Amazon plans to open large physical retail stores in U.S.
Amazon.com Inc is planning to open several large physical retail stores in the United States that would operate like department stores, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Xiaomi in talks with China Evergrande to buy its EV unit stake
Embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande Group is in talks with smartphone maker Xiaomi and Shenzhen state-backed investment firms as it looks to sell part of a 65% stake in its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Reuters reported.
The Evergrande New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Group had a market capitalisation of $12.5 billion on Thursday. Smartphone maker Xiaomi has been ramping up investments in EV suppliers after it unveiled its EV ambition with an investment of $10 billion in March.
India's MRPL shuts 60,000 bpd crude unit for 35 days
India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd has shut a 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude unit for about 35 days at it 300,000 bpd plant in southern India for maintenance, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The shutdown began on Aug. 15 and will last until September 18, they said. The refiner has also shut some secondary processing units including a hydrogen generation unit and delayed coker for maintenance, Reuters reported.
Goldman Sachs to buy Dutch asset manager NNIP for around $2 billion
Goldman Sachs said on Thursday it will buy Dutch insurer NN Group's asset management arm for around 1.7 billion euros ($1.98 billion) in the biggest acquisition by the U.S. company since David Solomon became chief executive in 2018.
The Wall Street firm wants to bulk up in areas like wealth management and expand its presence in regions outside the United States, Reuters reported.
Trade union demands CIL to enhance superannuation age of employees from 60 to 62 yrs
A trade union of state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) has urged the company to increase the superannuation age of employees to 62 years from the current 60 years.
In a recent letter to CIL Chairman Pramod Agarwal, Hind Khadan Mazdoor Federation President Nathulal Pandey said working norms, rules and regulations of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) are almost the same and similar to the CIL workers.
Executives and directors, he said, are selected from among Coal India executives for SCCL and vice versa. Because of this, Coal India workers and executives are expecting that their age of retirement should be enhanced from 60 to 62 years, as given in joint charter of demand for NCWA-XI, PTI reported.
Diesel price cut by 20 paise, petrol unchanged
Diesel price on Thursday was cut by 20 paise per litre - the second straight day of reduction, but petrol rates remained unchanged.
Diesel price in Delhi was reduced to Rs 89.47 per litre from Rs 89.67 a litre, according to a price notification by state-run oil companies. The petrol price wasn't revised. In Delhi, petrol continued to be priced at Rs 101.84 a litre, PTI reported.
The price cut follows international oil prices tumbling to their lowest level since May.
Russia fines Google for not removing illegal content
A Moscow court on Thursday again fined Google for failing to remove banned content as foreign tech giants face mounting pressure in Russia.
On Thursday, the Tagansky district court slapped Google with three fines totalling six million rubles ($80,850) for the violation, AFP reported.
Paisabazaar.com Closes its Largest Home Loan Case of Rs. 9.35 Crore
Paisabazaar.com, India’s largest digital consumer credit marketplace, announced today that it has closed its highest online home loan case of Rs 9.35 crore.
"Paisabazaar enabled me to compare multiple offers and choose the best. Despite the large amount, I had a great and hassle-free experience", said Nitin Aggarwal, an entrepreneur from Hyderabad, who took the high-ticket size home loan.
Paisbaazaar.com has 20+ active partnerships for home loans across the lending ecosystem, which includes India’s largest Banks, NBCFs and HFCs, PTI reported.
China's planned anti-sanctions law for Hong Kong unsettles financial sector
Global banks and other financial institutions in Hong Kong are scrambling to find out details of China's planned imposition of an anti-sanctions law on the city, and trying to understand how it could impact their operations in the financial hub.
Beijing adopted a law in June under which individuals or entities involved in making or implementing discriminatory measures against Chinese citizens or entities could be put on a government anti-sanctions list, Reuters reported.
S. Korea court orders seizure of Mitsubishi assets over forced labour
A South Korean court has ordered the seizure of Mitsubishi's assets in the country over the Japanese industrial giant's use of forced labour during World War II, AFP reported.
Japan and South Korea are both democracies, market economies and US allies, but their relationship has been strained for decades as a result of Tokyo's brutal 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula. Around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour by Japan during the 35-year occupation, according to data from Seoul.
Intel India, SINE-IIT Bombay join hands to form Plugin Alliance
Intel India on Thursday said it has collaborated with Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE)-IIT Bombay to launch Plugin Alliance that will focus on accelerating Industry 4.0 transformation in the country.
