The government’s assured revenue from telecom spectrum auction crossed Rs 1,08,000 crore at the end of the 13th day of bidding on Wednesday, marginally higher from the previous day. The auction will continue on Thursday, according to a statement by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

The auction, the biggest so far, began on March 4. The government is auctioning 380.75 MHz of spectrum in the 800, 900 and 1,800-MHz bands, and 5 MHz in the 2,100-MHz band, across 17 of the country’s 22 circles. The department of telecommunications had initially estimated it would get Rs 80,000-100,000 crore.

Bengaluru: Wipro Ltd said that its 10-month long search for a chief operating officer (COO) should not be seen as succession planning for chief executive officer (CEO) T.K. Kurien, who will stay at least until February 2016, when his five-year contract comes up for renewal.

Significantly, the Bengaluru-based company said the next CEO at Wipro will be “someone from within the company” and that all senior leaders have an equal chance for the top job, seeking to end any talk of Abid Ali Neemuchwala being the CEO-in-waiting.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose by almost 350 points in early trade today on emergence of buying by funds and retail investors amid a firming trend in global markets after the US Federal Reserve took a dovish stance on monetary policy.

Besides, strengthening of the rupee against the US dollar supported the recovery.

To tap capital markets to raise funds, a number of e-commerce companies including start-ups are lobbying hard with Sebi to seek relaxation in IPO norms, but regulator is firm on measures to safeguard investors.

Sebi is of the view that the investor interest is paramount in its regulatory regime and the norms, including for detailed disclosures and strong financial positions, are necessary to ensure safety of investors' money.

The Tata Motors stock fell two per cent in trade on Wednesday, on worry about a fall in car sales of its Europe-based subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Sales for JLR are down six per cent year-on-year, largely due to phasing out of the Range Rover Freelander (to be replaced by the Discovery Sport) and no exports of the Evoque to China as the company starts to manufacture the model locally.

However, excluding these two, sales were up six per cent for the month. Adjustments in the production line for changing models have influenced JLR sales in the past two months. While the share of China in the overall JLR volume pie was down to 19 per cent in February from 27 per cent year-to-date, on local manufacture and an unfavourable base, analysts expect it to gradually increase again. IDBI Capital analysts say the benefit of local production in that country will help the company be competitive in case of a slowdown.

Mahindra World City, an integrated city set up jointly by the Mahindra Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) near Chennai, expects to attract Rs 500-600 crore investment in the next two years.

Exports from the City is expected to reach around Rs 10,000 crore by 2017-18.

Ortel IPO fails to liquidate PE's holding AbhiBus to raise $10 million from PE funds Private equity-venture capital space witnesses churning at top From despondency to hope in one year If there is one sour point for private equity (PE) investors in India, it's the lack of exits. Most PE fund managers have struggled to generate enough number of exits on their investments and return capital to their investors. However, ICICI Venture has posted exits worth $975 million across 41 deals since April 2009, including $760 million in PE exits.

April 2009 is when Vishakha Mulye took over as the managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Venture Funds Management Company.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently issued show-cause notices to a little over two and a half dozen Air India pilots for reporting late. The regulator said they did not follow regulations and the airline’s operation manual on reporting time, adding that was tantamount to a violating safety. Pilots, however, contend this might be outside DGCA’s remit.

DGCA sent the notice after surprise checks at Mumbai and Delhi airports earlier this month. Last month, it sent a notice to a Jet Airways pilot for being late by 10 minutes. This comes in the wake of the Air India management’s move to cut salaries of staff responsible for flight delays.

With Microsoft setting up three data centres in India, the Redmond (US)-based company is expected to get a leg-up in grabbing a bigger share of the Indian cloud computing business.

Globally, Microsoft has spent about $4.5 billion on setting up 19 data centres, as it accelerates its strategy to be a ‘mobile first, cloud first’ company. In 12 months, the company has expanded such centres from eight countries to 19, including Australia, Japan, China, and India.

Now travellers can book train tickets four months in advance as the Railways has decided to extend the advance reservation period from 60 days to 120 days, with effect from April 1.

Officials said the decision also seeks to check the tout menace and facilitate genuine passengers to avail the reservation facility.

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