Thomas Cook trades higher on the bourses

In a bid to commemorate World Tourism Day, Thomas Cook (India) has launched the Thomas Cook Travel Quest - India’s first national travel quiz for school students. With over 50% of India under the age of 25 years and the country set to become the world's youngest nation by 2020 (with an average age of 29 years), this changing young demographic with growing aspirations seeks exposure to a global curriculum and opportunities that are increasingly being built into the curriculum of progressive schools. The contest is open to school students across India from classes 6 to 9, with a six month extensive outreach starting in mid October 2014, across 16 cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Dehradun, Kolkata, Raipur and Bhubaneshwar): a written qualifying test across the 1200 schools, followed by qualifiers to determine City, State, Zonal and eventually National winners. The four zonal winners will contest for the title prize at the grand finale, which will be held in Mumbai during Q1 2015. For this unique initiative, Thomas Cook India has partnered with Greycaps India, Asia’s largest on stage quizzing and knowledge services company & curated by noted quizmaster Giri Pickbrain with the focus being on History & Geography. Thomas Cook is the largest integrated travel and travel related financial services company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange, Corporate Travel, MICE, Leisure Travel, Insurance, Visa & Passport services and E-Business.

IVRCL zooms on the buzz of negotiating to sell assets

IVRCL is reportedly in various stages of negotiations to conclude the sale of some of its assets, including the Chennai de-salination plant and a couple of road projects. The construction and infrastructure major, which had earlier this year secured a nod for a Corporate Debt Restructure (CDR), has also received interest from some Japanese investors in its realty initiative in Chennai. The company is in the process of reducing its debt by way of sale of its assets to free up equity and have the debt burden released. As a part of this initiative, it had been in early arrangement with TRIL, a Tata Group entity, for sale of three of its road assets located in Tamil Nadu. However, the entire process is yet to be concluded. IVRCL is engaged into engineering procurement and construction (EPC) activities in India. It conducts operations in 5 sectors namely Water and Environment, Transportation, Buildings, Power and Industrial Structures.

IDFC cuts foreign stake limit to 48 percent

IDFC has agreed to decrease the limit for purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs), through primary market and stock exchanges under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) up to 48 percent of the paid up capital. Earlier limit for such investments in the company was 50 per cent. The company has passed resolutions at the Board of Directors' level and a special resolution by the shareholders, agreeing for decreasing the limit for the purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by FIIs/RFPIs. Besides, Reserve Bank notified that IDFC will remain included in the ban list for FIIs/RFPIs. IDFC is the country’s leading integrated infrastructure finance player providing end to end infrastructure financing and project implementation services.

RBI increases company’s FII limit to 100% in MT Educare

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased foreign institutional investors' (FIIs) investment limit in MT Educare to 100% of its paid-up capital. RBI notified that FIIs/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) can now invest up to 100 percent (revised from earlier limit of 24 percent) of the paid up capital of MT Educare under the Portfolio Investment Scheme. The company has passed resolutions at its Board of Directors’ level and a special resolution by the shareholders, agreeing for enhancing the limit for the purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by FIIs. The purchases could be made through primary market and stock exchanges and would be subject to Regulation 5(2) of FEMA Notification No.20 dated May 03, 2000 (as amended from time to time) and other terms and conditions stipulated by the Reserve Bank. MT Educare provides educational coaching services for classes 9 and 10 (state boards, CBSE and ICSE), classes 11 and 12, graduation (commerce), preparatory/entrance tests (engineering, medical and MBA) and professional courses such as chartered accountancy under the brand name ‘Mahesh Tutorials’. The promoters holding in the company stood at 45.33 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 18.32 % and 36.35 % respectively.

Wipro surges on getting nod to set up a new SEZ in Andhra Pradesh

The Government has cleared Wipro’s proposal to set up a new special economic zone (SEZ) in Andhra Pradesh. The company holds 1.22 hectares in Resapuvanipalem in Visakhapatnam and wants this to become an SEZ. Wipro is a leading provider of analytics and information management solutions - enabling customers to derive actionable business insights from data to drive growth, enhance cost management and strengthen risk management.

