Beleaguered IL&FS can raise up to Rs 700 billion by selling its assets, the Life Insurance Corporation of India Chairman V K Sharma said in New Delhi on Friday. LIC was open to raising stake in the company by participating in its rights issue, he added.

Rana Kapoor, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) at Yes Bank, reiterated his commitment to the bank and its stakeholders on Friday. In a series of tweets, Kapoor said his YES Bank shares were invaluable. He said he would never sell his shares, even after he demits office as the private lender’s MD and CEO.

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) will retain the capital’s iconic luxury hotel Taj Mahal (popularly known as Taj Mansingh after the road on which it is located) for another thirty-three years. The Tata Group company, which operates a chain of luxury hotels under the Taj brand, emerged winner in an e-auction conducted by NDMC, the city’s civic body. IHCL outbid ITC, the only other bidder for the hotel on Friday.

Larsen & Toubro Friday announced that its construction arm has secured orders worth Rs 14.77 billion.

The company has bagged orders worth Rs 11.57 billion from the Public Health Engineering Department, Rajasthan for the execution of drinking water supply projects in Pali, Dungarpur and Banswara districts of the state, it said in a statement.

Apollo Hospitals, India's largest hospital chain, on Friday informed stock exchanges that its shareholders had approved its plan to raise Rs 5 billion via issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs). The issue was taken up for discussion at the company’s 37th annual general meeting on Thursday.

The Prathap Reddy-led company had last month reported a strong 70.86 per cent year-on-year net profit growth during the quarter ended June 30 to Rs 601.6 million.

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz Friday launched the all-new version of E-Class All-Terrain in India, priced at Rs 7.5 million (ex-showroom).

The model, which is BS VI compliant, comes with a four-cylinder diesel engine that generates 194 hp of power.

The proposed merger of Bank of Baroda (BoB) with two mid-sized PSU lenders shows the willingness of the government to go ahead with difficult reforms in the banking sector, Fitch Ratings said Friday. The government had last week announced its plan to merge BoB with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank to create the third largest bank in the country. The boards of each bank will meet to give a go-ahead to the proposed merger.

Microsoft has decided to put an end to “Skype 7.0 — Classic” version in November and will focus on improving “Skype 8” with better features based on user feedbacks.

“Support for ‘Skype versions 7’, and below will end on November 1, 2018 on desktop devices and November 15, 2018 on mobile and tablet devices,” the company wrote in a blog post late on Thursday.

One of the top 12 bankrupt companies identified for immediate resolution was Essar Steel. However, its resolution process has been anything but immediate. The case is way past its 270-day timeline, even as some of the similar bankrupt steel companies have found new owners. The reason: Legal interpretation and challenges of the newly-adopted Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

With demand for cars somewhat muted, partly due to the inauspicious Shrad period and partly due to an excess of inventory, dealers are offering discounts on models such as Maruti Suzuki’s premium hatchback Baleno, the new Swift and the new Dzire, possibly for the first time since their launch. The Swift and Dzire can be bought at cash discounts of up to Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 on diesel and petrol variants, respectively.

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