BENGALURU, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Indian shares inched higher on Tuesday, helped by banking and financial stocks, while PNB Housing Finance dropped 3% after an Indian court restricted the company from disclosing the results of shareholder votes on a deal with a group of investors. By 0345 GMT, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index climbed 0.25% to 16,298 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.27% to 54,552.06. India’s Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) delivered a split verdict over PNB Housing Finance’s 400 billion rupee ($5.4 billion) share allocation to a group of investors led by Carlyle Group, a judgement seen by Reuters showed. Nifty 50 components Coal India Ltd and Power Grid Corp Ltd NS> are due to report earnings later in the day. Meanwhile, Asian stocks started off on a weak footing, dragged by a largely soft performance on Wall Street and persistent concerns over the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant. (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.