Page 2964 - Business Finance
Samsung plans $22 billion for artificial intelligence, autos
Samsung Electronics plans to spend a whopping $22 billion over the next three years on artificial intelligence, auto components and other future businesses as the company maps out its strategy under the restored leadership of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong after he was freed from prison. The announcement today by South Korea's biggest business group was welcome news, coming at a time of deepening unease over slowing growth in Asia's fourth largest economy. It also highlights that South Korea's decades-old reliance on big businesses for jobs and investments is unlikely to end anytime soon since the country lacks a strong pool of small and medium-sized companies found in Japan or Germany. Samsung said it will spend the sum, amounting to 25 trillion won, on increasing the number of artificial intelligence researchers to 1,000 at its artificial intelligence centers around the world, ensuring it will be a global player in next-generation telecoms technology called 5G and on deepening its ...
IKEA to open first India outlet at Hyderabad tomorrow
Sweden-based furniture retail company, IKEA, is all set to open doors for its first India store, in Hyderabad, on Thursday.Speaking to ANI, Peter Betzel, CEO of IKEA India said the company would have a positive impact on the people of India.He also said that India was a good market for IKEA to venture into and that they were "learning a lot" here.After the launch of the Hyderabad outlet, the company aims at expanding to other parts of India, such as New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai.The IKEA outlet in Hyderabad has been established on an area of over 4 lakh square feet and houses around 7,500 products for sale. The inauguration of the store is expected to create thousands of job opportunities for locals."Over 2500 jobs are being created here in Hyderabad, and if more than 20 IKEA stores open in India, there will be around 50,000 created. We have seen a dramatic improvement in businesses. The FDI has also increased in the last few years," said Department of Industrial Policy and ...
Benelli to roll out 12 bikes in India by 2019
Italian motorcycle maker Benelli, owned by China's QianJiang group, is planning to roll out as many as 12 bikes in the country by next year as it seeks to tap the fast growing 300-cc and above segment. The first bike will be launched in October this year. "We plan to come out with a total of 12 models from now till next year. This year we have two new models - Benelli TRK 50O and the Benelli Leoncino 500 - which have a total of four versions on road," said Dante Bustos, senior director marketing and communication for Americas, Asia and Africa regions, Benelli. For the next year, the company plans to bring another two more versions with different engines, he said, adding, "We are also planning to bring in the new model of Imperiale 400 and 530 to India." The firm has recently signed an initial pact with Telangana government and Adishwar Auto Ride International (AARI), a subsidiary of Mahavir Group, for setting a local manufacturing facility. The facility, with an initial .
Haryana govt launches online portal for disbursal of departmental funds
Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu Singh Sindhu today launched an online portal for releasing grant-in-aid to government departments. Abhimanyu launched the portal and then made the first transaction using the electronic system. He released Rs 84.58 crore to the health department under the National Health Mission. He handed over the receipt of the transaction to Additional Chief Secretary, Health, R R Jowel and Mission Director Amneet P Kumar, said an official press release. Abhimanyu recalled that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier praised the Haryana government for its finance management and that today the department had begun a fresh chapter. The online system will make the entire budgetary process more transparent and increase the working efficiency of finance department officials, the press release read. The minister said in the future all government departments would maintain a single bank account for all their transactions. He reiterated words from his ...
RBI to pay Rs 50,000 cr dividend to govt for FY18, in line with Budget estimate
The RBI today decided to pay Rs 50,000 crore as dividend to government in line with the Union Budget provisions, helping the Centre stick to its fiscal roadmap. The Reserve Bank, which follows July-June financial year, has paid about 63 per cent higher dividend than previous year (2016-17). The RBI made a dividend payout of Rs 30,659 crore for the fiscal ended June 2017. "The Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), at its meeting held on August 8, 2018, approved the transfer of surplus amounting to Rs 500 billion (Rs 50,000 crore) for the year ended June 30, 2018 to the Government of India," the central bank said in an official statement. Earlier in March, the RBI paid interim dividend of Rs 10,000 crore at the insistence of the government to support fiscal position. As per the Budget Estimate, the government projected to collect Rs 54,817.25 crore as dividend or Surplus of Reserve Bank of India, Nationalised Banks and Financial Institutions. The government ...
