Equity benchmarks were on track to open modestly lower on Wednesday, tracking weakness in global markets, as US manufacturing and employment data disappointed investors. As the SGX Nifty Index (quoted at 17,514) indicated, the Nifty could open around 50 points lower.

The Dow, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 fell more than 0.5% in the US.

ONGC/Oil India/RIL/refiners: The Centre has cut the windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil from Rs 3,500 per tonne to zero, effective April 4. It also reduced diesel duty from Rs 1 to 50 paise per litre. The move means no windfall tax on crude oil, aviation turbine fuel (ATF), and petrol will exist.

Bajaj Finance: Loans booked by consumer financial institutions in the January-March quarter of FY23 (Q4) rose 20% year-on-year to 7.6 million loans, bringing the total number of loans booked by lenders to 29.6 million in the current financial year (FY23), hitting a one-year high.

HCL Tech: JPMorgan on Tuesday placed the IT services provider on “negative catalyst watch” ahead of earnings season, citing the highest near-term risk to the company.

IndusInd Bank: The private bank’s net advances rose 21% year-on-year to Rs 2.9 lakh crore in the fourth quarter while reporting a 15% rise in deposits to Rs 3.36 lakh crore. The CASA rate is 40.1%.

HDFC Bank: Deposits rose 20.8% year-on-year to Rs 18.84 lakh crore in the fourth quarter and 8.6% quarter-on-quarter. The bank’s advances stood at Rs 16.01 lakh crore, up 16.9% year-on-year.

M&M Finance: The company reported strong momentum in payment and collection efficiencies in the fourth quarter. Business assets of NBFCs stood at Rs 2.13 lakh crore, up 17.4% year-on-year. Total expenditure increased by 50% to Rs 13,750 crore.

Marico: The company said its India business saw an improvement in year-over-year volume growth in the fourth quarter. FMCG increased its consolidated revenue by low single digits annually.

Bandhan Bank: The bank’s advances rose 9.8% year-on-year to Rs 1.09 lakh crore in the fourth quarter. Deposits rose 12.2% to Rs 1.08 lakh crore.

South Indian Bank reported that gross advances rose 16.65% year-on-year to Rs 72,107 crore, while gross deposits rose 2.82% year-on-year to Rs 91,652 crore.

Vedanta: The company said its aluminium output would reach a record 22.91 lakh tonnes in 2022-23, up slightly from 22.68 lakh tonnes in the previous financial year. Zinc production from international operations rose 22% year-on-year to 273,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter.

Hindustan Zinc: The company’s refined metal production rose 3% in the fourth quarter to an all-time high of 269 kilotons. Mined metal production and consolidated zinc production each rose 2%.

Federal Bank: The bank reported strong growth across key financial metrics for the quarter ending March 2023. The bank’s customer deposits rose 13.3%, while total deposits rose 17.4%.

Suryoday Small Finance Bank: SFB reported that total advances rose 21% to Rs 6,115 crore in the fourth quarter. Spending increased by 72%, and total deposits increased by 34%.

Nazara Tech: The company’s subsidiary Nodwin Gaming has acquired a 51% stake in Singapore-based Branded Pte.

HG Infra: Rail Vikas Nigam has received a letter of acceptance for the project with a bid cost of Rs 466.11 crore.

Cyient: The company’s board of directors has appointed Krishna Bodanapu as the company’s executive vice chairman and general manager and Karthikeyan Natarajan as the company’s executive director and chief executive officer.

Astra Microwave Products: It has received an order of Rs 32.97 crore from IMD.

NBCC (India): The company has secured orders worth Rs 448.02 crore.

RailTel Corp: The company has secured a Rs 76.10 crore contract from Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation. The company has also secured an order worth Rs 38.95 crore from National Informatics Centre Services Inc.

Indigo Paints: The company will buy 51% of the construction chemical company Apple Chemie.

Britannia Industries: The company’s board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 72 per share for FY23.