Authorities in Beijing have ordered halal restaurants to remove Arabic script and symbols associated with Islam from their signs, part of an effort to “Sinicize” its Muslim population. The campaign against Arabic script and Islamic images marks a new phase of a drive that has gained momentum since 2016, aimed at ensuring religions conform with Chinese culture.
Since Café Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha’s purported letter surfaced on Tuesday citing the pressure from “one of the private equity partners forcing me to buyback shares”, the role of these firms is increasingly being questioned by entrepreneurs and investors.
There’s a strong feeling among Bengaluru’s business and political circles that at least some of VG Siddhartha’s problems stemmed from his ties with DK Shivakumar, a powerful and resourceful Congress leader. Documents reveal that the investigation in Siddhartha’s case arose from the search of DKS’ financial consultant N Chandrashekhar Sukapuri.
Non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was on Wednesday cut by Rs 62.50 per cylinder on softening international rates. Non-subsidised or market priced LPG, which consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates, will now cost Rs 574.50 with effect from midnight tonight, IOC said in a statement.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company witnessed double-digit growth in India in the last quarter, signalling strong momentum following its revised India pricing strategy. “In emerging markets, we returned to growth in Mainland China, grew strong double digits in India and Brazil and we set new Q3 records in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines,” he said during the June quarter earnings call.
Wipro on Tuesday said its Rs 10,497 crore share buyback will commence on August 14 and close on August 28. This follows Sebi’s nod. The company had announced a buyback proposal for purchase of up to 323 million equity shares of Rs 2 each from the shareholders on a proportionate basis at a price of Rs 325 per equity share.
IT major Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) met both street expectations and its own guidance on the back of marginal improvements in demand from financial services sector. CTS reported quarterly revenue of $4.14 billion — up 3.4% (4.7% in constant currency) in June. Sequentially, revenue grew marginally from $4.11 billion in the quarter ended March.
The US is "highly gratified by co-operation from a great friend like India" on the Iranian oil sanctions, the White House said on Wednesday as the Trump administration slapped sanctions against Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, ramping up its tension with Tehran. India has brought down the import of oil from Iran, with which it has historic ties, to almost zero.
Data released by the commerce and industry ministry showed the 8 core sectors — spanning coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — rose an annual 0.2% compared with 7.8% in June 2018 and lower than the previous month’s 4.3%. The core sector accounts for 40.2% of the index of industrial production.
The department of telecommunications (DoT) is "working on" a proposal for merger of cash-strapped BSNL and MTNL, as part of efforts to revive the ailing state-owned telecom firms, a source said.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has recommended that the income-tax department reexamine all cases where agricultural income exceeds a certain threshold - say Rs 10 lakh - to ensure that exemption is allowed only to genuine taxpayers. CAG found that agricultural income of nearly Rs 500 crore was allowed as exempt without adequate verification.
The RBI on Tuesday relaxed end-use restrictions on external commercial borrowings (ECBs) for companies and non-bank lenders. Borrowings up to seven years can be availed by non-banking finance companies for on-lending. Corporates can also raise seven-year funds for capital expenditure. Both these borrowings were not permitted earlier.
A sharp spike in short-term loans to continue funding his business expansion over the past 12 months may have cost VG Siddhartha significantly, as the overall liquidity crunch in the financial system after the IL&FS crisis made it tough to get additional loans. Besides, failure of pushing through the sale of a real estate holding could have helped ease his situation.
IndiGo has started a 5-day 13th anniversary sale where 10 lakh seats are being offered at fares starting from Rs 999 on domestic and Rs 3,499 on international routes. The sale is on from Wednesday to Sunday (August 4) and is for travel between August 15, 2019 to March 31, 2020.
In a relief to homeowners, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) paved the way on Tuesday for the third round of bidding for beleaguered Jaypee Infratech. It allowed the resolution process to be finished in 90 days which will include a 45-day window for the resolution professional and lenders of the debt-ridden firm to invite fresh bids.
"I could not take any more pressure..." These lines from the letter that founder VG Siddhartha wrote to Cafe Coffee Day employees before going missing highlights the plight of leaders in today's stressful world. Although organisations have begun taking initiatives to help employees manage stress levels, it's very lonely at the top.
Days after the Supreme Court entrusted NBCC with completing Amrapali projects, the PSU will take up Unitech's 74 projects affecting 17,000 buyers, with the court concluding the realtor is incapable of fulfilling its commitment. Unitech's MD Sanjay Chandra has been in jail since August 2017 for failing to hand over possession of flats.
Marketers are going bananas over the Rahul Bose vs JW Marriott episode, in which the actor was charged Rs 442 for a pair of the yellow fruit at the hotel.
Flipkart has launched its first furniture experience centre in Bengaluru, marking the Walmart-backed e-tailer's foray into the brick-and-mortar space. The company will launch two more outlets in the same city and will subsequently expand into others. Flipkart is showcasing furniture from about nine brands.
The video-sharing platform YouTube is striving to block those who would use it to promote racism, hate speech, violence and disinformation, its number two executive has told AFP, as the Google-owned company comes under increasing scrutiny.
