Top 10 business headlines: Tata divests stake, FM meets PSB heads, and more

Here are the top 10 business stories that made news on Monday

Public sector banks to turn more profitable: Piyush Goyal after review meet

Public sector banks (PSBs) will become more profitable and proactive in the days to come, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said after holding a review meeting with the lenders on Monday, days ahead of the interim Budget. Read on...

Jet Airways seeks shareholders' nod to turn debt into equity, EGM on Feb 21

Jet Airways is seeking shareholders' nod to convert its debt into equity, appoint bank nominees on the board and increase the authorised share capital of the company to enable the issue of fresh preference shares. An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders has been called on February 21 to seek approval for these proposals. Read on...

Tata inks pact with HBIS Group, divests stake in steel biz for $327 million

To stay focused on the growing domestic steel market, Tata Steel on Monday announced it has signed a definitive agreement with China’s HBIS Group to sell 70 per cent stake in its Southeast Asia operations for a cash consideration of $327 million. Read on...

Markets drop as investors dump firms with high debt levels, share pledging

The domestic markets witnessed a sharp sell-off on Monday with the benchmark indices falling around a per cent and the broader market cracking nearly 2 per cent, as investors turned wary of companies with high debt and promoter share pledging. Read on...

Volatile Zee shares cast a shadow on MFs' loan-against-shares play

The meltdown in Essel group shares on Friday raised concerns over the loan-against-shares (LAS) model where mutual funds (MFs) are estimated to have an exposure of Rs 23,000 crore. Read on...

Centre keeps SUUTI as backup in case divestment target falls short

The government has kept the stake that it holds in various listed companies through the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) as an emergency option in its disinvestment plans, and will only offload a part of the stake in the remainder of 2018-19 if there is any shortfall from the Rs 80,000 crore target. Read on...

Bharat Airtel looks to IPO, buyouts to consolidate position in Africa

Bharti Airtel is looking to consolidate its position as the market leader or emerge as a strong number 2 in 14 African nations, where the company has a presence, via inorganic growth by going for buyouts and mergers. Read on...

Trai asks telecom dept to auction BharatNet assets to private firms

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has urged the government to sell off assets of Bharat Broadband Network Ltd, the state-owned company founded six years ago to bring rural Indian connectivity up to speed, and allow private players to run it, according to a Livemint report.

What is the ideal number of mutual funds you should have in your portfolio?

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” is the proverb we have all learned in school. When we grew up and became investors, we learned that this is a basic virtue we need to imbibe and it is also called diversification. Fund investors took this as an injunction that they should invest not just in one or two funds, but in a large number of funds, according to The Economic Times report.

There is a lack of people development by Indian firms: Report

Skill and salary gap will continue to motivate Indians to find jobs overseas. Speaking to BusinessLine, Nicolas Dumoulin, Managing Director at Michael Page India said, “India has been and will be an exporter of talent. Globally, there is a lack of talent however, Indian talent is positive about overseas opportunities.”