Newsmakers: Cognizant revenue growth forecast, state banks' earnings hit and more

Key business news events for the day

• 1/5

Auto Expo ends with over 100 new vehiclesCurtains were drawn on the biennial Indian Auto Expo 2016 on Tuesday, with over 600,000 visitors and more than 100 new products being either launched or unveiled during the week, making it one of the largest motoring events in the Asian subcontinent.

• 2/5

Bad loan clean-up hits state banks' earnings Four state-run banks reported a spike in bad loans and provisions for sour debt after a clean-up exercise ordered by their regulator, sending three of them to net losses for the fiscal third quarter. Indian banks, burdened by their highest stressed-assets ratio in 13 years, have been asked by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to treat some troubled accounts as non-performing even if actual default has yet to happen and make adequate provisions.

• 3/5

Trai warns of action beyond fine for discriminatory data rates Having barred discriminatory pricing of data services, regulator Trai warned of much stricter action against errant telecom operators if the existing penalty provision fails to tame them. "It's not like that, that you can violate and continue paying penalty," Trai chairman RS Sharma said.

• 4/5

Sensex holds 24,000, but ends 266 pts downExtending losses for the second day, the S&P BSE Sensex shed 266 points but managed to close a tad above its key 24,000 mark in trade on Tuesday, while broader CNX Nifty ended below its key 7,300-mark.

• 5/5

Cognizant forecasts slowest revenue growth in 14 yearsThe US-based IT services firm Cognizant on Tuesday posted a 16.7 per cent rise in net profit at $423.4 million for the December quarter, from $362.9 million a year ago, helped by growth in healthcare and North America and Rest of World (RoW) geographies.