FMCG firm Jyothy Laboratories Ltd on Wednesday reported a fall of mote than 57 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31.

The maker of popular fabric whitener Ujala reported that its consolidated net profit during the January-March quarter fell 57.70 per cent to Rs 11.81 crore, from Rs 27.92 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Consolidated net sales of the company jumped 24 per cent to Rs 272.51 crore in the fourth fiscal quarter, from Rs 219.35 in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

After suffering a decline of 6 per cent on Wednesday, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) shares suffered another decline of 3 per cent at Rs 1,470 apiece in the morning trading on Thursday on the Bombay stock Exchange (BSE), due to worse-than-expected Q4 results.

L&T, India's biggest engineering and construction firm, on Wednesday reported a year-on-year decline of 6.9 per cent in net profit at Rs 1,788 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.

According to a new study, the industries located in the Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) has been forced to cut their production by 25 per cent due to unreliable power supply.

A study by Assocham has found that unscheduled power supply in Delhi-NCR is expected to impact small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in the area. Assocham said that power cuts will force industrial units in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad to cur production by up to 40 to 45 per cent mainly in the manufacturing units.

Indian real estate major, Puravankara Projects Ltd has said that it has fixed the floor price of Rs. 80 for the proposed issuance of equity shares through the institutional placement programme (IPP).

The shares of major oil marketing firms in the country fell today following indications that the government has given in-principle approval to plans for the adoption of export parity pricing model for petroleum products.

India's biggest engineering and construction company, Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) has recorded a disappointing 6.9 per cent fall in profits to 17.88 billion rupees during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2012-2013.

Utah-based, drilling services provider Boart Longyear, which is listed in Australia, has been forced to cut more than 1000 jobs worldwide since the beginning of the year due to lower demand for its services.

Indian two wheeler giants, Bajaj Auto has planning a host of new launches in the Indian two wheeler industry during the coming 12 months to take on rivals like Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India.

Bajaj recently lost its number two position in the Indian market to Honda and thus the company is aiming to launch 2 new Pulsar, and 6 new Discover variants during the next 12 months to increase the competition and regain their No 2 position in the country. The company is planning to expand its presence both in the Indian market as well as in foreign markets with the 8 new models planned.

Birla Corporation has recorded an increase of 26.40 per cent in net profits to Rs. 72.63 crore during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2012-2013.

The company had recorded a net profit of Rs. 57.46 crore during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2011-2012. The company said that its sales rose 2.42 per cent to Rs. 665.75 crore during the quarter from January to March, 2013 compared to Rs. 650.02 crore during the fourth quarter of the previous financial year 2011-2012.

Chennai-based, India Cements has said that its net profit has fallen by a disappointing 60 per cent during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2012-2013 mainly due to rising input costs.

India's Essar Oil Ltd is on the verge of signing a $1 billion financing co-operation deal with China Development Bank Corp (CDBC) and PetroChina International, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Sources said that the $1 billion financing agreement could be signed between the two sides on Tuesday during China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang's first official visit to Mumbai.

India's biggest cigarette maker, ITC has said that its net profit has risen 19.5 per cent to Rs. 1,928 crore during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2012-2013.

The company, which has a strong presence in the FMCG market and hostel industry in India, had recorded a net profit of Rs. 1,614 crore during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2011-2012. The company's cigarettes business has been growing strong over the years and some analysts believe that the company will be able to maintain 16-18 per cent operating growth in business.

Staffing services major TeamLease has said that the salaries are expected to increase 12 per cent across industries and functions this year.

The company also said that there will be an increase in the hiring activity in the coming few months. The TeamLease' Salary Primer for 2013, showed that the hiring activity and the salaries across sectors are expected to rise in the coming months.

Hector Beverages Pvt. Ltd, the maker of the popular Tzinga Energy Drink, has been able to raise about $8 million from Sequoia Capital and others existing investors including Catamaran Ventures and Footprint Ventures.

The company has said that it will use the raised funds mainly for marketing and expansion of production capacity, it said in a statement. Tzinga Energy Drink has emerged as leading energy drink in several markets in the country and the additional funds will allow the company to consolidate its position and penetrate deeper into the Indian market to boost its presence across markets.

In order to further enhance trade relations with Japan, India on Friday urged Japan to make more investments in its infrastructure, electronic hardware and other sectors.

Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma invited Japanese companies to explore more business opportunities in India and enjoy benefits of mutual growth.

Mr. Sharma is on an official visit to Japan to participate in India Investment Roundtable meeting, organised by the commerce ministry and industry body CII.

Global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) on Friday reiterated its negative outlook on India's credit rating, dealing a tough blow to the government which had recently pitched for an upgrade.

S&P maintained the country's sovereign credit rating at BBB minus (BBB-) and A-3 for long term and short term, respectively. The country's credit outlook, which has long been the government's biggest concern, is still negative, merely one notch above the so-called `junk' status.

Tokyo, May 17 : India and Japan Friday agreed to further strengthen investment and trade ties by ensuring faster implementation of ongoing projects.

Both the countries have agreed to support planned initiatives and projects in this year designed for strengthening business partnership to be organized by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a joint statement by Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu said here Friday.

India's leading carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has asked the government of India to work to exclude the auto sector in the country from the preview of the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and European Union (EU).

Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited has said that its total turn-over has risen 18 per cent to Rs. 6,253 crore during the financial year 2012-13.

The company also said that its net profit fell to Rs. 518 crore during the financial year compared to Rs. 758 crore recorded in the previous financial year 2011-2012. The board of the company had announced 100 per cent dividend and the company has also increased the pay-out ratio of 18 per cent compared to pay-out ratio of 8 per cent in the previous year.

Singapore, May 17 : Singapore's non-oil domestic exports, a key gauge of the trade hub's export performance, fell by 1 percent year-on-year in April, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said Friday.

It followed a year-on-year contraction of 4.8 percent in the previous month, exceeding market expectations, reported Xinhua.

The agency said the contraction was largely due to a drop in electronic exports, which contracted by 9 percent in April, however, it represents an improvement from the previous month's 17.9 percent decline.