TCS software product ignio eyes $100 mn revenue in two years
Digitate, a venture of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today said its software product, ignio, is expected to achieve USD 100 million revenue in the next two years. "Our software product ignio has achieved spectacular growth in the first three years of the launch and clocked revenues of USD 31 million as on March 2018. We now aspire to be one of the fastest software product to achieve USD 100 million in revenues in the next two years," TCS vice president and Digitate global head, Harrick Vin told reporters here. It was launched in 2015 with the objective of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and advanced software engineering to transform enterprise IT services. It has been adopted by mostly Fortune 500 and global 2000 corporations, and currently manages over 1.5 million technology resources autonomously for over 50 clients. ignio is used by enterprises to manage their IT infrastructure, ERP environments (SAP), batch workloads, applications and ...
Pidilite to invest USD 5 lakh in US-based subsidiary
Adhesives and industrial chemicals manufacturer Pidilite Industries today said it will invest USD 5 lakh as equity capital contribution in US-based Pidilite Ventures LLC. "The company proposes to invest an amount of USD 5,00,000 as equity capital contribution in Pidilite Ventures LLC," Pidilite said in a regulatory filing. Pidilite Ventures LLC, incorporated in USA, is proposed to be engaged mainly in investments in early stage operating companies in the USA, it added. Pidilite Ventures will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. Shares of Pidilite today ended 1.32 per cent up at Rs 1,120.45 apiece on the BSE.
Wall Street flat as trade tensions mute earnings optimism
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were flat on Wednesday after China retaliated to Trump administration's latest tariffs, escalating trade tensions and muting strong corporate earnings.
HCC posts net loss of Rs 19.7 cr in Jun qtr
Infrastructure firm Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) today reported a standalone net loss of Rs 19.7 crore for the June quarter, mainly due to rise in expenses. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 14.5 crore in the year-ago period. Total income increased marginally to Rs 1,001.18 crore, compared with Rs 991.12 crore last year, the company said in a statement. The expenses for the reporting quarter increased to Rs 1,029.99 crore, from Rs 971.63 crore in the year-ago. HCC's finance cost fell by 12 per cent year-on-year, in line with the reduction in debt from Rs 4,207 crore as on June 30, 2017 to Rs 3,719 crore as on June 30, 2018. Its order book currently stands at Rs 18,714 crore, excluding L1 bids worth Rs 1,213 crore. The company has also received Rs 1,624 crore till date under the CCEA's initiative to release 75 per cent of arbitral awards against bank guarantees, the release said. "We have successfully managed to lower our debt and reduce finance costs ...
Old-line Kroger shows new moves in grocery delivery drive
CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Kroger Co, the nation's biggest supermarket chain, whose founder delivered groceries by horse and buggy, is using a different kind of horsepower in its race with online grocery sellers.
NALCO Q1 net profit jumps 5-fold to Rs 687 cr
Aluminium maker Nalco today said its net profit recorded a five-fold jump to Rs 687 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2018. The state-run firm had clocked a net profit of Rs 129 crore in the year-ago period. "As compared to the corresponding quarter of the last year, the growth in net profit has jumped by a whopping 433 per cent, from Rs 129 crore to Rs 687 crore," Nalco said in a statement. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of the company has increased from 19 per cent to 36 per cent, despite increase in input cost by 15 to 20 per cent during the first quarter as compared to the previous quarter, it said. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, Nalco, attributed the success to team work, strong cost focus and strategic planning. "It may be mentioned that the net profit figure of Rs 687 crore in the first quarter of 2018-19 surpassed the whole net profit of Rs 642 crore in 2013-14. This significant growth in profit has mainly come from the Alumina ..
BPCL Q1 net profit jumps 3-fold to Rs 2,293 crore
State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) today reported a three-fold rise in its first quarter net profit on higher refining margins. Net profit in April-June at Rs 2,293.26 crore, or Rs 11.66 a share, was higher than Rs 744.56 crore, or Rs 3.79 a share, in the same period of the previous fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing. It earned USD 7.49 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the quarter as compared to USD 4.88 per barrel gross refining margin in the year-ago period. Also, it turned a higher volume of 7.74 million tonnes of crude oil into fuel when compared with 6.42 million tonnes of crude throughput in April-June 2017. Sales also went up to 10.97 million tonnes from 10.04 million tonnes. Turnover was up over 23 per cent to Rs 82,431 crore.
