Retail inflation spikes to 3.99% in September on costlier food items

• The price rise in the food basket was recorded at 5.11% in September, as against 2.99% in the preceding month
• However, the headline inflation still remained within the comfort zone of the Reserve Bank

IRCTC delivers country's best trading debut in two years, shares zoom 128%

• The stock closed at ₹728.6 on the BSE after listing at ₹644; during the day, it jumped 132.43% to hit a high of ₹743.8
• The ₹645-crore IPO was in a price range of ₹315-320 per share

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer win Nobel Prize for Economics

• Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo are with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michael Kremer is with Harvard University
• The Nobel prize committee said the research conducted by this year’s laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty

Nirmala Sitharaman meets PSU banks, assures of 'enough liquidity' in system

• According to returns filed by large corporates, as much as ₹40,000 crore is due to the MSME sector, Sitharaman said
• Finance Secretary Rajeev Kumar said ₹81,781 crore was disbursed in the outreach programme or loan mela

NCLAT stays sale of Bhushan Power to Sajjan Jindal's JSW Steel

• JSW Steel had in September acquired debt-ridden BPSL under the IBC with an offer of ₹19,700 crore
• NCLAT asked the ED to release the assets of Bhushan Power worth around ₹4,025 crore

RBI hikes PMC Bank withdrawal limit to ₹40,000

• This means about 77% of the depositors of PMC Bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance
• Meanwhile, assets worth ₹3,830 crore have been seized in the PMC bank money laundering case

Opinion | The lure of PSU shares

• The IRCTC had set an issue price of ₹320 in its nearly ₹645-crore IPO of equity, but its share listed at double the price

Here’s why DMart’s margin improvement did not impress investors

• DMart’s shares declined by about 1% in early deals on Monday
• DMart shares have increased as much as 34% since its June quarter results

Need enabling regulatory environment in telecom sector: Kumar Mangalam Birla

• 'We seek an enabling regulatory environment so that we can make the necessary investment in this sector'
• 'We look forward to working with the government to take the leap for the next wave of growth'

Total buys 37.4% stake in Adani Gas for ₹5,662 crore

• Adani family and TOTAL SA shareholders will ultimately hold 37.4% each and public shareholders the remaining 25.2%
• As part of the existing Joint Venture, Adani and Total in the coming years will also target to build a fuel retail network of 1,500 retail stations

Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing are different peas stuck in same pod

• Difference between Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing’s market value has narrowed recently
• Variance between bank, non-bank has blurred as Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing struggle for capital

Should PMC Bank case worry co-operative bank customers?

• Co-operative banks are regulated by RBI and by respective state governments
• The RBI has always been attentive to customer’s interests, especially on small savings in co-operative and commercial banks

Ericsson, Airtel present India’s first 5G powered ‘connected music’ performance

• The ultra-low latency of the 5G network powered the connected music showcase at the IMC
• Ericsson has been the first to deploy live 5G networks across four continents

Apple iPhones are in demand again, here's why

• Falling prices and the inevitable aging of older models are seeing a rise in demand for the new iPhones
• The average iPhone user upgrades every four years, analysts estimate, so handsets purchased in 2015 are likely to be replaced

Govt to check lenders’ use of IBC over minor delays in repayments

• MoS for finance Anurag Thakur has said banks should refer cases to NCLT only if a satisfactory resolution was not available outside the courts
• The govt’s effort is possibly to give a breather to businesses, say experts

Not just IRCTC. Five other IPOs that made stellar debut

• Before IRCTC, Avenue Supermarts Ltd more than doubled on listing in March 2017 after the company’s IPO got bids for 106 times the quantity offered

One-size-fits-all approach towards debt funds can limit long-term returns

• With all categories of funds being given uniform credit and listing requirements, there cannot be much distinction in their universe of opportunities
• An investor comes to MFs only because she cannot directly participate in many accrual opportunities in the bond market

IRCTC share prices surge 132% on stock market debut

• Many analysts had recommended subscribe to IRCTC issue
• IRCTC IPO was subscribed 112 times

China’s Autohome looks to back CarDekho at $700 mn valuation

• Existing investor Sequoia Capital may join the latest funding round amid growing demand for used cars
• CarDekho has seen strategic investor interest despite a slowdown in automobile sales

Income tax dept says check your email or e-filing account as e-assessment begins

• The income tax department has started scrutiny under the new e-assessment scheme
• E-notices have been sent by the income tax department to taxpayers whose cases have been selected for scrutiny

There is reason now for banks to cut interest rates

One reason that banks haven’t been able to cut interest rates in line with repo rate cuts is the high credit-deposit ratio (CDR). Interestingly, this ratio as of September-end has fallen to its lowest level in 2019. Mint probes if this will prompt banks to cut their interest rates.

