Ambrosia Sabrina

Advisers to the prime minister issued a stern warning to the government on Friday on the need to rein in the country's fiscal and current account deficits to avoid the risk of a credit ratings downgrade to junk status.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) accused the government on Friday of allocating coal blocks, power projects and land for Delhi's flagship airport at a fraction of market prices, potentially costing the exchequer tens of billions of dollars in lost revenues.

Expect a popular backlash if the government raises diesel prices to halt the subsidy drain on its finances - not only from the millions of poor who need cheap fuel but from increasing numbers of the well-off and businesses who don't.

Standard Chartered Plc will pay $340 million to New York's bank regulator over transactions linked to Iran, in a speedily arranged deal likely to cheer its shareholders.

Inflation probably crept up in July as poor monsoon rains drove food prices higher, a Reuters polls showed on Wednesday, giving the RBI less room to cut interest rates to revive a flagging economy.

With its once-sickly loan portfolio on the mend after several years of consolidation that saw it lose market share, ICICI is looking once again to grow faster than the industry - though more cautiously this time around.

Indian inflation probably crept up in July as poor monsoon rains drove food prices higher, a Reuters polls showed on Wednesday, giving the RBI less room to cut interest rates to revive a flagging economy.

Offshoring of back-office work to India, a trend among banks and accounting firms, came under new scrutiny with allegations that Standard Chartered Plc moved compliance oversight work dealing with Iranian banking transactions to India to avoid U.S. regulators.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram sought on Monday to allay investor worries about an economy growing at its weakest pace in almost a decade by pledging to address their concerns over taxes, public finances and interest rates.

Monsoon rains will not be enough to save the country from its first drought in three years, the weather office said on Thursday as it forecast that the El Nino weather pattern should reduce rains again in the second half of the June to September season.

Research in Motion (RIM.TO) refuted on Wednesday a new round of Indian media reports, which claim that the BlackBerry maker has granted the government the encryption keys to its secure corporate email and messaging services.

Palaniappan Chidambaram, who as finance minister oversaw India's strongest growth surge in the past two decades, returned to the post on Tuesday but faces a sharp economic slowdown, worsening public finances and falling exports this time around.

ICICI Bank(ICBK.NS), India's top private lender, posted on Friday a 36.3 percent jump in quarterly profit, its strongest growth in more than a year, helped by robust loan growth, high fee income and better asset quality.

Maruti Suzuki(MRTI.NS) has no idea when the Manesar factory hit by a deadly riot this week will reopen, the carmaker's chairman acknowledged on Saturday, saying it was impossible to import extra vehicles or shift lost production to another plant.

India's headline inflation slowed to its lowest level in five months in June, helped by slower increases in fuel prices, adding to pressure on the RBI from business leaders to cut interest rates to help revive the lacklustre economy.

India is expected play an active role in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of international forces in the region, said U.S. officials on arrival of the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Warburg Pincus LLC, a private equity firm based in US, is looking for a $100-$125 million stake in finance firm Future Capital Holdings, sources said to Reuters.