Amtek Auto heads for liquidation; NCLAT clears the way for the process

18/08/2019
new delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday asked the Chandigarh Bench of the NCLT to proceed with the liquidation of Amtek Auto in accordance with law, saying there remained no approved resolution plan for the company despite the passage of the statutory period of 270 days. “As we have noted that more than 270 days have been completed much earlier and no case is made out to exclude any period, we hold that the adjudicating authority has no other option but to pass...

State-run oil firms to deliver petrol at doorstep, expand diesel service

18/08/2019
new delhi: The state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) are planning to expand doorstep delivery of diesel to 20 more cities, and introduce home delivery of petrol by the next quarter. The companies plan to have at least 500 doorstep fuel delivery vehicles by the end of this financial year (FY20). “The response to doorstep delivery of fuel is very good and we are trying to expand this ...

Airtel shareholders approve waiver in recovery of excess pay to Mittal

18/08/2019
new delhi: Bharti Airtel shareholders have approved a proposal allowing chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal and CEO Gopal Vittal to retain excess remuneration paid in 2018-19, according to a regulatory filing. Over 88 per cent of shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM) held on August 14 voted in favour of the special resolution for waiver of recovery of excess managerial remuneration paid to Mittal during FY19, while 11.7 per cent voted against it. "Therefore the resolution...has been appr...

Coffee Day Group’s Sical Logistics seeks one-time moratorium from lenders

18/08/2019
Chennai: Sical Logistics Ltd, a part of the Coffee Day Group, asked its lenders to provide a one-time moratorium of three months from servicing their debts. The company said that it is planning to deleverage the company and its subsidiaries in line with the observations made by its holding company Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd, after the demise of its promoter V G Siddhartha. Sical told the National Stock Exchange that it would utilise the available internal resources to augment the existing cash...

General Electric engaged in $38 billion fraud, ‘bigger than Enron’: Report

18/08/2019
San Francisco: A whistleblower has accused General Electric (GE) of hiding massive losses by engaging in a $38 billion accounting fraud, which is “bigger than Enron”. In his report this week, investigator Harry Markopolos accused GE of utilising many of the same accounting tricks as Enron did to mislead the investors. “In fact, GE’s $38 billion in accounting fraud amounts to over 40 per cent of GE’s market capitalisation, making it far more serious than either the Enron or WorldCom accounting...

FinMin asks PSBs to seek ideas from branches for achieving USD 5-trn economy

18/08/2019
new delhi: The finance ministry has asked public sector banks (PSBs) to initiate a month-long consultation process with officers starting from branch level to seek suggestions for achieving a USD 5-trillion economy in five years. The suggestions emanating from a month-long campaign beginning Saturday will be used as inputs to prepare a road map for the future growth of the banking sector. According to a communication by the ministry to the heads of PSBs, it will be a bottom-up consultative pr...

Punjab & Sind Bank cuts MCLR by up to 20 basis points

18/08/2019
new delhi: State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) on Saturday said it has lowered its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by up to 0.20 per cent for various tenors. "Our bank has reviewed the marginal cost of fund based lending rate (MCLR) for different tenors and the same will be effective from 16.08.2019," Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) said in a regulatory filing. The public sector bank has lowered the benchmark one-year MCLR to 8.50 per cent from 8.70 per cent earlier. Most of the c...

Over 3,000 temporary jobs cut due to slowdown: Maruti Suzuki

18/08/2019
new delhi: Over 3,000 temporary employees have lost jobs with the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) due to the ongoing slump in the automobile industry, a top company executive said. MSI Chairman R C Bhargava said contracts of the temporary workers were not renewed due to the slowdown while asserting that permanent workers have not been impacted. "This is a part of the business, when demand soars, more contract workers are hired and reduced in case of low demand," he said w...

