A look at the headlines in the sector:

  1. India GDP growth will slow down to 7% this year, says World Bank: The International Monetary Fund has also reduced the GDP growth forecast to 6.7% for 2017-’18.
  2. Economic Advisory Council says it will work on growth and job creation: Chairman Bibek Debroy said they also had a consensus on the reasons behind the economic slowdown in India, though he refused to name them.
  3. Uttarakhand becomes fourth state to reduce Value Added Tax on petrol and diesel: The government has decided to cut both the cess and VAT on fuel by 2%.  
  4. Sensex, Nifty end lower ahead of earnings season: Earlier in the day, the two indices had breached the 32,000 and 10,050 mark, respectively.  
  5. Ola raises $1.1 billion in funds from China’s Tencent Holdings, eyes another $1 billion: The ride-hailing company said it will improve the supply of cabs and technology with the money.  
  6. Stressed assets of Indian banks at all-time high of Rs 9.5 lakh crore at June-end, says Reuters: The growth in bad loans, however, slowed to 4.5% in January-June, compared with 5.8% in the preceding six months, RBI data showed.  
  7. Two arrested for duping e-commerce giant Amazon of 166 phones and Rs 52 lakh: Shivam Chopra had ordered expensive cellphones on the website and then claimed refunds alleging he had received empty boxes.
  8. Traders seek relaxation of SC order banning sale of firecrackers in Delhi this Diwali: The traders said that the judgement would cause them heavy losses as they had already got fireworks to sell during the season.