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12Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

BUSINESS

PureCircle to Invest $200 mn in India

Malaysia-based natural sweetener firm PureCircle will invest USD 200 million (about Rs 1,330 crore) over 5 years in India as it forays into the country. PureCircle, which sells zero-calorie natural sweetener, stevia across the world, received FSSAI nod in December 2015. "We will invest USD 200 million over the next five years in India in supply/value chain, increasing cultivation, getting insights and so on. We are already in talks with multinational food and beverage companies," PureCircle Senior Director South Asia Region Ajay Chandran told PTI. Chandran said the companys clients in markets outside India includes Nestle, Pepsi, Coca Cola and Danone. The company plans to partner with Indian farmers for 5,000 hectares Stevia cultivation in India. Stevia is called Meeth...

Qatar Based Al-Jazeera Network Shutsdown in America

12Apr By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Qatar Based Al-Jazeera Network Shutsdown in America

Al-Jazeera America, which couldn't attract an audience to another cable news network in the United States, signs off tonight following a three-hour live farewell designed to highlight its work since a 2013 launch. The farewell begins at 6 pm (local time) and will be repeated immediately before Al-Jazeera America goes dark. Local cable and satellite operators will decide what replaces the channel in their markets. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network announced in January that it was shutting down the US-based offshoot, calling it an economic decision. Backed by a deep-pocketed parent company, Al-Jazeera America began with lofty goals of offering serious-minded news and won some awards for its work. But when few people watched and oil prices plummeted, there was a limit to how much t...

Lulu group to Invest Rs 5,000 Crore in India in Next 4 Years

10Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Lulu group to Invest Rs 5,000 Crore in India in Next 4 Years

United Arab Emirates-based Lulu Group, which runs a retail chain of over 120 hypermarkets in the Middle East, has decided to invest Rs 5,000 crore in India over the next four years, largely for setting up shopping malls. The group, promoted by Indian businessman Yusuff Ali M A, has already zeroed in on constructing mega shopping complexes in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram. "We are planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore in India over the next four years," said Ali, who is also managing director of the group which has operations in over 30 countries. Ali, who hails from Kerala, also said his company has decided to open 12 hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia at an investment of Rs 2,700 crore in the next few years. The Lulu group currently owns 14 hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia. ...

ShopClues Tie-up With NMDFC To Support e-Karobar

7Apr By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

ShopClues Tie-up With NMDFC To Support e-Karobar

India's first and largest managed marketplace, ShopClues signed an MoU with National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) to give a robust fillip to its e-Karobar initiative. The initiative seeks to e-market the exceptional products created by Indian artisans and craftsmen belonging to minorities who have been assisted by NMDFC. ShopClues will leverage the power of its widely popular e-commerce platform and its extensive reach to empower the artisans and craftsmen belonging to minorities by bridging the gap between artisans and buyers all over the country. As a part of the MoU, both ShopClues and NMDFC seek to act as catalysts for economic development of artisans and craftsmen belonging to minorities. ShopClues will offer a wide spectrum of assistances to sellers to...

Paytm Enter Into Academic Campuses, tie-up with LPU

29Mar By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Paytm Enter Into Academic Campuses, tie-up with LPU

India's largest mobile payment and commerce platform, Paytm, has taken its cashless solution to academic campuses with a strategic partnership with Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar. Known as one of the largest single campus university in India, with more than 25000 students, 3500 faculty and staff, the university will now offer an easy access to the cash alternative with Paytm. As per the statistics, over 60 percent of the students in the campus are already active users of the Paytm app. The users can now pay university fees and dues, hostel fees, cafeteria bills as well as buy books and merchandise through the Paytm Wallet. By minimizing cash, the initiative shall be highly beneficial for the students, teachers, the institution and parents alike. With making Lovely Profe...

FreeCharge Partners CCAvenue; Expands Customer Access to Online Merchants

29Mar By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

BUSINESS

FreeCharge Partners CCAvenue; Expands Customer Access to Online Merchants

Snapdeal-owned digital payments platform FreeCharge has partnered with a payment gateway CCAvenue, giving its customers access to over 100,000 online merchants across sectors like hospitality, retail, and education. It will also help them access real-time, multi-currency online payment services, FreeCharge said in a statement on Monday. "We want to make FreeCharge wallet ubiquitous in both the online and offline space by creating an ecosystem of partnership. With CCAvenue, we will further strengthen our partner ecosystem and offer our customers a wider assortment of online merchants. Our endeavour is to build the payment OS for digital India and I am confident that alliances like this will help us move in the right direction," Govind Rajan, Chief Operating Officer, FreeCharge said. ...

