businessfortnight

Mumbai:  The proposed 4% stake sale in SBI General Insurance Co. has drawn interest from at least three global private equity investors, including KKR, Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pvt. Ltd and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), two people directly aware of the development said, requesting anonymity. “All the above funds have expressed initial interest and are expected to submit the binding bids but more bidders are expected to place bids,” said one of the persons cited above. The sale process, which was announced by the State Bank of India (SBI) in August, is being managed by Kotak Investment Banking. SBI General Insurance stake sale attracts KKR, Temasek, CPPIB Emails sent to SBI, Kotak Investment Banking and CPPIB remained unanswered until press time, while spokespeople for Temasek and KKR declined to comment. The 4% stake sale is part of the pre-offer valuation exercise of SBI General Insurance before its planned initial public offering (IPO) by the end of March this ye

With the festive season about to begin, many people will begin scouting the market for good deals on cars. While car manufacturers usually refrain from giving discounts on newly launched models, dealers tend to offer some freebies at their end to attract customers to new as well as old car models. But it’s possible that despite the freebies, the price tag may be holding you back, when it comes to your favourite car or model. In that case, you can take a look at the used car market in the country. The used car market in the country is growing fast, and it is quite likely that you may get your favourite car model—which is not very old—at an attractive price. Click here for enlarge Remember that a lot of people prefer used cars, despite having the money to buy a new one, because car is a depreciating asset. Also, a lot of first-time drivers prefer a used car for initial driving practice. To help make your decision easier, we looked at a list of used cars compiled by OLX India, a class

Through the tumult of the past few decades, one fixture has remained constant on Indian roads—the humble motor scooter. From the elegant Lambrettas of the 1960s that our grandfathers rode, to the spanking new Athers that our children desire, the scooter has remained our favourite mode of transport. With approximately 200 million two-wheelers on road, India is by far the largest market, globally, for motorcycles and scooters. Most middle-class Indians, even those who do not have a scooter, learn how to ride one at an early age. Even car owners prefer to commute by two-wheelers by a factor of 4 to 1. This makes India an ideal market for technology disruption on two-wheelers. Click here for enlarge We have just invested in one such company, Vogo, that uses mobile and internet-of-things (IoT) to let you ride a scooter from anywhere to anywhere. Vogo offers a simple service: Use their app to find a scooter near you, ride it to wherever you want, and leave it there for the next customer

Life Insurance is not about investing your money to earn a return on it, it’s about financial protection for your loved ones. And the most efficient way to do that is through a term insurance policy. This policy does not invest your money which means you pay only for insurance and after the policy term ends you don’t get any money back. But on death during the policy term, it pays a huge corpus to the nominees that can help them tide over any financial crunch and ensure their live are not thrown out of whack. A term plan is the only kind of life policy you need to have because it gives you a large cover for low cost. Read here to know more about term plans. However keep in mind that buying a term plan also needs due diligence at your end when filling up the insurance policy form called as the proposal form. Read here to understand what determines your experience of buying a term insurance policy: Click here for enlarge Further, there are many types of term plan to choose from and y

New Delhi:  India is set to cap trade margins on medical devices, abandoning the current price control mechanism, as it seeks to curb profiteering as well as allay concerns of device makers, particularly importers of stents and knee implants, who have complained that price caps hurt innovation, two people aware of the matter said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to accept government think tank NITI Aayog’s recommendation to cap trade margin at 65% for medical devices, the people said on condition of anonymity. According to NITI Aayog’s formula, the maximum retail price (MRP) of a device will be decided by adding the trade margin to the price at the first point of sale (stockist). The trade margin is the difference between the price at which the manufacturers/importers sell to stockists and the price charged to consumers. The prime minister on Wednesday held a meeting with senior officials of NITI Aayog, the secretary, ministry of health, the secretary, department of pharmaceuti

In June, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had declared a target of doubling the national transporter’s revenue to Rs 4 lakh crore by 2025. One of the ways he hopes to achieve that is by enhancing freight capacity since it already accounts for 65 per cent of its total revenues. In fact, the buzz is that the Indian Railways wants to increase its share of total freight movement from 33 per cent to 45 per cent. No wonder it is now looking beyond the 3,300-km long eastern and western freight corridors currently being constructed. Railways may invest Rs 44,000 crore on West Bengal-Andhra Pradesh freight corridor According to The Economic Times, the Indian Railways plans to invest Rs 44,000 crore to build a 1,100-km greenfield freight corridor along the country’s east coast to connect Kharagpur in West Bengal with Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh. In other words, this proposed corridor – likely to be announced in the budget proposal for 2019-20 – will link up the mineral-rich areas of the country wi

New Delhi:  Harley-Davidson, Inc. plans to launch motorcycles in the small and mid-sized segment as it unveiled a major change in its strategy to target young buyers in emerging markets such as India and China. Harley-Davidson gears up to take on Royal Enfield The US-based company, famed for its big bikes, also plans to forge a strategic alliance with another motorcycle maker to develop and sell these motorcycles in these markets, Harley-Davidson said on Monday. Harley’s planned entry into the market for small and mid-capacity motorcycles is aimed at expanding its customer base and to drive growth in India, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing markets, as well as other Asian markets. “The bold actions we are announcing today leverage Harley-Davidson’s vast capabilities and competitive firepower—our excellence in product development and manufacturing, the global appeal of the brand and of course, our great dealer network,” said Matt Levatich, president and chief executive off