News

• The Indian rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 15 paise to 70.84 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday (November 6, 2019) tracking subdued opening in domestic equities. However, weakening of the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and easing crude oil prices supported the domestic unit and restricted the fall

• Edelweiss has emerged as the highest bidder for three road assets put on the block by IL&FS, the infrastructure lender told bankers. The committee of creditors met to discuss bids for the three projects and issues relating to these projects, whether to sell them before converting to green.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flagged concerns over the problems faced by the real estate sector, saying that the ailing sector required a lot of attention.
• Sitharaman said that the government of India is very keen and is working with RBI to see how and where necessary tweaks can be done to the existing laws, that might help people in this particular sector (real estate) which is not completely addressed till now.

• Birla Corporation is contesting UltraTech Cement’s claim of copyright infringement over the use of the word ‘Ultra’ in its products. It argued that it is neither a violation of copyright, nor does UltraTech have exclusive rights over the word under dispute.
• According to the Trade Marks Act, 1999, copyrighted words have to be used in the complete context and not in isolation, sources said.
• While UltraTech Cement has products and brands like UltraTech Concrete, UltraTech Ready Mix, and UltraCem, Birla Corporation has MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra and others.

The recently auctioned Gare Palma IV/1 coal block is expected to fetch the government more than Rs 3,800 crore from 45 million tonne of fuel that can be extracted through it, once operation starts. Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) quoted the highest bid of Rs 230 per tonne for the block against the reserve price of Rs 150 per tonne. Apart from the quoted price, the state government would get around Rs 197 for every tonne of coal mined from the block through various royalties and cess.

Container Corporation of India (Concor) is looking to reduce its dependence on terminals built on land owned by the Indian Railways for handling cargo containers by as much as 15% by 2024, an official said.