1 Killed, 22 Injured As Passenger Train Rams Goods Train In Cuttack

• BHUBANESWAR:  At least one person was killed and 22 others injured, two of them critically, in a collision between Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak passenger train and a goods train near Kathojodi station at Cuttack this evening, East Coast Railway officials said.
  
  The passenger train (number 78408) hit the goods train (BCN-DANKUNI) running on the same track, leading to derailment of two coaches, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Coast Railway (ECoR), JP Mishra said.
  

  "One body has been retrieved from the mangled coaches of the passenger train as rescue operation was taken up on a war footing," said Cuttack District Collector NC Mishra who visited the accident site.
  
  As many as 17 persons injured in the accident have so far being brought to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and the condition of two is stated to be very critical, said hospital emergency officer BN Maharana.
  
  Police and ECoR authorities undertook rescue operation and the injured were shifted to hospitals. Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) personnel have also joined them.
  
  The number of injured is likely to go up as some passengers were stated to be trapped in the mangled coaches and efforts are on to pull them out, officials said.
  
  Train services between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have been severely affected, railway officials said.
  

  
  Senior railway officials including DRM-Khurda Road and Chief Safety Officer of ECoR rushed to the spot. District officials as well as Commissioner of Police and other police officers have also joined the rescue operation.
  
  The passenger train was unusually overcrowded due to a strike by bus operators in the state, district officials said.
  
  An ECoR report said some trains including Puri-Durg Express, Chennai-Howrah mail, Puri-Talcher Express and Puri-Sealdah Duronto Express will now be diverted via Naraj instead of Cuttack.
  
  A relief train from Khurda Road have been rushed to the spot. Besides, a railway medical van and 10 ambulances were pressed into service, ECoR officials said.
  
  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has expressed concern over the accident and directed state government officials to ensure free treatment to the injured.
  
  Meanwhile, the railways have opened help line - 0674-2490670, 0674-2301525, 9437579238 - for information about the accident victims.

Sealing Indo-Bangla Border Top Priority Of Assam Government: Sarbananda Sonowal

• GUWAHATI:  Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said sealing the Indo-Bangla border stretch in the state is a top priority of his government as the country's security will be compromised if it is allowed to remain porous.
  
  "The matter has been taken up with the centre in right earnest and the Army will be called in to construct the border fencing," Mr Sonowal said.
  
  He said the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is critical for the state as well as the nation and directed the DCs and SPs to complete the process meticulously and without any error.
  
  The chief minister called upon the DCs and SPs of all districts to be proactive in freeing state land from encroachers and act sternly against them.
  

  Mr Sonowal also called upon officials to visit the interior rural areas to get an exact sense of people's expectations from the government and also come up with ways to ensure swift delivery of services.
  
  He told the officers to work sincerely for the benefit of the people and ensure that their grievances are redressed with priority and sincerity at all government offices.
  
  "The dignity of the poorest person coming to a government office must be upheld at any cost so that faith of the people on the government system remains intact," Mr Sonowal said.
  
  People have complained on several occasions about corruption and delay in official procedures in the government, the chief minister said and told the DCs and SPs to set an example of dedication and remove corrupt practices totally.

Chabahar Port Project To Take Off Soon, Says Nitin Gadkari

• NEW DELHI:  Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadakri has said the work on Chabahar Port will begin soon once the tender process is over and hoped the project will open a new gateway for development of India, Iran and Afghanistan by boosting regional connectivity and trade.
  
  All the three nations are keen on expediting tripartite transit agreement on Chabahar port, Mr Gadkari said after holding a meeting with delegations from Iran and Afghanistan.
  
  "We are keen on expanding scope of cooperation to cover development of entire Chabahar Port...This port is going to open a new gateway not only for the development of India but at the same time development of Afghanistan and Iran. This is a win-win situation," Mr Gadkari said.
  
