Today’s Latest Business News, Finance and Share Market News at 5:30 pm on 16 May 2023

Let's begin - Bank of Baroda posted fiscal fourth quarter profit at Rs 5,255.17 crore, up 158.7 per cent from Rs 2,031.55 in the same quarter last year. “This robust growth in profitability was supported by healthy Net Interest Income (NII) growth of 33.8 per cent and 26.8 per cent for Q4FY23 and FY23 respectively,” it said in a regulatory filing. The total income for the quarter was at Rs 32,528.06 crore, up 44.8 per cent as against Rs 22,470.46 crore in the fourth quarter of FY22. Bank of Baroda’s provisions stood at Rs 2158.36 crore. The Board also recommended a dividend at Rs 5.50 per equity share of face value Rs 2 each for the financial year 2023. Bank of Baroda has witnessed significant improvement in its asset quality with sharp reduction in GNPA by 282 bps YoY to 3.79 per cent. Bank’s NNPA improved to 0.89 per cent with a reduction of 83 bps YoY.
Moving on - Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset has been the subject of much speculation, and a recent development has added to the excitement surrounding the highly anticipated device. According to a tweet by Vox media’s Parker Ortolani, the tech giant, via its shell company, has registered a new wordmark with the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office, leading to speculation that the new OS platform will be named “xrOS.” The registration of the wordmark follows the registration of the “xrOS” trademark earlier this year, further hinting at the possible name for Apple’s new platform. An Apple shell company is a subsidiary company that is established for the purpose of filing patents or trademarks, related to Apple’s products or services. These shell companies are often used by Apple to register trademarks and patents for unreleased products, in order to maintain secrecy and preventing leaks ahead of official announcements. Apple is expected to unveil its mixed reality headset aka Reality Pro on June 5 which is the first day of its annual developer conference WWDC 2023.
Meanwhile - Indian Oil Corporation on Tuesday posted fiscal fourth quarter profit at Rs 10,289.82 crore, up 54.8 per cent as against Rs 6,645.72 crore in the same quarter last year. IOC clocked revenue from operations at Rs 2.31 lakh crore, up 10.4 per cent in comparison to Rs 2.09 lakh crore in the fourth quarter of FY22. The Board also recommended a final dividend of 30 per cent for the year 2022-23, that is, Rs 3 per equity share of face value of Rs 10 each on the paid-up share capital. “The final dividend would be paid within 30 days from the date of declaration at the AGM. The record date for payment of final dividend would be fixed and intimated in due course,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
In another development - India’s imports of electronic goods such as laptops, personal computers, integrated circuits and solar cells from China declined during 2022-23, according to a report by economic think tank GTRI. The fall in imports is notable in electronic items where the PLI scheme is operational, the report by Global Trade Research Initiative said. Import of medical equipment declined 13.6 per cent to USD 2.2 billion last fiscal year as compared to 2021-22. Similarly, import of solar cells, parts, diodes slumped 70.9 per cent to USD 1.9 billion in 2022-23. The report stated that import of laptops, PCs slipped 23.1 per cent to USD 4.1 billion and that of mobile phones came down by 4.1 per cent to USD 857 million in last financial year as compared to 2021-22.
In a separate development - AI-generated fake images are becoming increasingly popular and smart. These images are so close to reality that they can be easily used to create fake news articles, social media posts, and other forms of content to deceive people. Google that recently announced AI integration to help make your photos more creative is now bringing to new tools to help detect these AI-generated fake images. The first feature which is called “About this image” will provide users with additional context about an image, such as when it was first indexed by Google, where it first appeared, and where else it has been seen online.
Lastly - Benchmark indices opened on a flat note on Tuesday despite positive global cues. The NSE Nifty 50 was trading at 18,394.45 and BSE Sensex at 62,341.06. In sectoral indices, Bank Nifty fell 110.6 points or 0.25% to 43,961 and Nifty Financial Services dipped 83 points or 0.42% to 19,500.20.
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This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.