CORPORATE AFFAIRS, E-COMMERCE, TECHNOLOGY AND CARS
1. Private equity heavyweights TPG and General Atlantic (GA) have joined forces in a bid to acquire a controlling stake in Fortis Healthcare from its promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh. Malaysia's IHH emerges other strong contender; deal may value hospitals chain & diagnostics arm at $2.8 b.
2. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma has said a section of telcos was making “too much of noise“, while dismissing their demand that the interconnect usage charge (IUC) be fixed as the minimum price of a voice call. Incumbent telcos -Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular -have told the regulator that IUC of 14 paise a minute should be taken as the floor for retail voice tariffs, and that Reliance Jio Infocomm's free voice call offer should be banned.
3. Apple India Revenue Grows Over 20% in March Quarter. India shone brightly for Apple with record revenue growth of over 20% even as global iPhone sales fell marginally in the March quarter.
4. The prospects of a good monsoon have revived hopes of carmakers in rural markets, where sales had languished following the government's demonetisation drive last November. India's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki, which saw rural sales grow by 17% last year, expects the momentum to continue this fiscal as well. Rural sales account for a third of its domestic volumes.
5. Reliance Jio has topped the charts of mobile networks in March by registering an all-time high download speed of 18.48 megabit per second, as per the latest report published by telecom regulator Trai. The download speed on the network of Jio's nearest rival Bharti Airtel declined by 1 mbps to 6.57 mbps from 7.66 mbps during the period.Vodafone pipped Idea Cellular to become the third fastest mobile network in the country by registering download speed of 6.14 mbps. The speed on Idea network declined by 2.34 mbps to 5.9 during the reported period.
6. Domestic full service airline Vistara is likely to place order for around 100 aircraft, including 50 wide-body planes by the end of the current quarter, according to an industry report.
7. US-based quick service restaurant chain Yum Brands on Wednesday said its Indian opera tions of Pizza Hut has reported a growth of 6% in system sales for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017. KFC, also from Yum Brands, has reported a growth of 2% in system sales during the January-March period.Globally, India contributed 1% to the total sales of Pizza Hut markets and ranked sixth in the emerging market category. While in KFC, India's contribution in system sales was also 1% and ranked ninth in the emerging market list.
8. Suzuki Motorcycle India on Wednesday launched all new versions of its superbikes GSX-R1000 and GSXR1000R, priced at Rs 19 lakh and Rs 22 lakh respectively (ex-showroom Delhi).
9. Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai Indians (MI) has catapulted to the top of mind recall among Indian Premier League teams this season on the back of good on-ground performance, star players, a massive fan following and positive social chatter. Interestingly, Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm also enjoys the most mind recall among sponsors, even ahead of title sponsor Vivo, according to `IPL Watch,' a study by mConsult, the strategic marketing and media consulting arm of GroupM.
10. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) raced ahead of Punebased Bajaj Auto to emerge as the second-largest motorcycle maker in the local market in April. HMSI's motorcycle sales last month increased by 22% to 1,83,266 units. Bajaj's motorcycle sales in the domestic market declined by 19% to 1,61,930 units in the period under review. Hero MotoCorp continues to dominate the motorcycle segment in India.
11. In perhaps a first for any multinational in the country, PepsiCo has started regional language labelling on its beverage cans and bottles in a bid to attract local consumers and take on fiercely competitive regional rivals. Pepsi cola bottles and cans sold in Hindi-speaking areas, for example, sport words such as `bindaas' and `dhamaal' written in Hindi. The US cola and snacks maker is using similarly popular words in seven other languages --Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu -on Pepsi bottles and cans sold in those states.
12. Ratan Tata's venture fund RNT Capital Advisors and US hedge fund Falcon Edge invested Rs 670 crore ($100 million) in cab-hailing app Ola, filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs showed. RNT Capital invested about Rs 267.9 crore, while Falcon Edge, an existing investor in the company , put in another Rs 402 crore, the filings, obtained through company research platform Tofler, showed. Ola issued 4.96-lakh shares to the two investors at Rs 13,521 each, higher than the Rs 12,905 per share at which it allotted a stake to Japanese investor SoftBank in November to raise Rs 1,675 crore.
13. Facebook has made available its Messenger game-playing features to all its 1.2 billion users. Instant Games was first launched in closed beta version in November 2016 with arcade titles like Pac-Man and Galaga. Facebook is also introducing turnbased play, with the ability for game makers to integrate leaderboards and tournaments.
14. A Montreal-based AI startup has developed a voice generator that can mimic virtually any person's voice, and even add an emotional punch. The system isn't perfect, but it heralds a future when voices, like photos, can be easily faked. AI startup Lyrebird's voice-imitation algorithm can also read any text with a predefined intonation.In an effort to promote its tool, Lyrebird produced audio samples using the voices of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
15.Robots that are microscopic in size and are designed to do tasks at the molecular level. Nanobots will bring about many breakthroughs, especially in medical science.
16. MXC Solutions, which owns online automobile classifieds platform CarTrade, has acquired vehicle inspection and valuation venture Adroit Inspection in an all-cash deal more than a year after buying rival CarWale. The acquisition was made about three months after the Mumbai-based company raised $55 million in a fresh round of funding co-led by its existing backer Temasek and a USbased family office, whose name was not disclosed.
17. Diagnostics startup Healthians, backed by YouWeCan Ventures, has raised an undisclosed amount from Japanese investor Asuka Holdings along with other existing investors. So far, it has disclosed fundraising amounting to $3.25 million, from investors including Beenext, Beenos, Digital Garage, M&S Partners, and YouWeCan Ventures.
18. On-demand driver aggregator DriveU, the Bengaluru-based startup backed by Unitus Seed Fund, has acquired competitor DriversKart in an all-equity deal.
19. Etsy shares sank after the company announced a number of executive changes and signaled job cuts in its earnings report. CEO Chad Dickerson stepped down from the role on Wednesday. Josh Silverman, a board member, will replace Dickerson as CEO.
20. Blockchain-based BitcoinGrowthFund, which caters to the venture capital industry, has raised more than $2 million as part of its first initial coin offering (ICO) held in Bangkok last week. The Dubai-based startup said it raised about $1.6 million through the ICO within 24 hours.
21. Brinton Pharmaceuticals, which provides healthcare products and services for various therapeutic segments, has raised $4 million (approx Rs 25.6 crore) from Tata Capital Healthcare Fund, as the firm looks to enter into newer areas such paediatrics and gynaecology and expand its international operations.
22. Make MyTrip is set to raise $330 million in the biggest round of funding in the Indian online travel space as the Gurugram-headquartered company sets its sights on acquisitions and fending off deep-pocketed entrants. The Nasdaq-listed company will have a war chest of more than $500 million with the completion of its latest round of fund raising, allowing it to take on the likes of Booking.com and newer domestic player Paytm among others.
23. Pharmaceuticals maker Ajanta Pharma on Wednesday reported a 4.6% rise in its consolidated Rs 114 crore for the fourth quarter ended net profit at March 31, mainly on account of robust sales. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 109 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Its consolidated total income rose to Rs 479 crore for the quarter under consideration as against Rs 436 crore for the same period year ago.
24. L&T Technology Services, a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, reported an 11% sequential decline in net profit in the fourth quarter, hurt by a fall in margins. Profit dropped to Rs 96.5 crore in the three months ended March from Rs 108.6 crore in the quarter ended December, the company said in a stock exchange filing.Profit in the year-ago quarter was Rs 109.1crore. Revenue grew 0.2% sequentially to Rs 812.3 crore, while the margin of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) narrowed to 16.5% from 18% during the same period. The company's onsite business accounted for 49.2% of revenue, widening from 47.5% in the previous quarter.
25. Technology firm Smartron is raising up to ` 250 crore from investors in the US and the Middle East as it looks to expand its bouquet of products, including smartphones and an electric scooter. The Sachin Tendulkarbacked firm has previously raised about `150 crore from investors in the US and the Middle East.
26.The white unicorn painting in Mahindra Group's strategy office run by former GE veteran Anish Shah marks the transformational changes taking place at the 72-year-old auto-to-IT conglomerate that hopes to ride the disruption wave sweeping the industry.
27.Mahindra & Mahindrahas stopped selling electric cars in the United Kingdom due to weak sales and is winding up sales operations there, according to a document seen by Reuters, in a new set back to the Indian automaker's global ambitions. Mahindra's decision comes less than a year after it launchedthe e2o car in a market it considered a launchpad for selling electric cars in European countries like Norway , Sweden and the Netherlands.
28. New York-based DA Capital and Asian special situations investor SSG Capital Management are bidding for the promoters' stake in four Amtek Group entities after a consortium of lenders, who control the company, decided to sell shares to retrieve money owed to them.
29. TPG Growth, a private equity firm with stakes in Uber and Airbnb, has invested $50 million in Dodla Dairy through the Rise Fund, its global social impact fund. This is the $2-billion Rise Fund's first investment in India after it was set up in December. US-based investment firm Proterra Investment Partners was looking at selling its 23% stake in Dodla Dairy and had mandated investment bank Edelweiss to look for a buyer.
30. IT company Birlasoft, part of the CK Birla Group, has leased an entire office building spread over 3 lakh sq ft at a mixed-use project of Assotech Realty in Noida, said two persons familiar with the development. The lease is for nine years, with an option for the company to renew it every three years.
31. ICICI Bank posted a nearly threefold jump in fourth-quarter net profit as its cost of funds and provisions reduced, even as a regulatory directive meant bad loans at the nation's largest private sector lender surged to a record. Operating profit plunged 28% in the past quarter amid deteriorating corporate loan performance, but the bank's board positively surprised investors with a bonus share issue.
32.The capital market regulator will soon come out with a ruling against Price Waterhouse India on their alleged role as the auditor of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will pass an order on the audit firm based on its findings on whether the auditor had acted in collusion with the promoters in the country's biggest accounting fraud.
