1) Mydala partners Viacom 18 for `Star Trek Beyond`.

• Mydala.com, India’s leading local services marketing platform, has joined forces with Viacom 18 as the media partner for `Star Trek Beyond`, the third installment of the iconic Star Trek Reboot Series that released in India.
• Mydala is giving its users a sci-fi thrill with a StarTrekBeyond contest where its 400 million consumers across 209 cities in India can win movie tickets as well as official merchandise.
• Mydala is also the largest mobile commerce platform in the country doing over 6.6 million transactions per month with 85% of these from mobile platforms.

• Verizon Communications Inc would buy Yahoo Inc`s core internet properties for $4.83 billion in cash.
• Verizon will combine Yahoo`s search, email and messenger assets as well as advertising technology tools with its AOL unit.
• Verizon has been looking to mobile video and advertising for new sources of revenue outside the oversaturated wireless market.
• Yahoo, founded in 1994, was a dominant player in the early days of the internet, but has long lost its leadership position in internet search and advertising to Google, Facebook and others.

• Travel service provider Thomas Cook Ltd. is an integrated travel and travel related financial services company has entered into a partnership with Matrimony Bazaar to tap the ‘romantic leisure travel’ segment which is seeing an ``exponential`` growth.
• The company however did not disclose any financial details about the partnership.

• VSoft Technologies, a banking technology solutions firm, has developed an app for smoother transfer of money.
• Unlike in mobile wallets, the app doesn’t require people to store money in it. The app helps people to transfer and receive money instantaneously.
• With `Jeb`, money remains in the respective accounts and thus continues to earn money unlike in mobile wallets where you are supposed to store money for payments

• Vodafone M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer platform, has tied up with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to enable consumers pay their electricity bills instantly.
• Vodafone M-Pesa offers customers a cashless, secure platform for electricity bill payments with the largest network of agents to enable digitisation of money for cash holding population.
• This facility is aimed at driving financial inclusion further along with providing the state electricity utility subscribers in Punjab the benefit and comfort of making payments instantly.
• New users of M-Pesa can earn 5 per cent cashback on the payment made through the App.

• Flipkart Ltd has acquired Jabong through its unit Myntra in a cut-price deal that values the online fashion store at $70 million.
• Global Fashion Group (GFG) has been looking for a buyer for Jabong for more than a year now. GFG held discussions with several firms, including Snapdeal, Future Group, Aditya Birla Group and Amazon.
• Jabong offers more than 1,500 international high-street brands, sports labels, Indian ethnic and designer labels and over 150,000 styles from more than 1,000 sellers.

• Amazon Prime, the online retailer’s loyalty membership programme, is now available in over 100 Indian cities with unlimited free one- and two-day delivery.
• With the launch of Prime, Amazon will take on Flipkart First, a paid annual subscription service for registered Flipkart users.
• Prime is being offered at an introductory annual subscription fee of ?499, at a discount of Rs. 500 over the list price of Rs. 999, which is Rs. 1 lower than Flipkart First’s Rs. 500.

• Chinese electronics firm LeEco is buying American TV manufacturer Vizio for $2 billion.
• VIZIO hardware and software businesses will be owned and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of LeEco.
• The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2016.

• Online classifieds company Quikr India Pvt. Ltd has acquired Bengaluru-based online recruitment platform Hiree (Abhiman Technologies Pvt. Ltd).
• Deal is an attempt to bolster its job listings business.
• Hiree will merge with Quikr and the Hiree team, including founders Manjunath Talwar and Abhijit Khasnis, will be absorbed into Quikr.

10) Cabinet increases the limit for foreign investment in Stock Exchanges from 5% to 15%.

• Union Cabinet has given its approval for raising foreign shareholding limit from 5% to 15% in Indian Stock Exchanges for a stock exchange, a depository, a banking company, an insurance company, a commodity derivative exchange.
• Cabinet has also approved the proposal to allow foreign portfolio investors to acquire shares through initial allotment, besides secondary market, in the stock exchanges.
• The move will help in enhancing global competitiveness of Indian stock exchanges by accelerating/facilitating the adoption of latest technology and global best practices which will lead to overall growth and development of the Indian Capital Market.

• India and the US underscored their military partnership with the signing of a deal worth over $1 billion for the purchase of four additional Poseidon-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.
• The contract is a follow-up order to the eight P-81 planes already bought by India in a direct deal with Boeing’s Indian subsidiary worth $2.1 billion in 2009.
• The P-8I is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad area, maritime and littoral operations.

