Mumbai, October 31
The benchmark Sensex climbed 131 points to a new closing high of 21,164.52 today in a late burst of buying as consumer durable, PSU and bank shares rose and the turnover of the top two exchanges hit a record.

Heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and SBI boosted the index. Tata Steel, GAIL India and Tata Power were among the biggest gainers on the Sensex.

All sectoral indices, barring healthcare, were winners.

For most of the day, the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex moved in a range of almost 100 points. Buying kicked in during the last hour and pushed the index to 21,205.44, just shy of the all-time high of 21,206.77 reached on January 10, 2008.

The Sensex settled at an all-time closing high of 21,164.52, a gain of 130.55 points or 0.62%. In the past three trading days, it has flared up by 594.24 points.

The index added 1,784.75 points in October. Stocks have been gaining since Tuesday, when the RBI increased a key interest rate to combat inflation while also easing liquidity for banks.

The US Federal Reserve yesterday said it will wait for more signals that the economy was improving before tapering its $85 billion bond-buying every month.

The combined turnover of the BSE and NSE soared to Rs 5.33 lakh crore, the highest ever for the Indian markets.

The 50-share CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange crossed 6,300 and touched a high of 6,309.05. However, it ended at 6,299.15, up 47.45 points. The Nifty registered an all-time high of 6,357.10 on January 8, 2008, and a record close of 6,312.45 on November 5, 2010.— PTI

New Delhi, October 31
Reflecting pick up in industrial activity, the core sector industries recorded 8% growth in September, highest in the past 11 months.

The eight infrastructure industries grew mainly due to expansion in crude oil, steel and electricity production.

The growth rate of the core industries is higher than the previous month, August 2013, when these sectors grew by 3.7%. However, it is lower than 8.3% that was recorded a year ago in September 2012.

The core industries, which also include coal, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, fertiliser and cement with a weight of about 38% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), have grown at 3.2% during the April-September period of this fiscal, 2013-14, compared to 6.6% in the first six months of 2012-13.

Crude oil, steel and electricity output grew by 0.6%, 6.6% and 12.6%, respectively during September, according to the official data released here today.

Experts said though the growth rate in September is high, there is a need to carefully watch the coming 2-3 months.

"One should not be in a hurry to say that this figure is reflecting revival. If the similar trend will continue for another 2-3 months then we can say. But it will have a positive impact on IIP numbers for September," CRISIL Principal Economist D K Joshi said.

The IIP numbers for September are likely to be announced on November 12. Factory output slowed down sharply to 0.6% in August mainly on account of contraction in manufacturing and mining.

Coal production growth rate slowed to 12.5%, while natural gas output dipped by 14.1%. Growth in petroleum refinery products declined to 8% in September, as against 34.9% in the same period previous year. Fertiliser and cement production growth also slowed to 5.3% and 11.5%.

For the April-September period, crude oil production has declined by (-) 1.3% as compared to a contraction of (-) 0.8%. — PTI

Washington, October 31
Federal prosecutors have alleged that IT major Infosys indulged in blatant violation of immigration laws by not only bringing its employee inside the country on a visa which does not permit work, but also issuing specific directions to its workers to mislead the immigration officials on their point of entry on their nature of work.

"To circumvent the requirements, limitations, and governmental oversight of the H-1B visa programme, Infosys committed visa fraud by knowingly and unlawfully using B-1 visa holders to perform skilled labour in order to fill positions in the US for employment that would otherwise be performed by US citizens or require legitimate H-1B visa holders,” the US Attorney, John M Bales said.

This was "for the purposes of increasing profits, minimising costs of securing visas, increasing flexibility of employee movement, obtaining an unfair advantage over competitors, and avoiding tax liabilities," Bales, said in his complaint, which was released to the press after Infosys agreed to pay $34 million to settle the charges.

Infosys also failed to monitor the status of foreign nationals that they had sponsored for travel and placement in the US by failing to maintain accurate I-9 forms and records for each foreign national as required by law, Bales said.

As a matter of practice, Bales alleged, Infosys submitted "invitation letters" to US Consular Officials that contained materially 'false' representations regarding the true purpose of a B-1 visa holder’s travel in order to deceive US Consular Officials and/or Customs and Border Protection Officers and secure entry of the visa holder into the US. — PTI

New Delhi, October 31
Manufacturing units in SEZs can now sub-contract work for up to three years, instead of just one year allowed so far, as the government has relaxed the norms to help boost shipments from special economic zones.

