A culture shock awaits Mindtree employees under L&T

• Mindtree has an informal work culture: many of its employees call members of the founding team by their first names
• In contrast, Larsen and Toubro's (L&T) work culture is based on command-and-control and top-down management

BJP's first Lok Sabha candidate list out, PM Modi to contest from Varanasi

• PM Narendra Modi to contest from Varanasi, BJP president Amit Shah from Gandhinagar in place of L K Advani
• Union ministers V K Singh, Mahesh Sharma, Smriti Irani to fight from Ghaziabad, Noida, Amethi, respectively

Not a very Happy Holi for Nirav Modi in UK jail

• Nirav Modi, one of India's richest men accustomed to the high-life and celebrity circles around the world, will be faced with some harsh conditions at the prison
• The living conditions will certainly be in stark contrast to the luxury apartment at Centre Point in the West End of London where Modi has been living over the past year

Mindtree board to meet again on 26 March

• L&T has entered into a deal to buy Cafe Coffee Day owner V G Siddhartha's 20.32 % stake in Mindtree
• Mindtree CEO and promoter Rostow Ravanan said the company's board would deliberate on the buyback or the open offer within the framework of the law

Facebook fixes glitch that exposed millions of user passwords to employees

• Facebook said the issue was discovered in January as part of a routine security review
• The passwords were accessible to as many as 20,000 Facebook employees

How PNB fraud exposed chinks in India's banking industry

• Nirav Modi's arrest seen as a milestone in India's efforts to deal with those attempting to dupe the banking industry
• An increasing number of bank frauds has led to bankers becoming very cautious in making lending decisions

SBI stands by Jet Airways but wants Naresh Goyal to step down

• SBI asks Naresh Goyal, his wife Anita, and two nominee directors, Nasim Zaidi and Gaurang Shetty, to step down from the board as well as executive roles
• SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar says lenders would make all efforts to keep Jet Airways from slipping into bankruptcy

Pierer Industrie in talks with Bajaj Auto for 48% stake in KTM

• Bajaj Auto and Pierer Industrie AG have started discussions to assess the possibility of transferring Bajaj's 48% stake in KTM AG to KTM Industries AG
• The transaction decision is targeted to be made in the second quarter of 2019

Netflix may test low-cost mobile subscription in India 

• Currently the video-on-demand platform has plans starting at Rs. 500 per month in the country, much higher than rival players
• Amazon Prime Video charges ₹999 for a year and Hotstar that works with Rs1200 annually.

Reliance selling fuels from India to Venezuela to avoid US sanctions

• At least three vessels chartered by Reliance supplied refined products to Venezuela in recent weeks
• In a statement last week, Reliance said its US unit has completely stopped all business with PDVSA

Religare Enterprises rebranding Finvest after Singh brothers exit

• Religare Enterprises is looking to spruce up Religare Finvest under a new brand and investment of ₹600 crore to 're-orient' the business
• Religare Enterprises is in advanced talks with two marque domestic equity investors for growth capital for Religare Finvest

Facebook admits storing passwords in plain text

• The blunder was uncovered during a routine security review early this year, according to Canahuati
• The exact number had yet to be determined, but archives with unencrypted user passwords were found dating back to the year 2012

IndiGo continues to recruit expat and 'out-of-job' pilots

• Shortage of trained and experienced pilots has been an issue for domestic airlines amid capacity expansion
• IndiGo is facing acute shortage of commanders amid aggressive expansion of its fleet. The carrier has more than 210 planes in its fleet

Facebook eyeing investments in content startups in India

• Facebook is in early-stage talks with several content startups, including PoPXo for potential investments
• Any startup funding would also be a departure from Facebook’s usual strategy of buying companies outright

Smriti Irani to again take on Rahul Gandhi from Amethi

• The Congress has earlier announced the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh
• The Lok Sabha elections 2019 will be conducted in seven phases starting from 11 April and will continue till 19 May

Elections 2019: BJP confirms Kummanam Rajasekharan vs Shashi  Tharoor in Kerala

• Rajasekharan’s name has been doing the rounds since earlier this month he resigned as Mizoram Governor
• The BJP list also features a new face in Kerala’s poll fray, KS Radhakrishnan

Ford names Amazon veteran Tim Stone as CFO

• Tim Stone, 52, replaces Bob Shanks, who will retire at the end of 2019 after serving the company for 42 years
• Tim Stone will take over as CFO on 1 June

