New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): After denting the auto sector's profitability, the consumption slowdown along with the upcoming shift to BS VI standards will further decelerate production, leading to eventual job losses.   Industry insiders point out that slowdown, which is a culmination of high GST tax rates, farm distress, stagnant wages and liquidity constraints, has led to the month-on-month sales de-growth.   Besides, inventory pile-up at dearlership level and st

New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): From alerting Google Maps users when their vehicle goes off-route to partnering with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for the "Loo Review" campaign, the bullish search engine giant has had a history of building India-first features for the world's second-largest population.   India also has the second-biggest digital market and the Internet population of over 500 million is expected to touch 650 million by 2020.   Especially ta

New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): India's only full-service private carrier Vistara plans to add destinations in Thailand and Nepal to its international network by the year-end.   According to industry sources, the airline which is just about to commence international operations from August 6, will rapidly expand its global presence, thereafter.   The airline is expected to deploy capacity to Bangkok and Kathmandu after starting operations to Dubai.   Recentl

New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): Tim Cook has an interesting connection with India. A big believer in the Indian middle class, Cook last visited the country officially in May 2016 and since then, we hear him praising the country from his Cupertino-headquarters in California, often during analysts' call at the end of the company's quarter results.   According to industry analysts, Cook is aware of the immense potential in the country -- which has over 450 million smartphone users

Labourers walk along a street next to a Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. manufacturing plant in Manesar in the northern state of Haryana on August 2. (REUTERS Photo)   MANESAR/NEW DELHI, August 3 (Reuters): India’s biggest automaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MRTI.NS), said it had cut the number of its temporary workers to cope with a slowdown in auto sales, adding to the jobless problem in Asia’s third largest economy.   The vehicle industry, accounting for nearly hal

Mumbai, August 3 (PTI): The Reserve Bank on Friday said it has imposed a collective penalty of Rs 11 crore on seven public sector banks for violating norms on current account opening.   Allahabad Bank and Bank of Maharashtra have been imposed a fine of Rs 2 crore each, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and United Bank of India have been slapped with fines of Rs 1.5 crore each, while Oriental Bank of Commerce has been imposed with a penalty of Rs 1 crore.

A woman walks past a poster of Reliance Industries installed outside the venue of the company's annual general meeting in Mumbai on June 7, 2012. (REUTERS File Photo)     NEW DELHI, August 3 (Reuters): Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) is in talks with Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RELI.NS) retail unit to buy a stake in India’s biggest brick-and-mortar retailer, two sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Friday.   Amazon’s massive online presence could

Washington, August 3 (IANS): Apple iPhones would be around $100 more expensive in the US once new 10 per cent tariff on $300 billion in goods imported from China comes into place from September 1.   "iPhone sales in the US, China and other markets could fall by 8 million to 10 million," CBS News reported late Friday, quoting analysts.   Apple lost $42 billion in stock value after Trump tweeted new tariffs on China on Thursday.   Apple XS Max starts at $

San Francisco, August 3 (IANS): In a first step towards merging all its platforms into one unified experience for users, Facebook is adding its name to Instagram and WhatsApp.   Instagram will soon become "Instagram from Facebook" and WhatsApp will turn into "WhatsApp from Facebook", The Information reported late Friday.   The new titles will appear in the title for both apps in Apple's App Store and Google Play Store.   "We want to be clearer about the

Kolkata, August 3 (IANS): Footwear major Bata India is planning to open about 500 franchise stores which would come up in small towns over the next five years, a top company official said here on Friday.   “We now have 150 franchise stores. We are looking to get about 500 franchise stores. These will be single-store towns. That means we are looking at 500 towns. We have charted out a five year plan for this,” company CEO Sandeep Kataria told media persons after its 86th

New Delhi, August 2 (IANS): Breaking his silence over India plans, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that high import duties on electric cars are blocking the entry of the electric car maker in the country.   "I'm told import duties are extremely high (up to 100 per cent), even for electric cars. This would make our cars unaffordable," Musk said late Thursday while responding to a tweet from an Indian follower.   India has taken a slew of measures to promote the use el

MUMBAI, August 2 (Reuters): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to cut rates next week for a fourth time in 2019 as benign inflation gives it room to help an economy that is growing at its slowest in nearly five years.   If the RBI does cut by 25 basis points on Wednesday, the repo rate would to come down to 5.50%, and make RBI the most dovish among major Asian central banks.   Almost 80% of 66 economists surveyed by Reuters expected the RBI to cut its bench

BENGALURU, August 2 (Reuters): The State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday reported a smaller-than-expected profit of 23.12 billion rupees ($332.15 million) for the first quarter, hit by a tax expense even as bad loan provisions fell.   That stood against a loss of 48.76 billion rupees reported last year due to lower trading income and treasury losses. For the quarter June 30, 2019, analysts had expected a profit of 40.83 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.  

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, August 2 (Reuters): It may not be quite a bottomless pit but the Indian government’s repeated injections of funds into the nation’s state-owned banks can appear to be going into one.   Bankers and credit rating agencies say they doubt the latest move by New Delhi to provide a further $10 billion in government money to the institutions that dominate India’s banking landscape will be enough for them to overcome massive bad debt problems. The expectation

New Delhi, August 2 (IANS): The government may be inclined for an out-of-court settlement in its dispute with banks over unpaid service tax dues to the tune of Rs 38,000 crore with officials indicating a more flexible stance to resolve the outstanding issues.   Sources in the government said that officials in the Finance Ministry may soon meet bankers to thrash out a compromise formula to resolve the issue that has divided the banking industry and pushed it into taking legal

Mumbai, August 1 (IANS): Automobile major Tata Motors on Thursday reduced prices of its electric vehicle (EV) -- Tigor EV -- by up to Rs 80,000 on the back of the recent cut in GST rates of all electric-powered vehicles. "In light of the recent announcement made by the government to slash the GST rates of all electric-powered vehicles from 12 per cent to 5 per cent, the price of Tata Motors' EVs, will be reduced by up to Rs 80,000 starting August 2019," said Shailesh Chandr

New Delhi, August 1 (IANS): OYO Hotels and Homes on Thursday announced the launch of a "Partner Privilege Program" for its over 10,000 asset owners across more than 300 cities in the country. The initiative is part of the the year-long OYO Partner Engagement Network (OPEN) launched in April this year to boost asset owner growth and create a mechanism for continual engagement and recognition on the other. "The Partner Privilege Program will provide exclusive benefits

New Delhi, August 1 (IANS): Japanese consumer electronics brand Aiwa has made a comeback in India with a slew of new products in India. The latest range includes premium smart TVs, speakers and wireless headphones among others. The company has also planned to invest over Rs 200 crore in the coming years. Aiwa is all set to start selling premium, Smart 4K Ultra High Definition LED TVs, smart home audio systems, wireless Headphones and personal audio products with latest featur

New Delhi, August 1 (IANS): With average time taken to reach unicorn status in India coming down of late, the country is likely to have 54 tech unicorns by 2024, according to a report. Of this 54 unicorns, 10 are expected to be in the e-commerce and business-to-business segment each, eight in payments and content/social each, five in mobility, education and logistics each, and three in food delivery, said the report by Fosun RZ Capital, a venture arm of Chinese conglom

New Delhi, August 1 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached assets worth over Rs 480 crore of REI Agro Ltd, which claims to be the world's largest basmati rice processing firm, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED in 2016 had registered a money laundering case against the company. It has been accused of bank fraud totalling Rs 3,871.71 crore. An ED statement said the company Directors Sandip Jhunjhunwala, Sanjay Jhu