Newsmakers: Factory growth slips, Maruti launches hybrid Ciaz and more

Factory output growth dips in August: Manufacturing sector grew at a slower pace in August as order flow turned sluggish and forced the companies to cut prices. The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI - a composite monthly indicator of manufacturing performance - stood at 52.3 in August, down from a six-month high mark of 52.7 in July.

Maruti Suzuki launches hybrid Ciaz: India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki  India (MSI) on Tuesday launched the mild hybrid version of mid-sized sedan Ciaz priced between Rs 8.23 lakh and Rs 10.17 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The model, Ciaz SHVS, will be available only in the diesel variant that is powered by a 1.3 litre engine.

Banks, insurance unions to go on strike tomorrow: Employees of public sector banks and government-owned non-life insurance companies would go on strike on Wednesday to protest against the anti-trade union and worker policies of the central government, union leaders said.

CCI likely to soon start hearings on Google case: Anti-trust watchdog CCI will soon begin final hearings into alleged anti-competitive practices of global firm Google, which has been accused of abusing its market dominance in ranking its Internet search results.

Apple partners with Cisco: Apple teamed up with network gear maker Cisco Systems to improve the sales of its mobile devices - iPad and iPhone - on the latter's corporate network. Cisco will provide services specially optimised for iOS devices across mobile, cloud, and on premises-based collaboration tools such as Cisco Spark, Cisco Telepresence and Cisco WebEx, the companies said.

RBI seeks change in how banks set lending rates: The RBI issued draft guidelines on Tuesday for its proposed plan to change how banks calculate their lending rates, which would make them more responsive to monetary policy actions but would likely be opposed by the sector. The RBI has cut the repo rate three times by a total of 75 basis points this year, but most banks have lowered their base lending rates by only around 30 basis points.

Sensex closes 586 pts down, Nifty below 7,800: The slide in Asian markets and below-expected GDP data sobered investor sentiments in the Indian equities markets on Tuesday, leading benchmark BSE Sensex to close 586 points down. The Nifty closed more than 2 per cent down on Tuesday after HDFC Bank lowered its base rate by a hefty 35 basis points, sparking concerns if other lenders would follow suit, hurting margins in the sector.