22:20 That's a wrap on the live news coverage for the day. Your response encourages us and we strive to get you a better coverage each day. Thanks for staying tuned.

22:05 The Colombian under 17 football team defeated India 2-1 in their Group A match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Monday. The loss has virtually ended the host's chances of making it to the Round of 16. Full report here.

22:00 Beverages and food major PepsiCo India today said its Chairman and CEO D Shivakumar has resigned from the company after serving for nearly four years.

Shivakumar has been replaced by Ahmed El Sheikh, Senior Vice President and General Manager for PepsiCo Egypt and Jordan, PepsiCo India said in a statement. Ahmed will assume his role on November 1, whileShivakumar will stay with PepsiCo till December 31 as part of

the transition process. "Shiv has been with PepsiCo for the past four years and has been instrumental in leading the transformation journey for the company," Pepsico CEO Asia, Middle East and North Africa (AMENA) Sector Sanjeev Chadha said.

21:30 Heartbreak for Indian football fans as Penaloza beat keeper Dheeraj to score a 1-0 lead for Colombia in the 49th minute. But the fans aren't highly-dejected despite going a goal down early in the second half. The Mexican wave is flowing at the JLN stadium.

The government is exploring a dedicated science channel and an internet TV as part of its bid to popularise science among the masses, a senior official said today. Ashutosh Sharma, secretary with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), said that the DST is in talks with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to launch a channel dedicated to science. "The I&B Ministry has been positive in its response and it will still take a few months for the project to materialise," Sharma said. — PTI report

20:51 Saudi Arabia to invest $300 billion in next 4-5 years, says NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Monday said Saudi Arabia will invest $300 billion in India in the next 4-5 years. “Saudi Arabia wants to invest in energy security and supply and become India’s investment partner. It will invest $300 billion in next 4-5 yrs,” Kant said, reports ANI.

20:40 Moving on to sports now. An exciting battle is underway between India and Colombia at the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Though the score's 0-0 at half-time. India seem to be on the front foot. Just seconds before the haf-time, Rahul was one on one with the Colombian keeper and hit a fierce volley with his left leg. The ball beat the Colombia goalkeeper but hit the cross bar.

20:30 China's forex reserves, the highest in the world, rose for the eighth month in a row to over USD 3.1 trillion in September as pressure from capital outflow eased, according to official data released today. In January, the forex reserves plunged below USD 3 trillion, but as the economy stands on a firmer footing and the yuan continues to stabilise, the stockpile has increased steadily since February. It was the first time that the reserves climbed for the eighth months in a row since June 2014, bringing the total to its highest level since October 2016, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The world's largest currency hoard totalled USD 3.1085 trillion by the end of September, increasing by USD 16.98 billion from a month earlier, data from the People's Bank of China said.

20:18

The UN atomic agency chief today affirmed Iran's commitment to a 2015 nuclear deal, in a statement that came as US President Donald Trump said Tehran was not living up to the "spirit" of the agreement. "I can state that the nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the (nuclear agreement) are being implemented," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said in prepared remarks during a conference in Rome.

An IAEA report released last month had also affirmed Iran's compliance with the programme, which froze some of Tehran's nuclear activities. — PTI report

19:58 Government appoints 9 executive directors for public sector banks

In the latest appointments for the senior executives in public sector banks, the government has approved appointment of nine executive directors, according to reports.

The government’s latest appointments are as follows:

AK Srivastava as ED of Indian Overseas Bank

BS Shekhawat as ED of Central Bank of India

GN Dongre as ED of Punjab & Sindh Bank

MV Rao as ED of Canara Bank

Kul Bhushan Jain as ED of Andhra Bank

RK Yaduvanshi as ED of Dena Bank

Chaitanya Gayatri Chunthapalli as ED of Bank Of India

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar today said the government has no intention to change the names of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU).A UGC panel has recommended that words such as 'Hindu'and 'Muslim' be dropped from the Banaras Hindu University andthe Aligarh Muslim University respectively as they not reflecttheir secular character. "AMU and BHU are very old institutions, and we do not intend to change their names. We formed a committee to look

into the administrative, academic and research audits of universities," the HRD minister said.

19:10 The Finance Ministry on Monday announced that there no extension will be granted for filing GSTR-1 for July 2017. It cautioned that if taxpayers fail to do so, buyers may face difficulty in availing Input Tax Credit (ITC) of the tax paid on his supplies.

