New Delhi: ONGC Corp. Ltd and other state-run explorers may have to pay about Rs.10,900 crore in fuel subsidy after the finance ministry has agreed to provide only Rs.5,085 crore in cash subsidy for the December quarter.

Out of the Rs.15,981 crore of revenue losses fuel retailers incurred on selling LPG and kerosene at government-controlled rates in October-December, the finance ministry has agreed to make good only less than one-third or Rs.5,085 crore by way of cash subsidy, sources said.

Mumbai: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has initiated a process to sell up to a 5% stake in the life insurance venture, said a person familiar with the development, adding that the process is in the early stages. He declined to be named.

Long-term investors like sovereign funds, pension funds and other financial investors have evinced interest in picking up stake in the life insurance joint venture between ICICI Bank Ltd (74%) and Prudential Plc (26%).

Mumbai: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) on Friday reported a net profit of Rs.942.14 crore in the December quarter, marginally up 0.87% from a year ago despite lower sales and higher employee cost.

The company has posted a net profit of Rs.934.06 crore in the year-earlier period.

FMCG major ITC has entered into an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to acquire its brands, ‘Savlon’ and ‘Shower To Shower’, in India.

This acquisition will be ITC’s first purchase in the personal care segment.

Shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) were trading lower by 3% at Rs 260 on NSE after reporting a disappointing set of numbers for the quarter ended December 2014 (Q3).

The stock opened at Rs 251 and has seen a combined 5.89 million shares changing hands on the counter till 1024 hours on NSE and BSE.

Shares of State Bank of India (SBI) has rallied 7% to Rs 304 on NSE after the state-owned bank said its gross non-performing assets (NPA) as a percentage to total advances rose marginally at 4.90% as on December 31, 2014 (Q3FY15) compared to 4.89% in September quarter. Gross NPA stood at 5.73% at the end of December 2013 quarter.

Net NPA stood at 2.80% in December 2014 quarter against 2.73% in preceding quarter and 3.24% in the same quarter last year.

Hit by increased expenses, Coal India Ltd (CIL) has recorded a 16 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 3,262 crore for the December quarter. The net profit in the year-ago quarter was Rs 3,894 crore.

The net sales during the quarter under review stood at Rs 17,763 crore - a five per cent rise over Rs 16,928 crore in the year-ago period.

GMR Group and Essel Group have shown interest to participate in bids for all the four government-run airports, sources said.

The Airport Authority of India has initiated a pre-bid process to shortlist bidders to develop the airports at Ahmedabad, Chennai, Jaipur, and Kolkata. The companies will have to give details by March 24.

Pilots and cabin crew members of Air India are posing “significant security risk” by exiting the Mumbai Airport without customs check, the national carrier has been told by the Customs Department after two of its employees were allegedly caught smuggling gold.

Officials recently caught two Air India crew members while they were allegedly smuggling three kgs of gold worth over Rs 78 lakh on a domestic flight, the department has informed the airline.

SINGAPORE: Indian conglomerate Wipro has formed a strategic partnership with two American companies to offer a software package that optimises the entire Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply chain.

The partnership, called RapidLNG, aims to serve some 500 LNG companies globally, ranging from upstream gas production to consumer market, Wipro officials said after launching the scheme in Singapore at the LNG Global Congress held this week.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.