India News

SBI receives approval to raise $2.5 billion via foreign currency bonds

At a time when both spreads and US treasury yields are contracting, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) indicated it received approval to raise up to $2.5 billion via issue of foreign currency bonds in fiscal 2020.

It is not yet clear as to what time the bank will hit the market with its issue. However, what is noteworthy is the fact that fund-raising costs have come down significantly in the dollar bond market.

HDFC Bank struggles with farm loan portfolio for the third year

HDFC Bank’s asset quality struggles with its agri-loan portfolio may well enter its third year in 2019-20, with the country’s largest private-sector lender already making provisions against future loan losses. In a conference call with analysts after HDFC Bank’s March quarter results, CFO Sashidhar Jagdishan said the bank has been providing for agri-related delinquencies for the last few quarters.

Cambridge Analytica row: Facebook sets aside $3 billion for privacy penalty

Facebook Inc on Wednesday blew past Wall Street profit estimates in the first quarter and set aside $3 billion to cover a settlement with U.S. regulators, calming investors who had worried about the outcome of a months-long federal probe.

Shares of the world's biggest online social network jumped more than 10 percent to $200.50 in after-hours trade. They have now regained much of the ground lost last year amid slowing growth and costs associated with the company's privacy scandals.

Microsoft tops $1 trillion after strong Q3 earnings, cloud growth forecast

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday briefly topped $1 trillion in value for the first time after executives predicted continued growth for its cloud computing business.

The Redmond, Washington-based company beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit and revenue, powered by an unexpected boost in Windows revenue and brisk growth in its cloud business which has reached tens of billions of dollars in sales.

Jio races ahead of Airtel to become India's 2nd largest telecom company

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio is now reportedly the second-largest telecom company in the country. The company is said to have overtaken Bharti Airtel in terms of customer base and now trails only Vodafone Idea.

While Jio presently has 306 million customers, Vodafone Idea continues to lead the industry with 387 million subscribers, according to a Times of India report. Airtel has 284 million subscribers.

Sebi bars cash-strapped Hotel Leelaventure from asset sale to Brookfield

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday ordered cash-strapped Hotel Leelaventure to not proceed with the Brookfield Asset Management deal, following letters of objection from foods-to-tobacco major ITC and state-owned insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).