Newsmakers: EPFO enters stock market, Airtel launches 4G and more

Bharti Airtel launches pan-India 4G services
Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom operator, has commercially launched 4G services across 296 towns in India. The telecom company launched first 4G network in India in Kolkata in April 2012. Airtel said it will offer 4G at 3G price, with packs starting at Rs 25. To opt for Airtel 4G, customers will just have to switch to a 4G SIM.

Coal India to invest Rs 13,900 crore by 2020
State-owned Coal India (CIL) will invest Rs 13,900 crore to take its production to 908 million tonnes (MT) by 2019-20, the government said. "Coal India (CIL) has prepared a roadmap for achieving a coal production level of about 908 MT in 2019-20 from the current level of production of 494.23 MT," Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

EPFO enters stock market via ETF route
Retirement fund body EPFO kickstarts the process of investing in the stock market on Thursday with an initial corpus of around Rs 5,000 crore through ETFs in the current fiscal. "We are making our first investment in equity (market) on August 6 in Mumbai," EPFO's Central Provident Fund Commissioner K K Jalan said.

Conditions favourable for further rate cuts: FM
Conditions in India are favourable for further interest rate cuts due to low global commodity prices as well as prospects of good summer crops, the finance minister said. Arun Jaitley also told CNBC-TV18 news channel that he expected food inflation to remain under control.

Rs 5,338-cr allocated for rail infra in North East
An amount of Rs 5,338 crore has been allocated in the current fiscal for development of railway infrastructure in the northeast, Development of the North Eastern Region Minister Jitendra Singh said. The amount has been sanctioned for new lines, gauge conversion and doubling in the region, the minister said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.