33. Siemens India expects the federal and state governments to quicken the tendering process for their projects after the recent election wins strengthened the political base of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), helping add sheen to the South Asian nation's business outlook.
34. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested the director and promoter of a Mumbai-based firm in connection with its money laundering probe in a bank loan fraud case involving Rs 2,600 crore. This case is said to be one of the biggest instances of bank loan default being probed by investigative agencies in India. Agency officials said it arrested Vijay M Choudhary on Tuesday in Mumbai under the provisions of the Preven tion of Money Launde ring Act (PMLA).Choudhary is the “director and main controller“ of Ms Zoom Developers (ZDPL) and was wanted by the ED in this case, where it is alleged that the firm and its controllers cheated 25 banks of Rs 2,650 crore. Choudhary is expected to be produced by ED officials in a court in Indore Wednesday.
35. The GMR Group, which is operating the Mactan Cebu international airport in the Philippines, on Wednesday said it is in race to bag licence to develop the Davao airport in the Far Eastern nation. The Davao airport, or the Francisco Bangoy international airport, is the third busiest airport in the Philippines and s located at Catitipan in Davao City in the Mindanao province in the extreme south and is the second largest island in the ex-Spanish colony. The Philippines government said the GMR-Megawide consortium has emerged as a pre-qualified bidder for the 40.57 billion pesos (around $810 million) airport project.
36. Realty firm Godrej Properties today said it has sold over 1,000 apartments since March in its three new housing projects at Mumbai, Pune and Greater Noida for around Rs 1,000 crore.
37. Hundreds of Google Play apps are poten tially exposing Android users to hackers, according to a new study . University of Michigan researchers used a custombuilt tool called OPAnalyzer to scan 24,000 apps, and found 410 that could allow cyber criminals to steal users' data and remotely install malware onto smartphones.
38. Under pressure from activist investor Elliot Management coupled with business headwinds, Cognizant Technology has offered a golden handshake to a select category of senior employees, thereby reducing its wage bills. Cognizant on Tuesday night sent out mailers to D+ category employees (directors and senior VPs), giving them an option to exit the organisation on a cordial note by accepting either six or nine months' pay as severance package, depending in which category the employee sits. While directors are offered the nine-month packages, AVPs and SVPs will get the six-month deal.
39. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the 4G roll-out in India is the fastest he has ever seen in the world and that it opens a great opportunity for Apple to grow in the country over the next few years. Apple sales in India, Cook said, grew at double digits and set a new record in the March quarter.
40. Global private equity majors TPG and General Atlantic Partners are joining forces to make a $1.8-billion bid for the healthcare assets of siblings Malvinder and Shivinder Singh of Religare, said people with knowledge of the matter. The latest development has catapulted the combine ahead in the race to acquire two listed companies -Fortis Healthcare and Fortis Malar -which will also house SRL Diagnostics in a rejig exercise.The Singh brothers directly and indirectly own 52% in Fortis Healthcare, which is the country's second-largest private hospital chain by market value. SRL Diagnostics, the largest medical-diagnostics firm in the country, is in the midst of being spun off from Fortis Healthcare and being brought under Fortis Malar, a subsidiary in which Fortis Healthcare holds 63%. Fortis Healthcare and Fortis Malar together have a market value in excess of Rs 11,600 crore, or $1.8 billion.
41. India's largest online travel firm MakeMyTrip is raising $330 million in a new funding round from existing investors Ctrip and Naspers, as it tries to bolster its position in the highmargin hotel booking space.
1. Private equity heavyweights TPG and General Atlantic (GA) have joined forces in a bid to acquire a controlling stake in Fortis Healthcare from its promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh. Malaysia's IHH emerges other strong contender; deal may value hospitals chain & diagnostics arm at $2.8 b.
2. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma has said a section of telcos was making “too much of noise“, while dismissing their demand that the interconnect usage charge (IUC) be fixed as the minimum price of a voice call. Incumbent telcos -Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular -have told the regulator that IUC of 14 paise a minute should be taken as the floor for retail voice tariffs, and that Reliance Jio Infocomm's free voice call offer should be banned.
3. Apple India Revenue Grows Over 20% in March Quarter. India shone brightly for Apple with record revenue growth of over 20% even as global iPhone sales fell marginally in the March quarter.
4. The prospects of a good monsoon have revived hopes of carmakers in rural markets, where sales had languished following the government's demonetisation drive last November. India's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki, which saw rural sales grow by 17% last year, expects the momentum to continue this fiscal as well. Rural sales account for a third of its domestic volumes.
5. Reliance Jio has topped the charts of mobile networks in March by registering an all-time high download speed of 18.48 megabit per second, as per the latest report published by telecom regulator Trai. The download speed on the network of Jio's nearest rival Bharti Airtel declined by 1 mbps to 6.57 mbps from 7.66 mbps during the period.Vodafone pipped Idea Cellular to become the third fastest mobile network in the country by registering download speed of 6.14 mbps. The speed on Idea network declined by 2.34 mbps to 5.9 during the reported period.
6. Domestic full service airline Vistara is likely to place order for around 100 aircraft, including 50 wide-body planes by the end of the current quarter, according to an industry report.
7. US-based quick service restaurant chain Yum Brands on Wednesday said its Indian opera tions of Pizza Hut has reported a growth of 6% in system sales for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017. KFC, also from Yum Brands, has reported a growth of 2% in system sales during the January-March period.Globally, India contributed 1% to the total sales of Pizza Hut markets and ranked sixth in the emerging market category. While in KFC, India's contribution in system sales was also 1% and ranked ninth in the emerging market list.
8. Suzuki Motorcycle India on Wednesday launched all new versions of its superbikes GSX-R1000 and GSXR1000R, priced at Rs 19 lakh and Rs 22 lakh respectively (ex-showroom Delhi).
9. Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai Indians (MI) has catapulted to the top of mind recall among Indian Premier League teams this season on the back of good on-ground performance, star players, a massive fan following and positive social chatter. Interestingly, Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm also enjoys the most mind recall among sponsors, even ahead of title sponsor Vivo, according to `IPL Watch,' a study by mConsult, the strategic marketing and media consulting arm of GroupM.
10. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) raced ahead of Punebased Bajaj Auto to emerge as the second-largest motorcycle maker in the local market in April. HMSI's motorcycle sales last month increased by 22% to 1,83,266 units. Bajaj's motorcycle sales in the domestic market declined by 19% to 1,61,930 units in the period under review. Hero MotoCorp continues to dominate the motorcycle segment in India.
11. In perhaps a first for any multinational in the country, PepsiCo has started regional language labelling on its beverage cans and bottles in a bid to attract local consumers and take on fiercely competitive regional rivals. Pepsi cola bottles and cans sold in Hindi-speaking areas, for example, sport words such as `bindaas' and `dhamaal' written in Hindi. The US cola and snacks maker is using similarly popular words in seven other languages --Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu -on Pepsi bottles and cans sold in those states.
12. Ratan Tata's venture fund RNT Capital Advisors and US hedge fund Falcon Edge invested Rs 670 crore ($100 million) in cab-hailing app Ola, filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs showed. RNT Capital invested about Rs 267.9 crore, while Falcon Edge, an existing investor in the company , put in another Rs 402 crore, the filings, obtained through company research platform Tofler, showed. Ola issued 4.96-lakh shares to the two investors at Rs 13,521 each, higher than the Rs 12,905 per share at which it allotted a stake to Japanese investor SoftBank in November to raise Rs 1,675 crore.
13. Facebook has made available its Messenger game-playing features to all its 1.2 billion users. Instant Games was first launched in closed beta version in November 2016 with arcade titles like Pac-Man and Galaga. Facebook is also introducing turnbased play, with the ability for game makers to integrate leaderboards and tournaments.
14. A Montreal-based AI startup has developed a voice generator that can mimic virtually any person's voice, and even add an emotional punch. The system isn't perfect, but it heralds a future when voices, like photos, can be easily faked. AI startup Lyrebird's voice-imitation algorithm can also read any text with a predefined intonation.In an effort to promote its tool, Lyrebird produced audio samples using the voices of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
15.Robots that are microscopic in size and are designed to do tasks at the molecular level. Nanobots will bring about many breakthroughs, especially in medical science.
16. MXC Solutions, which owns online automobile classifieds platform CarTrade, has acquired vehicle inspection and valuation venture Adroit Inspection in an all-cash deal more than a year after buying rival CarWale. The acquisition was made about three months after the Mumbai-based company raised $55 million in a fresh round of funding co-led by its existing backer Temasek and a USbased family office, whose name was not disclosed.
17. Diagnostics startup Healthians, backed by YouWeCan Ventures, has raised an undisclosed amount from Japanese investor Asuka Holdings along with other existing investors. So far, it has disclosed fundraising amounting to $3.25 million, from investors including Beenext, Beenos, Digital Garage, M&S Partners, and YouWeCan Ventures.
18. On-demand driver aggregator DriveU, the Bengaluru-based startup backed by Unitus Seed Fund, has acquired competitor DriversKart in an all-equity deal.
19. Etsy shares sank after the company announced a number of executive changes and signaled job cuts in its earnings report. CEO Chad Dickerson stepped down from the role on Wednesday. Josh Silverman, a board member, will replace Dickerson as CEO.
20. Blockchain-based BitcoinGrowthFund, which caters to the venture capital industry, has raised more than $2 million as part of its first initial coin offering (ICO) held in Bangkok last week. The Dubai-based startup said it raised about $1.6 million through the ICO within 24 hours.
21. Brinton Pharmaceuticals, which provides healthcare products and services for various therapeutic segments, has raised $4 million (approx Rs 25.6 crore) from Tata Capital Healthcare Fund, as the firm looks to enter into newer areas such paediatrics and gynaecology and expand its international operations.
