Today Sector News – 20.04.2018

Today Sector News – 20.04.2018

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* AUTOMOBILE: German luxury car maker BMW has launched the new version of its SUV X3 priced at 5 mln rupees and 5.67 mln rupees (ex-showroom).

* AVIATION: Any entity having adequate finances and ability to run Air India can bid for 76% stake in the national carrier, said an official. The government says it has received many queries from a number of aviation and non-aviation companies for Air India.

* BANKING: Over 1,200 non-banking financial companies, recently flagged off as 'highly risky' and prone to not complying with a provision of the anti-money laundering law, have submitted their  records to the government to be identified as legally compliant. The government has approached the RBI to relax norms for non-performing assets or bad loans in case of small and mid-sized businesses to help them tide over the cash crunch problem.

* CORPORATE: Former foreign secretary S. Jaishankar is slated to join Tata Sons as its head of global strategy, and has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a waiver of the mandatory cooling-off period for bureaucrats seeking commercial employment.

* DEFENCE: China has reached out to India with an offer to resume military exchanges that it had put on an unexplained hold just before the Dokalam standoff, ahead of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's visit. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has said India is shelving $8.63-bln advanced fighter aircraft project with Russia.

* ECONOMY: N.K. Singh, the chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, has assured Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Pannerselvam, that fiscal needs of each state will be individually assessed and their special characteristics will be kept in view.

* EXCHANGES: India's leading stock exchanges National Stock Exchange and BSE plan to enter the commodity derivatives market.

* INFRASTRUCTURE: Ircon International and Patel Infrastructure are among the five players that have bagged contracts to build the first phase of Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway.

* MINING: To preempt crunch in supply of non-coal minerals when 288 merchant mining leases expire in April 2020, the government has amended the rules for mineral concession and development to pave way for re-auctioning of these leases even before their expiry.

* REAL ESTATE: The Supreme Court has allowed Sahara Group to sell a part of the Aamby Valley property and deposit the proceeds in the Securities and Exchange Board of India-Sahara refund account by May 15.

* STEEL: The National Company Law Tribunal's Ahmedabad bench has asked lenders to Essar Steel to reconsider the bids submitted by Nu Metal & Steel and ArcelorMittal, according to media reports and a statement from one of the bidders.

* TELECOMMUNICATION: India and Finland have reached an accord on the tax dispute with Nokia under the Mutual Agreement Procedure, clearing the way for the sale of the company's Chennai plant, which has been idle for more than three years.

* TRANSPORT: A group of state transport ministers constituted by the Union roads ministry has recommended a uniform structure of road tax for vehicles across the country, apart from suggesting a hike in road tax for diesel vehicles by 2% and lowering the levy on electric vehicles.