L&T Finance Holdings (LTFH) reported a strong PAT of Rs 3.6 billion, up 45.2 % y-o-y, primarily on a lower tax outgo. Loan book growth was healthy at 19% y-o-y. Headline asset quality was largely stable with GNPAs at 5.8% and NNPAs flat q-o-q at 3.3 % along with comfortable PCR of 43%. LTFH’s RoE has been steadily increasing from 9.8% in Q1FY17 to 15.2% in Q2FY18 led by growth in focused business, run-down of non-core book with minimal hit to the P&L, improvement in fees and control on expenses.

The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) slashed benchmark lending rate by 0.05 per cent across maturities. The reduction in marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) came after a gap of almost 10 months. The bank had last cut the rate on January 1. The move by the SBI will trigger rate cut by other lenders. With the reduction, the MCLR for one year has come down to 7.95 per cent from 8 per cent, SBI website said.

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday reported 9.3% increase in wholesale at 135128 units for October.

The company had sold 123684 vehicles in the domestic market in the year-ago period.

Three top government functionaries are upset with tech giant Infosys over the glitches in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, reported the Economic Times.

According to the newspaper, the government officials had expressed their disappointment over Infosys' work that according to them led to various extension of deadlines for filing returns.

Key indices kicked off Wednesday's early trade with record highs after India's performance on World Bank's 'ease of doing business' list. The country has risen from 130th to 100th this year, helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 209.28 points or 0.63 percent at 33,422.41 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 61.20 points or 0.59 percent to 10,396.50.

ICICI Bank surged 6% to Rs 317, hitting 33-month high on the BSE in intra-day trade, set to join the elite league of corporate entities with a market value of over Rs 2 lakh crore on closing levels. The stock of private sector lender is trading at its highest level since March 3, 2015.

ICICI Bank with the market capitalisation (market-cap) of Rs 201,178 crore is at number 13th position in overall market-cap ranking, the BSE data shows. At 10:47 AM; the stock was trading 5% higher at Rs 314, as compared to 1% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

TOKYO: More than 200 people are feared to have died when a tunnel caved in at North Korea's nuclear test site after its latest detonation, a Japanese news report said on Tuesday.

A tunnel collapsed at Punggye-ri in early September, days after North Korea conducted its sixth and largest underground nuclear test on September 3, TV Asahi said, quoting unnamed North Korean sources.

New Delhi: Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) is likely to acquire Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in a share-swap deal to become India’s second-largest oil refiner. The merger is likely to take place after ONGC, country’s biggest oil and gas explorer, completes acquisition of HPCL in an all-cash deal by December or January, officials in know of the development said.

MRPL is a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC). At present, ONGC owns 71.63% stake in MRPL while HPCL has 16.96%. Once ONGC acquires 51.11% stake in HPCL, India’s third-largest refiner, for about Rs35,000 crore, it will have two refinery subsidiaries - HPCL and MRPL.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) is likely to acquire Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) in a share-swap deal to become India’s second-largest oil refiner. The merger is likely to take place after ONGC, country’s biggest oil and gas explorer, completes acquisition of HPCL in an all-cash deal by December or January, officials in know of the development said. MRPL is a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). At present, ONGC owns 71.63 per cent stake in MRPL while HPCL has 16.96 per cent.

Markets regulator Sebi has sought clarifications from merchant bankers of 10 firms, including Lemon Tree Hotels and CMS Info Systems, regarding their proposed initial public offers (IPOs). Together, these companies are estimated to raise more than Rs 6,000 crore, according to merchant banking sources. The other companies are ACME Solar Holding, H G Infra Engineering, Apollo Micro Systems, Prince Pipes and Fittings, Newgen Software Technologies, Seven Island Shipping, Karda Constructions and Amber Enterprises, according to the latest update by Sebi. Without disclosing details of clarifications sought, Sebi has said “clarifications (are) awaited from lead manager(s)” for the proposed public issues.

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