Business Affairs

Thursday, 10 November 2016

On day of Trump's victory, eBay lays off staff in Bengaluru

Online marketplace eBay is laying off staff in Bengaluru and taking back work to Silicon Valley. The decision came on Wednesday as Donald Trump got elected as the 45th President of United States on promise of bringing back jobs home.

Calling it a part of a global restructuring, the eBay says it has cut jobs at its centre in Bengaluru in favour of shifting them to other locations around the world. The layoffs will affect only those people working in its global product team, while its analytics and India product support teams will be unaffected.

"As a normal course of business, eBay regularly reviews its operational structure and today we announced some changes to our global product and technology team. As a result, we are reducing our overall technology workforce in Bangalore and shifting work to other global centers around the world," said an eBay spokesperson.

Sunday, 6 November 2016

Why the US Election is close, and what Trump and Obama have in common

Donald J. Trump is in striking distance of winning the election with two days to go, and there’s really just one reason for that: He’s leading white voters without a college degree by a huge margin.

In recent national surveys, Mr. Trump leads Hillary Clinton by 59 percent to 30 percent among that group. It’s larger than the 57-35 lead that Mitt Romney had with those voters in the final polls in 2012.

On their own, Mr. Trump’s gains among this group have been enough to cancel out four years of favorable demographic shifts for Democrats among Hispanic and well-educated white voters.

Government bonds may no longer be 'safe' assets, investors warn

Investors pushed into buying government bonds that won't mature for many years, seeking to bolster meagre returns since the financial crisis, could now face big losses if central banks raise interest rates.

As yields have collapsed toward zero due to slow economy growth, falling inflation, super-easy monetary policy and central bank bond-buying, investors have sought bonds with longer and longer maturities to eke out extra basis points in return.

Governments keen to lock in record-low borrowing rates have obliged by issuing longer and longer debt. A spate of 30-year and 50-year issuances have seen average maturities rise to 9.8 years, from 8.5 in 2011, according to JP Morgan's global government bond index - a huge shift for the multi-trillion dollar market.

Samsung to launch AI assistant service for Galaxy S8

Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 7 smartphones are displayed at its shop in Seoul, South Korea. AP | PTI

Samsung Electronics Co said on Sunday it would launch an artificial intelligence digital assistant service for its upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone, seeking to rebound from the Galaxy Note 7’s collapse and differentiate its devices.

The world’s top smartphone maker in October announced the acquisition of Viv Labs, a firm run by a co-creator of Apple’s Siri voice assistant programme. Samsung plans to integrate the San Jose-based company’s AI platform, called Viv, into the Galaxy smartphones and expand voice-assistant services to home appliances and wearable technology devices.

Nifty holds 8,500; PNB Housing Finance lists at 11% premium

Markets continued to hold on to their early gains with Lupin emerging as the top gainer after the USFDA clearance for it Goa unit.

At 10:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 254 points at 27,528 and the Nifty50 was up 90 points at 8,523. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 1.5%-1.7% each. Market breadth was strong with 1888 gainers and 423 losers on the BSE.

ALSO READ: Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump: Latest developments on US elections

Lupin was up 6% after the pharma major said that it has received Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US health regulator for its Goa plant leading to closure of all outstanding inspections of the facility.

Blackout of NDTV: A time when Vajpayee government refused to ban Jaya TV

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

As it becomes increasingly clear with each passing day why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken away the Information and Broadcasting Ministry portfolio from Arun Jaitley and given it to M Venkaiah Naidu in the cabinet reshuffle in mid-July, the journalistic world is sharply divided over the daylong blackout of NDTV India and News Time Assam.

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the India Today group Aroon Purie on Saturday tweeted a paragraph from the statement by the News Broadcasters Standards Authority (NBSA), an independent regulatory body set up by television channels: “Banning channels dangerous weapon in hands of government. Should respect well established self-regulation.”

