Bajaj Auto Ltd has shifted into the fast lane in September, ending a long ride in the slow lane. Motorcycle sales bounced back while its commercial vehicle (three-wheeler) segment revved up growth. This does signal an improvement in prospects, assuming sales growth sustains, but what is equally important is whether this can translate into higher profit margins.

Domestic motorcycle sales in September comprised 58% of total sales during the month, and rose by 7.3% over a year ago. This has come after 10 successive months of declining sales growth. Better still, Bajaj Auto has regained some lost share—rising from 18% a year ago to 20%—and the management is confident that it can increase further to 25% by end-fiscal year 2018 (FY18).

In a bid to bolster its Mixed Reality vision, Microsoft has acquired Redwood City, California-based virtual reality social network AltspaceVR for an undisclosed sum. “With the AltspaceVR team aboard, we look forward to building the world’s pre-eminent mixed reality community,” Alex Kipman, Microsoft’s inventor of HoloLens, said in a post late on Tuesday.

Shares of Reliance Communications (RCom) on Tuesday ended nearly 11% down on the bourses, eroding as much as Rs 523 crore in market capitalisation.

The RCom stock opened on at Rs 18.70 on the BSE, then lost further ground and fell to an intra-day low of Rs 16.75.

Sensex and Nifty opened marginally higher on Wednesday, later extended the morning gains in a muted trade activity as the attention of market participants shifts to the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India’s bi-monthly monetary policy. BSE Sensex gained 25 points to open at 31,522.17 points and NSE Nifty too added 25 points to open at 9,884.35 points. Meanwhile, Japanese shares jumped in the early trade on Wednesday led by auto stocks as US demand for cars rose following damage from recent hurricanes. The benchmark Sensex shuttled in the range of 31,457.78-31,619.82 points till the early morning trade while the broader Nifty 50 rose 41 points to hit 9,900.75 points.

Ford India has blamed constraints in the supply chain for a 27% drop in combined domestic sales and exports in September even as it has upped the ante in the country with a tie-up with Mahindra & Mahindra.

The company recorded wholesale of 16,525 vehicles in September this year as against 22,590 units sold in the same month last year.

Shares of all three state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) were trading higher by up to 4% on BSE in early morning trade after the government cut the excise duty on both branded and unbranded petrol and diesel by Rs 2 a litre from Wednesday.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) have gained between 3% and 4%, extending their gains for the past 2 days on the BSE.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon release Rs 100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, having the signature of Governor Urjit R Patel. However, the Rs 100 banknotes in the earlier series will continue to be a legal tender.

According to Mint, RBI will start printing new Rs 100 notes in April (once Rs 200 notes have been printed), while the existing notes will be withdrawn from the market gradually without causing any disruption.

As Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is squeezed by the Donald Trump administration to reduce the use of overseas workers for US jobs, TCS is also fighting claims in court that its hiring practices are anti-American.

TCS, Asia’s largest software maker, and Infosys are both embroiled in civil rights lawsuits accusing them of discriminating against white IT workers that predate Donald Trump’s election last year.

Ending its year-long discount on its Prime membership, Amazon India is set to start charging Rs 999 as yearly fees within the next few days.

"Prime membership is available for only a few more days at the special introductory price of Rs 499 a year. In India, Prime members enjoy unlimited free one day and two-day delivery on over 11 million products online, free standard delivery without a minimum purchase, exclusive deals on bestselling products and instant access to latest movies and TV shows," the company said.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is likely to take a short-term bridge loan for about one year to fund the acquisition of the government’s stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL).

ONGC has already lined up plans to sell its stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and GAIL (India) and has also got approvals from shareholders to borrow up to Rs 25,000 crore from the market. “We are looking into all options. As we have to look at favourable market conditions for selling stake in the two companies, we are looking into the option of a bridge loan or any short-term loan for at least a year,” an ONGC official said.

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