"Taxpayers who have not yet filed their GSTR-1 for July 2017 are advised to do so immediately," the Finance Ministry tweeted. "If a taxpayer does not file GSTR-1 by 10th of October, then his buyer may face difficulty in availing ITC of the tax paid on his supplies."

It further said in the tweet, "It is therefore advised that all suppliers of goods/services, esp B2B suppliers, furnish their outward supply details in GSTR-1 by due date."

Domestic orders placed for the BrahMos missiles have been worth more than USD 7 billion over the last 20 years, and if exports fructify the sales could double in the next five years, BrahMos chief said today.

While India could use the BrahMos missiles for its defence units, the country could not export them before June 2016, when it became a signatory to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). Russia.

"The journey of (nearly) 20 years has not been easy. We have struggled with our finances, technology, users. Challenges have been so many," BrahMos Aerospace's CEO Sudhir Kumar Mishra said at the Deftech 2017. — PTI report

18:53 NSE is likely to see a stream of listings on its segment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in next one week, taking the total tally of such firms on the bourse close to the 100-level milestone. While eight SMEs got listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) so far since October 4, as many as 11 are lined up for listing in next one week. With these listings the total number of companies on Emerge, which is NSE's platform for SMEs, would hit the 97-mark, information provided by the exchange to PTI shows.

Eight companies which got listed on the NSE between October 4-October 9 are -- Cadsys (India) Ltd, R M Drip and Sprinklers System Ltd, Innovative Tyres and Tubes Ltd, Shree Tirupati Balajee FIBC Ltd, Aarvi Encon Ltd, D P Wires Ltd, Airo Lam Ltd and RKEC Projects Ltd.

Meanwhile, the companies expected to be listed in next 7-8 days include Goldstar Power, Jash Engineering, Reliable Data Services, Tirupati Forge, CMM Infraprojects, Beta Drugs and Milton Industries.

State-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC) will be hitting the overseas debt market with a USD 1-billion medium term note programme shortly. International rating agency Fitch has assigned a BBB-negative rating to the issue. The programme is rated in line with PFC's long-term issuer default rating as issues under the programme willconstitute direct, unconditional, unsubordinated and unsecured

obligations of the company, Fitch said in a note. The proceeds from the MTN programme will be used for general corporate purposes of the company, Fitch said in a note today. — PTI report

18:15 The United Petroleum Front (UPF) today announced a 24-hour closure of outlets by petroleum dealers nationwide from October 12 midnight to press the government on their demands, including rectification of trade anomalies, according to a PTI report. The UPF has said that if the government does not relent, it would go for an indefinite closure of purchase and sale from October 27 till the trade anomalies are resolved.

China today expressed readiness to jointly maintain peace along the border areas with India and said Nathu La, the frontier post visited by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was the "best witness" to the UK-China treaty of 1890.

The Sikkim sector of the China-India boundary has been delimited by the historical treaty of 1890, and the Nathula pass has been the best witness testifying to this fact," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing. "The Chinese side is willing to jointly uphold peace and tranquillity in the border areas with the Indian side on the basis of observing historical treaties and the relevant agreements and accords between the two sides," Hua said.

Reliance Industries and SBI promoted payments bank is in the process of finishing regulatory requirements and have not fixed any timeline for starting operations, an official said today.

"We have not really yet finalised (the launch date). It is not question of time, there are regulatory requirements, we will have to complete that. When that is over, we will start," a bank official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

16:45 Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "silence" on a media report claiming that a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah saw a huge rise in its turnover after his party came to power in 2014.

Referring to newspaper reports quoting a news website'The Wire', Gandhi said the company owned by Shah's son grew

16,000 times in a short span.

"This is a strange world. In 2014, the company was nothing. Modi ji came (to power in 2014) and launched 'start up India', 'make in India', then introduced demonetisation and GST. This destroyed small businessmen and farmers," Gandhi told a gathering at Kamla village in Kheda district. "But from this fire, one company comes up. It was nothing in 2014 but in a few months it became so big that this company's worth of Rs 50,000 rose to Rs 80 crore. Referring to entrepreneurship in Gujarat, Gandhi asked whether Gujaratis, who are adept at running businesses, can do it. Recalling Modi's assertion that he would neither engage in corruption nor allow it to happen, the Congress leader said, "Now when Amit Shah's son's company has grown 16,000 times, Modi ji has gone silent," Gandhi said.

