After TCS, HCL Technologies to consider share buyback scheme on July 12. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Samsung sets up world's largest mobile production factory in India. Samsung India on Monday announced a mega expansion plan for its mobile production unit located in Noida, claiming the top slot in the global pecking order in terms of capacity. The Korean electronics major, which had to recently give up the top spot in the Indian smartphone market to Chinese rival Xiaomi, is ready to expand its current capacity of 68 million units a year to 120 million by 2020. The facility would be the world’s largest mobile manufacturing factory once it is completed, Samsung executives said. Going beyond Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship 'Make in India' campaign, Samsung is pitching the expansion plan as a global initiative, calling it ‘Make for the world’.
PM Modi, along with the President of South Korea Moon Jae-in inaugurated the plant at Noida on Monday. “There is hardly a household in India, where Korean products are not found today. Currently, facilities in India manufacture some 10 per cent of the handsets made globally, according to government data. IT companies to benefit from currency, lower visa applications in Q1. Nike could beat rival Adidas in jersey sponsorship battle at World Cup. Tata plans to integrate food and beverage businesses into a single company. Flipkart set for financial services foray; to lend to consumers and sellers. In a move that could disrupt the consumer lending segment, e-commerce giant Flipkart is set to enter the financial services space, offering credit and insurance products to consumers and sellers on its platform.
The Bengaluru-headquartered firm has begun the process of applying for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence, which will allow it to open lines of credit to its 100 million-odd customers and over 100,000 sellers. In time, the company will offer these services beyond its platform, taking on firms like Paytm and Bajaj Finserv. It is also partnering insurance companies to co-create micro-insurance products that will align with a customer’s e-commerce journey, according to the company. Currently, over 60 per cent of the consumers shopping on Flipkart do not have any access to formal credit. This deters them from making large purchases on the platform, which, the company says, hinders its growth. “Be it consumer lending or seller lending, we have a hybrid strategy. Govt isn't delaying Voda-idea merger, DoT formalities pending: Manoj Sinha | Business Standard News.
The Vodafone-Idea Cellular merger will be completed after all processes stipulated in merger and acquisition regulations are duly followed, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said here on Tuesday. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) or the government has no intention to delay the deal, Sinha told reported on the sidelines of the inauguration of Ericsson's 5G innovation lab at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. "Every merger and acquisition needs to follow a set of rules and regulations. Once DoT completes all statutory formalities, Vodafone-Idea merger will be cleared immediately," the Minister said. The merger deal was expected to be completed last month, but the DoT is seeking legal opinion on the merger in respect to Vodafone's administratively allocated spectrum holdings, according to industry sources.
Industry sources said the issue now is that, with Vodafone being acquired by Idea, whether DoT should raise the demand on Idea Cellular of the differential amount. Dell moves to go public again, bypasses the traditional IPO process | Business Standard News. Zomato hires former MakeMyTrip COO as CEO of food delivery biz | Business Standard News. Zomato has appointed former MakeMyTrip executive Mohit Gupta as the chief executive of its food delivery business as the online food ordering company looks to accelerate its growth.
An Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta alumnus, Gupta worked at PepsiCo International for eight years before joining MakeMyTrip in 2008. At the online travel company, he played a pivotal role in building out the marketing function, the successful IPO, leadership in holidays’ business and mobile first approach. "We’re thrilled to have Mohit join our team - he is one of the few internet industry veterans who has helped build a formidable transactions business in India,” said Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO, Zomato. Over the last year, Zomato has seen the reshuffling of its leadership team. The company had in February raised $200 million from Ant Financial, raising its valuation to $1 billion. With on-time delivery, L&T stakes claim to build warships and submarines | Business Standard News.
Underlining its capability of building complex warships and delivering them faster than other private shipyards, and even the four defence public sector undertaking (DPSU) yards, Larsen & Toubro Shipbuilding on Tuesday laid the keels of two "new generation offshore patrol vessels" (NG-OPVs) ahead of its contracted schedule. This is part of an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) order for seven OPVs that L&T won in 2015. It stipulates delivery between 2018-2021, but L&T is determined to deliver all of them early, breaking with defence shipyards' long tradition of late delivery. "The first OPV [named ICGS Vikram]... was delivered in April 2018, ahead of schedule. The second OPV, launched in January 2018, is being readied for sea trials and is planned to be delivered ahead of schedule shortly," said an L&T press release on Tuesday. Industry analysts say L&T is demonstrating its capability in order to position itself for the coming multi-billion dollar Project 75-I contract to build six new submarines.
Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Reliance Jio postpaid users can get JioFi 4G router for Rs 499: Here is how | Business Standard News. Reliance Jio, a Mukesh Ambani-owned telecommunication service provider, on July 2 announced Rs 500 cashback offer on its JioFi 4G wireless portable dongle, which brings down the effective cost of ownership from Rs 999 to Rs 499. However, the JioFi cashback offer is valid only for new Jio postpaid subscribers on the purchase of JioFi 4G router.
The cashback offer is applicable from today onwards i.e. July 3. Here are the steps to avail JioFi cashback offer: Step 1: Purchase JioFi 4G router and Jio postpaid connection by paying the device’s full amount and refundable deposit for the connection Step 2: Use the device with Jio postpaid connection for 12 months Step 3: After successful completion of 12 months billing cycles, the cashback of Rs 500 would be credited to user’s account that can then be adjusted in future bills ALSO READ: Reliance Jio double dhamaka offer: Know new plans, data offers, discounts ALSO READ: Reliance Jio's new Rs 199 a month plan to hit other players' ARPU.
Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Trai fines Jio, Airtel, Idea, Voda for not meeting service quality norms | Business Standard News. Keeping its vigil on service quality in the sector, Trai has imposed penalties on leading operators, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, for failing to meet various Quality of Service benchmarks in the December quarter, according to a source. Around Rs 3.1 million fine has been imposed on Reliance Jio, the newest entrant in the telecom sector whose aggressive offerings have led to a bruising tariff war in the market. The penalty on Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio for December quarter is on account of Trai-defined service quality parameters including Point of Interconnect congestion, accessibility of call centres and customer care, and also those pertaining to termination or closure of service complied to within the stipulated seven days, according to the source. The fine imposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) relates to multiple circles or service areas in which the company operates.
Business Standard | Add Blocker. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Idea-Voda merger likely to get delayed over DoT's fresh demand of Rs 47 bn. The mega-merger deal of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India may not meet the expected June 30 timeline as the telecom department is looking to raise a fresh demand of around Rs 4,700 crore, a source said. The demand will be raised from Vodafone India before its merger with Idea Cellular. "Vodafone India had merged its all arm into one company and there are dues of around Rs 4,700 crore related to one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) on the company.
DoT will ask Vodafone to either clear dues or furnish bank guarantee before merger with Idea," an official source told PTI. In 2015, Vodafone had merged its four subsidiaries Vodafone East, Vodafone South, Vodafone Cellular and Vodafone Digilink with Vodafone Mobile Services, which is now called Vodafone India. DoT at that time has asked Vodafone to clear OTSC dues worth Rs 6,678 core but the company challenged it in court. "The DoT has received legal opinion which affirms that a demand can be raised from Vodafone," the source said.
Indian oil companies to gain from higher Opec output. In a step that is beneficial to India, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) decided to raise its output at a meeting held in Vienna on Friday. Though the producer group did not specify the increase, it may be in the range of 1 million barrels per day (bpd), or 1 per cent of the global supply. According to media reports, the supply increase is likely to fall in the range of 600,000-800,000 bpd because only some producers like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be able to raise output further. The increase in production happened after consumers like the United States, China and India knocked on the door of the producer lobby to avoid an oil deficit. For India, every $1 a barrel increase in crude oil prices will have an impact on its current account deficit by around $1 billion. Industry sources say the output rise may bring down prices to the level of $70 a barrel.
ALSO READ: Opec agrees to oil-output boost after reaching last-minute Iran compromise. Aditya Birla Finance bets on SMEs as it looks to expand to 50 cities. By the end of July Aditya Birla Finance Limited (ABFL) will be present in 50 cities (Tier I, II and III) across the country, growing from tapping 70 per cent of small-medium enterprises’ (SMEs) demand for credit, at present, to 85 per cent of the SME credit pool. The company has grown its lending book by 25 per cent to Rs 432.4 billion at the end of FY2018, with 27 per cent of ABFLs credit products being sold to SMEs. “The biggest challenge is to have a uniformity in terms of quality, culture and risk management across all our branches. Our biggest strength is that we strive our best to maintain this uniformity,” says Rakesh Singh, chief executive officer at ABFL.
