Shift towards automation won't hurt hiring in India, says Capgemini. French IT services and consulting major Capgemini, which has bulk of its global workforce located in India, has indicated that the company will continue to expand its offshore presence in India despite a strong shift towards automation across the organisation.
As on December 31, 2018 (end of FY18), the Paris-headquartered company had a total of 211,300 employees globally, of which close to half, or 106,000, were based out of India across its different delivery centres. "... We continue to leverage our strong offshore capabilities for both innovation and profitability, notably in India, where we have, I think, reached 106,000 people," said Paul Hermelin, chairman and CEO of Capgemini, during the company's post-earnings call with analysts on Thursday. Overall, 58 per cent of Capgemini's global employees are located in offshore locations, including India. However, the company reported 310 basis points higher attrition in the December quarter on a year-on-year basis at 22 per cent. MARKET WRAP: Sensex falls 311 points as geopolitical concerns weigh. Facebook behaved liked 'digital gangsters' by flouting privacy laws: UK MPs. A scathing British parliamentary report on Monday branded Facebook "digital gangsters" that knowingly violated data privacy and competition laws.
Lawmakers' 18-month investigation into disinformation and "fake news" also accused Facebook of failing to faithfully fight Russia's alleged attempts to influence elections. Cultural select committee chair Damian Collins said Facebook "deliberately sought to frustrate our work by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at times misleading answers to our questions. " Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg turned down three requests to appear before the committee. "Companies like Facebook should not be allowed to behave like 'digital gangsters' in the online world, considering themselves to be ahead of and beyond the law," the report said.
"Social media companies cannot hide behind the claim of being merely a 'platform' and maintain that they have no responsibility themselves in regulating the content of their sites. " FM Jaitley to address RBI board today, take a call on interim dividend. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is scheduled to address the customary post-budget meeting of the central board of the Reserve Bank on Monday and highlight the key points of the interim Budget, including the fiscal consolidation roadmap.
The meeting, according to sources, will take a call on the interim dividend to be paid to the government during the current fiscal. The government expects Rs 28,000 crore from the RBI as interim dividend for 2018-19 based on the financial position of the central bank. Last financial year, the RBI had paid an interim dividend of Rs 10,000 crore to the Centre.
The customary post-budget meeting will take place against the backdrop of a slight deviation from the fiscal deficit target for the current financial year, tax rebate for income up to Rs 5 lakh and income support scheme for 12 crore farmers. In the Interim Budget, the government has projected a fiscal deficit of 3.4 per cent of the GDP for 2019-20, against the earlier target of 3.3 per cent. RBI working on strict, clear-cut clawback triggers for bank CEO pay. Interim Budget 2019: A fairly balanced budget where no one can be unhappy. The Finance Minister has taken a fairly pro-people stance in the Interim Budget announced today.
Two things stand out. The first is the tax benefits for the middle class, which has been quite phenomenal as rarely does an Interim Budget give benefits in terms of increasing the exemption limit substantially as well as other add-ons in terms of standard deduction and tax emption on interest. Second, the thrust on the poorer sections through health insurance, pension, assured income (Rs 6000 per annum for 12 crore families) etc. is a big positive which if implemented well will help society. Budget 2019: Who gained and who lost from FM Piyush Goyal's proposals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered an interim budget likely to boost the government’s popularity ahead of polls that are now just months away.
The budget includes big announcements such as a major income support scheme for farmers and a new pension program for workers. It also includes a number of smaller measures that could prove popular, including tax relief for India’s lower middle class. Delivered by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal because Arun Jaitley is in the U.S. for medical treatment, the budget speech was heavy on praise for the government’s programs over the last four-and-a-half years -- sometimes prompting boos from the opposition. Farmers, as well as companies with exposure to rural India and middle class taxpayers, seem to be the clear winners here at the expense of the country’s fiscal deficit. Interim Budget 10 takeaways: Cash for farmers, tax break for middle class. The government poured extra money into support for farmers and a rural jobs programme, delivering on Friday its last budget before a general election due by May.
Here are key highlights from Finance Minister Piyush Goyal's interim budget speech. 1) Small and marginal farmers to get Rs 6,000 a year under a cash transfer scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Samman Nidhi. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said it will benefit 120 million farmers and will be implemented from this financial year itself. He said Rs 20,000 crore has been provided for the current financial year and also announced an allocation of Rs 75,000 crore for the next financial year. Interim Budget 2019: Much-awaited push for realty, home sales may spike. India’s $200 billion real estate sector has finally got some reprieve in the last budget tabled by the incumbent government.
