Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive here at Ufa (Russia) today on a three-day visit to attend the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summits. During his visit he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping today and Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday, July 10.

Sensex breaks below 28K, down nearly 300 points on China woes

The S&P BSE Sensex plunged as much as 292 points in trade on Wednesday tracking weakness in other Asian markets. The 50-share Nifty index plunged over 1 per cent in trade, but was still trading above its crucial psychological level of 8400, weighed down by losses in auto, banks, capital goods, metal and realty stocks. Asian markets were reeling under pressure, with Chinese mainland index Shanghai Composite nosediving 8 per cent in trade after as much as 1,250 Chinese companies halted trading in their stocks, citing sharp market correction.
 
Black money law: IT professionals returning from US need to declare 401k account

Anyone who's worked in the US and opened a 401k account may need to inform the Indian tax authorities or face harsh penalties under the black money law that came into force on July 1. Thousands of India's IT professionals and others who've worked overseas will potentially have to declare such investment plans as these will be considered foreign assets. The law prescribes stiff penalties for non-disclosure even if the asset is from income that's accounted for.

Delhi Woman accuses TaxiForSure driver of vulgar acts

A Delhi woman has accused a TaxiForSure driver of indulging in vulgar act while he was dropping her from South Delhi's Saket to Faridabad. The woman detailed her ordeal on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter on July 3. "I complained to TaxiForSure and their limited reply was we will take action in 24 hours. I had no other option but to take to social media," she said.TaxiForSure said in a statement that "we regret the experience the passenger had, and we condemn the driver's actions. We will continue to work closely with the passenger and will support her and the authorities in every possible manner, as and when required."

Enforcement Directorate to reach out to UK for information on Dawood Ibrahim's realty investments

Enforcement Directorate (ED) will is requesting the UK government to provide information on properties in which it suspects don Dawood Ibrahim has a financial interest. They include a hotel in London with an Indian connection as well as real estate in Essex and Kent. ED recently sent a letter of request to the external affairs ministry with details of the real estate with Dawood links.

Big labour reform push in monsoon session, minimum wages hiked

The government plans to table four labour reform bills in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament that are designed to promote industrialization while protecting workers’ rights, labour secretary Shankar Aggarwal said.
The four bills are the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous (Amendment) Bill, Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, Small Factories Bill and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill. Meanwhile, the government has increased minimum wage across the country to Rs 160 a day from Rs 137 with effect from this month. It has raised the threshold after two years on the basis of average increase in the consumer price index for industrial workers during this period.

Trai's proposal for liberal spectrum sharing cap may get green signal

The government is likely to accept the telecom regulator's proposal for a liberal spectrum-sharing cap but is set to disallow sharing of non-auctioned and auctioned airwaves as it prepares rules for the industry. The Telecom Commission has recommended that while sharing spectrum, half the capacity of one company will be added to the other's airwaves to calculate their respective holdings.

FSSAI for fixing limits of melamine in milk, milk products

To check adulteration, food safety regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed for the first time fixing of maximum permissible limit of melamine content in milk and related products. The FSSAI has proposed imposing a permissible limit of 1 mg of melamine in every kg of powdered infant formula, 0.15 mg per kg in liquid infant formula and 2.5 mg per kg in other foods. Melamine is largely used in plastic and fertiliser industry. In another notification, it has proposed that food companies should mention source of edible vegetable oil or fat on the label of packaged food items for the benefit of consumers. The regulator has sought public comments on these proposals by September 6.

Govt launches loan scheme for rooftop solar projects

Power minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday launched the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA)’s loan scheme for rooftop solar power projects in the country. The scheme will provide loans at interest rates between 9.9% and 10.7% with a repayment period of nine years. Of the total 100,000MW solar power capacity planned, 20,000MW will come from solar parks and 40,000MW each from rooftop and distributed generation projects.

Turbo Megha Airways gets DGCA nod, to begin operations from July 12

India's newest airlines Turbo Megha Airways, promoted by Telugu actor Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan, will start operating from July 12 with Hyderabad as its hub. It would be a full-service airline offering low fares to passengers and initially connect Tirupati and Rajahmundry from Hyderabad.Turbo Airways will be operating with two 70-seater ATR planes and will have five planes by January 2016.

Spending on electronic devices likely to fall

End-user spending on devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) is likely to fall 5.7% to $606 billion largely due to price increases resulting from local currency devaluation against the dollar, according to Gartner Inc. The drop in spending will be the first since 2010. The total number of devices including personal computers, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones worldwide is projected to reach 2.5 billion units in 2015, up 1.5% from 2014. This is lower than the previous forecast of 2.8% growth.

Truecaller launches new messaging app in India to curb spam SMS

Truecaller, an app that helps identify unknown numbers and also block spam calls launched a new app on Tuesday that offers a substitute to the stock messaging app on Android phones from India. Truemessenger seeks to curb spam messages by identifying numbers in the SMS inbox.

Ratan Tata bets big on electric vehicle company in Coimbatore

Ratan Tata, the man behind the world’s cheapest car Nano, has invested an undisclosed amount in Ampere, a Coimbatore-based electric vehicle start-up founded by a woman entrepreneur. The start-up, founded by Hemalatha Annamalai, will use the funds to scale up operations and hire talent over two years. Ampere sells electric vehicles — cycles, scooters, trolleys and special purpose vehicles for the differently-abled.