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September 19, 2017 Business Line Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Cadila) on Tuesday informed that the company has entered into an exclusive agreement with Russian company Pharm Aid Ltd for the technology knowhow on varicella vaccine production in the Russian Federation. Through this agreement, Zydus gains access to the public and private market segments in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.  Cadila Healthcare stock was trading 0.18 per cent down at Rs 485.65 on the BSE. "We welcome this opportunity to participate in and partner biotech opportunities in the Russian Federation market. As an innovation-driven global healthcare player, our aim has always been to bridge unmet healthcare needs by improving accessibility to preventives and novel therapies," said Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Zydus Cadila. The exclusive agreement was signed at the 'Biotechmed' conference in Gelendzhik, Russia. Pharm Aid Ltd has been set u...

September 19, 2017 The Wire Staff The days of intelligence and investigating agencies denying information sought under the Right to Information Act 2005 by claiming exemption under Section 24(1) of the Act – even if the matter pertains to allegations of corruption or human rights abuse and are not covered by the exemption clause – appear to be coming to an end. In two distinct cases over the past month, the Delhi high court has directed premier agencies like the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to reveal information not covered by the exemption clause. First IB, now CBI told to reveal information on corruption cases A bench of the Delhi high court has directed the CBI to consider the plea of an RTI activist, Subhash Chandra Agarwal, about corruption within the agency. This direction has come less than a month after another bench of the Delhi high court upheld a decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC) and directed the IB to reve...

September 20, 2017 Sarral Sharma On 17 September, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won the National Assembly -120 (NA-120) Lahore (III) by-election. The assembly seat was vacated after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's disqualification in the Pakistan Supreme Court's Panama Papers case ruling on 28 July. Although various political parties were in the fray, the main contest remained between Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Sharif's PML-N. PML-N retains seat The PML-N candidate Begum Kulsoom, the wife of Sharif, secured 61,745 votes while PTI's Yasmin Rashid bagged the second position with 47,099 votes. Contrary to the expectations, the total voter turnout remained significantly low with around 33 percent amid reports of electoral complaints at various polling booths. Though the PTI lost by 13,268 votes, the party's overall performance in the constituency improved from the previous elections. Whereas, the PML-N's margin of vic...

September 20, 2017 FT staff The arrest of Iqbal Kaskar, brother of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, on Tuesday seems to have uncovered an alleged underworld-politician nexus in the Thane region of Maharashtra. Detained by the crime branch of the Thane Police in connection with an investigation into an extortion case, Kaskar is believed to have extorted close to Rs 100 crore from developers and jewellers in the Thane region over the last three years, The Times of India quoted a police source as saying. Kaskar was taken into custody from his house in Nagpada area in central Mumbai by a team led by encounter specialist and the anti-extortion cell's senior police inspector Pradeep Sharma, police said. According to the report, the names of several local politicians and corporators have also cropped up in the course of the police investigation. A line of enquiry in this direction will also be pursued, the police said on Tuesday. Thane police commissioner Parambir Singh said that a fe...

September 20, 2017 Chethan Kumar A joint study by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) of the US, which had commenced after satellite images showed the presence of an aerosol layer over the Asia region, has confirmed the same and has also found the presence of nitrate, which is a new finding. Aerosol, the sub-micron size particles suspended in air are produced from a variety of man-made and natural processes such as vehicle exhaust, waste-burning, wind blown dust, volcanic eruptions et al, are mostly restricted to the first few kilometers from the surface of Earth's atmosphere—Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UTLS). According to Isro, measurements by the joint team has "confirmed the presence of aerosol layer seen in satellite measurements over the Asian region and it also shows a sharp increase of aerosol concentration near 16.5-18.5 km (from Earth's surface)." This layer, Isro says, h...

September 20, 2017 Economic Times Just four days before Germans head to the polls, the prospect of job cuts at one of the country’s most iconic companies has galvanized political opposition. Thyssenkrupp AG, which developed stainless steel a century ago and whose metal was used in Manhattan’s Chrysler and Empire State buildings, wants to merge its European business with that of Tata Steel Ltd. to instead focus on manufacturing products such as elevators and ships. The headquarters of the new venture will shift to the Netherlands, and the move could see 4,000 steel jobs cut from a combined workforce of 48,000. “Steel is a product with a bright future, and we can’t understand why that shouldn’t be part of the core company anymore,” Knut Giesler, regional director of the IG Metall labor union in North-Rhine Westphalia, where Thyssenkrupp employs about 22,000 steelworkers, said in a phone interview. “So far we have been given no concrete information and that’s why the workers are s...

Indian Express, September 20, 2017 Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has become eighth company to be conferred with the ‘Maharatna’ status by the government, according to the company statement. It will enhance BPCL’s financial autonomy and additional authorities with respect to manpower restructuring, it added. The company recorded an all-time high net profit of Rs 8,039.30 crore in 2016-17, and its market capitalisation crossed Rs 1 lakh crore during the year. Link :  http://indianexpress.com/article/business/bpcl-gets-maharatna-status-4851833/

Economic Times, September 20, 2017, Kaavya Chandrasekaran. A reverse auction of 500 MW of solar projects held by the Gujarat government on Tuesday saw the lowest winning bid at Rs 2.65 per kwH. This was the first solar auction held after the two conducted by Solar Corporation of India in May, when one of the winning bidders had promised to sell power at a record low of Rs 2.44 per kwH.  The auctions in May were held for projects at the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district, where solar radiation is the highest in the country. It was expected that winning bids at the latest auction conducted by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd, as the state’s nodal power company is called, would be a shade higher.  This is because Gujarat has less intense solar radiation than Rajasthan, and the developers will not be provided land in solar parks — they will have to acquire land on their own. Further, in the four months since the last auction, the cost of solar modules ...

Financial Express, September 20, 2017 Private equity firm Madison India Capital today said it has raised $30 million (Rs 1,480 crore) from its fourth fund. The firm has also inducted Shailesh Mehta as Operating Partner. Mehta serves on several boards of companies including Safari Industries and Manappuram Finance, Madison said. Mehta was formerly the CEO of Providian, one of the top ten credit card issuers at its peak in the United States. He had also served on the boards of PayPal and Mastercard. “Madison India Capital has closed on approximately $230 million for its fourth fund – Madison India Opportunities IV,” the private equity firm said. Madison has been an active investor in India and has also made investments in Korea as well as Singapore. The fund is backed by global institutional investors including the US financial institutions, banks and pension funds. Link :  http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/madison-india-capital-raises-rs-1480-crore/862472/ ...

Financial Express, September 20, 2017 Chinese logistics firm Best Inc priced its U.S. initial public offering at the bottom of expectations, raising $450 million after it revised terms of the deal to cope with tepid investor demand. Up to $932 million had originally been expected for the listing, underscoring how some fast-growing companies may have to temper their expected valuations to lure investors burned by recent underperforming IPOs. The offering was the biggest by a Chinese firm in the United States since rival express delivery firm ZTO Express Inc raised $1.4 billion in October. ZTO’s stock has traded below its IPO price since debuting and is down 22 percent from the listing price. Best, which is backed by Alibaba Group, priced 45 million American depository shares (ADS) at $10 each, the bottom of a $10 to $11 indicative range, Thomson Reuters publication IFR said on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal. Best declined to comment on the IPO pricing when c...