Udaan, an online marketplace that supplies products and gives loans to small merchants, is in talks to raise a new round of funding of around $500 million. This will be at a post-money valuation of close to $2.7 billion, as business-to-business (B2B) startups continue to be high on investors’ radar.
Lack of proper training, unsupervised maintenance and the airline not adhering to “basic maintenance practices” led to a young SpiceJet technician losing his life while servicing an aircraft at Kolkata airport in the early hours of July 9. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has completed its probe into the accident that claimed life of 22-year-old technician Rohit Pandey when he got stuck in the Bombardier Q400’s main landing gear door.
Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and wife Sudha Murty expressed delight at their son-in-law Rishi Sunak’s appointment to British prime minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet as chief secretary of the Treasury. Sunak is married to their daughter Akshata.
Messaging service WhatsApp has been in the middle of a number of controversies since last year, ranging from the proliferation of fake news to storing data locally, even as it looks to expand into digital payments. The company's vision is to make sending money as easy as sending a message on the platform.
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday that a mechanism had been put in place to check diversion of funds by builders. Additional solicitor general Madhavi Divan said it was now mandatory for real estate companies to deposit 70% of the money raised from homebuyers in a separate bank account which would be used only for construction and builders would not be able divert the money.
After forcing banks to recognise stressed loans as non-performing assets (NPAs) last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is talking tough to large finance companies on asset quality. The RBI may place lending restrictions on some finance companies under a prompt corrective action (PCA).
Airtel and Vodafone-Idea will need to cough up Rs 3,050 crore towards non-provision of telecom connectivity points to Reliance Jio in 2016 with the Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the telecom department's apex decision-making body, going ahead with regulator Trai's recommendations on the matter.
Auto component players, backbone of the domestic automobile industry, are facing a prolonged and painful slowdown in demand for cars, commercial vehicles and two-wheelers. A drastically affected component industry has witnessed nearly 10 lakh jobs being shaved off. Majority of the job losses are contractual staff hired for regular production work by companies.
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India has improved its rankings on the Global Innovation Index (GII). It is now ranked 52nd, a jump of over five places from the last year. Since 2015, India has risen consistently in the GII rankings. In 2015, it ranked 81st but climbed to 66th position the next year. In 2017, it further jumped to six places. Here's a look.
Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson named Priti Patel as interior minister, marking a political comeback for the former international development minister.
The Supreme Court-appointed forensic auditors have found that homebuyers’ funds were diverted by Amrapali’s promoters to pay Rs 42 crore in fees to its brand ambassador MS Dhoni’s Rhiti Sports and the company, which manages the cricketer’s endorsement rights, may have to deposit the money in court.
IndiGo chairman M Damodaran has brokered a truce between the airline's warring promoters - Rahul Bhatia with his family-controlled InterGlobe Enterprises (IGE) and Rakesh Gangwal.
Rana Kapoor and Morgan Credits, promoters of Yes Bank, have disclosed to the stock exchanges that they have together pledged their entire stake in the bank. While Kapoor pledged his entire 4.31% holding, Morgan Credits pledged another 3.03%. Morgan Credits is a holding company owned by Kapoor’s daughters — Radha Kapoor Khanna, Raakhe Tandon and Roshni Kapoor.
Pramod Mittal, the younger brother of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, heads the supervisory board at metallurgical coke producer Global Ispat Koksna Industrija Lukavac (GIKIL), which has been among Bosnia's biggest exporters. He has been detained on suspicion of organised crime and abuse of office.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday dismissed contempt petitions filed against Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani and other officials by minority shareholders, alleging non-payment of dues by Reliance Infratel.
In what would cheer Indian professionals, as many as six of India’s top nine cities will be reporting double-digit salary growth (10-11%) this year, according to Team-Lease’s annual report. The study looked at 2 lakh salary records across 17 sectors in the nine cities for its analysis.
Apartment owners will have to pay 18% GST if their maintenance charges paid to the resident welfare association (RWA) exceed Rs 7,500 per month, a finance ministry clarification said on Monday.
Chinese video app TikTok has removed over 60 lakh videos for violating content guidelines in India as it works to strengthen mechanisms to guard against the carriage of unlawful and obscene content on the platform, a top official has said. TikTok's parent Beijing Bytedance Technology Co. has said the app has over 20 crore users (downloads) in India.
Domestic equity benchmark BSE sensex fell below the 38,000 mark, shedding nearly 100 points in early trade, on Tuesday amid heavy foreign fund outflow and weak domestic cues.
Real estate developers will no longer be able to incentivise buyers by paying the latter’s home loan EMIs (equated monthly instalments). The National Housing Bank (NHB) has asked mortgage companies to desist from offering loan products that involve servicing of the dues by builders, developers, etc, on behalf of the borrowers. The circular is expected to cut off one of the cheaper sources of funds for builders.
The committee has recommended a law banning cryptocurrencies in India and criminalising carrying on of any activities connected with them in India.
The rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 26 paise to 69.06 against the US dollar in early trade Monday amid heavy selling in domestic equities and rising crude oil prices.
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has voiced confidence that India will achieve economic growth of 8 per cent plus from fiscal year 2020-2021 onwards as structural reforms like the GST are set to produce the benefits.