CSR norms may cover state-run giants SBI, LIC

17/08/2019
new delhi: The government may widen the mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending rule to state-owned enterprises such as State Bank of India (SBI) and those formed by special acts of Parliament including Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), officials with direct knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity. The government wants a similar treatment for all profit-making companies with respect to CSR obligations, irrespective of their ownership, although most stat...

No signs of a revival in earnings in June quarter

17/08/2019
Mumbai: Weak demand, slow private sector capital expenditure, liquidity tightness and sluggish government spending in the poll season continued to take its toll on corporate India’s earnings in the June quarter. Net profit fell by 5.23% for the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier, showed a Mint analysis of 1,284 listed companies. While the June quarter earnings were incrementally better than those of the preceding three months, in which they fell by 8.46%, a full recovery may still...

Paytm to invest Rs 750 cr to double users by 2020

17/08/2019
new delhi: Digital payments firm Paytm said it will invest Rs 750 crore to approximately double its monthly active user base on mobile to 250 million by March 2020. The company expects its Paytm Inbox service to accelerate the growth as it has garnered 27 million monthly active users and expects additional 60-70 million new customers to come on board by end of the current fiscal year. “We are already seeing 27 million monthly active users on Paytm Inbox. Now that we are upgrading it to the ne...

Walmart International Q2 operating income declines 29.6% due to Flipkart

17/08/2019
Bengaluru: Walmart International, the segment which consists of the retail giant’s operations outside US including retail websites, on Thursday posted 29.6 per cent decline in operational income on a reported basis and 27.3 per cent decline in constant currency, primarily due to Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart. The Bentonville-based company (in Arkansas) is locked in a battle with US rival Amazon for dominance in India’s online retail market through Flipkart, which it acquired for $16 billion ...

Weak investment, muted monetary transmission big challenges for Indian economy: Goldman

17/08/2019
new delhi: Notwithstanding India's progress on growth and inflation, some of the big challenges for the economy include weak investment, muted monetary transmission and slow GST collections, according to Goldman Sachs. India's GDP growth increased from an average of 6.7 per cent during 2010 to 2014 to 7.3 per cent during 2015 to 2019, while, average inflation has declined from 10 per cent to 5 per cent during the same period. "Despite growth being strong, overall, the investment climate was pr...

Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani grooms the heirs to his $50 billion fortune

17/08/2019
new delhi: Among Mumbai’s glitziest society events over the past year were two weddings in the family of Mukesh Ambani, the Indian tycoon who in 2018 became Asia’s richest person. In December, his 27-year-old daughter Isha got married in a Bollywood-style extravaganza attended by global power brokers and titans of finance. Beyonce sang at the festivities, Hillary Clinton flew in and KKR & Co.’s Henry Kravis made an appearance. In March, her twin brother Akash wed in a ceremony attended by the ...

Hero MotoCorp shuts plants from Aug 15-18, says market situation to blame

17/08/2019
Chennai: India's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero MotoCorp has decided to close its manufacturing facilities for three days. The reasons stated are annual holiday and due to the prevailing market condition. After car makers announced plant closures for a few days, Hero will be the first two-wheeler maker to officially announce a temporary stop in production. The company stated that production planning is a matter of advance monitoring of market dynamics and prudent demand forecasting. This help...

Employees urge Google not to work with US immigration officials

17/08/2019
San Francisco: Hundreds of Google employees on Thursday called on the internet titan to avoid working for US immigration officials until they stop “engaging in human rights abuses.” A petition signed by more than 600 “Googlers” as of late afternoon was prompted by word that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was preparing to request bids on a massive cloud computing contract. Google is a major cloud computing provider. Its rivals in the market included Amazon and Microsoft. “The winning ...

Hong Kong cuts taxes to shore up economy amid protests

17/08/2019
Hong Kong: Hong Kong's government announced tax cuts and higher social spending Thursday to reverse a deepening economic slump aggravated by anti-government protests and the U.S.-Chinese tariff war. The territory's financial secretary, Paul Chan, cut this year's official growth forecast to 0 to 1 per cent, which could be the worst performance since 2009 during the global financial crisis. The previous forecast was 2 per cent to 3 per cent. Hurt by the plunge in US-Chinese trade, growth alread...

