Business highlights

Following are the top business stories at 1840 hours: DEL34 BIZ-LD PETROL-HIKE Petrol, diesel price hiked by 60 paise per litre for second straight day New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 60 paise per litre each on Monday, for the second day in a row, as state-owned oil firms reverted to daily price revisions after a hiatus of almost three months. DCM20 BIZ-OIL-BID-DEADLINE Govt extends oil block bid deadline to June 30 New Delhi: The government on Monday extended the last date of bidding for the 11 oil and gas blocks on offer in the fifth exploration bid round to June 30 in view of the COVID-19 lockdown in the country.

DCM32 BIZ-LD ILFS-GIFTCL IL&FS sells 50 pc stake in GIFT City to Gujarat govt, reduces consolidated debt by over Rs 1,200 cr Mumbai: Debt-laden IL&FS on Monday said it has completed the sale of its 50 per cent stake in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to the Gujarat government, generating over Rs 32 crore for its equity value and also reducing its consolidated debt by more than Rs 1,200 crore. DCM26 BIZ-GOOGLE-CORONA Corona-related searches on Google drop in May as people go back to films, weather New Delhi: After dominating the conversations for weeks, coronavirus seems to be falling off the popularity charts as netizens in the country went back to searching for topics like films and weather on Google in May.

DEL55 BIZ-LD STOCKS Sensex, Nifty pare hefty gains on profit-booking, end marginally up Mumbai: Benchmark gauges Sensex and Nifty on Monday pulled back from the day's highs but managed to settle with marginal gains as investors rushed to book profits following a stellar rally. DEL61 BIZ-LD RUPEE-CLOSE Rupee edges 3 paise higher against US dollar Mumbai: The rupee on Monday appreciated marginally by three paise to 75.55 (provisional) against the US dollar amid sustained foreign fund inflows and positive domestic equity market.

DCM56 BIZ-GST-SMS Now 22 lakh 'Nil' GST filers can file monthly returns via SMS New Delhi: The government on Monday rolled out short messaging service (SMS) facility for taxpayers filing 'Nil' monthly GST returns, a move which will benefit about 22 lakh registered taxpayers. DEL56 BIZ-GOLD-PRICE Gold rises Rs 348; silver jumps by Rs 794 New Delhi: Gold prices rose by Rs 348 to Rs 46,959 per 10 gram in the national capital on Monday on strong international prices, according to HDFC Securities. DCM47 BIZ-VIRUS-MOTHER DAIRY COVID-19: Mother Dairy launches haldi milk to boost immunity New Delhi: Mother Dairy, a leading milk supplier in the Delhi-NCR, on Monday introduced butterscotch flavoured haldi milk (turmeric latte) that will help boost immunity of consumers.

DCM33 BIZ-POWER- LD UP UP govt working to provide hassle-free power connection to industries Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government is making new arrangements to facilitate providing power connection to industries, which will boost investment, Power Minister Shrikant Sharma said on Monday. DCM2 BIZ-CUSTOMS-FACELESS ASSESSMENT Customs dept to roll out pan-India faceless assessment by Dec 31; starts in Chennai, Bengaluru New Delhi: The customs department will roll out pan-India faceless assessment by December 31 in a phased manner, starting with Chennai and Bengaluru beginning Monday, the CBIC has said. DCM18 BIZ-KOTAK-BADBANK Bad bank not a good idea unless key issues are addressed: Uday Kotak New Delhi: Setting up of a bad bank to deal with the problem of mounting NPAs is not a good idea and will not yield desired results unless some key aspects like transparency and recovery rate are addressed, newly-elected president of CII Uday Kotak said.