India's factory activity expanded for the seventh straight month in February, driven by strong demand and increased output, according to a private sector survey that also showed input costs inflation hitting a 32-month high.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday reported a 11.8 per cent increase in wholesales to 1,64,469 units in February. The company had sold 1,47,110 units in February last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bought a net $3.99 billion from the spot foreign exchange market in December compared to a net purchase of $10.26 billion in December, its monthly bulletin released on Monday showed.
Given that many organisations plan to have work-from-home this year as well, the major changes in the process are the evaluation parameters and appraisal outlook, where organisations are more outcome-focused than the number of working hours clocked in.
The government will begin the auction of mobile telecom airwaves for the first time in five years from Monday as around 2,250MHz of spectrum — worth nearly Rs 4 lakh crore at just the reserve price — will be sold across various bands. The designated 5G sale will happen later.
The US, the world's largest economy, owes India $216 billion in loan as the country's debt grows to a record $29 trillion, an American lawmaker has said, cautioning the leadership against galloping foreign debt, the largest of which comes from China and Japan.
The Reserve Bank of India has said that the current inflation target of 2-6% should continue for the next five years as consumers still have expectations of an elevated inflation. The central bank’s statement comes at a time when some commentators have said that it should be more tolerant of inflation in the wake of the economic crisis brought about by the pandemic.
The Delhi NCR-headquartered food tech company had acquired Bengaluru-based online caterer and office canteen aggregator Tonguestun Food in 2018 for an estimated $18 million to foray into the space, which industry executives said is highly unorganised.
Rising fuel expenses are having a cascading effect on manufacturing costs across sectors, which is resulting in higher prices for the end consumer. On Thursday, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das also pointed out that rising fuel prices have a cost-push factor.
Growth returned to the economy in the October-December quarter of 2020-21 helping it to move out of the recession that had gripped following one of the strictest Coviv-19 lockdowns imposed last year. The contraction in the June quarter was 24.4% while in the September quarter it was 7.3%. An economy is said to be in recession after posting two consecutive quarters of contraction.
The domestic currency crashed by over a rupee against the dollar on Friday to close at 73.47 — the biggest single-day fall since the post-pandemic crash on March 23, 2020. Bankers said that the rupee and government bonds fell in tandem with the selloff in equities and a surge in the dollar as global markets turned risk-averse.
Flying within the country without any check-in baggage could soon get much cheaper. Light fares offered by airlines for passengers with only cabin baggage, before the two-month domestic flight suspension last March, could be lower by a maximum of Rs 200 from the lowest level check-in baggage inclusive fares.
Household cooking gas became costlier by Rs 25 on Thursday, marking the third increase this month, taking the total increase to Rs 100 per cylinder. The increase comes on a day benchmark Brent crude hit a 13-month high at $67.70 and global LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) has spiked on higher demand due to the recent cold wave that swept across the US and Europe.
Social media and global internet giants such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube will not be able to withhold information on the source of unlawful and inflammatory messaging beyond 72 hours when asked by investigating and cybersecurity agencies, and will need to be more mindful and prompt to the requests of their subscribers, particularly women, on the removal of objectionable content.
Equity indices jumped in opening trade on Monday with benchmark BSE sensex rising over 500 points amid positive global cues.The 30-share BSE index was up 535 points or 1.05 per cent at 51,316; while the broader NSE Nifty trading 159 points or 1.06 per cent higher at 15,140.
GameStop Corp shares more than doubled in afternoon trading on Wednesday, surprising those who thought the video game retailer's stock price would stabilize after a fierce rally and steep dive that upended Wall Street in January.
Singapore-based private equity firm Everstone Capital has sold Modern Foods to Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo and its Indian subsidiary Ready Roti India. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest baking company, operates in 33 countries, including India, and has a portfolio of over 13,000 products and more than 100 brands.
The legislation was designed to curb the outsized bargaining power of Facebook and Google in their negotiations with Australian news providers. The digital giants would not be able to abuse their positions by making take-it-or-leave-it payment offers to news businesses for their journalism.
Soon, Rs 100 could be the new normal for a litre of regular petrol in states with high VAT and cess, unless fuel taxes are reduced or the oil-producing countries raise production sharply from April.
Facebook Inc on Wednesday pledged to invest at least $1 billion in the news industry over the next three years, days after a high-profile stand-off with the Australian government over paying news outlets for content.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE), India’s largest bourse, suffered an over five-hour tech glitch from about 10am on Wednesday. The incident prompted the markets regulator Sebi to step in and extend trading hours by an hour and half till 5pm.
