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GAIL India shares soared more than 5 per cent on the BSE in a subdued market on the news that the country’s largest gas distribution company will on Friday consider buyback of shares. The shares touched an intra-day high of ₹ 143.50, up 5.7 per cent in early trading on the back of the announcement and at 10:20 am, the shares were trading at ₹ 141.50, up 3.94 per cent, on the BSE. The board will meet on January 15 to consider share buyback as also payment of interim dividend for the fiscal year ending March 2021, Gail India said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges, but did not give any details.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday reported a 7.2 per cent jump in its profit for the final quarter of 2020, as India’s top software services firm benefitted from greater demand for its cloud services during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results kick off India’s corporate earnings season for the December quarter, a seasonally weak period for the software industry, but one which analysts reckon has been good for IT firms in 2020 because in part due to the Covid-19 crisis. TCS and rivals, Infosys and Wipro, have been winning more large contracts from businesses that are investing in services such as cloud-computing and cybersecurity to support their shift to remote work. “Growing demand for core transformation services … have driven a powerful momentum that helped us overcome seasonal headwinds,” TCS Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Gopinathan said in a statement to the stock exchanges.

Mumbai, January 8, 2021: Raising the bar with newer offerings for the customers in the New Year, India’s largest fuel retailer, IndianOil, has now teamed up with State Bank of India (SBI) India’s largest bank, to launch the IndianOil – SBI co-branded RuPay Debit Card. The IndianOil – SBI co-branded RuPay Debit Card was launched by Mr. Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman, IndianOil; and Mr. Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, SBI, in a virtual ceremony held today. The features of the card are: ·         6X Reward Points for every Rs. 200/- spent at IndianOil fuel stations ·         Fuel benefits – Cardholder earns loyalty points worth 0.75% against purchase of fuel at IndianOil fuel stations ·         Pay with a tap (contactless card) for a single transaction of upto Rs. 5000/- ·         Earn Reward Points on spends on dining, movies, grocery, and utility bills ·         Redeem Reward Points for dining, movies, grocery and paying utility bills ·         No monthly limit for purchasing fuel ·   

The Trump administration is considering adding tech giants Alibaba and Tencent to a blacklist of firms allegedly owned or controlled by the Chinese military, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Targeting Asia’s two most valuable companies, worth a combined $1.3 trillion, would be U.S. President Donald Trump’s most dramatic step yet in a recent raft of measures unleashed against Chinese companies as he seeks to cement his hardline policy against Beijing during his final days in office. Defense Department officials, who oversee the blacklist designations, have not yet finalized plans and are also discussing adding other Chinese firms to the list, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private. Both companies declined to comment. The discussions were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Shares in Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce firm, and Tencent, a gaming and social media behemoth, were down roughly 4 per cent in aft

Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner BP Plc of UK have committed to pay in cash for any natural gas volumes they are unable to deliver to customers from the next wave of discoveries in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block. According to draft gas sales and purchase agreement (GSPA) Reliance and BP have shared along with price discovery bids for incremental gas from the R-Cluster fields in KG-D6 block, the sellers will reimburse buyer money equivalent to gas sourced from alternate source to make up for any volumes they are unable to deliver. The buyer on his part will be obliged to offtake the committed gas volumes or pay for it (take or pay). The volumes not taken but paid for can be taken in subsequent quarters, the GSPA said. These ship or pay and take or pay obligations will be waived in the event of force majeure events such as any act of God like earthquake and floods, fire, epidemic, acts of war, strike and lockouts, delays due to government/ regulatory actions and court orders. Al

Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), or any other affiliate of the parent company, Reliance Industries Limited, have not engaged in any “corporate” or “contract” farming in the past, and have absolutely no plans to enter this business, the company said in a statement released to the media on Monday. The media release came on Monday when RIL filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court appealing to stop incidents of vandalism of RIL’s subsidiary Jio Infocomm’s towers. RIL also stated that neither Reliance nor any of its subsidiaries has purchased any agricultural land, directly or indirectly, in Punjab/Haryana or anywhere else in India, for the purpose of “corporate” or “contract” farming. “We have absolutely no plans to do so,” the company added.