  Wednesday's meeting was held barely a fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, during their talks in Delhi, had stressed that expediting the trilateral pact would augment connectivity among the three nations.
  
  Mr Gadkari said, "We will try to complete the project within the time schedule. We are also finding out what are the new things for which we will have opportunity for development and investment. The Iranian Minister has given lots of innovative suggestions regarding the development of business."
  

  "We are in the process and our Prime Minister is very keen on the project...The distance between Kandla to Chabahar is less than the distance between Delhi and Mumbai. So there are lots of opportunities. Gas and petroleum products in Iran are available. We will get the market of Afghanistan also and the material from Afghanistan to Chabahar will be accessible to India," he added.
  
  He said the problems in the project have been sorted out and the nations are looking on building up on this friendship and creating more business opportunities.
  A "milestone" pact on the strategic Chabahar port in southern Iran, which will give India access to Afghanistan and Europe bypassing Pakistan, was inked by India and Iran in May this year after detailed discussions between PM Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
  
  Besides the bilateral pact to develop the Chabahar port, for which India will invest $500 million, a trilateral agreement on Transport and Transit Corridor was also signed by India, Afghanistan and Iran, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said could "alter the course of the history of the region".

Business Affairs 

28,000; Nifty closes at 8,591 after India's 'surgical strikes' across LoC

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  • All but one stock on Sensex end the day in red terrain. 
  • "All the positives are discounted, and therefore in the short term, risk to reward ratio is unfavorable for the bulls. Therefore short term traders and medium term investors should actively consider booking profits and stay on the sidelines," said Jimeet Modi, CEO, SAMCO Securities.
  • 03:45 pm: Sensex plunges 465 points to end below 28,000; Nifty closes at 8,591 as tensions at Border flare; Adani Ports top loser
  • 02:00 pm: Enthused over upbeat investor sentiment, as many as 12 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will hit the capital markets tomorrow to raise an estimated Rs 70 through initial public offers.
  • 12:52 pm: India's volatility index VIX rises 31% to hit 3-month High
  • 12:50 pm: Carried out surgical strikes on Pakistan launch pads, says Director General of military operations 
  • 12:40 pm: Sensex tanks over 500 points, Nifty breaches 8,600 after India claims cross-border firing with Pakistan
  • 12:25 pm: Sensex falls 150 points, Nifty breaches below 8,700
  • 11:45 am: Shares of Hindustan Copper fell as much as 4.36 per cent on government's plan to sell 7 per cent stake through a two-day offer. The share sale will be done through offer for sale (OFS) route at a base price of Rs 62 per share as a part of this year's disinvestment programme.
  • 11:30 am: Senses pared gains to trade flat, while the broader Nifty50 slipped below 8,800 level.
  • The state excise minister informed the assembly that new policy will be formed on the concept of abstinence and will be more inclusive in nature. Earlier, Kerala had banned buying and selling of liquor and had forced about 20 per cent shops to pull down their shutters in the last two years.
  • 11:10 am: Liquor stocks such as United Breweries (Holdings), United Spirits and Radico Khaitan surged up to 10 per cent after Kerala government said it is planning to announce a revised policy on liquor.  
  • 10:10 am: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, the first Indian insurer to get listed on stock exchanges, made a tepid debut on D-Street. The scrip got listed at Rs 329 on BSE, a 1.5 per cent discount to its offer price of Rs 334. On NSE, the stock got listed at Rs 330 per share. 
  • 09:50 am: MCX shares jumped over 10 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 1400. Brokerage UBS believes introduction of options in commodities may result in driving higher penetration. It maintained 'buy' on the stock.
  • Sell on rise: It seems that 8,700 is acting as sheet anchor for the Nifty at least for the current expiry, said Angel Broking. The brokerage does not want to get carried by this move, and interprets this bounce as a selling opportunity. 
  • 09:17 am: Sensex rises over 150 points, Nifty jumps past 8,800 on positive global cues; ONGC, RIL top gainers
  • Oil prices: US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading above $47 a barrel, after closing the previous session up $2.38, or 5.3 per cent, while Brent crude was hovering around $49.00 a barrel, having settled up $2.72, or 5.9 per cent.
  • Oil futures extended gains after rising nearly 6 per cent the day before post OPEC move to curb crude output.
  • The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to limit its production to a range of 32.5-33.0 million barrels per day (bpd) in talks held on the sidelines of an energy conference in Algeria.
  • Asian markets on Thursday: Asian markets rallied after OPEC members agreed to curb output in a surprise deal, though investors were wary of chasing markets higher as the US presidential election nears.
  • Wall Street on Wednesday:Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday after an OPEC agreement to limit crude output fueled a rally in oil and more than offset nervousness about a tight race for the US presidency. 
  • Markets on Tuesday: Snapping three sessions long losing spree, the S&P BSE Sensex ended 69 points higher, while the broader Nifty50 closed just a tad below its key 8,750 level. 