Large corporates make up 33 per cent of ABFLs lending book, followed by mid-corporates at 17 per cent and retail customers at 11 per cent. The company sees the SME segment as the primary engine of growth over the coming years. ABFL offers SMEs lines of credit, business loans, supply-chain financing and working capital loans. JSW Steel plans to invest up to $500 million in Acero Junction. JSW Steel on Friday said that it had proposed an investment of up to $500 million in acquiring, enhancing and upgrading Acero Junction Inc, an integrated steel manufacturing unit with a potential capacity of three million tonnes, in Ohio, USA. The ramp-up will be in phases. In the first phase, JSW will revamp and restart the electric arc furnace and the slab caster and modernise the hot strip mill. The proposed investment, including the cost of acquisition, is expected to be around $250 million. In the second phase, depending upon the economic viability and prevailing market conditions, JSW will evaluate the possibility of adding another electric arc furnace as well as additional manufacturing equipment at the hot strip mill to make the Ohio facility a fully integrated unit, with three million tonnes per annum capacity.
The proposed investment in Phase-II could be in the range of up to $250 million, subject to feasibility studies and necessary approvals. Google plans global e-commerce debut from India market. Sundar Pichai-led Google is seriously evaluating getting into e-commerce and India could be the first stop, it is learnt. The launch could coincide with Diwali later this year, a source said. The search giant, which was in talks to invest in Flipkart after Walmart’s $16-billion deal to buy 77 per cent in the Bengaluru firm, is now trying to enter the Indian e-commerce space on its own.
With such a move, Google could take on both Amazon and Flipkart in a sector pegged at around $38.5 billion and projected to grow to as much as $100 billion by 2020 in the country. While the American major was getting ready to invest at least $2 billion in Flipkart post the Walmart deal, it may have subsequently decided to opt for the route that Amazon had taken five years ago to launch solo in India, another source said.
Google did not reply to Business Standard queries on the company’s e-commerce plan. An executive called it ‘’speculation’’. Larsen & Toubro's hydrocarbon business records a profit margin of 7.7% For 2017-18, Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T) hydrocarbon business recorded a profit margin of 7.7 per cent. This, for the segment that earlier struggled with sticky orders, is a complete turnaround from losses reported between fiscal year 2013 and 2015. Top officials heading the segment attribute the turnaround story to major internal restructuring and cost rationalisation, while external factors continued to remain challenging. “The hydrocarbon business of L&T booked losses for three years — FY13, FY14 and FY15 — predominantly because we had ventured into the international market in a big way for the first time and had to go through a steep learning curve,” said Subramanian Sarma, chief executive officer and managing director for L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering.
Sarma was brought in to head this team in 2015 when this section was struggling with sticky orders and booking segment losses. L&T Hydrocarbon was formed as a subsidiary of L&T in 2013 to sharpen focus on its hydrocarbon business. Infosys at exciting juncture, bets big on digital: Nilekani at 37th AGM. Riding on strong financial performance and new technologies, global software major Infosys is betting on digital strategy to spur growth in the exciting times, said its co-founder and Chairman Nandan M Nilekani on Saturday. "We are at an exciting juncture in the journey of our industry.
I have never seen as many possibilities to partner with and grow along with our clients as I see today. Every industry, every sector is undergoing transformation, driven by the digital revolution that engulfs us," Nilekani told shareholders at the company's 37th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Bengaluru. Nilekani, 63, rejoined the $10.94-billion IT major in August 2017 eight years after he resigned as CEO to join the then UPA government as head of the UIDAI, which issues unique identification card Aadhaar. Nilekani said digital challenges were pervading every space spanning media, entertainment, healthcare financial services, retail or pharmaceuticals.
"The first thing we did was to get our strategy right. Uber names Pradeep Parameswaran as India & South Asia President. TCS sets up third delivery centre in France with 230 seating capacity. ICICI Bank appoints Sandeep Bakhshi as COO, Chanda Kochhar goes on leave. The board of ICICI Bank has appointed Sandeep Bakhshi whole-time director and chief operating officer (COO) to run the affairs of the private lender. Chanda Kochhar, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO) will be on leave, pending the probe.
The changes come amid allegations of a quid pro quo in transactions between Videocon Industries, Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar’s company NuPower Renewables. The bank board has appointed former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna to probe allegations of conflict of interest against Kochhar. He will be aided by a number of internal and external ‘experts’ to complete the investigation. The bank said Bakhshi’s appointment as COO will be for a period of five years, subject to regulatory approvals. ALSO READ: ICICI Bank up 4% on reports that board is mulling top management reshuffle He will take over as COO on June 19 or on the date of regulatory and other approvals, whichever is later, the bank said in a filing with the BSE. Airtel embroiled in row over anti-Muslim tweet from a customer. Videocon case: ICICI Bank weighs leave for Chanda Kochhar till probe report.
