NEW DELHI: Ashok Leyland is looking at investing Rs 400-500 crore in its electric vehicle business over the next three to five years. Managing director Vinod Dasari told ETthat the commercial vehicle manufacturer, the flagship firm of the Hinduja Group, aims to be future ready. At the same time, he said, the government needs to step up investments in electric vehicle technology to help bring down battery costs and encourage adoption of green mobility solutions.

“We are preparing ourselves for the electric vehicle movement that is going to happen over the next five to 10 years… it’s a question of survival… so (we will invest) at least Rs 400-500 crore over the next three to five years,” Dasari said. He said manufacturers cannot coerce consumers to purchase electric vehicles, and that demand for electric vehicles will take off only when electric vehicles start making economic sense for the buyer.

Automaker Maruti Suzuki reported 3.4 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 2,484 crore for the quarter ending September as against Rs 2,401 crore in the same period a year ago.

Net sales rose 7 per cent to Rs 21,438 crore as against Rs 20,048.6 crore a year ago, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Friday reported its September quarter net profit at Rs 3,696 crore with 18 per cent rise on the back of higher fuel sales. The company said in the BSE filing that September quarter revenue from operations increased 10 per cent and was at Rs 1.11 lakh crore versus Rs 1 lakh crore last year.

The average gross refining margin was at $6.08 per barrel for the April-Sept period.

Country's biggest cigarette maker ITC Ltd reported almost 6% rise in net profit at Rs 2,640 cr for the September quarter as against Rs 2,500 crore in year-ago period, helped by lower costs.

Total income during the quarter under review was Rs 10,258.13 crore as against Rs 14,091.96 crore in the year-ago period.

Private lender ICICI Bank saw a 34 per cent year-on-year decline in net profit for the September quarter but saw slight improvement in asset quality sequentially.

Standalone net profit was Rs 2,058 crore for the quarter ended September 2017 as against Rs 3,102 crore in the year ago period.

BENGALURU: Infosys has standardised its severance pay for top executives. For senior vice- presidents (SVPs) and executive vice-presidents (EVPs), it will be four months of their fixed salary. Severance pay had become a major bone of contention within the company over the past two years when seemingly arbitrary amounts were paid to former CFO Rajiv Bansal and former general counsel David Kennedy . Bansal was granted Rs 17 crore, while Kennedy , who was in the company for just two years, received $868,250 (about Rs 5.9 crore when he quit in January).

NEW DELHI: Equity investors continued with their strong run as Sensex and Nifty extended their gains in Friday's early trade.

30-share BSE Sensex opened with a jump of 81.19 points on 33,228.32 while the broader 50-share NSE Nifty started trading on 10,362.30, up by 18.50 points.

Bengaluru: Amazon India chief Amit Agarwal said on Thursday that the online retailer plans to double down on its investments in India, especially in key areas such as digital payments and the Prime membership programme.

Agarwal also reiterated the e-commerce firm’s earlier claim that it was the largest online retailer in India and dismissed research reports that the company had lagged arch-rival Flipkart during the Diwali season sale.

L&T Finance Holdings on Thursday reported a 45.22% rise in its second quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 360.24 crore compared to the same period last year.This growth has been achieved after taking accelerated credit cost of Rs 277 crore in order to further strengthen the portfolio, the company said in a statement. Income from operations rose 14.19% on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter to Rs 2,383.82 crore. Total income rose by 16.49% to Rs 2,494.72 crore.The Average Assets under Management (AAUM) in the Investment Management business increased by 61% to Rs 52,749 crore.

HYDERABAD: Airport developer and operator GMR, and its equity partner Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, are looking at setting up investment funds for their next phase of global expansion.

While the size of Malaysia Airports' investment fund would be around $1.5 billion, GMR is yet to announce the size of its fund.

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