Flipkart's Big Billion Day sale: What gets cheaper from October 2

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  With just two days to go for leading online retailer Flipkart's Big Billion Day (BBD) sale, Indian consumers hope to gain the most from the rivalry with Amazon and Snapdeal and the ensuing discounts.

  We look at what Flipkart plans to offer at its third BBD sale starting from October 2.

  October 2
  Fashion, home, TV and appliances 
  The retailer will offer 50-80 per cent discount in the segment on the first day of the sale. On offer is BPL Vivid 80 cm (32) TV at Rs 12,990 plus exchange price. The retailer is offering minumum 50 per cent discount on top international brands such as Super Dry, Tommy Hilfiger, GAS and Emporio Armani.

  Ray-Ban Sunglasses will be sold at flat 40 per cent discount.

  It is also offering Crazy Deals for some products at a discount of Rs 3,100.

  October 3

  Mobile and Accessories 
  The retailer is offering full HD smartphones at Rs 5,499. On Moto Smartphone you will get flat Rs 4,000 discount. The retailer also plans to give minimum Rs 5,000 discount on popular tablets. It will sell Lenovo's 10400 mAh power bank at Rs 799. On Bose SoundTrue, the retailer will give flat 30 per cent discount.  A flat Rs 10,000 discount will be given on 21 MP smartphone with a 5.7 inch display. LeEco Le2 smartphone will be available at Rs 10,499 with up to Rs 8,000 discount on exchange. 

  October 4

  Electronics 
  The retailer also plans to give crazy deals to consumers at Rs 999, a discount of Rs 3,000 on the listed price. Intel Core i3 laptops will be sold at discounted prices.  Rs 11,000 discount will be offered on popular gaming consoles.

  October 5 and 6 
  On the last two days of the sale, all items belonging to above categories will be sold on the website and the app.

  The firm will refresh the list of items on its website and apps on a daily basis.

  Other features of the Big Billion Day sale are:

  No-cost EMIs: Buyers will have the option of getting their favourite products through Buy-Now-Pay-Later scheme. You can pay the cost of the product later on interest free EMIs. It will be interesting to see what proportion of the price the buyers will have to pay in advance to get a product. This is likely to vary from product to product.

  Exchange old products for new: Buyers will get an option to exchange old products for new during the Big Billion day Sale. Of course, you will have to pay some amount of the listed price depending on the condition of the old product.

  Buy more save more: Discount will be offered to consumers in proportion of their purchase of products. More products you buy, you will get additional discounts on them.  

  
  

How far behind is Anil Ambani from his brother Mukesh Ambani

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  Billionaire Anil Ambani said on Tuesday that his company Reliance Communications (RCom) and Reliance Jio Infocomm, owned by his elder brother Mukesh, have 'virtually' merged. Whether they will really merge or not, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since their family split in 2005. Both had fought each other bitterly and built their empires separately. Who did what in these years?
  
