Newsmakers: PM Modi in US, salary hike for Maruti workers and more

Fans brave rain as iPhone 6s arrives in stores
The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus hit stores on 25 September 2015, with dozens of people - and a robot - queueing in Sydney to kick off a global sales cycle that will be scrutinized for signs of how much juice Apple Inc's marquee product has left. Analysts expect 12 million to 13 million phones to fly off the shelves in the first weekend, up from more than 10 million last year when the hugely successful iPhone 6s launch was delayed in China, the world's biggest smartphone market.

Rate hike likely by year end, says US Fed chief
An increase in the US Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate is probable "sometime later this year", Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen has said. "Most of my colleagues and I anticipate that it will likely be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate sometime this year," Yellen said, referring to the members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank's policymaking body.

Maruti workers to get Rs 16,800 pm salary hike
Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker, has reached a wage settlement agreement with workers at its Gurgaon and Manesar plants, under which employees will get an average salary hike of around Rs 16,800 per month spread over three years. Under the three-year agreement, to be implemented with retrospective effect from April this year, the workers will receive 50 per cent of the increased salary in the first year and the 25 per cent each in the remaining two years.

PM Modi seeks 'Make in India' in defence sector
With India embarking on a massive defence modernisation programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited corporate leaders of America's defence sector to manufacture in India. "In the defence sector, Prime Minister has been saying from the very beginning that our first top priority is that defence manufacturing should be Make in India," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

RBI allows banks to reclassify stressed loans
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it would allow banks to convert the status of their "stressed" loans to a company into "standard" ones if the entity is sold to a new major stakeholder, although certain conditions would apply. The change is important, given that in the country a loan deemed as "stressed" must follow strict recovery rules, while "standard" ones offer much more flexibility in how companies repay their debt.