The crude distillation unit of the Visakha refinery of the Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) suffered a major fire on Thursday night, causing a widespread panic in the residential areas in the vicinity.

A press release said the fire broke out at around 11 p. m. at the Crude Oil Distillary Unit 3 (CDU3), and could be brought under control only by 4.40 a. m. on Friday.

The government on Thursday raised the creamy layer annual income limit from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, a move that is being seen as a political decision to sway a large section of the society ahead of the next year's general elections.

The raising of the limit means that people under the OBC category and a monthly income of up to Rs 50,000 will be able to take advantage of various reservation benefits provided by the central government in education and services.

Pennsylvania has joined with other U. S. states in the $500 million settlement that pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy recently hit to resolve civil & criminal allegations over supplying adulterated drugs, Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced on Thursday.

Ranbaxy was slapped with charges that it knowingly manufactured and sold generic drugs which had lower purity, strength and quality than required by the FDA.

British private equity giant Actis is reportedly exiting its road projects joint venture (JV) with Tata Group by selling its 35 per cent stake to the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate's private equity arm.

An official privy to the ongoing discussions said that Actis was realigning its infrastructure interests with special focus on energy assets as road development projects in the country were facing long delays in land acquisition and getting required clearances.

According to reports, Tesla Motors (TSLA) has emerged as the leading seller of rechargeable vehicles in the North American market ahead of General Motors' plug-in Volt and Nissan's battery-powered Leaf.

Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm headed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, has increased its stake in three blue-chip companies during the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing by the company.

Cancer researchers have said in a new research that they have used a combination of two drugs to fight the disease more affectively.

They used a combination of two drugs from Bristol-Myers Squibb that was able to reduce the tumors significantly in about 41 per cent of patients with advanced melanoma. The researchers also said that in some of the total 52 patients in the study, the tumors disappeared completely in the patients.

Acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven T. Miller has submitted his resignation to President Obama on Wednesday following controversies relating to targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

It has been revealed that the police officials were monitoring messaging software like Whatsapp and Blackberry Messenger in the scot fixing case that led to the arrests of former Indian pace bowler S Sreesanth along with two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates.

Adani Ports and SEZ has said that it has recorded a growth of an impressive 197 per cent in its consolidated net profit at Rs 710.31 crore during the fourth quarter of the year till March 31, 2013.

The company had recorded a net profit of Rs. 239.46 crore during the fourth quarter of the previous financial year 2011-2012. The company said that the rise was mainly due to a one-time gain of Rs. 420 crore from the disinvestment of its holding in Australia's Abbot Point terminal to promoters.

Suzlon Group-subsidiary, REpower Systems has said on Thursday that its cumulative orders of 580 MW over a three month period excluding the orders that were announced separately by the company.

Vedanta Resources has said that it has recorded an increase of 21 per cent in its core profits at US$ 4.888 billion for the financial year 20012-2013.

The India focused natural resources giant had recorded a. earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of US$ 4.026 billion in the financial year 2011-12. The company said that its revenues rose 7 per cent to US£ 14.989 billion in the financial year 2012-2013 compared to US$ 14.005 billion recorded in the previous financial year.

Infrastructure major, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has said that it has secured orders worth an impressive Rs. 2,542 crore in different sectors during April and May of 2013.

The company said in a statement that, "The Building & Factories Business has bagged new orders worth Rs. 1,021 crores for the construction of residential towers, a cement plant and a factory at various locations across India, including additional orders from operating projects."

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has indicated that it will announce an issue of inflation-indexed bonds (IIBs) for launch on 4 June.

The government and the central bank have been concerned over rising gold imports into the country. Experts said that it is now known if the inflation-indexed bonds will be a substitute for gold or if it will simply complement investments in gold. They said that the IIBs will become an attractive investment option the yield offered will be determined by the market forces as the the investors will launch bids for the instrument.

Swedish retail giant IKEA Group, which has obtained clearance for a 100 per cent venture in India, is now looking for large land tract near highways and metro to set up its stores.

IKEA India Chief Executive Juvencio Maeztu said that finding the right locations for the company's stores in the country was very important so that people could access the stores easily.

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for the LPG (cooking gas) consumers will be launched in 20 districts on 1st of June this year, the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The launch of the much-hyped scheme would allow the government to put subsidy cash directly into the beneficiaries' bank accounts, which as per Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily, will help in curbing leakages and black-marketing.

Indian economy will likely grow in the range of 5.5-6.5 per cent in the current financial year, as against of average growth of 3.9 per cent last year, global rating agency Moody's Investors Service predicted.

Moody's said that Indian economy would see an increase in growth in 2013 even though the finance ministry's steps for new investments remained relatively small in scope.

The global rating agency cited relatively high inflation and cautious private sector, and pointed out that Indian economy was struggling to see a boost in investment.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker has confirmed that it had requested the Indian government to provide more traffic routes and seats to serve two-tier cities in the country.

On Wednesday, Mr. Al-Baker said that the airline required more traffic routes and seats as it had already exhausted all the allotted capacity.

Mr. Al-Baker was speaking on the sidelines of a global education program, called "Educate a child", which was sponsored by Qatar Airways and New York-based Jazz Lincoln Center.

Water purifier and vacuum cleaner firm Eureka Forbes has hit an agreement with Lux International to acquire a majority stake in the Switzerland-based multinational company.

Eureka Forbes, a division of the Shapoorji Pallionji group, however, didn't disclose the financial details of the deal.

The water purifier and vacuum cleaner firm already hold a 25 per cent stake in Lux International, which it had acquired in the year 2010.

On Wednesday, real estate giant DLF Ltd priced its $345 million (more than Rs 81 billion) share issue at Rs 230 apiece.

Earlier, reports suggested that the real estate giant's most recent share sale got oversubscribed 1.3 per cent.

While the India's biggest rear estate firm offered 81.02 million shares to institutional investors at a price band of Rs222-Rs223 apiece; while the investors made bids for 147.7 million shares.