Category: Companies

HDFC Bank appoints Ramesh Lakshminarayanan as its new CIO

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Thursday said it has hired Ramesh Lakshminarayanan as its next chief information officer (CIO). The appointment comes nearly four months after the resignation of its then CIO Munish Mittal to pursue higher education in the UK after spending over 25 years at the bank.

This is also the first major hiring the bank has announced under its new chief executive and managing director Sashidhar Jagdishan. Lakshminarayanan joins from rating agency Crisil, where he was serving as the chief technology and information officer, HDFC Bank said in a statement, adding that he has also had stints with Kotak Mahindra Bank, Citibank and ABN Amro Bank.

He joined Crisil in 2017, after Pragmatix Services, a big data and analytics start-up he co-founded, was acquired by the rating agency. ”Ramesh brings an interesting blend of professional expertise as well as an entrepreneurial acumen, acquired while running a start-up,” the bank’s country head for operations and technology Bhavesh Zaveri said.

The role cuts across verticals and his responsibility will be technology strategy, strengthening foundational technology, enhancing the digital capabilities and harnessing new age AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) technology solutions for the bank, the statement said. Lakshminarayanan is a physics graduate and has done his Masters in Business Administration from Pune University.

According to reports, Mittal’s exit was a surprising one and his deputy had also planned an exit alongside. The reports of the exit had come at a time when there were a slew of top management personnel leaving the bank.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Delhi airport sees record 2,366 freighter movements, 77,000 MT cargo volumes in Sept

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cargo volumes at the GMR group-owned Delhi airport have recovered 94 percent y-o-y in September at 77,000 MT, as the private aerodrome operator handled a record 2,366 freighter movements in a single month. The total cargo handled by the Delhi airport in September 2019 had stood at 82,220 million tonnes (MT), according to Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL).

Economic activities in the country, following gradual unlockings in the past few months, are showing positive signs of recovery with Delhi airport seeing a significant surge in both cargo tonnage and freighter movements in September, it said in a release. Of the 77,000 MT cargo handled during the previous month, 48,000 MT was international, while the remaining 29,000 MT domestic, it said.

DIAL added that the cargo throughput has met an impressive recovery of 94 percent in September compared to the same month of 2019. Also, the total cargo volume in the first half of the fiscal stood at 2,88,00 MT, which is expected to grow further in the coming months, DIAL said.

Freighter airlines, including passenger aircraft used to carry cargo, have significantly contributed in creating capacities to meet the demand, according to the release.

Also Read: Delhi airport starts COVID-19 testing for passengers before departure

DIAL said it has also enhanced significantly freighter handling capacity with the setting up of three additional dedicated freighter parking bays, taking their total number to 12.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Target to meet FY20 topline; any growth a bonus: Bajaj Electricals

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Anuj Poddar, Executive Director of Bajaj Electricals spoke to CNBC-TV18 about the company’s second quarter earnings.

“We had a phenomenal quarters in terms of profit and loss, topline, bottom-line and our balancesheet. The consumer demand is back in the economy, we have seen good topline growth and our consumer business is at 13 percent.”

“EPC business which has usually been a drag, I think this quarter we benefited by having certain project closures and we have delivered a positive bottom-line on EPC business as well after several quarters.”

He furthered added, “Consumer business margin is up from about 4.7 percent last year to 10.7 percent this year in Q2. That quite frankly is not sustainable at this level, Q3 margins will see a slight reduction.”

He said, “This margin we have achieved on the back of significant cost cuts including advertisements and other cost cuts.”

“Our first target really is to do last year’s full year number and achieve that this year and then see if the current demand trends continue and we actually deliver growth in it. But we do want to make up in the 9.5 months of this year for the 12 month number of last year’s that is target one, post that it is a bonus.”

To know more about the company’s Q2 performance, watch the video.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Vehicle bookings jump 100% in festive season, says Tata Motors

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The vehicle bookings have jumped as much as 100 percent in the festive season, said Shailesh Chandra, the President of the passenger vehicle (PV) business of Tata Motors in conversation with CNBC-TV18.

He also said that the share of pent-up demand has decreased and the shift to personal mobility is driving demand.

“It has been overwhelming to see the response that we have in the festive season this year. In the Navaratri we saw a jump of more than 100 percent as far as bookings are concerned compared to last year’s Navaratri,” he said.

“Similar kind of jump we saw in retail also which was to the tune of 90 percent. This continued throughout October and Navaratri was definitely the time when bookings, as well as retails, had peaked. It clearly shows that there is great excitement among the consumers to buy cars in this festive season and the festive season is still not over. We have the next 14 days,” he further said.

