Thursday, April 25

Author: Press Trust of India

Reliance Communications, Aircel Merge Will Create Rs 65K cr Asset Base Entity
BUSINESS

Reliance Communications, Aircel Merge Will Create Rs 65K cr Asset Base Entity

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications today agreed to merge its wireless telecom business with smaller rival Aircel to create the country's 4th-biggest mobile phone operator with asset base of more than Rs 65,000 crore. In the largest consolidation in the countrys telecom sector, RCom and Aircels majority owner, Malaysias Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB), announced signing of definitive documents for the merger of their Indian wireless businesses. RCom and Aircel will hold 50 per cent each in the new company. The board of the new company will have equal representation from the two sides. "The RCom-Aircel combination will create a strong operator clearly ranked amongst Indias top 4 telcos by customer base and revenues, also ranking amongst the top three operators by revenues ...
Pakistan Blocks India Today Website For Insulting Army Chief
News

Pakistan Blocks India Today Website For Insulting Army Chief

Pakistan has blocked India Today websites in the country for publishing a humiliating picture of its Army chief General Raheel Sharif. "The site you are trying to access contains content that is prohibited for viewership from within Pakistan. This website cannot be reached," reads the page of India Today websites. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), which is authorised to block offensive material on the internet, could not be reached for confirmation on account of Eid holidays. But it appears that PTA has been directed by the concerned authorities to block the India Today websites in Pakistan after the Lahore High Court (LHC) directed a petitioner to take up this matter with the federal government. Earlier this month, the court had disposed of the petition seeking a...
Startup Chhattisgarh Launched For Boosting Entrepreneurship
INDIA

Startup Chhattisgarh Launched For Boosting Entrepreneurship

To give a fillip to Prime Ministers vision of Startup India, the state government today launched Startup Chhattisgarh initiative here to foster entrepreneurship and promote innovation. Youths have no dearth of ideas. Lots of creative ideas take shape in their mind. They should convert them into business ideas according to the need of market to provide facilities to people at lower rates in a convenient manner," Chief Minister Raman Singh said after the event. "They need to be fearless to bring their ideas into commercial products," he said. The function was held at Shri Shankaracharya Institute of Professional Management & Technology in Sejbahar area, which was attended by a large number of entrepreneurs and youths. As part of the initiative, 14 special camps will be set up in ...
20000 Crore Alloted For R&D at IITs, IIMs and Other Higher Education
INDIA

20000 Crore Alloted For R&D at IITs, IIMs and Other Higher Education

In a bid to boost innovation at premier institutions, an agency will soon be set by the government to provide funds up to Rs 20,000 crore for building research-oriented infrastructure at IITs, IIMs and other centres of higher education. The HRD Ministrys proposal to this effect was cleared at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Announcing the decision, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) would be jointly promoted by an identified promoter and his ministry with an authorised capital of Rs 2,000 crore of which government equity would be Rs 1,000 crore. The HEFA would be formed as a Special Project Vehicle (SPV) with a PSU Bank/Government-owned NBFC as promoter and it would leverage the equity to raise u...
Flipkart & Snapdeal Will Hire 20000 Staff Ahead of Festive Season
News

Flipkart & Snapdeal Will Hire 20000 Staff Ahead of Festive Season

E-commerce major Flipkart expects to hire over 10,000 temporary staff to ramp up its delivery and logistics service to meet the festive demand. The move comes as part of the preparations being made by e-commerce companies as they launch offers to boost sales during the upcoming festive period. "With the festive season coming in, we are confident that Big Billion Days (sale) will be bigger and better than before this year. "In addition to having the new capability of alternate delivery model, we are looking at hiring more than 10,000 temporary staff in logistics and last mile across the country," Flipkart Chief Administrative Officer Nitin Seth said. This will be done to meet the massive demand that Flipkart expects during the festive season, he added. Flipkarts rival Snapdeal al...
Now, Access Driving Licence on Your Mobile Using DigiLocker
News

Now, Access Driving Licence on Your Mobile Using DigiLocker

Citizens will now be spared from the hassle of carrying physical driving licences and vehicle registration certificates (RCs), which can be accessed online or on their mobile phones using DigiLocker. Launching the integration of DigiLocker with the Driving Licence and Vehicle Registration system of the ministry of road transport and highways today, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said citizens can use these as valid identification at airports too. The digital driving licence and vehicle registration documents will be available on citizens cellphones via the DigiLocker mobile app and this will ensure authenticated on the spot verification by various law enforcement authorities like the traffic police. "The system will not only eliminate corruption but is a mega step towards realising Pr...
PepsiCo Franchisee Varun Beverages Gets Sebi Nod For IPO
BUSINESS

