The Pentagon has awarded Microsoft a USD 10 billion cloud computing contract called JEDI. The contentious bidding process for the contract pitted Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle, among others, against one another. Bidding for the huge government contract has attracted more attention than usual, sparked by speculation early in the process that Amazon would be awarded the deal. Tech giants Oracle and IBM pushed back with their own bids.

Reliance Industries (RIL) on Friday announced a structure to make Reliance Jio (RJIL) debt-free, which is seen as a move to pave the way for a likely listing of its telecom business. As part of it, the company intends to transfer its telecom business and other digital initiatives to a wholly-owned subsidiary.

In the new scheme, RJIL’s debt will move to RIL. RJIL’s board approved an arrangement between RJIL and certain classes of its creditors, including debenture holders, for transferring identified liabilities of up to Rs 1.08 trillion to RIL.

Jeff Bezos retained the title of world’s richest person Friday as Amazon.com Inc.’s stock recovered from a sharp slide. Shares of the biggest online retailer fell 1.1% to close at $1,761.33, rebounding from a drop of as much as 9.1% in extended trading a day earlier, after the company reported its first profit decline in two years. Friday’s modest dip trimmed Bezos’s net worth to $109.9 billion, or $2.36 billion more than Bill Gates’s, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Mahindra Two Wheelers Europe, a Mahindra subsidiary, is set to seek full control of Peugeot Motorcycles (PMTC) for an undisclosed amount, the company said in a notification to the exchanges.

The move, it said, "reaffirms the commitment" of the group to future growth of the French company. The subsidiary currently holds 51 per cent in PMTC. It entered into the collaboration with PMTC, part of Groupe PSA in January 2015.

Indian equities on Friday opened marginally higher amid mixed cues from global markets. Disappointment over state election results kept the gains in check.

At 9.25am, the benchmark Sensex rose 0.2% to 39120 points while Nifty gained 0.02% to 11584.75 points.

CHENNAI : Public sector banks (PSBs) here like the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) are planning to give festival gifts to their employees.

The two banks have announced a Diwali gift of sweets/dry fruits/chocolates for their staff worth ₹1,000.

The fortunes of financially stressed telecom incumbents worsened on Thursday as they face a massive `92,000-crore liability with the Supreme Court upholding the government’s definition of adjusted gross revenue. While the amount owed by Bharti Airtel is `21,682 crore, Vodafone Idea needs to pay Rs 28,308 crore.

PNB Housing Finance on Thursday reported a 45% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in its net profit to `366.8 crore for the quarter ended September, led by a 36% y-o-y rise in net interest income. Net interest income (NII) stood at `628.4 crore at the end of Q2FY20. Net interest margin (NIM), a key measure of profitability, stood at 3.19%, a 47 basis point increase from a year ago.

Disbursements fell to Rs 12,603.5 crore in H1FY20, compared to Rs 18,172.2 crore a year ago. While retail disbursement fell 10% y-o-y to Rs 11,748 crore, corporate fell 83% y-o-y to Rs 856 crore in H1.

Decks have been cleared for Kerala government’s Rs 1,300-crore petrochemical park project in Kochi, after the Centre’s nod for buying land from Central PSU Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT). Even as the chairman of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), one of the world’s biggest petroleum firms, came forward to invest in the proposed Kochi petro-park, there was uncertainty over the project due to dilly-dallying on the land transfer.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting hopes that the recent good monsoon would revive rural demand in the FMCG sector, which has been subdued due to factors like demonetisation, GST implementation, NBFC crisis and stressed bank assets.

Anil Chugh, chief executive of Wipro’s consumer care business, India, said their soap brand, Santoor, has a strong presence in the rural market.

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