16:15 Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport (KIA will soon become the first airport in India to completely implement an Aadhaar-enabled entry and biometric boarding. The Bangalore International Airport Association (BIAL) has floated a request for proposal (RFP) which aims to complete the Aadhaar-enabled entry system by December 31, 2018. The proposal is part of the airport's efforts to be completely digitised and transform itself into a 'smart airport'. Read full report here

15:56 Reliance General Insurance, part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, has filed its draft papers with markets regulator Sebi for an initial public offer. The IPO comprises fresh issue of little over 1.67 crore shares by the company and an offer for sale by Reliance Capital of 5.03 crore shares. Another group firm -- Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management -- has already filed preliminary papers with Sebi to float an IPO and is awaiting the regulator's nod. Reliance General Insurance plans to utilise the proceeds from the fresh issue towards augmenting the solvency margin and consequently increase the solvency ratio. Besides, the money will be used to meet future capital requirements, which are expected to arise out of growth.

15:43 The United Kingdom has secretly started drawing up plans for war with North Korea, The Daily Mail has revealed. British Armed Forces officials have been asked to outline plans for how the UK would respond if war broke out with Kim Jong Un's regime. One course of action could be to deploy HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain's £3 billion ($3.9 billion) aircraft carrier, alongside 12 F-35B fighter jets. "We have plenty of ships to send... the Type-45 destroyers, the Type-23 frigates," a senior Whitehall source said. "Britain's new aircraft carrier could be pressed into service early if things turn south."

15:37 The government will not be able to extend tax and duty related concessions to iPhone maker Apple under the new indirect tax regime as the effort is to promote Make in India and not imports, reports PTI. "We have already hiked customs duty on smartphone and imports of its parts. So, it is clear that we do not want to encourage imports and rather encourage Make in India. With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in place, giving separate exemptions to anyone is not possible," the government source said. Cupertino-based iPhone and iPad manufacturer Apple has sought certain concessions for setting up manufacturing unit in India.

15:36 The Shiv Sena alleged that the Centre slashed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates on certain items of common consumption to appease voters ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, reports PTI. It also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was against the imposition of a uniform taxation system when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

"After the axe of demonetisation fell upon the country, the economy never recovered. Then the weapon of GST was used against a sleeping economy and inflation shot up," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said. "By slashing the GST rates, the government kept aside its arrogance and bowed down. This is a victory of the people. The people's wrath had turned into fire (after the implementation of GST). The decision (of slashing GST rates) was taken so that a heavy price for it does not have to be paid in the Gujarat Assembly polls," it said.

15:23 US economist Richard Thaler won the 2017 Nobel Economics Prize for his contributions in the field of behavioural economics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. “In total, Richard Thaler’s contributions have built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making,” the award-giving body said on announcing the $1.1 million prize. “His empirical findings and theoretical insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field of behavioural economics, which has had a profound impact on many areas of economic research and policy.”

14:59 Britain’s statistics office said on Monday it had underestimated the pace of growth in costs in the labour market, one of the pieces of data that the Bank of England is looking at as it considers whether to raise interest rates next month, reports Reuters.

Annual growth in unit labour costs - the cost to employers to produce a given amount of output - stood at 2.4% in Q2, the ONS said on Monday, not 1.6% as it had announced on Friday. The ONS said it made an error in its original calculations. Unit labour costs rose by 3.5% in Q1 and the growth of 2.4% in Q2 was the slowest since the first three months of 2016, the revised ONS figures showed.

14:52 Prime Minister Narendra Modi brainstormed with CEOs of top global and Indian companies, including BP of the UK, Russia's Rosneft, Saudi Aramco and Reliance Industries, on ways to revive investment in oil and gas exploration and production.

Modi met BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Royal Dutch Shell's Project and Technology Director Harry Brekelmens, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H Naseer, Exxon Mobil President for Gas and Power Rob Franklin, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Vedanta Resources head Anil Agarwal for over two hours to discuss the global oil and gas scenario. The main theme of the meeting, reports PTI, was to seek investment in exploration and production, processing, transportation and distribution network in oil and gas. The Niti Aayog made a short presentation on the status, the likely scenario of demand and supply by 2030 and current government policies.

