Top 10 business headlines: Google Shopping, FDI target, Amazon sales & more

From Amazon India to Indian IT firms, BS brings you top stories that made news on Saturday

How Google quietly became India's third-biggest e-commerce player

During the festive season in December last year, when country’s two biggest online marketplaces, Amazon India and Flipkart, scrambled to save their businesses from the onslaught of the new foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in e-commerce, search giant Google quietly went on expanding its merchant base through its platform Google Shopping. Read more here 

Small deposits, loans will continue to be MCLR based, says Rajnish Kumar

A day after State Bank decided to link its short-term loans and large savings deposits rates to the repo rate, chairman Rajnish Kumar Saturday said loans and deposits below Rs 1 lakh will continue to be linked to the present MCLR to protect retail customers from market vagaries. Read more here 

After FDI prick, Amazon back in the ring with record number of merchants

Amazon India seems to be back on track after adding over 50,000 sellers since January. Their numbers are at an all-time high, at 450,000 merchants.

This is after making drastic changes in its business model and going through a rapid transition to be compliant with foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in the e-commerce sector E-commerce firms had to change the way they functioned after the government enforced new FDI norms in the sector on February 1. More details here 

Apollo Hospitals looks at break-even for AHLL in next financial year

Apollo Health & Lifestyle (AHLL), a subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL) and one of the largest players in the retail health care segment in India, is expected to reach break-even on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) next financial year. Click here to read more

Credit Suisse to expand in-house workforce in India with new Pune facility

Global financial service provider Credit Suisse seeks to change Indian operations from service delivery centres to technology leadership centres with the launch of their smart facility in Pune. Credit Suisse announced its expansion to a new, smart working facility in the 44-acre EON Free Zone campus within the Special Economic Zone in Kharadi, Pune this week, as part of its strategy to establish India as a centre for technology innovation for the bank globally. Read more

Suresh Prabhu confident of meeting $100-billion FDI target by 2020

Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu said Saturday the government has set a target of attracting $100 billion in foreign direct investments over the next two years. Details here

IT firms compete for larger share of global engineering services contracts

Engineering services have emerged as the next growth segment for Indian IT services players with most firms taking aggressive steps to corner a larger share of the outsourcing deals. For instance, companies such as Infosys, with lesser presence in some segments of engineering services, have now reoriented their strategy to clinch more deals from marquee clients. Full report

New power projects, plan for stressed assets not enough, say experts

The Union government’s approval for new power projects and a plan to address stress in the sector are expected to revive investment but experts and the industry see the measures working only if backed by real changes in coal supply and power purchase. Read more here 

Domestic TV makers get fillip amid tug of war between govt, foreign players

Amid a tug-of-war between the government and foreign multinationals, local television manufacturers are ramping up production capacity. As major players such as Samsung and LG, among others, raise concerns over the ‘unfavourable’ manufacturing ecosystem in the country, Indian original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Super Plastronics (SPPL), Dixon Technologies and Mirc Electronics are pumping in money to expand capacity. More details

Five grand for mystery sushi. Seven for plastic cups. And more fuel than the plane could possibly hold.

Such are the deceptions stinging the billionaires and mere millionaires of today’s private jet-set class. In an era of ultra-wealth, reports of shady billing related to private-jet travel are on the rise. Read more