HDFC Bank Ltd, India's second-biggest private sector lender by assets, on Tuesday reported a 20% rise in quarterly net profit, lagging estimates, due to higher tax expenses and provisioning for loan losses.

Net profit rose to Rs 2,381 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2014, from Rs 1,982 crore a year earlier.

Punjab National Bank today posted a Q2 net profit of Rs 575.3 crore compared to Rs 505.5 crore in the year-ago period, an uptick of 13.8%.

The bank's asset quality worsened, with gross NPA coming in at 5.65% compared to 5.48% q-o-q. Net NPA was at 3.26% compared to 3.02% in the previous quarter.

British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover Ltd, owned by Tata Motors Ltd, expects its China sales to grow 20% this year, Greater China head Bob Grace said on Tuesday.

The target compares with a rise of around 40% last year which Grace partly attributed to a larger base of comparison.

Microsoft Corp's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella has become one the technology industry's biggest earners, with a total compensation package worth $84.3 million this year, according to a document filed with securities regulators on Monday.

The outsize number is mostly made up of the estimated value of certain one-time stock awards given to Satya Nadella, who became the company's third CEO in February. Most of it Nadella cannot actually receive until 2019.

Union Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that there was no inquiry into complaints against e-commerce giant Flipkart of predatory prices of goods and unfair trade practices during its recent Big Billion Day Sale.

I would like to state that no enquiry has been planned or proposed on the e-retailer on the concerns raised by customers on the big billion day sale, she told reporters after a visit to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office here.

Indications from senior BJP leaders in New Delhi is that Devendra Fadnavis will be the new chief minister and his election to the post is only a matter of procedure. State-level BJP leaders were unable to confirm it as some other aspirants are still lobbying for the post.

Despite the lobbying, it was evident that Fadnavis would get the top job largely because of his clean image, even though he hasn't much of an administrative experience to talk about.

The new gas pricing policy would make deep water discoveries of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) viable, according to equity research firm Bank of America (BofA) Merrill Lynch. According to the approved pricing policy, gas from deepwater and ultra deep water discoveries would get a higher price to be determined as per the prescribed procedure. “Thus R-cluster, satellite fields and MJ1 discoveries in the KG-D6 block and those in NEC-25 and CYD5 would realise higher price and would be developed,” said BofA ML, in a note.

Even though its recently-announced second-quarter numbers disappointed the Street, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest information-technology services company, managed to hold on to its margin estimate. The firm managed to do it despite a volatile cross-currency movement and the consolidation of its joint venture in Japan.

Rajesh Gopinath, chief financial officer of TCS, is confident that for the next two quarters, the company will be able to maintain its margin in the 26-28 per cent band subject to currency volatility. He added TCS would continue its strategy of reinvesting into business, and would rework the strategy once currency is stable.

Shares of Canada-based Niko Resources, a partner of Reliance Industries (RIL) in the D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin and NEC-25 gas block in the Bay of Bengal, dropped 47.95 per cent to C$0.38 apiece (at the time of going to press on Monday) in the wake of the Centre's move to increase natural gas prices by 46 per cent from $4.2 per million British thermal (mBtu) units to $6.17 per mBtu from November 1. Reliance Industries' (RIL) scrip dropped 0.39 per cent at Rs 934.5 a share on the BSE on Monday.

RIL holds 60 per cent interest in D6 block and NEC-25 blocks, while BP India holds the remaining 30 per cent interest. Niko is also the operator of and holds a 33.33 per cent interest in the Hazira Field in Gujarat.

IIdea Cellular, the country’s third largest operator, on Monday reported a 69 per cent jump in consolidated net profit for the July-September quarter, beating estimates of analysts.

The growth was on the back of strong subscriber additions and surge in data usage. However, sequential growth remained mute during the seasonally weak quarter.

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.