In a stock market bloodbath, the Sensex on Monday crashed over 1,700 points or 6.22 per cent in the pre-close trade. The overall investors’ wealth, measured in terms of total valuation of all listed stocks, also plunged nearly by Rs. 7 lakh crore -  amid a global rout. The 30-share index plunged to 25,681 while the Nifty was down 436 points at 7,863.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, speaking at an annual conference in New Delhi, said India faced multiple challenges emanating from global economic developments. “We stand by the growth projections for the fiscal made at the beginning of the year. Demand and economic activity will increase in the coming months on back of reasonable monsoon. Markets will settle down… the government and RBI are watching the situation closely,” Jaitley said.
“These days with a globally integrated economy, no day is an easy day,” the finance minister said, adding that the Indian economy is in a revival state and that there was a fear over a US Fed rate hike. “China is creating ripples, resulting in a transient impact on India.” the minister was quoted as saying.

India acting like 'regional superpower', says Pak's Aziz and utters nuclear word
Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz has accused India of acting like a regional superpower, saying it was imposing its agenda in violation of Ufa agreement that scuttled the NSA-level talks.Aziz said that since taking over the government last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi considers India as regional power, forgetting that Pakistan is "nuclear power". He said India wants talks on normalisation on its own terms by having discussion only on matters relating to trade and connectivity.

RBI governor hints at rate cut
Amid bloodbath in stock and currency markets, RBI head Raghuram Rajan today tried to allay fears saying the country has strong macroeconomic fundamentals and sufficient forex reserves to contain volatility while he also hinted at a rate cut if inflation remains low. Hinting at a rate cut given the low inflation, record low crude and other commodity prices, Rajan said: "We will strive to give you the lowest interest rates that is consistent with our effort at bringing inflation under control. We are looking at incoming data ever since the last policy to see how things fare out."

Indian Oil's 10 per cent stake sale oversubscribed
Government's 10 per cent stake sale in top state-run refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd received bids for more than the number of shares on offer, according to the stock exchange data on Monday. By 3:25 pm, investors had submitted bids for 1.18 times the total number of shares being auctioned with most offer being made at floor price of 387 rupees apiece, the data showed. The auction ended at 3:30 p.m.

UN tells India to suspend all trials against Italian marines
A UN tribunal today asked both India and Italy to "suspend" all court proceedings involving two Italian marines charged with killing of two Indian fishermen in 2012 and also refrain from initiating new ones that might "aggravate or extend" the dispute.Hearing Italy's appeal in the case, the President of the International Tribunal on Law of the Sea (ITLOS), Vladimir Golitsyn asked the two countries to submit the initial report in the entire incident by September 24.

Politics over onions: Delhi govt not acting against hoarding, says centre
With onion prices rising up to Rs 80 per kg in the national capital, Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today blamed the Delhi government for not taking adequate action against hoarders for spiralling the prices. According to him price rise in onion was temporary and that there was no shortage as such in the country but hoarders are trying to take advantage of the situation. After reviewing the supply and the price situation here today, Paswan urged all state governments to take stringent action against hoarders to rein in prices.

NGT slams DTC over running of empty air conditioned buses
The National Green Tribunal today flayed Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for running its air conditioned buses without passengers for a major part of the day.  The tribunal had noted that air conditioned buses are being run by DTC for a major part of the day but the number of passengers in these is less. DTC should run buses of different capacity and size at different timings and on different routes. All such buses would be driven on CNG fuel only," the green bench had said earlier.

'Pervert' held after Delhi girl outs him on Facebook
Hours after a 20-year-old Delhi University girl posted his alleged abuser's photo on Facebook, Delhi Police arrested the man on Monday afternoon. He has been identified as Sarabjit Singh. The girl had alleged that she was harassed by a youth in west Delhi's Tilak Nagar area who also brashly posed for a photograph when told by the former that she would report the matter to police. After reporting the matter to police, the girl uploaded the photograph of the accused on Facebook with the post soon going viral.