Delhi HC grants bail to Bhushan Steel ex-promoter before SC hears plea

Bhushan Steel's erstwhile promoter Neeraj Singal, arrested by the SFIO for allegedly siphoning off Rs 25 billion funds, on Wednesday got bail from the Delhi High Court, even as the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of the probe agency against the release order on Thursday. In a day filled with dramatic twists and turns in the case, the Delhi High Court at 10.30 AM granted interim bail to the jailed industrialist which led the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to rush to the apex court to seek a stay on the release order. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra did not grant interim stay on the High Court's order but considered the vehement submissions of the probe agency that the release of Singal would cause a grave harm to the investigation and ordered listing of the appeal at 10.30 AM on Thursday. However, subsequent developments at the High Court in the evening virtually rendered Wednesday's proceedings in the top court on SFIO's appeal infructuous.

Reliance Infra completes Rs 188 billion Mumbai power biz sale to Adani

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Wednesday said it has completed the Rs 188 billion deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission, which will help it pare debt by two-thirds to Rs 75 billion.

Company chairman Anil Ambani announced the culmination of the deal involving the sale of the integrated power business which was stuck in December last year.

Ambani said the deal will help cut the company's overall debt to Rs 75 billion from the earlier Rs 220 billion and also added that it is planning to be a zero debt company by next year.

The company had called a board meet today to approve the transfer of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission, after receiving the regulatory approvals.

In the past eight months, the deal has received go-aheads from fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI), shareholders of the company and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for the sale.

Blow to Indian IT professionals as US extends suspension of H-1B visas

The US has extended the temporary suspension of premium processing for H1-B visas, popular among Indian IT professionals, as part of its efforts to clear the backlog.

Premium processing is a feature that shortens the usual processing time of H-1B visa petitions from an average of six months to 15 calendar days for a fee of  $1,225 (Rs 86,181). It allowed some companies to jump the queue.a

The suspension, announced yesterday by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), are expected to last until February 19 next year.

The USCIS said it is extending the temporary suspension of premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions and, beginning September 11, will be expanding this temporary suspension to include certain additional H-1B petitions.

Under the premium processing, the USCIS has to respond within 15 days to the H-1B visa petitions submitted to it.

I-T department extends deadline for filing returns in Kerala due to floods

The Income Tax department has extended the deadline for filing returns by a fortnight to September 15 for assessees in Kerala, which was ravaged by floods this month. Earlier, the department had extended the last date for filing returns by a month till August 31 across the country.

Meanwhile, a delegation led by the Union Minister of State for Finance P Radhakrishnan will visit Kerala on Wednesday and review the relief measures and rehabilitation efforts being undertaken by banks and insurance companies in the state.

The delegation would comprise senior officers from the Centre, including additional secretary Debashish Panda and economic advisor N Srinivasa Rao.

Chairman and managing directors from the public sector banks and insurance companies, including Agriculture Insurance Company of India and NABARD would also be present in the review meetings, along with senior officers from the state government.

Bhima Koregaon case: Police searches houses of activists for Maoist links

Pune Police on Tuesday conducted searches at the residences of prominent activists across the country for their suspected Maoist links, a senior police officer said.

The raids were carried out as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra's Koregaon Bhima village following an event held in Pune last year, he said.

Searches are being carried out at the homes of Left wing activist and poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha, who lives in Delhi, he said.

Rao's name had cropped up in a letter seized by the police during searches at the premises of one of the five people arrested in June in connection with the Elgar Parishad event on December 31 last year to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle in 1818.

Public transport's share in commute to decrease from 75% to 44% by 2030

India's pollution problem is directly linked to the intensity of use of private vehicles in major cities for daily commute by citizens, said a report released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The report, titled "The Urban Commute" pointed out more than 40 per cent of oil and oil products are burnt to run vehicles annually - a burden on the environment as well as the exchequer as the country imports 80 per cent of its crude oil requirement.

The report took account of 14 major cities in the country, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, as well as Lucknow, Bhopal and Jaipur. The findings are startling. The report said the rate of energy consumption was the highest in road-transport at 7.1 per cent a year, and was likely to stay the highest till 2040.

Among the highest guzzlers of energy in the transport sector are largely personal vehicles. To bring the present circumstances under control, steps are being taken by the administration to bring down the share of private transport in urban commute. The share of public transport is projected to decrease from 75.7 per cent in 2000-01 to 44.7 per cent in 2030-31, says CSE study.

Experts advise govt to lower spectrum prices, increase airwaves for 5G push

India might aspire to become a leader in 5G technology, but it does not even have one of the 150 trials going on currently across the world.

A steering committee on 5G recently submitted its report to the government, suggesting various measures to boost 5G uptake. According to the committee, the price of spectrum should be lowered and the quantum of airwaves increased. The gaovernment expects the commercial launch of 5G services in 2020.

The US plans to launch it a year earlier.

Asked about the future of 5G in the country, operators feel the 2020 timeline is achievable if the government auctions spectrum at reasonable prices. However, even then, it is not going to be a full-fledged launch across all the circles.

According to an industry watcher, 5G launch can be like 4G. He said although Bharti Airtel launched 4G services in Kolkata in 2012, taking it across the country took five-six years. Telecom operators are still rolling out 4G in various areas