Page 58 - Companies

Almost half of workers in India don't feel secure in their jobs: Survey

Job insecurity is a growing concern for workers worldwide, and in India 47 per cent of employees do not feel secure in their positions, says a survey. According to the ADP Research Institute's People at Work 2023: A Global Workforce View report, a concerning 47 per cent of employees in India do not feel secure in their positions. "Workers are bound to be worried about their jobs in these volatile and uncertain economic times, especially in light of recent reports of large-scale job losses at prominent corporations and the alleged threat of AI to human employment," said Rahul Goyal, MD, ADP. Across markets, feelings of job insecurity are highest among the young. According to a survey of over 32,000 workers, half of Gen Z (18-24 year-olds) said they do not feel secure in their jobs. This is double the proportion of over 55-year-olds who say the same. Goyal further noted that "many businesses continue to have serious problems finding and keeping talent, so the situation may not be as

Tata's Jaguar Land Rover Q1 retail sales up 29% at 1,01,994 units

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover on Friday reported 29 per cent rise in retail sales in the first quarter ended June 30 at 1,01,994 units, as compared to the same period a year ago. The growth reflects continuing improvement in chip and other supply constraints, Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing. Wholesales, excluding those of Chery Jaguar Land Rover China JV, were at 93,253 units in the first quarter, up 30 per cent as compared to the year-ago period. "The order book remained strong with over 1,85,000 client orders at quarter end, reducing from 2,00,000 at March 31, 2023 in line with expectations, as chip and other supply constraints continue to improve," the company said. Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender demand remains particularly strong, representing 76 per cent of the order book, it added.

Centre working on quality control norms for home appliances: Report

The appliances have been grouped into six categories based on their usage and each category will have a separate Quality Control Order

Trai to start consultation on regulation of OTT apps soon: Report

The DoT wants to regulate only communication OTT apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, and not the broadcasting ones like Netflix and Amazon Prime

Entity offloads Piramal Enterprises' shares worth Rs 575 cr via open market

An entity on Thursday offloaded shares of Piramal Enterprises for Rs 575 crore through open market transactions. According to the block deal data available with the BSE, SmallCap World Fund Inc sold a total of 61,09,068 shares of Piramal Enterprises 17 tranches. The shares were disposed at an average price of Rs 941.15 apiece, taking the aggregate transaction value to Rs 574.95 crore. Plutus Wealth Management, Tata Mutual Fund (MF), Bandhan MF BOFA Securities Europe SA, BNP Paribas Arbitrage and Segantii India Mauritius, among others were buyers of shares of Piramal Enterprises. In a separate transaction on BSE, New World Fund Inc offloaded more than 34.62 lakh shares of Piramal Enterprises for Rs 326 crore through an open market transaction, as per the bulk deal data. The shares were sold at an average price of Rs 941.15 per share, taking the transaction value to Rs 325.91 crore. Details of the buyers could not be ascertained. On Thursday, shares of Piramal Enterprises fell 1.0

NCLT starts live streaming proceedings of principal bench on YouTube

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday started live streaming of the proceedings on YouTube. The live streaming of the proceedings of the principal bench headed by NCLT President Justice S Ramalingam was started on a pilot basis. This initiative to livestream has been taken by the NCLT and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to "promote transparency in the court proceedings for the benefit of litigants and stakeholders. "As a pilot, the proceedings of the Principal Bench of NCLT presided by Justice Sudhakar Ramalingam and Member Avinash Srivastava were on live broadcast on YouTube today," MCA said in a tweet. After the pandemic, several high courts, tribunals, including NCLT and NCLAT and the Supreme court, went for virtual proceedings. In late 2022, the Supreme Court started live streaming for the first time. Set up under section 408 of the Companies Act, 2013 in June 2016, the NCLT has eleven benches, including the principal bench in the national capital. It h

Infosys' US arm expands to Canada, opens 10,000-sq ft digital centre

IT company Infosys on Thursday said it has set up a new subsidiary in Canada under its US arm Infosys Public Services. Headquartered in Ottawa, Infosys Public Services Canada will span over 10,000 square feet. "Infosys Public Services (IPS), a North America-based company of Infosys, today announced the opening of its new subsidiary, Infosys Public Services Canada, Inc headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario with local offices in Mississauga ON, Calgary AB, and Burnaby BC," the company said in a statement. The expansion follows a series of Infosys' investments in the Canada. IPS Canada aims to work with local universities and technical colleges to recruit talent, it added. "This IPS Canada announcement is the latest development in a series of investments made by Infosys which has expanded the employee count to over 7,000 with a commitment to increase to 8,000 employees by 2024," the statement said. IPS Canada will help modernize public sector service delivery for new and existing federal

