Page 463 - Business Finance
'Super app' to place Reliance Jio in pole position
As Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, prepares to officially launch world's largest online-to-offline new e-commerce platform and give jitters to Amazon and Walmart-Flipkart, Reliance Jio is reportedly working on a "super app" that will provide over 100 services at one platform.
Eric Schmidt set to leave Alphabet's board in June
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt will leave Alphabet's board in June after being a member of the company's board for over 18 years.
Lava doubles its feature phone market share to 13 per cent
Lava International Limited showed a tremendous gain in the Feature Phone market with over 100 per cent growth in its market share from 6 per cent to 13 per cent in the Q1 results of 2019 as reported by Counterpoint Research. In the 2G Feature Phone segment, Lava came a close second to Samsung with a difference of only 2 per cent in the market share.Counterpoint technology market research is a global firm specializing in mobile & amp; technology products in the Technology, Media & amp; Telecom (TMT) industry.According to the latest research by Counterpoint the Indian Feature phone market is at 400 million users. With this exceptional gain in market share, Lava is amongst the most popular brands in the segment.Lava was also reported as the No 1 Feature Phone Brand in India by Cyber Media Research (CMR) in the month of February 2019. Lava had reached the top spot with 16per cent market share while Samsung and LYF tied at 15per cent share each.Announcing this, CMR had tweeted ...
Concor clocks net profit of Rs 352 crore in Q4 FY19
State-owned Container Corporation of India (Concor) has reported profit after tax of Rs 352 crore in the fourth quarter of 2018-19 compared to Rs 292 crore in the same quarter of previous year.At the same time, the navratna central public sector enterprise clocked a turnover of Rs 1,834 crore against Rs 1,639 crore.The board of directors declared a final dividend of Rs 8.55 or 171 per cent per equity share of face value of Rs 5 each, according to a statement issued after the board meeting late on Tuesday.During the fiscal ended March 31, the multimodal logistics service provider posted profit after tax of Rs 1,215 crore on a turnover of Rs 6,882 crore.In 2017-18, it had recorded revenue from operations of Rs 6,157 crore and a net profit of Rs 1,044 crore.
MobiKwik to clock 70,000 digital loans in May 2019
MobiKwik, India's leading FinTech Company, today announced that it will clock 70,000 fully-digital loans in May 2019.MobiKwik has disbursed over 5 lakh loans since it started digital lending on its app last year and approximately 55,000 loans in April 2019 alone. MobiKwik's Digital Lending business is amongst the fastest growing in the industry with over 25 per cent MoM growth in 2019.As a Payments platform, the company has the unique opportunity to distribute affordable loan products to millions of its users and SMEs using their payments and profile data for credit underwriting. Each month about 1 million users apply for a digital loan on the MobiKwik Android and iOS apps.MobiKwik's loan products are delivered end-to-end on its mobile app, including the entire user targeting, loan journey, and money disbursal. The company offers an extensive portfolio of loans including Boost Term Loan, Boost Credit Line, and Shopping Loan to cater to diverse customer requirements.These loans are ...
ValueMomentum experienced 31 percent revenue growth in FY 2018
ValueMomentum, Inc, a leading provider of software and services to insurance, health care and financial services firms, today announced unprecedented 31 per cent growth in overall business for its fiscal year ending March 31st, 2019.Growth was led by digital transformation, cloud adoption, data modernization and core transformation projects at existing and new clients. Notably, clients increasingly entrusted ValueMomentum with end-to-end digital initiatives, including engagement on one end and automation on the other. ValueMomentum's team grew to approximately 2,500 associates during this period.ValueMomentum reorganized its team last year to bring sharper focus on its offerings, with a charter to drive increased speed & amp; value to our clients. This reorganization allowed further specialization and the development of targeted solutions for ValueMomentum's insurance, banking & amp; healthcare markets to drive momentum to our clients' digital, data & amp; core ...
