ITC on Friday reported a decline in revenue and almost flat growth in net profit for the September quarter, with a drop in cigarette volume sales and slow consumer demand in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

Analysts said there was a 16 per cent decline in cigarette volumes, in keeping with the trend in the earlier two quarters. Net profit rose 0.2 per cent to Rs 2,431 crore versus Rs 2,425 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue fell 1.4 per cent to Rs 8,904 crore, compared to Rs 9,024 crore last year.

HCL Technologies on Thursday announced that it has acquired Minneapolis-based PowerObjects, provider of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Total cash consideration for this transaction is approximately Rs 299 crore ($46 million), including contingent payments subject to certain financial milestones, the company stated in a BSE filing.

The acquisition, it claims, will accelerate HCL’s growth and bolster its global applications business.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty fell for the fifth consecutive day on Friday as quarterly results from ITC and Larsen & Toubro disappointed investors and raised concerns about the health of the corporate sector. The sentiments were also affected after Moody’s projected that RBI will keep rates on hold for the remainder of 2015, with a small chance of another cut early next year. Sensex closed 181.31 points down at 26,656.83 while Nifty settled 45.95 points down at 8,065.80.

Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank reported 31% growth in consolidated net profit for the July-September quarter to Rs 942 crore.

The rise in net profit was on the back of strong growth in advances which led to a higher net interest income.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro Ltd on Friday reported a 15.5% rise in its second-quarter net profit after generating more revenue from its infrastructure and power businesses, but missed analyst forecasts.

Larsen, a $15-billion business with interests in engineering, construction, financial services and logistics, said it made Rs Rs 996 crore in the three months to the end of September, up from Rs 861 rore a year earlier.

Cigartte-to-hotel-FMCG major ITC's July-September quarter earnings missed analysts' expectations on Friday with profit rising to Rs 2,431 crore from Rs 2,425 crore in year-ago period, impacted by slow revenue growth in cigarette business.

Weak revenue growth in agri-business, hotels and paper business also hurt bottomline. Strong margin expansion and other income helped profit rise marginally.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), in association with Aon Hewitt, launched an industry report ‘The Transformation Agenda’ at the Nasscom HR Summit (North) in Gurgaon on Friday.

The report, which aims to understand the shifting business priorities, focuses on the implications of these shifts and the future of human resources (HR), the company said.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally taking on India’s notorious red tape to clear tens of billions of dollars worth of stalled public projects, hoping that his hands-on intervention can bend a vast, dysfunctional bureaucracy.

Once a month, Modi holds a meeting with top state and federal bureaucrats to check why projects have not got off the ground. Since March this year, his intervention has helped revive nearly $60 billion in federal and state projects, according to government data through September seen by Reuters.

New Delhi: The government on Thursday announced tax breaks on income from offshore bonds in a bid to encourage foreign investors to buy rupee-denominated bonds.

The finance ministry in a statement said that a lower withholding tax of 5% will be applicable on interest income accruing to non-resident investors of these bonds, similar to the treatment given to offshore dollar denominated bonds.

Amazon India and its largest local rival, Flipkart, which was modelled on the American online retailer, are changing their strategies in diverging ways, as they seek to dominate India’s fast-growing e-commerce market.

Amazon India and Flipkart, the country’s biggest e-commerce firm, are supposed to operate as marketplace platforms that connect small merchants with buyers. They aren’t allowed to sell directly to shoppers.

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