City Pune Financial News

Amar Sadhuram Mulchandani, the ex-chairman of Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank, was arrested on July 1 and a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court sent him to ED custody till July 7, the federal probe agency said in a statement. «The arrest is made in connection with the ongoing investigation in the Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank fraud case in which the bank suffered a loss of Rs 429 crore in 124 NPA (non-performing assets) loan accounts.» «This has caused the bank to go bankrupt causing loss to thousands of small depositors,» the ED said. This is the fifth arrest by the agency in this case. The ED had earlier arrested a man named Sagar Suryawanshi, who took loans from the cooperative bank, two ED staffers working on contract at its Mumbai office and a «close associate» of Mulchandani for allegedly sharing «sensitive» information of this investigation in lieu of bribe.

office rentals remained stable during April-June at Rs 95 per square feet across six major cities as new supply rose 32 per cent, while demand grew by a modest 2 per cent, according to Colliers India. Real estate consultant Colliers India released its quarterly data of six major office markets — Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune — on Wednesday. Gross leasing of office space rose 2 per cent to 14.6 million square feet across top six cities during April-June, from 14.3 million square feet in the year-ago period, driven by technology, engineering & manufacturing sectors.

shopping/booking/hiring of products and services. One such interesting finds of the survey is that a smartphone consumer in India benefits by ₹6 for every Re 1 spent. The study also states that the economic value of smartphones for the rich is almost 50% higher in India as compared to the middle class.

Bajaj Finance reiterated their bullish outlook after the Pune-based non-bank lender's first-quarter business growth update took the Street by surprise, prompting brokerage houses to upgrade their recommendations and raise their respective price targets.Shares of Bajaj Finance rose as high as 8% to post their biggest single-day gain in nearly one year. The stock surged to near two-year high on Tuesday to close at ₹7,868 apiece on the NSE, up 7.3% from the previous close, extending its run of gains to six consecutive sessions.CLSA raised EPS estimates by 5-6% and upgraded the stock to buy. The global brokerage expects the stock to rise another 15% from the current levels.

Real estate consultant Knight Frank India said housing sales have dipped 1 per cent to 1,56,640 units in January-June from 1,58,705 units in the year-ago period. In contrast, gross office space leasing increased 3 per cent to 26.1 million square feet from 25.3 million square feet. c The period also witnessed second-highest half-yearly residential sales volume in 9.5 years.

Q2 as compared to the last quarter, mentioned a latest report by Cushman & Wakefield. According to the report, the office realty sector continues to witness a positive demand momentum with the half-yearly gross leasing volume standing at 33.1 msf, accounting for 46% of full year volume recorded in 2022 that was a historic high. Anshul Jain, Head of APAC Tenant Representation and Managing Director, India & South East Asia, commented – “India’s office real estate market continues with its growth momentum. A significant reason for its ability to buck the global recessionary headwinds is the rise in domestic demand. The entry of new GCCs and the ongoing expansion of the manufacturing and flex space segments are also helping the office sector widen its demand base. We can expect the exuberance seen last few quarters in office real estate to continue, if the momentum holds.” According to the report, Delhi NCR recorded the highest leasing volume of 3.6 msf which is 24.8% higher than the Q1-23 volumes. Pune and Bengaluru also recorded healthy leasing volumes of 3.1 msf & 3.0 msf respectively. Hyderabad, meanwhile, witnessed an impressive 61.7% Q-o-Q growth with the total leasing volume standing at 2.6 msf,” the report mentioned. The IT-BPM sector is the biggest contributor with 31% share of the total leasing volumes i.e around 5.3 msf. The flexible space, as an emerging asset class has a special role to play, the report further highlights. In H1-23, this segment once again contributed 13-14% to India’s GLV. With close to 15,700 seats take-up by enterprises in Q2, H1-23 saw total absorption of 36,500 seats across top-8 cities.

Pincode, a shopping app developed on the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), on Tuesday announced that it has gone live in 10 cities across India. The cities include Mumbai, Delhi, Nodia, Gurugram, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Kolkata.

US-based semiconductor company Microchip Technology has announced a $300 million investment plan to expand its operations in India, just days after similar moves from industry players Micron, Applied Materials, and Lam Research. To strengthen its presence in India, the company has inaugurated a new research and development (R&D) facility at One Golden Mile Office Tower in Hyderabad.

portfolio with total loans of ₹1,800 crore to Kotak Mahindra Bank-backed Phoenix Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) at an auction last week, said people aware of the development. The portfolio included six real estate accounts sold for ₹1,075 crore, equating to a 60% recovery for L&T Finance, the people said.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters. International collaborations using telescopes in Europe, India (uGMRT, the country’s largest telescope, is operated by the Pune-based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics) Australia and China independently reported similar results.

NEW DELHI : Brands across various industries are increasingly finding it difficult to secure high-quality real estate as a result of steep rentals, and an increase in the store expansion plans of both large and small brands. Several major retailers have attributed their post-covid expansion plans to make up for the slower pace of growth in 2020 and 2021. Now, with improved mobility and return of consumers to physical outlets, the pace of real estate expansion has picked up, outpacing the available supply in the market.

Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) on Monday said it has posted a credit growth of 24.93 per cent at Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the June quarter. The outstanding credit was Rs 1.40 lakh crore at the end of June 30, 2022, BoM said in a regulatory filing.

Setll has planned to expand its capacity by more than 2.5 times to 5,000 beds by the end of this fiscal and is looking to enter the Noida, Pune and Chennai markets, a senior executive said. The company, which focuses on providing rental accommodations to working professionals, currently has around 2000 beds across Bengaluru, Gurugram and Hyderabad across 40 centres. The Bengaluru-based startup charges between Rs 12,000 and Rs 18,000 per-bed.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at five different places in Maharashtra's Mumbai and Pune, said the officials on Monday. According to the officials, the searches are being carried out at five locations in connection to a case linked to an Islamic state. «The searches are still underway, at one place in Pune and four in Mumbai,» said the officials.

NDR Warehousing (“NDR”), one of India’s largest warehouse development and operating platforms. This comes after Investcorp led a $55 million investment round in NDR Warehousing last year.

Sharad Pawar on Monday said there was a need to fight forces creating communal divide in Maharashtra and the country.Addressing NCP workers and supporters in Karad a day after Ajit Pawar led a vertical split in the party to become the deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde-led government, Sharad Pawar also said «some of our people fell prey to BJP's tactics to break other parties.» «Attempts are being made to create communal divide in Maharashtra and the country. We need to fight forces that create fear among peace-loving citizens,» he said. «We need to protect democracy in the country,» he added. Sharad Pawar visited the memorial of his mentor and Maharashtra's first chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan in Karad and paid floral tributes to him. The 82-year-old leader's visit to late Chavan's memorial 'Pritisangam' on the occasion of Guru Purnima is being seen as a show of strength by him, a day after his nephew Ajit Pawar led a vertical split in the NCP.

NCP MLA Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of party chief Sharad Pawar, on Monday claimed senior leaders had an inkling of BJP's «intention» to break the party, but were clueless about Ajit Pawar's swift move to join hands with the ruling alliance. Speaking to reporters in Maharashtra's Pune city, Rohit Pawar said he is firmly with NCP chief Sharad Pawar. On Sunday, Ajit Pawar led a vertical split in the NCP to become the deputy chief minister, shocking his uncle Sharad Pawar, who founded the party 24 years ago. Eight NCP leaders were also sworn in as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Reacting to the developments, Rohit Pawar, the grandson of Sharad Pawar's elder brother Appasaheb Pawar, said, «We had no clue of Ajit Pawar joining hands with BJP. But the BJP was keen on breaking the NCP. We knew this much.» «However, going by all these developments, we wonder whether people like me made a mistake by joining politics,» he added.

Ajit Pawar and leaders like Praful Patel violated the party discipline by joining the Shinde-BJP government in Maharashtra, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Sunday. Pawar denied there was a split in the party and claimed more than NCP's future, he was worried about the political future of those who have joined Ajit Pawar. He was, however, not sure about the number of MLAs and leaders with him but claimed that people were with him.

Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland and Hero MotoCorp are accelerating the drive to employ more women in shop floors as they press hard on the pedal to enhance diversity. Once outsiders but no longer, thousands of women are now rolling out from two-wheelers to popular SUVs and heavy commercial vehicles across different factories of these companies.

bus accident on Samruddhi Expressway, in which 25 persons were charred to death, as there were no pieces of rubber or tyre markings at the scene, the Amravati Regional Transport Office (RTO) stated in its report. The RTO report, which was based on survivors' accounts, said there was no evidence (rubber pieces of tyres after burst) or tyre markings at the spot, and the impact marking was on the wheel disc, which was bent, and not on the tyre itself. A bus carrying 33 passengers from Nagpur to Pune on the Samruddhi Expressway overturned and caught fire in Sindkhedraja in Buldhana at 1.32 am, killing 25 occupants. As per the details provided by one of the survivors, the bus dashed into a steel pole on the right side of the road, leading to the driver losing control of the vehicle, which then hit the divider, the report said. It further said the impact of the front tyre hitting the divider was so severe that it caused the front axle assembly to dislocate from the bus chassis. The right side of the vehicle, where the diesel tank is located, again hit the divider, the impact cleaving the bus body, the report said.

Cricket World Cup, businesses in India are also set to gain from the matches. The tournament will be held from October 5 to November 19 and played across 10 venues in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Dharamsala, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata. The pandemic left the hospitality sector ravaged, which has now limped back to normalcy.