India News

Nasscom Foundation says most firms spend 70% CSR fund on education

Nasscom Foundation on Thursday in its yet-to-be-released report, has said that a substantial number of companies have spent more than 60-70% of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) spend in education initiatives and the remaining half spend between 30-40% of their budget in education.

"Education forms the major chunk of CSR spend: A substantial number of companies interviewed have spent more than 60-70% of their CSR spend in education initiatives and the remaining half spend between 30-40% of their budget in education," the report, to be released shortly at a different event, said here.

NHAI raises Rs 10,000 cr from EPFO; LIC to invest Rs 8,500 cr

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has raised Rs 10,000 crore from retirement fund body EPFO's bonds so far this financial year, while LIC has in-principle has agreed to subscribe to its taxable bonds worth up to Rs 8,500 crore till March-end, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

NHAI in the current financial year has raised Rs 10,000 crore through taxable bonds of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), data presented by Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways P Radhakrishnan in Lok Sabha showed.

GVK Airport in talks to raise $200 million to refinance loans

Mumbai: GVK Airport Developers Ltd, a unit of GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd, is in talks to raise close to $200 million in structured debt to refinance a part of its borrowings, two people aware of the discussions said.

“GVK has been looking at refinancing options of its existing loans as the transaction with Fairfax Group to sell a controlling stake in Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) is yet to receive security clearance from the government of India,” one of the two people said on condition of anonymity as the talks are private. GVK is in talks with a clutch of lenders, including Goldman Sachs India, the person added.

Infosys invests Rs 31.6 cr in VC fund Stellaris Venture Partners

This investment from its innovation fund, will help Stellaris back entrepreneurs building applications for global businesses, SMBs and consumers in verticals such as financial services, retail, healthcare and education.

Stellaris had earlier invested in Taxisforsure, Bigbasket, Simplilearn etc.

TCS to implement unified global process blueprint for ASML

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today announced that it would implement a unified global process blueprint for chip-making equipment manufacturer ASML, aiming to “simplify business processes, improve operational efficiency and elevate stakeholder experience.”

Recently, TCS set up an exclusive centre for ASML in its Hyderabad campus, which was inaugurated by chief information officer, Louis Luijten and executive vice president and chief financial officer of ASML, Wolfgang Nickl.

Infosys, Flipkart, M&M among others go all out to help staff tide over demonetisation crisis

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: From currency note conversion desks to mobile ATMs and temporary cash withdrawal counters, India Inc. is going all out to help its employees tide over the cash crunch after the government made high-denomination notes illegal two weeks ago.

The sudden invalidation of 86% of India’s currency by value, along with curbs on withdrawals from bank accounts and ATMs and on exchange of old notes, made cash scarce and resulted in long queues outside banks every day.

BSE Sensex falls 146 points on F&O expiry; weak rupee

After rising for two back-to-back sessions, the stock market turned weak as the benchmark Sensex fell nearly 146 points and the NSE Nifty hung below the 8,000-mark in early trade on Thursday, with participants liquidating positions in view of November month derivatives expiry.

Besides, weak Asian cues as upbeat economic data strengthened prospect of higher US interest rates and the continued free-fall of the rupee against the American currency weighed on sentiment, brokers said.