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₹6.87 per litre for the 2023-24 supply season that started in November, marking the highest rise in over five years. The hike, announced by the oil ministry on Friday, sets the new price at ₹56.28 per litre, an increase from the previous season's ₹49.41 per litre. The move is aimed at enhancing ethanol production for blending with petrol.

During the Q2 earnings call, Vi’s chief executive Akshaya Moondra told analysts that the telco expected to conclude its discussions relating to (funding from potential) equity investors in this quarter (Q3FY24). He had added that Vi’s talks with banks had already happened and that the current focus is on tying up the equity investment, basis which the banks would process the telco’s requests for bank funding. Shares of Vi jumped 21% to close at Rs 16.02% on BSE Friday. For the past three years, Vi has been struggling to raise funds needed to pay its large vendors like Indus and the government, expand its 4G coverage and also invest in its pending 5G rollout to compete effectively with bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Back in August, Moondra, had told the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the company had made significant progress in its ongoing talks with several groups of investors to raise equity and equity-linked capital and had term sheets from some potential investors.

Making public market predictions is a bit of a mug’s game. Any market/economic prediction is, at best, a guess (note that we did not even say educated guess here), yet investors’ inboxes are still being filled with predictions for the next year.

As we exit 2023, all I can think of is how it was a year replete with dichotomies and divergences. An unprecedented gap emerged between real gross domestic product growth, which signalled a soft landing had been successfully engineered by the United States Federal Reserve, and real gross domestic income growth, which provided support to the minority view that a recession had arrived.

Ayodhya is all geared up for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on December 30, with the city being decked up with flowers, murals and thematic ornamental columns amid heavy security deployment in the temple town. Divisional Commissioner of Ayodhya, Gaurav Dayal said preparations are in full swing for the visit and despite dense fog in the city in the last two days, all arrangements are on course. Modi will visit the town on Saturday to inaugurate the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station and a new airport.

Gujarat has only about six per cent of India's geographical area and nearly five per cent of the population, the state has become an engine of the country's development with world-renowned firms coming here for business, according to officials. As per the official website of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS), the state has over 200 industrial estates with close to 100 private industrial parks. The 10th edition of VGGS, the state's biennial investors' meet, is scheduled to be held next month in the capital Gandhinagar.

Hiren Ved, Director & CIO, Alchemy Capital, says: “ From Covid, 31st March 2020 to December 2023. We have gone up 3.25x as a broad market and in that Covid shutdown, Covid recovery, wars, interest rate, oil prices, you name everything. If you take the total aggregate profits of the top 500 companies in March 2020 was about Rs 3,63,000 crore, roughly around Rs 4 lakh crore. In the first half this year, we did Rs 6.5 lakh crore. If I annualise it – usually the second half is better in India – we are talking about Rs 13 lakh crores. So, aggregate profits of the top 500 companies have gone from Rs 4 lakh crore to Rs 13 lakh crore, that is 3.75x.” Ved also says: “Market cap growth in last three-and-a-half years reflects earnings power of India Inc.” What a fantastic year it has been. You have been investing for so many years, more than two-and-a-half decades now. I think 2023 in a sense has been a record year of all sorts. Hiren Ved: Yes, it does. 2022 was so tough, the smallcap index was down 14%, Nifty was up only 4% or 5%, so obviously when you come off a low base things look pretty good and the first quarter of this calendar year was not that great. We started Feb-March at a low and then from April we have seen a significant lift off. So, yes, I cannot complain. It has been a great year and I know there is this popular perception that people have that markets have run up very aggressively.

compounding are so profound that it is considered not less than a magic. From ace investors such as Warren Buffett to the great scientist Albert Einstein have spoken at great lengths about the power of compounding. Einstein even referred to compounding as the ‘eighth wonder’ of the world.

Ayushman cards — which enable free treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh per anum per family at empanelled hospitals — have been generated during the ongoing Ayushman Bhava campaign. More than five crore Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) were also created during the campaign, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. This is reflective of data up to December 28, it said.

Chandigarh, An attack on a religious procession in Nuh, close to the national capital, left six people dead and kept the region, including Haryana's commerce and tech hub Gurugram, on tenterhooks for days this year. Internet services were restricted, schools closed and rumours abounded. During the past year, Haryana's BJP-Jannayak Janta Party government also faced a setback in the Punjab and Haryana High Court when it quashed the state law that allowed 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs for local people.

Before the year is over, a lucky someone could win the estimated life-altering US$760 million (over C$1 billion) Powerball jackpot.

How the interest rate of RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds 2020 (Taxable) is calculated The interest rate of RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds 2020 (Taxable) is not fixed. It is linked to the interest rate of the National Savings Scheme (NSC), a small savings scheme offered by the Union government. RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds will pay 0.35% higher than what NSC offers.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday forecasted the likelihood of very dense fog enveloping Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi in the upcoming five days. In a post on X, IMD said, “Fog Observed (0530 IST of today): Very dense fog in isolated pockets of Jammu-Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh, U.P, west Rajasthan; moderate to dense fog in isolated pockets of Delhi, East Raj.; Shallow to moderate fog in isolated pockets of West M.P, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar." The IMD has also issued a dense fog warning for Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh during the late and early hours until December 31.

By Ankur Banerjee

By Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman

Day trading guide for today: On account of strong sentiments in Asian stock market, Dalal Street ended higher for fifth straight session on Thursday. Nifty 50 index ended at 21,778 levels after climbing to a new peak of 21,801. BSE Sensex finished at 72,410 levels after hitting record high of 72,484.

we have planned till 2047," ANI quoted the ISRO chief as saying. “We can build a space station, we can send human beings to the moon, and we can create moon-based economic activity in space." ISRO has plans for a major expansion of its satellite fleet. The objective is to enhance India's geo-intelligence capabilities.

In October 2023, Pope Francis allowed women to vote at the Synod of Bishops for the first time. Allowed to attend only as observers in the past, five religious sisters were allowed to vote at the Papal advisory body in a momentous shift for the Roman Catholic Church, which has been male-dominated for centuries. With this historic move, Vatican City became the last country in the world to give its women the right to vote.

NPS contributions more accessible, efficient, and flexible. This initiative by PFRDA will empower NPS subscribers to take control of their retirement savings and benefit from the advantages of systematic investment planning. Under this new mechanism, subscribers can utilise the UPI QR Code to transfer their contributions.