Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and promoters reduced their holding in tech major Infosys during the December quarter.

The promoter holding declined by 300 basis points (bps) to 13.08 after four promoters sold stake worth $1.1 billion in December. FII holding also reduced by 109 bps to 41.58 per cent.

The merger between Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Vysya Bank has received the approval of shareholders of both.

Shareholders of the Mumbai-based Kotak bank approved the merger proposal at an extraordinary general meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. The exchange ratio has been fixed at 725 Kotak shares with 1, 000 ING Vysya shares.

Standard Chartered is closing the bulk of its global equities business and axing 4,000 retail banking jobs as Peter Sands moves to aggressively cut costs to reverse the Asia-focused bank’s fortunes, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

As part of a cost-cutting plan, the bank is now dismantling its stock broking, equity research, and equity listing desks worldwide, cutting around 200 jobs and exiting a business that it views as non-core and unprofitable.

Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj, whose recent remarks have sparked off a lot of controversy, on Thursday said he was ready to be hanged if he had said something wrong.

"I think the media is stretching the issue a bit too long. I have already spoken on this issue several times. Now, it is time to forget it. The place where I spoke was not a political stage. If people are so hurt by my statement, then a strict law should be brought against a family that has more than two or three children. If people think I said something wrong, I am ready to be hanged for that," he said, in an interview.

If reports are to be believed, a proposal is brewing in the corridors of North Block to merge the UTI Mutual Fund with the fund arm of one of its shareholders and country’s largest bank State Bank of India. The ill-conceived proposal could not have been more ill-timed.

It comes at a time when UTI is looking to consolidate under a new chief after being headless for a few years. The market conditions have improved dramatically and this could have helped the fund house, which still has the best mix of funds, be it the asset type (equity vs debt) and the geographical spread, to surge forward.

In a move that will boost fee income for banks, the finance ministry has agreed to a long pending proposal of lenders for paying commission for transactions for direct benefit transfer. This will make account opening by the lenders under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme viable.

Earlier, a task force headed by Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the UIDAI recommended a commission of 3.14 per cent to be paid for all DBTs handled by banks and business correspondents. However, provision for the expenditure was not made in previous budgets.

Promoters and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have reduced their stake in information technology (IT) major Infosys during the third quarter (Oct-Dec) of the current fiscal.

Total promoter holding in Infosys has declined by nearly 300 basis points to 13.8% at the end of the third quarter from 15.92% in the second quarter ended September 30, 2014. FIIs shareholding in the software giant has decreased by 109 basis points to 41.58% from 42.67% in past three months.

Shareholders of Kotak Mahindra Bank today gave their approval to merge Bengaluru-based ING Vyaya Bank with itself.

At an extraordinary general meeting, shareholders of the Mumbai-based private bank approved the merger proposal. The exchange ratio has been fixed at 725 shares of Kotak with 1, 000 shares of ING Vysya.

The national capital on Wednesday reported the first swine flu death of the year with a 42-year-old woman from Uttam Nagar succumbing to the H1N1 virus at a private hospital here.

The woman had died yesterday evening while undergoing treatment at a private hospital but her death was reported today, said Charan Singh, Additional Director in-charge of Public Health, Health department.

Subdued demand growth last year notwithstanding, car companies are ready with their offerings to begin the new year on a fresh note, with at least three crucial launches lined up this month.

Mumbai-based Tata Motors, which has finally found its footing in the car market after the launch of a compact sedan few months ago, is eager to unleash its second model Bolt (a hatchback). Bolt will be launched on January 22.

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