14:46 The Madras High Court adjourned the AIADMK legislators' disqualification case to November 2 while reiterating that no floor test or by-election should take place in Tamil Nadu until then, reports CNN-News18. The petition was filed by 18 AIADMK legislators belonging to sidelined leader TTV Dinakaran and VK Sasikala who were disqualified under the anti-defection law by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal. The counsel for the 18 lawmakers told the court that they have not joined another party and were only opposed to Chief Minister K. Palaniswami.

14:35 Tyre maker CEAT has acquired 163-acre land in Chennai for over Rs 60 crore to set up a manufacturing plant for radial tyres, reports PTI. Property consultant JLL India, which facilitated the transaction for CEAT, said the tyre-maker plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore in this green field project over the next 5 years.

14:26 The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a notice to the CBI while admitting separate pleas filed by the Dera Sacha Sauda chief challenging his 20-year sentence in rape case and that of the two victims seeking life imprisonment for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, reports PTI. A division bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Sudhir Mittal also directed Ram Rahim's counsel to deposit Rs 30 lakh as fine, which was imposed by the special CBI court on Ram Rahim, with a bank within two months.

14:22 In a breakthrough, a joint team of security forces killed top Jaish-e-Mohammed militant commander Umer Khalid in Ladoora area of North Kashmir, reports PTI. Director General of Jammu & Kashmir Police SP Vaid said it was a major breakthrough for the security forces as the militant was involved in many attacks on security camps in North Kashmir as well as targeting policemen in particular.

14:19 VHP chief Pravin Togadia said the Gujarat government should appeal against the Gujarat High Court order commuting the death sentence of those convicted in the Godhra train burning case to life imprisonment, reports PTI. Seeking capital punishment for convicts in the 2002 carnage, he said the state government should appeal in the Supreme Court before Diwali for the sake of justice to devotees of Lord Ram.

14:16 Engineering firm Kalpataru Power Transmission (KPTL) has secured new orders worth Rs 1,057 crore. The company secured two orders worth Rs 913 crore for design, supply and construction of 500 kV and 225/90 kV transmission lines in Thailand and Africa. Besides, it has got an order for pipeline installation and associated terminal works of Kochi Salem Pipeline Private (KSPPL) for Rs 144 crore. KSPPL is a 50:50 joint venture of Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation.

14:12 Investor sentiment in the euro zone rose more than expected in October, hitting a 10-year high in its first reading since Germany held national elections two weeks ago. The Frankfurt-based Sentix research group’s euro zone index rose to 29.7 points from 28.2 in September. The October reading beat a consensus forecast of 28.5 in a Reuters poll of analysts. Investors viewed the euro zone’s current conditions favourably, with a sub-index rising to 41.8 from 39.8 in September.

13:59 Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is willing to buy state-owned GAIL (India) or Oil India, the company’s head of finance, AK Sharma, told Reuters.

13:48 Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors in history. He also has a really weird diet. Buffett's diet of sugary soda, junk food, and limited vegetables has reached legendary status. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO drinks around five cans of Coca Cola products a day, munches constantly on See's Candies, and uses so much salt former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf said it was like a "snowstorm." Business Insider decided to take on Buffett's strange food tastes for a work week and see what it was like.

13:33 State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is likely to sell some of its stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to institutional investors like LIC to part-fund its over Rs 34,000-crore acquisition of refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), reports PTI. ONGC holds 13.77% stake in India's biggest refiner IOC, which at Monday's market price is worth over Rs 27,800 crore. It has another 4.87% stake in GAIL India worth of Rs 1,600 crore.

"The acquisition of 51.11% government stake in HPCL will be funded through a combination of market borrowing and selling some stake in IOC and GAIL," a source said. Selling stake in the open market may create volatility and so, ONGC is considering selling less than 2% stake in IOC to institutional investors like LIC in block deal, he added.

13:29 ONGC Videsh expects Sudan to clear about $400 million owed to the state-run energy company after the lifting of US sanctions, its Managing Director NK Verma said. The past dues were relating to building of a pipeline and crude sales, Verma told Reuters at the India Energy Forum by Ceraweek in New Delhi. “Earlier they were facing problems and now it will be easy for them (Sudan) to raise funds,” he said.

