SBI Life stands on a strong foothold for superior to industry growth, driven by a geographically diverse retail-dominated business mix and exclusive access to SBI’s >22k branches. Its best-in-class cost ratios are driven by the lower costs of SBIN-sourced business (~10%, v/s >20% for IPRU & HDFCLIFE). Our calculation suggests that a tax-assumption change (similar to what IPRU & HDFCLIFE follow) would boost VNB margins by ~150bp over reported. Buy, price target Rs 804.

Even as the government’s efforts to sell majority stake in Air India came a cropper, it has come to light that a section of Air India’s pilots, deputy general managers (DGMs), clerks and other officials has been making some easy money on the side by playing the system. Airbus and Dreamliner pilots’ flying hours and rosters are being nimbly manipulated, with the result that the loss-making national carrier is ending up paying these pilots a lot more than it needs to.

Wipro chief executive Abidali Z Neemuchwala saw his pay package growing over 34 per cent to Rs 182.3 million during FY2017-18 compared to the previous fiscal, as per the company's annual report.

Chief Strategy Officer Rishad A Premji’s compensation also grew by more than 250 per cent to Rs 58 million in the said fiscal.

The mega-merger deal of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India may not meet the expected June 30 timeline as the telecom department is looking to raise a fresh demand of around Rs 4,700 crore, a source said.

The demand will be raised from Vodafone India before its merger with Idea Cellular.

China, India and South Korea, which are the three biggest Asian markets, excluding Japan, have seen erosion in market capitalisation of $1.4 trillion this year, so far. On the other hand, developed markets such as the US, the UK and France have fared much better, signalling global funds could be shifting their preference away from riskier emerging markets.

While the bulk of the erosion in the Asian markets is on account of China, India and South Korea too have lost significant ground, particularly in dollar terms.

The government on Saturday appointed Arijit Basu as managing director of the country’s largest lender State Bank of India. He will fill the position that fell vacant following the elevation of Rajnish Kumar as the chairman. Now, after this, the SBI will have four managing directors. As per the SBI Act, the bank can have four managing directors.

Joining the likes of Google and Apple, Microsoft has launched Microsoft News – a news engine that curates articles from across the web and delivers them to the users’ Microsoft feed, the media reported. The newly redesigned app for iOS and Android platforms would also power news on “Microsoft Edge”, the News app in Windows 10, Skype, Xbox and Outlook.com.

Nearly two dozen Air India flights were delayed across its network including at IGI Airport here today after a technical glitch in the check-in software hampered operations, an airline spokesperson said. The departure timings of as many as 23 flights were affected and the delays owing to the software malfunction stretched from 15-30 minutes, the spokesperson said.

Riding on strong financial performance and disruptive technologies, global software major Infosys is betting on digital strategy to spur growth in the exciting times, said its co-founder and Chairman Nandan M Nilekani on Saturday.

"We are at an exciting juncture in the journey of our industry. I have never seen as many possibilities to partner with and grow along with our clients as I see today.

Volvo Cars has announced that, from 2025 onwards, at least 25% of the plastics used in every newly launched Volvo car will be made from recycled material. The company has also urged auto industry suppliers to work closely with car-makers to develop next-gen components that are as sustainable as possible, especially with regards to containing more recycled plastics.

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