Mumbai fire: Building's developer arrested for culpable homicide

Mumbai Fire -Following a fire at a residential high-rise in Dadar area in Mumbai, which claimed at least four lives, police arrested the builder late Wednesday.

A case of culpable homicide was registered against the developer of the building, Abdul Razak Ismail Supariwala. He was subsequently arrested, said an officer from Bhoiwada police station.

"The developer has been booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others)," Deputy Commissioner of Police N Ambika said earlier today.

Supariwala was booked under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Act 2006, the officer said.

Fire broke out Wednesday morning on the 12th floor of the 17-storey Crystal Tower building near Hindmata Cinema.

Rlys eyes income boost, to build walls along high-speed corridors for ads

The Indian Railways is considering a proposal to generate revenue through advertisement on walls along the tracks on high-speed corridors, sources have said, amid a push by the national transporter to boost its non-fare earnings.

In talks with contractors, who can deliverer pre-fabricated walls, the railways plans to generate revenue through advertisement to recover the cost of the build. The sources said the idea is to share revenue with contractors, thus enabling the railways to get the walls built at minimum cost.

"With the plan for the Delhi-Mumbai high-speed corridor underway, the need for such walls is imperative for issues of safety. We are mulling the option of generating revenue from them through advertisement as they are high density areas and will get maximum exposure. Pilot projects are already underway and we are hoping to put up walls across the network starting with urban areas," said one of the sources.

Mumbai rail roko protest: Job aspirants halt trains; top 10 developments

Hundred or thousands of Mumbai local commuters faced difficulties on Tuesday as scores of agitating students blocked rail traffic, including suburban services between Matunga and Dadar stations, demanding jobs in the Railways, according to a Central Railway official. The agitating students blocked the rail track at 7 in the morning today, forcing the Railways to stop the suburban and express trains in the affected section between Matunga and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).

Railways officials have told a national daily that they are running special trains for the Kurla station in the down direction. They added that they are diverting railway traffic from Dadar station in the up direction.
According to Railways officials, the entire four lines between Matunga and CSMT have been affected, while police and Railways officials are conducting talks with the agitating railway job aspirants.
Students shouting slogans against the Railways held up placard demanding a one-time settlement from GM quota and said that they were demanding jobs from the government.

Ola, Uber drivers in major cities to go on an indefinite strike from today

The transport wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has called for an indefinite strike of drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola starting Monday midnight.

Scores of commuters could be inconvenienced due to the indefinite strike starting from Monday.

The strike has been called by the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena which has claimed that several drivers are not being able to cover costs due to falling business.

Union leaders said that drivers in other cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune among others would also be participating in the strike

Former Shiv Sena corporator Ashok Sawant stabbed to death in Mumbai

Former Shiv Sena corporator, Ashok Sawant, has been stabbed to death outside his house in Maharashtra's Kandivali.

Sawant (62) was accosted by two men late on Sunday night who then attacked him with sharp weapons.

The incident took place when he was returning home after meeting a friend.

He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Sawant was a two-time corporator of Shiv Sena from Samta Nagar.

Investigation in the case is on.
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Goa-Mumbai Air India flight makes emergency landing after hydraulic failure

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A full emergency was declared on an Air India aircraft arriving at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, due to hydraulic failure on Sunday.

However, Air India aircraft 662 landed safely at 8:15 p.m. on Runway 27, as informed by the spokesperson the airport.

The full emergency was withdrawn at 8:29 p.m
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Mumbai building collapse: Death toll rises to 33, many trapped under debris

At least 33 people were killed and another 14 injured on Friday when a 117-year-old, five-storey residential building collapsed in Bhendi Bazar area of south Mumbai.

The victims include 23 men and 9 women. Many are feared to be trapped inside the debris. Rescue operations are underway at the accident site.

Ten fire engines and quick response team, two rescue vans, one house collapse van, ambulances, about 70 fire personnel, one National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, two pock lane, six JCB and 16 dumpers are working for rescue operations.

The three-storeyed Husaini building was collapsed on Thursday in Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar area, where the death toll in Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar building collapse rose to 22.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh for the kin of those who died in Bhendi Bazaar building collapse.

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Mauritian investor offers Rs 10,700-cr fund for Sahara's Aamby Valley

A Mauritius-based investor, Royale Partners Investment Fund, on Friday said it has offered to invest $1.67 billion (over Rs 10,700 crore) in embattled Sahara group's Aamby Valley project.

