The excise duty cut by the Centre on November 3 was first such exercise since the onset of Covid pandemic. In fact, the government had revised excise duty on petrol and diesel sharply in March and again in May last year to mobilise additional resources for Covid relief measures.

Federal Reserve policymakers are penciling in the possibility of earlier interest rate hikes than they thought would be needed just a few months ago, as inflation continues to soar and the economy picks up speed.

By 11 a.m., Sharma’s long-anticipated coming out party had turned into one of the worst opening days for a blockbuster tech listing since the dot-com bubble. The stock’s 27% plunge surprised even some Paytm pessimists, casting doubt on a record-breaking run for Indian equities and leaving Sharma -- and his underwriters -- to face tough questions about what went wrong with the $2.5 billion fundraising.

The Federal Reserve will raise interest rates late next year, earlier than expected just a month ago, in a landmark shift from the emergency measures it took to backstop the U.S. economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Reuters poll.

Modi said the banking sector has to understand that in India it was time for investing in ideas. "It is time to support startups. Startup is an idea, there is no asset, it is just an idea," he said.

“We are looking at about 34% growth in profits of the Nifty 50 index for March 22 followed by another 15% for March 23. Hopefully, whatever increase in bond yields we see to some extent gets offset by increase in earnings numbers and earnings yields at the same time.”

A total of 218,748 shares changed hands on the counter till 02:06PM (IST).

The higher participation of Kubota is an attempt by Escorts to institutionalise the company, says Nanda.

“I do not know whether Paytm will ever make profit or not and to that extent, I am not looking at this stock at all from a buying perspective.”

Sebi on Thursday clarified on guidelines for processing of draft schemes pertaining to mergers and demergers filed by listed companies with the stock exchanges.