Alibaba revenue jumps in first quarter

17/08/2019
Beijing: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said that first quarter revenue beat analyst estimates, defying a slowing economy and a trade war with the United States. Revenue for the April-June period rose 42 per cent year-on-year to 114.9 billion yuan ($16.7 billion), a company statement said, outpacing an average analyst estimate of 111.6 billion yuan compiled by Bloomberg News. Joe Tsai, Alibaba’s Executive Vice-Chairman, attributed the results to China’s demographic trends and continued urba...

Make cooking gas cheaper for poor, remove subsidy for rich: Study

15/08/2019
new delhi: The subsidy on liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) cylinders for India's newly-connected 73 million poor households should be increased enough to limit the cost of a cylinder to 4% of a household’s monthly expenditure, according to a study. The subsidy should only be provided to poor households, and the wealthy should be removed from the beneficiaries list, according to the June 15, 2019, policy brief titled “Ujjwala 2.0” by Collaborative Clean Air Policy Centre (CCAPC), a multi-o...

Indian shares rise as Donald Trump delays China tariffs

15/08/2019
new delhi: Indian shares followed their Asian peers higher on Wednesday after Washington delayed tariffs on some Chinese imports, bringing some relief to global markets rattled by a bruising trade conflict. The broader NSE index rose 0.36% to 10,964.20 as of 0439 GMT, while the benchmark BSE index gained 0.37% to 37,095.80. U.S. President Donald Trump delayed his Sept. 1 deadline for 10% tariffs on some Chinese imports, delaying duties on a range of consumer goods and sending Wall Street stoc...

China’s industrial output hits 17-year low

15/08/2019
Beijing: China's economy showed further signs of strain in July with output at its factories falling to its lowest level in 17 years, while investment and retail sales slowed, official data showed Wednesday. The figures are the latest to highlight how the world's second-largest economy is being battered by an escalating trade war with the United States and slowing global demand. Industrial output increased 4.8 per cent on-year in July, down from 6.3 per cent in June and marking the weakest pac...

Moody’s says Reliance stake sale to Aramco credit positive

15/08/2019
new delhi: Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday said Reliance Industries' announcement of sale of a 20 per cent stake in its oil to chemicals (O2C) business to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) will reduce the company's net leverage and is credit p?ositive. "The O2C business, which has an enterprise valuation of USD 75 billion, includes RIL's refining and petrochemical divisions, and RIL's 51 per cent stake in its fuel marketing business," Moody's said in a report. The company also announce...

Govt issues guidelines for Rs 1-lakh cr partial guarantee scheme for NBFCs

15/08/2019
new delhi: The Centre has issued guidelines on operationalising Rs 1-lakh crore partial guarantee scheme under which public-sector banks can purchase high-rated pooled assets of financially sound non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). NBFCs, including housing finance companies (HFCs), came under stress following series of defaults by the group companies of IL&FS in September last year. To help the sector come out of the stress, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget announced suppo...

Flipkart bets on 2GUD to woo value-conscious customers

15/08/2019
new delhi: A year after launching 2GUD as a refurbished products platform, Walmart-backed Flipkart said the entity will offer fresh products across categories like fashion, home and electronics to woo value-conscious customers from tier II cities and beyond. 2GUD has served close to a million customers from over 3,000 towns with about 60-65 per cent of the orders coming from tier II and III markets. "We are changing our positioning from refurbished-only platform to a completely value-consciou...

RBI finalises regulatory sandbox framework for innovation in fintech firms

15/08/2019
new delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the final ‘enabling framework for regulatory sandbox,’ taking into account inputs received after a consultation process that began in April. The framework will likely be a positive step for financial technology start-ups and companies looking to innovate in the fast changing and highly regulated sector. The regulatory sandbox allows live testing of new products or services in a controlled or test regulatory environment. For this, the regula...

