While core competence is a virtue that most investors cherish, diversification is one that can be useful, too. ITC Ltd’s consumer products business could be a case in point as its flagship cigarettes business is suffering from a punishing increase in taxes and harsh regulatory oversight. News of ITC’s plan to set up 20 new factories to make consumer products could be a sign of a bigger push.

Sharp annual price hikes in cigarettes have hurt sales growth, but cigarette margins are protected. In FY15, for example, annualized sales of cigarettes rose by 8.6%, but profit rose by 14.8%. That may seem good, but not for a business where sales have increased at a compounded rate of 15.4% between FY09-14 and profit by 18.7%. Though ITC’s segment profit margin is still an eye watering 67.4%, it is not pulling as much weight as it did earlier.

In line with an overall weak trend in equities, the combined market valuation of top nine Sensex companies dropped sharply by Rs 83,209 crore last week, with IT major TCS taking the biggest hit.

Barring Coal India, the rest of nine companies suffered erosion in their market capitalisation (m-cap) for the week ended Friday (March 13, 2015).

Oscar-winning Australian actress Nicole Kidman has been appointed as the global brand ambassador of Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways’ new campaign.

On the new TV commercial, the 47-year-old Hollywood beauty is both the star and narrator of the feature, which will be shown on global TV stations and social media.

Korean carmaker Hyundai is all set to join the bandwagon of crossovers with the launch of i20 Active. The car has been in news for quite sometime and will be launching on March 17th, 2015.

Hyundai is the second largest automaker in India and has a good hold in the market, so to keep pace with the competition, it decided to launch the crossover version of its already successful hatchback – Hyundai i20 Active will compete with Toyota Etios Cross, Volkswagen Cross Polo and Fiat Avventura.

Buoyed by recovery in the medium and heavy segments and an uptick in the economy, Tata Motors expects about 10-15 per cent growth in its commercial vehicles sales during next fiscal.

With the Budget spelling out measures to boost infrastructure development, the company hopes that even the light commercial vehicles would return to growth path after a prolonged sales slump.

The government is examining CAG allegations of irregularities in ONGC hiring a deep sea drilling rig from Reliance Industries and will take appropriate action, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had in September 2012, stated that Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) "deviated from the standard tendering procedure and hired a rig viz Dhirubhai Deepwater KG-1 (DDKG-1) from RIL without calling for competitive bids for a period of four years on untenable grounds".

Wipro, India’s third largest IT services company, on Monday announced the appointment of Abid Ali Neemuchwala as Group President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), with effect from 1 April, 2015.

In his previous assignment, Neemuchwala headed business process outsourcing (BPO) services for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) where he spent over 23 years of his career.

IT solutions service provider L&T Infotech has received a $10 million contract from state-run Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) to integrate its business functions.

"L&T Infotech, a global provider of information technology services and solutions, has been awarded a contract worth USD 10 million to integrate the business functions of Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL)," the company said in a release today.

Quashing of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)'s order against DLF, which banned the property giant from accessing the capital market, has opened new avenues for raising funds and reducing of its debt.

With the ban applicable from October 13, 2014, and now reduced to six months, the company will be able to access the markets shortly, in about a month. Analysts at Axis Capital say over the next two years, DLF's balance sheet could be strengthened considerably through equity raising, monetisation of commercial assets (REIT or real estate investment trust listing), issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities and stake sale in select projects.

Infosys, the country’s second largest information technology (IT) services company, has donated £250,000 (Rs 2.3 crore) towards the statue of Mahatma Gandhi unveiled in London’s Parliament Square on Saturday.

According to the Trust’s website, Infosys’ donation is the highest so far.

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