Images of supposed new Rs 2,000 notes emerge on Twitter

Alleged Rs 2,000 note (Photo: @allusaiharsha)

Images of the supposed Rs 2,000 denomination bank notes have been circulating on Twitter. The images follow some media reports that such a currency note might soon be introduced.

Business Standard could not independently verify if the images circulating on the micro-blogging site were authentic,

Friday, 4 November 2016

Infosys, Sun Pharma, Wipro hit 52-week lows

Brokers trade at their computer terminals at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai. Photo: Reuters

Infosys, Wipro and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries from the benchmark Sensex and Nifty50 indices have hit their respective 52-week lows on the bourses today.

All these three stocks were down in the range of 1%-2%, as compared to 0.16% fall in the benchmark indices at 01:21 pm.
Sun Pharma was too down 1.8% to Rs 701, also its 52-week low on NSE. The pharmaceuticals company will announce its Q2FY17 results on November 10, 2016.

The board will also consider the proposal for the merger/amalgamation of Ranbaxy Drugs Limited, Vidyut Investments Limited, Gufic Pharma Limited and Sun Pharma Medisales Private Limited (formerly known as Solrex Pharmaceutical Company), all four companies being wholly owned subsidiaries of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, with Sun Pharmaceutical Industries subject to receipt of necessary approvals.

Government slaps $1.5 bn penalty on RIL for drawing ONGC's gas in KG basin

A man walks past an advertisement of Reliance Industries Limited at a construction site in Mumbai.

The government on Friday sought $1.5 billion from Reliance Industries as penalty for using the migrated gas from the block of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra pradesh coast.

Oil ministry has given Reliance Industries and partners 30 days to respond to the penalty notice

Shares of Reliance Industries were down 1.28 per cent to Rs 1012.30 at 1:20 pm.

In a report by Justice AP Shah committee, it found the operators guilty and recommended the compensation on RIL and its partners for “unjust benefit” received through migration of gas. Reports suggest that the government is set to come out with a notification in this regard by the end of this week.

International consultant DeGolyer & MacNaughton said in a report that 11.125 billion cubic meters of gas migrated during the six years to March 31, 2015, from ONGC's two blocks in Krishna Godavari basin, off the country's east cost, to the one operated by Reliance.

Cyrus Mistry won't resign from Tata companies, ready for legal battle

Ousted Chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry leaves from Bombay House in Mumbai.

Cyrus Mistry will not resign from any group companies where he is the chairman and is ready for legal battle with Tatas — if need be, a family source told Business Standard.

Mistry is currently chairman of all top-listed firms. Tata Sons stake in these companies is low while the institutional/small shareholders are owning the rest. The Shapoorji Pallonji family owns 18.5 per cent in the Tata group holding company, Tata Sons. Tata Sons, in turn, holds 39 per cent stake in Indian Hotels.

Senior independent directors on the board of Indian Hotels are planning to discuss the acquisitions made by the previous management led by former chairman and current Interim Chairman Ratan Tata in the crucial Indian Hotels board meeting to be held in Mumbai on Friday. The removal of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Indian Hotels is not on the agenda, and the board meeting is to consider the July-September 2016 quarter results.

ALSO READ: Ronen Sen lashes out at Cyrus Mistry for leaking information.

Read more....

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Govt tightens gold import norms for premium export houses

The Director General of Foreign Trade has tightened norms for export houses to import gold in their capacities as nominated agencies. The public notice to this effect issued by the DGFT has said that for getting permission as a nominated agency for importing gold for domestic purpose, only exports from domestic tariff areas would be counted and such exports have much better vigilance mechanism.

At present apart from banks, MMTC and body like export promotion councils star and premium trading houses were allowed to import gold for domestic market. now import by star and premium trading houses will come down because the DGFT has said that for “the export performance of Gem and Jewellery items for Special economic zones and Export oriented units {SEZ/EOUs} will not be clubbed with export performance of Domestic tariff area (DTA) units for grant of nominated agency certificate.”

The public notice no. 37/2015-2020 dated 4 October was actually made available this week only.