$1.5 billion luxury homes sale put on hold amid Hong Kong unrest

15/08/2019
new delhi: CK Asset Holdings Ltd., the developer founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing, postponed a planned sale of condominiums in Hong Kong as ongoing political protests made it difficult to market the luxury residences. The homes at 21 Borrett Road would not be offered for sale as scheduled this month, a spokeswoman for the company said Wednesday, confirming an earlier report on RTHK radio. Marketing a luxury project would be difficult under the current social atmosphere and there is no fixed ...

Walmart’s Walton family earns $4 million per hour, employees get a paltry $11

15/08/2019
new delhi: The earning disparity between Walmart owners and its employees are mind-boggling, as per a Bloomberg report. The contrast is so huge that Walmart's Walton family earns $4 million per hour while employees get a paltry $11 in comparison. “$70,000 per minute, $4 million per hour, $100 million per day. That’s how quickly the fortune of the Waltons,” a Bloomberg report said. The report adds that the fortune of the Waltons has “swelled by $39 billion, to $191 billion, since topping the ...

IOC to invest Rs 2 lakh cr to expand operations

15/08/2019
new delhi: The country’s biggest oil firm Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will invest Rs 2 lakh crore in next 5-7 years to expand refining and petrochemical capacities in order to maintain leadership position, its Chairman Sanjiv Singh said. The plan is to almost double its oil refining capacity to 150 million tonnes per annum, expand fuels and LPG retailing network, jack up petrochemical production capacity and produce more crude oil and gas. IOC is implementing a Rs 2 lakh crore investment pla...

RIL jumps 12% post AGM; sees biggest single-day gain in 10 years

14/08/2019
new delhi: Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) zoomed as much as 12.09 per cent to Rs 1,302.50 apiece on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Tuesday after the company made a slew of announcements at its 42nd AGM (annual general meeting) held on Monday. Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that Saudi Aramco and RIL have signed a letter of intent for a proposed investment in its oil-to-chemical division. The deal is likely to fetch $15 billion (nearly 1.06 trillion) for a 20 per cent stake. The stoc...

Goyal urges companies to come with substantial outcomes at high-power delegation meet in Russia

14/08/2019
new delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal has urged companies in both India and Russia to come together to discuss partnerships directly with each other, and to come up with concrete project proposals and substantial outcomes during a high-power delegation meet in Russia. Goyal led a high-power delegation of Chief Ministers of Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Goa and about 140 Indian companies to Vladivostok in Russia from August 11-13, 2019. In the Plenary Session attended...

Economic downturn raises default risks, puts stimulus package in focus

14/08/2019
new delhi: Investors are awaiting stimulus measures from the Indian government as a gloomy economic outlook adds to mounting credit market woes and raises fears defaults will spread. The government is planning measures to boost the economy and may announce some steps this week to help demand for housing, automobiles, and to spur small businesses, an official said on Friday. Credit profiles of the nation’s companies worsened to a 19-month low in July, according to a Care Ratings index that trac...

Passenger vehicle sales drop for 9th consecutive month, 31% slump in July

14/08/2019
new delhi: India’s domestic passenger vehicle sales fell for the ninth straight month in July, an auto industry body said on Tuesday, amid a deepening crisis in the country’s automobile sector that has triggered large-scale job losses. Sales of passenger vehicles to car dealers fell 30.9% to 200,790 in July, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed. Commercial vehicles sales fell 25.7% to 56,866 units, SIAM said. Motorcycle and scooters sales fell 16.8% to...

As Foscor Zirconia losses mount, CUMI may sell stake in S Africa subsidiary

14/08/2019
Chennai: Caborundum Universal Ltd (CUMI) is looking at options, including selling its stake in Foscor Zirconia, a subsidiary in South Africa, as the business has not turned around over a period of time. The profit before interest and tax for the quarter ended June 30, 2019, was adversely impacted, amounting to about Rs 6 crore due to losses in this subsidiary. The company has two options one, to shift the factory to a location where it can produce at a lower cost and another, to sell if off ...