The Internet and Mobile Association of India has sought public consultations with the government on guidelines for OTT streaming platforms before they are notified. In a statement on Wednesday, IAMAI said it was “dismayed” to see reports that the government intends to notify guidelines for OTT streaming platforms shortly.
As Covid numbers gradually decline in several parts of the country, people are regaining their confidence to step out for work. Consequently, formal clothes, accessories like shoes, bags & watches — apart from tiffin boxes — are seeing increased sales. A month-on-month recovery is being witnessed across many of these categories, said industry officials.
Equity benchmark sensex jumped over 200 points in the opening session on Wednesday tracking gains in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, despite weak trend in global markets.
Wipro is learnt to have won a $500 million contract from US cosmetics maker Estee Lauder, making it a significant deal under CEO Thierry Delaporte. Wipro will provide application development and maintenance and infrastructure management services.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday that as technology becomes all pervasive in our lives, privacy will become a fundamental right. He added that tech companies need to build products and services that are built for privacy, security, AI ethics and internet safety.
Australian lawmakers are expected to approve amendments to landmark legislation to force Alphabet's Google and Facebook to pay media companies for news content, despite opposition from some minor political parties.
Reliance Industries (RIL) will transfer its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) operations to a wholly owned subsidiary for a $25-billion loan, besides $12-billion equity. Consideration for the transfer of the O2C assets, which includes the operating team and 12 manufacturing facilities, will be funded by a $25-billion loan from the parent, the company said in a presentation filed with the stock exchanges.
The Biden administration has announced to do away with the stringent Trump-era citizenship test and revert to the easier 2008 version, making the US naturalisation process more accessible to all eligible individuals.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered immediate inspections of Boeing 777-200 planes with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines before further flights after an engine failed on a United flight on Saturday. The National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday that a cracked fan blade from the United Flight 328 engine that caught fire was consistent with metal fatigue.
Facebook Inc will restore Australian news pages in the next few days after Canberra agreed to amend legislation that would force the social media giant to pay media companies for news content.
E-wallet Mobikwik is going to charge consumers anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 140 as “wallet maintenance charge” from inactive users, a first in the Indian market.
A US-based Indian national has demanded a significant stake in One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent entity, along with a board seat and recognition as a co-founder, while accusing the company’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma of going back on his promise and allegedly misappropriating his investments.
Wipro has bolstered its leadership team by onboarding several senior regional leaders. It has appointed Pierre Bruno as the CEO of Europe and Stephanie Trautman as the chief growth officer.
Bigbasket has threatened legal action against Coimbatore-based online grocery startup DailyBasket for using the word ‘basket’ in its name. Bigbasket, which is set to be acquired by the Tatas, sent DailyBasket a cease-anddesist notice last week alleging that the latter was offering identical services “through conflictingly similar domain name”.
Large IT firms are warming up to gig workers alongside their regular workforce as the digital drive has accelerated the shift to a hybrid model. Wipro chairman Rishad Premji said the comfort of scale and dispersed talent base is becoming a reality unlike a year ago. In 2016, Wipro acquired TopCoder and Appirio which has 1.5 million freelance technologists on its platform.
Reliance Industries Ltd expects to get the necessary approvals to hive off its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business into a separate unit by the second quarter of the next fiscal year, the company said in a presentation to investors on Monday.
The US House of Representatives Budget Committee on Monday approved legislation with $1.9 trillion in new coronavirus relief, advancing a top priority of President Joe Biden toward a full House vote on passage expected later this week.
Equity benchmark sensex dropped over 200 points in opening trade on Monday tracking losses in index majors HDFC, ITC and L&T amid tepid cues from global markets. After dropping to 50,685.42, the 30-share BSE index pared most losses to trade 65.13 points or 0.13 per cent lower at 50,824.63.
A ban on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin may result in wealth erosion for about 1 crore Indian investors, including 10 lakh traders, who are estimated to own assets collectively worth over Rs 10,000 crore. Crypto entrepreneurs said that a ban won’t just hurt their business but also lead to gains for foreign firms and increased action on the black market.
Wipro founder chairman Azim Premji on Sunday said that engaging private players will help accelerate India’s vaccination efforts against Covid-19 and bring down vaccine cost.
Amazon India head Amit Agarwal has cautioned against “abrupt” and “unnecessarily frequent policy change” as it will hurt the e-commerce sector’s ability to play a crucial role in economic recovery, while maintaining that the operations are in line with government guidelines.
Cairn Energy on Sunday said that it was hopeful of finding an acceptable solution to the vexed $1.2-billion tax dispute with the government but will take all necessary steps to protect the interests of its shareholders.