• Pharmaceuticals sector received FDI of Rs. 4,975 crore in 2015-16, down from Rs. 9,052 crore in 2014-15.
• India’s FDI policy provides for 100% FDI under automatic route in greenfield pharma and upto 100% under government route in brownfield pharma.

• India’s GDP growth could rise to 7.9 per cent because of good monsoon so far, with agriculture expected to grow by 4 per cent and consumer price inflation likely to be restricted to 5 per cent in 2016-2017, rating agency Crisil.
• Crisil has developed a Deficient Rainfall Impact Parameter (DRIP) index, which measures the impact of rainfall levels on each crop across geographic regions.
• The Crisil analysis shows that rainfall was deficient in the middle of June in all regions except for the southern peninsula.

• Life Insurance Corporation of India and Axis Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding to distribute LIC’s multiple life insurance products to their customers.
• In the preliminary phase, the private sector bank will distribute LIC’s life insurance products across its branches in West Bengal, Bengaluru, and Haryana.
• The bank will also provide post sales services such as premium collection and renewal of policies.

• A10 Networks is accelerating its push into the cloud-based applications services market with the recent acquisition of Appcito, which sold application delivery services via the cloud.
• The company establishes a cloud business unit that will complement the application delivery controller and security services appliances.
• Appcito, which A10 bought in June but is only talking about now, has become the larger company`s cloud unit.

• India approved $318 million loan for Sri Lanka Railways to upgrade the country’s rail communications system and rolling stock.
• Carrying an interest rate of 1.75 per cent, the line of credit will have a repayment period of 20 years.
• The financial grand from India will help to buy six power sets with AC carriages, 10 engines and 160 carriages, 30 wagons with oil tanks and 20 container wagons.
• The important condition attached to it is that 75 per cent of the goods and services should be sourced from India.

17) Sebi plans to ease listing norms for start-ups.

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) intends to further relax norms for listing by start-ups after poor response to rules announced earlier.
• Proposed to reduce the minimum trading lot from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh.
• Even with the new rules, retail investors continue to be barred from companies listing on the institutional trading platform (ITP) and can only access it through devices such as mutual funds.
• According to SEBI, there over 3,000 companies in India that can benefit from the new listing platform.
• The total allocation to institutional investors has been brought down to 50 per cent of the issue (from the earlier 75 per cent) while the allocation to non-institutional investors has been increased from 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
• SEBI proposes to expand the definition of institutional investor to include a family trust, an NBFC, a category III foreign portfolio investor and pooled investment funds of a minimum size of $150 million.
• The ceiling on discretionary allotment to an individual investor has been raised from 10 per cent to 25 per cent of the issue size.
• SEBI is also considering doing away with the rule that no single shareholder can own more than 25 per cent of the company’s post-issue capital.

• Central Board of Direct Taxes extends the due date for filing returns of Income for Assessment Year 2016- 2017 from 31st July, 2016 to 5th August, 2016.
• In case of taxpayers throughout India who are liable to file their Income-tax by 31st July, 2016.
• Extension is given in order to avoid any inconvenience to the taxpayers while making payment of taxes due to reports of Bank strike.

• Food Corporation of India (FCI) has decided to develop an online procurement system for registration of farmers and procurement of foodgrains.
• System will send alerts through short message service (SMS) to the registered farmers on date of procurement, location of procurement center, weight of foodgrains procured and details of online payment made to the farmer for his procured foodgrains.
• The system will enable FCI to track payment to farmers and bring transparency in grain procurement.
• States like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh have already started e-procurement of food grains.

• E-commerce marketplace eBay India shoppers can access over 100 million live product listings on eBay.in and its global easy buy platform geb.ebay.in across electronics, lifestyle, media and other categories.
• Smartphones are one of the most shopped products with an intensive product range and occupy 73% of the total share in the cell phones and accessories category.
• Women`s clothing is another emerging category in the clothing and accessories segment.

• Oracle announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NetSuite, the very first cloud company. The transaction is valued at $9.3 billion.
• The deal will allow Oracle to serve a broader range of customers, including smaller businesses, and expand to more industries and more countries.
• NetSuite began offering cloud-based products way back in 1998, and Oracle called it the "very first" cloud company.
• NetSuite focuses on several industries, including healthcare, wholesale distributing, manufacturing, nonprofits, and media and publishing.

• The aim of Sovereign Gold Bond is to reduce demand, including through imports, for physical gold, and in process reduce India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD).
• The GOI, in consultation with RBI, launched the 4th Tranche of Sovereign Gold Bond.
• The amount realized through the 4th tranche, at around Rs. 919 Crores, is the highest achieved as yet.
• With issue price fixed at Rs. 3,119 per gram, the amount was mobilized through over 1.95 lakh applications representing around 2.95 tonnes of gold. 
• The minimum subscription limit was reduced from 2 gm to 1 gm.
• Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) scheme was launched as an alternative to physical gold in Nov 2015.

• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated the first phase of its new enterprise portal to facilitate accurate and timely dissemination of information to the watchdog’s internal and external stakeholders.
• The new portal, which would replace the regulator’s existing portal in a phased manner.
• New portal is being developed by IT major Tech Mahindra.
• The first phase of the project provides the employees of the SEBI and some of its market intermediaries with an interactive portal.
• The portal provides an e-Platform to registered and prospective intermediaries to communicate in secure, simplified, transparent and paperless way with SEBI.

1) Transactions above 3 Lakhs are to be Banned to curb Black Money.

• Special Investigation Team (SIT) on blackmoney has recommended ban on cash transactions of above Rs. 3 lakh and restricting cash holding with individuals to not more than Rs. 15 lakh to curb illegal wealth in the economy.
• SIT headed by Justice M.B. Shah (retd), submitted its fifth report to the Supreme Court on methods to curb black money in the economy.
• The panel felt that large amount of unaccounted wealth is stored and used in form of cash.

• Naspers backed Travel Boutique Online has entered into a strategic partnership with Fxkart.com, an online aggregator/ marketplace of foreign exchange dealers.
• The partnership allows Travel Boutique Online’s 19,000 travel agents to make foreign exchange bookings for their customers seamlessly.
• Travel Boutique Online (TBO), a B2B travel portal, allows travel agents make bookings for consumers by offering them correct pricing and inventory.
• Fxkart.com is one of the most promising start-ups in the fin-tech sector.

• Yatra Online has agreed to reverse-merge with Terrapin 3 Acquisition Corp., a transaction which will see it trade on Nasdaq as YTRA.
• Under the terms of the agreement, the current shareholders of Yatra will own at least 35% of the combined company and the first $100 million from Terrapin will be used to fund the combined company and pay transaction expenses.
• Yatra be listed on the U.S. stock exchange Nasdaq under the symbol `YTRA`.
• TRTL, a shell company, is focused on effecting a merger, acquisition, or similar business combination. The combined company will continue to be led by Yatra`s management team under the leadership of chief executive and co-founder Dhruv Shringi.

• BSE is planning to trade currency, metals and energy at its upcoming international commodity exchange at the International Finance Tec-City (Gift City) in Gandhinagar.
• BSE board has given its approval and it will apply to the regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to set up a commodity derivative segment.
• The new exchange will also help global companies raise finance from other overseas investors.

• Dabur India Ltd signed an MoU with Defense Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, which is a part of DRDO, to promote sustainable cultivation of high-altitude medicinal plants in Ladakh, amongst the most difficult terrain in the world.
• Both the organisations will educate farmers in Leh-Ladakh about high altitude medicinal plant species and also help enhance the livelihood of villagers in the cold desert area of Leh-Ladakh by involving them in cultivation of medicinal plants.
• Focus on development of a self-sustainable system by creation of a value chain for the targeted endangered species and sustainable management of bio-resources by implying scientific agronomy practices and thereby ensuring biodiversity conservation.

• Commerce ministry Nirmala Sitharaman launched an e-marketplace for online purchase of goods and services by various central government ministries and departments.
• The move is aimed at bringing in more transparency and streamlining the government procurement of goods and services.
• Under this initiative various brands and specifications are available at the portal with cost.
• Portal has been developed by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) which works under the Commerce Ministry and carries out the procurement.

7) SoftBank to Buy ARM Holdings for $32 billion.

• Japanese internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. caught the global chip industry by surprise with a $32 billion deal to acquire ARM Holdings PLC, the U.K.-based designer of the microprocessors that power more than 95% of the world’s smartphones.
• The Japanese telecoms group’s takeover of Cambridge-based Arm, which was founded 25 years ago and employs 4,000 people, will be the largest acquisition of a European technology business.
• ARM will continue designing processors for various segments of the computing industry after the acquisition, but investments will go up and product development will be faster.
• The deal is the first major cross border transaction in post- Brexit Britan.

• Ashok Leyland will be setting up a bus assembly plant in Kenya with an investment of Rs. 70 crore as part of its global expansion plans.
• The new plant in Kenya will serve at least three neighbouring countries, besides catering to local demand.
• The plant has an annual capacity of 2,000 vehicles and caters to demand of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and African markets from the plant.