After $140 billion wipeout, China’s two largest companies bid for comeback

14/08/2019
new delhi: China’s two largest companies have lost a combined $140 billion in market value since the escalation of the trade war in May. As Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. report earnings this week back-to-back, they’ll try to show the punishment is overdone. The brutal market selloff began three months ago as Donald Trump’s administration slapped restrictions on Chinese national champion Huawei Technologies Co., drawing the ire of Beijing. The Hong Kong benchmark has slid...

Gold prices likely to remain firm amid weak growth, soft rates

14/08/2019
new delhi: The ongoing trade war between the United States (US) and China, possibility of rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve (US Fed), long-standing nuclear issues with Iran, uncertainty regarding Brexit amid slowing global growth has pushed gold prices nearly 17 per cent higher in the international market on a year-to-date (YTD) basis to $1,503 per ounce. Despite the run, analysts see more headroom, as risk aversion is on the rise in financial markets following the latest developments regard...

India has over 450 agri-tech startups; segment gets $248 mn funding in H1 2019: Nasscom

14/08/2019
new delhi: India currently hosts more than 450 startups in the agri-tech segment, and the sector has received more than $248 million funding in the first six months this year, IT industry body Nasscom said. In a report titled ‘Agritech in India Emerging Trends in 2019’, Nasscom said that growing at 25 per cent year-on-year, India currently hosts more than 450 startups in the agri-tech sector. “Over the recent years, the agri-tech sector in India has witnessed some of the global and sector-foc...

Realty firm Jaypee fined Rs 14 cr for imposing arbitrary conditions on buyers

14/08/2019
new delhi: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 13.82 crore on Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL) for abusing its dominant position in the market of independent residential units such as villas, estate homes in their integrated township through unfair and discriminatory conditions on the allottees in Wish Town, Jaypee Greens project, in Noida and Greater Noida. “The final order was passed on an information filed by a buyer who alleged that conditions imposed b...

British Airways hit by problems with online check-in system

14/08/2019
London: British Airways experienced problems with its online check-in system on Wednesday that disrupted some flight departures. The airline, which is owned by International Airlines Group, apologised to customers for the disruption and said its technical team was working to resolve the problem as soon as possible. It urged customers to allow extra time at airports. Messages to BA on Twitter showed customers in airports including Gatwick and Newcastle in Britain, and customers waiting to fly ...

Air India to fly Delhi-San Francisco over North Pole

13/08/2019
new delhi: Marking a new aviation milestone, the Air India (AI) on Monday announced its inaugural passenger flight over the North Pole region from August 15 between New Delhi and San Francisco. The first commercial service will be operated by Captain Ranjeesh Sharma and Captain Digvijay Singh, marking the "maturing of civil aviation in India as another frontier is crossed", said Air India Western Region Director Mukesh Bhatia. Air India had conquered this frontier in 2007, when Captain Amitab...

Reliance Jio, Microsoft announce alliance to accelerate digital transformation in India

13/08/2019
Mumbai: Reliance Jio, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, and Microsoft Corp on Monday announced long-term strategic relationship to accelerate digital transformation of the Indian economy and society. “This 10-year commitment combines the world-class capabilities of both companies to offer a detailed set of solutions comprising connectivity, computing, storage solutions, and other technology services and applications essential for Indian businesses and will span the broad Reliance In...

Govt may permit 100 pc FDI in contract manufacturing: Sources

13/08/2019
new delhi: The government is working on a proposal to allow 100 per cent FDI in contract manufacturing with a view to attract overseas investments, sources said. According to the existing foreign investment policy, 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted in the manufacturing sector under the automatic route. A manufacturer is also allowed to sell products manufactured in India through wholesale and retail channels, including through e-commerce, without government's approval. ...

