Counting of votes for Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will be held on Thursday. For stock market perspective, experts believe the result may not impact equity markets as things have already factored in the past few trading sessions.

In the past three trading sessions, the benchmark BSE Sensex advanced 215.04 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 25,704.61 till May 18. Similarly, the broader index NSE Nifty gained 55.25 points, or 0.70 per cent to 7870.15 during the same period.

In the biggest ever quarterly loss ever recorded by any listed Indian bank, public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Wednesday slipped into a deep shade of red with a loss of Rs 5,367.14 crore for the quarter ended March 2016, down from a net profit of Rs 306.56 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

As with other public sector banks who are struggling with high non-performing assets (NPAs), PNB's loss, too, stems from having to set aside large sums of capital for bad loans. Provisioning for NPAs grew almost threefold to Rs 10,485.23 crore in the fourth quarter compared with Rs 3,834.19 crore in the previous fiscal.

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz today launched an upgraded version of its seven-seater sports utility vehicle GLS 350d in India, priced at Rs 80.4 lakh (ex-showroom Pune).

"India has growing penchant for SUVs and at 100% growth achieved in 2015, it was the highest growing segment for us," Mercedes-Benz Managing Director and CEO Roland Folger told reporters here.

Mumbai: Tata Unistore, a Tata Industries incubated business venture, on Tuesday announced the launch of its e-commerce platform, Tata CLiQ.

It will open to consumers on 27 May across its website, mobile site and mobile apps (Android and iOS), the company said in a statement. At launch, Tata CLiQ will offer consumers apparel, electronics and footwear products. Over the next few months, it plans to expand by adding more categories, brands and features.

Market benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 210 points in early trade on Wednesday due to profit-booking by investors after recent gains amid weak cues from Asian markets.

Moreover, the rupee, which weakened for the fifth day against the dollar, also had its bearing on domestic equities.

Global Technology major Apple on Wednesday announced a new initiative to support engineering talent and accelerate growth in India’s iOS developer community.

The US-based company will establish a Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru. This initiative will provide additional, specialised support for the developers who make applications for Apple's iOS operating system, Apple said in an official press statement.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) were trading in red in the morning trade on Wednesday after UK-based vehicle testing agency Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) on Tuesday awarded zero star safety ratings to Maruti’s Celerio and Eeco models, as well as Mahindra’s utility vehicle Scorpio. Maruti Suzuki and M&M shares plunged as much as 3.57 per cent 2.17 per cent intraday.

BENGALURU | NEW DELHI: Software exporter Infosys has undertaken a large-scale reboot of existing internal systems and processes, including across functions such as finance, travel and human resources, as part of a broader strategy to improve productivity across the company and also save costs, a top company executive said.

Taking forward the consolidation agenda, State Bank of India (SBI) may merge its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself to emerge as a financial behemoth, with assets worth Rs 37 lakh crore ($550 billion).

Its five associates are State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT). BMP, started in 2013, is a Delhi-based public sector lender.

The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) on Tuesday set aside the order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposing a Rs 1773-crore fine on Coal India Ltd (CIL), as well as two related orders, and has remitted the matters back to the CCI for fresh consideration

On complaints filed by Maharashtra State Power Generating Company and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited, CCI had fined CIL Rs 1,773 crore for abusing its dominant position as a supplier of coal by imposing unfair and discriminatory conditions in its fuel supply agreements with various customers.

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