In an effort to push the Prime Minister’s housing-for-all initiative, the government has announced a whole set of tax reforms for the sector in Interim Budget 2019. The changes in tax policies are also expected to boost home sales which have been subdued in markets such as national capital region, Mumbai and other big cities. Scan the budget insight out here. Moody's says Interim Budget credit negative on fiscal deficit, giveaways. Terming the inability to meet fiscal deficit target for four consecutive years as a big "credit negative" for the sovereign, global rating agency Moody's on Friday doubted if the country will meet even the 3.4 per cent fiscal gap target for FY20.
The agency said in the Interim Budget there is an absence of new policies to boost revenues but has many measures leading to higher expenditure which though will increase consumption will also increase the fiscal burden. The Budget pegs fiscal deficit slipping by 10 bps to 3.4 per cent for the current year, courtesy an income support scheme for farmers and expects it to stay at the same level in FY20 as well. Interim Budget 2019: In run-up, a look at Jaitley's Budget 2018 highlights. With the Lok Sabha elections 2019 due this year, the Budget to be presented today by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will by referred to as an 'Interim' Budget.
This Budget will essentially be the government's financial plan for three-four months before the government that takes office after the elections prepares a full Budget for 2019-20. The new government will have the freedom to change the Interim Budget estimates when it presents the final Budget. The convention is that in Interim Budgets, presented before the country goes to the polls, the governments of the day avoid major policy announcements or taxation proposals. We're moving towards realising New India by 2022: FM Goyal in budget speech. Interim Budget 2019: Govt misses fiscal deficit goal second year in a row. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said while presenting the 2019-20 Interim Budget in Parliament that the fiscal deficit as per revised estimates for 2018-19 came in at 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product.
This compares with a budgeted target of 3.3 per cent of GDP. Meanwhile, a tweet from an official government handle said that the fiscal deficit target for 2019-20 has been budgeted at 2.5 per cent of GDP. Cash income for farmers, pension for workers in Goyal's Interim Budget. The Narendra Modi government projected a fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent of GDP and announced a direct cash income scheme for farmers as presented the last Budget of its five-year tenure, keeping in line with analysts' expectations of scheme to ease rural distress.
Here's the Uber investor letter that forced Travis Kalanick to step down. On June 20, 2017, two venture capitalists arrived at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Chicago to hand-deliver a letter to Travis Kalanick. The memo helped convince the Uber Technologies Inc. co-founder to step down as chief executive officer. The document was among a series of files that were unsealed Monday as part of a lawsuit over autonomous-vehicle trade secrets brought by Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo.
Although the companies settled the case a year ago, a judge ruled that some of the evidence shouldn’t be kept from the public. Below is a full reproduction of the letter, which references corporate scandals and concerns about the lack of a qualified chief financial officer. Kalanick’s replacement, Dara Khosrowshahi, worked to rectify those in his first year on the job. The IL&FS soap opera has now created more drama; this time for Zee. The opportunity to own the largest broadcaster in a consumer market of 1.3 billion people doesn’t arrive all that often; even more rarely does it come after a single-day 26 per cent rout in the stock. The special situation has arisen because of Indian infrastructure financier-operator IL&FS Group’s sudden $12.8 billion bankruptcy. Analysts who believed the tremors would reach other shadow-banking entities like Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. were half right. Yes, Dewan’s loan disbursements fell 95 per cent from a year earlier in the December quarter amid pressure on the mortgage lender to deleverage.
Lessors move to ground Jet Airways planes, GECAS takes first step. In a first such move by a creditor in relation to Jet Airways, US-based aircraft lessor GECAS has asked the debt-laden airline to ground at least five Boeing 737 planes due to non-payment of dues. GECAS, a top international lessor, is the aircraft leasing arm of General Electric. "GECAS has written to aviation regulator DGCA asking it to ground the planes as Jet Airways has not cleared lease rentals for five months now," said a person aware of the development. This is the first instance after the Kingfisher default that a lessor has asked a scheduled carrier to ground its planes. The development comes at a time when Jet is looking to raise fresh capital.
