Colombo  - A journalist arrested on suspicion of helping Tamil rebels to carry out an air raid in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo was released by a court on Friday after the investigators failed to prove the allegations against him.

The editor of the Tamil daily Sudar Oli, N. Vithyatharan, who had been held by police since February 26, was accused of maintaining telephone links with the rebels who carried out a suicide attack by air in the capital on January 24.

State-run IDBI Bank on Friday has reported a 28.02 per cent growth in its net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009. The lender’s net profit rose to Rs 3.13 crore, against Rs 2.45 crore in the March quarter of FY'08.

While, lender’s total income surged 41% to Rs 37.34 crore for January-March 2008 from Rs 26.47 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

During the quarter, IDBI's interest income jumped 45 per cent to Rs 32.62 crore, while interest expenditure stood at Rs 27.80 crore, up 38 per cent over the same period last fiscal.

San Francisco  - Owners of Apple's popular iPhones have downloaded over 1 billion applications for the must-have smartphones, Apple said Friday.

The landmark download was reached just nine months after Apple launched the App Store which allows users of the iPhone to download new programs for their devices. The program has proved so popular that thousands of companies and individuals are believed to be writing applications for the phone, which Apple then distributes via the online marketplace.

Diesel-engine manufacturer Kirloskar Oil Engines has registered 36% jump in its net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009.

The company posted net profit worth Rs 49.05 crore against Rs 36.17 crore in the same quarter ended March, 2008.

However, the total operating income of the company during the quarter, stood at Rs 503.81 crore against Rs 616.61 crore in the previous fiscal.

The Godrej group has exited the pest control service business by selling its entire shareholding in Godrej HiCare to ISS a leading Denmark-based facility services company at a consideration of around Rs 100 crore.

Godrej group flagship, Godrej Industries, had a controlling stake of about 80% in Godrej HiCare, while the balance 20% being held by individuals like A Mahendran, director, Godrej HiCare.

JK Tyre & Industries, a leading automobile tyre manufacturer, sketched an investment plan worth Rs 270 crore for expanding its production capacity of off-the-road (OTR) tyres by 2011.

The company currently has 42 per cent share in the 95,000-units domestic OTR market in the country, which are used for application like mining and excavation.