worth of $189 billion.

Arnault is followed by Elon Musk with a net worth of $160 billion and Jeff Bezos with $124 billion. Mukesh Ambani ranks 12th, one spot behind Adani in the list with the net worth of $82.2 billion.

India's solar module manufacturing capacity is expected to reach approximately 95 GW by the end of 2025, according to Mercom Capital.

The solar module manufacturing capacity as of September last year was 39 gigawatt (GW), the research firm said in its latest report.

Joining the mass layoff season, online marketplace OLX Group is slashing 15 per cent of its workforce, or more than 1,500 employees, globally including in India as part of restructuring amid the global meltdown and recession fears.

According to a report in VCCircle, citing sources, it was not clear how many Indian workers will be impacted in OLX layoffs.

Bharti Airtel is looking to raise entry-level tariff in all circles from Rs 99 to Rs 155, a report by Mint said. It has already done so in 18 out of its total 22 circles. It had started raising the tariff on November 21 in Odisha and Haryana.

It was followed by tariff hikes in Karnataka, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, the North-East, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (West) on January 24. Later, on December 25, it was hiked in Delhi, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.