Talks are underway with Etihad Airways, which currently owns 24 per cent stake in the airline, for equity, and with a State Bank of India-led consortium for conversion of debt to equity. DHFL diverted Rs 31,000-crore loans to promoter firms, says Cobrapost. Media outlet Cobrapost on Tuesday alleged Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) had diverted loans worth Rs 31,000 crore — a charge the company termed “mischievous”.
The stocks of DHFL, a non-banking financial company, went down more than 8 per cent to close at Rs 170.05. “DHFL has siphoned off Rs 31,000 crore into promoter companies to create private wealth through a network of shell companies,” said Cobrapost, which held a press conference here on Tuesday. According to the Cobrapost expose, DHFL, which has a net worth of Rs 8,700 crore, raised Rs 96,000 crore through loans and public deposits. Cobrapost said, “By lending to shell or pass-through companies without due diligence, DHFL has ensured that the recovery of such dubious loans is impossible since the companies or their directors themselves do not own any assets.
Huawei hits back, accuses western govts of 'slander, discrimination' Tata Power's quarterly profit plunges nearly 67%; hit by higher expenses. 'Maintain patience': Inside Subhash Chandra's fight to keep empire afloat. Rahul Gandhi promises minimum income guarantee for poor if voted to power. Somewhat reminiscent of his grandmother Indira Gandhi’s poll promise of ‘garibi hatao, or alleviate poverty, in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Congress, if voted to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, would implement a minimum income guarantee for the poor of India.
The Congress president made the promise while addressing a public meeting in Chattisgarh’s Raipur. India vs New Zealand 3rd ODI LIVE: Chahal dismisses Kane; 59-3 in 16 overs. PhonePe plans expansion, eyes $50 billion in transactions in 2019. Govt considering NITI Aayog's area-based package for distressed farmers. The NITI Aayog has come up with a proposal to give relief to distressed farmers which, among other suggestions, is being considered by the government. The proposal will have a minimum impact on the exchequer and will be the least ‘market-distortionary’, say NITI Aayog officials. 2019 a growth year for Indian IT firms: Tech Mahindra MD Gurnani at Davos.
The Indian IT sector faces global headwinds like Brexit but developments around Globalisation 4.0 and 5G technology will bring growth for the industry this year, Tech Mahindra's MD and CEO C P Gurnani said. Investors hit by Zee group stock crash, panicky MFs meet company officials. Public shareholders, including mutual funds (MFs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), have been hit hard by the crash in stock prices of Zee group companies. Panicky MFs met with the officials of the beleaguered group on Saturday to take stock of the situation, said sources.
Domestic fund houses have high exposure to the group companies both on the equity as well as debt side. Flagship group company Zee Entertainment Enterprises, part of the benchmark Nifty index, has MF equity holding of Rs 1,850 crore, while FPI holding of over Rs 12,700 crore, an analysis of shareholding data shows. More importantly, debt MFs have exposure of nearly Rs 7,300 crore to Zee Entertainment.
The investments have landed in a tricky spot after nearly a third of the value of the stock evaporated on Friday. A water crisis is brewing between South Asia's arch-rivals India, Pakistan. Women and children walk miles each day in search for water in a crowded, downtrodden district of Pakistan’s financial capital, Karachi — a scene repeated in cities throughout the country. Videocon loan case: CBI officer who lodged FIR against Kochhar transferred.
The CBI officer-in-charge who lodged FIR in the alleged irregularities pertaining to the sanctioning of loans by the ICICI bank, has been transferred out. The development took place a day after CBI booked former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar, her husband and others in the case. Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra, who was Superintendent of Police (SP) of Banking and Securities Fraud Cell of CBI, Delhi, was transferred to CBI's Economic Offences Branch in Ranchi, Jharkhand. He had signed FIR against Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot and others on January 22 in connection with ICICI-Videocon case. NCLT turns down prayer for revival of Adhunik Metaliks insolvency process. Subhash Chandra alleges 'negative forces' hampering ZEEL's stake sale. Despite 'soft-Hindutva' charges, Priyanka may enter politics with Kumbh dip. New AIIMS coming up in Tamil Nadu; PM Modi to lay foundation on Sunday.
ED, CBI head to West Indies; will they bring Choksi, Nirav back to India? I-T dept attaches shares held by V G Siddhartha, Coffee Day in Mindtree. SC upholds validity of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in its entirety. How India, China can gain from Trump's move to hurt Venezuelan oil industry. Amazon, Walmart push hard to extend FDI guidelines in e-commerce. IndiGo appoints Ronojoy Dutta as CEO, Meleveetil Damodaran as chairman. Non-filers will have 21 days to file I-T returns, submit response: CBDT.
