Mumbai, Oct. 14: Infosys today slashed its annual revenue growth forecast for the second time this year amid cautious client behaviour and pricing pressures, signalling that the scenario continues to remain lacklustre for the domestic IT services industry at least for the next six months.

The Bangalore-based company, however, beat analyst estimates to post a 6 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 3,606 crore during the second quarter ended September 30 compared with Rs 3,398 crore in the year-ago period.

Mumbai: With ICICI Bank having successfully executed its first two transactions using blockchain technology, other Indian private sector banks are also gradually warming up to the concept.

Two private sector lenders, Axis Bank Ltd and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, are conducting pilot transactions. They are experimenting in various business segments, to establish whether there is a business model for blockchain in India.

Singapore/Mumbai: Blackstone Group LP and Singapore sovereign fund GIC Pte were shortlisted to purchase a 40% stake in the rental property arm of DLF Ltd., India’s largest listed developer, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The funds were chosen to proceed in the bidding for the interest in DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd. being sold by DLF chairman K. P. Singh’s family, according to the people.

Stocks: The curtailed trading week saw the Sensex falling below the psychological 28k-level amid intense volatility, losing 387.54 points, while the broader Nifty going below the key 8,600-level.

The heavily curtailed three session trading week saw the market opening on lacklustre note as sentiment bridled due to holidays and government release of key economic data like IIP, CPI and WPI and keenly watched corporate results, while the key indices started positive and traded choppy later part of week.

For the first time in a decade, Air India has reported an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in the last fiscal aided by lower fuel costs and rise in passenger numbers. The state-owned airline, which is working on ways to improve its financials, had an operating loss of Rs 2,636 crore in 2014-15.

During its meeting on Friday, the Air India board approved the financial numbers for 2015-16 and the carrier has reported an operating profit of Rs 105 crore, sources said.

State Bank of India will sell upto five per cent stake in SBI Life Insurance to non-promoter entity for price discovery for and monetise holding.

The country's largest lender expects to complete sale process in this financial year. This transaction would help to discover pricing for life insurer which would be listed in the future, Senior SBI executives.

MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE Sensex recovered about 70 points in early trade on Friday after investors indulged in fresh buying taking cues from encouraging retail inflation numbers for September, despite weaker revenue guidance by TCS and Infosys for the current fiscal.

A higher trend on other Asian bourses, helped trading sentiment improve, brokers said.

Mahindra Group, the $18 billion conglomerate with businesses from India’s largest SUV maker to financial services and farm equipment, is prepared to pare stakes in its publicly traded units to facilitate fundraising by the companies.

The group is ready to cut its shareholdings in six listed entities to less than 51 percent, including Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd., which has a market value of 210 billion rupees ($3.1 billion) — if the strategy they’re pursuing calls for it, Chief Financial Officer V.S. Parthasarathy said in an interview in Mumbai.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has moved higher by 2.6% to Rs 1,474 on the BSE after the company said it has won a major order worth Rs 3,799 crore from the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL). This prestigious order has been secured by a consortium of L&T and Sojitz Corp., Japan.

“This design and build integrated package involves the construction of civil (embankment, structure, tunnel), track works, overhead electrification, traction substations and signaling & telecommunication works for double line electrified tracks with 2X25 kv AC, high rise overhead catenary system capable of operating at a maximum train speed of 100 km/h, from Rewari to Dadri (128 km),” L&T said in a press release.

Reliance Communications Ltd , India's fourth-biggest cellular carrier by customer base, said on Friday it signed a non-binding term sheet with Brookfield Infrastructure Group to sell its tower assets in a deal that could fetch it an upfront Rs 11,000 crore rupees ($1.65 billion).

It would also get "49 percent future economic upside" from the tower business, based on certain conditions, the company, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said in a statement. It did not divulge much details.

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