13:16 European shares opened slightly higher on Monday after four consecutive weeks of gains, with Germany’s Dax touching a fresh new high, as worries about the situation in Catalonia eased off after Sunday’s demonstration against independence. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.2% in early trading while the Dax was up 0.3% to a new record of 12,997 points. A slight rebound for the pound, which has been suffering over the weekend on Theresa May’s struggle to maintain authority over her cabinet, weighed on the FTSE, which was down 0.1%.

13:07 The Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) expects policy fine-tuning from the Indian government --on the lines of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- in coming weeks, reports PTI. As GST-driven distortions fade, expectations are set on festive-driven demand, good monsoon, remonetisation and higher disposable income following an increase in wage or allowances to provide support to the production outlook, it said.

13:05 Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) share slumped nearly 16% after the company said its pivotal studies on treatment of spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis did not meet the desired outcome. Baclofen GRS is a novel, once-a-day formulation developed by the company's proprietary gastroretentive system (GRS) technology. SPARC CEO Anil Raghavan had said: "We are disappointed with the outcomes of these studies and will evaluate the data in greater detail to decide on our next steps."

12:43 One of world’s most famous sports car companies Porsche has launched the 911 GT3 in India at Rs 2.2 crore (ex-showroom, Mumbai). The GT3 joins the list of four dozen models, including their variants that the German company retails in India. The GT3 comes powered by a four- litre, six-cylinder engine that develops peak power of 500hp. It can do from 0-100km/hr in 3.4 seconds and has a top whack of 318km/hr.

12:09 North Korea leader Kim Jong Un defended his nuclear-weapons program in a weekend speech, calling it a “treasured sword” protecting the country’s independence, as US President Donald Trump said “only one thing will work” to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, reports The Wall Street Journal.

12:02 Indian Energy Exchange is ideal for risk-averse long-term investors, who wants steady cash flow of a debt instrument but do not want to invest in debt but at the same time fear taking excessive risks of investing in equity, finds Moneycontrol Research’s Jitendra Kumar Gupta.

11:58 Jindal Steel & Power has sold two oxygen plant assets to SREI Equipment Finance for Rs 11.21 billion. The steelmaker said it also signed a lease-back deal with the company which finances construction equipment purchases and will continue to operate the assets for manufacturing steel. The assets are located at the company’s plants in Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

11:55 German industrial production jumped more than expected in August, posting its biggest monthly increase in more than six years, data showed on Monday, in a further sign that Europe’s biggest economy is set for solid growth in the Q3. Industrial output increased by 2.6% on the month in August after edging down by 0.1% in July, data from the Economy Ministry showed. That was the strongest monthly gain since July 2011 and easily beat expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.7% rise, surpassing even the most optimistic estimate.

11:35 Here's the latest update on the MAS Financial Services IPO: Total subscription 2x, Retail 2.8x, QIB 1.79x and NII 0.3x

11:23 “We have gone through the entire evidence…. We have basically relied on passengers, injured victims, railway employees, forensic evidence, statements of witnesses…. We have also considered the question of compensation which was not considered by the trial court,” Justice Dave said.

11:15 The Gujarat High Court has also ordered the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the kar sevaks killed in the Godhra train burning incident.

11:11 The Gujarat High Court has commuted the death sentences of 11 convicts to life imprisonment in a 2002 Godhra train burning case. The court said that the government had failed to maintain law and order.

Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express, in which 59 people, mostly 'kar sevaks' returning from Ayodhya were travelling, was burnt on February 27, 2002 at the Godhra station, triggering riots in the state. The special SIT court had on March 1, 2011 convicted 31 people and acquitted 63 in the case.

While 11 people were sentenced to death, 20 were given life in jail. Later, several appeals were filed in the High Court challenging the conviction, while the state government had questioned the acquittal of 63 people.

10:59 The Supreme Court has placed a ban on sale of firecrackers in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) during the upcoming festive season of Diwali. The ban will remain in effect till November 1.

The court said it wanted to evaluate the difference to air quality. A bench headed by Justice AK Sikri had on October 6 reserved its order on a plea seeking restoration of the apex court's last year order banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. The top court, through its November 11 order last year, had suspended all licences which "permit the sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail within the territory of NCR".