Tata Steel consolidated output falls 7.69% to 7.08 MT in Q1; sales grow 8%

Tata Steel on Thursday its consolidated production declined to 7.08 million tonnes (MT) in the first quarter of FY24. The company's consolidated production was at 7.67 MT during April-June of the preceding financial year, Tata Steel said in a statement. Consolidated deliveries however rose 7.97 pc to 7.04 MT from 6.52 MT in the same period of the last fiscal. In India, Tata Steel India produced 5.01 MT of steel over 4.92 MT in the year-ago quarter. The deliveries in India rose to 4.80 MT from 4.07 MT a year ago. Tata Steel Europe saw its production fall to 1.81 MT from 2.44 MT in April-June FY23. In Europe, the deliveries fell to 1.97 MT from 2.14 MT in the same quarter a year ago. In Thailand, Tata Steel Thailand produced 0.26 MT, down from 0.31 MT Q1 in the preceding fiscal. In Thailand also deliveries reduced to 0.27 MT from 0.31 in the year-ago quarter. "The planned relining of BF6 at Tata Steel Netherlands commenced in April and this has led to a drop in crude steel producti

Amara Raja Electronics announces stake acquisition in Design Alpha

Amara Raja Electronics Ltd on Thursday said it has acquired a stake in engineering design firm Design Alpha. The acquisition will position Amara Raja Electronics Ltd AREL as a fully integrated electronic systems design and manufacturing (ESDM) company, unlocking numerous opportunities in the electronics manufacturing business, the company said in a statement without disclosing the percentage of shareholding it acquired. "By acquiring Design Alpha, AREL will gain access to expertise in industrial design, embedded and mixed signal electronics, power electronics, optical and photonics, firmware, and mechanical designs," it added. Besides opening doors to partnerships with large multinational corporations and expanding their customer base, the acquisition will also facilitate seamless integration of design and manufacturing processes, along with the provision of value-added services to enhance product performance, efficiency, and reduce time to market, the company said. "The acquisiti

Ambrane expects to almost double revenue to Rs 500 cr by 2025-26

Smart devices and accessories maker Ambrane India expects to almost double its revenue to Rs 500 crore by 2025-26 as it looks to expand both product portfolio and geographic reach, a top official of the company said on Thursday. Ambrane founder and Director Ashok Rajpal told PTI that the company clocked revenue of Rs 230 crore in the last fiscal. "We crossed Rs 230 crore in revenue in the last financial year. It is a testament to our commitment to innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction. With our upcoming plans, we aim to clock our revenue to 500 crore by 2025-2026," Rajpal said. Since its inception in 2012, Ambrane claims to have sold over 4 crore products in India with a majority of the contribution coming from power banks. "Our expansion roadmap through a combination of widening product portfolio, technology and geography shall drive our growth," Rajpal said. As a part of its next step of growth, the company aims to focus on direct sales and strengthen its availability i

Unseasonal rains made this summer challenging, says Coca-Cola India

Unseasonal rains have made this summer a challenging one for beverages major Coca-Cola India although sales became better as the season progressed, according to Vice President Sundeep Bajoria. The company also believes that consumers will not jump the gun on the issue of the artificial sweetener aspartame, which according to reports may be declared "possibly carcinogenic to humans". The current summer season was "challenging" due to weather changes and drop in temperature. However, the company's performance in the summer season was better when it exited than it entered, said. "It was one of the challenging summer seasons, but we ended better from where we started off," he said on the sidelines of an event organised hereby the Indian Beverage Association. There is no way out of such sudden change in the weather conditions and the country has seen summer rains after every few years, he said, adding the beverage players have to make sure that they are better connected with the ...

DPIIT to roll out mandatory quality norms for home electrical appliances

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will soon roll out mandatory quality control and safety standards for a number of household electrical appliances, a senior official said on Thursday. The move is aimed at containing the import of sub-standard goods from countries like China and boost domestic manufacturing. These products, which are divided under six categories, include Vacuum Cleaners, Electrical Shavers Hair, Massage Appliances, Electric Steam Cookers, Electric Heating Tools, Electric Coffee Makers, and Electric Food Processors. Most of the imports are coming from China. As many as 85 standards will be covered under one quality control order for safety of household, commercial and similar electrical appliances, Joint Secretary in the DPIIT Sanjiv told PTI. He said that the move will help in addressing safety concerns about these products. Sanjiv also held a stakeholder consultation meeting to discuss on the draft order, which is in public doma