  The revenues of Mukesh's Reliance Industries (RIL) has grown by 278 per cent to Rs 2,76,544 crore in 11 years despite the dip in crude and petroleum products' prices. The profit rose by 263 per cent to Rs 27,504 crore - largely unaffected by the huge capital investments.

  Anil Ambani group's (Reliance Group) revenues increased by 270 per cent to Rs 59,685 crore (a comparison of the combined consolidated revenues of the companies in 2004-05 or since each one's listing, with the last financial year numbers) - thanks to the listing of Reliance Communications, creation of Reliance Power and acquisition of Pipavav Defence. The total of the consolidated profits of five companies comes to Rs 4,226 crore in the last financial year. It cannot be directly compared to 2004/05 since there were just two listed companies with him then - Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital - with a combined profit of Rs 626 crore. Their profits improved 169 per cent and 1,176 per cent, respectively, in the 11 years. In FY 2007, RCom posted Rs 2,409 crore profit, but it dipped to Rs 703 crore in the last financial year. Reliance Power registered a profit of Rs 854 crore in FY 2008 improved to Rs 1,362 crore in FY 2016.

  FLASH BACK

  

  Beyond the numbers, the past describes how they strategically built their empires. After the death of India's corporate czar Dhirubhai Ambani in 2002, his two sons launched into a bitter and public battle, leading to a split of the family's business empire in 2005. Their mother, Kokilaben, announced the settlement on June 18 by sending out a statement to the press saying: "With the blessings of Srinathji, I have today amicably resolved the issues between my two sons, Mukesh and Anil, keeping in mind the proud legacy of my husband Dhirubhai Ambani."
  
  Elder brother Mukesh got the flagship oil business, RIL and IPCL, while Anil got the control of Reliance Infocomm (telecom), Reliance Energy (power), Reliance Capital and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL).
  
  The peace was over all too soon. The legal battle between the Ambanis started in 2006 with RNRL filing a petition against RIL for effective implementation of the demerger scheme. The contentious issue was the supply of natural gas from RIL's KG D6, in Andhra coast, to RNRL for power generation at a price of $2.34 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) for 17 years. In its verdict in 2009, the Bombay High Court upheld the arguments of Anil's RNRL. But the Supreme Court reversed the order next year and Mukesh won the battle.
  
  Two weeks after the apex Court order, the Ambani brothers called a truce and scrapped the non-compete agreement, leading to Mukesh's re-entry into telecom through Reliance Jio Infocom. (It was he who conceptualised and implemented Reliance Infocomm during Dhirubhai's time.) It was peaceful after 2010, when both were pursing businesses separately and their coming together at any venue was celebrated by the media.
  
  Out of the four companies that Anil got, RNRL became a shell company after it lost the court case and it vanished from the public domain. Reliance Infocomm went to the public in 2005 and was rechristened as Reliance Communications (RCom). The next one was big, the Reliance Power initial public offering in 2008. Meanwhile, Anil had won the bids for developing ultra mega power projects in the country, triggering the rise in valuation. During the infrastructure boom, Anil renamed Reliance Energy as Reliance Infrastructure and transferred power generation businesses to Reliance Power. The corporate expansion included Anil's purchase of controlling stake in Pipavav Defence about a year ago. It was recently renamed as Reliance Defence and Engineering.
  
  Reliance Petroleum's IPO in 2006 (which later delisted and merged with the parent) was the one big initial move from Mukesh. He created the organised retail business and launched it in the same year amidst protests from kiranas and political parties. In parallel to expanding the retail business, he launched one of the huge investment programmes of around Rs 60,000 crore for two big projects - the second refinery at Jamnagar and development of KG D6 gas field. Both completed by 2009. Later KG D6 production fell, but British oil giant BP Plc picked 30 per cent stake in RIL's assets at around $7.2 billion.
  
