Benchmark indices were trading firm even as IT majors TCS and HCL Tech witnessed selling pressure after they reported lower-than-expected revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2014.

At 9.30 AM, the Sensex is up 50 points at 26,061 and the Nifty is up 9 points at 7,757.

Shares of India’s third-largest private sector lender, Axis Bank, are trading higher by 1% at Rs 389 on the BSE after it reduced its base rate by 10 basis points (bps) to 10.15 per cent on the back of a decline in cost of funds.

The move comes despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deciding to hold interest rates in the past four policy reviews, the last one being in September.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had changed its mind on the treatment of ICICI Bank shares that came into the accounts of promoter group entities of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR), led by Pravin Kumar Tayal, following the merger of the two entities in 2010.

In August 2010, it had taken a view that the merger would not affect the ban on the promoter group entities from the securities market. Nearly two years later, it said as the merger had been approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the promoters could be allowed to sell these shares.

Following the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) barring DLF’s promoters from capital markets, the company stock fell to its all-time low on Thursday. Subsequently, the shares gained, as traders recovered short positions.

On Thursday, the stock closed at Rs 110.35 on the BSE, up 5.2 per cent, after falling to Rs 100.1 in intra-day trade, down 4.6 per cent from its previous close. The BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty benchmarks closed down 1.3 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs)’ stake in Infosys is nearing historic highs. During the quarter ended September, they bought 6.38 million Infosys shares for Rs 2,236 crore, raising their stake 1.1 per cent, data show. The number of FIIs holding stake in the company has risen from 912 at the end of June to 926 at the end of September. As of September-end 2013, 808 FIIs held stake in the company; the number stood at 778 a year earlier.

Recently, the stock hit a lifetime high. Also, the company announced 1:1 bonus shares to shareholders, including those holding American depository receipts, after a gap of eight years. Life Insurance Corporation of India has increased its stake in Infosys from 3.82 per cent at the end of June to 4.45 per cent in September, acquiring 3.62 million shares (0.63 per cent stake) for Rs 1,270 crore. Retail investors, however, booked profits on every rise, with their holding in the company nearing a decadal low. Individual investors’ stake declined from 9.32 per cent in June to 9.06 per cent in September.

Real estate major DLF's wait to cut its debt could get longer because of the recent order by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) banning the former from capital markets for three years.

Early last year, DLF had said it would reduce debt, which at that time stood at Rs 21,000 crore, to Rs 10,000-11,000 crore. In May this year, the company said its plans to cut debt would be delayed by two years, owing to subdued market conditions.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest information technology services company, continued with its strong financial performance to post 13.6 per cent annual net profit growth in the July-September quarter.

By International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, the company's revenue rose by 13.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 23,816 crore and net profit by 13.6 per cent to Rs 5,288 crore. On a sequential basis the rates of growth in revenue and net profit were 7.7 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively.

NEW DELHI: All private companies have walked out of the bidding process for two ultra-mega power projects in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, leaving state-run generation utility NTPC as the sole contender for the plants entailing an investment of about Rs 50,000 crore.

Adani Power, Jindal Power, Sterlite and GMR have written to PFC Consulting, the agency advising the government on the projects, saying they were pulling out of the bidding process due to terms to be too stringent for viability.

NEW DELHI: A non-existent scam is proving to be the latest flashpoint between Air India management and its pilots.

The AI management Tuesday issued notice to the airline's pilots' union over "misrepresenting facts and spreading malicious" rumours. The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA, union of erstwhile Indian Airlines' pilots) had alleged that six grounded-for-years Boeing 737 (freighter) were "being insured at $1 million each".

Reliance Industries has said its efforts to step up gas production at the KG-D6 block haven’t met expectations thus far and a recent appraisal well drilled to assess hydrocarbon potential has turned out to be unsuccessful. RIL’s senior management told analysts who track the company at a meeting following the declaration of its September quarter results on October 13.

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