• Brexit causes `substantial` increase in economic, political, institutional uncertainty.
• The global economy is projected to expand 3.1 per cent for 2016 and 3.4 per cent in 2017, according to the IMF.
• Forecasts represent a 0.1 percentage point reduction for both years relative to the IMF.
• The IMF urged advanced nations to avoid relying too heavily on monetary policy to spur their economies and to exploit synergies among a range of policy tools.

• Energy Efficiency Services Ltd India’s largest energy saving services company, intends to raise $100 million through a green bonds issue in London.
• Green bonds are debt instruments issued with the promise that the funds will be used for environment-friendly purposes, such as renewable energy or energy efficiency enhancing projects.

• Three US states have taken legal action against Volkswagen in the wake of the carmaker`s emissions scandal.
• New York, Massachusetts and Maryland have filed lawsuits alleging that former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterport and other top executives were involved in a campaign of ``systematic cheating and deception`` to mislead US regulators over the emissions of its diesel cars.
• The lawsuits also alleged that members of Volkswagen’s engineering department deleted incriminating data in August 2015.

12) British govt fund CDC to invest Rs. 1,000 crore in India Infoline Finance.

• CDC Group plc, the UK-owned development finance institution, will make an investment of about Rs. 1,000 crore in India Infoline Finance a non-bank finance company.
• The proposed investment by CDC is through compulsorily convertible preference shares, resulting in about 15 per cent equity stake on a fully diluted basis.
• CDC’s investment will help IIFL Group expand the financing business and address the capital needs of under-served segments through diversified offerings.
• IIFL Finance, a subsidiary of IIFL Holdings, is a non-banking financial company engaged in the business of home and property loans, gold loans, commercial vehicle finance, healthcare finance, loan against securities and SME business loans.

• The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has called for restarting of negotiations for India`s Free Trade Agreements with the UK and the European Union.
• India-EU FTA has been on the anvil for 10 years.

• Food safety regulator FSSAI issued draft guidelines for standards of instant noodles and has proposed that egg powder may be added.
• Also mentioned in the notification is that ``starches, dried fruits and vegetables, nuts, edible protein and egg powder may be added.
• Issued draft guidelines for quality standards of fortified atta, maida, durum wheat maida, quinoa, fortified rice, tapioca sago and pearl millet flour.
• Besides instant noodles, the food regulator also issued draft guidelines for quality standards of fortified atta, fortified maida, durum wheat maida, quinoa, fortified rice, instant noodles, tapioca sago or palm sago and pearl millet flour.

• Ford Motor Company is setting up a Research and Development (R&D) centre in Tamil Nadu.
• The first such facility to be located outside of the US.
• Ford has indicated that it would be investing Rs. 1,300 crore in its new global technology and R&D campus, which will be set up and running by the first quarter of 2019.
•  The company also plans to increase the total headcount in the engineering operations by 2,000 taking the total staff strength in this business to about 12,000. The new facility is coming up on a 28-acre plot at Sholinganallur.

• For fast tracking the allotment of PAN and TAN to company applicants, Digital Signature Certificate(DSC) based application procedure has been introduced on the portals of PAN service providers M/s NSDL eGov and M/s UTIITSL. 
• Under the new process PAN and TAN will be allotted within one day after completion of valid on-line application.
• Similarly, a new Aadhaar e-Signature based application process for Individual PAN applicants has been made available on the portals of PAN service providers M/s NSDL eGov.
• Introduction of Aadhaar based e-Signature through M/s NSDL eGov in PAN application not only ensures paperless hassle free PAN application process but also seeding of Aadhaar in PAN which will curb the problem of duplicate PAN to a great extent.

• To check evasion, the Income Tax Department has decided to act on certain high-value non-PAN transactions that were reported to it under the annual information returns.
• Letters will be issued to the parties of 14 lakh non-PAN transactions forming part of identified 7 lakh high risk clusters that are being scrutinized by the department closely.
• Cash deposits of Rs. 10 lakh or more in a savings bank account, sale/purchase of immovable property valued at Rs. 30 lakh or more, many of these transactions do not have PAN linked to them.

• French cosmetics firm L`Oreal has agreed to acquire US-based IT Cosmetics for $1.2 billion.
• The all-cash deal will reportedly add over 300 skin-care and makeup products to L`Oreal`s lineup.
• IT will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Jersey City, New Jersey.

• Online marketplace Snapdeal announced its partnership with e-ticketing platform BookMyShow and extended its service offerings.
• With this partnership, customers can now book tickets for movies on Snapdeal.
• BookMyShow`s e-ticket booking service can be accessed through Snapdeal`s app as well.

• HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company and Shamrao Vithal Co-operative (SVC) Bank announced their bancassurance agency partnership to provide a range of non-life insurance offerings to the customers of the bank.
• The partnership combines HDFC ERGO’s experience in introducing innovative non-life insurance products with SVC Bank’s customer base across various States.
• Bancassurance is an arrangement in which a bank and an insurance company form a partnership so that the insurance company can sell its life assurance and other insurance products and services by banking institutions.

1) Avast acquires antivirus maker AVG for $1.3 billion.

• Security giant Avast Antivirus announced having acquired Czech-based antivirus software maker AVG in an all-cash deal worth around $1.3 billion.
• The transaction has been unanimously approved by Avast`s Management and Supervisory Board.
• Reports suggest that it isn’t yet clear if Avast will fold AVG’s services into its own brand or continue to sell them under the existing banner.
• The company started operations in 2010 and a year later it raised funds from Bessemer Ventures. Later, it attracted funding from Tata Capital Growth Fund as well.

• Drug firm Zydus Cadila has inked a generic manufacturing pact with the Medicines Patent Pool for manufacturing global pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb`s daclatasvir tablets used in the treatment of Hepatitis C.
• The company "has signed a non-exclusive, royalty free agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for the generic production of Bristol-Myers Squibb`s daclatasvir, a novel direct-acting antiviral that is proven to help cure multiple genotypes of the Hepatitis C Virus.
• The agreement sub-licences Zydus to produce and sell daclatasvir in 112 low and middle income countries.
• The MPP licence allows generic manufacturers to develop fixed-dose combinations that offer the potential to treat all of the six major genotypes of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV).

• Seed investment and innovation platform Venture Catalysts (VCats) has invested $250,000 (Rs. 1.7 crore) in Don’t Scratch Your Head (DSYH), a SaaS-based logistics reconciliation platform for e-commerce channels.
• The seed investment was led by VCats Surat Managing Partner Gaurav Singhvi and Mumbai-based Zaffiro Ventures.
• DSYH, with its SaaS-based platform, has been developing a technology to identify and address the real-time logistics reconciliation challenges of Indian e-commerce sellers.

• The IMF has announced a $5.34 billion program for Iraq to help strengthen the country`s finances, hit by the crash in oil prices and the fight against the Islamic State group.
• The International Monetary Fund the three-year loan will see $634 million immediately allocated to Baghdad, which needs the money to stabilize its balance of payments and ensure it can keep up with its debt obligations.
• It will also focus on maintaining the peg of the Iraqi currency to the US dollar, while slowly removing exchange restrictions.
• The program will involve fiscal consolidation moves aimed at cutting inefficient capital expenditure and at the same time protecting social spending.

• The government has kick started the process to offload its stake in 51 companies which include marquee firms such as Reliance Industries ICICI Bank and Tata Motors currently held through Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust Of India or SUUTI.
• The government intends to pare down its stake in these firms over a period of three years and has invited applications from merchant bankers and selling brokers for assisting and advising on the sale process.
• SUUTI, which was created to take over part of the assets and liabilities of the now-defunct Unit Trust of India, holds an 11.27% stake in ITC, 8.18% in L&T and 11.66% of Axis Bank.

9) Airtel-Aircel 4G deal cleared.

• Telecom Ministry is learnt to have cleared the Rs. 3,500 crore 4G spectrum trading deal between service providers Bharti Airtel and Aircel.
• The spectrum trading deal between Bharti Airtel and Aircel was cleared by the telecom minister.
• Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was in-charge of the Telecom Ministry as well.

1. Airtel has entered into an agreement with Aircel to acquire rights to use 4G spectrum of Aircel in eight telecom circles for Rs. 3,500 crore.
2. These circles are Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam, and the North-East, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

• The IMF cut its growth forecast for the euro zone, citing the fallout from Britain`s shock vote to leave the European Union.
• The IMF cut the growth forecast for 2017 to 1.4 per cent, from the earlier 1.6 per cent, "mainly due to the negative impact of the UK referendum outcome".

• Nirma, a small, regional cement player headquartered in Ahmadabad trumped the bigger boys of India Inc Ajay Primal and Sajjan Jindal led JSW Cement to scoop up one of the most prized cement portfolio in the country the 11 million tonnes per annum.
• LafargeHolcim has entered into a letter agreement with Nirma Limited subject to approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the divestment of its interest in Lafar India for an enterprise value of approximately $1.4 billion. Lafarge India operates three cement plants and two grinding stations with a total capacity of around 11 million tonnes per annum.
• The company also markets aggregates and is one of India`s leading ready-mix concrete manufacturers. The proceeds from the divestment will be used to reduce debt further.
• This agreement is an important step in our CHF 3.5 billion divestment program. With this deal, two thirds of the program has been secured and the remainder of the program is well on track. We are confident that we will meet our target by the end of this year.