The request for relaxation came from large manufacturing units which have stated that the move would help facilitate manufacturing processes and augment exports.

"It has been decided that sub-contracting of production or any production process by large manufacturing SEZ units to domestic tariff area (DTA) units may be granted for a period up to 3 years at a time," the Commerce Ministry has said.

However, the relaxation would apply to only those manufacturing units that have substantial exports with average annual shipments of Rs 1,000 crore or more in at least two out of four years.

"The units should have an annual average export of not less than 51% of its total turnover in the block of 5 years. The units should have an unblemished track record and no penalties against the unit for any violations...should have been imposed," it said.

It also said the DTA unit (unit outside SEZ) to which the sub-contract is to be awarded should be registered with the central excise department.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which emerged as major export hubs and investment destinations started losing sheen after the global economic crisis and imposting of minimum alternate tax.

Exports from these zones declined by 4.1% during the first quarter of the current fiscal. The decline has impacted job creation in these zones. However, the government is taking steps to revive interest of investors for SEZs. Recently, it had unveiled a package of reforms including easing of land norms to revive investments in SEZs.

New Delhi, October 31
Showing signs of stress, the government's fiscal deficit in the first six months of the current fiscal reached 76% of the budget estimate of Rs 5.42 lakh crore.

The fiscal deficit, which is the difference between government receipts and spending, touched Rs 4.12 lakh crore in April-September, or 76% of the budget estimate.

The fiscal deficit reached 65.6% of the budget estimate in first six months of 2012-13, government data showed today.

The deficit is without accounting for a substantial portion of oil subsidies, which is likely to exceed budget estimates as oil import bill will be much higher due to depreciation in rupee against the dollar. — PTI

New Delhi, October 31
Jignesh Shah, who is embroiled in the Rs 5,600-crore payment imbroglio at NSEL, today resigned as non-executive vice- chairman of MCX and said this crisis has destroyed "everything" he has worked for all his life.

Shah has resigned from the company with immediate effect, MCX said in a BSE filing. "The NSEL crisis has destroyed everything that I have worked hard to build over past two decades. My loss is not just financial but what has hurt me and my family most is the concerted effort to destroy my credibility and trust for which I have lived by all my life," Shah said.

The resignation comes weeks after sector regulator FMC issued notice to Shah and Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL), which is the promoter of MCX, India's largest commodity exchange, as well as NSEL, to prove them being 'fit and proper' to manage the exchange.

FMC issued 'fit and proper' notices following the Rs 5,600 crore payment crisis at the NSEL after the exchange halted trading in commodities from July 31 on a government directive.

In the MCX Board meeting held on October 22, Jignesh Shah managed to retain his position on the Board. — PTI

New Delhi, October 31
Cairn India has been ranked as the fastest growing energy company in the world while Reliance Industries is the top ranked Indian energy firm in the global ranking.

With a compound growth rate of 121% in past three years, Cairn was ranked the fastest growing energy company in the world ahead of Cnooc of China, Valero Energy of the US, PetroChina, Essar Energy and Russian Rosneft, according to the Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings.

RIL has toppled ONGC to become the top Indian firm in a global ranking. — PTI

BRIEFLY

ATF price cut by 4.5%
New Delhi: Jet fuel or ATF prices were on Thursday cut by a steep 4.5%, the first reduction in rates in six months. ATF prices had touched a life time high of Rs 77,089.42 per kilolitre following five consecutive increases since June as rupee depreciated against the US dollar, making oil imports costlier. — PTI

DLF Q2 profit drops 28%
New Delhi: India's largest realty firm DLF has reported 28% fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 100.05 crore in second quarter of this fiscal on lower sales but reduced net debt by Rs 861 crore to Rs 19,508 crore. Income from operations, too, declined by 4% at Rs 1,956.09 crore during July-September quarter of 2013-14 fiscal against Rs 2,039.54 crore in the year-ago period. — PTI

Vodafone cuts data prices by 80%
New Delhi: Vodafone has slashed data rates by up to 80% across the country, with effect from November 1. In June, the company had reduced the price from 10 paisa per 10 KB to 2 paisa per 10 KB in Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circles and it has now been extended to all circles from November 1. — PTI

CPI-IW for Sept up 1 point at 238
Chandigarh: The All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for September 2013 rose by 1 point and pegged at 238. The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 10.70% as compared to 10.75% in August. — TNS