The battle for the Indian consumer was never going to be an all-American affair.

Walmart Inc.’s splashy acquisition last year of Flipkart Online Services Pvt., the homegrown e-tailer giving Amazon.com Inc. a solid run for its money, might have given the impression of a two-horse race. But as I argued (here and here), billionaire Mukesh Ambani wasn’t going to watch from the sidelines.

Top officials in the ministries of finance and corporate affairs will huddle with senior bankers on Tuesday to discuss key issues in the aftermath of the IL&FS crisis, including liquidity and challenges being faced by public sector banks (PSBs) in providing for their exposure to the debt-laden company, official sources told FE.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google was at the receiving end of a hefty fine of 50 million euros ($56.8 million) by France’s privacy regulator, which used its new powers to levy much higher penalties for the first time under European Union data protection rules.

France’s data authority CNIL said the amount of the fine was “justified by the severity of the infringements observed regarding the essential principles” of the EU’s General Data Protection Rules, or GDPR.

Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) on Monday reported a 22.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in its standalone net profit at Rs 1,291 crore for the third quarter of FY19. The profits were driven up by a good growth in the top line and also due to a write-back in provisions.

While provisions in Q3FY18 totalled `212.77 crore, in the December 2018 quarter there was a write-back of `32.3 crore.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 100 points on Tuesday after a five-session winning spree as investors cashed profits in IT, metal, banking, consumer durables, power and auto shares amid sustained foreign fund outflows.

Cues from other Asian markets were weak too.

BSNL recently announced Bharat Fiber, which is a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) internet service for its broadband customers. Taking on rivals like Jio GigaFiber and Airtel V-Fiber, the service is said to offer 35GB data per day at as low as Rs 1.1 per GB. To make sure that users can express their interest in the new service, BSNL has commenced bookings for Bharat Fiber via its online portal.

Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car manufacturer today announced the launch of its innovation program for early-stage startups in the automobile and mobility space called Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL).

The company has partnered with Gurugram-based startup accelerator GHV Accelerator to tap on innovative startups with solutions that it believes are futuristic and customer oriented.

Private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank reported 13.5 per cent rise in its third quarter (Q3) consolidated net profit on account of higher interest and fee income. The asset quality of the bank’s loan book also improved during the quarter.

Profit after tax at the consolidated level rose to Rs 1,844 crore for the quarter ended December 2018 (Q3FY19), from Rs 1,624 crore in the year-ago period (Q3FY18).

IDBI Bank Monday said insurance behemoth LIC has completed acquisition of 51 per cent controlling stake in the bank, making it the lender's majority shareholder.

"The deal, conceptualised in June 2018, is envisaged as a win-win situation for both IDBI Bank and LIC with an opportunity to create enormous value for shareholders, customers & employees of both entities through mutual synergies," IDBI Bank said in a BSE filing.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro Ltd opened over 3% lower on Monday after market regulator Securities Exchange Board of India denied the company permission for its first ever share buyback plan. However, the scrip pared all the losses and was trading 0.4% higher.

The stock had opened at ₹1,275 a share, or 3.3% lower than its Friday close. At 9.56 am, L&T was trading at ₹1,324 on the BSE, up 0.44% from its previous close. The Sensex rose 0.7% to 36,652.26 points.

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