• Online fashion retailer Myntra has acqui-hired Cubeit, a Bengaluru-based tech start-up focused on content aggregation on mobile.
• The company focuses on building mobile applications which allow users to aggregate content from anywhere, organize, view and share the same from a given location. It developed an interactive mobile application that provided the user access to multiple apps depending on the need, through a smart interface and allowing the same to be shared with individuals or groups.
• As part of the acquisition, the team at Cubeit has been inducted into Myntra to expand Myntra’s technology team.

• European aviation major Airbus Helicopters has awarded a contract to Mahindra Aerostructures to supply airframe parts for its AS565 MBe Panther copter.
• The contract positions Mahindra Aerostructures as the first Indian company to receive a direct manufacturing contract from Airbus Helicopters as a Tier 1 supplier.
• Mahindra Aerostructures will gradually emerge as the global single source supplier to Airbus Helicopters for these parts.
• The parts will be produced at Mahindra`s facility in Bengaluru. They will be shipped directly to the Airbus Helicopter production line in Marignane, France, where they will be integrated with the rest of the airframe assembly and will form a critical part of the Panthers sold worldwide.

• British explorer Cairn Energy has sought $5.6 billion in compensation from the Indian government for raising a retrospective tax demand of Rs. 29,047 crore on 10-year old internal reorganization of its India unit.
• In a 160-page `Statement of Claim` filed with an international arbitration panel on June 28, the Edinburgh-based company sought withdrawal of the tax demand and declaring that India has "failed to uphold its obligations" under the UK-India Investment Treaty by not giving its investments in the country "fair and equitable treatment".
• It sought $1.05 billion in compensation for the loss of value its 9.8%-shareholding in its erstwhile subsidiary Cairn India suffered following Income Tax (I-T) Department raising the tax demand and attaching the shares.

15) IDFC acquires Micro Finance Institution Grama Vidiyal to extend its Rural Banking Services.

• Private sector lender IDFC Bank bought South India-based lender Grama Vidiyal Microfinance for an undisclosed amount.
• This is a first-of-its-kind transaction, where a bank has taken over a microfinance institution (MFI) and made it a subsidiary.
• Grama Vidiyal is the fifth-largest MFI in India and has a customer base of 1.2 million, operating from 319 locations across 65 districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala Karnataka, Puducherry, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. The assets under management were Rs. 1,502 crore, with a quarterly profit of Rs. 15 crore.

• Axis Bank, India`s third largest private sector bank and Vistara, India`s fastest growing full service carrier have launched the contactless Axis Bank Vistara Credit Card on the VISA network platform.
• The co-branded card will cater to the needs of corporate and leisure travelers. Travel is a key spend category for credit cards and the Axis Bank Vistara range of cards will help us further strengthen our travel product suite, as it addresses both the business and leisure traveler segments.
• The card comes in three variants - Infinite, Signature and Basic with embedded benefits of the carrier`s Club Vistara frequent flyer programme. The benefits from this co-branded travel credit card will be tiered depending on travel preferences of customers and their travel frequency. The card also offers enhanced insurance coverage, including air accident cover up to Rs 2.5 crore and lost card liability up to the credit limit.

• The Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to issue fourth tranche of Sovereign Gold Bonds.
• Applications for the bond will be accepted from July 18 - 22, and bonds will be issued on August 5, 2016.
• The Bonds will be sold through banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), designated post offices and recognized stock exchanges viz., National Stock Exchange of India Limited and Bombay Stock Exchange.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the disinvestment of 15 per cent paid-up equity in NBCC India Ltd out of Government’s 90 per cent shareholding.
• NBCC India is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Urban Development and has interests in construction, engineering and project management consultancy services.
• The divestment, which is expected to raise Rs. 1,706 crore, will be through the Offer For Sale (OFS) route.
• Cabinet Committee has also decided to allot additional shares to the eligible and willing NBCC employees at a discount of 5 per cent to the issue/ discovered (lowest cut off) price of OFS.

• The Income Tax department has widened the ATM-based validation system for filing e-ITRs by taxpayers with the inclusion of Axis Bank after SBI, as part of its measure to enhance the paperless regime of filing the annual I-T returns.
• Electronic Verification Code (EVC) can also be generated by pre-validating Automated Teller Machine (ATM) provided by Axis Bank.
• These measures help to validate the e-ITR so that the taxpayer does not take the trouble of sending the paper-based ITR-V by post for final resolution and processing.

