Despite crude oil price dipping to a 13-year low and explorers globally reducing investments, state-run ONGC has lined up a capital expenditure programme of Rs 29,507 crore for FY17, reports Siddhartha P Saikia in New Delhi.

Though this is sharply lower than its capex levels in recent years, the cut is milder than most analysts expected.

Amazon, which registered its biggest ever profits in the December quarter, has said sellers on its Indian marketplace sold more goods in the festive period stretching from October to December than the combined sales for all of 2014.

“We continue to like what we see happening in India. According to comScore data, Amazon India in Q4 was the top e-commerce site and it was a very busy Diwali shopping season in India,” CFO Brian Olsasvky said during the investors/analysts call Thursday following its financial results.

The Narendra Modi-led Centre is planning to make all government services available to the people on mobile phones. The move has been proposed to give a push to the Digital India initiative and ensure that people can avail nearly every service at the touch of a button. This will help eliminate the need to visit government offices, the government has said.

Private sector lender YES Bank reported a 25 per cent increase in net profit in the October-December 2015 quarter to Rs 675.7 crore from Rs 540 crore in the year-ago quarter, on the back of robust growth in net interest income (NII) and higher other income.

NII, difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew 27.3 per cent to Rs 1,157 crore. Other income - treasury gains, income from fees, commission etc — expanded 39 per cent to Rs 746 crore in the quarter under review. While there was slight pressure on asset quality, gross non-performing assets (NPA) at the end of the December 2015 quarter stood at 0.66 per cent, compared to 0.42 per cent in the year-ago period.

Engineering and infrastructure firm Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) third quarter consolidated net profit increased by 19 per cent to Rs 1,035 crore against Rs 866 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, aided by Other Income and lower finance cost. However, it was marginally short of Bloomberg consensus estimates of Rs 1,040 crore.

The major miss was at the operating level as Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) was down eight per cent to Rs 2,650 crore from Rs 2,890 crore and the margin contracted by 180 basis points to 10.3 per cent against 12.1 per cent. Margin was hit by employee and sales and distribution expenses.

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the criminal proceedings pending before an Andhra Pradesh court against ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a case lodged against him for allegedly portraying himself as Lord Vishnu in an advertisement.

A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra also issued notice to respondent Yerraguntla Shyam Sundar on the petition of the cricketer in which he has also sought transfer of the criminal case from a court in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru in Karnataka.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed to have cracked the 2014 Church Street blast case and announced that Alam Jeb Afridi alias Javed Rafeeq (30), who was arrested by NIA and Telangana ATS recently confessed to the crime.

Afridi was the same suspect who stabbed a Telangana ATS constable Srinivasa, resisting arrest at Doddanagamangala, Parappana Agrahara. While the Telangana ATS and NIA, had picked him up in connection with the Ahmedabad 2008 blasts, he confessed to the Church Street blast in custody, NIA sources claimed. The agency also claimed that the target was an Israeli delegation that was purported to visit Coconut Grove restaurant, that day.

In a major relief to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Kerala High Court on Friday suspended Vigilance court order to register FIR against him and Minister Arayadan Mohammed in connection with the solar scam.

The High Court said that the Vigilance Court acted mechanically without knowing nature and extent of its powers.

HCL Technologies, India’s fourth largest information technology (IT) services company is fast expanding its operations in Europe, Baltic region and Africa as it looks at newer frontiers for growth opportunities. According to the company, they are witnessing a major growth in the African region which is emerging as a key market for its expansion plans.

“We do play in that region but, in a selective fashion, in certain countries in Africa. We are increasingly being asked by our customers to expand operations and provide more services in that region," said Anil Chanana, chief financial officer of HCL Technologies.

Yes Bank, India's fifth-biggest private sector lender by assets, reported a better-than-expected 25% increase in quarterly profit, and said it expected full-year credit costs to be at the lower end of its guidance range.

The bank said it saw credit costs at maximum 50 basis points for the fiscal year ending March, compared with its previous guidance of 50-70 basis points.

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