The investment offer, proposed as a debt arrangement, comes at a time when the Supreme Court has ordered auction of the Aamby Valley resort town between Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra. Sahara group pegs the market valuation of this project at over Rs 1 lakh crore.

Royale Partners Investment Fund Limited, registered in Mauritius as a global business company, is owned by Dubai- headquartered RPMG Investment which is into investment management, private equity, asset management and proprietary trading.

Replying to emailed queries about its proposed deal with Sahara group, RPMG Investment told PTI, "As deposed by Sahara before the Supreme Court of India, Royale Partners Investment Fund Ltd and its Limited Partners have agreed to invest USD 1.67 billion in the Aamby Valley Project.
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Singapore Airlines launches A350 from Mumbai

The Singapore Airlines group, which operates 175 weekly flights out of India, including 17 from the city, is replacing its ageing Boeing 777 fleet with the modern A350s in the Mumbai-Singapore sector from Saturday.

The airline group, which way back in 1992 had tried to enter the country with the Tatas and has since then tied up with same group and operates Vistara, refused to speculate on whether it is interested in the national carrier Air India, which has been put on block for privatisation.

"As a policy we don't respond to market speculation," was all Singapore Airlines India general manager David Lim would say when sought his views on the government's move to disinvest the debt-ridden airline and whether his group will be interested in the same.

The aviation policy allows 49 per cent ownership by foreign carriers in domestic airlines. The details of the Air India divestment is not clear.

He also announced discount fares as part of Singapore Airlines' 70th anniversary, starting from Rs 22,070, to the city-state in the new aircraft beginning tomorrow.

Singapore Airlines, on its own, operates over 55 flights a week from India, while the group, that comprises Silk Air, Scoot and Tiger Air, operates the rest connecting 15 cities in the country.

The new 253-seater wide-body plane, which is the youngest aircraft in the industry now, will have 42 business class seats, 24 premium economy and 187 economy seats, while the 777 was carrying 263 passengers.
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India presses Microsoft for Windows discount in wake of cyber attacks

India is pressing Microsoft Corp to offer a sharply discounted one-time deal to the more than 50 million Windows users in the country so that they can upgrade to the latest Windows 10 operating system in the wake of ransomware attacks.

Microsoft officials in India have "in principle agreed" to the request, Gulshan Rai, India's cyber security coordinator, told Reuters over the phone on Friday.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft in India declined to comment on the matter. Officials at the company's headquarters in the United States and regional headquarters in Asia also declined to comment.

If Microsoft agreed to such a discount, it could open up the global software giant to similar requests from around the world. Rai said the government was in talks with Microsoft management in India. It is not immediately clear whether any other countries were seeking similar deals.

Rai said India began talks with Microsoft after the WannaCry ransomware attack last month, noting that both WannaCry and this week's attack, dubbed by some cyber experts "NotPetya", exploited vulnerabilities in older iterations of the Windows OS.

"The quantum of the price cut, we expect some detail on in a couple of days," Rai said, adding the Indian government expected the company to offer the software at "throw-away prices."

"It will be a one-time upgrade offer to Windows 10 and it will be a discounted price for the entire country," said Rai, who was hand-picked by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the country's first cyber security chief.

Rai declined to be more specific, but said he was confident that it would be "less than a quarter of the current price."

Rai, who has over two decades of experience in different IT areas including cyber security, said his team began coordinating with government agencies and regulators to push for OS upgrades soon after the WannaCry attack began on May 12.
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'IT sector to layoff up to 2 lakh engineers annually for next 3 years'

Executive search firm Head Hunters India said the job cuts in IT sector will be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh annually for next three years due to under-preparedness in adapting to newer technologies.

"Contrary to media reports of 56,000 IT professionals to lose jobs this year, the actual job cuts will be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh per year in next three years, due to under- preparedness in adapting to newer technologies," Head Hunters India Founder-Chairman and MD K Lakshmikanth told PTI, analysing a report submitted by McKinsey & Company at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum on February 17.

McKinsey & Company report had said nearly half of the workforce in the IT services firms will be "irrelevant" over the next 3-4 years.

McKinsey India Managing Director Noshir Kaka had also said the bigger challenge ahead for the industry will be to retrain 50-60 per cent of the workforce as there will be a significant shift in technologies. The industry employs 3.9 million people and the majority of them have to be retrained.