• India’s fifth biggest airline by market share, has signed an initial agreement with Airbus for 72 A320 Neo aircraft in a deal worth about $7.7 billion at current list prices at the Farnborough International Airshow.
• The deal will help continue company’s growth and built on its existing order for 72 of the same aircraft which it made in 2011.
• The new A320neo has latest generation engines and large Sharklet wing-tip devices, which deliver for 15 percent saving of the fuel from day one and 20 per cent by 2020.

• Mastercard unveiled a new consumer-facing logo, the first redesign in 20 years.
• The brand mark`s visibility, recognition, and overall brand image are improved, with new features including larger lettering highlighted with a drop shadow and fewer interlocking bars within the red and yellow circles.

• The government has received deposits of 3.1 tonnes of gold under the Gold Monetisation Scheme since its launch in November 2015.
• Banks are authorised to collect gold for up to 15 years to auction it off or lend to jewellers, while paying depositors an interest of 2.5% per annum.
• Depositors will earn up to 2.50 per cent interest per annum, a rate lower than savings bank deposits.
• All gold deposits under the scheme have to be made at (Collection and Purity Testing Centres) CPTCs.

• The regulator’s consultation paper seeks suggestions on issues including growth of public Wi-Fi networks, regulatory and licensing measures required for expansion of Wi-Fi across cities and rural areas.
• The paper seeks views on regulatory hurdles, licensing restrictions, business models, and interoperability between WiFi networks, among others.
• The paper has proposed several ways for the deployment of Wi-Fi hot spots, including free, partly free and advertisement-based models.

• Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) and US-based Bell Helicopter signed a pact to jointly manufacture helicopters under the `Make in India` initiative.
• The pact includes developing potential production and assembly units, training and maintenance, repair and overhaul needs, research and development, and technology sharing.
• They will develop both commercial and government (including military) rotary wing markets in India.

• The government extended the deadline for payment of tax and penalty under the black money disclosure scheme and allowed declarants to pay the amount in three installments by September 30,2017.
• The first instalment of 25% of the total tax, surcharge and penalty due will have to be paid by November 30, 2016, followed by a second tranche of an equivalent amount by March 31, 2017.
• The remaining amountwill have to be paid by September 30, 2017.
• Earlier the tax, surcharge and penalty under the black money disclosure window were required to be paid by November 30,2016.

• The World Bank would lend India more than $1 billion for its huge solar energy programme.
• Modi is banking on India`s 300 days a year of sunshine to generate power and help fight climate change rather than committing to emission cuts like China.
• The World Bank loan is the global lender`s biggest solar aid for any country and comes as India has set a goal of raising its solar capacity nearly 30 times to 100 gigawatts by 2020 and is attracting mega investment proposals from top companies and institutions.
• India is the largest client of the World Bank, which lent it around $4.8 billion between 2015 and 2016.

• Corporates earning income abroad will be able to claim credit for taxes, surcharges and cesses paid abroad with the tax department notifying Foreign Tax Credit rules. The rules, which come into effect from April 1, 2017, allow taxpayers to claim credit of foreign tax under dispute, once it is finally settled. FTC, however, will not be allowed in case of interest, fee or penalty.
• In a separate notification, the CBDT also notified rules for calculating ‘fair market value’ of assets located in India in case of indirect transfer by multinational companies for the purpose of tax levy.
• As per the rule, the fair market value (FMV) of listed companies will be computed on the basis of a formula taking into account its market capitalization, book value of liabilities and total number of shares. In case of an unlisted firm, the FMV would be determined by a merchant banker or accountant as per internationally accepted methodology.

• Investments into India`s capital markets through participatory notes (P-Notes) rose to Rs. 2.15 lakh crore at the end of May, after hitting a 20 month low in the preceding month.
• P-Notes are typically instruments issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who wish to invest in Indian markets without registering themselves directly in India to save on time. But they still need to go through a proper due diligence process.
• The total value of P-Notes investment in Indian markets - equity, debt and derivatives - increased to Rs. 2,15,338 crore at the end of May, from Rs. 2,12,132 crore in March-end.
• The figure in March had touched the lowest level since August 2014 when the cumulative value of such investments stood at Rs. 2.11 lakh crore.

• The rapidly growing pharmaceutical market in India is expected to be worth USD 55 billion by 2020, becoming the sixth largest market globally in absolute size.
• The Indian pharmaceuticals market is growing rapidly, from USD 6 billion in 2005 to USD 55 billion by 2020.
• Branded generics dominate the pharmaceuticals market, constituting nearly 70 to 80 per cent of the market. India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally with the Indian generics accounting for 20 per cent of global exports in terms of volume.
• India`s cost of production is significantly lower than that of the US and almost half of that of Europe and that give a competitive edge to India over others.