A veteran trade analyst said that, “some leading export houses were allegedly incorrectly declaring gold jewellery exported from SEZ/EOUs to be of 22 carat jewellery while actually, they were exporting 18 carat jewellery thereby saving around 8 per cent of gold imported duty free in the name of exporting back and selling that gold in open market in India. Since DTA exports have tighter vigilance mechanism, such a practice will be arrested.”

Read more....

DoCoMo, Singur, IHL: Tata Group's tryst with law in 2016

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry’s near unceremonious removal as chairman of the Tata group of companies is now set to turn into an extended legal battle.

The removal has been followed by bitter outbursts from the ousted chairman who even wrote a scathing five-page letter to the board thus transforming a boardroom feud into a public row.

Interim chairman Ratan Tata and his team have moved to file caveats in Bombay High Court, Delhi High Court and the National Company Law Tribunal as a preventive measure from any legal action that Mistry may initiate. Mistry has not announced any legal action yet and hasn’t filed caveats either.

While this mother of all legal troubles is brewing, here are the other run ins with the law the $104 billion salt-to-software conglomerate had to deal with in 2016:

Sunday, 30 October 2016

Mistry asked Tata firms to stop working with Shapoorji group

Former chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry had asked all the Tata group CEOs in October 2013 to cease all business relations with his father’s Shapoorji Pallonji group in order to avoid any conflict of interest charges against him at a later date.
A source close to the development said the SP group, which is one of India’s oldest construction companies, lost sizeable business with the Tata group cutting their business relations with them. The SP group is run by Shapoor Mistry, elder brother of Cyrus.

In his communication to the CEO's, Mistry said the Tata group was always prided itself to adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance in India for over a century. “In adherence to the same philosophy, and to avoid perception of a potential conflict of interest, I believe that as long as I am the Executive Chairman, it would be appropriate that the Tata group of companies no longer engage with the Shapoorji Pallonji group for any engineering and construction contracts,” said Mistry.

The current contracts can continue till its expiry, Mistry had said asking his letter to be placed before the respective companies’ board and implemented across group companies.

An email sent to the Tata group and the SP group did not elicit any response.

Analysts said the letter shows Mistry indeed followed standards of corporate governance so that it should not create any controversies at a later date. The SP group earns $4 billion in revenues each year and Cyrus’s father Pallonji Mistry’s wealth is estimated at $14.5 billion based on his holding in Tata Sons and in his own group.

Wednesday, 26 October 2016

Yeddyurappa, JSW Steel acquitted in Rs 40 cr mining kickback case

BS Yeddyurappa

B S Yeddyurappa, who has been tasked to lead the Bharatiya Janata Party to reclaim power in Karnataka got a reprieve on Wednesday after a CBI court acquitted him in a Rs 40 crore bribery case of granting iron ore licenses during his tenure.

The acquittal will get legal sanctity to disprove allegations that the Lingayat strongman led the BJP's first "corrupt" government in South and consolidate his leadership in the Karnataka BJP unit and gear the party for the assembly elections in 2018. Earlier, land cases against him was quashed by the Karnataka High Court on procedural grounds, which the Supreme Court upheld.

Flipkart loses top talent yet again, CFO Sanjay Baweja quits

Flipkart co-founder and chief executive Binny Bansal’s struggle to retain top talent continues as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sanjay Baweja quit a little under two years after joining the company from Tata Communications.

Baweja’s exit comes at a time when Bansal’s push to revive growth after a year’s gap was beginning to work.

At the same time, Flipkart’s efforts to raise fresh funds from investors to fuel business and fend off aggressive competition from global rival Amazon faces a setback with this exit.

Confirming Baweja’s exit, a Flipkart spokesperson said the company was looking for a replacement.

Baweja will continue to be with the company till December-end.

Since the top management rejig in January this year, which saw Bansal take over the reins as CEO, exits in the top echelons of Flipkart have become common. Punit Soni, the star hire from Google, quit the company less than a year after he joined.