Paytm Ties up with PVR To Sell Movie Tickets

21Mar By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Paytm Ties up with PVR To Sell Movie Tickets

PVR plans to sell movie tickets worth Rs 250-300 crore using Paytm's platform in the first year of their association as the two firms tied up today to sell cinema tickets. The two firms today announced to bring PVR's movie tickets to Paytm's e-commerce platform as the latter forays into the online movie ticket segment. "In the first year of this relationship, PVR targets to sell tickets worth Rs 2.5-3 billion on Paytm's e-commerce platform besides selling tickets from the box offices and other channels", PVR and Paytm said in a joint statement. Paytm said it is aggressively extending its presence in new verticals as part of its strategy to be ubiquitous in daily life of its customers. "Paytm has set aggressive targets for itself and intends to double the share of online movie ticke...

16Mar By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

India’s First Profitable E-commerce Firm Infibeam Looking to Raise $334 Million in IPO

E-commerce firm Infibeam Incorporation is eyeing a valuation of as much as $334 million as it sells shares next week in the sector's first initial public offering. The company, founded by former Amazon.com employee Vishal Mehta in 2007, set a price range of 360 rupees to 432 rupees per share on Tuesday as it seeks to raise up to 4.5 billion rupees ($67 million) in the IPO. Speaking at a news conference, executives said they expected a dilution of 20 percent to 22 percent in the IPO, which means the company could be valued at 22.5 billion rupees after the share sale. The sale will take place from March 21 until March 23, and trading is set to begin on or around April 4. Although a comparatively small IPO, Infibeam's debut is widely expected to serve as a proxy for stock market i...

Infosys Co-founders Gopalakrishnan, Shibulal Sell Their Shares Worth Rs 862 Crore

11Mar By NitishNo Comments

BUSINESS

Infosys Co-founders Gopalakrishnan, Shibulal Sell Their Shares Worth Rs 862 Crore

Two of the billionaire co-founders of software major Infosys, S Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal, and some of the latter's family members sold 7.5 million equity shares of the company for Rs 862 crore on exchanges. The sale was executed by Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited as the sole broker for the sale of shares, Gopalkrishnan and Shibulal said. The sale of shares was executed at an average price of Rs 1,149.45 across all sellers, they said in a joint statement here. The founders have served Infosys in various capacities, since its inception in 1981 until October 2014 and made it a professionally run company with a global presence. TThe sale has been done to partially monetize their stake, having nurtured the company for more than three decades, for personal reaso...

FreeCharge Partners With Cinepolis To Provide Secure Digital Payments

3Mar By NitishNo Comments

BUSINESS

FreeCharge Partners With Cinepolis To Provide Secure Digital Payments

FreeCharge wallet has partnered with Mexican movie theatre chain, Cinepolis to provide a platform for secure and easy digital payments. The partnership will start in the second week of March and customers can pay for movie tickets and food and beverages across 38 Cinepolis theatres in 28 Cities. FreeCharge is the first digital wallet partner for Cinepolis, which claims to be the world's 4th largest chain of movie theatre. Movie goers will be able to pay using their registered mobile numbers with FreeCharge at the existing card machine's available at the payment counter. The transactions will get completed in a secure manner within 10 seconds using the dynamic 'On-The-Go-Pin'. The partnership will further help Cinepolis get access to FreeCharge's robust partner network and bring more ...

Diageo To Pay Vijay Mallya Over Rs 515 Crore As Separation Fee

26Feb By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Diageo To Pay Vijay Mallya Over Rs 515 Crore As Separation Fee

Flamboyant businessman Vijay Mallya will get $75 million (Rs 515 crore) from Diageo as part of an "agreement" for his exit from United Spirits, a company founded by his family and now run by the global liquor giant. Besides, Diageo has agreed that Mallya will have no "personal liability" to the UK-based company in relation to the findings of the alleged financial irregularities at the company that had triggered an acrimonious fight between them. These allegations, which surfaced after an internal inquiry, related to the period before Diageo acquired controlling stake in United Spirits Ltd (USL) from the Mallya family. Under the agreement, Mallya will resign as Chairman and non-executive director of USL, as also from the boards of other USL group companies. However, his son Sidd...

Alibaba Started Trade Facility Centre in Jaipur, Launched Hindi Website to tap SMEs

30Jan By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Alibaba Started Trade Facility Centre in Jaipur, Launched Hindi Website to tap SMEs

Alibaba.com, the wholesale trading platform of China's Alibaba Group, today unveiled its first physical trade facility centre in the country at Jaipur and a Hindi portal, aimed at connecting small and medium businesses with global buyers. "We are excited about working with our Indian partners to provide comprehensive and dedicated trading solutions for local Indian sellers to explore more cross-border trading opportunities. Our ongoing efforts in India also showcase our long-term commitment to the market," Alibaba.com Head Global Business Development Timothy Leung said in a statement. By providing information and services in Hindi, the site will enable Indian traders, especially those from small cities and rural areas, to easily connect with merchants worldwide, he added. He said ...