The Union Cabinet has banned the production, manufacturing, import, export, distribution and advertisement of e-cigarettes after considering their impact on the youth. First-time offenders would face a prison term of up to one year and a fine of ₹1 lakh, while repeat offenders would face jail terms of up to three years, with a penalty of up to ₹5 lakh.

The owners of existing stocks of e-cigarettes in India must declare and deposit them with the nearest police station. The sub-inspector of police has been authorised to enforce the provisions of the new ordinance banning e-cigarettes. Storage of e-cigarettes shall be punishable with a prison term of up to 6 months or a fine of up to ₹50,000 or both.

As many as 44 US lawmakers have urged President Donald Trump-led administration to reinstate India's designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade programme. In a letter signed by 26 Democrats and 18 Republicans, they suggested an "early harvest" approach "to help American jobs that depend on two-way trade between the US and India".

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed that he hired a private investigator for $50,000 to support his claim that British caver Vernon Unsworth was a "pedo guy". "The investigator learned that Mr Unsworth frequented Pattaya Beach [in Thailand] which is well known for prostitution and sex tourism," Musk said in a court filing. Unsworth has sued Musk for defamation.

Apple has announced that it is investing $250 million into display glass supplier Corning from its $5-billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund. The iPhone maker had also invested $200 million into Corning in 2017. Apple said that it has spent nearly $3 billion with Corning on the glass used in iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad since iPhone's launch in 2007.

Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said all electronics companies are bullish on the Indian market, adding that Apple is going to come to India in "a big way". The government on Monday urged Apple to expand its manufacturing base and use India as an export hub. Apple is reportedly investing $1 billion to expand iPhones' manufacturing in India.

Sanford C. Bernstein analysts have said BMW should buy Jaguar Land Rover from Tata Motors as the German carmaker is "awash with cash". Buying JLR for $11.2 billion could add 20% to BMW's earnings but "Tata would need to swallow its pride to sell," they added. Tata Motors bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2008 for $2.3 billion.

Amazon's world's largest campus opened in Hyderabad last month has 12 floors, each with a separate theme, with one of the floors having 'Bollywood' theme. The building has numerous 'work points' where employees can sit, in a group or solo, and work with their laptops. There are billiard tables, yoga rooms, and areas dedicated to cricket and wall climbing.

Several prominent startups including Ola, Lenskart and PolicyBazaar are reportedly in the process of submitting a petition to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) over the regulations for listing publicly. The startups reportedly want the rule for minimum promoter holding requirement of 20% to be either be removed or be considered on a case-to-case basis.

The drone attacks on Saudi crude processing facilities cut production by 5.7 million barrels/day, the single biggest sudden disruption on record. It surpasses the loss of Kuwaiti and Iraqi supply in August 1990, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. It also exceeds the loss of Iranian oil output during the Islamic Revolution in 1978-79, according to the International Energy Agency.

The US released satellite images revealing the extent of the damage to infrastructure at the world's largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq after drone attacks. One photo shows a row of four spherical tanks that process crude each with similar puncture marks. There were 17 different points of impact at the Abqaiq complex, according to the US government.

Global daily currency turnover jumped to $6.6 trillion in April 2019, up 29% from $5.1 trillion in 2016, the Bank for International Settlements said. London's share of daily volumes rose to 43% from 37%, while the US' share shrank to 17% from 20%. The dollar remained the most dominant currency and was on one side of 88% of all trades.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said the government will shut down state-owned trading companies such as State Trading Corporation (STC), Project and Equipment Corporation (PEC) and MMTC one by one. "It's not the business of the government to remain in such businesses. The government should not run companies only for gold imports," Goyal added.

London has overtaken Mumbai to become the top centre for trading the Indian rupee, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The average daily volume for the rupee in the UK jumped 430% to $46.8 billion in April 2019 from $8.8 billion in 2016. In contrast, the average daily volume of rupee trading in India was $34.49 billion.

India has scrapped a 5% import tax on open cell TV panels, used to make television displays. Samsung Electronics shut its TV production unit in India last year and moved production to Vietnam because of the tax. The decision will provide relief to TV manufacturers, which have been hit by cheap imports from Vietnam, Panasonic India CEO Manish Sharma said.

Speaking after Cabinet's decision to ban e-cigarettes, Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said, "Why are we debating if it's more harmful or less? It is harmful. It is addictive." "The entire next generation will be going down the drain if we don't control it now," she added. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman suggested India's youth were viewing e-cigarettes as a "style statement".

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has said the kingdom will restore the oil production lost due to drone attacks by the end of September. He added that state oil giant Aramco had emerged "like a phoenix from the ashes". Aramco shut down 5.7 million barrels per day of oil output, which is over half of Saudi's production.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said India is looking at raising oil imports from Russia after an attack on Saudi facilities halved the kingdom's production. "Today I met excellency Igor Sechin, CEO of Rosneft. We elaborately discussed the possibility of oil imports," Pradhan said. Notably, Rosneft holds a 49.13% stake in Nayara Energy, which owns India's second-largest refinery in Vadinar.

Shares of cigarette makers surged on Wednesday after the Union Cabinet passed an ordinance banning the production, import and sale of e-cigarettes. Shares of ITC, Godfrey Phillips India, VST Industries and Golden Tobacco climbed 2.2%-9%. The Association of Vapers India said the ban would deprive millions of smokers of a safer solution to cut back on smoking.

The GST panel is unlikely to lower tax rates for the auto sector due to large revenue losses, government officials said. A government study said that the total annual revenue loss could be as much as $6.95 billion if the panel decided to decrease tax rates. The auto sector, however, has pushed to lower tax rates to 18% from 28%.

Care Ratings has downgraded ratings of Rana Kapoor's Morgan Credits (MCPL) from A minus to BBB minus over fall in stock price of the underlying shares of YES Bank, which are held by MCPL. As of March 31, MCPL held 3.03% stake in YES Bank. Along with its entities, the company held 10.62% stake in the bank.

Markets regulator SEBI barred ousted CG Power and Industrial Solutions Chairman Gautam Thapar and three ex-officials from securities market. Thapar, ex-CFO VR Venkatesh, ex-Director of finance Madhav Acharya and ex-Director B Hariharan were found guilty of misusing company's assets for illegal transactions. SEBI directed BSE to appoint a sole auditor to audit CG Power's books from FY16 to date.

Tata Power announced on Tuesday that it sold its entire 50% stake in Cennergi, a South African joint venture, for $106 million. The entire stake will be acquired by Exxaro Resources, which owns the other 50% of Cennergi. The agreement is likely to be completed by the third quarter of FY20. Cennergi owns two wind power farms in South Africa.

Ex-SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya is reportedly looking to venture into a general insurance business. She will be joined by former country head and CEO of AIG Sunil Mehta and a former Director of SBI Deepak Ishwarbhai Amin. Bhattacharya and Mehta registered their company Welmo Fintech on September 3 and the insurance firm has a paid-up share capital of ₹1 lakh.