LPG cooking gas cylinders to cost slightly more
Government-owned Indian Oil Corporation has increased price of a subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) 14.2 kg cylinder by 28 paise in New Delhi and 29 paise in Mumbai from Wednesday.The non-subsidised rates have been increased by Rs 6 per cylinder in both metros.A non-subsidised LPG cylinder will now cost Rs 712.5 in New Delhi, Rs 684.50 in Mumbai, Rs 738.50 in Kolkata and Rs 728 in Chennai.Subsidised LPG rates now stand at Rs 496.14 per cylinder in New Delhi, Rs 499.29 in Kolkata, Rs 493.86 in Mumbai and Rs 484.02 in Chennai.Indian Oil is the country's largest fuel retailer which supplies LPG under brand Indane.Currently, LPG consumers in the country have to purchase the fuel at market prices. The government subsidises 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each per household in a year by providing subsidy amount directly in the bank accounts.This subsidy amount depends on changes in the average international benchmark LPG rate and foreign exchange rate..
Stock markets closed due to public holiday
Stock markets were closed on Wednesday for a public holiday.May 1 is the International Labour Day. It is also celebrated as Maharashtra Divas to commemorate the formation of western state.A day earlier, the S & P BSE Sensex had closed 36 points lower at 39,032 while the Nifty 50 was down 6 points to 11,748. The next trading will resume on Thursday.Late on Tuesday, stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) fined the National Stock Exchange about Rs 625 crore and barred it from raising money on securities markets for six months after finding it had failed to ensure equal access for all brokers to the exchange's network servers.The decision to impose one of the largest fines by SEBI followed three years of investigation.
'Good to see you': US, Chinese negotiators resume trade talks
Top US and Chinese trade negotiators resumed talks on Wednesday as they an eye an endgame to a months-long dispute that has hit businesses with bruising tariffs. Vice Premier Liu He, a close aide to President Xi Jinping on economic matters, greeted US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to begin what the US side has described as a decisive phase in the talks. The world's two leading economies have exchanged tariffs on $360 billion worth of goods since President Donald Trump launched a trade war last year. Mnuchin and Lighthizer exchanged pleasantries with Liu when they arrived at the Diaoyutai state guest house on Wednesday, with the US treasury chief pointing to his red tie and smiling at the vice premier, who wore the same colour. "Morning. Good to see you," Liu told the Americans, to which Mnuchin replied: "Nice to see you. It's good to be back here." Mnuchin told reporters earlier that he had a "nice" working dinner with Liu on Tuesday ...
Indian startups now building products for the world: Advocacy group
Having graduated from coding or emulating the concepts invented in the west, startups in India have entered a new phase wherein they are successfully building products for the world and raising money from the west, according to a top India-centric US advocacy group. I think the Indian startups scene is entering a third phase, building products for the world, Mukesh Aghi, president of US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) told PTI. Noting that the whole Indian IT industry picked up after the Year 2000, he said this area focused more on coding and was more of a labour arbitrage. In a way, it filled a vacuum which was needed, he observed. The second phase involved Indian companies emulating the concepts invented here in the US, following companies such as Uber, Ola, Amazon and Flipkart, he said, adding that on the healthcare side, there are many similar examples. Up to a certain extent, this tactic has been successful in India. However, the second phase was not for an export .
EB-5 Legacy Fund Launched, Behring Turns Focus on Creating Generational Wealth
/ -- Behring Capital, a national leader in EB-5 immigration-enhanced real estate investments, with over $600 million in projects in progress, announced its Legacy Fund, a first-of-its-kind dynamic EB-5 fund that enables the EB-5 investor to customize their own EB-5 risk and return profile with the ultimate goal of creating generational wealth for its investors by building a portfolio of high value multifamily apartments in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. "EB-5 Investors have become far more sophisticated and we designed a fund that served their needs," says Colin Behring, the CEO at Behring Companies, a California-based real estate development and private equity fund manager and USCIS approved EB-5 regional center. "We took the same high-quality residential apartment buildings, designed better protections and added customizable investment options that gave back some control of their future. Other EB-5 groups lump all their investors together, treat every country the ...
