Samsung Electronics has built up a formidable war chest. However, it will need to spend them now to maintain its edge of the semiconductor and consumer-electronics industries. The South Korean technology company had a strong 2020: Operating profit rose 30% year over year as the Covid-19 pandemic drove demand for memory chips, both in personal computers and data centers.

Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited signed an MoU with IIT, Bhubaneswar for the establishment of OPTCL Chair in the premier engineering institute. The partnership will not only remain confined to academic service but also help in the development of the state. This industry-institute interface will be a win-win situation for both with regards to research and development.

Small investors returned to drive shares in GameStop and other hot companies higher on Friday as online broker Robinhood eased disputed trading restrictions. Shares in the video game store chain and headphone maker Koss Corp both doubled in early deals after slumping on Thursday when several online platforms imposed buying halts, sparking a backlash from investors, celebrities and policymakers.

The RBI fixed the sovereign gold bond issue price at Rs 4,912 per gram. The central bank notified that the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2020-21 - Series XI will be open for subscription from February 1 to February 5, 2021. The nominal value of the bond based on the simple average closing price for gold of 999 purity of the last three business days of the week preceding the subscription period.

Tata Motors swung to profits after red-ink marks on its bottom line for three consecutive quarters The sales dashboards at Jaguar-Land Rover and the automaker's Indian car business reflected readings pointing to a sustained recovery. Cost initiatives also helped engineer the turnaround. Profit in the December quarter climbed 68 per cent to ₹2,941 crore, from ₹1,756 crore in the year-ago period.

Manappuram Finance on Friday posted a 16.64% YoY increase in its consolidated net profit for the third quarter of the current financial year to Rs 483.19 crore. The Kerala-based lender, also operating a home loan & microfinance wing, has reported a standalone net profit of Rs 465.29 crore for its gold loan business. The value increased by 39.28% from Rs 334 crore reported in the year-ago quarter.

Jindal Stainless (JSL) is considering finalising a plan to nearly double its Jajpur, Odisha plant capacity to two mtpa in three years with an investment of Rs 2,000-3,000 crore. “Currently, the Jajpur plant has 1.1 mtpa capacity. We will start working on the expansion sometime this year to increase the capacity to two mtpa in three years,” JSL’s MD Abhyuday Jindal opined.

Shree Cement is expected to announce more than 100% increase in its profit for the quarter ended December 2020 with strong volume growth on demand improvement post lockdown. Revenue from operations may grow in the range of 13-16%, with a 14-15% increase in volumes following demand improvement in East, North and Central regions on the resumption of infrastructure projects.

Essar Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (EOGEPL) flagged off the first-ever Compressed Coal Bed Methane (C-CBM) natural gas cascade truck to Bengal Gas first CNG station to provide green fuel to Kolkata. EOGEPL runs the Raniganj East CBM block in WB with 348 wells. The company is associated with gas gathering and compressor facilities, has about 300 km of in of infield & customer pipelines.

Blue Star announced a -9.03% growth in total revenues for the Q3-2020 on a consolidated basis at Rs1,123.89cr. The unitary products division had revenues at par with the previous year but the electro-mechanical projects and the air conditioning division saw revenues plummet by more than 20% on weak industrial demand in the quarter. The consolidated PAT for the Q3-2020 was up 82.03% at Rs35.86cr.

Atul Ltd posted -8.50% fall in total revenues for the Dec-20 quarter on a consolidated basis at Rs952.89cr. The company saw a fall in production in the life sciences chemicals business as well as the performance chemicals business. Overall industrial demand did take an impact because of the lag effect of the lockdown. The consolidated PAT for the Q3-2020 was up 12.18% at Rs190.35cr.

Chola Finance posted 10.11% growth in total revenues for the Q3-2020 on a consolidated basis at Rs2,520.48cr. Among the various verticals of the company, Vehicle Financing and loan against property saw about 10% growth on a YoY basis. The growth was much more robust at 25% on home loans, which has a much smaller share. The consolidated PAT for the Dec-20 quarter was up 5.30% at Rs409.79cr.

Credit Access Grameen reported 19.51% growth in total revenues for the Q3-2020 on a consolidated basis at Rs541.54cr. The overall interest income did grow with the size of the loan book but the problems are evident in the net gain on fair value change which has fallen sharply in the latest quarter on a YoY basis. The consolidated net loss for the Dec-20 quarter was at Rs-79.06cr.

GOI said that it will introduce a bill in the Budget session of the Parliament to make a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the RBI, the bulletin of the Lok Sabha for the Budget session showed. The bill named cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021' will be introduced in the Parliament for consideration and passing.

India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo has scotched plans to raise funds through a qualified institutional placement (QIP), opting instead to raise money through sale and leaseback (SLB) transactions and other alternative options. “There are several financing options. The ongoing deliveries of neo aircraft (A320neo and A321neo) in FY22 will bring further liquidity," IndiGo’s CFO said.