Smart cities will be selected through a bottom-up rather than top-down approach, where the decision would be made by the citizens and municipalities concerned, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.

“For the first time such an approach is being taken, where neither the centre nor states will decide. The decision to become a smart city will be taken by the citizens themselves, by the municipalities,” Modi said launching the three missions on Smart Cities, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and Housing for All.

GMR Infrastructure has sought refinance under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 5/25 scheme for loans totalling over R37,000 crore, bankers confirmed to FE. According to a senior banker in the consortium, the company had “informally conveyed its request” for a refinancing via the 5/25 scheme.

“We too agree that the company requires a loan recast and it should happen in due course,” the banker said. Since the company has multiple project loans, the restructuring would be done for each one separately.

Nestle chief Paul Bulcke says he has drawn the lessons from India’s shock ban on its Maggi instant noodles over a health scare and is now trying to salvage the image of the world’s top food company.

Bulcke insisted that its hugely popular Maggi brand was 100 per cent safe, saying that packaged food was unfairly fingered by many around the world as a health risk.

Shares of Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) were trading higher by 2% at Rs 260, extending their previous day’s 4% gain on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Currently, the stock is trading at its highest level since March 2015.

On Tuesday, June 23, the state-run equipment maker BHEL said that it has commissioned a 250-MW unit of NTPC's Bongaigaon thermal power plant in the Kokrajhar district in Assam.

State Bank of India (SBI) today announced the appointment of Anshula Kant as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Kant has been designated as the Deputy Managing Director and CFO of the bank, SBI said in a filing on BSE.

She joined SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1983 worked under various departments of the bank. Prior to her appointment, P K Gupta was the CFO. Gupta moved to SBI Capital as Chief Executive Officer.

The board of directors of HDFC Bank, second largest private lender, has extended managing director Aditya Puri's tenure for another five years, with effect from November 1.

Last September, the Reserve Bank of India raised the age limit of private bank chiefs to 70. Puri, 64, has headed the bank since its inception in 1994, the longest serving chief executive of an Indian bank.

Hyundai Motor India, the country's largest passenger vehicle exporter, is reorganising its export basket with new products. The company says the drive is aimed at maintaining its leadership in exports.

"There is a shift taking place in our portfolio. We are still exporting older models like the Eon, i10 and Accent. But the major thrust is to find opportunities for new models like the Grandi10, Xcent and Elitei20. Our sports utility vehicle, Creta, due for launch this month, will also be exported," said Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president and division head (sales and marketing).

L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd (LTHE), a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), on Wednesday said it has bagged an offshore contract from ONGC valued at Rs 2,715 crore.

The contract was won against international competitive bidding for the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) project at Bassein field near Mumbai coast in western offshore basin of India.

Chennai and Seattle-based startup Indix, that offers information about millions of online products to its clients, has raised $15 million in series B round from Nokia Growth Partners. The investors including Nexus Venture Partners, and Avalon Ventures also participated in the round. The company aims to utilize the new funds to grow its workforce, and expand sales and marketing of the products.

Indix was founded in October 2013 by Sanjay Parthasarathy, Rajesh Muppalla, Satya Kaliki, and Sridhar Venkatesh. The company’s tool is used by brands, retailers and developers to deliver the right product to the right customer at the right place.

New Delhi: In a fresh move, the government has cancelled the licences of 2,406 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across the country, which includes entities that run schools and hospitals.

In the wake of the cancellation of their registrations, the NGOs would not be able to receive foreign funds. According to official data, Maharashtra tops the list with the cancellation of licences of 964 NGOs followed by Uttar Pradesh with 740 and Karnataka with 614.

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