22. Make MyTrip is set to raise $330 million in the biggest round of funding in the Indian online travel space as the Gurugram-headquartered company sets its sights on acquisitions and fending off deep-pocketed entrants. The Nasdaq-listed company will have a war chest of more than $500 million with the completion of its latest round of fund raising, allowing it to take on the likes of Booking.com and newer domestic player Paytm among others.
23. Pharmaceuticals maker Ajanta Pharma on Wednesday reported a 4.6% rise in its consolidated Rs 114 crore for the fourth quarter ended net profit at March 31, mainly on account of robust sales. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 109 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Its consolidated total income rose to Rs 479 crore for the quarter under consideration as against Rs 436 crore for the same period year ago.
24. L&T Technology Services, a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, reported an 11% sequential decline in net profit in the fourth quarter, hurt by a fall in margins. Profit dropped to Rs 96.5 crore in the three months ended March from Rs 108.6 crore in the quarter ended December, the company said in a stock exchange filing.Profit in the year-ago quarter was Rs 109.1crore. Revenue grew 0.2% sequentially to Rs 812.3 crore, while the margin of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) narrowed to 16.5% from 18% during the same period. The company's onsite business accounted for 49.2% of revenue, widening from 47.5% in the previous quarter.
25. Technology firm Smartron is raising up to ` 250 crore from investors in the US and the Middle East as it looks to expand its bouquet of products, including smartphones and an electric scooter. The Sachin Tendulkarbacked firm has previously raised about `150 crore from investors in the US and the Middle East.
26.The white unicorn painting in Mahindra Group's strategy office run by former GE veteran Anish Shah marks the transformational changes taking place at the 72-year-old auto-to-IT conglomerate that hopes to ride the disruption wave sweeping the industry.
27.Mahindra & Mahindrahas stopped selling electric cars in the United Kingdom due to weak sales and is winding up sales operations there, according to a document seen by Reuters, in a new set back to the Indian automaker's global ambitions. Mahindra's decision comes less than a year after it launchedthe e2o car in a market it considered a launchpad for selling electric cars in European countries like Norway , Sweden and the Netherlands.
28. New York-based DA Capital and Asian special situations investor SSG Capital Management are bidding for the promoters' stake in four Amtek Group entities after a consortium of lenders, who control the company, decided to sell shares to retrieve money owed to them.
29. TPG Growth, a private equity firm with stakes in Uber and Airbnb, has invested $50 million in Dodla Dairy through the Rise Fund, its global social impact fund. This is the $2-billion Rise Fund's first investment in India after it was set up in December. US-based investment firm Proterra Investment Partners was looking at selling its 23% stake in Dodla Dairy and had mandated investment bank Edelweiss to look for a buyer.
30. IT company Birlasoft, part of the CK Birla Group, has leased an entire office building spread over 3 lakh sq ft at a mixed-use project of Assotech Realty in Noida, said two persons familiar with the development. The lease is for nine years, with an option for the company to renew it every three years.
31. ICICI Bank posted a nearly threefold jump in fourth-quarter net profit as its cost of funds and provisions reduced, even as a regulatory directive meant bad loans at the nation's largest private sector lender surged to a record. Operating profit plunged 28% in the past quarter amid deteriorating corporate loan performance, but the bank's board positively surprised investors with a bonus share issue.
32.The capital market regulator will soon come out with a ruling against Price Waterhouse India on their alleged role as the auditor of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will pass an order on the audit firm based on its findings on whether the auditor had acted in collusion with the promoters in the country's biggest accounting fraud.
33. Siemens India expects the federal and state governments to quicken the tendering process for their projects after the recent election wins strengthened the political base of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), helping add sheen to the South Asian nation's business outlook.
34. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested the director and promoter of a Mumbai-based firm in connection with its money laundering probe in a bank loan fraud case involving Rs 2,600 crore. This case is said to be one of the biggest instances of bank loan default being probed by investigative agencies in India. Agency officials said it arrested Vijay M Choudhary on Tuesday in Mumbai under the provisions of the Preven tion of Money Launde ring Act (PMLA).Choudhary is the “director and main controller“ of Ms Zoom Developers (ZDPL) and was wanted by the ED in this case, where it is alleged that the firm and its controllers cheated 25 banks of Rs 2,650 crore. Choudhary is expected to be produced by ED officials in a court in Indore Wednesday.
35. The GMR Group, which is operating the Mactan Cebu international airport in the Philippines, on Wednesday said it is in race to bag licence to develop the Davao airport in the Far Eastern nation. The Davao airport, or the Francisco Bangoy international airport, is the third busiest airport in the Philippines and s located at Catitipan in Davao City in the Mindanao province in the extreme south and is the second largest island in the ex-Spanish colony. The Philippines government said the GMR-Megawide consortium has emerged as a pre-qualified bidder for the 40.57 billion pesos (around $810 million) airport project.
36. Realty firm Godrej Properties today said it has sold over 1,000 apartments since March in its three new housing projects at Mumbai, Pune and Greater Noida for around Rs 1,000 crore.
37. Hundreds of Google Play apps are poten tially exposing Android users to hackers, according to a new study . University of Michigan researchers used a custombuilt tool called OPAnalyzer to scan 24,000 apps, and found 410 that could allow cyber criminals to steal users' data and remotely install malware onto smartphones.
38. Under pressure from activist investor Elliot Management coupled with business headwinds, Cognizant Technology has offered a golden handshake to a select category of senior employees, thereby reducing its wage bills. Cognizant on Tuesday night sent out mailers to D+ category employees (directors and senior VPs), giving them an option to exit the organisation on a cordial note by accepting either six or nine months' pay as severance package, depending in which category the employee sits. While directors are offered the nine-month packages, AVPs and SVPs will get the six-month deal.
39. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the 4G roll-out in India is the fastest he has ever seen in the world and that it opens a great opportunity for Apple to grow in the country over the next few years. Apple sales in India, Cook said, grew at double digits and set a new record in the March quarter.
40. Global private equity majors TPG and General Atlantic Partners are joining forces to make a $1.8-billion bid for the healthcare assets of siblings Malvinder and Shivinder Singh of Religare, said people with knowledge of the matter. The latest development has catapulted the combine ahead in the race to acquire two listed companies -Fortis Healthcare and Fortis Malar -which will also house SRL Diagnostics in a rejig exercise.The Singh brothers directly and indirectly own 52% in Fortis Healthcare, which is the country's second-largest private hospital chain by market value. SRL Diagnostics, the largest medical-diagnostics firm in the country, is in the midst of being spun off from Fortis Healthcare and being brought under Fortis Malar, a subsidiary in which Fortis Healthcare holds 63%. Fortis Healthcare and Fortis Malar together have a market value in excess of Rs 11,600 crore, or $1.8 billion.
41. India's largest online travel firm MakeMyTrip is raising $330 million in a new funding round from existing investors Ctrip and Naspers, as it tries to bolster its position in the highmargin hotel booking space.
POLITICS, ECONOMY, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT, CRIMES AND NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
1. The cabinet cleared the nonperforming asset (NPA) resolution package that includes an ordinance to empower the Reserve Bank of India to more effectively deal with bad assets, a move that will kick off a long-awaited initiative aimed at cleaning up the balance sheets of banks burdened with bad debt.
2. India is set to revamp its manufacturing framework to reboot the sector with an eye on job creation and technology upgradation, commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She has ordered a comprehensive review of the six-year-old National Manufacturing Policy launched by the previous government as it's no longer relevant given the reforms implemented by the Narendra Modi administration.
1. The cabinet cleared the nonperforming asset (NPA) resolution package that includes an ordinance to empower the Reserve Bank of India to more effectively deal with bad assets, a move that will kick off a long-awaited initiative aimed at cleaning up the balance sheets of banks burdened with bad debt.
2. India is set to revamp its manufacturing framework to reboot the sector with an eye on job creation and technology upgradation, commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She has ordered a comprehensive review of the six-year-old National Manufacturing Policy launched by the previous government as it's no longer relevant given the reforms implemented by the Narendra Modi administration.
3. Consumer demand peaked in the March quarter, recording the highest sales growth in daily groceries, and home and personal products in the past two years, a Nielsen report indicated. The recovery followed a quarter of muted sales due to the currency swap in November that had curtailed the purchasing power of rural households using cash to buy shampoos, soaps, or packaged cookies. The overall market grew 12.2% by value in the fourth quarter with 7.5% volume growth, according to executives citing Nielsen data.
4. Reserve Bank of India has sent notices to at least eight companies amid concerns of round-tripping of funds and violation of rules on foreign loans.
5. Indians who buy lottery tickets may have to shell out more to take a chance on fortune under the goods and services tax (GST), which is expected to be rolled out on July 1. The government is looking to put lottery tickets in the 28% GST bracket, the highest slab, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
6. The RSS-mentored Muslim Rashtriya Manch, which is scheduled to meet at Piran Kaliyar near Roorkee on May 5 and May 6, will tell Muslim families to adopt cows and learn about their benefits.It will also ask madrasas to train students on the “ethos of Bharat“. Construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya, deciding a place where the Babri Masjid could be rebuilt and triple talaq will also be discussed at the two-day event. Over 300 moulvis are expected to participate in the meeting.
7. India and the US are working on three sets of dates in June and July for PM Modi's possible state visit. Modi has engagements in Ger many, Spain, Russia and Kazakhstan that will end by June 9. It will be Modi's first visit to the US after Donald Trump assumed presidency . Issues likely to figure during a ModiTrump dialogue include H-1B visa, Af-Pak, west and east Asian situation, stability of Asia-Pacific region and challenges from ISIS.
8. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday pitched for a “free and vibrant press“ and said it is “vital for democracy“. He said this on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day .
9. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), in its one page pro forma submitted to the Law Commission, has opposed any probable amendments to triple talaq.