FDI in textile sector jumps by 91.41% in 2013-14

Signalling a positive shift in investor sentiment in India`s textile industry, the country attracted $198.86 million foreign capital in the sector during April-March 2013-14, which is 91.41% higher than $103.89 million of FDI attracted during the same period during previous year. According to the Textiles Ministry, the FDI inflow in the sector so far stood at $11.70 million during April-May, 2014-15. The major countries contributing to FDI inflows in the country include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan, Hong Kong, Belgium and Australia.

The country shipped $36.69 billion worth textiles during 2013 from $32.88 billion in 2012 -- up 11.58%. While the country shipped textile, clothing and handicrafts worth $34.93 billion during April-March, 2012-13, it exported clothing and textiles to the tune of% 35.42 billion during April-May, 2014-15, up 12.75% from$ 31.62 billion during 2012-13.

Further, the textile ministry underscored that the government was implementing various schemes to ensure maximum utilisation of FDI in textile sector like Technology Up-Gradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP), Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS). It also noted that other government supported schemes for the sector included development of technical textiles and development of the power-loom sector.

Sonata Software’s arm inks definitive agreements to acquire controlling stake in Rezopia Inc.

Sonata Software’s wholly owned subsidiary company - Sonata Software North America Inc., has signed definitive agreements to acquire a controlling stake in Rezopia Inc., a California, USA headquartered company which runs a cloud based end-to-end reservations, contracts, operations and distributions management platform for travel providers.

Besides, in a separate transaction, Sonata Software has purchased the business of Xyka India, a Bangalore based company and the sole service provider to Rezopia Inc., under a business transfer agreement.

Sonata Software, headquartered in Bangalore, India, is an IT consulting and software services company delivering transformational IT solutions through customer specific Centres of Excellence. Sonata serves Software Product Companies and enterprises in the Travel, Manufacturing, Retail and Distribution verticals across the globe.

HDFC Bank to increase foreign investment limit up to 74 percent

HDFC Bank, the second-largest private sector bank in India, is reportedly planning to increase its foreign investment limit up to 74 percent. The bank has already sent a fresh petition to government on raising its foreign investment limit. The bank in its petition has also clarified that HDFC’s stake in the bank is not foreign. However, the Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion view HDFC’s 22.56 percent stake in HDFC Bank as foreign investment.

Late last year, the Bank had approached the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for increasing the foreign holding in the bank to 67.55 per cent from 49 per cent. If the proposal of the bank to raise foreign investment to 67.55 per cent is accepted, it would exceed the cap of 74 per cent, after taking into account parent HDFC's stake.

HDFC Bank is one of India’s premier banks providing a wide range of financial products and services to its 28.9 million customers. As of June 30, 2014, the bank had a distribution network with 3,488 branches and 11,426 ATMs in 2,231 cities/towns.

Axis Bank getting nod to raise Rs 6,000 crore on a private placement basis

Axis Bank’s board has approved issuance of long term bonds/non-convertible debentures upto Rs 6,000 crore on a private placement basis. The company’s board gave its approval for the same at its meeting held on August 21, 2014.

The approval of shareholders of the Bank in terms of the provisions of Companies Act, 2013 is proposed to be obtained by way of Postal Ballot.

Karnataka Bank entering into MoU with NBHC

Karnataka Bank has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) for extending storage facilities to farmers and finance against the warehouse receipts (WHR). NBHC is one of the leading collateral management service providers with a pan-India presence, managing about 1500 warehouses and cold storages.

The finance to farmers will be extended under ‘Krishik Bhandar’ scheme of the Bank. NBHC has nominated Karnataka Bank as preferred financier for extending finance to farmers against the Ware House Receipts. Farmers can avail the service of NBHC with a nominal fee.

The institutions and non-institutions held 30.41% and 69.59% stake in the company, respectively.