Top headlines: Bonus for central govt employees, SBI hikes home loan sops

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Cabinet approves bonus for central govt employees, 3 mn to benefit

As many as 3 million non-gazetted union government employees will get bonus amounting to Rs 3,737 crore as a step to revive demand in the economy, the cabinet decided on Wednesday. "The Union cabinet has approved productivity linked and non-productivity linked bonus for 2019-2020. The bonus will be given in a single installment, through Direct Benefit Transfer, before Vijayadashami," said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar at a press briefing, referring to the holiday on October 25. Read more here.

No merit in relaxing 10% cap on single stock investment: Sebi chief

The market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) sees no merit in increasing the 10 per cent investment cap on a single stock for actively-managed mutual fund (MF) schemes. “The 10 per cent cap is meant for diversification cap. Just because some scrip is outperforming doesn’t mean you raise the ceiling. That will be self re enforcing that a scrip has moved up and you are allowing higher investment in the same scrip. That doesn’t sound very logical. For the sake of diversification, the 10 per cent ceiling is something which stays,” said Ajay Tyagi, chairman, Sebi while addressing the media at a market summit organized by industry body CII. Read more here.

JSW Steel eyes Bhushan Power acquisition as SC sets Nov 3 final hearing

With the final Supreme Court hearing date scheduled for November 3, Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel is hoping to see an end to its long-awaited acquisition of insolvent Bhushan Power & Steel, which had defaulted to bank on Rs 48,000 crore worth of loans. It was among the first 12 companies sent for debt resolutions by Indian banks in July 2017 following a recommendation by the Reserve Bank of India. Read more here.

Bajaj Finance reports 36% dip in net profit in July-Sept qtr at Rs 965 cr

Bajaj Finance Ltd (BFL) on Wednesday reported a 36 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs 965 crore for the second quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal year. The non-banking finance company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,506 crore in the July-September quarter a year ago. Read more here.

SBI increases sops for home loans above Rs 75 lakh in festive push

The country's largest lender State Bank of India on Wednesday announced concession of up to 25 basis points (bps) on its home loan rates. With this, SBI's customers would get an interest concession of 25 bps on a home loan of above Rs 75 lakh, based on their CIBIL score and if they are applying through YONO, the lender's digital lending platform. In an extension of its festive offers announced recently, the bank is offering a credit score-based concession of up to 20 bps from 10 bps earlier, for a home loan of above Rs 30 lakh to Rs 2 crore across the country, a release said. Read more here.