Its Official Now

There were speculation that Sonia Gandhi might announce Rahul as Congress's candidate for the post of PM in the upcoming general elections. But all the rumours were put to rest with the President of Congress, announcing that the decision of the Congress party not to project Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate in the forthcoming general elections. The party is of the view that the 2014 Lok Sabha election will be "a battle for India" and its secular traditions.

Jet CEO Toomey quits!

With the year 2014 witnessing a number of top level exits, here comes one more! The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jet Airways' Garry Kenneth Toomey quits the airline with immediate effect seven months after taking charge and replacing long time confidant Nikos Kardassis last June. The reason behind his stepping down remains unknown.

It’s a sigh of relief for sugar industry

As an incentive to provide yet another relief to the sugar industry, agricultural minister Sharad Pawar approved the government of providing financial assistance to manufacturers to export up to 40 lakh tonnes of raw sugar for two years. This is the second major incentive for the industry after the poll-bound UPA-2 announced Rs 7,600 crore interest free loans for sugar processors to pay cane farmers.

Vodafone, Airtel apply for spectrum auction

The spectrum auction which is scheduled for February 3 will witness two top telecom operators participating in the process. The government is expecting a minimum of Rs 11,300 crore from the upcoming spectrum auction. It has set a revenue target of Rs 40,874.50 crore for the current fiscal from the auction, including auction amount, one-time spectrum charge and annual regular license fee. About 403 megahertz of 2G spectrum in the 1800 MHz band and about 45 MHz of spectrum in the premium 900 MHz band is being put up for auction. 

AAP is all set to rock!

After the heads of reputed business organisations coming forward in support of AAP, now it’s time for popular music artistes to join hands with Kejriwal. Road shows, concerts in rural areas, tie-ups with local college bands and folk artistes are all on the agenda for the next three months for AAP. Singers and Music Directors like Kailash Kher, Vishal Dadlani and Remo Fernandes are already spreading the political message of AAP through their songs. 
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Aster Healthcare plans $200 million IPO

In a bid to expand its footprint in India and South-east Asian markets, Aster Healthcare, the third largest India-based healthcare service provider, has started talks with investment banks for $200 million initial public offering in London or in Mumbai in the next 12 months. JP Morgan and Bank of America- Merrill Lynch among others are in discussions with Aster to lead the IPO. 

NSEL appoints five new independent directors

The much in trouble National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) has appointed five new independent directors and a non-executive director to its board. The new members are- Uttam Prakash Agarwal, Amarendra Sahoo, Niraj Gupta, Subramanya Kusnur and Varghese Jacob and non-executive director Ashok Nag. All of them have an experience of over two decades in their respective fields.

New Year cheers for Infosys employees!

The employer of 1.58 lakh employees, Infosys is spreading some New Year cheer among its people. The company plans to give salary increments in April, unlike July last year. The attrition rate for Infosys was at a high 18.1 per cent in the December quarter, higher than the 17.3% in the September quarter and 15.1% in the quarter year-ago.. This, combined with improved performance in recent quarters and competitive pressures, is likely to make a salary increase inevitable.

SEBI tightens P-Note norms

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has tightened the rules for issue of participatory notes. The regulator had barred only Category-III Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) from issuing P-notes in the draft guidelines that were part of its October board meeting agenda. However, the gazette notification, which has given the FPI framework an official status, also bars certain entities under Category-II from issuing P-notes.