India’s Sensex ends 28% higher, Nifty50 by 29% in 2017 Mumbai, December 29 (IANS): India’s key equity indices - Sensex and Nifty50 - closed calender year 2017 higher by 28% and 29% respectively. The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE closed at 34,056.83 points - up 27.90% - from last year’s close at 26,626.46 points. The broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surged by 28.64% to close at 10,530.70 points from its 2016 close at 8,185.80 points. Apple apologises for slowing older iPhones down San Francisco, December 29 (IANS): After facing widespread criticism for admitting that it deliberately slows down ageing iPhone models, Apple has formally apologised to the global iPhone community. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologise,” Apple said in a statement late on Thursday. Apple has also reduced the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 -- from $79 to $29 -- for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced. The offer starts in late January and will be available worldwide through December 2018. The slowing down issue affects older models, including iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7. “There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making,” the Cupertino-based iPhone maker said. “First and foremost, we have never -- and would never -- do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades,” the company added. Growth slowed down in 2016-17: FM New Delhi, December 28 (PTI): The Indian economy slowed down in 2016-17, with the gross domestic product declining drastically from 8% in 2015-16 to 7.1% the next year, government said on Friday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the slower economic growth reflected lower growth in the industry and the services sectors, due to a number of factors including structural, external, fiscal and monetary factors. He said in the Lok Sabha that the lower rate of global economic growth in 2016, along with a reduction in gross fixed investment to GDP ratio, stressed balance sheets of the corporate sector, lower credit growth in industry sector were some of the reasons for the low growth rate in 2016-17. As per the latest estimates from Central Statistics Office, the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices was 7.5%, 8.0% and 7.1% respectively in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. Fiscal deficit overshoots target New Delhi, December 29 (IANS): India’s budgetary fiscal deficit for the first 8 months of 2017-18 stood at 112% - Rs 6.12 lakh crore - of the full year’s target of Rs 5.46 lakh crore, official data showed on Friday. The data furnished by the Comptroller General of Accounts (CGA) showed that April-November fiscal deficit was 85.8% of the budget in the like period of the last fiscal. According to the CGA data, net of tax revenue during the period under review was Rs 6.99 lakh crore, or 57% of the estimated target. The total receipts - from revenue and non-debt capital - during the fiscal’s first 8 months were Rs 8.66 lakh crore, or 54.2% of the estimates for the current year. The data revealed that total expenditure - incurred on revenue and capital - during the April-November period was Rs 14.78 lakh crore, or at 68.9% of the entire fiscal’s estimate.