CBRE introduces integrated solutions for project management; hire 400 more

Real estate consultant CBRE India on Thursday said it has introduced an integrated solution, backed by data and latest technology, for project management and will hire around 400 employees this year in this new business line to provide better services to its clients. The company has been doing project management for more than two decades. It has offered services to more than 1,300 clients and managed over 1 billion square feet area. Now, it has launched an integrated platform, combining multiple services. In a press conference, CBRE announced the launch of a "new integrated, data & technology-led solution platform -- 'Development Solutions' under its project management business line". The company said the integrated solutions will help its clients -- developers and investors -- save up to 12 per cent project cost and also timelines by up to 5 per cent. CBRE India aims to capture 25-30 per cent market share in the next three years. "With Development Solutions, we have expanded our

Recent Twitter modifications pose problems for users, say analysts

Some users on microblogging site Twitter are shifting to third-party apps since the company has made verification necessary within 30 days for accessing TweetDeck, a move which industry watchers believe could give an edge to rival platforms. Since the removal of Teams feature from the Elon Musk-led app, reported outages and a number of changes announced, users have been taking to the platform to report issues of increased advertisements and appearances of blocked and muted accounts on their Twitter feed. A user tweeted, "Twitter just has too many ads and now you're locking Tweet Deck behind a paywall and limiting the number of tweets I can read in a day... unless I pay." "If we're going to be rate-limited based on view count, why am I forced to view accounts I blocked?," another user tweeted. Heads of enterprise technology platforms said that their work has been impacted due to the changes over the past 3-4 months on Twitter. "We have to switch screens and use third party tools fo

SMFG India Credit announces appointment of S Subramanian as new COO

SMFG India Credit Co Ltd (formerly Fullerton India Credit Co Ltd) on Thursday announced the appointment of Swaminathan Subramanian as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Previously, Subramanian was working as Chief People Officer (CPO) at the non-banking financial company. In his elevated role, he will manage operations, technology, legal, enterprise services, human resources and CSR, the company said in a statement. Subramanian will now lead our digital transformation, corporate legal initiatives, operational efficiency, and focus on building a strong infrastructure as well as prioritising our people and community, SMFG India Credit Managing Director Shantanu Mitra said. Japan-based Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) holds a 74.9 per cent stake in SMFG India Credit and offers a diverse range of financial services.

Wave Group to invest Rs 10 cr on AI tech in 4,200 acre township in Gzb

Realty firm Wave Group on Thursday said it will invest Rs 10 crore on artificial intelligence technology (AI) to improve security features and other amenities in its 4,200 acre township Wave City at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. "Wave City will invest around Rs 10 crore in AI technology to provide top-end security and features to its residents," Wave Group said in a statement. Some of the features that will be installed under AI are ATM theft detection, forensic identification, parking management and traffic management, among others, it added. Wave Group firm Uppal Chadha Hi-Tech Developers Pvt Ltd is developing this township. C J Singh, Chief Operating Officer at Wave City, said customers are looking for sustainable living spaces that are safe with integrated technology.

Ajmera Realty & Infra India Q1 sales bookings down 44% to Rs 225 cr

Ajmera Realty & Infra India Ltd on Thursday reported a 44 per cent decline in its sales bookings to Rs 225 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal year. Its sales bookings stood at Rs 400 crore in the year-ago period. The carpet area sold fell 14 per cent to 1,35,460 square feet in April-June period of this fiscal year from 1,57,438 square feet in the corresponding period of the previous year, according to a regulatory filing. The Mumbai-based company is focused on development of luxury and mid-luxury residential projects.

Puravankara Q1 sales bookings jump over 2-fold to record Rs 1,126 cr

Realty firm Puravankara Ltd on Thursday said its sales bookings jumped over two-fold to Rs 1,126 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal on better housing demand and higher price realisation. In a regulatory filing, the company shared its operational performance for the April-June quarter of 2023-24. The company's sales bookings in volume terms rose 97 per cent to 1.36 million square feet in the first quarter of this fiscal from 0.69 million square feet in the year-ago period. In value terms, the sales bookings jumped to Rs 1,126 crore from Rs 513 crore. The average price realisation went up 11 per cent to Rs 8,277 per square feet from Rs 7,436 per square feet during the period under review. "Achieved highest ever sale value of Rs 1,126 crore in any quarter and the first quarter of any financial year since inception," Bengaluru-based Puravankara said. It attributed the growth in sales to factors like need for larger houses, rising incomes, job creation, and stable home loan rate

Indian startup funding fell 72% in H1CY23, funding rounds down 66%: Tracxn

In all cities, Bangalore emerged as the leader in total funds raised during this period, followed by Delhi-NCR and Mumbai

Tamil Nadu's Atsuya secures spot in Google's Startup Accelerator Program

Under the program, tech companies using artificial intelligence/ machine learning (AI/ML) get access to Google's resources, programs, people, products and technology