Author: Finance Khabar

Recession-hit Japan’s exports plunged nearly 22 percent in April, the country’s worst drop in more than a decade as the coronavirus pandemic slammed global demand, AP news agency reported. The Finance Ministry also said Thursday that imports fell 7 percent. The drop in exports is the worst since the 2008 financial crisis, as export-dependent Japan struggles to juggle the health risks of COVID-19 with the dire need to keep the economy going. Japan is in a technical recession after a contraction that began in the last quarter of last year deepened in the January-March quarter. Analysts say worse may be…

The Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) the government-backed pension scheme offered by LIC for senior citizens, has now been extended to 31 March 2023. It was earlier open till 31 March 2020 only. In a tweet, K.S. Dhatwalia, Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau said, “#Cabinet approves extension of ‘Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana’ (#PMVVY) up to 31st March, 2023 for further period of three years beyond 31st March, 2020; This to enable old age income security and welfare of Senior Citizens.” What is Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana? The Indian government’s PMVVY is a pension scheme…

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the ‘Uttar Pradesh Start-up Fund’ under the Information Technology and Start-up Policy-2017 of the State Government at his official residence here today. On this occasion, an MoU was exchanged with the state government and SIDBI for setting up a start-up fund in the presence of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister provided a check of Rs 15 crore to SIDBI Chairman and Managing Director as first installment. The Chief Minister said that the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have encouraged the start-up culture. The Prime Minister believes that the youth of…

Google has pledged to stop building customized artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help oil and gas firms to extract fossil fuels worldwide. The pledge came after a Greenpeace report on Tuesday highlighted how Google, Microsoft, and Amazon use AI and warehouse servers to help the likes of Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil to locate and retrieve oil and gas deposits from the earth. “While Google still has a few legacy contracts with oil and gas firms, we welcome this indication from Google that it will no longer build custom solutions for upstream oil and gas extraction,” said Elizabeth Jardim, senior corporate…

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, has been named a Leader in the Everest Group PEAK Matrix® for Wealth Management Operations Services1. According to the report, TCS is one of the top three providers in terms of number of customers globally and in terms of revenue in UK, North America and Asia Pacific. It highlights that TCS has developed a holistic set of offerings in wealth management covering front, mid and back-office operations. The company’s significant investment in the TCS BaNCS™ platform for wealth management-specific functionalities like robo-advisory and instant messaging for…

Cyient, a global engineering and technology solutions company, announced that it has signed a Statement of Intent with the Emergent Alliance, to use their combined data knowledge to provide new insights and practical applications to the global COVID-19 response. As part of the alliance, Cyient is working alongside some of the world’s largest organizations, data specialists, and governments to support future decision-making on regional and global economic challenges that will get people back to work and help businesses thrive post-pandemic. The alliance will analyze a broad set of economic, behavioral, and sentiment data to provide new insights and practical applications…

The American social media giant is looking to help small-sized businesses around the world to set up online “shops” on its popular platforms- Facebook and Instagram- amid the pandemic, for no fee. On Tuesday, Facebook Inc’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said small businesses will be able to set up shops to sell directly through Facebook and Instagram. Merchants and small business owners will be able to set up their shops on these platforms with options to customize looks and display products. “The primary focus is to ensure small and medium-size businesses have presences online and survive the current situation,” Facebook director…

On Wednesday, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd reported a 76 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in the company’s net profit for the quarter ended 31 March 2020 at Rs 764.2 crore against Rs 434.4 crore in the same period of the previous year. The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) came at Rs 1,001 crore and EBITDA margin for the quarter was 22.6 percent. The company’s global generics segment clocked a 20 percent year-on-year jump in revenue to Rs 3,639.8 crore. Among the geographies, its Europe’s segment saw 80 percent surge in revenue from the previous year, while North…

Mumbai: Markets ended the day sharply higher, as global cues remained strong with Asian markets closing with gains. Dow Futures pointed to gains of nearly 1 per cent, which also pushed Indian benchmark indices higher. The Sensex ended the day with gains of 622 points at 30,818, while the Nifty jumped 187 points in trade. Mahindra and Mahindra was the top gainer from the Nifty stocks, while other notable gainers were HDFC, DR Reddy’s and Shree Cements. Among the losers from the Nifty space were Bharti Infratel, IndusInd Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Vedanta. Shares in L&T Infotech surged after the…

New Delhi: On Wednesday, India’s cab aggregator company Ola said that it will lay off 1,400 of its staff due to uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In a communication sent by the co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal to the employees of the company, as quoted in a PTI report, he said, “OLA’s revenue has come down by 95 percent over the past two months.” He told employees of the company that the business is “very unclear and uncertain” and the impact of this crisis is “definitely going to be long-drawn for us”. “The fallout of the virus has been…

