The closure of applications for the H-1B visa for the year, just a week after they opened on April 1, suggests that the ceiling needs to be higher than the current 65,000, said R. Chandrashekhar, president of Nasscom, which represents the IT and IT-enabled industry in India.

This also showed that the recent doubling of the H-1B visa fee to $4,000 had not affected the demand, he told The Hindu.

After a successful foray into the India market, Bajaj Auto and KTM AG are set to extend their network into Indonesia. The partnership plans to sell Duke and RC motorcycles in one of the biggest motorcycle markets in South East Asia.

Bajaj reached an agreement with KTM AG of Austria to extend its distribution network in Indonesia and expand business in this growing by price sensitive market in South East Asia. The arrangement will involve KTM branded Duke and RC motorcycles up to a displacement of 400 cc, which are developed and assembled by the Austrian-Indian JV.

Domestic benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty plunged over 2 per cent this week despite a rate cut of 25 basis points by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). For the week ended April 8, the 30-share index shed 595.80 points at 24,673.84, while the 50-share index lost 157.85 points at 7,555.20.

Among the 51 stocks in the Nifty pack, 34 components ended the week in red with Adani Ports falling 9.82 per cent. It was followed by Maruti Suzuki (down 7.69 per cent) and ICICI Bank (down 7.05 per cent).

MUMBAI: Very soon, you may see Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni or Virat Kohli promoting investments in mutual funds.

In a dramatic shift in its strategy to boost mutual fund investments in the country, markets regulator Sebi is seriously considering the option of allowing celebrity endorsement for the fund industry as a whole under trade body AMFI, a top Sebi official said. However, the regulator will not allow brand ambassadors for individual fund houses.

The shares of Maruti Suzuki India continued to be on a shaky wicket for the second consecutive day on Friday, falling more than 1%, on Japanese yen's strength against the greenback.

The yen's strength against the greenback is likely to put pressure on the company's margins.

MUMBAI: Tata Motors' newly appointed MD & CEO Guenter Butschek has his task cut out. He has decided to review the company's current product portfolio (including Nano) and future launch plans to work out a turnaround strategy.

Butschek took charge at Tata Motors about seven weeks back after working at France's Airbus as COO for four years. Prior to this, he spent 25 years at German automotive giant Daimler. "We might not be on everybody's shopping list as a top priority, but we are working on it," Butschek told TOI. "We need to get back, and we can do it."

New Delhi: Despite record coal production in 2015-16 and comfortable stock levels at thermal power plants, the government will further ramp up coal output as the expected turnaround of distressed power distribution companies will likely lead to higher coal demand for electricity generation, said coal secretary Anil Swarup said in an interview on Wednesday.

Accordingly, Coal India Ltd (CIL) will go ahead with its estimated capital investment of Rs.57,000 crore to boost production to one billion tonne by 2019-20, Swarup said.

Mumbai: Axis Bank Ltd, a lender to Jaypee Infratech Ltd, has taken possession of the debt-laden company’s headquarters in Noida, said three people familiar with the development. The bank has decided to take ownership of the asset in lieu of Rs.700 crore owed by the company, said one of the people cited above.

A second person confirmed that the decision to transfer the ownership of the building was taken as a way to reduce debt on the company’s balance sheet.

Passenger vehicle makers, including Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Toyota and Mercedes got together to find a way forward in the wake of the Supreme Court ban on registration of diesel cars and SUVs of engine capacity of 2,000 cc above in the capital and NCR.

A final decision wasn’t taken on the road map and the top executives of the companies have agreed to meet later this week on how to address the issue over environmental compensation cess (ECC) as directed by the Supreme Court, according to industry sources.

More than a decade after it declined to take a stake in Nagarjuna Group’s refinery in Tamil Nadu, state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is looking at buying equity stake in its six million tonnes a year Cuddalore refinery.

IOC has held preliminary discussions on a possible equity stake in the project, highly placed sources said.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.