PepsiCo Franchisee Varun Beverages Gets Sebi Nod For IPO

Varun Beverages, franchisee for soft drinks maker PepsiCo, has received markets regulator Sebis approval to raise over Rs 1,000 crore through an initial public offering. Besides, leading logistics service and solutions provider, Seaways Shipping & Logistics has also got Sebis nod to float an IPO. Varun Beverages and Seaways Shipping & Logistics had filed their draft red herring prospectuses with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in June and March, respectively. The two firms got the regulator approval on August 31, as per the latest update. The initial public offer (IPO) of Varun Beverages entails sale of up to 2.5 crore shares, including fresh issue of 1.5 crore shares and offloading of stake by the promoters. Apart from fresh issue of 1.5 crore equity sh...
Bihar Govt Approves Start Up Policy For Entrepreneurs
INDIA, News

Bihar Govt Approves Start Up Policy For Entrepreneurs

The Bihar government today gave its nod for the launch of a Start Up venture capital fund which will encourage young entrepreneurs in the state to start new ventures. The approval to the Start Up policy, 2016 was given at a meeting of the cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The Start Up venture capital of Rs 5,000 crore formed part of the CMs seven resolves, which the grand secular alliance government has adopted as policy of governance for the next five years. The cabinet gave its nod to 31 proposals of different departments at the meeting this evening, Principal Secretary Cabinet Coordination department Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters. The state cabinet gave its go ahead to Information and Public Relations Department proposal to revise advertisement rates as par...
Snapdeal Offers Rs 1,000 Cr Collateral Free Loans For Sellers
News

Snapdeal Offers Rs 1,000 Cr Collateral Free Loans For Sellers

Online marketplace Snapdeal has announced collateral-free loans worth Rs 1,000 crore for its sellers ahead of the festive season to enable them to stock up adequately. The loans would be disbursed through its ongoing programme Capital Assist, which is now managed by FreeCharge and is available to all sellers and merchants on Snapdeal, Shopo and FreeCharge, Snapdeal said in a statement here. "The festive season provides an opportunity to our sellers to grow their businesses many times over, with the sharp increase in demand. Through Capital Assist, we have made the funding process frictionless and expect more than Rs 1,000 crore disbursal to Snapdeal sellers ahead of this Diwali season," Vishal Chadha, the Senior Vice President (Market Development) of Snapdeal, said. Snapdeals C...
Indias IT Exports Revenue Growth Will 9-10% This Fiscal: T V Mohandas Pai
Entrepreneurs Talk

Indias IT Exports Revenue Growth Will 9-10% This Fiscal: T V Mohandas Pai

The revenue growth of Indian IT exports this fiscal is likely to be slower than industry body Nasscoms projection of 10-12 per cent, according to industry veteran T V Mohandas Pai. "The figures could be lower than what Nasscom has said. But its still (expected to) be good figures. They forecast 10 to 12 per cent, I would say 9 to 10 per cent is something that could be more reasonable because we already have seen in the first quarter some companies not meeting numbers...second quarter, some companies going quiet. So, 9 to 10 per cent is reasonable," the former Board member at Infosys said. A clear picture would emerge after companies announce results for the September quarter, which is generally good for them. "Europe is beginning to look better. Brexit has hurt the UK. America... we h...
Online Vendors Meet Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on AskMe Payment Issue
INDIA, News

Online Vendors Meet Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on AskMe Payment Issue

Corporate Affairs Ministry has assured Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of taking up the pending payment issue of cash-strapped e-commerce firm AskMe on priority basis. Representatives of All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) today met Sitharaman on the issue of pending payment from askmebazaar.com. Since the issue raised by AIOVA pertained to Ministry of Corporate affairs, Sitharaman spoke to Corporate Affairs Secretary. "Corporate Affairs (Secretary) assured Sitharaman that he shall take up the issues raised by AIOVA on a priority basis," the commerce and industry ministry said in a tweet. Hit by a cash crunch, e-commerce company AskMe has decided to shut shop, leaving 4,000 staffers jobless.