Wall Street rises further into uncharted territory

 The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.52 percent to end at 20,611.86. The S&P 500 gained 0.50 percent to 2,349.25 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.64 percent to 5,819.44. Wall Street pushed further into record-high territory on 500 notching a seven-session winning streak, helped by a round of robust economic data and ongoing optimism that President Donald Trump will cut corporate taxes. Bigger-than-expected rises in retail sales and consumer prices in January reinforced confidence that the economy is growing at a solid pace following the strongest quarterly corporate earnings growth in over two years. In a meeting with top executives from U.S. retail companies, Trump said he would lower taxes substantially and simplify the tax code, echoing a vow he made last week and on the campaign trail. Optimism that lower taxes and corporate deregulation will expand the economy pushed the three major indexes to all-time highs.

Finance Ministry kickstarts listing process of 3 Rail PSUs 

The government is considering divesting a portion of the paid-up equity share capital through an IPO and has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from merchant bankers Within three weeks of Budget announcement, the Finance Ministry today started the process of listing three rail PSUs -- IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON. The government is considering divesting a portion of the paid-up equity share capital through an IPO and has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from merchant bankers . The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is scouting for merchant bankers to manage the initial public offering (IPO) of the three PSUs, which is under the administrative control of the Rail Ministry. 

Paytm well capitalised for at least next two years: 

CEO Paytm is set to launch a new plan to engage with more startups, especially those in the digital payments and financial services space. Adith Charlie (more) Deputy Editor, At a time when some of India’s top unicorns are looking at a 'down-round', mobile wallet and e-com major Paytm claims to be refusing investor money. Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma says his company is well capitalised for at least the next two years. In a free wheeling chat with CNBC-TV18's Adith Charlie, Sharma throws light on Paytm's strategy for 2016-17 and discusses startups that he would like to work with. Funding winter, down-round – are words that have started being used in India’s startup landscape to describe the slowdown in investor capital. But Sharma is not perturbed. Speaking at the Techcircle Startup 2016 Conference in Bengaluru, Sharma claims to have recently refused four funding offers. In the next 12 months, Sharma is betting heavily on ramping up Paytm's play in offline transactions and online-to-offline commerce (O2O). While Paytm continues chasing ambitious targets, its legal team was called into action recently for a tussle with Unicommerce, a SAAS based-order management and inventory platform owned by rival Snapdeal. Paytm is set to launch a new plan to engage with more startups, especially those in the digital payments and financial services space

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India Economic Survey 2017: BHIM witnessed over 1 million transactions till January 

BHIM app was integrated with UID for making payments. Users can now send and receive money using their 12-digit Aadhaar number.The Bharat Interface For Money (BHIM) - PM Modi's flagship app to promote digital billing has witnessed over 1 million transactions as of January 10, even as 10 million people downloaded the app so far, said the Economic Survey 2016-17 tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday. However, it did not disclose the total value of the transactions done through the app. 

Budget 2017: Spend on education sector seen falling short

 Experts feel the Budget spend on education is woefully inadequate for a country which is aspiring to create a pool of skilled workforce to fuel economic growth.  Budget 2017-18 was billed as ‘no-nonsense’ by many, but its impact on the education sector is not yet clear. The government has allocated roughly Rs 80,000 crore for the sector, about 10 percent higher than last year. While the number may seem huge, one has to view it in proportion to the total expenditure. Compared to peers, India spends the least on education. Experts feel this is woefully inadequate for a country which is aspiring to create a pool of skilled workforce to fuel economic growth.The mid-day meals scheme, which continues to face problems and much criticism since inception, will get only Rs 300 crore more. Rohin Kapoor, Director, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP says, “There has been shortage of funds, lack of quality control in schools and instances of vendors providing poor quality, sub-standard meals to kids. So, the entire implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has not come to fruition as per the desired objectives of the government and the SSA allocation that has been increased by Rs 1,000 crore is clearly not enough to tackle these challenges