City Chennai Financial News

Garuda Aerospace has expanded its operations in Sri Lanka, the first as part of its Global Garuda initiative which aims to increase the company’s presence in 50 countries, its chief executive officer, Agnishwar Jayaprakash, told ET. The Chennai-based company said it chose the island nation as the local drone policies were still developing and the new government was keen to promote technology and precision in agriculture and industries, seeking to reduce dependence on tourism. «We are traditionally a precision agricultural drone company. This year, we've seen revenues touch over Rs 100 crore and we saw a lot of attention coming in from overseas for our precision agriculture drones in particular. So we felt this was the right time to start making measured and cautious steps to expanding in overseas markets,” Jayaprakash said. “Sri Lanka because of its proximity to India, its developing drone regulation and smaller market was the perfect launchpad for us before venturing into other regions.»

Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday the bail plea of former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last year in connection with a money laundering case. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih is scheduled to hear Balaji's plea challenging the February 28 order of the Madras High Court dismissing his second bail petition in the case. The high court, while dismissing the bail petition, said that if he is let out on bail in a case of this nature, it will send a wrong signal and it will be against larger public interest. It said the petitioner has suffered incarceration for more than eight months and therefore, it will be more appropriate to direct the special court to dispose of the case within a time frame.

Somanathan as India's new cabinet secretary. A 1987 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer and current finance secretary, Somanathan will serve a two-year term, initially assuming the role of officer on special duty. He will take over India's top bureaucratic post on August 30, according to a statement from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). With a distinguished career spanning over three decades, he has held various key positions, including joint secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and joint secretary and additional secretary at the Prime Minister's Office. Bold Policy Reforms

TV Somanathan as the Cabinet Secretary of India. Somanathan who is currently the Finance Secretary of India will remain in office for a tenure of two years, starting August 30. He will discharge the duty of Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat from the date he joins the assignment till he takes over as the Cabinet Secretary. He was previously Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (2010-11), and Joint Secretary/ Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister from 2015 to 2017.

Indian Racing Festival has announced a year-long partnership with FanCode to stream live motorsports events to fans across India. This partnership will feature the Indian Racing League and the FIA Formula 4 Indian Championship, starting with the IRL 2024 season opener at the Madras International Circuit on August 24. The festival, now in its third year, aims to bring high-speed racing action from eight city-based teams to viewers across the nation.The Indian Racing Festival will include teams from Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata, competing for the championship title. A notable addition to this year’s festival is a groundbreaking night race on a street circuit in Chennai, a first for Indian motorsport. Prominent figures in Indian sports and entertainment, including Sourav Ganguly, Arjun Kapoor, and John Abraham, are also involved in the festival. Sourav Ganguly, who recently became the owner of the Kolkata Royal Tigers Racing team, Arjun Kapoor, who owns the Speed Demons Delhi team, and John Abraham, who owns the Goa Aces by JA Racing, will all participate in the event.

Bengaluru a 'Metro' status. Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, explained on Tuesday that under Rule 2A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, a distinction is maintained between the cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai, and other places concerning special allowance for residential accommodation under section 10(13A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The four designated metropolitan cities have a 50 per cent salary consideration for computing exemption limits, while other cities, including Bengaluru, have a 40 per cent limit, a Bangalore Mirror report stated.

residential sales across India’s top seven cities are expected to witness double digit growth in 2024-25. The area sold in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai is likely to increase 10-12% to 785-800 million sq ft in the current financial year, on a high base of 2023-24, said ratings agency ICRA. Despite the moderation in the sales growth rate, the overall sales velocity, collections, and inventory position are estimated to remain healthy in 2024-25. The launches are expected to rise 12% on-year to 767 million sq ft in the current financial year, on an aggregate basis across the top seven cities, supported by decadal low inventory, comfortable years-to-sell (YTS, calculated as unsold inventory/sales in last 12 months) and healthy demand.

Tarang Shakti, the IAF organised multinational exercise that will see the participation of air force units including from Germany and France got underway here on Tuesday and will see a number of advanced fighters and other aircraft taking to the skies as part of the various simulated scenario. Simulated scenario, including electronic warfare, would be part of the exercise being held in this western city, about 500 km from Chennai, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said "...we have at least six different types of IAF aircraft flying alongside the Eurofighter Typhoons and Rafale from the visiting countries...we have also simulated electronic warfare environment, we simulate radars, we simulate air defences and operate in some sort of a network environment against multiple kinds of opposition in every mission." «The whole idea is to be able to operate- you are aware that we are without a common data link with the visiting Air Forces, so we need to operate without a datalink. That itself is a very complex exercise. The main focus will be on what we call the large force engagements where large numbers of formations will be operating together,» the Air chief told reporters.

IndiGo cancelled scheduled flights to and from Dhaka with immediate effect on Monday due to the emerging situation in the wake of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigning amid unprecedented anti-government protests. A Vistara official said it operated the flight from Mumbai on Monday and the situation is being monitored for operations to Dhaka on Tuesday. While Air India operates two daily flights from Delhi to Dhaka, Vistara flies daily flights from Mumbai and three weekly services from Delhi to the Bangladesh capital. IndiGo has flights to Dhaka from the national capital, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The number of flights that are operated by the airline could not be immediately ascertained.

