Prime minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold wide-ranging talks today (Monday) in Delhi to significantly scale up bilateral relations in an array of key sectors with special focus on boosting trade, security and defence ties. Merkel's three-day visit here comes around six months after Modi's visit to Germany and there have been expectations of "path-breaking results" from the summit-level Inter- Governmental Consultations (IGC) between the two leaders who have been pushing for unlocking the potential and taking the ties to higher trajectory. Modi and Merkel, accompanied by a large delegation of several Cabinet Ministers and top officials besides CEOs of several top German companies, are expected to delve deep on removing bottlenecks for expanding bilateral trade and investment.
Modi welcomed the German chancello to India on Sunday night by tweeting 'namaste'. The PM posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter: “Namaste Chancellor Merkel. Warm welcome to you and the delegation. I look forward to fruitful discussions and strengthening India-Germany ties.”

PAN will be must for transacting cash beyond set limit
The government will soon make it mandatory to furnish the tax department-allotted Permanent Account Number (PAN) details for cash transactions beyond a certain threshold, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday. "The government is at an advanced stage in considering the requirement of furnishing PAN card details if cash transactions beyond a certain limit are undertaken," he said in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, PAN number allotment by the income tax department will remain suspended for five days beginning Monday owing to a software upgrade exercise. However, PAN applications, through online and offline modes, will continue to be received by PAN service centres of NSDL and UTIITSL.The backlog is likely to be cleared within three days.

World Bank cuts outlook on developing East Asia citing China slowdown
Developing East Asian economies are feeling the weight of China’s growth slowdown, with the World Bank cutting the region’s growth forecasts through 2017. China’s growth will cool to 6.9% in 2015, slower than the 7.1% rate predicted in April, the World Bank said in its East Asia and Pacific Economic Update released on Monday. Expansion will ease to 6.7% next year and 6.5% in 2017, it said. Developing East Asia will expand 6.5% this year, slower than the 6.7% predicted in April. Slower-than-expected growth in China will put pressure on commodity exporters, as well as trade, foreign direct investment and tourism in the region, the World Bank said.

Sensex rallies over 300 points; Nifty reclaims 8000
 The S&P BSE Sensex surged over 300 points in morning trade on Monday following positive trend seen in other Asian markets. The 50-share Nifty index also regained its crucial psychological level of 8000, supported by gains in IT, auto, banks, capital goods, and consumer durable stocks. At 9.25 am the 30-share index traded at 26,542.91, up 322 points or 1.23 per cent. It touched a high of 26,548.10 and a low of 26,375.31 in morning trade. The Nifty was at 8,036, up 85 points or 1.07 per cent. It touched a high of 8,040.95 and a low of 8,005.10 in the first 30 minutes of trade.

Vote count postponed indefinitely in three Bengal civic bodies
Amid mounting protests over allegations of violence and rampant malpractices during the local body polls, the West Bengal State Election Commission on Sunday decided to postpone the vote count indefinitely in three civic bodies. "We have decided to put on hold the vote count indefinitely as we have received some allegations. We have also watched some incidents in our web cameras. We have also got some information through SMS from the presiding officers. So we have taken the decision so that we can look into these thoroughly," state election commissioner Sushanta Ranjan Upadhyay told media persons in Kolkata.

Don't give political colour to Dadri incident: Rajnath Singh
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday termed the lynching of a man in Dadri over rumour of eating beef eating as "unfortunate" and said it should not be given any "communal colour".  "It was an unfortunate incident. But it is not proper to give communal colour to it," he told reporters. The Home Minister also said no one should do politics over the incident. "The incident should not be politicised," he said, as political leaders continued to make a beeline to Bishada village in Dadri where Iqlakh, 50, was beaten to death by a mob on Monday night after a public announcement from the local temple that a calf had been slaughtered and his family had eaten beef.

Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher recruitment exam cancelled over paper leak reports
A written examination held on Sunday for recruitment of teachers by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) was cancelled over reports that its question paper was leaked. It has not yet been notified as to when the test for recruitment to the post of primary teachers (PRT) and primary teachers (Music) will be held again. An official statement said that KVS has received information from Rewari police in Haryana that they have busted a gang of persons allegedly involved in the paper leak and recovered incriminating material from them.

India to pay part of  Iran oil bill next week
India on 12 October will pay another $700 million to Iran to clear part of past oil dues, the second payment since the Persian Gulf nation reached a historic nuclear deal with western powers. Essar Oil Ltd, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) had on 30 September paid the first tranche of $700 million to clear a chunk of the $6.5 billion they owe to Iran for past oil purchases. A second tranche is scheduled to be paid on 12 October, officials at the refiners said. Iran had in July reached an accord with the US and five other world powers to restrict its nuclear programme in exchange of easing of sanctions, which had crippled its oil economy.

Six waste-to-energy plants to be set up under Swachh Bharat Mission
In a significant step towards generating power from garbage under the Swachh Bharat Mission, six waste-to-energy plants with an installed capacity of about 74 MW will be commissioned next year including two in the national capital. Solid Waste Management (SWM) is a crucial component of Swachh Bharat Mission. While a waste-to-energy plant is coming up at Ghazipur to produce 12 MW power by processing 2,000 tonnes waste per day, another plant will be commissioned at Narela-Bawana here to generate 24 MW power from waste. There will be two waste-to-energy plants producing 11 MW each in Jabalpur and Hyderabad, besides a 12.6 MW plant at Nalgonda in Telangana, and 3 MW plant in Chennai. These will be commissioned next year.