Labourers load coal on trucks at Bari Brahamina in Jammu.State-owned Coal India Limited witnessed a 5% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,013 crore for the January-March 2012 quarter. It was Rs 4,221 crore for the same period a year ago.However, the consolidated total income jumped 32% to Rs 21,747 crore from Rs 16,485 crore in March 2011.During the quarter employee cost jumped 89% to Rs 9,069 crore, which was Rs 4,806 crore a year ago.Pictures by Reuters

May 28: CIL Q4 net down 5%

A man walks past a logo of Reliance Communication before the Annual General Meeting in Mumbai.

A year after Reliance Communications said it had received several offers for its towers business, India&#39;s No.2 mobile phone carrier by users said on Monday regulatory clarity would help push a deal along.

Reliance Communications, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, has long been trying to raise funds by selling the tower assets to help cut its debt load, which was $7 billion as of March.

"Once clarity emerges on various pending regulatory issues, then (the) transaction will proceed further," Punit Garg, a president at the company, told analysts on a conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings.

After scrapping a plan to list its tower arm, and then a failed attempt in late 2010 to combine the unit with India&#39;s GTL Infrastructure, Reliance Communications has been looking to sell its 95% stake in the business.

Reliance Comm tower talks await rule clarity

A shopkeeper poses for a picture as he counts Indian currency notes at his shop in Jammu.

Moody&#39;s Investors Service says the depreciating rupee will only have a "limited" impact on India&#39;s sovereign ratings, as only 7% of total government debt is placed overseas, comprising 5% of gross domestic product.

The bigger pain would come in the private sector, Moody&#39;s said in a weekly credit report out on Monday, given that a falling rupee will raise the cost of paying back foreign currency borrowings.

Still, the agency said total private sector external debt is at a "relatively low" 16% of GDP, meaning the impact on the sovereign ratings from this private sector exposure would also be limited.

Rupee fall won&#39;t hurt India&#39;s ratings: Moody&#39;s

A man looks at a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo.

Asian shares and the euro edged up from lows on Monday as surveys showing a lead in opinion polls for Greece&#39;s pro-bailout camps helped ease risk aversion and calm fears of a disorderly exit from the euro bloc.

The MSCI&#39;s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.2%, after hitting its lowest level since late December on Friday.

The pan-Asia stock index posted a third consecutive week of losses last week, shedding 0.8% for its longest losing streak in six months. The index has now wiped out all its gains for the year, having been up some 15% from end-2011 levels in late February.

Japan&#39;s Nikkei average opened up 0.3%. It posted its longest weekly losing run in 20 years last week.