With 'Making Industries Intelligent' as its motto, Plugin Alliance's focus areas include increasing awareness and enabling the adoption of Industry 4.0 among larger enterprises and SMEs; identifying and exploring current and future Industry 4.0 solutions; and accelerating startups to develop market-ready solutions, PTI reported.
Stocks tumble, dollar climbs as taper and virus fears spook markets
Stocks stumbled, global bond yields fell and the dollar hit a nine-month peak on Thursday as a double-whammy of Fed taper fears and COVID worries haunted equity markets and spurred a new rush into safe haven assets.
The dash to safe haven assets helped U.S. Treasury yields cling to recent lows, with benchmark 10-year yields at 1.23% . Euro zone government bond yields also fell with German 10-year bond yields, the benchmark for the bloc, falling a basis point to -0.49%, within touching distance of a six-month low hit earlier this month, Reuters reported.
FPIs' investment value in domestic equity surges 7 pc to $ 592-bn in Jun qtr
The value of the foreign portfolio investors (FPI) holdings in the domestic equities reached USD 592 billion in three months ended June 2021, a surge of 7 per cent from the preceding quarter, according to a Morningstar report.
"As of the quarter ended June 2021, the value of FPI investments in Indian equities stood at USD 592 billion, which was considerably higher than the USD 552 billion recorded in the previous quarter, a spike of around 7 per cent," the report noted.
India’s Cars24 to Raise $350 Million From SoftBank, Others
India’s biggest online marketplace for used automobiles, Cars24 Services Pvt., is closing in on a deal to raise about $350 million from DST Global, SoftBank Group Corp. and other investors, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Cars24 is starting conversations about an initial public offering and aims to go public in 18 to 24 months, Bloomberg reported.
Paid licence fee dues for first quarter of 2021-22: Vodafone Idea
Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) on Thursday said it has paid licence fee dues for the first quarter of 2021-22.
The comment came amid a report that the troubled telco -- which is struggling to stay afloat -- fell Rs 150 crore short on payment of licence fee for the June quarter, PTI reported.
Sluggish demand, rising supply send Chinese iron ore to over half-year low
Benchmark iron ore futures in China extended losses for the third consecutive session, diving more than 7% and sending the price to its lowest since Feb. 5, dented by gloomy demand and a forecast of an increase in supply, Reuters reported.
China's steel consumption is expected to soften in the second half, especially in the construction sector, due to tightening property policy, the country's steel association and analysts said.
Baidu Sells $1 Billion of Bonds Amid China Tech Crackdown
Baidu Inc. sold $1 billion of bonds in a two-part sustainable deal, according to people familiar with the matter, marking the first major global debt offering by a Chinese tech firm since Beijing escalated a crackdown on private enterprise.
The Internet search giant, an investment-grade issuer, priced 5.5-year and 10-year notes at 83 basis points and 113 basis points, respectively, above comparable Treasuries, Bloomberg reported.
Tata Steel announces Rs 270.28 crore annual bonus for 2020-21
Private steel major Tata Steel will pay a total of Rs 270.28 crore as annual bonus for the accounting year 2020-2021 to its eligible employees of all applicable division /units of the company, a release said.
A Memorandum of Settlement was signed on Wednesday between Tata Steel and the Tata Workers’ Union, for payment of annual bonus for the accounting year 2020-2021, the release issued by the company said.
The minimum and maximum annual bonus payable will be Rs 34,920 and Rs 3,59,029 respectively, PTI reported.
Coal India Chairman says difficult to give 50% wage hike to workers
Coal India Chairman Pramod Agrawal said due to financial constraints facing the PSU, it will be difficult to fulfill the 50% wage hike demand of the union, PTI reported citing a union leader. The wages are revised every fifth year and the hike is due from July this year.
Nathulal Pandey, president of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha-affiliated Hind Khadan Mazdoor Federation had a meeting with the Coal India (CIL) chairman on Wednesday during which the issue of workers' wages was discussed.
"The chairman told me that it is difficult for the PSU to give 50 per cent hike in workers' wages as the company is facing financial constraints. Even if the company gives a hike of let's say 10 per cent, it will result in financial burden of around Rs 5,000 crore to the PSU," Pandey said.
Railways reviewing bidding for ₹30k crore private trains after no interest from private players
The railways is reevaluating the ongoing bidding process for the ₹30,000 crore private passenger trains after failing to receive interest from private players, senior officials confirmed to PTI on Wednesday.
