The $150-billion-plus Indian IT industry witnessed the performance of the top tier multi-billion dollar companies—Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies for the second quarter of FY18. The writing on the wall is very clear: the industry will walk the path of a single digit growth with a strong focus on the operational parameters to ensure higher profitability.

Indian stock markets opened at record highs on Monday followed by the optimism over better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. BSE Sensex gained 102.88 points or 0.31% to open at 33,260.1 points while NSE Nifty advanced 30.8 points or 0.3% to start at 10,353.85 points. Among the Nifty companies Bharti Infratel, HDFC, Lupin, Tata Steel and UPL are scheduled to announce their Q2 results report card today. Within minutes of trading, the benchmark Sensex added 158.02 points to hit the all-time high of 33,315.24 and the broader Nifty jumped 47.85 points to mark the lifetime high of 10,370.9 points.

Even as Indian lenders face the central bank’s ire over the classification of loans or divergence that seems to be burning holes in their books, the dispute may be temporary.

RBI’s scrutiny of non-performing assets raises concerns over the way classification is being done by auditors at banks. Three private-sector lenders have together reported more than Rs 12,000 crore in asset classification divergences for FY17 so far.

BENGALURU: Nasscom Product Council (NPC), the IT lobby’s platform for software product companies to showcase products and connect with peers, will focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the upcoming conclave to be held in Bengaluru. It also launched a DeepTech Club to nurture startups with mentors and investors.

“We are going to talk extensively on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Increasingly, machine learning and artificial intelligence are cropping up as solutions for handling data. While, the two are often used interchangeably, and though there are some parallels, they’re not the same thing,” said Somdutta Singh, co-chair, NPC.

The Axis Bank Foundation (ABF) has tied up with Sahapedia, an online encyclopedia of Indian arts and culture, to support its ‘Heritage Walks’, a project to help people understand the heritage of the cities and towns across the country.

The ABF, through its Axis Cares programme, will support around 200 guided walking tours being organised by Sahapedia over a period of one year, nearly half of which will be for people with disabilities and underprivileged children.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has become the first company in India to hold a meeting of its board of directors at high sea. Chairman Shashi Shanker convened the company’s 299th board meeting at a platform on Mumbai High field, in the Arabian Sea, on Saturday to approve the second-quarter earnings among other things.

“The idea was to familiarise the independent directors, most of whom are new to the oil and gas exploration and production business, with offshore operations,” an official said. ONGC produces over 80 per cent of its oil and gas from offshore fields with Mumbai High being the biggest.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and its partners, BP and Niko Resources, have so far paid only $82 million to the gas pool account — maintained to park the differential between the notified gas price given to others and the $4.2 per unit that the three contractors charge their customers.

The firms are yet to pay the penalty imposed on them for disallowing recovery of cost incurred for missing the target during six years from 2010. After a fresh penalty of Rs 264 million in August, the total now stands at $3.02 billion.

Larsen & Toubro, Godrej and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will join a consortium, being put together by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), to build Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs).

The vehicles will launch small satellites, and the first launch is being planned by 2020. A pact is to be signed by January for this initiative, said a source.

Indian eves got off to a roaring start at the Women’s Asia Cup 2017 with a dominating 10-0 victory over Singapore in Kakamigahara on Saturday.

Navneet Kaur (3rd & 41st minutes), Rani (15th & 18th) and Navjot Kaur (30th & 50th) netted the ball twice, while Lalremsiami (18th), Deep Grace Ekka (25th), Gurjit Kaur (41st) and Sonika (45th) scored once each to ensure India notched up winning points in their opening match of Pool A.

Four blue-chip companies are due with their second-quarter earnings today. As each being in the top slots in their respective market, it is expected that their Q2 results will guide Sensex and Nifty. Indian stock markets have rallied to record highs despite lower-than-expected first quarter results reported by major companies. Though, the markets have been surging on the hopes of better-than-expected Q2 and Q3 earnings. Recently domestic markets surged to record highs after the Modi government announced a mega plan of Rs 2.11 lakh crore to recapitalise the stressed PSU banks.

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