10. Former Union minister and senior advocate Salman Khurshid was on Wednesday allowed by the Supreme Court to assist it in the hearing of a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of `triple talaq', `nikah halala' and polygamy practices among the Muslims.
11. The Muslim Rastriya Manch national executive committee will discuss a proposal for adopting minor children of Muslim women divorced through triple talaq.MRM is a body floated by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.MRM's Bengal unit has prepared a preliminary list of such children in several districts and has proposed to provide them free education.
12. Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav has threatened to form a new secular front if Akhilesh Yadav did not hand over the reins of the party to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
13. For effective implementation of its cleanliness mission, the government will establish a national centre at Rajghat here to monitor the progress of the PM's pet programme. The Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra will be set up by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation at the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, Rajghat to monitor the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission, rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
14. Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has asked the BJP-led central government to “save the country first and then cow“. Addressing party workers at Bandra's Ranga Sharda auditorium in Mumbai on Wednesday, Thackeray said: “Now, someone is going to issue Aadhar cards for cows. Save cows, but first save the country. We will be ok only if the country is safe.“
15. BSP chief Mayawati has alleged that BJP is exploiting people and raising slogans of patriotism and `gau raksha' (cow protection) to divert the attention of people from its wrongdoings.
16. A court here on Wednesday fixed for May 6 the consideration of a chargesheet against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and others in a disproportionate assets case.
17. Uttar Pradesh ATS on Wednesday arrested a suspected ISI agent in Faizabad and nabbed another for questioning. In a joint operation conducted by UP ATS, Military Intelligence and UP Intelligence, Aftab Ali was picked up from Faizabad in the evening, IG ATS Aseem Arun said.
18. A counsel for the Union government has told the country's top court that details of the unique Aadhaar card may have reached the public domain from sources other than the authority storing the data, stoking concerns that the system protecting the citizens' biometric information was far from foolproof.
19. India on Wednesday upped the ante vis-avis Pakistan by summoning its envoy as well as sending back 50 students from the neighbouring country to protest beheading of two soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir. It also claimed evidence of blood trail to prove that perpetrators were Pak army men.
20. A crackdown on illegal sand mining rampant in Uttar Pradesh could soon figure on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's agenda following a letter by Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave drawing his attention to the key issue and urging him to counter it by permitting `adequate' sand mining leases.
21. Kumar Vishwas one of the founder members of AAP who did not hold any key position so far, has now been given the charge of building the party's cadre in Rajasthan, taking over the responsibility from Manish Sisodia, deputy chief minister of Delhi.
22. BJP has fixed an ambitious aim of winning all 80 seats and touch a 70% voteshare in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 general elections. The party is launching a big drive from May 10, targeting to win the upcoming state municipal polls first and use that as a precursor for the 2019 battle.
23. The Maharashtra government seems to be going the whole hog on reforms, with the state bringing back a crucial amendment in the Industrial Disputes Act that allows companies employing up to 300 workers to lay them off or shut down a plant without first seeking the state's consent. The current limit that allows companies to lay off workers without seeking the state government's approval is 100.
24. Uttar Pradesh ATS on Wednesday arrested a suspected ISI agent in Faizabad and nabbed another for questioning. In a joint operation conducted by UP ATS, Military Intelligence and UP Intelligence, Aftab Ali was picked up from Faizabad in the evening, IG ATS Aseem Arun said.
25. Having decided to put up a joint Opposition candidate in the presidential elections, Opposition leaders are now working to overcome fault lines in the Opposition for ensuring larger unity. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and JDU's Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav have made an action plan to deploy most acceptable emissaries to woo parties that may not support a joint candidate due to rivalry with another Opposition party .
26. The Congress in Northeast India appears to be following the lead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in creating a coordinating layer of management that would include party leaders from the Seven Sisters.
27. The May 14 elections to seven municipalities in West Bengal will be a direct fight between the BJP's pro-Hinduvta campaign and Mamata Banerjee's politics of defection. Even though Congress and CPM are in the fray , the actual fight will be restricted between BJP and Trinamool Congress.
28. India is closely watching China’s growing influence over Southeast Asian countries. Although India has undertaken infrastructure and capacity building projects in these countries over the past three years, under the Narendra Modi government’s Act East Policy, experts warn that massive Chinese investments under its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative may create political and economic instability in the region, impacting India.
29. Realty developers and property brokers in Mumbai, the county's hottest property market, and the rest of Maharashtra are rushing to register their projects and themselves, respectively, under the newly-implemented Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in the state.
30. The first four months of 2017 have been the best for Indian stocks in over a decade. Ignoring worries about tepid earnings growth and the impact of demonetisation on the economy, the Sensex has gained more than 19% so far this year in dollar terms.
31. The rupee gained 6 paise on Wednesday to close at 64.15 against the US currency on sustained dollar unwinding by exporters and banks, extending its gains for a second session. Overall forex market sentiment remained cautious with the US Fed monetary policy meet outcome taking the centre stage. The home currency largely trapped in a narrow range and oscillated between 64.1025 and 64.1675 throughout the session. The rupee resumed substantially higher at 64.12 compared to previous close of 64.21.
32. The listed multiplex companies, including PVR and Inox Leisure, are expected to be affected partially in the short term by the Karnataka government's decision to cap movie ticket prices at `200, inclusive of taxes. However, the medium-term impact depends on the extent of theatre occupancy once the decision is implemented and quality of movie content.
33. Investors hoping to benefit from the government's push towards affordable housing and infrastructure sectors can look to subscribe to the initial public offering of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Government of India.
34. A global shortage of raw cashew has kept prices escalated at unprecedented highs affecting India's cashew industry. India, the largest consumer of the nut and a major exporter of processed cashew kernels, meets about 60-70% of its processing needs through imports. The Indian cashew production has been stagnant for the past few years with output ranging 6-7 lakh tonnes while the country's processing capacity has ex panded to 2 million tonnes. India imports 9-10 lakh tonnes of raw cashew to process and export as kernels.
35. Mumbai's Shree Siddhivinayak Temple is considering to keep gold it receives from devotees as offerings under the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) for 12 years, as the long tenure will help it earn 2.5% annual interest. Earlier, the temple had kept gold under GMS for a medium term, earning 2.25% a year.
36. The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) on Wednesday arrested BB Rajendra Prasad, an income tax commissioner, Pradeep Mittal, a managing director of the Essar Group, and four others over graft allegations. Prasad, who is a tax officer of appeals for the department, is a 1992 batch IAS officer. According to the CBI spokesperson, the accused had allegedly demanded bribe for favouring a private Indian company in an ongoing tax case.
37. Ahead of the crucial May 7 SGM of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) has warned the state units not to take any decision that may be “against the interest of Indian cricket“.
38. The government has decided to set up inter-ministerial panels to examine financial woes of telecom and power companies and recommend solutions, communications minister Manoj Sinha said on Wednesday.
39. Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged while signalling they'll look past a recent deceleration in US economic growth.
40. The All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) on Wednesday reiterated their demand for a total ban on online sales of drugs and opposed the government plan to set up new e-portal to check antimicrobial resistance and substandard drugs.
41. The Paradip Port Trust hopes to auction land for the proposed smart industrial port city project in July.
42. US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had what the White House called a “very good“ call during which they agreed to step up efforts to cooperate on resolving the Syria conflict and the fight against terrorism. The two leaders spoke by phone for the first time since US relations with Russia were strained by US missile strike on Syrian airfield and allegations of Moscow's interference in US elections.
43. At least eight civilians and an attacker were killed here on Wednesday in a suicide bomb attack on a convoy of the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
44. Alitalia's administrators will start taking bids for the troubled Italian airline within the next 15 days, the government said on Wednesday.
45. China plans to launch its own online encyclopaedia next year, hoping to build a “cultural Great Wall“ that can rival Wikipedia as a go-to information source for Chinese Internet users who Beijing fears are being corrupted by foreign influences.
46. President Donald Trump said he was confident he could broker a Middle East peace deal, telling Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas at the White House that he wanted to prove skeptics wrong that an accord can be reached after seven decades of conflict.47. The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator insisted on Wednesday that Britain's accounts must be settled before any talks on its future trade relationship with the EU can take place, as he warned that time is running out to seal a deal by 2019.
48. As the United States adapts to the presidency of Donald Trump and faces rising tensions abroad, Berkshi re Hat haway Inc shareholders will descend on Omaha, Nebraska this weekend seeking reassurance, from Warren Buffett.
49. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new steel policy that envisions an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore to build more capacity in the steel sector. The policy has planned for a steel demand of about 230 million tonne by 2030-31.
50. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has asked state-run firms to follow guidelines on capital restructuring and expedite exemption proposals.
51. The India Integrated Transport and Logistics Summit is expected to attract investments worth Rs 2 lakh crore, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. The summit, which starts from Thursday, will see participation from leading highways and shipping players from countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi.
52. With India telling Pakistan that blood samples of beheaded soldiers and a blood trail near the Line of Control (LoC) establishes its complicity, defence minister Arun Jaitley asked citizens to trust the capability of the Indian Army to respond to the outrage.
53. The Cabinet recommended on Wednesday an ordinance empowering the RBI to instruct banks to act against top 20-25 loan defaulters as part of a series of steps aimed at helping lenders get bad debt off their books.
54. Miffed with Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's statement that Telangana police set up a fake IS website to radicalise Muslim youth, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is likely to support NDA in the presidential election. TRS has 17 MPs and 82 MLAs and has a voting strength of 22,048 in the presidential election.
55. Automobile dealers will have to install FasTags in all new cars from August, reports Dipak Dash. The earlier deadline was October but the PMO wanted it advanced. A tag allows you to sail through toll plazas as you can load cash in it. So far, the road transport ministry's rush to mandate RFID tags, without infrastructure, has led to 73 lakh vehicles manufactured over the past two years carrying dud tags.