Railways had floated the tender for the operation of these trains in 12 clusters but received bid for only three of them.
"The entire process of inviting tenders for the private passenger train operations is being re-evaluated. The present process bids may or may not be scrapped after the review is complete," an official told PTI .
Former Netflix employees charged with insider trading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday charged three former engineers at Netflix for profiting $3 million by trading on confidential information around the company's subscriber growth, Reuters reported.
The federal regulator charged the company's ex-staffers with violating anti-fraud provisions and trying to evade detection by using encrypted messaging applications. Besides, former employees exchanged information with relatives and friends to receive cash kickbacks in advance of several consecutive Netflix quarterly earnings, the SEC said.
"We allege that a Netflix employee and his close associates engaged in a long-running, multimillion dollar scheme to profit from valuable, misappropriated company information," Erin Schneider, director of the SEC's San Francisco regional office told Reuters . "The charges announced today hold each of the participants accountable for their roles in the scheme."
Software firm Postman raises $225 million, now valued at $5.6 billion
Software firm Postman on Wednesday said it has raised $225 million, about ₹1,671.2 crore in funding round led by Insight Partners, valuing the company at $5.6 billion, PTI reported.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Postman has raised over $430 million in four rounds. According to Postman, it will use the capital to expand its teams in the areas of sales, marketing, product, and engineering.
"We're committed to helping developers who are building the future with APIs," Postman CEO and co-founder Abhinav Asthana said.
Policy groups urge Apple to abandon plans to scan for abuse images
Over 90 policy and rights groups wrote a letter to Apple, urging the iPhone maker to drop plans for scanning children’s messages for nudity and adults' phones for images of child sex abuse, Reuters reported.
"Though these capabilities are intended to protect children and to reduce the spread of child sexual abuse material, we are concerned that they will be used to censor protected speech, threaten the privacy and security of people around the world, and have disastrous consequences for many children," the groups wrote in the letter.
An Apple spokesman told Reuters the company had addressed privacy and security concerns in a document Friday highlighting why the complex architecture of the scanning software should resist attempts to subvert it.
Amazon enters Indian wealth management with investment in Smallcase
Amazon made its first investment in India's wealth management sector as it participated in a funding round by a fintech startup, Smallcase Technologies, PTI reported.
The company raised $40 million in Series C round led by Faering Capital as well as new investors Smbhav Venture Fund and Premji Invest. Smallcase's existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Blume Ventures also participated in the funding round, taking the total capital raised by the firm to over $60 million.
The company said in a statement that fund raised will be used to continue launching better investment products for the retail investor.
Mastercard to face $14 billion class action over payment fees
Mastercard is set to face a class action over excessive payment fees after a London court approved the10 billion pound-plus ($14 billion-plus) suit, Reuters reported.
If successful, the class action could entitle 46 million British adults to roughly 300 pounds.
"Mastercard has thrown everything at trying to prevent this claim going forward, but today its efforts have failed," former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks, who brought the class action said in a statement.
He alleges that Mastercard charged excessive "interchange" fees – the fees retailers pay credit card companies when consumers use a card to shop - between May 1992 and June 2008 and that those fees were passed on to consumers as retailers raised prices.
Oil extends losses on pandemic fears and rise in U.S. gasoline stockpiles
Crude prices fell for a sixth day on Thursday as spike in COVID-19 cases worldwide raised fears over slower fuel demand and an unexpected rise in U.S. gasoline inventories added to pressure, Reuters reported.
Brent crude fell 1.3% to $67.38 a barrel, after falling 1.2% on Wednesday while U.S. West Intermediate crude (WTI) was down 1.4% to $64.53 a barrel after plunging 1.7% in the previous session.
Both benchmarks have lost over 5% over the past six sessions, trading near their lowest level since May 24 in the previous session.
Asian shares fall, dollar gains after U.S central bank releases minutes of meeting
Asian shares dropped on Thursday and dollar rose to multi-months highs against peers after the U.S central bank released minutes of its last meeting that showed higher chances of a reduced monetary stimulus this year, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.63% while Chinese blue chips were down 0.21%. Other markets such as Australia dropped 0.54%, Hong Kong lost 0.45%, and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.37%.
"The minutes shows a Fed that is pretty split on most things, but recognises that we are getting much closer to the point of tapering," ING analysts said in a note.