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Lack of communication cost Cyrus Mistry his job?

Ratan Tata arrives at Tata group's head office Bombay House in Mumbai.

In keeping with the practice of promoting Tata group company CEOs to the board of Tata group holding company, Tata Sons, Jaguar-Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO & Managing Director N Chandrasekaran were on Tuesday appointed additional directors on the TSL board.

ALSO READ: Chandra, Ralf Speth join Tata Sons board

Ratan Tata, interim chairman of Tata Sons, said: “This is in recognition of their exemplary leadership at their companies.”

Earlier, during the tenure of Ratan Tata, RK Krishnakumar, MD of Tata Tea, and JJ irani, MD of Tata Steel, had been promoted to the Tata Sons board. Similarly, late JRD Tata had appointed late Sumant Moolgaokar and late Darbari Seth on the board TSL.

PM According to media reports, lack of of communication is the reason behind Cyrus Mistry's replacement. CNBC-TV18, quoting sources, said that Ratan Tata & Tata Sons were not informed about major business decisions. Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover and N. Chandrasekaran, CEO & Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), have been appointed as Additional Directors on the Tata Sons Board.

Uber, Ola battle it out for railway passengers: Here's how it will work

After fighting it out on roads, cab aggregators like Uber and Ola are set to come face to face on railway tracks. Both the players are now in race to tie up with the Indian Railways to offer services to train travellers.

With the Suresh Prabhu-led railways ministry toying with the idea to offer space for cab operators at railway stations, both the market leaders have started the battle to garner the railways' market share. Through this initiative, the Railways is likely to add an additional Rs 120 crore to its non-fare revenue.

As per the plan, those users who book tickets through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) app will be able to schedule a ride with a cab aggregator on a future date and time. If the Railways moves ahead with the plan, it will have to float a tender for this from the concerned parties. The other major service providers in the sector are Baxi, Shuttl, Meru and BlaBlaCar. Though the San Francisco-based Uber is aggressively moving ahead in Indian market, Ola still holds a majority share.

Flipkart loses top talent, CFO quits

Flipkart co-founder and chief executive Binny Bansal’s struggle to retain top talent continues as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sanjay Baweja quit a little under two years after joining the company from Tata Communications.

Baweja’s exit comes at a time when Bansal’s push to revive growth after a year’s gap was beginning to work.

At the same time, Flipkart’s efforts to raise fresh funds from investors to fuel business and fend off aggressive competition from global rival Amazon faces a setback with this exit.

Confirming Baweja’s exit, a Flipkart spokesperson said the company was looking for a replacement.

Baweja will continue to be with the company till December-end.

Since the top management rejig in January this year, which saw Bansal take over the reins as CEO, exits in the top echelons of Flipkart have become common. Punit Soni, the star hire from Google, quit the company less than a year after he joined.

57 defaulters owe banks a whopping Rs 85,000 cr: RBI to SC

Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel addresses a press conference in Mumbai after the monetary policy review meeting on Tuesday. Photo: PTI

Only 57 borrowers have defaulted on bank loans worth a whopping Rs 85,000 crore.

The Supreme Court said this after perusing a report submitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about persons who have taken loans worth over Rs 500 crore and defaulted and asked the central bank why their names should not be made public.

"Who are these people who have borrowed money and are not paying back? Why this fact that the person has borrowed money and not paying back be not known to public," asked a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur.

The bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, said if the bar was lowered below Rs 500 crore, then the default amount would cross over Rs one lakh crore.

Observing that if people file an RTI query, they must know who the defaulters are, the bench asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) why the information on defaulters should be withheld.

Why was Cyrus Mistry sacked? Top possible reasons for his exit

Ratan Tata, patriarch of one of India's most influential families, will take over as interim chairman of Tata Sons after the salt-to-software conglomerate's board ousted Cyrus Mistry, who had sought to shake up the firm's management.

Tata, who had stepped down as chairman and was replaced by Mistry in late 2012, will head the group for four months while the company seeks a replacement.