BJP retains most of its sitting MP's from Karnataka for Lok Sabha elections

• The BJP announced a total of 184 names in its first list including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah
• BJP's list coming out three days after nomination process began in Karnataka

Three gunfights on in Kashmir Valley, 1 militant killed

• Police said one militant was killed in the exchange of fire between security forces and the militants in Mir Mohalla of Hajin area in Bandipora
• The first gunfight erupted in Sopore town, two other gun battles were reported later from Bandipora and Baramulla districts

IL&FS Transportation Networks defaults on NCD payments due to insufficient funds

• IL&FS Transportation Networks said principal amount of the defaulted debentures is ₹20.80 crore and interest is ₹11.62 lakh
• Interest due for the period between 1 March to 17 March, 2019 and was not paid

Indonesia seeks answers as Ethiopian crash comparisons mount

• A final report on the Lion Air crash, which has taken on new urgency since the Ethiopian one, is expected in August
• Initial investigations show similarities between Ethiopian crash and Indonesian accident in Oct that killed all 189 crew and passengers

Tata to offer partial EU packaging sale for Thyssenkrupp deal approval: Sources

• The two steelmakers on Wednesday agreed an eight-day extension to a deadline for submitting remedies to the European Commission
• The people said no final decisions have been made and remedy proposals could still change or be amended before the new 1 April deadline

Opinion | How the govt may move on Nirav Modi extradition

Nirav Modi extradition case will follow a similar pattern through the UK courts as that of Vijay Mallya's

Nirav Modi arrested in London on India's extradition request, denied bail

• While Nirav Modi informed court of his intention to contest India’s extradition request, he also offered to post £500,000 for bail—which was rejected
• Nirav Modi's arrest, on the same day that Narendra Modi launched the 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign, should help BJP influence electoral optics

Mindtree board fails to decide on share buyback amid L&T takeover bid

• Mindtree says its board considered a share buyback proposal but decided to discuss it at a future date
• Larsen and Toubro (L&T) made a hostile takeover bid to buy up to 66% stake in Mindtree for around ₹10,800 crore

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza to be made at a Toyota India plant from 2022

• Toyota and Suzuki will also jointly develop a Toyota minivan that will be supplied to Suzuki in India
• Toyota and Suzuki seek to popularize hybrid-electric vehicles in India by sourcing of systems, engines and batteries locally

Jet pilots look to board SpiceJet as IndiGo captains seek to abort their entry

• According to IndiGo, all job offers are in line with its current terms and conditions
• Jet pilots along with engineers and senior management have not been paid for more than three months

Vodafone Idea prices ₹25,000 crore rights issue at ₹12.5 a share

• Vodafone Idea shareholders will be able to buy 87 shares for every 38 shares held for an issue price of ₹12.50 apiece, a 60% discount
• The rights issue will increase the number of Vodafone Idea shares by 229%, diluting it to 28.74 billion outstanding shares

Investors give a thumbs up to Embassy Office Parks REIT IPO

• As of 5.30pm on Wednesday, the Blackstone-Embassy REIT IPO was subscribed 2.58 times
• Institutional investors subscribed to 215% of the shares alloted for them in the Embassy REIT IPO, retail subscription stood at 310%

Jet Airways' pilots write to PM on non-payment of salaries

• While the airline is going through a tough financial phase, all employees except for pilots and engineers are getting paid on time: National Aviators Guild
• Two days ago, the Jet Airways' pilots had threatened to stop flying from 1 April if their pending salaries are not cleared by 31 March

HCL Technologies wins $1.3 billion contract from Xerox

• HCL Tech expects to generate $1.3 billion in revenue over the next seven years from its contract with Xerox
• The deal marks the renewal of HCL Tech’s engagement with Xerox, which had first awarded a ten-year contract in 2009

Bain Capital Ventures invests in crypto trading platform CoinDCX

• CoinDCX will use the funding from Bain Capital Ventures to scale its tech infra, introduce new products, says co-founder Sumit Gupta
• CoinDCX is looking to be a platform that provides investors with a complete set of financial instruments to trade their digital assets

Life after leprosy, India’s untamed disease

• One person is diagnosed with leprosy roughly every four minutes in India, accounting for 60% of all new leprosy cases annually
• Though leprosy is completely curable, the stigma associated with the disease and social isolation of those affected still persists

