In a major expansion into sportswear and lifestyle wear segment, the Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail has signed a long-term licensing agreement with Authentic Brand Group of New York, which has the marketing and branding rights of Reebok, to run the operations of the global sportswear, athletic and lifestyle major in the country and ASEAN markets. The new agreement between the largest domestic multi-brand fashion retailer and Authentic Brand is an extension of their existing relationship as ABFRL already markets and sells some ABG brands like Forever 21. The agreement follows the global transfer of ownership of the Reebok brand from Adidas to ABG, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has questioned T K A Nair, advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, which included granting of a block to Hindalco at Talabira despite it being rejected by a screening committee of the coal ministry.
British telecom giant Vodafone Group plc on Friday won an arbitration against the Indian government over a demand for Rs 22,100 crore in taxes using retrospective legislation.
Aryaman Birla coping with severe anxiety related to sport, takes break
India's richest businessman, Mukesh Ambani is ranked at 33 with a salary of Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) annually.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday wooed Indian industry leaders to invest more in America, promising to reduce more regulations in his country as he looked for overseas investment to boost the economy there. Speaking at a high-profile CEO round-table which included captains of the Indian industry such as Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Trump reassured that regulations "will only get better" for investment in the US.
Troubled Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court after the apex court recently dismissed its plea for rectification of the alleged errors in the calculation of adjusted gross revenues-related dues. In the petition, filed earlier this week, VIL has said it is "a travesty of justice" that the company is restrained from questioning the arithmetical errors/ omission which are going to cost it about Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 5,932 crore of principal plus interest, penalty and interest on penalty). VIL has said its contentions have been rejected by the order under review and added that this denial could result in the company going under and its about 27.3 crore subscribers being left "high and dry".
India produced 179 more super-rich people this year led by Adani Group's Gautam Adani who amassed a whopping wealth of Rs 365,700 crore or more than Rs 1,000 crore daily, and the number of such individuals has crossed the 1,000-mark. Geographically, five more cities are home to super-rich taking the total number of super-rich cities to 119 and these 1,007 individuals cumulatively added 51 per cent more wealth in 2021. The average wealth increased by 25 per cent this year that also saw the livelihoods of thousands of people being hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid has said that cricket's influence in his life was such that the game made him a better person.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has initiated discussions with banks to address financial stress in the telecom sector, particularly Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) that urgently requires fund infusion to stay afloat. There was a meeting of DOT officials and senior bankers on Friday on the issue of Vodafone, sources said, adding that banks have been asked to look for a solution within the prudential guidelines. According to sources, senior officials from the country's biggest lenders State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were also present among others in the meeting. More such meetings are expected to take place in the coming days, they said.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is said to have been examined by Central Bureau of Investigation in the coal block allocation case relating to Hindalco but neither he nor the agency was willing to confirm it.
After their merger Vodafone Group CEO, Vittorio Colao says India is not a Jio market alone. Aditya Birla Group CEO, Kumar Mangalam Birla says Vodafone is dominant in metro cities, while Idea is a big player in urban, semi-urban markets.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the ambitious 'Make in India' campaign to make India a global manufacturing hub, create jobs and boost economic growth.
The question mark over Vodafone Idea's survival is gone after the government's telecom package, managing director and chief executive officer Ravinder Takkar said in an interaction recently. The extended moratorium for spectrum payments and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues has indeed ensured that Vodafone Idea survives, at least for the time being, but questions remain. Answers to those questions may determine the future of Vodafone Idea and its power to stay in a difficult telecom market in the coming years.
The actor was in interesting company when she walked the ramp, Sunday, for Mumbai's designer-politician Shaina NC.
India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world after the US and China, according to a new list by the prestigious Forbes magazine, which said Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani reclaimed his spot as Asia's richest person, dethroning Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma who was the richest person in the region a year ago.
Dr Singh said he was upset but expressed confidence that truth will prevail in a fair trial.
Top ten billionaires in India.
Ace tennis player Sania Mirza said India still needs to do a lot more to bring women at par with men in sports, though the country has come a long way in this aspect.
Mukesh Ambani said the Digital India initiative has the potential to transform the lives of 1.2 billion Indians using the power of digital technology.
Vodafone Idea, which reported a loss of Rs 6,439 crore in the December quarter, said it had received letters from the department of telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment of dues amounting to Rs 54,000 crores after the SC judgment. "The company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT towards the dues calculated based on AGR, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in its order dated October 24, 2019. The company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," it stated.
'The government is unwilling or unable to provide the kind of relief that Vodafone India is asking for.'
The Reserve Bank on Friday set up a three-member committee under former Governor Bimal Jalan to scrutinise applications for new bank licences, which are expected to be awarded by January.
'While the march of globalisation is perhaps inevitable, what is certain is that the world is no longer flat as, the emerging pattern of trade is more regional. 'This new trend of 'slowbalisation' raises some questions that challenge conventional wisdom on how businesses should distribute their capacities,' Birla said.
Tata Sons, India's biggest business group, and firms controlled by billionaires Anil Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla are among the 26 companies that have applied for licences to open banks.
Vodafone Idea on Monday paid Rs 2,500 crore to DoT and promised to pay another Rs 1,000 crore before the end of the week.
India needed more specialists within government
The court said that it would now consider the CBI's final report
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to file its status report in the coal scam before the Supreme Court on Tuesday stating details of its 14th FIR against Hindalco and others and also progress in the remaining 13 cases.
Vodafone Idea, the promoter of Aditya Bira Idea Payments Bank, said in a notification to the exchanges late on Friday that the board of the bank approved winding up the business, subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India.
If Vodafone Idea shuts, a bulk of the high-paying ARPU customers will move to Airtel as Reliance Jio does not have a comprehensive postpaid offering like it, and have aggressively preferred to play in the prepaid market. The bulk of Vodafone Idea customers use 2G phones and only a few of them use data. It will be easier for Airtel to woo these customers as they can shift seamlessly to its 2G network without changing handsets or even SIM cards,
The FIR relates to allocation of Talabira II and III coal blocks in 2005.
Analysts have pointed out that with the dues arising out of the SC judgment there could soon be only two private telcos in the country, and not three - Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea - as now.
CBI has registered 18 FIRs so far in the coal scam.
In Friday's market rally post the corporate tax cut, the country's top business promoters recouped more than two-thirds of the losses that they suffered in the post-Budget sell-off in equity markets.
A Vodafone Group insider with more than 25 years in the telco across geographies, he's like the eyes and ears of the multinational in India.