News digest: India Inc's Q1 funding needs, Wipro wins contract, and more

India Inc raised nearly 27 times more capital from non-bank sources than banks in the first quarter of FY19.

Wipro wins biggest contract of over $1.5 bn from Alight 

Information technology (IT) services company Wipro has won its largest contract to date from US-based human resources (HR) and financial solutions company Alight Solutions LLC. Read More

Independent directors of pvt banks face RBI heat

The regulatory noose for private banks will be tightened, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) setting in motion an exercise to “sensitise” their boards on the liability of independent directors under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), Companies Act, and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) if they are found wanting in the discharge of their duties. The central bank may even tighten the fit-and-proper criterion for such directors. Read More

Banks meet 4% of India Inc’s Q1 funding needs

India Inc raised nearly 27 times more 

capital from non-bank sources than banks in the first quarter (Q1) of 2018-19 (FY19). Companies raised ~104 billion as 

bank credit in Q1FY19, which is 3.62 per cent of their incremental funding requirement of ~2.87 trillion. Read More

FMCG to auto: Rural India on a spending spree 

A prominent cosmetics company was pleasantly surprised recently to find its premium lipstick and nail varnish brands doing unusually well in some of the rural markets. When it crunched the numbers, it found rural sales growth in many categories had surpassed some of the established markets in the big cities. Similarly, a distributor of another leading skin product company pointed out that every month new rural regions are showing impressive business. Read More

Where one size fits none: Developers plan a dozen mega malls

DLF, the country’s largest property developer, is planning to build a mega mall in Gurugram. According to sources, it will be bigger than its 2-million square (sq.) feet (ft) Mall of India in Noida, as it has a larger plot in Gurugram. Read More