Tata Sons is a large shareholder in a string of listed Tata Group companies - a business empire ranging from Jaguar Land Rover cars and steel mills to aviation and salt pans.

The board said in a statement on Monday it was decided "it may be appropriate to consider a change for the long-term interest of Tata Sons and Tata group."

While the board gave no detailed reason for the change, some media reports said there has been discontent with some of Mistry's actions, including asset sales.

Inside Samsung's office: Staff tense, nerves jangle over Note 7 crisis

The next few weeks are traditionally a tense time at Samsung Electronics Co as executives wait to see if their work over the year is rewarded with promotion at the South Korean firm's annual performance review.

This year, that tension has been ramped up several notches as the year-end ritual comes on the heels of the debacle over Samsung's flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

The world's top smartphone maker this month pulled the plug on the near-$900 device after phones overheated and caught fire. With some replacement phones suffering the same problem, Samsung has forecast a $5.4 billion hit to its operating profits. Some analysts predict the smartphone business may post a first quarterly loss for July-September.

"Everyone's afraid to be heard even breathing," said one Samsung employee. "There will be punitive measures; someone will have to take responsibility for this."

57 defaulters owe banks a whopping Rs 85,000 cr: RBI to SC

Only 57 borrowers have defaulted on bank loans worth a whopping Rs 85,000 crore.

The Supreme Court said this after perusing a report submitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about persons who have taken loans worth over Rs 500 crore and defaulted and asked the central bank why their names should not be made public.

"Who are these people who have borrowed money and are not paying back? Why this fact that the person has borrowed money and not paying back be not known to public," asked a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur.

The bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, said if the bar was lowered below Rs 500 crore, then the default amount would cross over Rs one lakh crore.

Observing that if people file an RTI query, they must know who the defaulters are, the bench asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) why the information on defaulters should be withheld.

"People should know how much money a person has borrowed and how much money he needs to pay back. The amount payable should be known to public. Why should you withhold the information," the bench said.

Monday, 24 October 2016

Twitter plans to cut about 300 more jobs, say reports

Twitter Inc may cut eight per cent of its workforce or about 300 people, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people it said were familiar with the matter.

The job cuts could be announced before the company reports third-quarter earnings on Thursday, and the number of jobs affected could change, Bloomberg said.

A company spokeswoman declined to comment.

Last year, Twitter announced plans to lay off up to 336 employees, or about eight per cent of its workforce, a week after Jack Dorsey, its co-founder who had been serving as interim chief executive, took over as permanent CEO.

Twitter, which last month hired bankers to field acquisition offers, faces an uncertain future after Salesforce.com Inc, the last of the companies believed to be interested in buying the company, said it would not make a bid.

With a market cap of about $12.76 billion and losses running at about $400 million a year, Twitter was likely judged too expensive by prospective buyers.

Cyrus Mistry's stint as chairman the shortest ever at Tata group

India's largest conglomerate, Tata Sons, saw a major overhaul on Monday, with incumbent Cyrus Pallonji Mistry being replaced as chairman. Former chairman Ratan Tata returned as interim chairman and a five-member selection committee was set up to bring on board a new chairman within four months.

Earlier, on December 28, 2012, Cyrus Mistry had succeeded Ratan Tata as the chief of India’s more than a century old multinational company, which had begun its operations in 1868.

Mistry’s stint at the helm of affairs at the Tata group was the shortest among the chairmen so far. Business Standard lists all the previous chairmen of the group and gives a timeline of their term at the top:

1868-1904: Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, who founded the group that would eventually become one of India’s biggest conglomerates, led the group for its first 36 years.

Cyrus Mistry's removal: How the tables turned

In this file photo of Ratan Tata (Left) with Cyrus Mistry. Tata Sons on Monday removed Cyrus Mistry as its Chairman, nearly 4 years after he took over the reins of the group. Tata makes a comeback, taking over as the company's interim boss for 4 months.

