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Sir Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England had received several gifts totalling about £13,000 as retirement presents when he retired on July 1.

Sir Mervyn, who now had been honoured as Lord King, received a £10,000 painting of himself as a leaving present. He was also presented with a £597 silver napkin ring and a £2505 sculpture of German playwright and scientist Johann von Goethe as other retirement presents. The Bank of England has said that the napkin ring and portrait were traditional gifts to the governors.

New Delhi, Aug 14 : India's trade deficit with China in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal touched $9.6 billion, the commerce ministry said here Monday.

Giving details of steps to address the growing trade deficit, Minister of State for Commerce D.  Purandeswari said in a written reply in parliament that in this regard the two countries have signed a series of memorandum of understandings (MoUs) on pharmaceuticals, buffalo meat and fisheries and an agreement on feed and feed ingredients.

The MoUs were signed during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India in May.

New Delhi, Aug 14 : JK Tyre and Industries Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs. 55.26 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal from Rs. 16.44 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2012-13.

According to the company, it was able to achieve the massive increase of 236.87 percent in net profit for the quarter under review, due to consolidating in truck and bus radial segment, enlarging customer base and entering new markets like Mexico.

"Automotive industry is facing one of its toughest phases in a decade and has affected all OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) - car and commercial vehicles," it said.

Mumbai, Aug 14 : Essar Oil, India's second largest private refiner, Wednesday reported that its first quarter loss came down to Rs. 863 crore from Rs. 1,518 crore in the like period a year ago.

The loss was mainly due to negative forex fluctuations arising out of a 10 percent rupee depreciation during the quarter, Essar said here in a statement.

"The quarter was marked by rupee volatility, which impacted our profitability due to mark-to-market provisions," said Suresh Jain, Essar Oil's chief financial officer.

New Delhi, Aug 14 : President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said that corruption was a major challenge that was sapping the resources of this nation and spreading disillusionment and cynicism and there was a need to "correct this regression".

Addressing the nation on the eve of 67th Independence Day, Mukherjee said: "Today we see widespread cynicism and disillusionment with the governance and functioning of institutions in our country."

Bangalore, Aug 14 : Independent director Leo Puri Wednesday stepped down from the board of Infosys following his appointment as UTI Asset Management managing director.

"Though Leo Puri's association with Infosys has been a short one, we will miss his knowledge and experience in the consulting and investment field," Infosys chairman N. R.  Narayana Murthy said in a statement here.

Puri, a former senior advisor to McKinsey's Asia-Pacific financial institution practice, had joined the Infosys board Apr 11 this year.