ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, on Thursday said that it has promptly facilitated settlement of Aban Pearl’s total loss claim worth $235-million.Around 97 per cent of the claim amount of $235-million has already been paid within three-months of claim intimation by Aban Pearl and the remaining amount will be settled shortly, a press release issued in Mumbai said.

This pertains to an incident on May 13, when the semi-submersible rig Aban Pearl sank off the shore of Venezuela. The rig was reinsured with ‘A’ rated reinsurers from Lloyds market with the lead reinsurer being Argenta Syndicate.Other reinsurers included General Insurance Corporation of India, Trust International Insurance & Reinsurance Co of Bahrain, Zurich Insurance Co and SCOR Global P & C. The reinsurance broker for this insurance programme was Willis.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance’s Director-Corporate, Alok Agarwal, said “as a deeply customer-centric organisation, ICICI Lombard believes in prompt claim settlement.

HCL Technologies Ltd on Thursday posted a growth of 23.26 per cent in its standalone net profit at Rs 237.82 crore, for the quarter ended June 30.HCL Technologies had a net profit of Rs 192.94 crore in the same period previous year, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The IT major’s total income rose to Rs 1,330.61 crore in standalone, from Rs 1,145.54 crore in the same period last year. For the year ended June 30, the company reported a decline of 4.58 per cent in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,259.19 crore.It had a net profit of Rs 1,319.63 crore in the same period a year-ago.The total income of the IT firm increased to Rs 12,136.29 crore for the year ended June 30, as against Rs 10,229.41

IT solutions provider Tata Consultancy Services continued to remain on the top slot in the Top 20 IT-BPO Employers in India for the 2009-2010 fiscal, according to industry body Nasscom.TCS is followed by Kris Gopalakrishnan-led Infosys Technologies, while Azim Premji’s Wipro ranked third, as per the National Association of Software and Service Companies.Cognizant ranked fourth in the list while HCL Technologies and Genpact were ranked fifth and sixth.Bangalore-based Mphasis, BPO provider Intelenet Global Services and Tech Mahindra were ranked seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively.Among those in the top-20 are Aegis Ltd (10th), Capgemini Consulting (11th ), WNS Global Services (12th), BPO firm Firstsource Solutions (13th), CSC India (14th), 3i Infotech (15th), Hinduja Global Solutions (16th), L&T Infotech (17th), Patni Computer Systems (18th), ExL Service.com (19th) and Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide (20th).

The Dalal Street is trading flat and the benchmark indices have settled close to Tuesday’s close after opening higher. At 9.26 am, the BSE Sensex rose 21 points to 18,098 and the NSE Nifty gained 6 points to 5,436.The Nifty’s support is seen at 5352 (the 20 day moving average) while 5450 and 5477 (52 week high) remain the key resistance levels.

Realty, banking and IT stocks fell in early trade. DLF, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Infosys and Wipro declined. The consumer durables index rose 0.81 per cent. Auto and healthcare stocks gained too. M&M was the biggest gainer, up 1.12 per cent.The broader markets saw buying interest. The BSE small cap index rose 0.47 per cent and the CNX midcap gained 0.46 per cent. Overall 65 per cent stocks advanced on the BSE.On the Sensex, 16 stocks advanced. ONGC, L&T and M&M were pulling the Sensex up while ICICI Band was a drag.

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday raised its key policy rates for the fourth time this year, taking more steps to tame rising prices amid a strong rebound in the economy.

As widely expected, the RBI raised the repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5. 75 per cent in its credit policy review. But the reverse repo rate has been hiked by a slightly higher-than-expected 50 bps to 4.5 per cent. The cash reserve ratio has been kept unchanged at 6 per cent.

One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. The repo rate is the rate at which the RBI infuses cash into the system or banks borrow from the RBI. The reverse repo rate is the rate at which the central bank drains cash from the banking system, or the rate at which banks lend to the RBI.In an NDTV poll, 12 out of 15 bankers expected a 25 bps hike in repo and reverse repo rates.

They were fired for attending a rally protesting Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB 1070, Twelve employees of the Pei Wei Asian Diner say. The employees missed shifts to attend the rally and that is the reason they were dismissed, say representatives for the restaurant. However, the employees say others who missed shifts were punished, not fired. Now, the protests have shift to the restaurant itself.

Some of the twelve out of the thirty employees of the Chandler, Arizona Pei Wei restaurant asked for the day off, but were denied, reports MyFOXPhoenix. One of the employees who was dismissed for missing work to attend the rally against SB 1070 was Yvonne Herrera. Herrera says she has worked as a cook at the Pei Wei restaurant for ten years without taking a single sick day.

NetSpend Corp., an Austin, Texas-based provider of prepaid reloadable debit cards in the U.S., has filed for a $200 million IPO. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq, with Goldman Sachs and BoA Merrill Lynch serving as co-lead underwriters.

The company reports $18 million in 2009 net income, on around $223 million in revenue. This compares to a net loss of nearly $28 million in 2008, on $128 million in revenue.

McDonald’s Corp., posted a 12% gain in 2Q profit after attracting more customers with its frappes and smoothies.Net income rose to $1.23 billion, or $1.13 a share, Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald’s said today in a statement. That compared with the $1.12 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Sales increased 5.3%to $5.95 billion, bolstered by sales of frozen drinks in the three months ended in June, the hottest on record, according to U.S. government data.

Air India on Sunday unveiled its new turnaround plan; a plan which seeks to cut the Maharaja’s losses and make money for an airline that is struggling to survive. As part of the plan, Air India will enter the low cost carrier segment in the domestic skies and some relief for employees, no more retrenchment or pay cuts says Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. “Air India is on a path to recovery,” says Patel. A rosy future painted not just by the Aviation Minister, but backed by top India Inc honchos like Anand Mahindra.

The crux of their recovery plan is to get the unions on board, which they did on Sunday. Expand business; in particular, begin a domestic low-cost wing. And do this without cutting jobs or salaries, even though Air India has among the highest number of employee per aircraft.”No job cuts, no wage cuts,” says Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel.This, despite a loss of Rs 8000 crore in the last three years, which is likely to shoot up to Rs 13000 crore this year.

If it was a private airline, a promoter may have cut jobs and wages, but as the national airline, the rules are different.”Air India’s mission is well articulated. Be a leader in Indian aviation and India’s ambassador to the world,” says Anand Mahindra, an independent director of Air India.

Wipro reported a higher-than-expected net profit of Rs 1,319 crore in the first quarter as compared to Rs 1,209 crore in the previous quarter. Total revenues for the quarter increased to Rs 7,236 crore as compared to Rs 6,984 crore in the previous quarter. An NDTV Profit poll of analysts estimated Wipro’s net profit at Rs 1,215.88 crore on revenues of Rs 7,144.56 crore. Wipro said that it added 4,854 employees during the quarter as compared to 5,325 in the previous quarter. Its IT services revenue during the quarter inched up by 4.4 per cent to $1,218 million during the quarter. On a standalone basis, Wipro’s first quarter revenue declined to Rs 1,110 crore as compared to Rs 1,236.7 crore in the previous quarter. Its net sales, also on a standalone basis, slipped to Rs 5,982.20 crore as compared to Rs 6,141 crore in the previous quarter.

“We are seeing strong demand environment across over industry verticals despite macro challenges. We added the highest number of billable employees ever, in this quarter,” Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said. For the second quarter ending September 30, 2010, it expects revenues from IT services business to be in the range of USD 1,253 -1,277 million, the filing added.