Business

The presentation was made on the status of implementation of reports of 'Group of Secretaries' formed by the Modi government.

The court convicted them after a detailed hearing. The quantum of punishment will come on May 5th.

The index had registered a growth of 4.8 per cent in February 2015.

In overseas market, the dollar was on the defensive early, nursing deep losses against the euro and yen after Friday's firm US jobs report failed to shift a broadly held view that the Federal Reserve will remain cautious on raising interest rates in 2016.

With inflation under check and government sticking to its fiscal consolidation path, market expectations are that RBI may cut interest rate by up to 0.50 per cent to propel growth.

At the close, the 50-share NSE Nifty was up 1.60 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 7,716.50.

Jaitley also said Mallya cannot be ignorant about what happens to banks because of his default as there are other heavily-indebted companies which are settling their dues by selling their assets, but not Mallya.

In a bid to attract more foreign investment to put the economic growth on firmer footing, the government will introduce six measures in 2016, Shen Danyang said.

The rupee resumed higher at 66.62 per dollar as against the last closing level of 66.75 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market.

Such a move would likely be a prelude to the Dutch drinks firm raising its stake in the maker of Kingfisher beer to above 50 percent.

The Southeast Asian carrier has also rolled out one-way special promotional fares, starting at Rs 2,999, for the new flight.

The GST bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending ratification by the Upper House, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority.

The 30-share Sensex, after a gap-up opening, rallied further and closed the session higher by 463.63 points, or 1.95 per cent, at 24,242.98 -- its highest closing since February 8.

The government faced severe flak over Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget proposal to tax EPF on withdrawal with many seeing it as an attack on the working class.

"The government has persuaded state governments to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel" and also allowed direct import of ATF by Indian carriers as actual users," Mahesh Sharma said.

With regard to capital market, Jaitley announced setting up of an electronic auction platform by Sebi for primary debt offer.