10:56 Days after Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's aide de camp and adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan was arrested on October 3, the police has accused her of misleading the investigation and has taken her to an undisclosed location for questioning, reports Firstpost. In order to avoid media presence, the police staged a drama and took female police personnel dressed as dummies of Honeypreet and her aide Sukhdeep Kaur in police convoys, while actually taking the two accused later to an undisclosed location for questioning.

10:36 The voice samples in audio clips where alleged payments to the BJP high command are being discussed belong to former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, a forensic investigation has revealed. A report by the Forensic Sciences Lab accessed by CNN-News18 brings fresh trouble for the Karnataka BJP heavyweights months before Assembly elections in the southern state where the saffron party is trying to wrest power from the Congress.

The audio clip in question dates to February 12 when the two leaders were purportedly discussing about a diary recovered from a Congress leader which contained details of alleged payments made to the Congress leadership. In the clip, the two leaders purportedly discussed that they too had given money to the BJP leadership, but never kept a diary. The conversation was picked up by an open mic at a BJP event.

10:28 Jaiprakash Associates stock rose nearly 4% after the company’s board on Saturday approved the transfer of certain assets and liabilities, including debt of over Rs 11,834 crore, to its subsidiary Jaypee Infrastructure Development as part of its efforts to cut the overall borrowing of the company. The company had called a board meeting to consider the recommendations of the audit committee on the debt restructuring process approved by the Joint Lenders' Forum.

10:26 Lovable Lingerie scrip has fallen over 5% after the company's board approved a buyback of equity shares. The board at their meeting held on October 6 has passed a resolution for buyback of equity shares at Rs 250 per share. The company is buying back up to 20,00,000 fully paid up equity shares (up to 11.9%) for a total consideration of up to Rs 50,00,00,000.

10:06 Republican senator Bob Corker has warned that Donald Trump risks setting the nation “on the path to world war three” as the pair continued to exchange public barbs, reports The Guardian. The US president had blamed his former political ally for the Iran nuclear deal in a series of derisive Twitter posts that drew a sharp riposte from Corker, who chairs the important Senate foreign relations committee.

Corker said he was alarmed about a president who acts “like he’s doing The Apprentice or something’ – in a reference to the reality television show that Trump had once hosted. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that Corker had “begged him” to for his endorsement in Tennessee but “I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement),” Trump wrote. An hour later Corker tweeted back: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”

09:52 In an interview to Mint two days after the October monetary policy that left the policy rate unchanged, raised the year-end inflation projection marginally and pared the growth projection for fiscal 2018, Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel said there are visible signs of upturn and economic growth is likely to exceed 7% in the last two quarters of the year as projected in last week’s monetary policy report.

09:50 Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is in early talks with its partner Ford Motor Co to procure a vehicle platform on which the Mumbai-based company aims to build an all new electric sedan, reports Mint. In lieu of this platform, M&M will share its affordable electric vehicle technologies with Ford, which the American company plans to use in its entry-level cars such as Figo and Aspire.

09:46 The Tata Teleservices scrip is down over 13% after the Tata Group informed the government on Friday that it plans to shut its wireless business, bringing an end to its 21-year-old phone services venture. Tata Group Chief Financial Officer Saurabh Agrawal and Tata Teleservices Managing Director N Srinath were among executives who met DoT officials and discussed ways of surrendering or selling their existing spectrum holdings.

09:31 The bull run in Indian sovereign bonds is petering out as accelerating inflation and the risk of worsening public finances cloud the outlook for Asia’s highest-yielding securities, reports Bloomberg. The benchmark 10-year yield, up 24 bps in 2017, may climb further as rising living costs prevent the Reserve Bank of India from cutting interest rates, according to HSBC Holdings and Emkay Global Financial Services. A potential increase in government borrowing, which will boost debt supply, also threatens to depress bond prices, after the yield sank 231 bps in the last three years. In fact, Emkay said the best phase of the bond market may be behind us.

09:21 A clip of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the run-up to the 2014 assembly polls has left him red-faced. Fadnavis is heard saying "the Congress-NCP government must be ousted as it has plunged the state into darkness." Today, the once power-surplus state is once again reeling under a power crisis, forcing Fadnavis to step in to tackle the situation, reports The Times of India.

09:11 North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile, which it believes can reach the west coast of the United States, reports Reuters, quoting a Russian lawmaker who has returned from a visit to Pyongyang. Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs committee, and two other Russian lawmakers visited Pyongyang on October 2-6, Russia's RIA news agency reported. "They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the west coast of the United States," RIA quoted Morozov as saying.