How the teams in IPL 2019 stack up on experience

When it comes to balancing myriad factors in team composition, last year’s finalists—Chennai and Hyderabad—look most settled in this year’s IPL too

How Ninjacart became a B2B agritech startup

• Ninjacart realised that while there was consumer demand for online vegetables marketplace, the supply side was too fragmented
• Ninjacart then pivoted to a B2B agritech platform to to solve one of the toughest agricultural supply chain problems at its root

MG Motor signs Benedict Cumberbatch as India brand ambassador

• Actor Benedict Cumberbatch has a lot in common with Morris Garages, says MG Motor India MD Rajeev Chaba
• The MG Hector SUV will be launched in 2019, followed by the rollout of electric cars by 2020

GSPC to sell 12 of its 21 hydrocarbon blocks to pare debt

• GSPC had hired consulting firm EY in 2016 to prepare a report on the stake sale, in an attempt to reduce its debt
• Five of the blocks put on sale are operated by ONGC, 3 by GNRL, 2 by GSPC, and 1 each by Sun Oil and Oilex

'Lower GST on luxury cars will help Mercedes sell more, benefit Indian economy'

• Mercedes-Benz India CEO Martin Schwenk says demand for luxury cars in India is likely to revive in the second half of 2019
• A higher GST rate on luxury cars, import duty structure impacts localization, says the CEO

Piramal Capital will look at new real estate deals from April: MD Khushru Jijina

• Piramal Capital MD Khushru Jijina on liquidity crunch in real estate, NBFC crisis and strategic shifts going forward
• In the long term, the shakeout and filtration among NBFCs needed to happen, says Jijina

In TB reality check, Lancet report says Indian, global goals unrealistic

• A tuberculosis-free world is possible only by 2045 and not 2030, the target year set by UN SDGs to end the epidemic, says a Lancet report
• Countries with high disease burden need to ensure that quality diagnostic tests and treatments are available, says the report

KKR said to raise first Asia real estate fund, targeting $1.5 billion

• The fundraising comes as private equity firms globally have expanded from a model of buying out companies to turn around and sell for profit
• KKR has been building out new capabilities outside traditional private equity investments in Asia

Govt lab retest confirms polio strain’s presence in Bio-Med samples

• The polio type 2 strain, believed to have been eradicated in 2016, emerged in the oral samples of Bio-Med
• Samples of Bio-Med’s polio vaccine were sent for retesting after the firm challenged the initial test results

New CM Pramod Sawant wins Goa floor test

• Twenty MLAs voted for the motion of confidence in the two-day old government, while 15 opposed it
• Pramod Sawant was sworn in as chief minister during the wee hours of Tuesday

Islamabad extends restrictions on its airspace for commercial flights

• Pakistan’s move has caused flight disruptions for domestic and foreign airlines operating in India
• A Pakistani civil aviation official, requesting anonymity, said that talks were on with the government to lift the restrictions

Tencent profit misses estimates as games slip, costs swell

• Net income fell 39% to $2.1 billion in the three months ended December
• Tencent is said to be clearing out about 10% of managers to make room for younger executives as it confronts a slowdown in growth

Value of China's metal e-waste to double to $24 billion by 2030: Greenpeace

• Greenpeace said rising consumption levels would take the potential economic value of recyclable metals in mobile phone and computer motherboards to about $23.96 bn by 2030
• If other electronic waste products are taken into account, the potential value would be higher

Boeing, FAA officials called to testify in US Senate on 737 MAX plane crashes

• The Senate hearing would be the first time that a US congressional committee has called Boeing executives to appear for questioning about 737 MAX passenger plane crashes
• For now, more than 350 MAX aircraft are grounded, and deliveries of nearly 5,000 more - worth more than $500 billion - are on hold

Facebook brings quoted message replies to Messenger

• To make use of the feature, users would have to long-press on the text to which they want to reply and tap on the "reply" icon
• The feature works for responding to individual GIFs, videos, emoji, text and photo messages

World's biggest AI startup exploring self-driving cars, global expansion

• SenseTime is actively seeking out investments in fellow startups that can benefit from its own technology
• SenseTime’s 200 AI scientists will prove invaluable in spotting investment opportunities beyond the dozen or so startups it’s already backed

Nissan cuts China sales outlook as car market sputters

• Nissan is cutting a future target for China car sales by about 8%
• The revision is being discussed as CEO Hiroto Saikawa embarks on a program to put profitability before growth in sales volume