Morgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has emerged as the only Indian company among the world's 10 biggest consumer financial services firms, after giants like American Express, Visa and Mastercard.

HDFC is ranked seventh on the list, compiled by business magazine Forbes, where American Express is placed on the top followed by Capital One Financial, Visa, Discover Financial Services and Orix in the top-five. Mastercard is ranked sixth.

Top mortgage lender HDFC today reported a tepid 9.6 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,646.35 crore for the three months to March as it had to set aside Rs 384 crore towards deferred tax liabilities during the period.

The deferred tax liability on special reserves for the year, amounting to Rs 384 crore, has been charged to the statement of profit and loss account in determining the consolidated profit, HDFC Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Keki Mistry told reporters here.

Bharti Airtel will react after reporting 30.5% growth in net profit at Rs 1,255 crore for the quarter ended March this year, owing to growth in data revenue.

Idea Cellular is likely to firm up after its consolidated profit after tax increased 60% to Rs 942 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2015 against Rs 589.8 crore for the same quarter March 2014.

Emerging as one of the most-liked stocks by foreign funds, mortgage giant HDFC Ltd has seen overseas investors raise their stake in it to a record high of nearly 80 per cent during the quarter ended March 2015.

The mortgage financier has also become the first listed Indian company among 30 Sensex firms to have around 80 per cent shareholding by foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The country's largest housing finance company has cut lending rates for women borrowers by five basis points to 8.85% from 8.9% earlier. Following the current rate cut the top three home finance providers in the country - State Bank of India and ICICI Bank are providing identical rates.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, HDFC said that it has launched a new home loan product 'Women Power' with a differential rate of interest exclusively for women customers. The reduced rate will apply to home loans, home improvement loans, home extension loans and refinance loans. Besides loans for financing housing plots for home construction at 9.9%.

Markets continued to trade higher, amid firm global cues, led by financials while IT major TCS and index heavyweight Reliance Industries also witnessed renewed buying interest at lower levels in early trades.

At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 119 points at 28,009 and the 50-share Nifty was up 48 points at 8,477.

The Indian rupee was trading marginally higher at 62.83 per dollar against previous day's closing value of 62.85 a dollar tracking gains in equities.

BSE Healthcare index was the top gainer up 1% followed by Capital Goods, FMCG, Metal, Oil and Gas indices.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) boasts nearly a tenth of ownership in listed banks in the country. As per data compiled by FE, the insurance giant’s latest cumulative possession in 33 listed banks is more than 9% and valued at close to R83,069 crore, based on Friday’s closing prices.

The latest ownership as of March 2015 is considered for the compilation, barring six for which data were available as of December 2014.

After reducing its base rate by 15 basis points (bps), India’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has cut the interest rate for new home loans by another 10 bps, to 9.9 per cent.

So, in effect, the interest rate for new home loans will be reduced by 25 bps. For the existing ones, 15 bps is the reduction.

After the lending rate cuts by banks, India's top mortgage lender, HDFC, has cut its home loan rate by 20 basis points (bps) to 9.9 per cent with effect from Monday. With this, the gap between the rates offered by HDFC and State Bank of India (SBI) on home loans has widened.

Earlier HDFC gave home loans at 10.10 per cent, while SBI charged 10.15 per cent. The country's largest bank is now offering home loans at 9.95 per cent for women customers and 10 per cent for others.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.