“Retail sales of Tata Motors would be 15 percent more compared to the wholesale dispatches in October,” he added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

HPCL approves Rs 2,500 crore share buyback

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The board of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) on Wednesday approved a Rs 2,500 crore share buyback plan as the company management feels the share price is lower than the value it deserves.

In a stock exchange filing, HPCL said it will buyback upto 10 crore shares for no more than Rs 250 apiece.

The company plans to buyback 6.56 per cent of the total shares. HPCL, a subsidiary of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has no immediate history of a share buyback.

Post buyback, ONGC shareholding in the firm will rise to 54.70 percent from the current 51.11 percent. Shareholding of public will fall to 45.30 percent from 48.89 percent, the firm said.

HPCL shares settled at Rs 186.75 apiece on BSE, up 0.54 per cent over previous close. The rate is about a third of Rs 473.97 per share that ONGC paid in January 2018 to acquire the government’s 51.11 percent share in HPCL.

HPCL is the nation’s third-biggest oil retailer after Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL). It owns two refineries a 7.5 million tonnes unit in Mumbai and another 8.3 million tonnes facility at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. It also owns half of the 11.3 million tonnes Bathinda refinery in Punjab and is a 16.95 per cent owner of the 15 million tonnes a year Mangalore Refinery. It owns and operates 17,171 out of 71,843 petrol pumps in the country.

Sources said the share price of the company is much less than its 52-week high of Rs 322 and its market cap of Rs 28,457.39 crore is less than Rs 36,915 crore that ONGC paid for a 51.11 percent stake in 2018.

The firm, they said, controls a fifth of the world’s fastest-growing fuel market but its share price isn’t reflective of the value. And so the company management decided to go for a share buyback.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Average pay hike at 6.1% this year; likely to be 7.3% in 2021: Survey

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Companies in India doled out an average salary increase of 6.1 percent this year, the lowest in more than a decade, amid the coronavirus-induced economic slowdown but are expected to give a pay hike of 7.3 percent in 2021, says a survey.

The survey by leading global professional services firm Aon plc on Wednesday showed organisations in the country have shown tremendous resilience despite the COVID-19 challenges and are betting on recovery. As many as 87 percent companies plan to give salary increases in 2021 compared to 71 percent in 2020.

According to the survey, companies in India gave an average pay increase of 6.1 percent during 2020, the lowest since 2009 when the average was 6.3 percent. The latest Salary Trends Survey in India also noted that companies in India will give an average pay hike of 7.3 percent in 2021.

As per the findings based on an analysis of data across 1,050 companies from more than 20 industries, as of September-October 2020, 87 percent of surveyed companies said they intend to pay out salary increases in 2021 and 61 percent of these organisations plan to offer increases between 5 percent and 10 percent.  In 2020, 71 percent of companies provided salary increases and of this group, only 45 percent gave hikes in the range of 5 to 10 percent.

”This is a special year — business leaders are putting investments in their employees and clients ahead of shareholder return. Despite the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic in India and its deep impact on the economy, organisations in India have shown tremendous resilience and a mature view on talent,” said Nitin Sethi, a partner at Aon and CEO of the firm’s Performance and Rewards Solutions practice in India.

The survey also said that two-third of the companies either aim to provide similar or higher increments in 2021 compared to the increments offered in 2020.

Further, Sethi said ”business and HR leaders made hard decisions in second and third quarters of 2020 and are now betting on the green shoots of improving consumer demand. They see the need to invest in talent as a critical part of their recovery and growth prospects”. The industries looking to provide the highest salary increases are High Technology (Hi Tech), Information Technology (IT), IT Enabled Services (ITeS), Life Sciences, E-commerce, Chemicals and Professional Services.

Meanwhile, companies in the Hospitality, Retail and Real Estate/ Infrastructure industries, which had given very low increases in 2020, are projecting a higher increase for 2021, but still trail most other sectors. ”The impact of COVID-19 has been varied on different sectors and organisations. We see high differentials in salary increases — both intra and inter-industry.

”The difference between industries with highest increase to lowest increase hits 7.2 percent points as compared to mere 2.4 percent points in 2019,” said Navneet Rattan, Director at Aon in India’s Performance and Rewards Solutions practice.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Adani Gas signs pact to acquire defaulter Jay Madhok Energy’s 3 city gas licenses

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Adani Gas Ltd on Wednesday announced the acquisition of city gas licenses for Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Kutch (East) from Jay Madhok Energy for an undisclosed sum of money. Jay Madhok Energy Pvt Ltd has been showcased by the oil regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) over defaulting on timelines and alleged irregularities in the acquisition of the city gas license.