56. The Congressled Karnataka government on Wednesday defended in the Supreme Court its law granting protection to `gau rakshaks' to prevent cow slaughter in the state and pleaded with the court to dismiss a PIL challenging constitutional validity of the law. Six states--Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP , Maharashtra, Karnataka and Jharkhand--have framed a law to protect gau rakshak dals in their states.
57. A man grabbing a woman's hand in public and saying “I love you“ can be defined as outraging her modesty, a special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court at Dindoshi recently held. The court made the observation while sentencing a 22-year-old man to one year in jail for accosting a 16-yearold girl in 2015.
58.The Centre unveiled its plan in the Supreme Court on Wednesday to replace a nearly two-decade old `national policy on older persons'.
59. Flyers may no longer need to get boarding cards torn before boarding by airline personnel who keep the stub with them. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has amended the “mandatory stub retention policy“, allowing airlines to keep digital records of passengers.
60. Private equity majors TPG and General Atlantic Partners are joining forces to make a $1.8-billion bid for healthcare assets Fortis Healthcare and Fortis Malar of sibling promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.
61. The co-pilot of an IndiGo aircraft with almost 150 people on board flying from Kolkata to Hyderabad on April 27 fainted inside the cockpit, necessitating the commander to declare Mayday and divert the flight to Bhubaneswar.
62. A batch of 70 students from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) at Kadus village near Pune has cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains. All the students come from extremely poor families across the country.
63.Two alleged ISI operatives were arrested on Wednesday for spying on Indian Army bases in UP and Punjab. Aftab Ali was arrested from Faizabad district in UP, while his aide, Altaf Qureshi, was picked up from Pydhonie in Mumbai.
64. A 30-year-old lawyer from Breach Candy , facing trial for charges, including that of “unnatural sex“, has approached the Bombay high court urging it to quash them.The lawyer got into trouble just four months after his marriage to a Mahim girl, when she and his father-inlaw discovered a “sex video“ of him allegedly indulging in “unnatural sex“ with his girlfriend. Besides dowry harassment, police booked him under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
65. The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said that a police officer cannot testify confessions made to him by an approver in the Sheena Bora murder case. The court allowed petitions filed by Peter Mukerjea and wife Indrani, both accused of conspiring and murdering Sheena, her biological daughter from a former relationship, to prevent a police officer from testifying details of disclosures made by an approver, in this case their driver.
66. A week after the Bombay HC granted bail to accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in the 2008 Malegaon blast, she has moved the trial court seeking discharge in the case. The National Investigation Agency will submit its reply .
67. Two eight-year-old children who had gone for a swim in Thane's Kalwa creek drowned on Wednesday .
68. The city crime branch probing the alleged sex and drug racket Shifu Sunkriti involving `cult guru' Sunil Kulkarni, on Wednesday told a magistrate's court that he had forged the signature of a girl who was among his followers on a cheque for Rs 15 lakh. Following the development, police have booked him under additional IPC sections of cheating, forgery and breach of trust.
69. A Persian cat named Sultan was reunited with his owners recently , thanks to its image which was circulated on WhatsApp by a group of animal volunteers from Santacruz.
70. Even as Catholics are protesting the recent demolition of a Holy Cross on Bazaar Road in Bandra, an incident of desecration of a Jesus Christ statue was reported in Kalina in Santacruz (east) on Wednesday . Within two hours of the incident, the Vakola police arrested a habitual thief and drug addict, Suresh Ba laji Gadge. During interrogation, Gadge has told the police that he threw a stone and broke the statue to steal a gold chain on it.
71. A man who posed as a mason entered the flat of a senior citizen couple in Girgaum and fled with gold ornaments worth Rs 53,000 after assaulting one of them on Tuesday afternoon.
72. A prominent city club is facing a tax inquiry for income earned from non-sporting activities. The I-T appellate tribunal has asked the director of incometax (exemptions) to carry out a fresh detailed inquiry into various activities of MIG Cricket Club to determine whether it is eligible for income-tax exemption. If commercial activities exceed the stipulated limits laid down in the I-T Act, tax exemption available to an entity under Section 11 can be denied.
73.After cracking down on noise pollution from loudspeakers, the Bombay high court has indicated that its next target will be the cacophony created by traffic and honking.
74.Jet Airways and Air India have extended special privileges to students going abroad to study this summer. According to a market report, while over 4,00,000 students from India travelled abroad for studies in 2016-17 academic year, the market has been growing at 17% per annum.
75. A 32-year-old `serial molester' from Andheri was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sexually abusing two minor girls, days after he was released on bail in a rape case. The Sahar police booked the accused, Dinesh Panchal, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He has been remanded in police custody .
76. NCP corporator Liyakat Shaikh, who is also leader of opposition in the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC), has been arrested by police for his involvement in an alleged land-grab case involving forgery of documents.
77. The Nerul police arrested a man who was wanted since a year in a job scam.The man has allegedly conned 22 persons of Rs 48 lakh by giving them fake appointment letters for the post of clerk in the state Public Works Department.
78. Corporators have alleged that road contractors are yet again using the excuse of quarries being shut and are blackmailing the BMC to not complete road repair works on time.
79. Eighty-three days after she landed in Mumbai amid flashing camera lights, Egyptian Eman Ahmed--until recently the heaviest woman in the world at 500kg--will leave the city on Thursday in a special ambulance driven along a green corridor organized by Mumbai Police.
80. Hours before Eman Ahmed leaves for the UAE, her sister Shaimaa Semil has issued a letter alleging that Eman's health had worsened in the last three months and clarifying her stance on shifting her out for further treatment.
81. A 28-year-old dental laboratory assistant was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly sexually molesting an 11-yearold relative in Chimatpada in Andheri. The Sahar Airport police booked him under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and for unnatural sex. He has been remanded in custody till May 9.
82. A district sessions court is likely to pronounce its order in a multi-crore drug case involving former actor Mamta Kulkarni and her partner Vicky Goswami, who is in a US jail, after the prosecution sought to initiate proceedings of pro clamation notice against them.
83. Medical facilities that will charge patients Re 1 will come up at five Central Railway (CR) stations in about two months. The railways will provide space free of cost and a clinic has agreed to extend medical services at one rupee.Apart from providing emergency help to railway accident victims in the golden hour, the clinic will have MBBS doctors 24x7 for patients with routine illness. There will also be visiting doctors like specialists in skin disease, diabetes and gynaecology . A pathology lab will be set up offering tests at a discount and pharmacists will sell medicines at discounted rates.
84. The Bombay high court has declared that a circular that made it compulsory for litigants to file petitions only in Marathi was “illegal“. Hearing a petition by two advocates, a division bench of Justices Vidyasagar Kanade and Chandrakant Bhadang directed that petitions filed in English should be accepted by the Panvel court.
85. At a time when several public projects in the state are stuck because of opposition from farmers to part with their land, two farmers from a small village in Akola have voluntarily donated a sizeable piece of their agricultural land for construction of a stone dam.
86. The enforcement directorate (ED) on Wednesday opposed the bail plea of Aamir Gazdar, a close aide of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) founder Zakir Naik, on the grounds that the investigation is not complete. The ED said further investigations are on to identify other proceeds of crime and efforts were on to locate Naik and his other associates. Gazdar was arrested for his alleged involvement in a money-laundering case. The special judge adjourned the bail hearing to May 15.
87. Two law students on Tuesday filed a petition before the Bombay high court seeking directions to the Mumbai University to declare the revaluation results within 45 days from the date of application. The students even requested that the next exam (Allowed-To-Keep-Term exam or ATKT), in which they had failed, be held at least15 days after the declaration of the revaluation results.
88. The MNS party workers and people who lost property in the blast in Probace factory on May 26 last year, organized a protest march in Kalyan on Wednesday, demanding compensation.
89. Due to water scarcity in the newly-merged 27 villages in Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), the irrigation department has ordered to give additional 25 MLD water to KDMC.
90. Passengers Day was celebrated at the airport on Wednesday.Eleven years ago Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) signed an MoU with AAI to take over the airport.
91. The Shanmukhananda Fine Arts Sangeetha Sabha will celebrate the 250th birth anniversary of the poet saint Thyagaraja on Thursday.
92. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis appointed Maharashtra Kesari Vijay Chaudhari as Dy SP on Wednesday.
93. Thanks to the Supreme Court, a 35 year-old destitute HIV positive woman, facing complications in her 26-week pregnancy arising from a sexual assault, will get treatment in the country's premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
94. The Centre on Wednesday notified the pending implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission for the armed forces, which was kept in abeyance after the Army , Navy and IAF complained last year that their persisting salary anomalies had not been rectified by the panel.
95. At least 10 jawans of Gadchiroli district police and the 37 battalion of the CRPF were injured in two separate incidents at Bhamragarh taluka in Gadchiroli on Wednesday .
96. India's biggest and oldest opium factory , the Government Opium and Alkaloid Works in Ghazipur, has been closed for more than one month for failing to comply effluent discharge standards. Workers point out this is probably the first time that the work has come to a standstill at the factory.
97. A condemned prisoner's proficiency in Gandhian thoughts, painting skills and acquisition of a pre-bachelor degree in jail while awaiting execution failed to convince the Supreme Court on Wednesday about his reformation to spare him the gallows.
98.The umbrella body of the Maratha community , Maratha Mahasangh, approved a new code of conduct recently, paving the way for curbs on lavish weddings. Over 40 Maratha organisations passed a resolution seeking to end some customs that involve huge expenses during weddings. The organisations met in Kolhapur last week to discuss issues affecting the community , which forms over 30% of the state's population.
99. Eight days after they played host to BJP chief Amit Shah in West Bengal's Naxalbari, adivasi couple Geeta and Raju Mahali joined TMC on Wednesday , triggering a showdown between the two parties.