Amazon flaunts Pay to take on e-wallet biggies, to extend credit services. IndiGo pilots up in arms over 'foreign hands' at higher salary. Xiaomi launches digital lending, with instant loan offers on user phones. Tesla-loving nation now wants to be a pioneer in electric planes. Jio takes on Airtel, announces 1.5 GB additional data per day to users. Sun Pharma says USFDA issues at Halol over, two specialty drugs may get nod. Reliance Jio third-largest telecom firm, others up revenue share. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Fortis stake sale bids postponed to June 28; Q4 result deferred to June 25. Philips gets Virat Kohli as brand ambassador for male grooming products. Ashok Leyland gets nod from board to merge light commercial vehicle arm.
PNB bank fraud: Nirav Modi flees to UK, seeking 'political asylum', says report. Business Standard | Add Blocker. Tata Sons to raise Rs 1.5 billion from the international markets. Google, Twitter told to share info about data-sharing deal with Chinese cos. Air India gets costlier: Pay 5 times more for baggage from June 11. Insolvency: Patanjali, Adani asked to submit updated bids for Ruchi Soya. Hindustan Unilever to merge food, refreshment units from July 1. Amazon now has customers in 100% serviceable pin-codes in India: Jeff Bezos.
Apple throws wrench in Facebook's data-gathering with tweaks in Safari. AirAsia India faces churn at the top with 4 senior positions remain vacant. IL&FS to partner with Jerry Rao's VBHC for affordable housing projects. Apple ups data privacy controls in growing spat with Facebook. Patanjali gets Yogi jolt: Rs 20 bn food park project not allowed in UP. Apple may soon debut phone-to-phone augmented reality, say sources. Whirlpool India looks to expand portfolio, to acquire 49% stake in Elica PB. Coca-Cola, Infosys and other companies pledge to beat plastic pollution. When Amazon goes from partner to rival. Insurance firms knock off agents, go for digital-first to grow business. Former Google exec Nikesh Arora named CEO of Palo Alto Networks. Tata Sons slams US daily for 'defamatory' report on $50 mn gift to Harvard. Samsung plans camera revamp for next Galaxy Note; to be unveiled in August.
TVS Motor sales shoot up 10% in May to 309,865 units, exports grow 53% Slow progress in construction of railway overbridges. No Supreme Court relief for Tatas in Taj Mansingh auction case. Residential share will go up to 50% in the next five years, hopes Embassy. Air India no-show: Govt blames inadequate risk-taking appetite. Domestic retail bodies seek Flipkart-Walmart deal probe. No takers for Air India stake sale: Core group to meet next week.
Idea Cellular to become Vodafone Idea; plans to raise Rs 150 billion. GM hits China's market with cheap Baojun cars to meet mass demand. How Virat Kohli got the WROGN right for Sachin Tendulkar's business. Poor tourist traffic forces Apple to shut Atlantic city store, lay off 52. After Facebook, Microsoft is building tool to spot bias in AI algorithms. Ours will be increasingly skill-based hiring: Tech Mahindra's C P Gurnani. Infosys flags up activist shareholders as a risk to future growth. Apollo Hospitals joins hands with IBM Watson for cancer treatment. Ola expands in Australia; launches cab services in three more cities. RCom moves NCLAT challenging order allowing plea for its insolvency. L&T Construction bags orders worth Rs 4,033 crore. Amazon may buy 10% in Future Retail for $600 mn, expand offline retail biz.
Air India to bid goodbye to 3 aged Classic A320s by December. ITC meets Street estimates; Q4 profit up by 9.89% at Rs. 29.33 billion. Infosys sets up blockchain-based trade network in India with 7 banks. JSW Steel Q4 net profit jumps 3-fold to Rs 28.79 billion. TVS Motor net profit rises 30.6% in Jan-Mar quarter to Rs 1.65 billion. RCom's insolvency jeopardises $3.7 bn deal; shares and bonds tumble. CIL asks Railways Ministry to come up with a roadmap for coal evacuation. India needs 3 million cyber security professionals right now: IBM.
Investors may force Walmart to bring Flipkart IPO within next four years. Air India revenue up 20% at Rs 30 billion, set to increase flying hours. Reliance Jio files complaint against Airtel over Apple Watch eSim service. Flipkart's Big Shopping Days sale: Huge discounts, 100% cashback for 4 days. Rolls-Royce's first SUV, the $325,000 Cullinan, to hit the road next year.