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who has been under China government’s scrutiny since the abrupt suspension of Ant’s blockbuster $37 billion initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai and Hong Kong has not been seen in public for more than two months, according to some media reports . Reports suggest that Jack Ma did not even shown up for the final episode of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes in November and an Alibaba executive had taken his place at the show. Alibaba and rivals such as Tencent Holdings are facing increasing pressure from regulators after amassing hundreds of millions of users and gaining influence over almost every aspect of daily life in China. Last month, China’s antitrust authorities had launched a probe into Ma’s e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding and China’s central bank had asked the group to shake up its lending and other consumer finance operations. The Chinese regulators had earlier abruptly suspended Ant’s blockbuster $37 billion initial

The government has invited initial bids for 26 per cent stake in the state-owned defence and engineering company BEML, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s plans to privatise state-run companies such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Container Corporation of India, Shipping Corporation of India and Air India. The government holds just over 54 per cent in BEML. The cut in the government’s holding through the stake sale will lead to transfer of management control to the successful bidder. The sale will be take place through open competitive bidding and the interested bidders must submit an expression of interest by March 1. The government has appointed SBI Capital Markets Limited as its transaction adviser for the proposed divestment in BEML.

China will take “necessary measures” to safeguard the interests of its companies after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) began delisting three Chinese telecom firms that Washington says have military ties, the country’s commerce ministry said on Saturday. The NYSE said on Thursday that it would delist China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom following President Donald Trump’s move in November to bar US investment in 31 firms that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military. “This kind of abuse of national security and state power to suppress Chinese firms does not comply with market rules and violates market logic,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. “It not only harms the legal rights of Chinese companies but also damages the interests of investors in other countries, including the United States,” it added. While the ministry said it will take action to protect its firms, it also called on the United States to meet China half-way and put bi

Alibaba shares slumped 9 per cent to their lowest since June on Monday, as the firm’s upsized $10-billion buyback programme failed to ease concerns about a regulatory crackdown on co-founder Jack Ma ‘s e-commerce and financial empire. A sharp selloff over two sessions has knocked almost $116 billion off the tech giant’s Hong Kong-listed shares. The downward spiral intensified when Chinese regulators announced on Thursday the launch of an antitrust investigation into Alibaba and said they would summon its Ant Group affiliate to meet. Alibaba’s US shares sank more than 15 per cent during the day. “The antitrust investigation into Alibaba has yet to specify the penalties, which is worrying investors a lot,” said Zhang Zihua, chief investment officer of Beijing Yunyi Asset, adding a probe outcome could “greatly change” the company valuations. Putting investors more on edge was news over the weekend that China’s central bank had asked Ant to shake up its lending and other consumer finance

China’s central bank disclosed on Sunday it had asked the country’s payments giant Ant Group to shake up its lending and other consumer finance operations, the latest blow to its billionaire founder and controlling shareholder Jack Ma. The announcement came more than a month after Chinese regulators abruptly suspended Ant’s blockbuster $37 billion initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and only days after the country’s antitrust authorities said they had launched a probe into Ma’s e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding. Chinese regulators and Communist Party officials have set about reining in Ma’s sprawling financial empire after he publicly criticized the country’s regulatory system in October for stifling innovation. Regulators have urged Ant to rectify financial regulatory violations, including in its credit, insurance and wealth management businesses, and overhaul its credit rating business to protect personal information, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Vice Gove

Anupam Rasayan, a specialty chemical company based in Surat, has filed preliminary papers viz. draft red herring prospectus with the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise ₹ 760 crore through the primary market. The company will reserve a portion of the IPO for its employees and may also consider a discount for eligible staff, the company said in the draft red herring prospectus, adding that the issue proceeds will be used mainly to repay debt. The company produces specialty chemicals for the agrochemical, personal care, and pharmaceutical sectors. Its clients include Syngenta Asia Pacific, Sumitomo Chemical Company and UPL. Anupam Rasayan started operations in the year 1984. It has six multi-purpose manufacturing facilities in Gujarat, with a combined capacity of around 23,396 metric tonne.

Cyber-security expert Steven Adair and his team were in the final stages of purging the hackers from a think tank’s network earlier this year when a suspicious pattern in the log data caught their eye. The spies had not only managed to break back in – a common enough occurrence in the world of cyber incident response – but they had sailed straight through to the client’s email system, waltzing past the recently refreshed password protections like they didn’t exist. “Wow,” Adair recalled thinking in a recent interview. “These guys are smarter than the average bear.” It was only last week that Adair’s company – the Reston, Virginia-based Volexity – realized that the bears it had been wrestling with were the same set of advanced hackers who compromised Texas-based software company SolarWinds . Using a subverted version of the company’s software as a makeshift skeleton key, the hackers crept into a swathe of US government networks, including the Departments of Treasury, Homeland Security,

Jack Ma-led Alibaba Group is being investigated under the anti-monopoly law, a measure seen as an effort by ruling Communist Party to control fast-growing tech industries. “China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has started investigation on Alibaba Group for alleged monopoly conduct including implementing an ‘exclusive dealing agreement’,” according to Xinhua. The announcement shook several investors who dumped shares of Alibaba’s subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as other Internet firms that are at risk of being targeted by Chinese antitrust regulators. Alibaba shares fell nearly 9 per cent in Hong Kong. Owned by China’s charismatic entrepreneur Jack Ma, a schoolteacher who became a multi-billionaire, Alibaba is arguably the world’s biggest e-commerce company with hundreds of millions of users and billions of dollars in turnover. According to Bloomberg, it is Asia’s “most valuable corporation”. Its three main sites Taobao, Tmall and Alibaba.com host millions of m

