All along, we were told SIR was an essential exercise carried out as part of the Election Commission's regular duties. But now that the ideological mentor of the ruling party has declared that SIR is a means of detecting infiltrators, one understands the unseemly haste with which it is being carried out, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Industry leaders urge India to pursue diplomatic talks with the US, strengthen manufacturing, and consider China ties to gain leverage against tariff pressures.
Zensar Technologies on Friday said one of its main promoters Japan's technology services major Fujitsu Group is going to sell its entire 29.17 per cent stake to Indian promoter Goenka's RPG Group.
Spencer's Retail, promoted by the Rs 11,500 crore (Rs 115 billion) RPG group, is in talks with international retailers for a possible joint venture in India. The company is exploring the JV route to introduce new formats.
RPG Group said on Thursday it will invest Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) in retail expansion across the country during the next four years.
Amid a debate over 70-90-hour work week, the pre-Budget Economic Survey on Friday cited studies to state that spending over 60 hours a week on work could have adverse health effects. The survey noted that spending long hours at one's desk is detrimental to mental well-being and individuals who spend 12 or more hours (per day) at a desk have distressed or struggling levels of mental well-being.
The take by the Economic Survey 2024-25 on work hour week had come weeks after Larsen & Toubro Ltd Chairman and Managing Director SN Subrahmanyan sparked off a raging debate on social media when he said employees should work 90-hour a week, including on Sundays rather than sit at home.
A video post on Reddit, which has since gone viral, shows the L&T chief saying, 'I regret that I am not able to make you work on Sundays, to be honest. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy because I work on Sundays also.'
Weighing in on the 90-hour workweek controversy, ITC Ltd chairman Sanjiv Puri said that it is more important for the workers to be aligned to the grander vision of the company rather than the number of hours put in. Giving an analogy of many workers building a castle, he said, "If you ask a mason what he is doing, he might say he is laying a brick, another might say he is building a wall but some might say he is building a castle.
Siddharth Roy Kapur's RKF aims to raise around $50 million by offering up to a 50 per cent stake in the company.
Bucking the current trend of job lay-offs and salary cuts worldwide, the RPG Group said on Friday its hiring plans for this fiscal is on track and has already hired 34 interns. "Our hiring plans are very much on track. This year, we hired 34 interns who have worked with various group companies over the summer," RPG Enterprises president corporate development and human resources Arvind Agrawal told PTI.
This is the first initiative of the company to enter mainstream education. The company runs the RPG Institute of Retail Management in Chennai, which is a training institute for frontline staff and store managers.
'The markets will correct, and they are bound to correct. The boom will turn into bust.' 'When this bust happens, people would lose like they have lost in the past.' 'Whatever you have made possibly in the last couple of years, you may lose in a couple of weeks. That's very much possible.'
...followed by financial services, IT, and sales and marketing.
Industry leaders, including Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, RPG Enterprises chairman Harsh Goenka and Biocon Ltd chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Monday came out in support of the Agnipath scheme, saying it has large potential for employment of youth in the corporate sector. Mahindra also expressed dismay over the violence against the scheme while asserting that the farm equipment to aerospace conglomerate welcomes the opportunity to recruit trained, capable and young people under the programme. The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years to 21 for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.
Unlike many other B-schools, IIM Ahmedabad follows a cluster system of final placements process where sectors are invited in cohorts at regular intervals.
Sources in the group said it was exploring the opportunities in Indonesia for acquiring coal blocks as well.
RPG Cellucom, latest venture of the RPG Group in mobility retail plans to capture three per cent of the market share with revenues of Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) in financial year 2008-09.
'Investing in the stocks of holdcos can be a very efficient and inexpensive way of gaining exposure to the stocks of India's reputable growing business houses.'
The BPO's board will meet on Friday to finalise deal.
IT-BPO company Zensar to have 30% workforce based at home to cut office spends, draw talent
'We must work for the country.' 'I have earned money here and I must give it back.' 'I don't think it is charity; I think it is my duty.'
Anant Goenka, 30, son of RPG Group chairman Harsh Goenka, will take over as managing director of Ceat, where he is currently deputy managing director a post the tyre producer created two years ago.
RPG Group company KEC International on Tuesday said that it would acquire US-based SAE Towers Holdings for $95 million.
The identities of the victims have not been disclosed.
RPG Enterprises' vice-chairman is upbeat about retail firm Spencer's and talks of a pan-India growth plan for power company CESC.
Anand Raghuraman, partner, The Boston Consulting Group, said it is extremely tough to make money on small food and grocery stores.
Ceat, the tyre manufacturing company of the Rs 16,000-crore RPG Group, will double the capacity of the radial unit it has set up in Halol, Gujarat, with an additional investment of Rs 630 crore.
Zensar Technologies, the Rs 900 crore RPG Group's software services company, expects Rs 200 crore from its domestic business this fiscal, up from Rs 40 crore last year. In an interview with Pradipta Mukherjee, Vice-Chairman and CEO Ganesh Natarajan says the company is on an expansion and hiring mode, defying the freeze in the industry
The CD, which will have 1940s' film songs, will remind Pakistanis of undivided India and the undivided talent in the Bombay film industry. The first song is Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya by Kundan Lal Sehgal from the film Shahjahan. The album signs off with the title track of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna by Sonu Nigam.
The move comes on the back of a series of next generation family members taking over the reins from current promoters. Roshni Nadar, daughter of HCL founder Shiv Nadar, took over as CEO of the company in July. Nandini Piramal, eldest child of Ajay and Swati Piramal, became executive director of Piramal Healthcare in April.
CEAT was for all practical purposes a sick company in 2001.
'In the first phase, you might allow 30 per cent of the workforce to come in and see how it goes,' says industrialist Harsh Goenka.
The site, christened MySpace India, will offer music through its partnership with SaReGaMa, the well-known music label owned by the RPG group. The site will organise a group of 30 aspiring bands from across three cities for the initiative. MySpace India industry alliances include a partnership with India's largest television network Star TV.
Supermarket chain Spencer's Retail Limited has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) for south during the current financial year.
A foreign visitor to the city agreed, but with a note of caution. "West Bengal as an investment destination remains to be first on the list for the Australian mining companies as this state is rich in minerals," said John McCarthy, Australian High Commissioner to India, in Kolkata to attend a seminar.