State-owned ONGC today said it will acquire the government's entire 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL for Rs 369.15 billion (Rs 36,915 crore).

ONGC will pay the government Rs 473.97 per share, a premium of over 10 per cent of the 60-days weighted average of HPCL's scrip.

The Indian markets on Friday posted their seventh straight weekly advance-longest winning streak since February 2012— as companies continue to report strong earnings for the December 2017 quarter.

The benchmark Sensex gained 919 points, or 2.7 per cent during the week, biggest weekly jump in nearly a year, buoyed by government's move to cut additional borrowing and hopes of higher foreign direct investment in the banking sectors.

Indian-born Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said he does not regret firing James Damore, a former employee who was ousted from the company last year for criticising the tech giant for its diversity policy.

When asked about Google's decision to fire Damore during an interview with MSNBC, Pichai said. "I don't regret it.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reported a strong set of numbers for the three months ended December 2017, beating street estimates on all fronts. Boosted by volume increase with the start-up of petrochemicals projects and increase in prices in refining and petrochemical businesses, consolidated net profit excluding exceptional items increased a sharp 25.1% year-on-year to Rs 9,423 crore. Gross refining margins came in at $11.6/bbl against $10.8/bbl in Q3FY17, in line with street estimates.

Wipro, India’s third largest IT services exporter, reported a 11.6% sequential decline in net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal due to a one-time financial impact caused by the insolvency of a client from its energy, natural resources and utilities vertical. According to Wipro, the impact from the insolvency was Rs 317.50 crore ($49.7 million). The net profit at the end of three-month period ended December 2017 stood at Rs 1,936 crore against Rs 2,190 crore in the comparable period three months ago.

MUMBAI: Top lenders including State Bank of India, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank have suspended some accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges in India, suspecting dubious transactions, three people aware of the development said.

The banks have also sought additional collateral from the promoters of these exchanges on their borrowings and have capped cash withdrawals from the few accounts that are still operational.

Around 160 passengers, including Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren, had a close shave when their Air India flight suffered a bird hit while landing at the airport in Guwahati.

The Delhi-Guwahati-Imphal flight was grounded on Friday and passengers travelling to Imphal were left stranded.

Kotak Mahindra Bank on Friday reported 28.2 per cent rise in its third quarter consolidated net profit on healthy growth in advances.

Profit after tax on a consolidated level rose to Rs 16.24 billion for the quarter ended December 2017, from Rs 12.67 billion in the year ago period.

Mercedes-Benz unveiled the BS-VI variant of its flagship S-Class on Friday. The luxury carmaker became the first in India to show preparedness for the commercial launch of a BS-VI compliant model, two years ahead of the regulation.

Roland Folger, managing director (MD) and chief executive at Mercedes-Benz India, said with government incentive, the implementation of the BS-VI norms can be expedited. Mercedes-Benz claimed the new engine produces 68 per cent less nitrous oxides, 82 per cent less particulate matter and betters fuel efficiency by six per cent than the outgoing model.

With the Goods and Service Tax (GST) rate on the metro and monorail construction being brought down to 12 per cent from 18 per cent, the EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) contractors in the space would get benefited provided their contracts were bid out factoring in the tax component.

Essentially, if the EPC contractor had bid for the metro or monorail construction contract on base price excluding taxes, then the decline in GST slab would prove to be an advantage for the company in as the overall cost would decline.

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