  After that his sole focus was launching the 4G business, though he also invested heavily to expand the traditional petrochemical business. RIL invested over Rs 1 lakh crore to build Jio. The service launch of Jio with three months of free-voice and free-data offer has been crazily picked up by the consumers, eventually disrupting the telecom industry. Full-fledged commercial operation of Jio will begin from next year.
  
  On the telecom front, Anil's RCom was struggling because of its debts and lower margins. It tried to sell off its tower business to pay off part of the debts, but failed to fructify. The debt stands now at Rs 42,364 crore. Another step taken by RCom was the merger with Aircel for creating the country's fourth largest telecom operator. Russia's Sistema already holds 10 per cent stake in RCom. Reliance Capital was the best performer in Anil's stable (see above chart). Reliance Infrastructure has also performed on par with market.

  RIL's market capitalisation stands at Rs 3,53,500 crore on September 29, 2016, compared to the combined market value of five group companies of Anil at Rs 57,200 crore.

  The third generation of Ambanis has already joined both the groups. The next level of growth is in their hands.

Will Bharti Airtel stand up to Reliance Jio's threat? Yes, say analysts

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  While the upcoming two-three quarters are expected to pinch the subscriber base of Bharti Airtel and other incumbents due to Reliance Jio's mega entry, the Sunil Mittal-owned telecom firm looks all set to compete with RJio's challenge in the longer haul, said analysts, citing the operator's strong spectrum holding and enough war chest at disposal to offer discounts to match Jio's freebies.

  Airtel, in fact, will be the only telco to deleverage itself in the next two years, believes a brokerage.
  
  The stock of the telecom firm may have lost 9 per cent intraday on September 01, when Mukesh Ambani announced RJio's launch, it has recovered over 3 per cent since then (till Wednesday's closing). Experts advised investors to consider Airtel stock as a long-term investment opportunity. They see up to 20 per cent rise on the counter in the coming 12 months. 

  "While there might be some near-term earning pressure with the likely announcements of discounts and offers by RJio - which will have a bearing on numbers with lower than expected earnings over the next 2-3 quarters - the need to acquire additional debt or equity will depend on future business exigencies. Bharti Airtel has enough spectrum at present and have the capacity to acquire additional spectrum as and when future need arises," said Gaurang Shah, Head Investment Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas.

  Voice revenues to take a knock ...

  RJio's unlimited free voice calling is something Bharti Airtel will find hard to compete with. Brokerage ICICI Securities believes Bharti would see higher decline in voice revenue due to highest post-paid subscriber market share (33 per cent) that would potentially see maximum cut in voice realisation.

  The brokerage expects Bharti's voice revenue to decline by 2.2 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, in financial years 2017 and 2018, hurt by nearly 10 per cent drop in voice realisation per minute (RPM) in each of the years.

  The voice RPM includes revenue earned from outgoing minutes, termination charges on offnet incoming calls (14 paise per minute as fixed by the regulator for calls within India and 53 paise per minute on international minutes) and on-net incoming call (which is zero).

  "Our sensitivity analyses shows 10 per cent increase in incoming minutes leads to 1 per cent increase in voice Average Revenue per User (ARPU) but reduces voice RPM by 1.4 per cent," said the brokerage.

  … but data revenues to compensate

  In the past two years, Bharti's execution in data business has been impressive with data revenue market share gain of 800 bps to 34 per cent in FY16 (35.6 per cent at Q4FY16).

  ICICI Securities believes Bharti will continue to capture higher incremental data revenue market share on account of superior data spectrum holding market share and wider rollout of data network both in 3G and 4G.

  "Despite RJio's launch, we expect Bharti's data revenue to witness 28 per cent CAGR over FY16-18E, which would more than off-set weaker voice business. This would be led by strong 52 per cent CAGR in 3G/4G subs during FY16-18E, while ARPUs are seen dropping by 11.3 per cent in the same period," said the brokerage.

  Should you invest?

  Gaurang Shah of Geojit BNP Paribas believes the decision to invest in telecom stocks should depend entirely on the risk appetite of the investor.