08:59 Heavy rains affected flight operations at the Mumbai airport on Monday, the second time in less than a month, causing delays. PTI reports that rains had led to a pothole on one of the taxiways, forcing the airport authorities to shut the main runway and resulting in delays in aircraft movement. This was the second time in less than a month that the Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), the GVK-led joint venture airport company, had to shut the main runway, 009/27, for operations.

08:58 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Indian soldiers along the Indo-Pakistan border had been gunning down at least five-six terrorists every day and that he had told them to give a fitting reply if Pakistan opened fire, reports PTI. He said the neighbouring country had been sending terrorists to India with nefarious designs and the Indian soldiers had been gunning down at least five-six of them every day.

08:52 Recently-appointed Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran is clear in his mind that the sprawling Tata Group has to be streamlined -- with several businesses needing to be consolidated, and others scaled up further. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Chandrasekaran said he has been busy collecting data, formulating strategy, building a team and laying out a capital allocation plan for the over $100 billion group.

08:48 To know what to expect in the market watch video here

08:47 A government audit of central universities has suggested that the words ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ be dropped from the names of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), respectively, to reflect their secular character, The Indian Express has learnt. The suggestion is contained in an audit of AMU by one of five committees set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on April 25 at the behest of the HRD Ministry to probe complaints of irregularities against 10 central universities.

08:45 Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray dared his party's ruling ally BJP to "resign" from the Maharashtra government and face midterm polls, reports PTI. The state's ruling partners are also part of the NDA at the Centre, but relations between them are strained for quite some time. "I challenge you to resign from the government and face polls once again. We will show you the Shiv Sena's power. Even during the (Modi) wave, the BJP got votes in Sena's name," Thackeray said, addressing a rally for a local election in Nanded.

08:40 A report in the online news portal The Wire about the business dealings of BJP president Amit Shah’s son Jay triggered a political storm Sunday, with the Congress asking whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would order an inquiry by the CBI or Enforcement Directorate, and the BJP calling the report “false” and defamatory”, reports The Indian Express.

Amit Shah’s son said he would sue the author of the report and the editors and owners of the website for criminal defamation. “We finally found the only beneficiary of Demonetisation. It’s not the RBI, the poor or the farmers. It’s the Shah-in-Shah of Demo. Jai Amit,” Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi tweeted. The CPI(M), AAP, Samajwadi Party and RJD too used the report to attack the BJP, Amit Shah and Modi.

08:31 Two days after seven military personnel were killed in a helicopter crash in Tawang, purported images of their bodies being transferred in cardboard boxes surfaced on Sunday, triggering an outrage. India TV reports that this prompted the Army to come out with a tweet saying the wrapping of the bodies with local resources was an “aberration” and that the fallen soldiers are always given full military honour.

08:22 Large protests were held across Australia on Saturday against Indian mining giant Adani Enterprises’ proposed Carmichael coal mine, which would be the country’s largest coal mine but has been delayed for years over environmental and financing issues. Environment groups say the mine in Queensland state would contribute to global warming and damage the Great Barrier Reef. Reuters reports that the “Stop Adani” movement organised 45 protests.

08:19 The Reserve Bank of India has initiated “prompt corrective action” against Oriental Bank of Commerce over its high amount of net non-performing assets (NPA), reports Reuters. Oriental Bank is the seventh state-run lender to be put under a corrective action plan, which requires a bank to enact curbs on hiring, branch expansion and taking on new loans.

08:10 The GST Council has introduced a slew of reforms amid the festive season to woo traders and consumers. In a big relief for exporters, it has decided to clear refunds for July and August in October via cheque. In the future, every exporter will get an e-wallet for refunds. The Council has also taken steps to ease compliance for businesses.

It has decided to widen the composition scheme to taxpayers with turnover up to Rs 1 crore and allowed businesses with a turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore to file returns quarterly. The rates for 27 items have been reduced -- khakhra, unbranded namkeen, unbranded Ayurvedic medicine and manmade yarn to attract lower taxes. A Group of Ministers has been appointed to look into the taxation regime for restaurants as well. Also, the Council has decided to look at implementing the e-way bill mechanism after April 1.

