Future Retail (FRL) on Thursday told the Delhi HC that it intends to proceed with the Rs 24,713-crore deal to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries and is seeking approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for demerger. Senior counsel Darius Khambata, on behalf of Future Group, told HC, “if the transaction doesn’t go through, I (FRL) will collapse.”

Marico Ltd aims a revenue of ₹100 cr from its Saffola brand honey by next year, benefitting from the recent claims around the purity of its product. Saffola honey was launched in June 2020, at a time of rising demand for health and immunity-building products. They have already reached close to double-digit market share in modern trade chains and crossed 20% market share in e-commerce in honey.

General Motors stated on Thursday it is planning to sell all its new cars, SUVs and light pickup trucks with zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a dramatic shift by the automaker away from gasoline & diesel engines. GM plans to become carbon neutral by 2040. GM sold 2.55 million vehicles in the US last year, but only about 20,000 were EVs. They will invest $27 billion in electric and autonomous cars.

Sun Pharma is on January 29 expected to report a healthy YoY rise in profit and revenue for theQ3 of FY 2020-21. The company's EBITDA margin might remain stable or may even increase YoY but it may show a QoQ decline as partial cost-saving measures implemented during the lockdown unwind. Motilal Oswal expects a 65.7% YoY rise in adjusted net profit and a 7.3% YoY in revenue for the quarter.

Analysts are focusing on Dr Reddy's figures, updates on niche ANDA filings and future launches while forecasting Q3 earnings. Kotak Institutional Equities expects the company's US business to increase by $8 million QoQ to $255 million, led by the launch of Kuvan. They also predicted 23% YoY growth in India driven by the full quarter impact of Wockhardt portfolio &COVID-19 portfolio contribution.

Tech Mahindra is expected to report subdued Q3 earnings on January 29. Analysts will keep a close watch on the numbers and the management's commentary on deal wins and outlook on communications and enterprise segments. Brokerage firm Nirmal Bang expects the company's margins to improve further in Q3FY21. They forecasted a 1.2% YoY fall in revenue, while PAT may rise 12.4% YoY.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday opined that Saudi Aramco will sell more shares as part of plans to bolster the country's main sovereign wealth fund. Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, completed the world's largest initial public offering in late 2019, raising $25.6 billion and later selling more shares to raise the total to $29.4 billion.

Tata Motors Ltd is expected to post double-digit growth in consolidated revenues and operating profit for the Q3 due to increase in Jaguar Land Rover sales in major markets like China. A swift turnaround in the passenger vehicle business in India and gradual improvement in demand for commercial vehicles will also play a crucial role in reducing losses of India (standalone) business.

Shriram Transport Finance Company on Thursday reported a 17% decline in net profit at Rs 727.72 crore for December quarter 2020-21 as it made additional provisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The key net interest income rose to Rs 2,148.22 crore from Rs 2,113.75 crore in the same period of the previous year. The company made an additional expected credit loss provision of Rs 224.82 crore.

IT firm Coforge Ltd on Thursday posted a 1.1% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 122 crore for the December quarter. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 123.3 crore in the year-ago period. However, its consolidated revenue from operations rose 10.9% to Rs 1,190.6 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 1,073.4 crore in the year-ago period.

Tata Chemicals on Thursday posted a 3.66% decline in consolidated PAT at Rs 160.85 crore for the Q3 ended December 2020. The company's PAT stood at Rs 166.97 crore during the corresponding period of 2019-20, Tata Chemicals confirmed in a statement. Income from operations on a consolidated basis dipped 0.7% to Rs 2,606 crore as compared to Rs 2,623 crore.

AU Small Finance Bank on Thursday announced more than 2.5 times jump in its net profit to Rs 479 crore for the third quarter ended December 2020. The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 190 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. The total net income during the October-December 2020 period also jumped 94% to Rs 1,297 crore from Rs 668 crore a year ago.

WhatsApp on January 28, clarified that WhatsApp's UPI-based payments service is subject to a separate WhatsApp India Payments Privacy Policy, which is not impacted by the terms of service for the messaging app. The WhatsApp India Payments Privacy Policy will supersede the messaging giant’s new privacy policy in any case of conflict between the two with regards to UPI payments.

Indus Towers Ltd on Thursday announced a 2% YoY rise in its December quarter consolidated profit to ₹1,360 crore. Consolidated revenue from operations increased 5% from a year ago to ₹6,736 crore for the three months ended 31 December. The company’s financial position has not been impacted by covid-led disruptions as telecom services were declared as essential service.

KEC International reported 7.03% growth in total revenues for the Q3 on a consolidated basis at Rs3,289.23cr. KEC deals in EPC contracts for the infrastructure space with a focus on power. Since power investments have been tepid in the last few quarters, the growth has been missing. COVID has also had an impact on projects. The consolidated PAT for the Dec-20 quarter was almost flat at Rs145.07cr.