Indian market closes higher on Friday, launch of Reliance Jio phone ups the ante in the telecom war

According to market reports, after a significantly impressive June quarter report on Thursday, the Jio arm of  Reliance launched a smart phone in the market on Friday. The phone, virtually free for customers, put cable network and telecom operators in the face of stiff competition.

The telecom company announced the availability of smart phones at Rs 1, 500 which will be refunded in three years' time.

Besides, Jio phone users will get unlimited data at 153 rupees per month. Jio is also offering free voice calls.

Several leading telecom and cable operators saw a decline in their share price on Friday.

One of India's public sector banks, the Indian Bank, published its results for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, on Friday.

The bank reported that it earned a Net profit of Rs 372.41 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, up 21.16% over Rs 307.36 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

Indian Bank's Net interest income (interest income less interest expenditure) for the reported quarter grew by 18.05% to Rs 1459.49 crore from Rs 1236.32 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

Talking of asset quality, Indian Bank said Gross non-performing assets were at 7.21% of Gross advances as on June 30, 2017, as against 7.47% as on March 31, 2017. Net non-performing assets were at 4.05% of net advances as on June 30, 2017, as against 4.39% as on March 31, 2017.

Top gainers on Friday were Wipro, Reliance, Coal India, Zee Entertainment, HCL Tech, TCS and Infosys while Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Lupin, Hero Motocorp, Power Grid Corp, BHEL and Cipla declined.