”Adani Gas Ltd has signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of three Geographical Areas namely Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Kutch (East),” the firm said in a statement. It, however, neither disclosed the name of the city gas license holder for the three cities nor the acquisition price.

”All 3 GAs have high volumes potential in terms of demand of over 6.5 million standard cubic meters per day over a period of 10 years. These geographical areas’ (GA’s) are under Phase 1 of Bharat Mala Pariyojana by NHAI which will further boost the development and volume growth,” it said.

Jay Madhok had in 2013 won the license to retail CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to households and industries in Jalandhar in Punjab and two years later it got a license for Ludhiana and Kutch (East) in Gujarat.

The three cities were bid out in the 3rd city gas licensing round where the bidder offering to lay the longest length of gas pipeline and provide the most cooking gas connections got the license. But the firm, according to PNGRB, made little progress on its commitments. PNGRB in 2016 cancelled its licenses. Jay Madhok challenged the cancellation in Appellate Tribunal, which in April 2017 set aside the PNGRB order and asked the regulator to follow the set procedure for cancellation.

Since then the matter is pending before PNGRB and Jay Madhok had been seeking adjournments on one pretext or the other. In March 2019, PNGRB issued another notice to Jay Madhok over alleged irregularities in the networth used to acquire the license. It also alleged fraud in the furnishing of a loan sanction letter from Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore.

Sources said PNGRB will now have to examine if a sale of the license is permissible under the statute and what happens to the default by the original licensor. PNGRB can accord an approval if it concludes that such a deal is in the best interest of the development of the license.

With the acquisition, Adani Gas now has a license for 22 GAs. It has another 19 licenses in a joint venture with state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC). These GAs cover 74 districts. ”Ludhiana and Jalandhar are twin cities of Punjab and are major industrial and commercial hubs with very high-volume potential of CNG and piped natural gas (PNG) homes. Both cities are in the vicinity of the pipeline connectivity,” the company statement said.

Kutch (East) in Gujarat is poised to take centre stage for the industrial development in Gujarat. ”AGL has strong presence in Gujarat,” it said, adding Kutch (East) is well connected with pipeline and LNG terminal infrastructures making it an attractive destination for the development of CGD network.

Given the availability of pipeline connectivity in the surroundings, all the 3 GAs will offer early monetisation opportunity to AGL. ”The transaction is subject to necessary regulatory and other customary approvals,” the statement said.

Speaking on the occasion, Suresh P Manglani, CEO, Adani Gas said, ”These 3 GAs offer high PNG and CNG volumes together with excellent infrastructure growth opportunities”. ”This transformational acquisition shall allow AGL to supply cleaner fuels – PNG in fulfilling much-awaited aspirations of a large number of homes, commercial and industrial consumers, Gurudwara, hotels, restaurants and environmental friendly CNG to automotive consumers in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Kutch (East) GAs. This initiative by AGL shall further support the vision of central and state governments to provide PNG and CNG to all,” he said.

Adani will aim to fast track the infrastructure developments across all these GAs, he added. ”These 3 GAs shall add significant high volumes and infrastructure developments and will take AGL to a high growth trajectory.

”With the strong parentage of AGL, the residents of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Kutch (East) shall also be beneficiary of best in class CGD networks, operations, maintenance, digital and customer-centric approach with continued focus on Health & Safety, community development and better returns to the stakeholders,” he noted.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Ashok Leyland says retail sales up; expects recovery to continue

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Commercial Vehicle (CV) major Ashok Leyland reported an improvement in monthly sales for the six straight month in October. The best performing segments were medium and heavy commercial trucks. Anuj Kathuria, COO, Ashok Leyland spoke to CNBC-TV18 about the trends in commercial vehicle sales.

“Retail sales showed better numbers as compared to September, going forward we expect the month-on-month (MoM) recovery to continue,” he said.

The demand is mainly seen coming from the intermediate commercial vehicles (ICV) trucks and also the tipper segment, he said. “ICV trucks saw good demand, the numbers were up 25 percent for the industry compared to September,” Kathuria mentioned.

Ashok Leyland is seeing a very healthy demand for tippers in north-eastern states. He expects this to continue. “A lot of construction activity is happening, so a lot of transportation of aggregate material, even tippers in the ICV segment especially in the states of the northeast – we are seeing a very healthy demand. We expect some of this to continue,” he said.

Speaking about market share, he said, “There was no major loss but there was a segmental shift that was making the overall picture a little skewed. But definitely with demand coming back in our vehicles, we will be able to recover.”

For more, watch video…

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow