Global Business News Daily Updates

I-T raid finds hidden cloud servers, ₹400cr unaccounted income in Chennai

Income Tax Department's searches in premises of a prominent Chennai based business group unearthed ₹1 crore cash and unaccounted income exceeding ₹400 crore. "The highlight of the search is the discovery of hidden cloud servers other than the servers regularly used by the group," the department said. A large amount of encrypted data was also retrieved from a pen drive.
read more at ANI

TikTok star lays out rice grains to measure Bezos' net worth, video viral

TikTok star Humphrey Yang's video illustrating world's richest person Jeff Bezos' net worth using rice grains has gone viral. In his video, a single rice grain represented $100,000, therefore, to show $1 billion, he counted 10,000 grains. His video showed 58 pounds (26.30 kg) of rice grains make up the Amazon CEO's net worth ($122 billion as per video).

Viral video shows pigeon flying in GoAir flight, passengers trying to catch it

An Ahmedabad-Jaipur GoAir flight was delayed by at least 30 minutes after a pigeon entered the flight. A video of the incident has also gone viral on social media and it shows the bird flying in the aircraft while the passengers onboard try to catch it. It is, however, unclear how the pigeon entered the plane.

Apple sends iPads, face masks to employees stranded in China: Report

Apple has sent 'care packages' to its employees stranded in China's Wenzhou and Hubei amid coronavirus outbreak, a report claimed. The packages include an iPad, face masks, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and some other items. A letter in parcel says the iPads are for children's online learning or to help pass the time during the "prolonged stay away from home."
read more at The Siasat Daily

No impact of coronavirus on Corona beer's business: Company

Constellation Brands Inc. on Friday said the concerns that the coronavirus outbreak is having a negative impact on its Corona beer business are "unfounded" as its sales continue to rise. Chief executive of Constellation said they don't have much exposure to international markets such as China that have been most impacted by this situation.
read more at Bloomberg Quint

World's 500 richest people lose $444 billion in 5 days

The combined wealth of the world's 500 richest people fell by $444 billion in 5 days as the world stock markets plunged on coronavirus fears, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The world's three richest people, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates and LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault, incurred the biggest losses, with their combined wealth dropping about $30 billion.
read more at Bloomberg Quint

'CoronaCoin' cryptocurrency developed, supply to reduce based on new cases

Seven cryptocurrency developers have created a digital coin that allows traders to bet on the coronavirus epidemic. Called the "CoronaCoin", its supply will diminish every 48 hours based on the number of those that have been infected or have died, suggesting its price could move higher the more people the virus kills. The total supply is based on world population.
read more at Reuters

Mukesh Ambani and his son Anant meet Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and his son Anant Ambani met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the CM's Camp Office in Tadepalli near Vijayawada. YSRCP MP V Vijayasai Reddy received the Ambanis at the Gannavaram airport. Ambanis were accompanied by Reliance's Senior Group President and two-time Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani in a closed-door meeting.
read more at The News Minute

India's growth a sad story, govt focusing more on political agenda: Rajan

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said India's growth slowdown is due to the government focusing more on fulfilling its political and social agenda rather than paying attention to the economy. "It's a sad story, I think most recently, it's politics," Rajan said in response to a question on why India's growth has remained below potential for a long time.
read more at The Print

Global stock markets lose $6 trillion in value this week

The world share markets suffered their worst weekly fall since the 2008 global financial crisis, with $6 trillion wiped from their market value so far this week over coronavirus fears. MSCI's all-country world index, which tracks nearly 50 countries, fell almost 10% during the week. The World Health Organization raised its global risk level for coronavirus to "very high".
read more at Reuters

Airtel says it owes ₹13,000 crore not ₹35,000 crore in past dues, pays extra

Airtel on Saturday said it has complied with the Supreme Court to pay historical dues after it paid ₹13,004 crore based on its self-assessment. The operator added it paid an additional ₹5,000 crore as an ad-hoc payment to cover differences, if any. As per the Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) calculations, the Sunil Mittal-led company owed over ₹35,000 crore.
read more at Deccan Herald

Meril's India-made dissolvable stents exempted from price cap

Gujarat-based Meril Life Sciences has become the first Indian stent maker to receive an exemption from government-set price caps for a stent it developed three years ago. Its India-made 'MeRes-100', a naturally dissolving stent for clearing blockages in arteries, will be exempted from price controls for 5 years. A patient activist group had raised concerns related to the product's safety.

