Flipkart in talks to raise $1 bn to expand business: Report

India's largest e-commerce marketplace Flipkart is said to be in the market to raise as much as $1 billion, but at a valuation lower than its peak of $15.2 billion. The company is looking for investments to expand its business and ward off attacks from well-funded rivals Snapdeal and Amazon. Read More

Uber turns to Bengaluru's tech talent to beat Ola

San Francisco-based ride hailing company Uber was forced to develop a mechanism for accepting cash payments from customers in India, given the extremely low penetration of credit cards in the country. Seen as an inconvenience at first, the company has exported the solution to other emerging markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

To mine the country for more such innovations to grow both locally and globally, Uber has picked Bengaluru to open its first engineering centre in Asia.

The city is home to India’s largest pool of tech talent and also to rival taxi-hailing service Ola. Read More

CBI names 5 IDBI Bank executives in Rs 950 cr loan misuse case by Mallya

Five serving and former executives of the IDBI Bank, mentioned in a probe report by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over a Rs 950-crore loan sanctioned to Kingfisher Airlines in 2009.

Yogesh Agarwal, the then chairman and managing director of IDBI Bank, and four other executives who were members of the credit committee, B K Batra, O V Bundellu, R Bansal and S K V Srinivasan, have been named by the CBI.

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Tech Mahindra pulls out of race to acquire Mphasis

Tech Mahindra has decided to pull out of the race for Mphasis to avoid a bidding war with other suitors.

“Tech Mahindra is no longer contesting to acquire Mphasis,” sources privy to the development told Business Standard. A company spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

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Flipkart's woes sound alarm over start-up valuations

This scenario echoes in India's e-commerce industry which took a massive hit when Morgan Stanley marked down the value of its investment in leaderFlipkart by 27 per cent to $58.9 million between June and December. Experts say the move will affect the overall value of the company. Full Details

Mallya received part of Diageo funds in offshore accounts

Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB group, received part of the proceeds from the sale of shares in United Spirits Ltd (USL), including the sale of South African breweries from Diageo in his offshore accounts, banking sources said.

The USL sale proceeds were not used to repay loans to Indian banks in 2012 which lent Rs 7,200 crore to Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines.

Diageo had spent nearly Rs 11,000 crore for acquisition of United Spirits in November 2012. Besides, it spent another $58 million (approx Rs 394 crore) in two tranches for the acquisition of South African breweries from Mallya. Read More

How Aadhaar legislation will help plug leakages in welfare schemes like PDS

No other project has suffered as much indifference as the one that seeks to provide portable identity to all residents of the country. Questions were raised, criticism poured in from various quarters and court cases followed. Yet, despite seven years of uncertain existence, the Aadhaar Unique Identification Authority of India is close to achieving a rare milestone of issuing unique identity number to one billion people.

Finally, there is going to be a much needed legislation in place to back its existence. With the passage of the legislation, which seems very likely now, the delivery of welfare schemes will get a facelift. Backed by a legislation, the government will have the option of using the Aadhaar Bill platform to launch direct benefit transfer to intended beneficiaries for scores of welfare schemes. Click Here

World Twenty20: Kolkata likely to host India-Pakistan clash

Dharamsala's loss may be Kolkata's gain as the marquee India-Pakistan encounter of the ICC World Twenty20 on March 19 is likely to be shifted to the iconic Eden Gardens here.

The official confirmation from the ICC is awaited but according to a top BCCI official, Kolkata has the "highest" chance compared to other prospective venues like Mohali and Bengaluru. Read More

Microsoft opens SQL server to Linux

For years, Microsoft built walls between its products and the rest of the industry. Now it is tearing them down.

Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, is known for creating business software that runs only on the Windows operating system. That has made it hard - or impossible - to buy something like a database from Microsoft without first buying Windows to run on a server.

But on Monday Microsoft announced that SQL Server, its software for managing corporate data, would also run on Linux, a competing operating system. Other Microsoft products could follow suit, analysts said.

Permissions given to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living mega event were vague

After thrice rejecting the Art of Living’s mega event, World Cultural Festival, on the bank of Yamuna in Delhi, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has approved it through the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). A copy of the order was also marked to the personal secretary of Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, by the chief engineer of DDA.

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