07:55 Gold prices rose on Monday, pulling further away from a two-month low, as fresh concerns over North Korea's nuclear ambitions stoked safe-haven demand for the precious metal and weighed on the dollar.

07:49 Business activity in China’s services sector grew at its slowest pace in 21 months in September as the pace of new business cooled, a private survey showed. The survey was in sharp contrast to an official gauge of the non-manufacturing sector that showed the services sector expanded at the fastest clip since 2014 in September, blurring the picture on how a key part of the economy is performing, reports Reuters. The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 50.6 in September, the lowest reading since December 2012 and one of the weakest since the survey began in 2005.

07:46 Oil prices edged up on Monday, halting a 2% slide from Friday, on expectations that Saudi Arabia would continue to restrain its output in order to support prices, and as the amount of rigs drilling for new oil in the United States dipped.

07:45 British consumer spending jumped in September, but not by enough to halt a YoY decline that reflects rising living costs, a survey by payments company Visa showed. Consumer spending - adjusted for inflation and seasonal effects - rose by 1.4% in September after falling 0.4% MoM in August, Visa said, based on its credit and debit card data. Reuters reports that this was the biggest monthly rise since November, but still left overall spending in real terms 0.3% below its level a year ago. Spending has fallen YoY for four of the past five months, the longest series of such declines since April 2013.

07:41 British Prime Minister Theresa May has signalled that she could sack Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as she tries to reassert her authority after a series of political disasters, reports The Sunday Times.

07:38 Catalonia is expected to declare independence from Spain as early as Tuesday, reports CNBC. Following its banned referendum, Catalan president has said he prefers mediation out of the current crisis. But Dpain's central government has rejected this avenue demanding a "return to the path of law" before any talks. The likely outcome is that Catalonia will declare independence after a parliamentary session.

07:36 In Europe, stocks closed in the red on Friday as investors digested the latest set of payrolls data from the US and monitored political events in Spain.

07:34 US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would be open to cutting a one- or two-year deal with Democratic rivals as a way to kick-start reform of the nation’s healthcare system, a key campaign pledge made by Trump and the Republican Party. On Saturday, Trump told Reuters he had called Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to gauge interest in working on what he called a “great” healthcare bill to replace Obamacare.

07:32 US President Donald Trump, who pledged to work with Democrats to protect “Dreamers” - young people brought illegally to the United States as children - called on Sunday for money to fund a border wall and thousands more immigration officers to be part of any deal. Trump’s list of immigration “principles,” laid out in a document seen by Reuters, was a non-starter for Democrats, who are seeking a legislative fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that Trump ended last month.

07:21 Turkey's Lira has tumbled to an eight-month low against the dollar as relations with the US deteriorates. The Lira sank after the US blocked processing for the majority of new visas in Turkey, which in turn responded in kind, reports the The Financial Times.

07:17 CNBC reports that several Federal Reserve officials have indicated an openness to an interest rate hike in December. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said he was "open minded" about another rate hike by year-end, while New York Fed President William Dudley said he thought it was "appropriate" for the central bank to continue removing accommodation.

07:16 The Labour Department on Friday reported the first decline in US nonfarm payrolls in seven years, suggesting the economy took a hit from hurricanes in Florida and Texas. The US lost 33,000 jobs in September versus a forecast by economists of a gain of 90,000 jobs in a Reuters poll. Despite the weak headline number, average hourly earnings rose to an annualised rate of 2.9%. The unemployment rate also fell to a 16-year low of 4.2%.

07:11 US stocks closed mostly lower on Friday after weak jobs report: the first contraction in seven years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped its seven-day winning streak, while the S&P 500 snapped an eight-day winning streak - its longest in four years. However, the Nasdaq Composite outperformed, rising 0.07% at close.

07:07 It is a tepid start to trade in Asia ahead of key economic data in China. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan markets are closed for public holidays today. Investors are expected to turn their attention to China data as mainland markets resume trade after the week-long "Golden Week" holiday. The SGX Nifty is trading over 50 points lower at 9,970.5.

The rhetoric between North Korea and United States continued over the weekend. On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said “only one thing will work” in dealing with the isolated country. His comments seemed to suggest that military action was on his mind. Few hours later, Reuters reported that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un said his nuclear weapons were a “powerful deterrent” that guaranteed its sovereignty. In a meeting of the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party on Saturday, Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, was made an alternate member of the politburo - the country’s top decision-making body.