Pollsters predict a clear BJP win in UP, AAP-Cong faceoff in Punjab

 Pollsters have fairly written off the possibility of other political parties coming to power in Uttar Pradesh. But remember exit polls predictions come with a warning — they may be proven wrong. Final results will be declared on Saturday after all the votes are counted.After a high-intensity election battle for over two months, an aggregate of exit polls released on Thursday have predicted the BJP cruising through in Uttar Pradesh. While Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in pole position in Punjab, it has a wafer-thin lead over the Congress. BJP is seen snatching the rule from the Congress in Uttarakhand. In Goa, BJP is likely to come up trumps with debutant AAP trailing behind. The Congress is marginally ahead in Manipur and may win the state election for third time in a row. The pollsters have fairly written off the possibility of other political parties coming to power in Uttar Pradesh. But remember exit polls predictions come with a warning — they may be proven wrong. Final results will be declared on Saturday after all the votes are counted. Uttar Pradesh The Network18-Gramener exit poll predicts BJP to cross the finish line in Uttar Pradesh with 193 seats. While VMR predicts BJP to win 200 seats in Uttar Pradesh, MRC predicts it to win 185 seats. Axis exit poll puts BJP in the victory lap with around 251-279 seats. The BJP will win 161 seats, according to C-Voter exit poll. CSDS is the only pollster that says there can be a neck-and-neck finish between the BJP and SP-Congress combine with 164-176 seats and 156-169 seats, respectively. 

India, Egypt should find ways to enhance trade ties'

 India-Egypt trade and investment made a significant headway in the last few years, despite the weakening of the global economy and declining trade. The bilateral trade grew 60 per cent over the last five years touching almost USD 5 billion. India, Egypt should find ways to enhance trade ties India has invited Egyptian businesses to invest in the country saying the two sides enjoying very strong political and cultural ties should now work out ways to enhance two-way investments and trade. "India and Egypt have been very strong and old partners in politics and culture. Today it is the world of economics and so I believe that it is very necessary for us to work more closely in the economic field to increase investments in both ways," said India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya on the sidelines of an economic seminar entitled "Make in India" organised here yesterday as part of the two-week cultural festival "India by the Nile". The seminar construes the flagship programme 'Make in India' which aims to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub of innovative, low cost, eco friendly and zero defect products and to develop synergies with Egyptian industry. "Today we receive the largest amount of investments anywhere in the world and that's because of the systems that had been created," he added.

TRAI to propose PCO-like model to popularise public WiFi service 

 According to an official, the services will be device-agnostic, allowing the consumer to use the WiFi data pack on multiple devices. 'PCO STD ISD' written on them? If the model likely to be suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for popularising public WiFi services is implemented, we could have 'DPO or data public office’ on the lines of those public call office or PCO as they were called. According to an official, the services will be device-agnostic, allowing the consumer to use the WiFi data pack on multiple devices. “Suppose a user buys WiFi pack at a DPO and uses only a certain percentage of the data. He or she can comfortably walk away and use the remaining data later as well at another spot of the service provider. Not only that, the person will be able to use the data on any other device as well using the user id and password,” the telecom regulator was expected to send its recommendations on public WiFi services to the Department of Telecommunication today or tomorrow. 

SEBI asks RBI to review commodity hedging norms: 

 The markets regulator’s latest initiative in aimed at diverting local firms from hedging their risks in international bourses. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is in 'informal' talks with the Reserve Bank of India to review norms on hedging in commodity markets, sources told The capital and commodity markets regulator's latest initiative in aimed at encouraging listed firms in India to hedge their commodity risks on the local commodity exchanges instead of international markets. “The SEBI has informally initiated a dialogue with the RBI for hedging domestically,” SEBI's initiative follows an unsuccessful attempt by the now defunct Forward Markets Commission (FMC), which under its Chairman Ramesh Abhishek, had kicked off discussions with RBI. FMC, now merged with SEBI, had also increased the trading timing of commodities which were affected by overseas pricing, added the source. Hedging is a mechanism to cover future costs or realisation price in advance to minimise risks. 

Sebi exempts NIIT promoters' trusts from making open offer

 Exemption has also been extended to the two trusts with respect to NIIT Technologies.Sebi exempts NIIT promoters trusts from making open offer Sebi exempted two private family trusts, set up by the promoters of NIIT, from making an open offer to the company's public shareholders. Exemption has also been extended to the two trusts with respect to NIIT Technologies . NIIT is a leading IT training solutions provider while NIIT Technologies is an IT firm. Thadani and Pawar families are among the promoters of both companies. The exemption from making open offers have been given to Thadani Family Trust -- represented by its trustee Vijay Kumar Thadani -- and Pawar Family Trust. The latter is represented by its trustee Rajendra Singh Pawar. In both companies, Thadani Family Trust and Pawar Family Trust are to acquire the shares issued by Global Consultancy and PIPL Consultancy, respectively. Once the two trusts complete these acquisitions, their holdings in NIIT and NIIT Technologies would breach the 25 percent threshold. When shareholding of entity cross the 25 percent threshold, then it is required to make an open offer for the public shareholders under the Sebi regulations. The two trusts' shareholding would be 30.99 percent in NIIT after the indirect acquisition of shares, while in the case of NIIT Technologies, it would be 30.80 percent. Sebi's latest ruling has come on separate pleas filed by the two trusts with respect to the two companies