Wipro Chairman Azim Premji today said he will commit more of his wealth to philanthropy, as his Foundation scales up work to improve equity and quality of the primary education system in the country.
The business tycoon who is also the Chairman of Azim Premji Foundation, has donated 8.7 per cent of the total stock of Wipro from his personal stock-holding for philanthropy in 2010. This formed the endowment for the Foundation.

GSK Pharma Q4 Net up 1.29%

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals today reported a 1.29 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 138.51 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 136.74 crore for the corresponding period previous fiscal, the company said in a statement.
Net sales of the company stood at Rs 656.69 crore for the quarter under consideration as against Rs 566.03 crore for the year ago period.
In a separate statement, the company said its board has recommended a dividend of Rs 50 per equity share for the year.

State-run Life Insurance Corp of India, a major domestic institutional investor, sold shares worth Rs 12,600 crore (about $2.32 billion) in companies related to financial, auto and pharma sectors in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal.
At the same time, LIC acquired shares worth about Rs 3,877 crore (about $714 million) in energy, metal and mining and software companies, the global research report by BofA-Merrill Lynch said.
LIC sold shares of private lenders -- Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank-- drug major Sun Pharma and auto firm Mahindra & Mahindra, while bought shares of energy companies -- Reliance Power, Cairn India and Reliance Industries -- IT giant Infosys, and FMCG firm ITC.

Assocham on Tuesday appealed to the central trade unions to call off their two-day strike as the country's economy will take a big hit of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore from the nation-wide disruption.
The Assocham has estimated the national loss figures based on the daily erosion of about 30-40 per cent to the country's Gross Domestic Production (GDP) for two days. As per the advanced estimates of the CSO, the national GDP for the current financial year is projected to be about Rs 95 lakh crore. In other words, it is Rs 26,000 crore per day and Rs 52,000 crore for two days. Of this , the strike would take its toll on at least 30-40 per cent - Rs 15,000 crore-Rs 20, 000 crore.

It is raining discounts for domestic air travellers. Over a month after SpiceJet dropped its fare to one rupee in a three day sale offer its rivals and the two largest airlines IndiGo and Jet Airways have slashed fares by upto 30-50% on domestic routes.
Both the airlines have introduced low fares despite caution from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation last month on dropping fares.

Software services major InfosysBSE 0.88 % will get listed on NYSE Euronext London and Paris markets tomorrow, becoming the first Indian company to be admitted to trade on the leading global bourse.
Infosys CEO and Managing Director S D Shibulal will be in London to mark the first cross listing of an Indian company, a company statement said.
Infosys began trading on the NYSE on December 12, 2012 and trades under the ticker symbol INFY. Infosys will also trade on NYSE Euronext under the ticker symbol INFY.

The forex, money, bullion, metal, sugar, spices and grain markets are closed today on account of 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti'.
However, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Oils& Oilseeds market are open
as usual.

The owner of magazine Reader's Digest, once the staple of doctors' offices and coffee tables, has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than four years, citing a greater-than-expected decline of the media industry.
RDA Holding Co and more than two dozen affiliates filed for a pre-negotiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan the company says will allow it to reduce its $534 million debt load by 80 percent, according to documents filed Sunday in US Bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York.
Its international operations are not part of the filing. It is the second time the company filed for bankruptcy protection since 2009.

At 1114 hours, BSE was above 19K, NSE too was trading in the positive.

India's second largest carrier Jet Airways on Tuesday announced what it termed India's biggest airticket sale of 20 lakh seats at Rs 2250 for travel upto anytime till December 31 this year, says a report in Economic Times.. Tickets can be booked before February 24.
On January 11, Kalanithi Maran-owned airline SpiceJet announced 10 lakh seats on offer at Rs 2,013 for travel between February and April, which could be booked over three days, sparking concern at the aviation regulator DGCA's office who perceived such a practice harmful for financials of airlines, consequently requesting others not to join in.
However, to be on top of the war for marketshare, Jet Airways seems to have taken the plunge, offering double the number of seats SpiceJet offered.
High airfares throughout 2012 due to grounding of Kingfisher Airlines caused passengers to opt out of air travel, leading to negative growth in traffic for the first time since 2009.

Hotel Leela sells Chennai IT Park building

Shares of Hotel Leela surged higher in early trade as it signed an agreement for sale with Reliance Industries to sell its IT Park Building in Chennai for Rs 170.17 crore.

At 1039 hours, both BSE and NSE are marginally down.

BSE tying up with S&P

Bombay Stock Exchange is tying up with S&P to use the global rating agency's brand for its index, the Sensex, a person with knowledge of the development said. The deal is expected to be signed today, says a report in Economic Times.
Alex Matturri, CEO, S&P Dow Jones Indices, responsible for all aspects of index business globally, is in town and is the one who will ink the deal with the 138-year-old exchange, according to the person ET quoted above.

The slight improvement in profitability at Indian software services firms in the December quarter is only a flash in the pan, and margins are headed inexorably downwards, analysts said.
For more than a decade, software firms enjoyed one of the highest profitability levels for any industry, but a confluence of forces is pushing margins to levels seen for businesses dealing in commoditised goods.
Within the next two years, experts predict that operating margins will fall to below 20% (the average is 25% now for Infosys, TCS, WiproBSE 0.02 % and HCL Tech) and settle at a level that just about takes it past single digits. For comparison, in the quarter to September, the average operating profit margin for corporate India was 14.5%.