100. In the third such incident in last 48 hours, terrorists looted Rs 3 lakh from a bank in Kakapora area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Wednesday , less than two hours after four masked men, carrying guns, robbed Rs 5 lakh from El laquai Dehati Bank in Wahibugh village of the district. On Tuesday , unidentified gunmen had barged into the Yaripora branch of the same bank and taken away Rs 65,000, and on May 1, terrorists had attacked a cash van of J&K Bank and shot dead five policemen and two bank guards in Kulgam district in south Kashmir.
101. The beheadings of Indian soldiers on the Indian side of the line of control in J&K, while escalating India-Pakistan tensions, once again serves to underline the Pakistan military's role as the primary de-estabilising force in south Asia.
102. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh on Wednesday sought a hardened stand by India against Pakistan following the mutiliation of two Army soldiers, including one from Tarn Taran, adding that country needs a full-time defence minister.
103. After accusing the Telangana government of trapping Muslim youth to join terror group, Islamic State, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh has said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (trs) regime recently enacted 12% job quota for Muslims at the behest of BJP to polarise the state along communal lines AND squeeze out Congress from the local political matrix.
104. A war of attrition appears to be on between India and Iran over Tehran's delay in awarding contract for a major gas field. A move by Indian state-run refiners to reduce Iranian oil imports has prompted Iran to retaliate by reducing the credit period by a third and raising ocean freight.
105. The road transport ministry's rush to mandate RFID tags in vehicles without adequate infrastructure has meant that 73 lakh vehicles manufactured over the last couple of years carry dud tags, which may need to be refixed or updated.
106. Crediting PM Narendra Modi's flagship Swachh Bharat Mission with being key to India climbing up the rankings of the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index, Union minister for culture and tourism, Mahesh Sharma, said on Wednesday tourist experience in India improved as a result of greater cleanliness in and around tourist areas. India is among the 15 mostimproved countries on the global index and has moved up 12 notches from 52 in 2015 to 40 this year. Spain remains on top of the index, while Yemen brings up the rear ranked 136.
107. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently demonstrated an environment-friendly solar hybrid electric car, designed and developed using in-house resources, at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvanathanapuram. The announcement about the car was made this week.
108. A group of Pakistani schoolchildren and their teachers, who had come to India as part of an `exchange for change' initiative, organised by NGO Routes 2 Roots, had to hastily depart. They had barely settled into Delhi when they had to cut short their trip and head back across the border.
109. A solar system 10.5 light years away is “remarkably simi lar“ to our own, according to astronomers. The discovery could have huge implications for our understanding of how our own planet and its neighbours were formed.Found in the constellation Eradinus, the system, scientists say , around the star Epsilon Eridani looks remarkably similar to ours.And it's the closest that includes a star which is like a youthful version of our own. Epsilon Eridani is one-fifth the sun's age.
110. An 18-year-old student from Mexico has designed a bra that can help in the early detection of breast cancer, an innovation that has won him the top prize at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA).
111. Chinese scientists claim to have built the world's first quantum computing machine that is said to perform a set of calculations 24,000 times faster than has been done until now.
112. A police spokesman says the suspected gunman and a second person are dead in an apparent murder-suicide on the campus of a community college in suburban Dallas. Irving police spokesman James McLellan says it doesn't appear anyone else was hurt in the shooting on Wednesday at North Lake College.
113. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has been injured and one of his deputies killed in an air strike in northeast Nigeria, civilian and security sources said on Wednesday .
114. North Korea on Wednesday confirmed the detention of another American citizen for alleged acts of hostility aimed at overthrowing the country .
115. Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that she's taking responsibility for her 2016 election loss but believes misogyny , Russian interference and questionable decisions by the FBI influenced the outcome. The former Democratic presidential nominee offered extensive comments about the election during the Women for Women International's annual luncheon in New York.
116. A Playboy model has angered a Maori tribe with a naked selfie atop a sacred mo untain. Jaylene Cook was slammed for being `culturally insensitive' after she shared the “inappropriate“ snap from New Zealand's Mount Taranaki on Instagram. The model, who has nearly 300,000 followers, took the picture after climbing to the top of the volcano a few days ago with her partner Josh Shaw.
117. In Vivo IPL 2017 Rising Pune Super Giants Won against Kolkatta Knight Riders by 4 wickets.
4. Reserve Bank of India has sent notices to at least eight companies amid concerns of round-tripping of funds and violation of rules on foreign loans.
5. Indians who buy lottery tickets may have to shell out more to take a chance on fortune under the goods and services tax (GST), which is expected to be rolled out on July 1. The government is looking to put lottery tickets in the 28% GST bracket, the highest slab, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
6. The RSS-mentored Muslim Rashtriya Manch, which is scheduled to meet at Piran Kaliyar near Roorkee on May 5 and May 6, will tell Muslim families to adopt cows and learn about their benefits.It will also ask madrasas to train students on the “ethos of Bharat“. Construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya, deciding a place where the Babri Masjid could be rebuilt and triple talaq will also be discussed at the two-day event. Over 300 moulvis are expected to participate in the meeting.
7. India and the US are working on three sets of dates in June and July for PM Modi's possible state visit. Modi has engagements in Ger many, Spain, Russia and Kazakhstan that will end by June 9. It will be Modi's first visit to the US after Donald Trump assumed presidency . Issues likely to figure during a ModiTrump dialogue include H-1B visa, Af-Pak, west and east Asian situation, stability of Asia-Pacific region and challenges from ISIS.
8. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday pitched for a “free and vibrant press“ and said it is “vital for democracy“. He said this on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day .
9. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), in its one page pro forma submitted to the Law Commission, has opposed any probable amendments to triple talaq.
10. Former Union minister and senior advocate Salman Khurshid was on Wednesday allowed by the Supreme Court to assist it in the hearing of a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of `triple talaq', `nikah halala' and polygamy practices among the Muslims.
11. The Muslim Rastriya Manch national executive committee will discuss a proposal for adopting minor children of Muslim women divorced through triple talaq.MRM is a body floated by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.MRM's Bengal unit has prepared a preliminary list of such children in several districts and has proposed to provide them free education.
12. Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav has threatened to form a new secular front if Akhilesh Yadav did not hand over the reins of the party to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
13. For effective implementation of its cleanliness mission, the government will establish a national centre at Rajghat here to monitor the progress of the PM's pet programme. The Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra will be set up by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation at the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, Rajghat to monitor the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission, rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
14. Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has asked the BJP-led central government to “save the country first and then cow“. Addressing party workers at Bandra's Ranga Sharda auditorium in Mumbai on Wednesday, Thackeray said: “Now, someone is going to issue Aadhar cards for cows. Save cows, but first save the country. We will be ok only if the country is safe.“
15. BSP chief Mayawati has alleged that BJP is exploiting people and raising slogans of patriotism and `gau raksha' (cow protection) to divert the attention of people from its wrongdoings.
16. A court here on Wednesday fixed for May 6 the consideration of a chargesheet against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and others in a disproportionate assets case.
17. Uttar Pradesh ATS on Wednesday arrested a suspected ISI agent in Faizabad and nabbed another for questioning. In a joint operation conducted by UP ATS, Military Intelligence and UP Intelligence, Aftab Ali was picked up from Faizabad in the evening, IG ATS Aseem Arun said.
18. A counsel for the Union government has told the country's top court that details of the unique Aadhaar card may have reached the public domain from sources other than the authority storing the data, stoking concerns that the system protecting the citizens' biometric information was far from foolproof.
19. India on Wednesday upped the ante vis-avis Pakistan by summoning its envoy as well as sending back 50 students from the neighbouring country to protest beheading of two soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir. It also claimed evidence of blood trail to prove that perpetrators were Pak army men.
20. A crackdown on illegal sand mining rampant in Uttar Pradesh could soon figure on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's agenda following a letter by Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave drawing his attention to the key issue and urging him to counter it by permitting `adequate' sand mining leases.
21. Kumar Vishwas one of the founder members of AAP who did not hold any key position so far, has now been given the charge of building the party's cadre in Rajasthan, taking over the responsibility from Manish Sisodia, deputy chief minister of Delhi.
22. BJP has fixed an ambitious aim of winning all 80 seats and touch a 70% voteshare in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 general elections. The party is launching a big drive from May 10, targeting to win the upcoming state municipal polls first and use that as a precursor for the 2019 battle.
23. The Maharashtra government seems to be going the whole hog on reforms, with the state bringing back a crucial amendment in the Industrial Disputes Act that allows companies employing up to 300 workers to lay them off or shut down a plant without first seeking the state's consent. The current limit that allows companies to lay off workers without seeking the state government's approval is 100.
24. Uttar Pradesh ATS on Wednesday arrested a suspected ISI agent in Faizabad and nabbed another for questioning. In a joint operation conducted by UP ATS, Military Intelligence and UP Intelligence, Aftab Ali was picked up from Faizabad in the evening, IG ATS Aseem Arun said.
25. Having decided to put up a joint Opposition candidate in the presidential elections, Opposition leaders are now working to overcome fault lines in the Opposition for ensuring larger unity. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and JDU's Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav have made an action plan to deploy most acceptable emissaries to woo parties that may not support a joint candidate due to rivalry with another Opposition party .
26. The Congress in Northeast India appears to be following the lead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in creating a coordinating layer of management that would include party leaders from the Seven Sisters.
27. The May 14 elections to seven municipalities in West Bengal will be a direct fight between the BJP's pro-Hinduvta campaign and Mamata Banerjee's politics of defection. Even though Congress and CPM are in the fray , the actual fight will be restricted between BJP and Trinamool Congress.
28. India is closely watching China’s growing influence over Southeast Asian countries. Although India has undertaken infrastructure and capacity building projects in these countries over the past three years, under the Narendra Modi government’s Act East Policy, experts warn that massive Chinese investments under its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative may create political and economic instability in the region, impacting India.
