As Ford India works on readying its Sanand manufacturing plant, Nigel Harris, the newly appointed president of the company met the Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel today during his visit to the state.

A company spokesperson informed that it was a courtesy visit where Harris took the opportunity to meet the new chief minister of the state.

Despite being the largest information technology services player in India, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) posted a strong set of numbers for the quarter ending June that were ahead of Street estimates. TCS also said FY15 will be a better year in terms of top line growth and the deal pipeline remains strong.

Broad-based growth across key geographies and verticals, strong volume growth and healthy deal kitty enabled TCS post another robust quarter.

Sluggish domestic sales and a steep rise in expenses led to a flat net profit of Rs 740 crore for Bajaj Auto, India's third-largest two-wheeler maker, during the first quarter ended June 30. The Pune-based manufacturer of motorcycles such as the Pulsar and Discover and RE range of three-wheelers had posted a net profit of Rs 738 crore in the year-ago period. Analysts tracking the company had estimated Bajaj’s net profit for the June 2014 quarter to be Rs 815 crore. Bajaj’s stock on BSE reacted negatively to the earnings, closing at Rs 2,092, a 2.3 per cent decline compared to Wednesday’s close.

The Union government on Thursday joined the arbitration process initiated by Reliance Industries (RIL) and its partners over delay in revision of the price of natural gas from the Andhra offshore KG-D6 block. It appointed former Supreme Court judge G S Singhvi as its arbitrator.

RIL and its partners, BP Plc of the UK and Niko Resources of Canada, had on May 9 served a pre-arbitration notice on the government, alleging failure to implement the decision on a gas price rise with effect from April 1. This stalling, it said, was preventing sanctioning of investments of around $4 billion.

G M Rao, chairman of the publicly-held GMR Infrastructure, plans to increase his stake in the company by about five per cent through the subscription of 180 million warrants for which he will pay about Rs 600 crore over an 18-month period. As and when the shareholders approve the warrant issue to GMR Infra Venture LLP - a promoter entity of which the ultimate beneficiary will be G M Rao - GMR Infra Ventures will be paying 25 per cent of the Rs 600 crore upfront.

Broad-based growth across divisions and markets, and the ability to manage its cost better, allowed India’s largest information technology services company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), to again deliver results which were better than expected.

State-owned petroleum explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has cautioned the government the proposed five per cent stake sale in the company might not generate investor interest unless key issues are resolved to enhance valuations.

In a recent letter to the oil ministry, the company flagged at least five such issues, sources said.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with about 300 people on board crashed in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday, the Ukraine government and a regional European aviation official reported. The Interfax news agency said the plane had been shot down.

MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE sensex on Thursday rose over 60 points in early trade, extending gains for the third straight day as funds and retail investors made selective buying ahead of the TCS and Bajaj Auto quarterly earnings.

Mumbai: Shares in Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd fell as much as 4.8% on Thursday morning after 11.82 million shares changed hands in 24 block deals on BSE, according to Thomson Reuters data shows.

The block deals happened at an average price of Rs.1,162.24 per share, Thomson Reuters calculation shows. Shares are also pressured by the stock going ex-dividend on Thursday after earlier paying Rs.14 apiece.

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