Walmart to open 6 new stores in Uttar Pradesh

• The places where the brick-and-mortar stores are proposed to be set up include Varanasi, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Kanpur and Aligarh
• The new stores will be in addition to the four existing stores the company operates in the state

Five things to watch out for in Wipro Q2 earnings

• Analysts expect Wipro to guide for 0-2% revenue growth for the December 2019 quarter on the back of cautious spending of European banking and capital market clients
• Weak growth likely in the financial services vertical but steady growth in other sectors

Indian Railways new upgrade: Extra 4 lakh seats per day, noise-free trains

• Indian Railways plans to convert all LHB trains to HoG system by the end of this year
• Indian Railways has saved ₹800 crore every year by implementing new HOG technology

JSW Ventures appoints new partner to strengthen fundraise

• Tagra joins JSW Ventures from media house Network18 Group, where he headed investments at Capital18
• JSW Ventures received approval for the second fund from markets regulator Sebi in August this year

Nearly 60,000 unsold flats in NCR in affordable category: Report

• At the current sales velocity, developers would take about three-and-a-half-years to sell off the existing stock in Noida-Greater Noida and 28 months in Gurugram: Report

Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, two others win 2019 Nobel Economics Prize

• Abhijit Banerjee is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT
• The trio was honoured 'for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty', the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

NRIs returning to India for good should get their NRE accounts re-designated

• Once these accounts have been re-designated, interest earned on the deposits shall be taxable in your hands
• If no tax is paid by you or deducted from any of your incomes, no refund is due to you

Increase savings when income rises

In case you don’t have the risk appetite to have an equity portfolio, you need to increase your savings rate as and when your income increases

Apple iPhone SE 2 price revealed, launch expected in Q1 2020

• Apple iPhone SE 2 will not get the 3D Touch feature
• Apple iPhone SE 2will have a design similar to the iPhone 8

Mutual fund investor bet big on SIPs: ₹49,000 crore in six months

• Currently, mutual funds have 2.84 crore SIP accounts
• Over the past few years, inflows through SIPs have been showing an upward trend

Railways to launch new Sewa Express trains from Delhi, Coimbatore, Bengaluru

• The Indian Railways will launch 10 ‘Sewa Service' trains today
• Piyush Goyal will start the 'Sewa Service' trains by inaugurating Delhi-Shamli daily passenger train

Infosys fares better than TCS, but IT sector is unmistakably slowing down

• Infosys’s forecast for the current year suggests a sharp drop in growth rates in the second half of the fiscal
• Shares of Infosys have outperformed those of TCS by about 22% in the past three months

ICICI Bank’s new FD scheme: Fixed deposit with critical illness insurance cover

• ICICI Bank’s FD Health provides investors a complimentary critical illness cover
• FD investors, who are in the age bracket of 18-50 years, get a complimentary insurance cover for a year on 33 critical illnesses

The menace of mis-selling in insurance and how to curb it

• The spat between ICICI Pru Life Insurance and its former employee reveals a larger industry problem
• Front-end commission structure and high exit cost contribute to mis-selling in insurance

Gold prices fall for 3rd day, down ₹2,200 from last month's high; silver up

• Higher rupee and weak global trend put pressure on gold prices in India
• Gold prices have come off significantly from their last month's highs

HAL employees on indefinite strike over wage revision

• HAL has about 20,000 employees in 5 production complexes in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Koraput, Lucknow and Nashik
• The management also offered to revised rate of fitment benefit at 11%

This insurance policy offers ₹2 lakh cover at less than Re 1/day

• PMJJBY is available for the people in the age group of 18 to 50 years
• A yearly premium of ₹330 needs to be paid to avail the benefits under PMJJBY scheme

At 14,500 feet, this SBI branch is India's highest altitude branch

• SBI Tangsay Ladakh branch is located at an altitude of 14,500 feet above sea level
• SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar had inaugurated the new branch

Post-paid mobile services to resume in Kashmir later today

• The decision comes a week after the Jammu and Kashmir administration opened Kashmir to tourists
• The administration is phasing out the opening of mobile networks to facilitate the entry of tourists into the valley

Jammu and Kashmir: Postpaid mobile services to be functional from today

• All network and landline connections were suspended across Jammu and Kashmir on August 5
• This was done in view of security concerns in the region following Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370

'Delhi air to be 'very poor' from Tuesday'

• The forecast of the 'very poor' air quality is predicted mainly due to changing local weather conditions
• The stubble burning activity in Haryana, Panjab, and nearby border regions are moderate but increasing

Construct or buy a residential house to get LTCG exemption under Section 54

• You would need to construct a residential house on the land within 3 years, after the date of transfer of the erstwhile residential property, for claiming the tax exemption under Section 54
• As the monthly rental is equal to ₹50,000, the TDS deduction provisions are not currently applicable to you

Should you take that voluntary retirement offer?

• Several companies have come up with VRS options for their employees and with the economy slowing down, more may come up with such schemes
• Remember that VRS is not a lay-off, and you can choose to take it or leave it and continue in the job