India needs to step up expenditure on innovation in a big way for the growth of the economy and lift the people out of the morass of poverty, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday and asked the private sector to increase their share of spending on research and development to the levels prevalent in countries such as United States of America, Japan and South Korea.

Reeling under flat revenue growth and bleak outlook, Indian IT giant Infosys will go slow on hiring this fiscal (2013-14) to cut down operational cost and minimise bench strength, an official said on Friday.

The rupee on Thursday lost 18 paise to 54.90 in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to renewed dollar demand from importers and appreciation of the US currency overseas.

The rupee appreciated by 19 paise to Rs 53.90 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market on Wednesday on selling of the US currency by exporters.

Market regulator SEBI on Friday allowed gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to invest in Gold Deposit Schemes (GDS) of banks, as part of overall efforts to utilise idle assets of the precious metal for more productive purposes.

Shares of Wipro on Thursday fell by over 3 per cent after India Index Services and Products Ltd, an NSE-Crisil joint venture that maintains Nifty index, said the IT major would be removed from the index from April 1, 2013.

Buoyed by growth across geographies, Lenovo Group today posted 30 per cent jump in net profit for the October-December quarter, saying that it is confident of maintaining 20-30 per cent growth rates in the near future as its smartphones sales gain traction across emerging markets.

Enthused by improving global economic scenario and a renewed wave of reforms back in India, IT giant Infosys says it is bullish over better growth prospects of IT sector in 2013 and expects greater job creation this year.

IT firm MphasiS on Monday said it will acquire US-based Digital Risk for USD 175 million (about Rs 960 crore), a move that will help it attain leadership position in the US mortgage services market.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that a deal had been made with steel group ArcelorMittal for the plant that had been under threat of closure.