60-80 per cent of organisations use artificial intelligence (AI) for IT functions, but 70 per cent believe AIs greatest impact by 2020 will be in marketing, customer service, finance and HR, a new study said on Wednesday.

According to global IT consulting firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), organisations with the greatest financial improvements from AI investments expect three times as many new AI-related roles by 2020 as compared to companies with smallest improvements.

Ashok Buildcon has moved higher to its 52-week high of Rs 199.65, up 7% on BSE in intra-day trade, after the company said its subsidiary - Ashoka Concessions (ACL) has emerged as the lowest bidder for bid submitted to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

ACL had submitted its bid to NHAI for the project viz. request for proposal for six laning of from Ranastalam to Anandpuram (Visakhapatnam) (from km 634.000 to km 681.000) section of NH-5 (New NH- 16) in the state of Andhra Pradesh under NHDP Phase - V (Package II) on Hybrid Annuity Mode Project.

Mahindra & Mahindra's expenditure on research and development (R&D) has grown nearly 30 times, while its revenue rose by 10 times in the last four years. The company is putting a significant amount of energy and money behind R&D, says company's top official.

Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, M&M, who was in Chennai to announce FISITA World Automotive Congress 2018, which he says is the Olympics of automotive technology in the world, said that companies must spend more and more in R&D to remain functional.

The board of State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday gave a nod for raising equity capital up to Rs 15,000 crore in the next financial year to shore up capital adequacy. The approval is given to raise equity capital through routes like follow-on public offering (FPO), rights offering, overseas placement and employee stock options, SBI informed the BSE.

SBI executive said nod from the board is an enabling provision. The bank would raise capital from the market at an opportune time, subject to approval from government of India, its majority owner, and banking regulator Reserve Bank of India.

HDFC Bank Ltd is offering loans against shares in about two-three minutes by completely digitising the loan mechanism.

For this, the bank has tied up with National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL). Shares dematerialised by NSDL and executed through HDFC Bank demat account could be used for pledging. This is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India and probably the first in the world as well. HDFC Bank and NSDL had consulted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before developing the product.

Defending itself against the criticism of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Air India has defended the sale of five Boeing 777-200 LR planes to Etihad, saying it was the best option to check loss and reduce debt.

The CAG has criticised Air India for selling the aircraft below its indicative market price, under-reporting its losses and poor initiatives to monetise its real estate.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today pitched for rail connectivity with neighbouring countries to boost trade and eliminate poverty in the region. Highlighting the need for physical connectivity with neighbours for trade growth, he advocated work on rail link from Kathmandu to Delhi and Kolkata shortly.”Asia is going to be the next future growth centre of the world. Asia being the large continent, it is going to be very interesting to see how all countries of the region participate in the growth,” Prabhu said while inaugurating the global conference on transcontinental rail connectivity here.

Idea Cellular is going all out to take on Reliance Jio and its data offers. Idea has associated with itel, a smartphone brand, to give Indian users 1GB of free data every month for six months. The offer is valid on specific variants of smartphones by itel only. The deal is valid from today and is currently available on the following models under Wish series: it1409, it1407, it1508, it1508+ and Power Pro series it1516+.

Motorola today launched the fifth generation of its best-selling Moto G series – Moto G5 Plus – in the Indian market at a price of Rs 14,999 onwards. Motorola will make available two versions – 3GB RAM/16GB memory and 4GB RAM/32GB memory – for Rs 14,999 and Rs 16,999 respectively. These will go on sale from tonight on Flipkart. Equipped with a full metal design, faster processor and better camera functionality, the Moto G5 will compete with handsets from Xiaomi, Micromax as well as those from the stable of its parent – Lenovo.

MUMBAI: The chief of India's largest bank State Bank of India once again spoke out against farm loan waiver amid talk that the ruling BJP government may soon deliver on its poll promise made in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya today said that farm loan waivers potentially disturbed credit discipline and raised hope of multiple future waivers.

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