Reliance Industries likely to go on a spending spree after becoming debt-free

• Reliance may upgrade its chemicals business once it repays its ₹1.54 trillion of outstanding debt
• Petrochemicals accounted for 44% of RIL’s operating profit in the June quarter, up from 40% in the year earlier

Corporate tax cuts hand market reins to bulls

• Stocks surge for second straight session, brokerages revise targets upwards
• Morgan Stanley expects India’s earnings growth revisions to turn positive after almost nine years of downgrades

How FM Nirmala Sitharaman conceived India’s biggest direct tax reforms

By 10 am on 20 September, while the media contingent from Delhi was waiting at Hotel Kadamba in Goa for the press briefing, it was a panic situation for Sitharaman and revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey

Telecom firms now fighting over how long your phone should ring

• IUC is levied by mobile networks handling incoming calls from rival networks
• Trai has floated a consultation paper to see if the date for scrapping IUC should be revised

Time for talks on climate is over, world needs to act: PM Modi

• Narendra Modi announces setting up of major global coalition to promote disaster-resilient infra
• New Delhi has maintained that it is doing its best to mitigate and adapt to climate change

Flipkart says optimistic of meeting Big Billion target

• To boost sales, firm to offer no-cost-EMI and pay-later offerings to 55 million users
• BBD is Flipkart’s flagship annual festive season sale, where discounts are sometimes as high as 80%

Govt eyes digital census, new all-encompassing  ID

• Home minister Amit Shah said the govt was set to spend ₹12,000 crore on the 2021 Census as well as for the preparation of the National Population Register
• The 2011 Census pegged India’s population at 1.21 billion—a 17.6% rise from that of 2001

Donald Trump again offers to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir

• The comments come just before a meeting between Trump and the Pakistan PM Imran Khan on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York
• Trump says if both countries want he is ready to mediate on the Kashmir issue

Essel lenders sell Zee’s pledged promoter shares

• According to exchange data a bulk sale of 72.5 lakh ZEEL shares was executed on the NSE on Monday in a transaction executed by Catalyst Trusteeship Limited
• On Monday CNBC TV18, citing unnamed persons reported that the shares were sold Kotak Mutual Fund

Google launches subscription service for select apps and games

• Google Play Pass—a subscription service that gives Android users access to more than 350 apps and games without ads and in-app purchases
• Priced at $4.99 per month, the service is similar to Apple Arcade, the iPhone maker's gaming subscription service for mobile devices and desktop computers

Maruti Suzuki sees higher sales in Sept

• August domestic sales at Maruti Suzuki fell 34.3%, one of the biggest monthly drops in sales in recent times
• Indian auto sales fell for the 10th straight month in August, marking one of the worst slowdowns in the industry's history

Scrappage policy to propose hike in re-registration fees of old vehicles

• The re-registration fees for private four wheeler car may be hiked 25 times to ₹15,000 from ₹600
• The re-registration fees for commercial four-wheeler vehicle may be hiked to ₹20,000 from ₹1,000 now

Govt plans to sell BPCL, Concor, Air India by March 2020: Report

• The government plans to sell Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, logistics firm Container Corp of India Ltd and debt-laden Air India
• The govt aims to sell these state-owned firms to local or foreign firms to raise up to ₹60, 000 crore

'No need to ban petrol, diesel vehicles; EVs picking up momentum naturally'

• The minister also said the new policy provides for making it mandatory to procure power from waste-to-energy projects
• Niti Aayog had reportedly proposed that after 2030, only electric vehicles (EVs) should be sold in India

CCI approves restructuring, sale of Apollo Hospitals' pharmacy business

• In November, Apollo Hospitals had announced the restructuring and sale of its pharmacy operations
• The restructuring would help Apollo Hospitals reduce its net debt

Pink tickets for women for free travel in DTC, cluster buses

• The Delhi cabinet had given its nod to the free-ride scheme last month
• The scheme is voluntary and women travellers can choose to not avail it

Bank strike deferred after assurance from government

• Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar was positive in formation of a committee consisting of all concerned to address the issues arising out of the proposed merger of 10 banks
• Normal banking activity would not be affected

Where to get your housing loan from: banks or HFCs?

• Experts say banks are more reliable, but NBFCs offer more flexibility and services
• Most people like to borrow from banks as their loan disbursal mechanism has proven to be effective

Google braces for landmark global privacy ruling on ‘right-to-be-forgotten’

• Google is challenging an order to remove, on demand, links on its platforms if they lead to sites with false details
• Since 2014, Google has had to weigh nearly 850,000 separate requests to remove links to some 3.3 million websites

Uber ex-CEO Travis Kalanick grabs slice of Cloud Kitchen Arena

• Rebel Foods is now expanding beyond its home turf and into Southeast Asia and the Middle East
• Mumbai-headquartered Rebel, founded by McKinsey & Co. alumnus Jaydeep Barman, serves a wide menu through 'virtual restaurants'

Saudi Arabia may restore oil output by next week

• The kingdom has restored more than 75% of its oil output after attacks on its facilities
• Saudi Arabia ships more than 7 million bpd to global destinations every day

Why media coverage of climate change matters

Media coverage of climate change can help increase sustainable consumption, suggests new study

Trump says ‘not at all’ worried about impeachment amid Ukraine drama

• Trump confirmed that he discussed what he says was corruption by Biden’s family during a call with Zelensky
• Trump has spent much of his first term fighting off allegations that he benefited from Russian-sponsored interference during his surprise 2016 win over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton

