Briefly Business

Sensex up 30 points; RCom surges 9.36.

Sensex up 30 points; RCom surges 9.36

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday closed up by 30 points to extend gains for the second day in a row,helped by abating political worries and softening global crude oil prices. After a highly volatile trade,the 30-share barometer settled at 18,469.95 points,a gain of 30.30 points,or 0.16 per cent, from its last close. ADA Group company RCom surged by 9.36 per cent on speculations that the company is selling its tower business Reliance Infratel. NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 10.20 points or 0.18 per cent to 5,531.00 from its last close.

Direct tax collections up by 20 in Apr-Feb

New Delhi: The government mop-up from the direct taxes rose by over 20 per cent for the first 11 months of the current fiscal at Rs 3.36 lakh crore from 2.64 lakh crore in the year-ago period,mainly on account of robust corporate tax collections. According to the government figures released on Wednesday,the net direct tax collections during the April-February period stood at Rs 3,36,177 crore,as against Rs 2,78,411 crore in the same period in 2009-10.

MNP requests cross 38 lakh in February

New Delhi: The number of dissatisfied mobile phone users crossed 38 lakh by end of February,with Gujarat reporting the highest number of customers willing to change their service providers through Mobile Number Portability MNP Service. As per the data reported by the service providers to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI,by the end of February,about 38.33 lakh subscribers have submitted requests to different service providers for porting shifting their mobile number.

Dhanlaxmi Bank,HSBC hike base rates

Mumbai: Dhanlaxmi Bank,on Wednesday hiked its minimum rate of lending or the base rate by 0.50 per cent to 8.75 per cent. This hike in base rate reflects the tight monetary conditions and is in line with market trends, the banks chief financial officer,Bipin Kabra,was quoted as saying in its press release. Meanwhile,the country8217;s oldest foreign bank HSBC India also revised upwards its minimum lending rate by 50 basis points to 8.5 per cent. The new rate will be effective from Thursday,the bank said in a release.

40 pc jump in trade with Asean expected

New delhi: India is targeting a 40 per cent jump in its trade with the Asean to 70 billion in 2012 with the signing of Free Trade Agreement with the 10-nation trade grouping,commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday. He told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour that Indias trade with Asean has grown to 50 billion in 2010 from 41 billion after New Delhi signed a trade agreement with the south east Asian block on August 13,2009. We have to take care that there is a balance8230;If imports have increased,Indias exports to ASEAN have also increased, he said.