Key equity indices rose in the afternoon session on Tuesday, amid expectations companies will report robust earnings for the second quarter ended September 30.

The gains were led by banking and finance stocks, as investors saw an opportunity after these stocks were hammered over the past fortnight. Capital goods, oil and gas, and energy counters also gained over a per cent.

At 1.07 p.m., the barometer Sensex was trading at 35,132.47, up 267.37 points or 0.77 per cent.

The broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was at 10,580.65, up 68.15 points or 0.65 per cent from its Monday’s close.

The Sensex has so far touched an intra-day high of 35,215.79 and a low of 34,913.06.

Ahead of their earnings on Tuesday, Infosys was trading at Rs 707.45 apiece, up 1.19 per cent, while Hero MotoCorp was at Rs 2,891.90, up 0.30 per cent.

Nokia and the government-owned telecom operator BSNL on Tuesday announced to work together to leverage 4G LTE technology for enabling greater operational efficiency at Nokia’s Chennai plant and prepare it for the 5G era with smart manufacturing.

Nokia manufactures a range of telecom equipment across technologies at its factory in Chennai, catering to both domestic and global customers.

The factory will now leverage Industry 4.0 solutions such as Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), connected Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) to enhance operations and increase productivity.

“Nokia is already one of our key partners in developing the 5G ecosystem, and now we are exploring use cases such as Industry 4.0 that can benefit tremendously with 5G,” said Anupam Srivastava, Chairman and Managing Director at BSNL.

“This network deployment for Industry 4.0 at Nokia’s Chennai factory that can be scaled to 5G demonstrates our preparedness to take advantage of new opportunities that will emerge with 5G and IoT in India,” he added.

Industry 4.0 relies on low-latency, high-reliability networks as well as capabilities in robotics and AI to drive new levels of automation and data exchange in manufacturing industries, resulting in improved operational efficiency and reduced costs.

Nokia’s Chennai facility recently crossed the four-million unit production milestone in its 10th year of operation.

“Our collaboration with BSNL will enable us to leverage the latest technology advancements and continue in our efforts to build the increasingly digitized and connected factory of the future. It will pave the path to smart manufacturing in the 5G era,” informed Sanjay Malik, Vice President and Head of the India Market at Nokia.

Nokia has deployed the network in the country using its Micro Core Network and Multi-access Edge Computing platform, delivering Edge Cloud capabilities to process data closer to end-users and lowering latency.

BSNL is already working with Nokia and Chinese player ZTE on a 5G technology roadmap.

Earlier this year, Nokia and BSNL signed a network modernisation agreement to support the launch of 4G and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in western and southern regions of India.

Finnish company HMD Global that manufactures and markets Nokia smartphones on Monday roped in Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt as the face of Nokia devices in India.

“We are really excited to have Alia Bhatt as the face of Nokia phones. I am confident that in the coming together of Nokia phones and Alia Bhatt, we will further enhance the excitement around our new launches for our fans,” Ajey Mehta, Vice President and Country Head-India, HMD Global, said in a statement.

The new festive campaign with Bhatt takes an affectionate and light-hearted look at the unique role played by a young person (and her Nokia smartphone) in making Diwali celebrations with her loved ones truly special, the company added.

The Nokia phones print campaign with the actress went live on October 12 to mark the festive season.

“The young generation is relied upon by their loved ones for so many things that they do with just a few clicks on their phones — from paying a bill to capturing memories. This insight is at the core of our campaign and helps make Nokia phones relevant for these young consumers,” Mehta added.

IANS

The Odisha government on Monday hiked the dearness allowance (DA) for government employees by an additional 2 per cent.

The hiked allowance will be applicable retrospectively from July 1, 2018, said a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

The hike was approved by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

With this, the total increase is now 9 per cent, the CMO said.

The state government has also increased the dearness relief (DR) by 2 per cent.

Similarly, work charge employees and staff and lecturers of fully-aided non-governmental colleges will also be benefited by the DA hike.

IANS

The key equity indices on Monday erased their initial losses, despite a tick-up in the wholesale price-based inflation index.

Wholesale price inflation accelerated 5.13 per cent on year in September, gaining pace from August’s 4.53 per cent, due to a rise in food and fuel prices.

At 1.10 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex which had opened in in the red, wiped out losses, and was trading at 34,751.78, up 18.20 or 0.05 per cent. The broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 10,478.60, up 6.10 points or 0.06 per cent from its Friday’s close.

Auto, banking and consumer durables stocks saw healthy buying, whereas IT and TECK (technology, media and entertainment) counters witnessed a selling pressure.

The Sensex has touched an intra-day high of 35,008.65 points and a low of 34,559.98 so far.

The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) has denied issuing any circular calling for five days of bank strike in November-end demanding wage hike, said a top official on Monday.

He also said the bank unions have rejected the Indian Banks’ Association’s (IBA) proposal to link bankers’ wages to operating profits and return on assets (ROA) as only about six banks would be able to give higher wages over and above the six per cent salary hike now being offered.

“We have not issued any circular or notice informing of five days strike call given by United Forum for Bank Unions (UFBU),” C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary told IANS.

