The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways at an estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. The proposed projects, which will be fully funded by the Centre, will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion and facilitate ease of travelling and transportation. The projects covering 35 districts in nine states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal — will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 2,339 km and provide employment of an estimated 7.06 crore man-days to the people of the states.

UltraTech Cement was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 2.43 per cent, followed by NTPC, Tata Motors, Infosys, Power Grid, Mahindra and Mahindra, Larsen and Toubro, Maruti, Wipro and SBI were the major gainers. In contrast, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were the major laggards.

Aptech managing director and CEO Anil Pant died on Tuesday, the company informed in a regulatory filing. “The company regrets to inform about the sad demise of Dr. Anil Pant, Managing Director and CEO of the company on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. Dr. Pant’s contribution and energy will be missed by the company. “All the directors and employees of the company convey their deepest condolences to his family,” Aptech Limited said in the filing.

Information technology major Infosys and Liberty Global, a London-based telecom firm, signed a €1.5 billion (about $1.64 billion) deal for five years to evolve and scale up the telco’s digital entertainment and connectivity platforms, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday. As part of the expanded collaboration agreement, the size of the contract will touch €2.3 billion (about $2.5 billion) if extended to 8 years. The collaboration allows Liberty Global to realise run-rate savings of over €100 million (about $109 million) per annum, inclusive of other savings and technology investments, Infosys said in a statement.

State Bank of India’s earnings growth may turn lacklustre in the near-term, warn analysts. This, they said, could be due to margin compression and likely lower fee income over the next one year. “While the cost of deposits is repricing sharply across the system, there will be relatively lower yield expansion going ahead as most of the back-book has been repriced and there is a high competitive pressure on yields.