FPIs remain in sell-off mode, pull out Rs 9,197 cr in Aug so far

13/08/2019
new delhi: Continuing with their selling spree, foreign investors pulled out a net amount of Rs 9,197 crore in just seven trading sessions in August due to unconducive domestic and global factors. However, analysts said the trend may reverse if the Government addresses the tax concerns of overseas investors. According to latest depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) withdrew a net amount of Rs 11,134.60 from equities while pumping in Rs 1,937.54 into the debt segment during Aug...

S&P reaffirms B+ rating on Tata Motors with negative outlook

13/08/2019
new delhi: Ratings agency S&P has reaffirmed Tata Motors' long-term issuer and issue credit ratings to be 'vulnerable to nonpayment' while keeping the outlook negative. S&P Global Ratings said it has reaffirmed 'B+' on Tata Motors' long-term issuer and issue credit ratings while keeping negative outlook due to high cash burn at its British arm Jaguar Land Rover, geopolitical risks such as Brexit and the US tariffs, and India's automotive market slowdown. The ratings agency has also removed t...

FM meets realtors, homebuyers; govt assures steps to boost liquidity, demand

13/08/2019
new delhi: The government said it will soon address issues affecting the real estate sector after industry bodies and homebuyers met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to flag their concerns regarding liquidity crunch, demand slowdown and stalled projects. The finance minister held two separate meetings the first with the two apex realtors' industry bodies CREDAI and NAREDCO, and the second with homebuyer associations, to discuss the issues concerning the real estate sector and steps to be ta...

Tata Steel’s UK losses continue to mount: Report

13/08/2019
London: Indian steel conglomerate Tata Steel lost more than 1 million pounds a day in the UK last year, according to the company's annual report. The Indian steelmaker, which runs the UK's largest steelworks at Port Talbot in south Wales, lost 371 million pounds in Britain in the financial year until March end this year as a result of lower production. The losses mark a hike from 222 million pounds a year earlier, according to 'The Sunday Times'. As per the annual report, the company's turno...

In US-China trade war, Europe a collateral damage

13/08/2019
Frankfurt: Like a sleek Mercedes crunched between two freight trucks, Europe’s economy is being knocked off course by the conflict between the U.S. and China over trade. The bill for damages from the U.S-China collision could be painfully high, starting this week if new growth figures on Wednesday show that Europe’s economic motor, Germany, is stalled or shrinking. Beyond that, economists say there are signs that years of jobs growth since the depths of the Great Recession and the eurozone deb...

Leasing of warehousing spaces jumps 31% in 8 major cities in H1FY19

13/08/2019
new delhi: Leasing of warehousing spaces went up by 31 per cent to over 13 million sq ft across eight major cities in the first half of this year, while investment of more than $200 million was witnessed in the industrial and logistic real estate segment, according to property consultant CBRE. The demand for warehousing/logistics space was driven by third party logistic firms, which absorbed 56 per cent of the total space, CBRE said in its report 'India Industrial and Logistics Market View H1 ...

As downturn continues, auto component industry stares at loss of 10 lakh jobs

12/08/2019
Chennai: Even as the Indian auto component industry is managing the downturn without major job cuts, there will be job losses to the tune of about 10 lakh if the situation continues, said a top official of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA). “Most of the auto component makers are managing the downturn by reducing the number of working days and retraining the workers. There are job losses. But that is being minimised as we know that getting back a trained worker ...

Income Tax department busts inter-state tax theft worth Rs 700 crore

12/08/2019
new delhi: The Income Tax department raided 62 locations to bust a tax theft worth Rs 700 crore in Tamil Nadu. The searches were conducted on properties belonging to SNJ Group, which is involved in liquor manufacturing business with bases across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. As many as 55 places were raided by the Income Tax department in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Thanjavur, etc and also in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. The premises included residences of the...