29. Realty developers and property brokers in Mumbai, the county's hottest property market, and the rest of Maharashtra are rushing to register their projects and themselves, respectively, under the newly-implemented Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in the state.
30. The first four months of 2017 have been the best for Indian stocks in over a decade. Ignoring worries about tepid earnings growth and the impact of demonetisation on the economy, the Sensex has gained more than 19% so far this year in dollar terms.
31. The rupee gained 6 paise on Wednesday to close at 64.15 against the US currency on sustained dollar unwinding by exporters and banks, extending its gains for a second session. Overall forex market sentiment remained cautious with the US Fed monetary policy meet outcome taking the centre stage. The home currency largely trapped in a narrow range and oscillated between 64.1025 and 64.1675 throughout the session. The rupee resumed substantially higher at 64.12 compared to previous close of 64.21.
32. The listed multiplex companies, including PVR and Inox Leisure, are expected to be affected partially in the short term by the Karnataka government's decision to cap movie ticket prices at `200, inclusive of taxes. However, the medium-term impact depends on the extent of theatre occupancy once the decision is implemented and quality of movie content.
33. Investors hoping to benefit from the government's push towards affordable housing and infrastructure sectors can look to subscribe to the initial public offering of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Government of India.
34. A global shortage of raw cashew has kept prices escalated at unprecedented highs affecting India's cashew industry. India, the largest consumer of the nut and a major exporter of processed cashew kernels, meets about 60-70% of its processing needs through imports. The Indian cashew production has been stagnant for the past few years with output ranging 6-7 lakh tonnes while the country's processing capacity has ex panded to 2 million tonnes. India imports 9-10 lakh tonnes of raw cashew to process and export as kernels.
35. Mumbai's Shree Siddhivinayak Temple is considering to keep gold it receives from devotees as offerings under the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) for 12 years, as the long tenure will help it earn 2.5% annual interest. Earlier, the temple had kept gold under GMS for a medium term, earning 2.25% a year.
36. The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) on Wednesday arrested BB Rajendra Prasad, an income tax commissioner, Pradeep Mittal, a managing director of the Essar Group, and four others over graft allegations. Prasad, who is a tax officer of appeals for the department, is a 1992 batch IAS officer. According to the CBI spokesperson, the accused had allegedly demanded bribe for favouring a private Indian company in an ongoing tax case.
37. Ahead of the crucial May 7 SGM of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) has warned the state units not to take any decision that may be “against the interest of Indian cricket“.
38. The government has decided to set up inter-ministerial panels to examine financial woes of telecom and power companies and recommend solutions, communications minister Manoj Sinha said on Wednesday.
39. Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged while signalling they'll look past a recent deceleration in US economic growth.
40. The All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) on Wednesday reiterated their demand for a total ban on online sales of drugs and opposed the government plan to set up new e-portal to check antimicrobial resistance and substandard drugs.
41. The Paradip Port Trust hopes to auction land for the proposed smart industrial port city project in July.
42. US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had what the White House called a “very good“ call during which they agreed to step up efforts to cooperate on resolving the Syria conflict and the fight against terrorism. The two leaders spoke by phone for the first time since US relations with Russia were strained by US missile strike on Syrian airfield and allegations of Moscow's interference in US elections.
43. At least eight civilians and an attacker were killed here on Wednesday in a suicide bomb attack on a convoy of the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
44. Alitalia's administrators will start taking bids for the troubled Italian airline within the next 15 days, the government said on Wednesday.
45. China plans to launch its own online encyclopaedia next year, hoping to build a “cultural Great Wall“ that can rival Wikipedia as a go-to information source for Chinese Internet users who Beijing fears are being corrupted by foreign influences.
46. President Donald Trump said he was confident he could broker a Middle East peace deal, telling Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas at the White House that he wanted to prove skeptics wrong that an accord can be reached after seven decades of conflict.47. The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator insisted on Wednesday that Britain's accounts must be settled before any talks on its future trade relationship with the EU can take place, as he warned that time is running out to seal a deal by 2019.
48. As the United States adapts to the presidency of Donald Trump and faces rising tensions abroad, Berkshi re Hat haway Inc shareholders will descend on Omaha, Nebraska this weekend seeking reassurance, from Warren Buffett.
49. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new steel policy that envisions an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore to build more capacity in the steel sector. The policy has planned for a steel demand of about 230 million tonne by 2030-31.
50. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has asked state-run firms to follow guidelines on capital restructuring and expedite exemption proposals.
51. The India Integrated Transport and Logistics Summit is expected to attract investments worth Rs 2 lakh crore, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. The summit, which starts from Thursday, will see participation from leading highways and shipping players from countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi.
52. With India telling Pakistan that blood samples of beheaded soldiers and a blood trail near the Line of Control (LoC) establishes its complicity, defence minister Arun Jaitley asked citizens to trust the capability of the Indian Army to respond to the outrage.
53. The Cabinet recommended on Wednesday an ordinance empowering the RBI to instruct banks to act against top 20-25 loan defaulters as part of a series of steps aimed at helping lenders get bad debt off their books.
54. Miffed with Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's statement that Telangana police set up a fake IS website to radicalise Muslim youth, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is likely to support NDA in the presidential election. TRS has 17 MPs and 82 MLAs and has a voting strength of 22,048 in the presidential election.
55. Automobile dealers will have to install FasTags in all new cars from August, reports Dipak Dash. The earlier deadline was October but the PMO wanted it advanced. A tag allows you to sail through toll plazas as you can load cash in it. So far, the road transport ministry's rush to mandate RFID tags, without infrastructure, has led to 73 lakh vehicles manufactured over the past two years carrying dud tags.
56. The Congressled Karnataka government on Wednesday defended in the Supreme Court its law granting protection to `gau rakshaks' to prevent cow slaughter in the state and pleaded with the court to dismiss a PIL challenging constitutional validity of the law. Six states--Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP , Maharashtra, Karnataka and Jharkhand--have framed a law to protect gau rakshak dals in their states.
57. A man grabbing a woman's hand in public and saying “I love you“ can be defined as outraging her modesty, a special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court at Dindoshi recently held. The court made the observation while sentencing a 22-year-old man to one year in jail for accosting a 16-yearold girl in 2015.
58.The Centre unveiled its plan in the Supreme Court on Wednesday to replace a nearly two-decade old `national policy on older persons'.
59. Flyers may no longer need to get boarding cards torn before boarding by airline personnel who keep the stub with them. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has amended the “mandatory stub retention policy“, allowing airlines to keep digital records of passengers.
60. Private equity majors TPG and General Atlantic Partners are joining forces to make a $1.8-billion bid for healthcare assets Fortis Healthcare and Fortis Malar of sibling promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.
61. The co-pilot of an IndiGo aircraft with almost 150 people on board flying from Kolkata to Hyderabad on April 27 fainted inside the cockpit, necessitating the commander to declare Mayday and divert the flight to Bhubaneswar.
62. A batch of 70 students from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) at Kadus village near Pune has cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains. All the students come from extremely poor families across the country.
63.Two alleged ISI operatives were arrested on Wednesday for spying on Indian Army bases in UP and Punjab. Aftab Ali was arrested from Faizabad district in UP, while his aide, Altaf Qureshi, was picked up from Pydhonie in Mumbai.
64. A 30-year-old lawyer from Breach Candy , facing trial for charges, including that of “unnatural sex“, has approached the Bombay high court urging it to quash them.The lawyer got into trouble just four months after his marriage to a Mahim girl, when she and his father-inlaw discovered a “sex video“ of him allegedly indulging in “unnatural sex“ with his girlfriend. Besides dowry harassment, police booked him under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
65. The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said that a police officer cannot testify confessions made to him by an approver in the Sheena Bora murder case. The court allowed petitions filed by Peter Mukerjea and wife Indrani, both accused of conspiring and murdering Sheena, her biological daughter from a former relationship, to prevent a police officer from testifying details of disclosures made by an approver, in this case their driver.
66. A week after the Bombay HC granted bail to accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in the 2008 Malegaon blast, she has moved the trial court seeking discharge in the case. The National Investigation Agency will submit its reply .
67. Two eight-year-old children who had gone for a swim in Thane's Kalwa creek drowned on Wednesday .
68. The city crime branch probing the alleged sex and drug racket Shifu Sunkriti involving `cult guru' Sunil Kulkarni, on Wednesday told a magistrate's court that he had forged the signature of a girl who was among his followers on a cheque for Rs 15 lakh. Following the development, police have booked him under additional IPC sections of cheating, forgery and breach of trust.
69. A Persian cat named Sultan was reunited with his owners recently , thanks to its image which was circulated on WhatsApp by a group of animal volunteers from Santacruz.
70. Even as Catholics are protesting the recent demolition of a Holy Cross on Bazaar Road in Bandra, an incident of desecration of a Jesus Christ statue was reported in Kalina in Santacruz (east) on Wednesday . Within two hours of the incident, the Vakola police arrested a habitual thief and drug addict, Suresh Ba laji Gadge. During interrogation, Gadge has told the police that he threw a stone and broke the statue to steal a gold chain on it.
71. A man who posed as a mason entered the flat of a senior citizen couple in Girgaum and fled with gold ornaments worth Rs 53,000 after assaulting one of them on Tuesday afternoon.
72. A prominent city club is facing a tax inquiry for income earned from non-sporting activities. The I-T appellate tribunal has asked the director of incometax (exemptions) to carry out a fresh detailed inquiry into various activities of MIG Cricket Club to determine whether it is eligible for income-tax exemption. If commercial activities exceed the stipulated limits laid down in the I-T Act, tax exemption available to an entity under Section 11 can be denied.
73.After cracking down on noise pollution from loudspeakers, the Bombay high court has indicated that its next target will be the cacophony created by traffic and honking.