Firmenich to Acquire Majority Stake in VKL Seasoning to Expand Reach in India
/ -- Firmenich has agreed to acquire a majority stake in VKL Seasoning Pvt. Ltd, a leader in seasonings and flavors in India, from True North, an Indian private equity company. With this venture Firmenich is broadening its capabilities and customer reach in India, a key growth market for the Group, while expanding its raw material palette for clean label ingredients. Founded in 1996, VKL Seasoning Pvt. Ltd is renowned for its strong understanding of taste and its leading reputation among Indian customers. "India is a critical market for Firmenich and we are committed to investing in our business here both for short and long-term growth," says Patrick Firmenich, Chairman of the Board, Firmenich. "VKL and Firmenich are extremely complementary to one another and together will offer one of the broadest and most innovative portfolios available to food and beverage companies in India," he added. "In a world of increasingly label-conscious consumers, VKL's unique blends of spices, extracts .
India manufacturing, retail stores top priority: Cook
Stressing once again that India is an important market for Apple, CEO Tim Cook said the current manufacturing in the country will see maximum growth in days to come amid the renewed push to open its branded retail stores in the country.
Apple logs $58-bn revenue, Services hit record high
Riding on the growth in its Services and wearable segments, Apple has posted a revenue of $58 billion for its second quarter of 2019 -- a decline of 5 per cent from the year-ago quarter.
Down 17%, iPhone sales drop at record pace
Apple posted better earnings and revenue than Wall Street expected for the March 2019 quarter -- even as sales of its flagship iPhones were $6.5 billion lighter in the period, down by 17 per cent.
Pompeo asks US business to think twice in China's Xinjiang
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked corporate America on Tuesday to think twice when doing business in China's Xinjiang region, where he appeared to liken the scale of mass incarceration of Muslims to Nazi abuses. Speaking to a business group, Pompeo stopped short of asking firms not to work with China but said he hoped to spark further discussion on the "enormous risk" of doing business in the country. "We watch the massive human rights violations in Xinjiang where over a million people are being held in a humanitarian crisis that is the scale of what took place in the 1930s," Pompeo said. "And we see American businesses and their technology being used to help facilitate that activity from the Chinese government. It's something worthy of thinking about," the diplomatic chief said as he received an award from Business Executives for National Security. Pompeo added that "I don't know the answer," recalling that as a business owner and a conservative Republican he opposes government ...
All eyes on Fed as policy meeting kicks off
The US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting started on Tuesday as Fed officials argued whether to increase or cut interest rates amid strong economic growth and weak inflation.
Trump urges Fed to cut rates for 'rocket-like' economy
US President Donald Trump called on the US Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and adopt quantitative easing, citing an economy he said is "doing well."
Trump slams Fed for 'incessantly' raising interest rates
President Donald Trump slammed the Federal Reserve on Tuesday for "incessantly" raising interest rates and said cutting rates by a full point would make the economy surge. In a Twitter outburst on the first day of a two-day central bank meeting to decide the course of monetary policy, Trump said, "We have the potential to go up like a rocket if we did some lowering of rates, like one point." He said China is boosting its economy by keeping rates low, but "Our Federal Reserve has incessantly lifted interest rates, even though inflation is very low." The Fed has not raised the key rate this year and in fact signaled clearly that it will hold off on any further moves while it evaluates the US economy and is widely expected to stand firm in its decision Wednesday. The central bank has tightened policy nine times since December 2015, moving from zero in the aftermath of the global financial crisis to the current range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. Trump has repeatedly ignored norms ...
Eveready hits lower circuit after rating downgrade
Pain for B M Khaitan group companies mounted Tuesday after a rating agency downgraded long-term credit rating for dry cell battery-maker Eveready with a negative outlook. Eveready Industries India Ltd (EIIL) hit the lower circuit after it tanked 19.99 per cent on the BSE to close at Rs 116.85. On the NSE, it plunged by 20 per cent to close at 117.20 per share at the end of the day's trade. Credit ratings agency India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) has downgraded the long-term credit rating of Eveready with a negative outlook. McLeod Russel, another group company of the B M Khaitan Group, also crashed by 19.96 per cent to close at Rs. 61.15 per share on the BSE. B M Khaitan resigned recently as non-executive chairman from both these companies although he will continue to be the chairman emeritus in both these firms. Ind-Ra in its report said, "The downgrade reflects Eveready's continued high net leverage and weakened liquidity amid continuous financial support extended to group ...