Wipro has bagged a strategic digital and IT partnership deal from METRO AG, a leading global wholesale company that is redefining the food service distribution industry. The estimated deal value for the duration of the first 5 years is about $700 million, Wipro said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges. With the possibility of an extension up to 4 additional years, the deal can be a potential spend of up to $1 billion. “The takeover is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close on or before April 30, 2021,” Wipro added. Thierry Delaporte, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Wipro Limited said, “Like us, METRO AG is focused on leveraging digital transformation for competitive advantage. Wipro and METRO share a great deal in terms of culture and values, which has guided our discussions throughout, and led to the formation of the joint Transformation and Co-Innovation Council. Our relationship with METRO is a significant a

Shares of the country’s second largest information technology company – Infosys – rose as much as 2.5 per cent to hit an all-time high of ₹ 1,251 on the National Stock Exchange after the company said it has won a long-term contract from German automotive major Daimler to drive hybrid-cloud powered innovation and IT infrastructure transformation. This is the second large deal for the Bengaluru-based software major this year after it bagged a multi-year digital transformation deal from the US investment firm Vanguard in July. Infosys did not, however, disclose the size of the deal. Infosys will help Daimler upgrade its IT operating model and infrastructure across workplace services, service desk, data centre, networks and SAP (systems applications and products). As a part of this partnership, automotive IT infrastructure experts based out of Germany, wider Europe, the US and the APAC region will transition from Daimler AG to Infosys. “As we embark on this journey, we will bring together

The Delhi High Court allowed Amazon.com Inc.. to oppose Future Group’s $3.4-billion asset sale to Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate but left it to domestic regulators to decide on the deal, in a mixed ruling for the US giant fighting Asia’s richest man for dominance in one of the world’s largest retail markets. The court said Monday it can’t bar the e-commerce giant from writing to regulators objecting to the indebted Indian retailer’s plan to sell its assets to Mr Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. The ruling by a single-judge bench can be challenged before a higher court. The court’s position neither bars nor allows the Future-Reliance transaction. The legal spat has drawn the battle lines between two of the world’s richest men, Jeff Bezos and Mr Ambani, as they fight to control India’s estimated $1-trillion retail market. Reliance is already the country’s biggest brick-and-mortar retailer. Acquiring Future’s assets would give it unparalleled edge over rivals — an advantage Amazon is not w

Linking the grant of additional borrowing permissions by the Government of India (GoI) to the States, to reforms in various citizen-centric sectors has motivated the states to undertake reforms to promote Ease of Doing Business, according to the Ministry of Finance. Five states have so far completed the stipulated reforms in the Ease of Doing Business. These states have been granted permission to mobilize additional financial resources to the tune of ₹ 16,728 crore through open market borrowings, according to an official release. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The Ease of Doing Business is an important indicator of the investment-friendly business climate in the country. Improvements in the ease of doing business will enable faster future growth of the state economy. Therefore, the government of India had in May 2020, decided to link the grant of additional borrowing permissions to states who undertake the reforms to facilitate ea

Apple Inc has temporarily shut all of its 53 stores in California because of a coronavirus outbreak and 16 stores in the United Kingdom following restrictions introduced by the government in London, a spokesman said on Saturday. The company said on Friday it was temporarily shutting some stores in California following a surge in COVID-19 cases, sending the iPhone maker’s shares down in trading after the bell. That announcement covered at least 12 stores. “Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas. We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement. Customers would still be able to pick up existing orders for the next few days, the spokesman said. The statement did not mention when Apple expects the stores to reopen. Coronavirus cases are increasing in the

Apple Inc on Saturday said it had placed contract manufacturer Wistron on probation and would not give the Taiwanese firm new business until it took corrective actions following lapses at its southern India plant. Early findings of an Apple audit, which followed violence at the Wistron plant in southern Karnataka state last weekend, show violations of the U.S. tech giant’s ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’, Apple said in a statement. Wistron failed to implement proper working hour management processes, which “led to payment delays for some workers in October and November,” Apple said. Apple will continue to monitor Wistron’s progress on corrective action, the Cupertino-California based company said. “Our main objective is to make sure all the workers are treated with dignity and respect, and fully compensated promptly.” In a statement earlier on Saturday, Wistron admitted some workers at its plant in Karnataka’s Kolar district had not been paid properly and said it was removing a top executiv