• Liberty Videocon General Insurance is headed for capital infusion of Rs. 310 crore as its foreign JV partner is set to raise stake to 49 per cent, the limit under the revised guidelines for the insurance sector.
• The joint venture is between India`s Videocon Industries and Liberty Citystate Holdings Pte, part of the US-headquartered Liberty Mutual Insurance Group.
• The JV Company had launched its operations in India in 2013, with a current market share of 0.4 per cent. It looks to become one of the dominant players in the general insurance business.
• Liberty and Videocon both have invested in India to keep growing year on year.

• With Swiss francs (CHF) 1.2 billion (around Rs. 8,392 crore) held by its citizens in Switzerland`s banks, India has slipped to the 75th position, its lowest since the Swiss National Bank began releasing such data in 1997.
• The data for 2015 placed India at 61st place, while it used to be among top 50 countries in terms of holdings in Swiss banks till 2007.
• India was also lowest ranked among the BRICS countries - Russia was ranked 17th (CHF 17.6 billion), China 28th (CHF 7.4 billion), Brazil 37th (CHF 4.8 billion) and South Africa 60th (CHF 2.2 billion).
• Britain and America were the only two countries that accounted for Swiss bank holding of double-digit percentage share each.
• India was ranked 75th with CHF 1.2 billion, which is not even 0.1 per cent of the total foreign money in Swiss banks. 

• Narendra Modi government is working to give a big push to operationalize numerous airports in Uttar Pradesh. Rs. 400 crore will be provided by the Centre for developing airports in Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur and Bareilly.
• The assistance would be provided by Modi government within a period of one and a half months. Which the state government had provided Rs. 200 crore and the work is being executed by RITES and would be complete with a year.
• The big infrastructure push also assumes political significance at a time when BJP is aggressively gearing up for the UP polls to be held next year.

• Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) will acquire global clothing brand `Forever 21` in the Indian market for USD 26 million (around Rs. 175.52 crore).
• The company has executed a business transfer agreement with Diana Retail and DLF Brands for acquisition of the business undertaking of Diana Retail... under the Forever 21 brand and also through e-commerce channel on a going concern basis, in the Indian market.
• Diana Retail is the franchisee of Forever 21 brand in India.
• The transaction involved acquisition of the Forever 21 Undertaking of Diana Retail through a business transfer agreement not share transfer. The consideration for acquisition is USD 26 million.

• Taking a step further in its aggressive growth plans, Sequoia Capital backed online pharmacy 1mg announced that it has acquired Medd, a marketplace for booking diagnostic and imaging tests. 1mg did not divulge the deal size and structure.
• Diagnostics is a huge opportunity within ecommerce since there are more than 100,000 diagnostics labs with very few scale players.
• Consumer experience is also not satisfactory with issues like requirements of advance bookings, lack of transparency in pricing across labs.

• Edelweiss Housing Finance, a part of the Edelweiss Group, is planning to raise Rs. 250 crore through 100 per cent secured non-convertible debentures with a green-shoe option of another Rs. 250 crore.
• This is the maiden public issue of NCDs by the company and is specially targeted at retail investors (including high net worth individuals) with a share of 60 per cent of the total amount followed by 20 per cent each for institutional and non-institutional (corporate) investors.
• Despite doubling of gross domestic product to $2 trillion in a span of just about a decade, retail finance is still an under-catered market. India is expected to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025 and this means lot of growth for retail finance.

• Google announced a deal to buy Moodstocks, a French startup behind technology that helps smartphones recognize whatever they are aimed at.
• Moodstocks caught the US technology giant`s eye for its work in computer vision and machine learning, as well for accomplishments in enabling smartphones or other mobile devices to recognize images and objects.
• Google is among Silicon Valley titans investing in ways to get computers to see and understand the world aroun them the way people do.
• Machine learning has been woven into an array of Google offerings, such as its free language translation and photo services.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved increase in foreign shareholding in Axis Bank Ltd to 74 per cent from the existing 62 per cent.
• With this approval, foreign investment of Rs. 12,973.14 crore is expected to flow into the country.
• It would also lead to creation of 6,000 to 7,000 jobs over the next three years.
• Currently, foreign investments in private sector banks are capped at 74 per cent, with the FII limit at 49 per cent.
• The CCEA had to consider the Axis Bank proposal as the investment envisaged exceeded Rs. 5,000 crore.