1. Narayana Murthy to Address Infosys Investors
A defiant Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy will interact with investors on Wednesday through a conference call to tell his version of the software major's boardroom battles that led to the exit of its technocrat Vishal Sikka as CEO on last Friday.
"Murthy will address and interact with the company's investors across the world on Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm through a conference call we are hosting," said the Indian arm of the global asset management group Investec in a statement from Mumbai on Tuesday night.
Read the full story on The Quint.
2. RBI to Introduce Rs 200 Notes Beginning September
Reserve Bank of India appears to be giving highest emphasis on how to avoid the possibility of an illegal trade of currency notes as it prepares to introduce Rs 200 denominated bank notes for the first time in history.
RBI is likely to put the proposed Rs 200 bank notes in circulation by the end of August or in the first week of September, according to people in the know. Most importantly, it is taking all steps to stop black marketing and is building a stack of about 50 crore notes of the new denomination to start with so there is no scarcity or possibility of illegal trade, sources said.
"There is no other denomination available between Rs 100 and Rs 500 and RBI is expecting Rs 200 notes to become very popular and that's why it is taking every step to ensure availability of it," the source said.
(Source: Economic Times)
3. Modi Meets Young CEOs, Urges Them To Be Soldiers Of Development
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday exhorted entrepreneurs to become soldiers of development and help India cut dependence on imports, while ensuring that it becomes a ‘less-cash’ economy.
Addressing over 200 CEOs and startups in New Delhi, he also asked them to work towards increasing agricultural exports and promoting tourism.
“Gandhiji made Independence a mass movement. Every government has tried to take India forward. But development has not become a mass movement,” Modi said at ‘Champions of Change’, organised by NITI Aayog. “In the same spirit as what Mahatma Gandhi did for the freedom struggle, we need to make India's development a mass movement,” he added.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
4. Snapdeal Owned Unicommerce Churns Profits, Founders Leave
Snapdeal-owned Unicommerce, which provides multichannel order fulfilment and warehouse management solutions, said on Tuesday it has turned profitable, even as its founders are leaving the company.
E-commerce major Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Ltd), which was engaged in merger discussions with larger rival Flipkart till last month, had acquired Unicommerce for an undisclosed amount in March 2015. Unicommerce co-founders—Ankit Pruthi, Karun Singla, Vibhu Garg and Manish Gupta—are now leaving the company as was stipulated in the sale transaction.
“As part of the sale transaction in 2015, it was mutually agreed that we would continue to work at Unicommerce for another two years and steer the company to further growth... In August 2017, this period comes to a successful close,” Pruthi said in an emailed statement.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Luxury Car Cess: Ordinance on Cabinet Agenda on Wednesday
The Cabinet is likely to consider on Wednesday an ordinance to increase the cess on mid-size and large cars and sports utility vehicles to 25 percent from 15 percent under the goods and services tax (GST) regime.
The GST Council, which sets the rates under the new tax system, had on August 5 approved a proposal to change the GST compensation law to raise the ceiling of the cess that can be levied on motor vehicles. The current levies – GST at 28 percent plus a maximum cess of 15 percent – have reduced the tax incidence on large vehicles that were taxed as much as 55 percent in the pre-GST regime. The proposal to raise the cap was brought in as the lower tax incidence could have revenue implications for the government.
Since the government could not bring an amendment in the just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament, it now has to carry out the legislative change through an ordinance.
(Source: Economic Times)
6. Ambani's Reliance is Said to Mull Over India Power Storage With BP
Reliance Industries Ltd, owned by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is considering entering the power-storage business with its partner BP Plc to expand into the country’s growing renewable energy sector, according to two people with knowledge of the plan.
The companies are considering a plan to set up energy-storage projects near solar- and wind-energy installations, the people said, asking not to be identified citing company policy. A decision on investment and implementation will be taken by December, they said.
Reliance didn’t respond to requests for comment. BP declined to comment.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. Sebi Keeping a Watch on Infosys Share Price: Ajay Tyagi
Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday said it is keeping a close tab on the share price movement of Infosys, which saw its first non-promoter CEO Vishal Sikka quitting last week amid differences with its founders.
Shares of Infosys plunged by nearly 10 percent on Friday wiping out Rs 22,519 crore from its market valuation, after Sikka’s resignation. It fell further by over 5 percent on Monday despite buyback announcement by the company.
The country’s second largest software services firm on Saturday announced that its board approved a share buyback offer of up to Rs 13,000 crore.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Employee Strike Impacts Banking Operations, Some ATMs Go Dry
Banking operations were hit on Tuesday by the nation-wide strike called by employees of public sector banks to protest against the government's proposed consolidation move and to press for other demands.
Operations such as clearing of cheques, money transfer, cash remittances, and deposit and withdrawals at branches were hit across public sector banks and some old generation private sector banks, as per the reports received from various parts of the country.
However, branches of new generation private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were functioning as usual.
Read the full story on The Quint.
9. McDonald's Store Closures Leaves Key Vendors, Mall Operators and Land Owners Rattled
Fast-food giant McDonald’s decision to indefinitely close 169 stores across India’s north and east has rattled key vendors, mall operators and land owners that have long-term leases and supply deals with the restaurant chain.
Key vendors include Vista Processed Foods, which supplies chicken, vegetable patties and fresh produce, Schreiber Dynamix Dairies that sells cheese, Mrs Bector Food Specialties that delivers buns and sauces, and Amrit Foods, which provides soft-serve and milkshake mixes. Radhakrishna Foodland is McDonald’s logistics and distribution partner for the north and east.
“We could be staring at heavy losses and would seek compensation which could run up to Rs 10 crore a month,” an official at a top supplier told Economic Times.
(Source: Economic Times)
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