Bengaluru: Infosys Ltd’s chief executive officer Vishal Sikka has hired two more of his former colleagues at German software firm SAP SE and tasked one of them with building a team out of Palo Alto to develop high-performance computing platforms, new products and enterprise solutions.

The move shows that India’s second-largest software services company is using the Silicon Valley base as the nerve centre of its efforts to transform itself into a next-generation services company.

The top ten stock picks of India's equity mutual fund managers underwent a sharp re-shuffle in 2014-15. MF managers not only changed their preferences for stocks but also ousted three heavyweight counters from their top holdings during the year, reducing concentration of equity assets in these stocks by around 440 basis points.

Sectoral giants - FMCG major ITC, largest software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) - were all out from the top picks.

Indian economy to grow at 7.3% in 2015: Moody’s Indian economy is expected to grow marginally higher at 7.3 per cent during the year compared with 7.2 per cent in 2014 and interest rate cuts will buttress private sector spending, said a group company of global rating agency Moody’s.

“Our tracking model suggests that first quarter GDP growth is tracking around 7.3 per cent, a slowdown from prior quarters. But we expect this softness will prove temporary with improving domestic demand to help India’s GDP grow 7.3 per cent for all of 2015,” Moody’s Analytics said in a study.

NSE Nifty fell for a third consecutive session on Friday, heading towards its lowest close in two weeks as IT exporters declined on concerns over fourth-quarter earnings after bellwether Tata Consultancy Services’ results failed to cheer investors.

Money managers worry slowdown seen by India’s largest software services exporter could be an indicator of an industry-wide trend and marks a weak start to the January-March earnings season.

NEW DELHI: Reliance Communicationsis looking to raise funds via an overseas bond issue to pay nearly Rs 1100 crore ($173 million) to the government as upfront payment for the airwaves it bought in the recent auctions, apart from capex needs.

Fitch Ratings has assigned RCom's (BB-/Stable) proposed senior secured notes an expected rating of 'BB-(EXP), the ratings agency said in a statement on Friday.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, India's largest maker of sport-utility vehicles, is in the final stages of negotiations to buy Italian auto-design firm Pininfarina SpA, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mahindra may reach an agreement to purchase the company that has designed some of the most iconic Ferrari sports cars as early as next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. Representatives for Mahindra and Pininfarina declined to comment.

Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries is trading 1.5% higher in early deals as the street expects record profits from the oil major on the back of higher gross refining margins.

Analysts expect the gross refining margin to be in the range of $9.5-10 per barrel against $7.3 per barrel in Oct-Dec 2014 quarter and $9.3 per barrel in Jan-March 2014 quarter. The gross refining margin is earnings from turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel.

Not long ago, Microsoft was the scourge of European antitrust regulators.

It was fined not once, not twice, not thrice but four times. Finally, after Microsoft paid more than $3 billion, Europe left it alone.

State-owned carrier Air India's operating losses may climb slightly in 2014-15, and it is likely to see a steep decline in its earnings, sources said.

The airline has been struggling to turn profitable for years and has posted continuous operating losses. However, the losses have been reducing, from Rs 5,140 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 3,807 crore in 2012-13 and Rs 2,123 crore in 2013-14.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)’ earnings for the quarter ended March this year were hit by a one-time bonus payment, currency headwinds and weakness in verticals such as telecom, energy and insurance.

According to International Financial Reporting Standards figures, the company reported a net profit of Rs 3,858 crore for the March quarter, down 27 per cent on an annual basis and 29 per cent in sequential terms. If the cumulative bonus payout of Rs 2,628 crore to employees isn’t factored in, profit for the quarter stands at Rs 5,905.9 crore, growth of 11.5 per cent annually and 8.5 per cent sequentially.

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