Stocks to watch: Infosys, Wipro, Aditya Birla Capital, HDFC Bank, 5paisa

Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 124 points higher at 14,665 vs Tuesday's close of 14,541, indicating a firm start for the Indian markets on Thursday.

Here are the top stocks to track in today's session:

Earnings Today: Wipro, Blue Blends (India), Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom and Tinplate Company of India are scheduled to announce their quarterly numbers on Thursday.

Most brokerages expect Wipro's net profit to rise between 23-30 per cent year-on-year (YoY) but the figure could contract on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. READ MORE

Infosys: The company posted a 17.5 per cent jump in net profit for the March quarter on YoY basis, even though it was down 2.3 per cent sequentially. Infosys’s board also approved a share buyback of up to Rs 9,200 crore. The buyback will be done from the open market and the price per share will not exceed Rs 1,750. READ HERE

Aditya Bitla Capital: The board of Aditya Birla Capital has approved an initial public offer of its asset management business, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, according to a filing with stock exchanges.

HDFC Bank: The private sector lender said it is planning to raise up to Rs 50,000 crore during the next 12 months through issuing bonds.

Tata Motors: The company on Wednesday said its group's global wholesales, including Jaguar Land Rover, increased 43 per cent YoY to 3,30,125 units in the fourth quarter of 2020-21 fiscal.

Tata Metaliks: The company on Wednesday posted Rs 74.99 crore net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, a fall of 2.66 per cent YoY from Rs 77.04 crore posted in the same period last year. 

GE Power: GE Power India's board approved the acquisition of 50 per cent stake in NTPC GE Power Services Pvt Ltd for Rs 7.2 crore. It also stated that the cost of acquisition or the price at which the shares are acquired is a cash consideration of Rs 7,20,00,000.  

NHPC: State-owned hydropower giant NHPC will form a joint venture with JKSPDCL, 'Ratle Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd', to implement a 850-megawatt (MW) hydroelectric project in Chenab river basin.

DRL: Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) is in the process of generating additional stability data for Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, which has a storage condition of -18 C, on 2 to 8 C, a senior official said.

Bharti Airtel: The telecom major announced a new corporate structure under which group firm Airtel Digital will merge into the listed entity Bharti Airtel. While tapping digital opportunities, the telecom major is attempting to unlock value in line with other big players such as Reliance Jio, which had raised more than Rs 1.5 trillion from a clutch of investors including Google and Facebook.

Religare, Axis Bank: Religare Enterprises on Wednesday said its arm Religare Finvest Limited will default on Rs 100 crore NCD payment obligation later this month to subscriber Axis Bank due to financial distress caused by misappropriation of funds by former promoters and officials.

NFL, RFL: The government will sell up to 20 per cent stake in National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) and 10 per cent in Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) through an offer for sale in the current fiscal. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has invited bids from merchant bankers by May 5 for managing the proposed share sales.

Future Retail: The company said Amazon has approached Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court order which stayed a single judge's order restraining Future Retail Ltd from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail to sell its business.

Future Enterprises: The company has defaulted on payment of interest on non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

The company is unable to service its obligations in respect of the interest on NCDs due on April 12, 2021, Future Enterprises said in a regulatory filing late on Tuesday night.

5Paisa: 5paisa.com said it is raising Rs 250 crore through a preferential issue of shares to investors and warrants to promoters. The investment will be made by Ward Ferry, Fairfax and RIMCO, along with the promoter group, which includes IIFL's Nirmal Jain, Madhu Jain and R Venkataraman.

Route Mobile: Hackers have allegedly compromised servers of enterprise communications firm Route Mobile, even as the company claimed that data of its customers is safe and its cyber security team is investigating the matter.

Adani Ports: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Tuesday approved the acquisition of 89.6 per cent stake in Gangavaram Port Ltd by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd.

Motherson Sumi Systems: Moody’s Investors Service revised the company's rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' while affirming the Ba1 corporate family rating to Motherson Sumi Systems. The improved outlook with the affirmed rating reflects the sustainability of earnings and de-leveraging witnessed in the last two quarters despite growth challenges due to the global pandemic.

UPL: The Supreme Court of Queensland in Australia has dismissed a class action litigation against Advanta Seeds Pty Ltd, UPL's subsidiary in Australia. "This class action, funded by a UK-based litigation funder, alleged that seeds sold by Advanta in 2010/2011 to certain growers in Queensland and News South Wales region of Australia, were contaminated," the company said in its BSE filing.

Happiest Minds Technologies: The company Has entered into a strategic partnership with BeatRoute to solve typical revenue realisation problems faced by the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry.

JSW Steel: The company has completed the acquisition of a 30.73 per cent stake in GSI Lucchini for a cash consideration of 1 million euros.