Bengaluru: Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India have leased approximately 53 million square feet of office space in key Indian cities between 2022 and the first half of 2024, such as a highly skilled workforce, cost advantages, and favourable business conditions, according to CBRE and Zyoin's latest report. This growth is expected to continue, especially in India's top six metropolitan areas like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai, due to factors which boast exceptional talent pools that are conducive to expansion and future development. In the first half of 2024, office leasing activity in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region across six significant cities increased 8% year-on-year. During the same period, GCCs contributed to around 37% of India's total office leasing activity.

Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, and Mahindra Lifespaces, the realty and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group, has set up a joint venture to develop over 16-17 million sq ft industrial and logistics real estate facilities across India. The joint platform Ample Parks is looking to acquire more than 700-750 acres land parcels across the country to develop these 15-17 industrial and logistics parks through greenfield and brownfield sites over the next five-six years. “India’s industrial and logistics sector represents a tremendous investment opportunity, with the country’s market strongly benefitting from a boom in consumer demand domestically and a realignment of supply chains globally in favour of India, with many corporations implementing a China Plus One strategy,” said Brian Chinappi, Partner, head of real estate at Actis.

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd and Actis have formed a joint venture platform 'Ample Parks' for the development of industrial and logistics parks and will build their first 70-acre project in Chennai. Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure, and Mahindra Lifespace have formally launched a joint venture Ample Parks, an indian industrial and logistics real estate developer and operator, according to a company statement. The joint venture (JV) Ample Parks aims to acquire and develop about 1.5 million square metres of greenfield and brownfield sites in key markets across India over the next few years. The JV aims to establish itself as a leading industrial and logistics real estate solutions provider to global and local corporations.

sports division and its employees will be absorbed into the India Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd (CSKCL), said people close to the development. UltraTech Cement is acquiring promoter N Srinivasan's stake in India Cements. The IPL team isn’t part of the acquisition. Srinivasan's daughter Rupa Gurunath, whole-time director of India Cements, will likely join the board of the IPL franchise. She has been directly involved in its management and will now spearhead expansion plans. India Cements has a strong sports tradition with cricket teams playing in the first division of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) league, along with support staff. The chairman of CSKCL is R Srinivasan, the promoter’s cousin.

Chennai: Classic Legends, a subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, and retailers of Jawa and Yezdi range of motorcycles in India has announced plans to open 200 retail showrooms every year, a top official said on Saturday. Classic Legends was also gearing up to launch the popular BSA range of motorcycles on August 15, company CEO Ashish Singh Joshi said here, after inaugurating a new outlet 'Swastik Motors' spread across 6,000 sq ft at Mount Poonamallee, dubbed as the largest showroom in the country. «We have about 450 dealerships currently. We have planned to take it up to 600 by this financial year. If you compare this with anybody else, we still have a long way to go. For the next few years, we will keep on adding 200 odd (showrooms) every year.» he told reporters. On setting up the largest showroom in the city, he said, «we are excited to open the doors to the country's largest Jawa Yezdi dealership in Chennai. Tamil Nadu is a significant market for us, and this expansion reflects our dedication to giving our patrons the best experience possible from the time they enter our store until they ride out on their brand-new motorcycle. We are optimistic that this facility will help us add many more enthusiasts to the clan.»

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said 97.92 per cent of the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes have returned to the banking system, and only Rs 7,409 crore worth of the withdrawn notes are still with the public. On May 19, 2023, the RBI announced the withdrawal of Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation. The total value of Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation, which was Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the close of business on May 19, 2023, when the withdrawal was announced, has declined to Rs 7,409 crore at the close of business on July 31, 2024. «Thus, 97.92 per cent of the Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as on May 19, 2023, has since been returned,» the central bank said in a statement.

Warehouse space take up during H1 2024 witnessed an absorption of 16.6 Mn sq ft, an increase of 8% over the same period a year ago.

India’s fast-expanding data centre industry is evolving beyond traditional hubs like Mumbai and Chennai, and expanding to emerging hotspots such as Kochi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Patna and Visakhapatnam as companies look to serve a growing but distributed user base across the country, executives from top companies said.

DMRC's collaboration with Airtel Payments Bank to provide digital payment solutions for commuters.WhatsApp stated that this new smart card recharge facility is available for all routes in the Delhi and NCR region, including the Rapid Metro in Gurugram. This feature extends the QR-based Delhi Metro ticketing system that Meta launched in 2024.

2024 witnessed absorption of over 30 million sq ft of office space, registering an uptick of 18% compared to H1 2023, according to property consultant Vestian. As the demand for grade-A office spaces is robust across the top seven cities of India, the entire year (2024) is expected to cross the 60 million sq ft mark again after peaking in 2023.

Tata International has planned to increase the share of its sustainable leather from 27% of its total production in FY24 to 50% in the next four years.