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St. Petersburg, Sep 6 : India and Japan have decided to expand their currency swap agreement, a financial tool to help cushion volatility in foreign exchange markets, to $50 billion from $15 billion, it was announced here Friday.

The decision was conveyed following a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here.

Retail giant, J. C.  Penney has indicated that it is planning to leave the Martha Stewart brand after the home maven's goods recorded poor sales.

According to people closer to the matter, the retail chain is not interested in doing business with the brand as it recorded lower sales.  The retail chain is aiming to revive its business and might be planning to move on from the brand after a tug of war for the brand with rival Macy's.  Penney and Macy's were engaged in a legal battle over the brand's pre-existing partnership with Macy's.

The largest lender by assets in the US, J. P. Morgan Chase & Co has said that is planning to get out of its student loans business.

Following the exit of the bank on 12 October, 2012, Wells Fargo & Co will be the only major financial institution in the US offering student loans. Several banks have been leaving the student loan market since Obama administration indicated that it is focusing on lending directly to the students. The share of banks in the 1 trillion student-loan market has contracted significantly in the country.

According to the latest figures released, the total number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits has fallen by 9,000 during the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 323,000.

The level of 323,000 is the lowest level recorded since June of 2008, indicating that the jobs market in the US might be recovering. The data indicates that the employers in the country are laying off fewer workers as the conditions improve in the world's largest economy. The Labor Department said Thursday that the weekly applications are just 1,000 above its lowest level in five years that was recorded in the previous month.

At a time when onion prices have shot up to Rs 80 per kg, daily deals site Groupon India is offering onions at a single digit price of Rs 9 per kg.

Groupon India, the online shopping service, teamed up with a Delhi-based wholesaler to sell onions at the single digit price in a total of 78 cities across the country.

People can place orders online, and the ordered onions will be home delivered to buyers within 10 days.

Bharti Group has no intention to buy back nearly 4 per cent stake that British communications giant Vodafone owns in Airtel, the group's chairman Sunil Mittal said.

Vodafone owns 4.4 per cent stake indirectly in Bharti Airtel, which the British company will have to sell to meet the government's new norms that prohibits a telecom firm from holding any stake in a rival firm under Unified Licences.