Mumbai: The top-five private companies by market capitalization added 578,804 employees in the year ended 31 March, the fewest in 3 years, as companies focused on improving productivity of its existing employees amid a slowdown in the economy.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), ITC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and Infosys Ltd, saw their combined headcount rise 5% from the previous year, according to data collated from the annual reports of each of the companies.

MUMBAI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has issued a fresh show-cause notice to HDFC Mutual Fund, the country's largest asset management company, alleging front-running by a former employee.

Four years ago, the capital markets regulator had banned HDFC Mutual's equities dealer Nilesh Kapadia from trading in the stock market after preliminary investigation revealed he had leaked information about the fund's trades to three market participants in advance.

Markets extended gains in noon deals with the benchmark indices at day highs, led by gains in realty, power and consumer durable companies.

At 1400 hrs, the Sensex was up 377 points at 25,409 and the Nifty advanced nearly 100 points to trade at 7,590.

The headcount in India’s top private banks is on the rise, despite a slowing economy and uncertain business environment. Large private banks in the country appear to be on a hiring spree, with many of them doubling their staff count in the last five years.

ICICI Bank, the largest private sector lender in India, closed last financial year with 72,226 employees compared to 35,256 staff at the end of March 2010. HDFC Bank increased its headcount to 68,165 from 51,888, while Axis Bank almost doubled its number of employees to 42,420 during this period.

Markets have turned absolutely flat after making a marginally lower opening weighed down by global markets and financials.

By 9:30, the Sensex was lower by 2 points at 25,189 and the Nifty slipped by 3 points at 7,531 mark.

On the global front, Asian shares struck a cautious tone on Tuesday as the double-whammy of a deepening conflict in Iraq and a gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia sapped investors' appetite for risk.

Equity benchmarks continued to be in positive terrain supported by HDFC twins and auto stocks. The Sensex rose 67.47 points to 25541.36 and the Nifty gained 10.10 points at 7636.95.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. About 1700 shares have advanced, 1327 shares declined, and 95 shares are unchanged.

Markets have marginally come off morning lows with the Sensex down 158 points at 25,421 and the Nifty gave off 55 points to trade at 7,599.

Sell-off was visible in the broader markets as well with both the mid and small cap indices down over 1% each, taking a breather after several weeks of outperformance.

HDFC Bank's Managing Director (MD) Aditya Puri retained his position as the highest-paid banking chief in the country in financial year 2013-14 (April-March). Puri, who is also the longest serving chief of an Indian bank, received remuneration of Rs 6.07 crore in 2013-14, or 20.9 per cent more than what he earned in the previous year.

Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO (chief executive officer) of ICICI Bank — the largest private sector lender in the country — received an increment of only two per cent during this period. She earned Rs 5.23 crore in 2013-14.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sent another showcause notice to HDFC Asset Management Company for 109 cases of front-running by a former employee — Nilesh Kapadia — of the fund house. In June 2010, the market regulator had found similar cases of fund-running by Kapadia.

Now, HDFC Bank’s debit card users cannot avail of benefits such as free insurance covers if they don’t use their cards for shopping or online transactions at least once a month, even if they continue to use it for cash withdrawals from automated teller machines.

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