Government of India plans to roll-out smart power meters nationwide, will cost about Rs 1.5 trillion ($21 billion), according to the estimation of government. This concept will be expected to help to improve the billing and collection, which are the most basic problem facing by country’s ailing distribution companies, which is commonly known as discoms. These utilities controlled by their state governments, lose money because of poor billing and theft of power, which often leads to delaying payment to generators and depriving their customer of reliable supplies. The estimation of the price tag for smart meters includes hardware, installation and operations such as the system integration and data analysis, said by Sanjiv Nandan Sahai Power Secretary. About, 250 million prepaid meters across the country will raise e

The Digital Communications Commission, the highest decision-making authority at the department of telecommunications (DoT), will meet to discuss relief steps in the aftermath of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) crisis in the telecom sector, sources said. Last week, series of meetings had held between Vodafone Idea Ltd chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and top government officials. Birla had met telecom secretary Anshu Prakash, after which he also discussed the issue with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The finance ministry and DoT have now started discussions on possible relief measures to prevent the sector from becoming a duopoly of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd. Several proposals are being discussed to provide immediate relief from the AGR dues such as setting up a fund, which will lend money t

Realme has announced the appointment of Bollywood actor Salman Khan as its brand ambassador. The actor will be endorsing the upcoming Realme 6 and Realme 6 Pro phone models. ‘What makes Salman Khan the best choice for us it that he enjoys a massive appeal across various regions and demographic profiles of India. That brings immense value to us as one of the unique selling propositions of our brand lies in making cutting edge technology, fun, stylish, quality-driven products within everyone's reach and across all price segments. Having Salman Khan on board with a mammoth fan following will help us reach and tap into that target audience of ours,’ said Madhav Sheth, vice-president of Realme and CEO of Realme India. Salman has the first association with the smartphone brand. The brand will leverage Khan’s p

Privatisation of Air India and stake sale in its subsidiaries for which bids have been invited is set to spill over to FY21 with the government giving more time to investors for clearing doubts on the terms of sale. The ministry of civil aviation has extended the due date for investors to seek clarifications on the terms of sale up to midnight of 6 March, from the earlier deadline of 11 February, as per a change notified by the ministry on the information document given to investors. ‘This invariably means that the process of disinvestment will get stretched to FY21 as investors will need to be given at least 15 days to make their submissions (expressions of interest) after their queries are clarified,’ a person familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity. Qualified bidders will then make financ

India will launch its Geo Imaging Satellite (GISAT-1) with its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV- F10) on March 5. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), its GSLV-F10 rocket carrying the GISAT-1 is expected to lift off at 5:43 pm on March 5. The launch is subject to the weather conditions, the space agency added. The weight is about 2,275 kg, GISAT-1 is a state-of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite which will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) by GSLV-F10. Moreover, the satellite will reach the final geostationary orbit using its onboard propulsion system. A four-metre diameter Ogive shaped payload fairing (heat shield) is being flown for the first time in this GSLV flight. This is the fourteenth flight of the GSLV. Operating from geostationary orbit, GISAT-1 w

Sensex slips below 40,000 points The benchmark BSE Sensex dipped below the psychologically crucial 40,000 marks at 39,998.76 as the coronavirus scare has triggered a sell-off in global equities. The market opens lower Soon after opening, the benchmark BSE Sensex had slipped below the crucial 40,000 marks, while the Nifty 50 was below 11,700 points. Private lender IndusInd Bank was down 1.9 per cent at Rs 1,132.20 apiece on the BSE. The stock has been battered in the recent past as the bank has huge exposure to the troubled telecom and real estate sector. Earlier this month, rating agency Moody’s Investors Service revised its outlook for the lender to negative from stable due to concerns over declining asset quality. In a broader weak market, shares of index heavyweight HDFC Bank were down 0.6 per cent at Rs 1

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell for the third session in a row on Tuesday weighed down by weakness in energy, pharma and auto shares. The benchmarks traded in a choppy fashion and switched directions more than five times during the session before closing in the negative territory. The Sensex fell as much as 143 points and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped below the important psychological level of 11,800. Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies and Sun Pharma were among the biggest drags on the Sensex. The Sensex closed 82 points or 0.2 per cent lower at 40,281 and the Nifty 50 index fell 32 points or 0.3 per cent to settle at 11,798. In the last three trading sessions, the Sensex has shed 2.5 per cent and the NSE Nifty 50 index has slumped 2.7 per cent. On the othe

Today, IRCTC shares jumped as much as 4 per cent hit a new high of Rs 1,995 on BSE. Later, IRCTC shares pared some gains and settled 1.5 per cent higher at Rs 1,952. In comparison, the BSE benchmark index Sensex fell 82 points today. IRCTC had a stellar run since getting listed on the stock exchanges on 14 October 2019 at Rs 644, a premium of over 100 per cent to the IPO issue price of Rs 320. In Budget 2020 proposals, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that more Tejas-like trains will be coming in future. IRCTC had last year launched its first Tejas Express which runs on Lucknow-Delhi route, followed by another Tejas Express on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. IRCTC follows dynamic fare scheme for both the trains. The Kashi Mahakal Express between Indore and Varanasi, the third private train operated by IR