It took less than half an hour at a full-strength board meeting on Monday afternoon in Mumbai to replace Cyrus Mistry as the chairman of the Tata Group, it is learnt.

The meeting was attended by all 11 board members, including Nitin Nohria, the dean of Harvard Business School, and top-ranked investment strategist Farida Khambata, both of whom are based in the US and who usually attend meetings through video-conferencing. This was no ordinary meeting, where even Ratan Tata was present as chairman emeritus, as a source pointed out. The 78-year-old Tata left the meeting as interim chairman of Tata Sons.

Several resolutions were put to vote, but there were three that would eventually decide the future of the salt-to-software conglomerate. The board members voted in favour of those resolutions — replacing Mistry as chairman, inducting Tata as interim chairman, and relaxing the age criterion for the chairman’s post. But sources told Business Standard two board members abstained when the resolution on Mistry was put to vote and one abstained in the case of the other two.

Triple Talaq debate should be between muslims who want reforms and those who don't: PM Modi

Amid a legal battle between a section of Muslims and All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on triple talaq, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged the political parties not to politicise the issue and said that all Muslim women have equal rights . He also termed triple talaq as an unfair practice.

Modi said, "It is the responsibility of the government and the people of the country to give justice to Muslim women under the Constitution."

“Is it fair for a man to say ‘talaaq’ thrice over the phone and a Muslim woman’s life to be ruined? This issue shouldn’t be politicised,” said PM Modi at a rally in Mahoba (Uttar Pradesh).

“I request people who participate in TV debates to not make women rights a Muslim-Hindu issue. Women’s right is a development issue. The debate should be between Muslims who want reforms and those who do not want reforms,” he added.

Trump won't say if he will accept results

Republican candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday would not commit to accepting the outcome of the November 8 US presidential election if he loses, challenging a cornerstone of American democracy and sending shockwaves across the political spectrum.

Trump's refusal, which his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called "horrifying," was the standout remark of their third and final debate and ratcheted up claims he has made for weeks that the election was rigged against him.

Asked by moderator Chris Wallace whether Trump would not commit to a peaceful transition of power, the businessman-turned-politician replied: "What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense. Ok?" Trump's statement may appeal to his anti-establishment followers, but it was unlikely to reverse opinion polls that show him losing, including in key states that will decide the election. (Where Clinton and Trump stand on key issues)
Read more.....

Vishal Sikka pays 4 heads million-dollar salaries

Infosys Chief Executive Vishal sikka is paying his top managers more, as an incentive to reach the company’s revenue target of $20 billion by 2020.

Four Infosys presidents — Mohit Joshi, Rajesh K Murthy, Ravi Kumar S, Sandeep Dadlani — and the company’s general counsel, David Kennedy, will now be paid million-dollar salaries.

Their salaries included a higher variable component,Infosys said in regulatory filings. Joshi, Murthy, Ravi Kumar and Dadlani will also receive restricted stock units and employee stock options.

Sikka is confident that the company’s top three leaders in sales will be instrumental in achieving their revenue targets. “We are now approaching $10 billion in annual revenue. This quarter we will cross it. So it means three sales presidents are collectively handling more than

$3 billion (worth) of responsibilities. In addition, they have serious global responsibilities,” Sikka said after a recent press conference.

Friday, 21 October 2016

AIMA MAT February 2017 registration begin

Late date to purchase form is November 26, 2016. Candidates can submit duly completed printout of registration form at AIMA, New Delhi till November 29, 2016. Candidates can also apply and make payment of the fees online till November 29, 2016

New Delhi-based All India Management Association (AIMA) has announced the test schedule of the Management Aptitude Test (MAT) 2017 for admission to MBA courses. Candidates interested in making the fee payment via demand draft can register online on the official website by November 26, 2016. Those making online fee payment can register by November 29, 2016.

According to the official notification on the AIMA website, the written entrance exam has been scheduled for December 11, 2016 whereas the computer-based exam will be conducted from December 17, 2016.