Mahindra & Mahindra today said it has launched a programme, Prerna, to empower women working in the agriculture sector by promoting efficient and ergonomic farm tools and equipment.

"The project will be initially launched in the state of Odisha, with the intention to positively impact the lives of over 1,500 families across 30-plus villages," Mahindra & Mahindra said in a statement.

Treatment of the old and the differently-abled by banks has caught the attention of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With India being home to over 100 million senior citizens and about 21 million differently-abled citizens, the banking sector regulator has asked banks to take steps so that these people should not feel marginalised at bank branches. Relying on customer complaints filed with its ombudsman, the central bank said banks, in general, are discouraging or turning away senior citizens from availing banking facilities in branches.

It's clearly an early Diwali for key indices as firecrackers bursted on Dalal street when the benchmark BSE Sensex and the broader Nifty climbed to new life-time highs of 32,687.32 and 10,242.45 points, respectively, in opening session on the back of gains in banking, FMCG, auto and oil and gas stocks on Monday.

Uninterrupted buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bolstered the trading sentiment, traders said. The rally came on the back of widespread gains led by metal, auto, FMCG, banking and oil & gas stocks.

Tata Consultancy Services, the country’s largest software exporter, says its investment in upgrading the skills of employees in digital and emerging technologies is showing returns. With it, the firm says, they’re being able to harness the talent to bag newer contracts from clients.

“We have a very strong in-house talent development programme and prefer to train an employee on new skills before looking at options. We started training our employees on digital skills a couple of years ago and this focus has contributed greatly to our growth,” says Ajoyendra Mukherjee, executive vice-president and global head of human resources (HR).

Reliance Industries (RIL) hit a new high of Rs 890, up 1.6% on the BSE in early morning trade, after the company reported a 12.5% increase consolidated net profit at Rs 8,109 crore for the second-quarter ended September 2017 (Q2FY18) on back of higher margins from its core refining and petrochemical businesses. The company had reported profit of Rs 7,206 crore in the same quarter of last fiscal year.

Consolidated revenue increased by 24% to Rs 101,169 crore during the quarter ending September as against Rs 81,651 crore in year-ago period.

The Odisha government’s Directorate of Treasuries and Inspection and the State Bank of India have signed an MOU for integration of SBI e-Pay with cyber treasury. The MoU is a landmark initiative by the state government to facilitate revenue collection from citizens through digital banking platform, an official said. The SBI e-Pay is the payment aggregator service wing of the bank which will facilitate on line payment of government dues by the customers of any public/ private sector banks by using the payment gateway of SBI.

To help its employees gain creativity, focus and happiness, Microsoft has built treehouse workspaces with embedded tech at its Redmond campus that will serve as meeting spaces and a more casual work environment. Designed by renowned builder Pete Nelson, the treehouse is one of the three new branch-based meeting spaces and is part of a larger new system of technology-enabled outdoor districts connected to buildings around campus empowering employees to work in new ways.

Mumbai: Indian rupee on Friday strengthened for the fifth session, its longest winning streak since February, to hit near three-week high against the US dollar on steady inflation and better-than-expected factory output data.

The home currency ended at 64.92 against the dollar, up 0.26% from its Thursday’s close of 65.09. The rupee opened at 64.95 a dollar and touched a high of 64.87, a level last seen on 25 September.

Pay less for flights on Diwali eve. That seems to be the mantra as carriers are substantially lowering the average spot airfare of tickets on Diwali eve, usually the highest in a calendar year, that are booked a week before departure. Thanks to increased capacity by airlines on some of the routes and a slowdown in certain sectors of the economy, a lower priceline around the festival of lights seems the new normal.

Reliance Industries on Friday reported a strong set of numbers during the July-September quarter, beating estimates on all fronts. Boosted by strong refining and petrochemicals margins, the company’s consolidated net profit excluding exceptional items increased a sharp 12.5% year-on-year to `8,109 crore. The company announced its earnings after market hours.

Gross refining margins (GRMs) for the country’s largest integrated oil and gas major were at a record nine-year-high of $12 per barrel against $10.10 a barrel in Q2FY17, but below estimates of $12.50 a barrel.

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