HDFC Bank Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan on Friday flagged funding as a risk for the lender, after the completion of the $40-billion amalgamation with Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on July 1.

“The risks of the merger are the funding part of it,” Jagdishan told shareholders of the largest private sector lender at its first post-merger annual general meeting. HDFC Bank Chairman Atanu Chakraborty, on the other hand, expressed confidence that the private sector lender would benefit from the low cost of funds that a bank traditionally enjoys.

The auditor of billionaire Gautam Adani’s ports business is planning to resign, people familiar with the matter said, a move that may heighten concerns about accounting quality at the Indian conglomerate targeted by short seller Hindenburg Research.

Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP has communicated to Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. its resignation plans and a formal announcement is expected in coming days, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a sensitive matter.

Diversified conglomerate ITC Limited on Friday said the FMCG business has immense potential for growth with its brands commanding an annual consumer spend of Rs 29,000 crore.

Speaking at the 112th AGM of the company, ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri told shareholders in his address that the FMCG brands are being exported to several countries and the business vertical has immense growth potential due to the rising per capita income of the people.

Shares of Himatsingka Seide hit a 52-week high of Rs 140.95, as they soared 13 per cent on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade in an otherwise weak market after the company reported a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 29.15 crore in June quarter (Q1FY24), on back of strong operational performance. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 54.73 crore in a year ago quarter.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) jumped 192 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 152.09 crore, margin improved 1,449 bps to 22.2 per cent from 7.7 per cent in Q1FY23. Total income grew 1.1 per cent at Rs 686.54 crore.

The provision of sedition offences will be completely repealed in the new bill replacing the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday.

While introducing three bills in Lok Sabha to replace the IPC, Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act, Shah said that the Centre will also introduce the provision of capital punishment in mob lynching cases.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has identified 106 candidates for the upcoming Assembly election in the state, reported Hindustan Times (HT), citing a senior Congress leader.

Of the 106 candidates, 66 will be competing in seats that the party has not won in the last three assembly elections and are strongholds of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The other 40 are sitting MLAs.

Shares of HCL Technologies surged 4.4 per cent to Rs 1,185.55 on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade after the company won a $2.1 billion contract from Verizon Communications to manage its networks for the business customers.

The partnership combines Verizon’s networking power, solutioning, and scale with HCLTech’s market leading Managed Service capabilities to usher in a new era of large-scale wireline service delivery for enterprise customers, these companies said in a news release.

The price of 24-carat gold declined Rs 280 during Friday's early trade, with ten grams of the precious metal selling at Rs 59,670, according to the GoodReturns website. Silver price fell Rs 500, with 1 kg of the precious metal selling at Rs 73,000.

The price of 22-carat gold also dipped by Rs 250, with the yellow metal selling at Rs 54,700.

Air India on Thursday unveiled a new brand identity and aircraft livery as the airline moves ahead with its transformation plan since being taken over by Tata Group more than one-and-a-half years ago.

The new look re-imagines the iconic Indian window shape, historically used by Air India, into a gold window frame that becomes central to the new brand design system. It symbolises a 'Window of Possibilities', according to a release.

Ahead of the Rajasthan assembly election, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced plans to raise the other backward classes (OBC) quota to 27 per cent from 21 per cent. This will be a six percentage point increase in the reservation category and, if enacted, could bring the overall reservation in Rajasthan from 64 per cent to 70 per cent, according to a report by the Times of India.

The announcement was made during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's rally in Banswara, Rajasthan, on Wednesday.

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