According to the latest figures released, the total car sales fell for the sixth month in a row in the month of April as customers faced increasing fuel prices and high cost of financing.

The numbers released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed that the car sales fell 10.43 per cent during the fairst month of the current financial year 2013-2014 compared to the same month of the previous year. The overall data also showed that overall passenger vehicles fell 8.21 per cent during the month. The industry body said that this might be the longest fall in car sales in the country.

Indian broadcasting giant, NDTV Group has recorded a net profit of Rs. 2 crore during the financial year 2012-2013 after reporting losses in the previous two financial years.

J Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has urged the union government to withdraw the latest hike in the prices of diesel in the country.

She claimed that the hike in diesel price is unfair as the prices of crude oil in the international market have actually fallen in recent days. She pointed out that since the central government decontrolled the prices of fuel allowing oil firms to set prices based on international prices, the diesel prices have been increased thrice by 45 paise and for the fourth time on Friday by 90 paisa.

The benchmark Sensex Index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has fallen 40 points during a special two-hour trading session as investors looked to invest in large firms in healthcare and metal sectors.

On Friday, diversified conglomerate Piramal Enterprises announced that it has struck a Rs 1,652 crore deal with Shriram Transport Finance Company Limited, to acquire a 10 percent equity stake in company which is part of the $9-billion Shriram Group. Piramal acquired the equity stake from US-based private equity major TPG in an open market transaction.

Reporting its fourth quarter results on Friday, Essar Oil said that its net profit during the quarter was Rs 200 crore, which marked a noteworthy improvement over a Rs 608 crore loss which the company reported in the same quarter last year. However, for the year ending 2012-2013, the annual profits of Essar continued to be in red, with the company posting an annual loss of Rs 1,180 crore.

In an evident attempt to provide clarity on regulations pertaining to retail FDI, department of industry policy and promotion (DIPP) will be issuing a set of clarifications so as to address the concerns related to foreign investment in multi-brand retail. As per a DIPP official, the advisory is likely to be issued by the department in the next few days.

In a Friday verdict, the Supreme Court invalidated an Orissa High Court order which had annulled the State government's January 2009 recommendations in favour of granting an iron ore mining licence to South Korean steelmaker Posco.

The decision by the Supreme Court may pave the way for Posco to get the necessary go-ahead for a much-awaited preferential access to iron ore for the $12 billion project which the company has planned in Orissa.

The World Gold Council (WGC) has said that it has tied with India Post and Reliance Money to offer a 7 per cent discount on different denominations of gold coins in the country during the festive season of Akshaya Tritiya.

World's fourth-largest steel producer, POSCO of South Korea has said that it welcomes the latest order by the Supreme Court of India, in which it said that the government will decide on giving preferential access to iron ore to the company.

Masayoshi Son, the Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Corp has said that rival bidder, Dish Network Corp would be a poor match for telecom major, Sprint Nextel Corp.

"It doesn't help to bring a football player to a baseball team. There's no synergy between satellite and mobile," Son said.

Dairy farmers in the US are facing increasingly difficult business conditions and finding it hard to sustain operations due to rising costs and falling prices.

The business condition for dairy farmers in South Dakota have become very difficult following the fall in prices of milk during the recession of 2008-2009 at a time when the costs for livestock feed increased in the country. This has made it difficult for the firmest to sustain operations and they have been losing earnings.

Japanese automaker, Nissan has recorded an increase of 2.3 per cent in its global revenues to 9.6 trillion during the year.

The company also said that its total net income rose marginally by 0.3 per cent to 342.45 billion yen or about $3.4 billion during the year. Nissan, which is partly owned by France's Renault, has said that it is expecting its net profit to rise 23 per cent to 420 billion yen during the current financial year.

According to the latest data released, the total imports into Germany grew faster than exports from the country during the month of March.

Latest data from the country's statistics office Destatis showed that the total exports rose 0.5 per cent in March while imports increased 0.8 per cent during the month. The largest economy in the

Eurozone and the wider European Union had recorded a fall of 1.2 per cent in exports and a rise of 3.9 per cent in imports in the month of February.

Electronics giant, Panasonic has said on Friday that it has recorded a net loss of 754.25 billion yen or $7.5 billion during the financial year till March, 2013.

The company had recorded a disappointing net loss of 772.17 billion yen in the previous financial year. It is the one of the worst financial performance recorded by the Japanese company ever.

Panasonic said that the electronics industry in Japan is facing a slowdown due to low demand for flat-panel TVs.

Two key investors, Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management have proposed an alternative deal for Dell that would allow the shareholder to continue to hold their shares in the company.

The two investors have written a letter to the Board of directors of Dell proposing to allow Dell shareholders to keep holding stock in the company and take additional US$12 a share in cash or stock. Icahn and South-eastern, both of which hold a significant stake in the company, had proposed their alternative plan in the month of March.

World's largest steel company, ArcelorMittal has said on Friday that it has recorded a loss of $345 million during the first quarter of the year from January to March, 2013.

The company believes that the earnings fell from the $92 million profit recorded in the same period of the previous year as demand for steel remained at low levels due to the effects of the global economic slowdown. The company also said that its sales fell 13 per cent to $19.8 billion during the first quarter of the year compared to the January to March quarter of 2012.

The Japanese Yen has fallen to its lowest level against the US dollar in the international currency markets on Friday following strong steps by the Japanese authorities to boost the economic growth in the world's third largest economy.

Strong jobs data in the US addressed concerns that the US economy might be slipping back to recession. The Japanese currency fell to 101.20 against the US dollar at a time when the finance ministers and central banker chiefs of G7 countries gathered for a two-day meeting near London. Many expect the currency fluctuation to be a part of the agenda at the gathering.

India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Thursday issued a request for proposal (RFP) to foreign aerospace companies, inviting tenders for co-producing transport aircrafts.

It is the first time when Indian defence ministry has invited tenders from private companies for a manufacturing deal. Thus far, government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) had been enjoying full monopoly over such deals.

Bangalore-based software services provider Wipro has announced that capital market regulator SEBI has approved its proposal to meet the minimum public shareholding requirement of 25 per cent through a transfer of shares to a trust for supporting philanthropy.

Promoters owned 78.28 per cent in Wipro as of March 31 this year, but under SEBI norms a privately promoted company must have a public shareholding of 25 per cent by June 2013.