The shares of Ashok Leyland rallied more than 5.5% and closed at Rs 113 on the back of healthy sales numbers posted by the company for the month of August. The shares touched Rs 113.25 in the intraday trade; marginally short of the 52-week high at Rs 114.35 which the company had earlier touched on the 8th of August on NSE.

Yesterday, the company reported a 25 per cent growth in total sales during August at 13,634 units, as against 10,897 units a year ago. The numbers include both medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) and light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

The Advisory Committee on Mutual Funds appointed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which is scheduled to meet on Friday, is planning to list a slew of recommendations before the regulator. Senior officials in the mutual fund industry say that the committee might recommend measures such as the merger of schemes, adoption of total return index (TRI) and an increasing amount of investor awareness campaign for Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).

Shares of the two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto gained over 3% on Friday after the company reported a 3% rise in the sales for the month of August. The automaker posted an increase of 2.98% in the total sales to 3,35,031 units for the month of August 2017 versus 3,25,347 units in the August 2016. The stock of Bajaj Auto rose as much as 3.9% to the day’s high of Rs 2,918.1 on BSE today. Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex was trading 141 points or 0.45% higher at 31,871.83 points.

While Infosys recovers from the deep wounds inflicted on it in the battle of values between its promoters and its former management and board members, the fight is still far from over; only it seems to be moving away from the company and turning into a personal clash between founder Narayana Murthy and former Chairman R Seshasayee.

Seshasayee, who resigned as the Chairman of the board of India’s second-largest information technology services firm earlier last month upon the return of Nandan Nilekani — one of the original founders — to the company, released a statement today hitting back at Narayana Murthy.

State Bank of India (SBI) has enabled a chatbot to field queries on the bank’s retail products from visitors to its website. Named SBI Intelligent Assistant (SIA), the bot responds to customer inquiries on home loans, education loans, car loans, personal loans, recurring deposits and term deposits. Chatbots are digital robots that can carry on a conversation through audio or text. Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, deputy MD and chief information officer at SBI, told FE that the decision to introduce a chatbot was taken as it was felt that navigating the website could be a bit of a task for a customer.

Sales of mopeds from the only manufacturer in the country — TVS Motors — has witnessed a decline since March 2017 on a year-on-year basis leading to the sharpest fall in July when it declined by a huge 19.20% to 60,589 units. During the April-June quarter of FY18, moped sales declined by 10.91% at 193,493 units against 217,201 units in the same period a year ago. However, in FY17, total domestic sales of mopeds at 890,367 units was higher than that of scooters which was at 826,291 units. According to Abdul Majeed, Partner PwC, consumers’ preferences are changing from mopeds to other two-wheelers.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Friday said it is expecting to garner about Rs 527 crore of additional annual revenue with revisions in sizing, loading charges and additional charges for supply of slack and steam coal.

“Coal India Ltd in its 346th Board meeting held on August 31, 2017, approved the revision in sizing charges, rapid loading silo (RLS) charges, revision in additional charges for supply of slack and steam coal,” the miner said in a regulatory filing.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki IndiaBSE 1.53 % Limited (MSIL) on Thursday reported 26.2% increase in domestic wholesales at 151270 units for August as the company stocked dealerships anticipating festive demand.

The company had sold 119906 units in the corresponding period of the last financial year.

Zakir Musa, a former Hizbul Mujahideen commander and the head of a newly created al-Qaeda's Kashmir cell Ansar Ghazwat-Ul-Hind on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot stop them and they will hoist a flag of Islam on the Indian subcontinent.

In a 10-minute audio message released on YouTube channel Ansar Ghazwa, Zakir Musa also threatened to 'liberate' India from the rule of 'cow-worshipping' PM Modi and Hindus, reported Times of India.

The Blue Whale Challenge has claimed its first victim in Tamil Nadu in a 19-year-old college student, who hanged himself at his house, police said today.

Vigesh in a suicide note said "the game was a devastating one... Once you enter it, you would not be able to come out", they said.

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