The fund will close in two tranches, with the first tranche of $ 100 million expected to close in two months. However, the company has not set any time-frame for raising the entire corpus of the fund. In addition, Dewan Housing Finance, the parent entity, is also looking to raise Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) to bolster its operations. The fund-raising may also be in the form of equity dilution.
Life Insurance Corporation of India has asked the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority to allow it a shareholding of up to 20 per cent in a company.
With the top life insurance companies planning to list next year, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority is setting up a committee for working out a mechanism to decide the valuation and the likely initial public offer price.
The Olympics have come a long way since the first one in Athens where athletes alone mattered. Over a century later, technology too is helping athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics games to smash records.
ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, the two leading private sector banks in the country, said cash sales for cars and commercial vehicles have doubled to 30 per cent of the total sales compared to a year ago. In the case of two-wheeler buyers, more than 30 per cent are paying in cash
In a move that will bring cheer to health insurance policyholders, non-life insurers are finalising the contours of a new product that will have a common minimum standard cover and will be renewable and portable across companies.
High interest rates and lack of funds has hit non-banking finance companies. Though banks had extended loans to NBFCs at fixed rates, there is a reset clause which is now being exercised. Besides, the increase in interest rates is impacting companies that were borrowing directly from the market. What is also making life tough is the demand for longer-tenure loans by borrowers as they want to keep the equated monthly instalments under control despite a rise in interest rates.
Can security agencies arrest you if an e-mail sent from your computer implicates you in a case of cyber-terrorism? Currently, the answer appears to be "yes" despite the fact that e-mail IDs can be spoofed (faked) and IP addresses (your computer's identity when surfing) manipulated with ease.
The next time you buy a householder's insurance policy, you could be paying premiums that are 35 to 50 per cent lower. This is the result of the de-tariffing or lifting of price controls on insurance policies from January this year.
According to sources privy to the information, default rates have touched 5-6 per cent in the past six months as against the usual 1-2 per cent. Banks and other lending organisations agree that there has been a rise in delinquency rates, but the increase has only become significant during the past one month following the fuel hike. Fuel costs account for about 60 per cent of the total operating expenses of truckers.
LIC, ICICI Prudential invest Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion) and Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) respectively in the first quarter of FY09.
The uproar against outsourcing work to Indian IT service providers has risen once again as Nielsen Co, the media company which signed a $1.2-billion outsourcing deal with Indian IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services last October and is facing strong criticism for announcing it, would lay off 117 workers this month at its largest global technology centre in Oldsmar, Florida. It has 1,700 employees at this facility.
Mark-to-market losses due to the unexpected fall of the rupee against the US dollar, euro and pound; the impact of wage increases in the first quarter; a stagnant global economy; and margin pressure owing to inflation are expected to impact the rupee-term fortunes of Indian IT firms that will declare their quarterly results for the April-June 30 quarter beginning this week.
The contentious issue of software patents is rearing its head again, both in India and globally. The Indian Patent Office, for instance, invited companies and institutions to comment on its Draft Manual 2008 - Patent Practice & Procedure (software patents included) this April.
In another setback to software giant Microsoft, it will have to wait for "several months" before the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) can take a final decision on whether its Office Open XML (OOXML) file format will be an international standard or not.
The Finnish handset giant, however, has never been able to cope with the mystique that surrounds Apple CEO Steve Jobs' iPhone, which has been illegally imported and unlocked by hundreds of Indians -- corporate chiefs and celebrities included. Jobs has now announced a 3G version of the device with full global positioning system for just $199 (around Rs 8,400) for the 8GB model and $299 (Rs 12,600) for the 16GB version.
General Insurance Corporation, the country's only reinsurer, will be launching Retakaful -- reinsurance based on Shariah principles -- in this financial year. Retakaful will provide reinsurance support and will be based on the Islamic principles called Shariah. Reinsurance refers to insuring insurance companies. Similarly, a Retakaful company provides reinsurance support to Takaful insurance companies (insurance companies following the Islamic concept of insurance).
An increasing number of companies are outsourcing superannuation, gratuity and leave encashment programmes of their employees to insurance companies.The trend that emerged two years ago has got a shot in the arm with SAIL, Nicholas Piramal, Vishakhapatnam Port asking insurers to manage their employees' retirement programmes.
Life insurers have decided to pass on service tax to customers. The chief financial officers of life insurance companies met last Wednesday and have decided to pass on the service tax burden to customers, confirmed officials of various life insurance companies.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, has taken strong objection to the fact that despite a "No" to OOXML by a majority of the Bureau of Indian Standardsmembers, the software giant "continued to make representations to the top Indian leadership (read Ministry of Consumer Affairs), pressuring them to change the Indian vote".
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