
Banking stocks plummet on farm loan waiver
Banking stocks started sliding on Friday as soon as a proposal to waive farm loans was announced by Chidambaram.
By HT Correspondent | IANS, Mumbai
UPDATED ON FEB 29, 2008 02:01 PM IST
Banking stocks started sliding on Friday as soon as a proposal to waive farm loans was announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram while presenting the national budget.
The Finance Minister presented the budget for 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha.
Chidambaram said the government would write off farm loans on landholdings of up to 2 hectares.
The Bankex index on the Bombay Stock Exchange plummeted 261.18 points or 2.59 per cent. All the 18 banking scrips in the index were trading in the red.
Bankex opened at 10,021.76 points and was trading at 9,812 points at noon.

US SC to look into system that lets corporations like Apple kill patent lawsuits
Bloomberg
UPDATED ON FEB 27, 2021 08:52 PM IST
- In an argument at the intersection of intellectual property and the separation of powers, the justices on Monday will consider a challenge to a congressionally-created board that critics have dubbed a “death squad” because of its tendency to toss out patents.

Warren Buffett says 'never bet against America' in annual letter to shareholders
AP
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 08:39 PM IST
“In its brief 232 years of existence, however, there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking,” Buffett wrote.

Reliance partners with Google, Facebook for digital payment network bid
Reuters, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 05:12 PM IST
- Facebook and Google are already partnered with Reliance and own stakes in Jio Platforms

Texas’s power market is $1.3 billion short after energy crisis
Bloomberg
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 02:31 PM IST
On Friday, the grid operator announced it would cover part of the shortfall with $800 million in congestion revenues, money generated from trading bottlenecks on the grid that is supposed to be returned to consumers.

McDonald's to sell part of its artificial intelligence start-up
Bloomberg
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 12:06 PM IST
The company works with other clients besides McDonald’s, and that business has grown since the acquisition and now works with 300 other brands globally.

Mukesh Ambani is again richest Asian as China’s Zhong loses $22 billion
Bloomberg
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 09:45 AM IST
Ambani spent most of the past two years leading the ranking of Asia’s richest people, taking over from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma.

Weekly wrap: After early surge, gold prices fall for last 3 days
By hindustantimes.com, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON FEB 27, 2021 09:33 AM IST
- Gold set off to a brighter start at the beginning of the week as the price of the precious metal went up by ₹278 to ₹46,013 per 10 grams on Monday.

RBI in favour of retaining inflation target for 5 years
By Gopika Gopakumar, Livemint, Mumbai
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 04:47 AM IST
Under India’s flexible inflation targeting (FIT) approach, the central bank is expected to work to maintain retail inflation at 4%, with an upper tolerance limit of 6% and a lower limit of 2%.

Telecom sector revenues back at pre-Jio levels
By Ishita Guha, Livemint, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 04:43 AM IST
According to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), net mobile revenues rose 4.5% sequentially to $25 billion in the December quarter. The last time the sector had earned $25 billion was in April-June of calendar year 2016.

Indian shares crash as panic grips bond, global markets
By Nasrin Sultana, Livemint, Mumbai
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 04:36 AM IST
On Friday, the benchmark Sensex fell 1,939 points, or 3.78%, to 49,099.99, the biggest daily drop since 4 May 2020. The 50-share Nifty index declined 3.78% to 14,529, led by banks and financial services stocks.

India out of recession as GDP expands 0.4% in Q3
By Roshan Kishore, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON FEB 27, 2021 02:43 AM IST
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 0.4% on a year-on-year basis in the quarter ending December 2020, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on February 26.

'Hit by double whammy of low growth, high inflation': Cong on economy's state
Edited by Prashasti Singh, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON FEB 26, 2021 10:21 PM IST
The Congress responded to the data and said the government spent a lot less than what was needed to revive the Indian economy.

India's NSE defends reopening market after exchange's shutdown
Posted by Kunal Gaurav | Reuters, Mumbai
PUBLISHED ON FEB 26, 2021 09:08 PM IST
Brokers had criticised the NSE over the lack of information after the four-hour shutdown on Wednesday.

Oil slumps with wider markets, denting record start to 2021
Bloomberg
UPDATED ON FEB 26, 2021 06:52 PM IST
The demand outlook has improved, with traders and investment banks this week making a series of bullish calls and upward price revisions.

Reliance Jio launches new unlimited plans to usher in '2G-mukt Bharat'
ANI, Mumbai
PUBLISHED ON FEB 26, 2021 06:47 PM IST
- According to the plan, new users will get a JioPhone device, unlimited voice calls and data (2GB high-speed data every month) for two years at ₹1,999.