The benchmark indices fell for a fourth straight day on Friday, on concerns over high oil prices and weakness in the rupee. The Sensex declined 0.86 per cent, or 301 points to 34,848.3, while the Nifty declined 86.3 points, or 0.81 per cent to 10,596.4. Both the indices ended the week with a decline of nearly two per cent — the most in two months. The weakness in the market comes amid Brent crude oil prices climbing to $80 a barrel and the rupee declining to 68 against the dollar.

Indian lenders will have access to Rs 70 billion deposited by ArcelorMittal in an escrow account, but only after the L N Mittal-owned company gets approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to take over Essar Steel and all pending litigation against the stressed steel asset are resolved before the acquisition.

Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Friday said there is no proposal to merge state-run telecomcompanies Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Ma hanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL). “There is no proposal to merge BSNL and MTNL. We had appointed a consultant to revive MTNL, who has given some recommendations.

Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland has posted a growth of 40 per cent in net profit at Rs 6.67 billion during the quarter ended March 31, 2018, beating the analyst estimates of around 38 per cent growth.

The net profit for the same period last year was Rs 4.76 billion, on a standalone basis. The total income grew by 23.79 per cent during the quarter, to Rs 88.30 billion as compared to Rs 71.33 billion a year ago.

NTPC Ltd, the largest power producer, is looking to minimise its stranded asset risk while accelerating the integration of renewable energy generation capacity. The strategy is a win-win situation for NTPC shareholders, the government, electricity consumers, distribution companies (discoms), and the environment, says a report by US-based Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto on Friday said its consolidated net profit increased 36.32 per cent to Rs 11.75 billion for March quarter, driven by robust sales across segments.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 8.62 billion during January-March, 2016-17.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), a maharatna PSU, aims to commission the LPG bottling unit at Balangir, its second in Odisha, by March 2020.

The new bottling unit is being built at a cost of Rs 1.03 billion. The facility is to be spread over 23 acres at Barkhani village, around 12 km from the Bolangir railway station.

Mumbai: Even when the market rose 6.65% in April, mutual funds’ top stock sales in the month in the large-cap space included software exporter Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), private lender ICICI Bank Ltd. and supermarket chain Avenue Supermarts Ltd.

Mutual funds invested a net of Rs9,435.64 crore in Indian equities in April, data from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed.

New Delhi: Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor Corp. plans to expand production capacity by as many as 2.5 million cars a year in the decade to 2030 as it lays the groundwork to maintain its dominance in India, where it sells one in two cars.

The capacity expansion, the biggest ever planned by Suzuki or its local unit in India, will be divided into two phases, two people aware of the plans said, requesting anonymity. Suzuki will first expand its Gujarat plant by adding capacity to make 750,000 cars starting 2020.

Rs 199 Jio offer impact: After billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run telecom player Reliance Jio launched a new postpaid plan at Rs 199, global brokerage firm CLSA has cut its revenue estimates for Bharti Airtel and Idea-Vodafone. According to the firm, there is risk of Jio’s latest post paid plan on the incumbents. Earlier this month, Reliance launched a new postpaid plan at Rs 199 offering 25GB of data and unlimited voice and SMS.

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