  "There is no foreseeable improvement in earnings of telecom players over the next 2-3 quarters. If the investor lacks the risk appetite to invest in the telecom sector, he should look at other sectors which are giving attractive returns. For an investor with a 2-year plus time horizon, we recommend Bharti Airtel as a top pick followed by Idea," said Shah.

  For ICICI Securities, Bharti Airtel remains the preferred pick in the telecom sector. It maintained 'buy' rating on the stock but with a revised target price of Rs 390 (Rs 460 earlier).  

Banks can't publish defaulters' photo randomly: RBI

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  The RBI said on Thursday lenders can publish photographs of only those borrowers in newspapers who have been declared wilful defaulters as per the central bank's guidelines.

  While asking the banks not to indiscriminately publish photographs of defaulters and guarantors in newspapers, it directed the lending institutions to formulate a policy in this regard.

  The policy should clearly sets out the criteria based on which the decision to publish the photographs of a person will be taken by them so that the approach is neither discriminatory nor inconsistent.

  The Reserve Bank said that it has been observed that some lending institutions have been publishing the photographs of defaulters and guarantors in newspapers.

  In view of the "sensitivity involved and need to prevent" the publishing of photographs of defaulting borrower/guarantor in an indiscriminate manner, the RBI said photographs of only those borrower who have been declared as wilful defaulters could be published.

  "A lending institution can consider publication of the photographs of only those borrowers, including proprietors/partners /directors / guarantors of borrower firms/ companies, who have been declared as wilful defaulters following the mechanism set out in the RBI instructions...," it said.

  This will not apply to the non-whole time directors who are exempted from being considered as wilful defaulters unless the special conditions are satisfied.

  Further, the lending institutions should formulate a policy with the approval of their Board of Directors which clearly sets out the criteria based on which the decision to publish the photographs of a person will be taken by them so that the approach is neither discriminatory nor inconsistent.

  "The lending institutions shall not publish photographs of any other defaulting borrowers," the RBI added.

General Awareness

List of Some Important Gardens in India

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  Dear Readers & Aspirants

  We have collected some important Gardens/Botanical Gardens in India. Now-a-days GA questions are asking from various section in different views. We hope, it will help you in Competitive exams.

  Name of the Garden	Name of the location
  Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden	Kolkata, West Bengal
  Auroville Botanical Gardens,	Auroville, Tamil Nadu
  Brindhavan Garden	Mysore, Karanataka
  Chambal Garden	Kota, Rajasthan
  Chashme Shahi	Srinagar, J & K
  Company garden	Allahabad , Uttar Pradesh
  Hanging Garden	Mumbai , Maharashtra
  Jallianwala Bagh	Amristar, Punjab
  Jawaharlal Nehru Botanical Garden	Gangtok, Sikkim
  Jhansi Botanical Garden	Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh
  Kalindi Kunj	New Delhi
  Lal Bagh	Bangalore, Karnataka
  Law garden	Ahmedabad, Gujarat
  Lloyd’s Botanical Garden	Darjeeling, West Bengal
  Lodi Garden	New Delhi
  Malampuzha Garden	Palakkad, Kerala
  Mughal garden	New Delhi
  Nishat Bagh	Srinagar , J & K
  Pilikula Botanical Garden	Mangalore, Karnataka
  Pinjore Garden	Panchkula , Haryana
  Rock Garden	Darjeeling
  Rock Garden of Chandigarh	Chandigarh
  Saharanpur Botanical Garden,	Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh
  Sajjan Niwas Garden(Gulab Bagh)	Udaipur, Rajasthan
  Sarita Udyan	Gandhinagar, Gujarat
  Shalimar Bagh	Srinagar, J & K
  Sim’s Park	Coonoor, Tamil nadu
  The Royal Botanical Garden	Howrah, West Bengal
  Tulip Garden	Srinagar, J & K