Johar wins Iconic Entertainment Leader of Year at Indian Business Leader Awards

Karan Johar was honoured with 'Iconic Entertainment Leader of the Year' award on Friday at India Business Leader Awards 2020. The award was given to him in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Other nominees in the category included Shah Rukh Khan, Aditya Chopra, Ekta Kapoor, Ajay Bijli and Sanjeev Bijli.
read more at Bollywood Hungama

World economy faces worst year since 2009: Bank of America

Bank of America economists have warned that they expect the global economy to grow 2.8% this year amid the spread of coronavirus, the weakest since 2009, and the US economy to grow the least in four years. Earlier, the economists forecast the softest growth for China since 1990. "Our forecasts do not include a global pandemic," they added.
read more at Hindustan Times

Mahindra & Mahindra to launch cab aggregator for corporates

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) will launch a cab aggregator for corporates called Alyte, Mahindra Logistics CEO Rampraveen Swaminathan told The Economic Times. The company plans to bring all its mobility businesses under a single brand. Alyte, Meru Cabs (in which M&M owns 55%), e-taxi service Glyd, and M&M's used car business First Choice will be housed under the new vertical.
read more at OfficeChai

Blackstone's top three get $803 mn in pay, dividends in 2019

Blackstone Group's top three executives together collected $803 million in pay and dividends in 2019. Steve Schwarzman, the firm's Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, got $452 million in dividends and $53.5 million in interest, as per company's regulatory filing. Jonathan Gray, the firm's President and COO, collected $181 million in pay and dividends while Tony James, Vice Chairman, got $112.3 million.
read more at BloombergQuint

Govt extends Ajay Tyagi's term as SEBI Chairman by six months

The government has extended the term of Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman Ajay Tyagi by six months or until further orders, the Ministry of Finance said. Tyagi's three-year tenure was set to end on February 29 and he is eligible for an extension of two years. Tyagi will continue as Chairman until the government finds a successor.
read more at BloombergQuint

SBI Cards raises ₹2,769 cr from 74 anchor investors ahead of IPO

SBI Cards and Payment Services has raised ₹2,769 crore from 74 anchor investors ahead of its IPO set for Monday. Anchor investors include Singapore government, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and HDFC Mutual Fund among others. SBI Cards plans to offer 13.05 crore equity shares through offer-for-sale. It expects to raise around ₹9,000 crore through the IPO.
read more at BloombergQuint

GST collection rises 8.3% in February at ₹1.05 trillion

The government's GST collection has risen by 8.3% to ₹1.05 trillion in February, compared to the same time a year ago. In January, the Centre and state governments had collected ₹1.1 trillion. After the settlement of taxes on inter-state supplies, the central government earned ₹43,155 crore in February, while states collectively made ₹43,901 crore.
read more at Livemint

Govt's total receipts at ₹12.82 lakh crore in April-January

The government's total receipts during the April-January period stood at ₹12.82 lakh crore, while its expenditure was ₹22.68 lakh crore for FY19. Tax revenue stood at ₹9,98,037 crore, while non-tax revenue stood at ₹2,52,083 crore. The Government of India has received ₹12,82,857 crore up to January 2020, an official statement said.
read more at Livemint

Job security must be given to Air India staff: Committee

Ahead of the proposed divestment of Air India, the committee which was created in January to address employee concerns at the national carrier has suggested that permanent staff be provided job security until retirement. It also suggested rules for leave encashment, gratuity, staff housing and medical benefits, among others. Air India has 9,426 permanent workers, as of November 1.
read more at Livemint