Indian Railways' freight business grew 7 times in nearly 50 years; SBI admits to making poor business decisions in last decade; PM Modi encouraged auditors to develop technical tools to check frauds and improve efficiency in government departments and more news on the News Blast.

With only four months left for this financial year to end, and Rs 87,635.7 crore of the target still remaining, will the Modi government be fourth time lucky?

PSU banks disburse record Rs 2.5 lakh crore loans in OctoberAs part of a government-mandated outreach programme, public sector banks disbursed a record Rs 2.5 lakh crore of loans during the festive month of October, the finance ministry said on Thursday. In a bid to boost consumption and revive the economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in September asked banks to reach out to customers and signal their willingness to lend following all prudential norms.WeWork to lay off...

As much as Rs 1,05,599 crore was given towards new term loans while Rs 46,800 crore was disbursed as new working capital loans, the Department of Financial Services said in a statement

The finance ministers of- West Bengal, Kerala, Delhi, Rajasthan and Punjab said that the GST compensation for August and Sept required to be paid by the Centre sometime in October continues to be outstanding till date

10% rise in female commuters in Delhi's public buses, Shashi Tharoor heads parliamentary panel to probe WhatsApp snooping issue and more news on News Blast. Watch the video

The states have proposed that the matter be put up on the agenda of the next GST Council meet to address the issue assuring compensation in future with \"due urgency and judiciousness\"

The government has given in-principle approval to stake sale of 63.75% in Shipping Corporation, 53.2% stake sale in Bharat Petroleum and 30.8% divestment in Container Corporation

Delhi air pollution: AQI worsens to 'very poor' again; Chandni Chowk, Noida in 'severe' categoryThe air quality in Delhi worsened on Wednesday and dipped further on Thursday morning. At 9:30 am on Thursday, Delhi's AQI was recorded in the 'very poor' category, while some parts of the Delhi-NCR region witnessed thick smog worsening the air quality to 'severe' category. The overall AQI in Delhi was recorded at 340, which falls in the 'very poor' category. 10% rise in female commuters in Delhi's...

After the Cabinet meeting here, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the decision has been taken to bring the bill to replace the ordinance

The government is also facilitating private imports and also relaxed phytosanitary and fumigation norms till December

The Cabinet approved a strategic divestment of the government's 53.29 per cent stake in BPCL, along with transfer of certain management control. This is excluding BPCL's equity share holding of 61 per cent stake in Numaligarh Refinery

The government emphasised at the Rajya Sabha that a declining trend was visible in the hoarding of Rs 2,000 notes

The number of fraud cases touched 5,743 during April-Sept. period

Over the weekend, FM Nirmala Sitharaman had said government would bring in a legislation during the ongoing Winter session to increase the deposit insurance cover from Rs 1, but did not specify a number

A day ahead of GST deadline, visitors to the GST portal were greeted with a message that read: \"There seems to be an inadvertent problem while communicating with GST system\"

A new report by PropEquity stated that sales of housing units fell 10 per cent across India's top nine cities to 52,885 units in the third quarter of 2019 versus the year-ago quarter

Ola joins forces with Microsoft to study air quality in Delhi, Phone bills set to rise as Vodafone Idea, Airtel plan tariff hike from December 1 and other news on News Blast.

Indian economy fastest growing among G-20 countries despite slowdown: FM SitharamanFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday that while the economy has slowed down, India is still the fastest growing country among the G-20 nations. Sitharaman said that India is still projected by the International Monetary Fund to be the fastest growing G-20 country in 2019-20.'IT companies may cut 30,000-40,000 mid-level jobs,' says Mohandas...

The finance minister said in her statement that the government has been engaging with various stakeholders to understand their concerns and to take appropriate measures