Cognizant rationalising costs to re-invest in talent, digital solutions

12/08/2019
new delhi: Cognizant is exercising "tighter control" over expenses through a slew of measures, including slower pace of hiring and reduced travel overheads as the IT major looks to re-invest in talent and digital solutions to drive growth. The US-based company, which has a significant number of its headcount in India, said it took "targeted actions" at senior-level executives in the second quarter - a move that is expected to result in $65 million of annualised savings. "...in the second quart...

BSNL plans to chase dues, hopes to recover Rs 3,000 cr from its clients

12/08/2019
new delhi: Battling severe liquidity crunch, BSNL plans to aggressively chase outstanding dues from its enterprise clients and is hoping to recover the bulk of over Rs 3,000 crore receivables in the next two-three months, its chairman said. The move comes at a time when Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is facing mounting pressure on its financials, and it even delayed payment of employee salaries for the second time this year. BSNL on August 5 had released July salaries of employees. "There are...

Audi India betting on petrol, plug-in hybrids, EVs; moving away from diesel

12/08/2019
new delhi: German luxury carmaker Audi is putting its bet on petrol, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles in India, driving away from diesel cars, as the country gears up to adopt strict BS-VI emission norms from April next year, according to a top company official. With the automobile market currently on a downturn, Audi India expects sales to remain muted even next year and pick up only in 2021, stabilising after BS-VI implementation. The company is gearing up to launch its full electric S...

Flipkart partners NSDC to train supply chain workforce of 20,000

12/08/2019
new delhi: Walmart-owned Flipkart on Sunday said it has partnered with National Skill Development Corporation's Logistics Sector Skill Council (LSC) to train 20,000 of its delivery executives across the country. As part of the partnership, the trained supply chain workforce will be certified in all aspects of product delivery and customer experience. "This is the first ever partnership between an e-commerce company and LSC...Flipkart envisions to have a robust training programme along with LS...

TV panel sales dip; manufacturers ask govt to lower GST, scrap import duty

12/08/2019
new delhi: Following some initial surge in demand during the ICC World Cup, TV panel sales have again witnessed a decline and manufacturers are now asking the government to lower GST and exempt the import duty on open cell television panels to boost sales. Manufacturers are attributing the fall in demand to overall low consumer sentiments, as sales of other home appliances like washing machine and refrigerators have also witnessed flat growth in July. According to the Consumer Electronics and...

Seven of top-10 firms add Rs 87,965 cr in m-cap; HUL, HDFC Bank top chart

12/08/2019
new delhi: Seven of the 10 most valued Indian companies together added Rs 87,965.88 crore in market valuation last week, with HUL and HDFC Bank topping the chart. While Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), HDFC, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank were the other firms which saw a rise in their market capitalisation (m-cap) for the week ended Friday, RIL, ITC and SBI suffered losses. The m-cap of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) zoomed Rs 22,145.92 crore to Rs 3,98,290.92 crore and tha...

Godrej Consumer’s Vivek Gambhir highest paid FMCG executive in FY19

12/08/2019
new delhi: Godrej Consumer Products MD and CEO Vivek Gambhir was the highest paid FMCG executive in the previous fiscal with a total remuneration of Rs 20.09 crore, followed by HUL's Sanjiv Mehta at Rs 18.88 crore, according to information available in annual reports of the companies. The country's top FMCG players are Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Nestle India, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), Dabur, Marico and Emami. In its annual report for 2018-19, GCPL said Gambhir received a total c...

Trouble for Anil Ambani: BSR resigns as RPower, RInfra’s statutory auditor

12/08/2019
Mumbai: The Anil Ambani group is under fresh stress, as auditors of two of its companies Reliance Power (RPower) and Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) have resigned. With this, auditors of four of the Reliance Group companies have quit in the past three months. RInfra informed the stock exchanges on Friday that BSR & Co had resigned as the company's auditor. “BSR & Co LLP (BSR) vide its letter dated August 9, 2019, has resigned as one of the statutory auditors of the company,” it said. In a sim...