Sales at India’s top two manufacturers of passenger vehicles (PVs) fell sharply in April over the same month a year ago as the companies curtailed dispatches to dealers amid weak buyer sentiment and slowing sales.

While Maruti Suzuki’s PV sales in the domestic market dropped 19.6 per cent in April, for Hyundai the fall was 10 per cent over last year, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.

Kurubarahalli is a congested corner of India's technology capital, packed with narrow roads, alleys, heavy traffic, shops and darshinis, as small self-service eateries are called here. The area starts humming with activity as early as 7.30 am.

Among the first to arrive at the labour hub here are daily wagers seeking employment. On any working day you can see 1,000-1,500 workers waiting to be picked up for jobs, mostly as plumbers, painters, carpenters and masons.

The rupee on Thursday opened 5 paise lower at 69.61 against the US dollar amid fall in crude oil prices and subdued Asian equities. The domestic unit on Tuesday ended at 69.56, up 46 paise, mainly on account of slip in crude oil prices.

Forex markets were shut on Wednesday on account of International Labour Day.

The GST investigative arm has found Tata Starbucks guilty of profiteering to the tune of Rs 4.51 crore by not reducing prices of coffee despite a cut in the rate.

Investigation by the Directorate General of Anti Profiteering (DGAP) has revealed that Tata Starbucks, the equal joint venture between the Tata and global coffee chain Starbucks, had hiked the base price of one its coffee variant after the GST Council cut tax rates on restaurants from 18 per cent to 5 per cent with effect from November 15, 2017.

Larsen and Toubro Ltd on Tuesday formalized its stake purchase in Mindtree Ltd from Café Coffee Day (CCD) founder V.G. Siddhartha and two CCD affiliate firms for ₹3,218.32 crore and is now looking to buy at least 6% more from the open market within a week.

A 26% stake in Mindtree will entitle L&T to get a dividend income of ₹102 crore.

Reliance Industrial Investments Holdings Ltd (RIIHL), the investment arm of India’s most valuable company, plans to raise ₹13,900 crore through a rights issue of non-cumulative optionally convertible preference shares.

The funds will be used for acquisitions and to meet the group’s other funding requirements, two people aware of the development said, requesting anonymity.

Maruti Suzuki will add more petrol, hybrid and CNG models to its portfolio to compensate for the absence of diesel variants, chairman RC Bhargava said on Tuesday.

India’s biggest carmaker announced last week that it would discontinue production of diesel vehicles from April 1, 2020. Maruti believes that the relatively less expensive petrol, hybrid and CNG models will drive demand.

Kotak Mahindra Bank on Tuesday reported a 25% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in its standalone net profit at `1,407 crore in Q4FY19 on account of a higher net interest income (NII) and a fall in its provisions. The bank reported a net profit of `1,290 crore in Q4FY18.

The private-sector lender’s total income rose by 18.5% to `7,672 crore on account of a 18% rise in its NII to `3,048 crore. NII is the difference between interest earned and interest paid by a bank. Provisions fell by 44.2% y-o-y to `171.3 crore. The bank has no exposure to IL&FS and Jet Airways, said the management.

SBI Life reported higher than expected Q4 PAT at `4.6 bn (up 20.1% y-o-y), primarily on account of higher income from investments (`41.5 bn – up 476.1% y-o-y).

Value of new business (VNB) grew strong 23.7% y-o-y aided by 150 bps y-o-y increase in VNB margin to 17.7% (up 20 bps q-o-q) on rising share of protection business. Share of high-margin protection NBP (individual and group) has been consistently increasing from 5.2% in Q3FY18 to 13.4% of NBP in Q4 (up 136 bps q-o-q).

Air India pilot Arvind Kathpalia, whose flying licence was suspended in November 2018 after he failed pre-flight alcohol tests, has been appointed Regional Director (Northern Region) in the airline, said an official document Tuesday.

"Consequent to the retirement of Mr. Pankaj Kumar, Regional Director (Northern Region) after the close of the working hours of 30th April, 2019, Capt.

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