The Indian startup ecosystem is said to be one of the biggest in the world. But due to the current coronavirus crisis, its survival is a huge question mark. As per a survey by NASSCOM, 70% of Indian startups have less than three months of cash reserves. The coronavirus pandemic has hit the Indian startups so badly that 40% of startups have either temporary shut shops or are at higher risk of closing down their businesses. As the government imposed lockdown restrictions to save human lives, the small businesses and startups are on the verge of dying. As there is…

Bajaj Finance today announced its Q4 results for FY20 and posted profit after tax of Rs. 948 crore versus Rs. 1176 crore during the same quarter a year-ago. Revenue from operations at the firm grew year-on-year to Rs. 6302 crore as against Rs. 5,307.66 crore in year-ago period. Brokerage houses are bullish on the stock of Bajaj Finance as they view the company to spearhead the recovery once the lockdown is lifted and economy re-opens. Morgan Stanley maintains ‘overweight’ call on the stock with a target price of Rs. 2740 while HSBC has a ‘buy’ rating with a target price…

New Delhi: Acer, one of the largest technology brands in the world, has announced a partnership with the largest knowledge network for leading schools in India – IPN (Indian Principles Network). This will increase the scope of availability of educational resources and will help teachers to teach better and smartly during the current lockdown. Acer and IPN believe that unless teachers have the appropriate equipment to teach from home, students will not get true learning experience. With this in mind, Acer has made available a wide range of laptops and tablets for smart learning from home, and has also offered…

Bank of India has been a forerunner in securing its digital channels and keeping customer’s security as its priority. The REL-ID secure platform has developed over the years to offers the most comprehensive suite of protection, detection and correction technologies in the mobile app security/shielding space. In a pursuit to secure its digital initiatives, Bank of India has decided to extend Uniken’s REL-ID Secure Platform to secure its digital and mobile banking channels globally. A recent report showcasing the increased number of frauds was highlighted in the Rajya Sabha quoting 1,367 reported frauds in FY 2016-17, 2,127 in FY 2017-18,…

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, a part of the USD 20.7 bn Mahindra Group, today announced a wide variety of innovative, new finance schemes to ease the burden on its customers during these challenging times. These attractive finance schemes include customized, industry-first offerings that assure peace of mind for Mahindra customers, deliver financial flexibility and empower them to own their desired Mahindra vehicle model at their convenience. Speaking about these new finance schemes, Veejay Nakra, CEO, Automotive Division, M&M Ltd. said, “The introduction of these unique financing schemes is one more step by Mahindra to support its customers during these challenging…

Zensar, a digital solutions and technology services company that specialises in partnering with global organisations on their digital transformation journey, announced the launch of Humané-its Digital Employee Experience Transformation solution. Humané is an enterprise-grade solution designed to create impact on overall employee experience across multiple functional areas. The solution augments a company’s current HR systems and process framework with a native digital platform encompassing end-to-end employee lifecycle experience. The solution offers customized offering with a consulting-led approach and implementation. Sandeep Kishore, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Zensar, said, “The workforce of tomorrow will thrive on immersive and engaging experiences.…

The unemployment rate in India continued to stay above 20 percent amid nationwide lockdown. According to data compiled by CMIE showed that the unemployment rate for the week ended 17 May was 24.01 percent when compared to 23.97 percent a week ago. However, with industries opening up gradually, there is an increase in labour participation rate from 35.4 percent for week ended 26 April to 38.8 percent now, the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy said while acknowledging that uncertainty continues to prevail. “Halfway into the month of May, it appears that the unemployment rate is around the same level…

India , 19th May , 2020: Vakilsearch, India’s largest online platform for legal, tax and compliance services has raised an undisclosed sum from technology growth investor Sujeet Kumar, Co-Founder of Udaan. Prior to Udaan, Sujeet was President of Operations at Flipkart. The funding comes after a growth trajectory that has witnessed Vakilsearch establishing a bridgehead in the legal and compliance market. “At Vakilsearch, we have always focused on providing businesses and individuals a trouble-free experience. With an Amazon rivaling NPS Score of 56 and an average rating of 4.2/5 from 1400 verified Google reviews behind us, we are delighted to…

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited (Alembic) today announced that its joint venture, Aleor Dermaceuticals Limited (Aleor) has received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) Clobetasol Propionate Shampoo, 0.05%. The approved AN DA is therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD), Clobex Shampoo, 0.05%, of Galderma Laboratories, L.P. (Galderma). Clobetasol Propionate Shampoo, 0.05% is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe forms of scalp psoriasis in subjects 18 years of age and older. Clobetasol Propionate Shampoo, 0.05%, has an estimated market size of US$ 28 million for twelve months ending…

New Delhi: On Monday, the labour ministry notified the rate cut in PF contribution to 10% which as per current regime is 12% for both employer and employee. The move will increase the take home pay of 4.3 crore EPF subscribers and provide relief to 6.5 lakh companies. As part of the Covid 19 relief package worth Rs. 20 lakh crore, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the previous week announced a rate cut in PF contribution for three months beginning May. The move is said to extend liquidity infusion to the tune of Rs.6750 crore into the system. All the…