"So, when we analyse these figures, it is clear that 30 to 40 per cent of the workforce cannot be retrained or re- skilled. So, assume that half of this workforce can continue to work on old skills, then balance will become redundant.

"So, the number of people who will become redundant in the next three years will be about five to six lakhs. This will workout to, on a average, between 1.75 lakh to 2 lakh per year for next three years," Lakshmikanth explained.

However, he said job cuts will not take place in major cities like Mumbai or Bengaluru, but cities like Coimbatore or a few remote places, he said.

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Federal Bank Q4 profit jumps to Rs 257 cr as net NPAs ease

Private lender Federal Bank's net profit went up manifold to Rs 256.59 crore for the quarter to March as net bad loans shrank.

Also, there were significant gains from retail, corporate and wholesale banking verticals. Net profit stood at Rs 10.26 crore in the January-March quarter of 2015-16.

The board also approved capital-raising plan of Rs 2,500 crore through various means, including qualified institutional placement (QIP), rights issue, preferential issue or follow-on public offer.

Total income during the period rose to Rs 2,598.06 crore, from Rs 2,262.94 crore a year ago, Federal Bank said in a regulatory filing.

For the all of 2016-17, net profit spiked 75 per cent to Rs 830.79 crore, from Rs 475.65 crore a year earlier.

Likewise, total income grew to Rs 9,759.20 crore, from Rs 8,556.35 crore.

The bank improved its asset quality, with net non- performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans easing to 1.28 per cent of net loans as on March 31, 2017, from 1.64 per cent at the end of March 2016.

Gross NPAs read 2.33 per cent of gross advances by the end of 2016-17, slightly down from 2.84 per cent a year ago.

In absolute terms, net NPAs stood at Rs 941.20 crore at March-end, down from Rs 950.01 crore in the year-ago period. Gross NPAs came in at Rs 1,727.05 crore as against the earlier Rs 1,667.77 crore.
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Avenue Supermarts IPO fully subscribed on first day

Latest News - India's Avenue Supermarts Ltd's initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to Rs 1,870 crore was fully subscribed on the first day of the offer, exchange data showed on Wednesday.

The supermarket operator is selling shares in a range of 295-299 rupees a share in an offer that closes on Friday.

Its IPO is the country's biggest since PNB Housing Finance Ltd raised Rs 3,000 crore in an initial share sale in October.

The supermarket operator operates 118 stores across 45 cities under the "D'Mart" brand.

Separately, the (Read More)

Security breach on IndiGo flight as passenger opens emergency exit door

Latest News - Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Friday reported an incident of security breach on-board its Mumbai-Chandigarh flight.

According to the airline, the incident occurred on its flight 6E 4134 from Mumbai to Chandigarh on Friday morning, when a passenger opened the emergency exit door of the aircraft.

"Just after the boarding got completed (while the aircraft was stationary), a passenger seated on seat number 12C suddenly opened the emergency exit door and inflated the slide," the airline said in a statement.

"In this process, a co-passenger seated on 12A received bruises. Taking a precautionary measure, the captain immediately informed the ground staff about the situation on board and instructed the team to arrange for (Read More)

Bank of India sees further improvement in bad loans in Dec quarter

Latest News - Bank of India Ltd does not expect any additional bad loans in the current quarter on a net basis, its chief said on Thursday, as India's sixth-biggest lender by assets reported its second consecutive quarter of profit after a stretch of losses.

The state-run lender booked a net profit of 1.02 billion rupees ($15 million) for the three months ending in December, compared with a net loss of 15.06 billion rupees a year earlier.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans as at the end of December eased to 13.38 per cent from 13.45 per cent as at September-end.

For the fourth quarter through March, the bank expects gross bad loan additions of (Read More)

Forget NY, Mumbai is among top four most expensive cities in the world

Latest News - For all the talk of how expensive it is to buy a house in London or New York, the most expensive major cities in the world are all in Asia.

In Hong Kong, Mumbai, Beijing and Shanghai, it now takes more than 30 years for a household with the local median income to buy a 90 square meter (970 square foot) apartment. That's according to Oxford Economics examination of price-to-income ratios across the world.

And the return from rents in Mumbai, Shanghai, Beijing, and also Delhi are "remarkably low," which could be an indicator that the valuations in those cities are "stretched." 

In all four cities, gross rental yield was lower than (Read More)