74.Jet Airways and Air India have extended special privileges to students going abroad to study this summer. According to a market report, while over 4,00,000 students from India travelled abroad for studies in 2016-17 academic year, the market has been growing at 17% per annum.
75. A 32-year-old `serial molester' from Andheri was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sexually abusing two minor girls, days after he was released on bail in a rape case. The Sahar police booked the accused, Dinesh Panchal, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He has been remanded in police custody .
76. NCP corporator Liyakat Shaikh, who is also leader of opposition in the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC), has been arrested by police for his involvement in an alleged land-grab case involving forgery of documents.
77. The Nerul police arrested a man who was wanted since a year in a job scam.The man has allegedly conned 22 persons of Rs 48 lakh by giving them fake appointment letters for the post of clerk in the state Public Works Department.
78. Corporators have alleged that road contractors are yet again using the excuse of quarries being shut and are blackmailing the BMC to not complete road repair works on time.
79. Eighty-three days after she landed in Mumbai amid flashing camera lights, Egyptian Eman Ahmed--until recently the heaviest woman in the world at 500kg--will leave the city on Thursday in a special ambulance driven along a green corridor organized by Mumbai Police.
80. Hours before Eman Ahmed leaves for the UAE, her sister Shaimaa Semil has issued a letter alleging that Eman's health had worsened in the last three months and clarifying her stance on shifting her out for further treatment.
81. A 28-year-old dental laboratory assistant was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly sexually molesting an 11-yearold relative in Chimatpada in Andheri. The Sahar Airport police booked him under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and for unnatural sex. He has been remanded in custody till May 9.
82. A district sessions court is likely to pronounce its order in a multi-crore drug case involving former actor Mamta Kulkarni and her partner Vicky Goswami, who is in a US jail, after the prosecution sought to initiate proceedings of pro clamation notice against them.
83. Medical facilities that will charge patients Re 1 will come up at five Central Railway (CR) stations in about two months. The railways will provide space free of cost and a clinic has agreed to extend medical services at one rupee.Apart from providing emergency help to railway accident victims in the golden hour, the clinic will have MBBS doctors 24x7 for patients with routine illness. There will also be visiting doctors like specialists in skin disease, diabetes and gynaecology . A pathology lab will be set up offering tests at a discount and pharmacists will sell medicines at discounted rates.
84. The Bombay high court has declared that a circular that made it compulsory for litigants to file petitions only in Marathi was “illegal“. Hearing a petition by two advocates, a division bench of Justices Vidyasagar Kanade and Chandrakant Bhadang directed that petitions filed in English should be accepted by the Panvel court.
85. At a time when several public projects in the state are stuck because of opposition from farmers to part with their land, two farmers from a small village in Akola have voluntarily donated a sizeable piece of their agricultural land for construction of a stone dam.
86. The enforcement directorate (ED) on Wednesday opposed the bail plea of Aamir Gazdar, a close aide of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) founder Zakir Naik, on the grounds that the investigation is not complete. The ED said further investigations are on to identify other proceeds of crime and efforts were on to locate Naik and his other associates. Gazdar was arrested for his alleged involvement in a money-laundering case. The special judge adjourned the bail hearing to May 15.
87. Two law students on Tuesday filed a petition before the Bombay high court seeking directions to the Mumbai University to declare the revaluation results within 45 days from the date of application. The students even requested that the next exam (Allowed-To-Keep-Term exam or ATKT), in which they had failed, be held at least15 days after the declaration of the revaluation results.
88. The MNS party workers and people who lost property in the blast in Probace factory on May 26 last year, organized a protest march in Kalyan on Wednesday, demanding compensation.
89. Due to water scarcity in the newly-merged 27 villages in Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), the irrigation department has ordered to give additional 25 MLD water to KDMC.
90. Passengers Day was celebrated at the airport on Wednesday.Eleven years ago Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) signed an MoU with AAI to take over the airport.
91. The Shanmukhananda Fine Arts Sangeetha Sabha will celebrate the 250th birth anniversary of the poet saint Thyagaraja on Thursday.
92. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis appointed Maharashtra Kesari Vijay Chaudhari as Dy SP on Wednesday.
93. Thanks to the Supreme Court, a 35 year-old destitute HIV positive woman, facing complications in her 26-week pregnancy arising from a sexual assault, will get treatment in the country's premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
94. The Centre on Wednesday notified the pending implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission for the armed forces, which was kept in abeyance after the Army , Navy and IAF complained last year that their persisting salary anomalies had not been rectified by the panel.
95. At least 10 jawans of Gadchiroli district police and the 37 battalion of the CRPF were injured in two separate incidents at Bhamragarh taluka in Gadchiroli on Wednesday .
96. India's biggest and oldest opium factory , the Government Opium and Alkaloid Works in Ghazipur, has been closed for more than one month for failing to comply effluent discharge standards. Workers point out this is probably the first time that the work has come to a standstill at the factory.
97. A condemned prisoner's proficiency in Gandhian thoughts, painting skills and acquisition of a pre-bachelor degree in jail while awaiting execution failed to convince the Supreme Court on Wednesday about his reformation to spare him the gallows.
98.The umbrella body of the Maratha community , Maratha Mahasangh, approved a new code of conduct recently, paving the way for curbs on lavish weddings. Over 40 Maratha organisations passed a resolution seeking to end some customs that involve huge expenses during weddings. The organisations met in Kolhapur last week to discuss issues affecting the community , which forms over 30% of the state's population.
99. Eight days after they played host to BJP chief Amit Shah in West Bengal's Naxalbari, adivasi couple Geeta and Raju Mahali joined TMC on Wednesday , triggering a showdown between the two parties.
100. In the third such incident in last 48 hours, terrorists looted Rs 3 lakh from a bank in Kakapora area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Wednesday , less than two hours after four masked men, carrying guns, robbed Rs 5 lakh from El laquai Dehati Bank in Wahibugh village of the district. On Tuesday , unidentified gunmen had barged into the Yaripora branch of the same bank and taken away Rs 65,000, and on May 1, terrorists had attacked a cash van of J&K Bank and shot dead five policemen and two bank guards in Kulgam district in south Kashmir.
101. The beheadings of Indian soldiers on the Indian side of the line of control in J&K, while escalating India-Pakistan tensions, once again serves to underline the Pakistan military's role as the primary de-estabilising force in south Asia.
102. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh on Wednesday sought a hardened stand by India against Pakistan following the mutiliation of two Army soldiers, including one from Tarn Taran, adding that country needs a full-time defence minister.
103. After accusing the Telangana government of trapping Muslim youth to join terror group, Islamic State, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh has said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (trs) regime recently enacted 12% job quota for Muslims at the behest of BJP to polarise the state along communal lines AND squeeze out Congress from the local political matrix.
104. A war of attrition appears to be on between India and Iran over Tehran's delay in awarding contract for a major gas field. A move by Indian state-run refiners to reduce Iranian oil imports has prompted Iran to retaliate by reducing the credit period by a third and raising ocean freight.
105. The road transport ministry's rush to mandate RFID tags in vehicles without adequate infrastructure has meant that 73 lakh vehicles manufactured over the last couple of years carry dud tags, which may need to be refixed or updated.
106. Crediting PM Narendra Modi's flagship Swachh Bharat Mission with being key to India climbing up the rankings of the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index, Union minister for culture and tourism, Mahesh Sharma, said on Wednesday tourist experience in India improved as a result of greater cleanliness in and around tourist areas. India is among the 15 mostimproved countries on the global index and has moved up 12 notches from 52 in 2015 to 40 this year. Spain remains on top of the index, while Yemen brings up the rear ranked 136.
107. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently demonstrated an environment-friendly solar hybrid electric car, designed and developed using in-house resources, at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvanathanapuram. The announcement about the car was made this week.
108. A group of Pakistani schoolchildren and their teachers, who had come to India as part of an `exchange for change' initiative, organised by NGO Routes 2 Roots, had to hastily depart. They had barely settled into Delhi when they had to cut short their trip and head back across the border.
109. A solar system 10.5 light years away is “remarkably simi lar“ to our own, according to astronomers. The discovery could have huge implications for our understanding of how our own planet and its neighbours were formed.Found in the constellation Eradinus, the system, scientists say , around the star Epsilon Eridani looks remarkably similar to ours.And it's the closest that includes a star which is like a youthful version of our own. Epsilon Eridani is one-fifth the sun's age.
110. An 18-year-old student from Mexico has designed a bra that can help in the early detection of breast cancer, an innovation that has won him the top prize at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA).
111. Chinese scientists claim to have built the world's first quantum computing machine that is said to perform a set of calculations 24,000 times faster than has been done until now.
112. A police spokesman says the suspected gunman and a second person are dead in an apparent murder-suicide on the campus of a community college in suburban Dallas. Irving police spokesman James McLellan says it doesn't appear anyone else was hurt in the shooting on Wednesday at North Lake College.
113. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has been injured and one of his deputies killed in an air strike in northeast Nigeria, civilian and security sources said on Wednesday .
114. North Korea on Wednesday confirmed the detention of another American citizen for alleged acts of hostility aimed at overthrowing the country .
115. Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that she's taking responsibility for her 2016 election loss but believes misogyny , Russian interference and questionable decisions by the FBI influenced the outcome. The former Democratic presidential nominee offered extensive comments about the election during the Women for Women International's annual luncheon in New York.
116. A Playboy model has angered a Maori tribe with a naked selfie atop a sacred mo untain. Jaylene Cook was slammed for being `culturally insensitive' after she shared the “inappropriate“ snap from New Zealand's Mount Taranaki on Instagram. The model, who has nearly 300,000 followers, took the picture after climbing to the top of the volcano a few days ago with her partner Josh Shaw.
117. In Vivo IPL 2017 Rising Pune Super Giants Won against Kolkatta Knight Riders by 4 wickets.
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