CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR 19TH OCTOBER 2015

CORPORATE AFFAIRS, E-COMMERCE & TECHNOLOGY

1. New Delhi based auto component maker Amtek Auto is close to reaching a solution with JP Morgan which holds its non-convertible debentures wort Rs 200 Crores.
2. Piramal Fund Management is in talks with sovereign funds and global pension funds for 50:50 Joint Venture to provide equity capital to developers.
3. Apart from MNC subsidiaries, about 155 Indian firms are likely to qualify for country by country reporting.
4. Delhi based food booking platform TravelKhana connects railway travellers with restaurants.
5. Chennai based telecom service provider Aircel is betting highly on third-generation mobile services for the next level of growth as it expects to double its 3G user base in the next 1 year.
6. Cube 26 a startup that works with original equipment manufacturers to develop interactive user applications using human gestures has raised Rs 50 Crores in seed funding led by Tiger Global Management and Flipkart.
7. Housing.com has appointed Mani Rangarajan as Chief Financial Officer.
8. Adani Enterprises is expected to proceed with building its $7.2 billion Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project in Queensland State, Australia.
9. Lanco Infratech won a case in Supreme Court for its subsidiary company Lanco Kondapalli Power Limited (LKPL) as a result it is entitled for reimbursement of Income-Tax of about Rs 175 Crores for Financial year 2001 to 2012 along with interest till an date of payment adjusting the adhoc amount of Rs 70 Crores already received.
10. Wadia Group promoted budget carrier Go Air is planning an Initial Public Offer this financial year ahead of the scheduled delivery of 72 new AirBus A-320 planes starting April next year.
11. Diebold Inc has offered $1.78 billion to acquire Wincor Nixdorf AG potentially creating a manufacturer of cash machines and security systems with $6 billion in sales.
12. Chinese E-Commerce giant Alibaba group Holding Ltd is lobbying hard to stay off the US Trade Representative's blacklist after coming under renewed pressure this year over suspected counterfeits sold on its shopping platform.
13. Volkswagen offices searched after ex-CFO quits post at Porsche.
14. Infosys CoFounder Nadan Nilekani , SnapDeal's Kunal Bahl and host of other technology and startup heavy weights have co-invested in LetsVenture.
15.  Apple is in talks with Intel to manufacture chipsets for the next I-Phone. Intel reportedly already has a team of 1000 people working on chips for the next generation I-phone.
16. 1.3 Million Sq.feet Warehouse space used by snapdeal's sellers.
17. Messaging and Chat App LookUp has raised $2.5 million in series A Funding.
18. Reliance Brands has drawn up plans for expansion of global shoe brand Steve Madden in India.
19. Reliance will enroll 1,50,000 small and medium vendors for its e-commerce marketplace by the end of this fiscal that will take on the likes of Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal.
20. International Advertising firm Aegis Network has acquired majority stake in Fountain Head Entertainment , a Mumbai based entertainment, events and activation agency. The deal is in the range of Rs 300 to 400 Crores.
21. Religare Global Asset Management, part of Religare Enterprises is looking to mop up Rs 1000 Crores fund from domestic investors in India in a first ever education infrastructure fund raising initiative.
22. Suhas Sahakari has been appointed as the Managing Director of SVC Bank.
23. BS Canth has been appointed as the Director (Marketing) of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
24. Aditya Birla Group is planning to list its Mauritius based holding company for Carbon Black SKI Carbon Black (India) in overseas markets, making it the first such case.
25. Stephen Holmes,Chairman and CEO of Wynham Worldwide, the world's largest frachiser of hotel brands said that its group is going to add 42 hotels in India.
26. Kotak is Economic Times Business Leader of 2015.
27. Top Tier Investment fund Westbridge Capital has raised another $575 million (Rs 3,735 Crore) to back Indian Companies taking its assets under management to $ 2 billion, the fastest scale-up for any domestic focused fund.
28. Citrus Payment Solutions has closed a $25 million round of fund raising led by private equity Ascent Capital and early investor Sequoia.

POLITICS, ECONOMY, CRIMES, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT & NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

1. With Mining operations commencing in only seven of the 67 mines auctioned and allocated, the government has so far collected only Rs 133 Crores against the total bid revenue and royalties expected.
2. Beverage giant Pepsi has been replaced by Chinese mobile handset maker Vivo as title sponsor for the Indian Premier League T2O Season 2016 and 2017.
3.  IIM- Ahemdabad has been ranked 60 in The Economist 2015 ranking of full time MBA's, dropping 12 places from last year.
4. India's Media and Entertainment sector will be worth $100 billion by 2025 according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Confederation Of Indian Industry (CII).
5. Greek lawmakers clear way for $2.3 billion in bailout funds.
6. A charitable institution is entitled to set apart 25% of the total income for charitable purposes even if it is not spent in the assessment year.
7. If a candidate in the merit list is not selected during a particular academic year due to the fault of the professional college or state authorities, the court may grant compensation to them.
8. US President Barack Obama has invited Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for a meeting at the White House on 22nd October 2015.
9. Patidar reservation agitation leader Hardik Patel intention's to disrupt the India-South Africa One Day International Cricket Match were foiled owing to tough resistance from the state administration.
10. A 105 feet high monumental flagpole bearing the tricolor was installed in the sprawling diplomatic enclave in New Delhi's Chanakyapuri area, becoming the second structure to dot the landscape of the capital.
11. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee will next month launch a single window clearance mechanism backed by a Rs 1000 Crore kitty to get Indian Technical Institutions to conduct original research in areas where the country is heavily dependent on foreign technology. 
12. Ahead of government's vehicle safety norms set to kick in 2017, Maruti Suzuki India plans to introduce features like Airbags and anti-locking braking systems as an option in its mass marketing models. 
13. An Indian origin business school SP Jain Global Management has been to rated among the world's top 100 MBA institutions this year.
14. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has sought premium gas pricing for an undeveloped deep sea block in the KG basin where it plans to invest $6 billion.
15. London's Big Ben to fall silent for months as it undergoes repairs upto 40 million.
16. Government Imposes stock limits on pulses to check prices.
17. BCCI to float tenders inviting bids for two new franchises for 2016 and 2017.  
18. CBSE has clarified that providing Aadhaar number will not be mandatory.
19. CBI has arrested two senior railway officials in the Rail Neer Scam.
20. Three times more women than men choose to take diksha. Male- 358 and Female-694 Total-1052 ( Till July 31 2015).
21. Pakistan's Intelligence Agencies have warned the government that Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing has tasked its agents to kill Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif and Jammat-Ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
22. Directorate General of Central Excise intelligence arrested Gunvant Shah, director of Suraj Ltd for Rs 11.97 Crores Central Excise Duty Evasion.
23. Renowed Urdu Poet Munawwar Rana became the second litterateur from Uttar Pradesh to return Sahitya Akademi award.
24. India and Nasa will embark on an educational project called ' Spaceward BoundIndia 2016' that will see students hunt for microorganisms at an altitude of 3,500-5000 ft.
25. Researchers have invented a new 3-D printed swim suit capable of cleaning up oil spills and desalinising water while people swim.
26. A has former Uber driver in US who raped and kidnapped a woman in 2014 has been sentenced to upto 12 years in jail.
27. Nepal prepares to pick a New President next week.
28. Ex-General Naseer Khan Janjua to replace Sartaj Aziz as Pakistan's next National Security Advisor.