Indian benchmark indices move higher on Thursday

Top gainers included Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Asian Paints, Icici Bank, Bosch and Tata Steel while ITC, Idea Cellular, Coal India, ONGC, Lupin and HDFC declined.

Commercial and passenger vehicles maker Tata Motors reported a three-fold growth in profit for its July-September quarter, driven by better-than-expected Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR's) operational performance, according to media reports.

JLR's operating profit margin for the quarter stood at 11.8 per cent, higher by 150 basis points year-on-year and 390 basis points quarter-over-quarter.

Tata Motors' consolidated profit during the quarter increased to Rs 2,501.67 crore, from Rs 848.16 crore reported in the same period a year ago.

Owing to  better product mix in JLR and higher volumes in standalone business, the company's consolidated revenue from operations (net of excise) was up 10.3 per cent to Rs 70,156 crore, while it was Rs 63,577.37 crore a year ago.

However, the company said that revenue was lower by Rs 2,393 crore and profit by Rs 112 crore due to translation impact from GBP to INR.

On Thursday, the Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council has begun its two-day meeting in Guwahati.

According to media reports, the Council is set to cut to rates on nearly 150-200 items.

The Council is also likely to take up the issue of GSTN glitches to make filing process easier for the traders, media reported.