The story behind ‘RB 01’: The first tail number of an IAF Rafale

• Air Marshal Bhadauria has played an important role in negotiations for procuring 36 Rafale jets in the flyaway condition
• On 20 September, the IAF technically accepted the first Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation at its manufacturing facility in Bordeaux, France

Why resisting Hindi is no longer enough

• The linguistic state project was about plurality, not merely language. Does the south still remember?
• When Gandhi, Patel and Nehru thought of linguistic territories, their intent was to first unite India and then flourish as a federation of autonomous cultures

New OnePlus devices to debut on 26 September 'Special Event': 5 things to know

• OnePlus is expected to launch the yearly successors to its 'flagship killing' devices and a brand new member in the company's lineup—the OnePlus TV
• The OnePlus TV will sport a unique design and will powered by Android with OnePlus' custom UI running atop

Vacations upended, jobs lost as UK's Thomas Cook collapses

• The collapse of the firm is expected to have sweeping effects across the European and North African tourism industries
• The reality was far harsher for the Thomas Cook workers who lost their jobs overnight

NRIs can now apply for Aadhaar on arrival without 182-day wait

• NRIs with Indian passport can now apply for biometric ID on arrival or by scheduling a prior appointment
• In case NRI's passport does not have Indian address, he shall be allowed to submit any of the other UIDAI-approved documents as proof of address

Opinion | Insurance needs a digital model that works both for agents, consumers

Digital agent model will help address under-penetration due to lack of supply across markets

All PUC centres asked to link emission test data with Vahan database: Government

• The government has set up a central depository called Vahan to store data relating to all vehicles
• The States and Union Territories have been asked to ensure that all PUC centres upload emission test data electronically to VAHAN database

Opinion | Don’t let notional losses hold policy reforms hostage

The fear of recording a loss that represents an opportunity forgone could distort policy formulation

EPF account becomes inoperative if an employee migrates abroad permanently

• A PF account becomes inoperative and does not earn further interest, where an employee retires from service
• The accumulated PF balance due and payable to you is exempt from tax if you have rendered continuous service for a period of five years

Opinion | The art of deploying diplomacy to advance our trade interests

Trade and diplomatic initiatives need to complement each other for a country to leverage the potential of its economy

SpiceJet takes delivery of its first 737-800 BCF plane

• SpiceXpress took its latest freight aircraft on lease from NGF Alpha Limited, a division of Spectre Cargo Solutions
• BCF are next-generation 737 passenger airplanes, which are converted by Boeing Co into cargo jets that are capable of carrying more payload – up to 23.9 tonnes

Polavaram row: AP govt says it saved Rs.780 crore more through reverse tendering

• The YSR Congress Party government had called for re-tendering of hydel power plant and main concrete works worth Rs. 4987 crores
• The MEIL bid for the Polavaram national irrigation project was Rs. 4358 crore

Deepika Padukone’s family office invests in e-taxi startup Blu Smart

• Blu Smart is building an all electric ecosystem with strategic partnerships across automotive, infrastructure and energy companies
• While Padukone has invested via Ka Enterprises, other investors include JITO Angel Network, Bajaj Capital managing director Sanjiv Bajaj and Rajat Gupta

A year on, Ayushman Bharat faces sustainability, funding challenges

• Rising population, disease burden and lack of awareness are among other challenges for the scheme
• PM Modi launched the scheme on 23 September 2018 from Ranchi in Jharkhand

Modi’s walk with Trump in Houston shows he has come a long way

• Modi’s first visit as prime minister in 2014 saw him speak at a public event in New York’s Madison Square Garden
• The gathering at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Sunday saw the largest number of admirers and fans in Indian community

Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi meet Chidambaram in Tihar

• Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were accompanied by Chidambaram's son, Karti
• Over the past few weeks, top Congress leaders have issued statements supporting Chidambaram

Pakistan has reactivated terror facility in Balakot: Army chief

• Islamabad said to have eased curbs on terror groups targeting India after New Delhi revoked Article 370
• According to a media report, the Balakot camp is operational again and 40 terrorists were being trained there to carry out attacks in Kashmir and other places in India

Nissan, Ghosn settle SEC claims over undisclosed compensation

• Nissan will pay $15 million, while Ghosn agreed to a $1 million civil penalty and a 10-year bar as serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded US company
• Former Nissan human resources official Gregory Kelly agreed to a $100,000 penalty and a five-year officer and director bar

India has taken historic steps to ensure universal health: Modi

• The country is focusing on four main pillars of universal health—preventive health, affordable healthcare, supply side interventions and mission mode intervention, says Modi
• Modi says with an increased awareness about cleanliness, possibility of saving hundreds of thousands of lives has also increased

INX Media case: Chidambaram denies that he used his office for personal gains

• The senior Congress leader in his rejoinder has denied that cogent evidence incriminating him is already on record of investigation
• Senior advocate Kapil Sibal submitted that no single officer can take a decision on the proposal

Opinion | Let there be no cap on the market share of a UPI app

A limit on market share would hurt competition and hinder the growth of payment apps

India's corporate tax cut to boost smartphone manufacturing

• Smartphone makers say the tax cut would help them generate more employment and step up investments in local R&D
• The tax cut will help draw makers of components like phone display panels, lithium cells and camera modules, say industry executives

Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa's wife under income tax department scanner

• Lavasa's wife has been issued a notice by the department to explain certain details in her ITR with regard to holding directorship in about 10 companies
• After preliminary investigation, the tax department has asked Novel Singhal Lavasa to provide more documents related to her personal finances

Sensex surges over 1,000 points, regains 39,000: 10 things to know

• Many brokerages have raised their earnings estimates for India Inc and Sensex and Nifty target after the corporate tax cut
• It is important to see when FPIs will resume their buying spree: Analyst