To fill up director posts at Air India, govt may take search-select route. RBI reluctant to change FPI portfolio limits introduced last year. French firm's Indian unit buys Prabhat's dairy business for Rs 1,700 crore. New IT system to soon bar e-way bills if GST returns not filed for 6 months. Business-standard. From learning to enrollment, India's primary education is in a shambles. In a first, Centre to roll out India-centric size in apparels: Smriti Irani. Jet's lenders awaiting Sebi decision on exemptions to Etihad: SBI chairman. Rs 14,300-cr fraud: Centre issues order to sack two PNB executive directors.
Sebi turns down L&T's Rs 9,000-cr share buyback citing compliance issues. Tamil Nadu to set up Rs 250 crore-fund to help form 5,000 startups. Wipro Q3: Revenue in CC terms may grow 2% QoQ; deal wins, digital biz eyed. Business Standard. Mukesh Ambani's RIL to enter e-commerce, take on Amazon and Flipkart. GoM to examine GST tax rate, composition scheme for real estate sector. Delhi HC admits petition challenging merger of Vijaya, Dena, Bank of Baroda. Business Standard. May's Brexit deal rejected by UK Parliament, leaving Britain in limbo. MARKET WRAP: Sensex rallies 465 points led by IT stocks, RIL and HDFC twins. Huawei's founder denies US spying claims, says he won't harm the world. Lenders to bail out debt-laden Jet Airways after forensic clean chit. Etihad to raise stake in Jet to 49%; founder to give up control: Report. Flipkart unit Myntra and Jabong CEO Ananth Narayanan steps down.
Dec retail inflation rate drops to 2.19% y/y, lowest since June 2017. India likely to overshoot fertiliser aid bill by $4.2 bn, banks may chip in. Justice Sikri declines govt offer to nominate him to Commonwealth Tribunal. From Singhania vs Singhania to battle of telcos; top 10 business headlines. UPI's value grew 700% in 2018 while total digital payments fell 1% Housing sales up 7% in 2018 in 9 major cities; new supply falls 22%: Report. Sebi shift to physical settlement may lead to impact costs widening: Limaye.
Lok Sabha elections 2019: UP to see triangular contest as BSP-SP join hands. Syndicate Bank hopes to recover Rs 1,500 cr from NPAs in 3-6 months. The big hangup: Here's why the future is not just your smartphone. DMart owner Avenue Supermarts' Q3 net profit growth slowest in 8 quarters. 10% quota for general category poor will boost new India's confidence: PM. H1-B visa workers may soon get US citizenship, promises Donald Trump. Ashok Chawla quits as NSE chief after govt allows CBI to prosecute him. FBI opened inquiry into whether Trump was secretly working for Russia. Alok Verma in, Alok Verma out: 10 things to know about CBI chief's exit. Maruti hikes vehicle prices by up to Rs 10,000 on rising commodity prices.
Gay sex, adultery not allowed in Army despite SC order: General Bipin Rawat. There is $137 billion at stake as Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announce divorce. Business Standard. Kohli tops celeb list again as his brand value rises to $170.8 mn in 2018. Modi pushes quotas ahead of Lok Sabha polls, but where are the jobs?
Relief for 2 mn small businesses as GST exemption doubled to Rs 40 lakh. Off-budget financing understates govt's expenditure, creates liability: CAG. As global cash shrinks, party may be over for Indian equities. Pfizer to stop manufacturing operations in Chennai, Aurangabad units. Bill on citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants cleared in Lok Sabha. Relief for Vedanta; Supreme Court clears reopening of Sterlite copper unit. Donald Trump speech: No decision on declaring national emergency, says Conway.
SC brings Verma back as CBI chief, but can't take major policy decisions. 10% quota to cover pvt educational institutions too; Lok Sabha passes Bill. RBI appoints Nandan Nilekani as head of panel to boost digital payments. Supreme Court sets up five-judge bench to hear Ayodhya land dispute case. Infosys to consider share buyback, special dividend on Jan 11 board meet. Business Standard. Bandhan Bank buys Gruh Finance; promoter stake in bank to reduce to 61%