IPL's brand value rises 18.87% to $6.3 bn: Duff & Phelps
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen a 18.87 per cent growth in brand valuation at USD 6.3 billion after its 11th season this year, aided by the hike in broadcasting rights fee, according to Duff & Phelps. The IPL was valued at USD 5.3 billion in 2017. Duff & Phelps said that broadcaster Star India, which had bagged the media rights for Rs 16,347.5 crore for a period of five years from 2018-2022, has given a boost to the broadcast rights fees which rose by a CAGR of 18.9 per cent. "Under the broadcaster, content delivery expanded to various regional channels across its channels with commentary in eight languages than limiting the transmission to sports channels with just English commentary," the global valuation and corporate finance advisor said. It noted that the broadcaster's decision led to an increased cumulative TV reach of the tournament across the country, with regional channels including Hindi contributing nearly two thirds of IPL's total ...
Punjab & Sind Bank reports net loss of Rs 398 cr in Q1
State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank today reported a net loss of Rs 398 crore in first quarter ended June as provisioning for bad loans increased significantly. It had reported a net profit of Rs 25.37 crore in the same period a year ago. In the preceding quarter ended March 2018, it had a net loss of Rs 524.62 crore, a dip in losses when compared sequentially. For the entire 2017-18, the bank had posted a net loss of Rs 743.80 crore due to high proportion of bad loans. The bank in a regulatory filing said that the total income in April-June period of 2018-19 stood at Rs 2,336 crore, higher than Rs 2,062.57 crore in the same period of 2017-18. For the June quarter, bank's provisioning for bad loans (or non-performing assets) shot up to Rs 795.38 crore as against Rs 259.20 crore set aside for the same period of the fiscal ended March 2018. However, the bank brought down the proportion of soar assets with the gross NPAs falling to 10.55 per cent of gross advances as on June 30, 2018 from
Sebi orders forensic audit against Parsvnath Developers
Markets regulator Sebi today ordered a forensic audit of Parsvnath Developers Ltd (PDL), which figured in the list of 331 "suspected shell companies", on prima facie suspicion of misrepresentation of business by the firm with regard to certain transactions. In an interim order, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said, "the present enquiry is restricted only to contracts/ sub-contracts undertaken by PDL during the period 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12". The regulator directed the exchange to appoint an independent forensic auditor to verify any misrepresentation including of financials or business by PDL in the context of the transactions during the financial years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, including the role of key managerial personnel, directors and promoters in them. Also, the auditor has to verify any misuse of the books of accounts and funds including facilitation of accommodation entries or compromise of minority shareholder interest in the context of the ...
Competition Comm clears Walmart-Flipkart deal
The Competition Commission today said it has approved US retail giant Walmart's proposed acquisition of Flipkart. In May, Walmart Inc announced acquisition of 77 per cent stake of Flipkart in its biggest takeover till date. The deal values the 11-year old Indian e-commerce firm at USD 20.8 billion. "@CCI_India approves proposed acquisition of Flipkart Private Limited by Wal-Mart International Holdings, Inc," the regulator said in a tweet. Deals beyond a certain threshold are required to get clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The regulator keeps a tab on unfair business practices in the market place.
NDTV Q1 net loss narrows to Rs 2.88 cr
New Delhi Television today reported narrowing of its consolidated net loss to Rs 2.88 crore for the quarter ended June 30. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 22.01 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, New Delhi Television (NDTV) Ltd said in a BSE filing. The consolidated revenue from operations of the company stood at Rs 98.18 crore for the quarter under review. It was Rs 105.12 crore in the same period a year ago. Shares of New Delhi Television Ltd closed 0.90 per cent higher at Rs 33.50 per scrip on the BSE today.
Oil falls on slowing Chinese demand, U.S.-China trade spat
MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday after Chinese import data showed a slowdown in demand and as a trade dispute between Washington and Beijing escalated further.
Wall Street opens lower as trade tensions escalate
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday after China retaliated to Washington's latest tariffs, clouding a strong showing for corporate earnings.
RBI to transfer Rs 50,000 cr surplus to government
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said that it will transfer Rs 50,000 crore as surplus to the central government for the year ended June 30, 2018.