Business highlights

New Delhi, Dec 5 () Following are the top business stories at 1830 hours:

DEL75 BIZ-2NDLD RBI RBI unexpectedly hits pause on interest rate cut; lowers FY20 GDP growth forecast to 5% Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday unexpectedly hit a pause button on cutting interest rate as it gave more importance to prevailing inflation pressure and rising food prices over a worrying slowdown in the economy.

DEL107 RS-FM-TAX Software development, mining, printing books not to qualify for lower 15 pc corp tax rate: FM New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Thursday said the lower 15 per cent tax rate for new manufacturing companies will not apply to computer software development, mining and printing of books.

DCM13 BIZ-RBI-PPI RBI proposes new prepaid card for transactions up to Rs 10,000 Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on Thursday proposed to introduce a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) that could be used only for transactions of goods and services worth up to Rs 10,000.

BCM18 DAS-PMC Forensic audit on PMC scam expected by month-end: Das Mumbai: Reserve Bank governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the forensic audit report on the scam-hit PMC Bank is expected by the month-end, and efforts are also on to assess the realisable value of assets held by the cooperative that can be monetised.

BCM15 DAS-FISCAL-GOVT Good coordination with govt on policy measures: Das Mumbai: Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said there is good coordination between the fiscal and monetary policies so far, in addressing growth concerns and that the central bank is not worried about government missing fiscal deficit target.

BCM5 BIZ-DAS-FOREX Forex kitty hits a new high, sniffs at $452 b Mumbai: Foreign exchange reserves continue the upward journey surging to a new high of USD 451.7 billion as of December 3, Reserve Bank governor Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday.

DEL98 BIZ-LD STOCKS Sensex slips as RBI surprises with status quo; bank stocks bear the brunt Mumbai: Equity benchmarks closed lower in topsy-turvy trade on Thursday after the Reserve Bank unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged amid slowing growth.

BCM25 RBI-HDFC-BANK-NET-BANKING RBI looking at HDFC Bank net banking glitches: Deputy Guv Jain Mumbai: A Reserve Bank team is analysing the reasons behind the crash of online banking facility of HDFC Bank for two consecutive days this week, deputy governor MK Jain said on Thursday.

DEL105 BIZ-LD RUPEE Rupee rebounds 24 paise as RBI maintains accommodative stance Mumbai: The Indian rupee rose sharply in the last hour of trade to settle 24 paise higher at 71.29 to the US dollar on Thursday after the RBI promised to continue with accommodative stance in its monetary policy.

DCM23 RSQ-BASE YEAR-GDP Base year for GDP revised due to socio-economic changes: Rao Inderjit Singh New Delhi: The government on Thursday said base year for calculating gross domestic product was changed to 2011-12 due to a change in the socio-economic environment of the country.

DEL114 RS-TAX-NOD Rajya Sabha nod to lower corporate tax rates New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday gave its consent to the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, replacing an ordinance that was used to slash corporate tax rates to stimulate growth.

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