“Some malicious elements have cut-pasted the union’s letter head and my signature on a plain paper and added some malicious message in the middle,” he said.

On Sunday a message was circulated in social media under AIBEA letterhead that the UFBU has decided to call for five days continuous strike from November 26 to 30.

Queried about the umbrella body of nine bank unions UFBU’s decision on IBA’s proposal of six per cent wage hike and further increases to be worked out based on the operating profits and ROA of individual banks, he said the unions are not agreeable.

He said at the recent meeting of UFBU the IBA’s proposal was discussed and was not agreed to.

“As per IBA’s proposal only employees of about six banks may get wage hike over and above the six per cent offered, which is not agreeable. Salary hike is linked to inflation and cost of living and not to the performance of the banks,” Venkatachalam said.

India’s annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices increased to 5.13 per cent in September from a rise of 4.53 per cent in August, official data showed here on Monday.

Even, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was higher than 3.14 per cent reported for the corresponding period of 2017.

“The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 5.13 per cent (provisional) for the month of September, 2018 (over September, 2017)as compared to 4.53 per cent (provisional) for the previous month and 3.14 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Ministry said in its September review of wholesale price in India.

“Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 3.87 per cent compared to a build up rate of 1.50 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.”

A senior woman crew member fell off an Air India plane at the airport here as it was preparing for a flight to New Delhi, official sources said on Monday.

The incident occurred at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) when the Mumbai-Delhi flight AI-864 was preparing for departure shortly before 7 a.m.

The 53-year-old air-hostess, identified as Harsha Lobo, who was closing the door for the pushback prior to taxing, suddenly fell from the aircraft onto the hard tarmac several metres below.

Some ground crew members immediately rushed Lobo to the Nanavati Hospital.

The national carrier later said that she had suffered injuries to her legs and termed the incident as “unfortunate”.

“In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (members) Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing 777 aircraft door while closing it,” the airline statement said.

The flight departed for Delhi after over an hour’s delay.

Japanese consultants will join hands with Indian architects to develop the 12 proposed bullet train stations and its adjoining areas in an integrated way.

In a meeting with senior officials of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and Gujarat’s Urban Development and Municipal Commissioners, it was decided to take the help of Japanese experts in developing the areas around the stations — connecting them to bus, metro and other forms of transportation, a senior Indian Railways official in the know told IANS.

The 12 proposed stations on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed train route are: Bandra Kurla Complex, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Baroda, Anand, Sabarmati and Ahmedabad.

Railways will adopt a “transit-oriented development plan” for all these stations so that each becomes a commercial hub ensuring smooth connectivity with the outside world.

In urban planning, transit-oriented development is a type of urban development that maximises the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport.

“There will be scope of constructing housing complexes near some stations as per the plan,” the Railways official added.

The terminal building, which will have space for commercial activities like eateries, forex counters, malls and parking lots, will also be a major interchange hub, providing passengers seamless connectivity between the bullet train network and other services such as the metro and bus services, as well as last-mile connectivity.

“Unless the stations are well-connected with neighbouring districts, the bullet train service will not attract the ridership required to make the project viable,” said the official.

The bullet trains are expected to run at 350 km per hour covering the 508 km stretch in about two hours. In comparison, trains currently plying on the route take over seven hours to travel the distance, whereas flights take about an hour.

Railways will have two distinct schedules for the bullet trains. The faster route will stop at fewer intermediary stations, which will include Surat and Vadodara, before reaching Ahmedabad, while the other will stop at all stations.

The development of 12 stations and its adjoining areas is expected to be a boon for economic activity in the region.

The cost of the ambitious project is estimated to be Rs 1,10,000 crore and Japan is providing a soft loan worth Rs 88,000 crore at 0.1 per cent.

The 508-km high speed train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is expected to be operational by August 2022.

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said that it has attached properties worth Rs 54 crore of former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram and Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd (ASCPL) in connection with its ongoing probe into the INX media money laundering case.

A senior official of the financial probe agency told IANS: “We have attached six properties of Karti worth Rs 54 crore.”

The properties attached include a cottage worth Rs 8.67 crore in the UK’s Somerset, a tennis club and land located in Spain’s Gava worth Rs 14 crore.

The ED also attached land and properties worth Rs 16 crore in New Delhi’s Jor Bagh area (Karti’s mother Nalini Chidambaram is also a stake holder of 50 per cent in the land), a bungalow in Tamil Nadu’s Ooty worth Rs 50 lakh and another one worth Rs 3.75 crore in Ooty and an agricultural land worth Rs 25 lakh in Kodaikanal.

The ED has also attached properties belonging to Peter and Indrani Mukerjea in connection with the same case.

The properties were attached under the section of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Karti is facing probes by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in several cases, including alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to then INX Media for FDI in 2007 and the Aircel-Maxis case in 2006 and a money laundering case.

The ED and the CBI are probing how Karti managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) when his father was in office.

Karti was arrested on February 28 by the CBI for allegedly taking money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007. He was later granted bail.

IANS