Royal Orchid Hotels inks marketing tie-up with UK’s Bespoke Hotels

Royal Orchid Hotels said it had tied up with Bespoke Hotels of the UK to market each others’ properties to their customers. Bespoke manages over 200 hots with 9,500 hotel rooms, 8,000 employees and £815 million of assets. “Royal Orchid now has the ability to offer its guests hundreds of hotel options across multiple global […]

Explore autonomy for Jammu & Kashmir – P Chidambaram

Former union home minister P Chidambaram today said India should ‘seriously consider’ giving autonomy to the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Chidambaram, who was in charge of maintaining law and order in the hill state for several years as part of his role as India’s home minister, is the head of his party’s standing committee […]

XL Catlin to buy 20% of Mahindra Insurance Brokers

Mahindra Finance said global insurance major XL Group will take a 20% stake in its subsidiary Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd, including the 15% currently held by LeapFrog Financial Inclusion Fund. “XL Group will help support MIBL’s endeavours to increase insurance awareness and penetration in underpenetrated markets and across under-served customers in rural India,” the group […]

Prakash Industries to double production capacity in two years

Prakash Industries, one of India’s biggest PVC pipe manufacturers, said it has decided to double its production capacity over the next two years. The investment will be entirely funded from the company’s internal funds. “Over the (last 37) years, the company has enhanced its product portfolio and has grown to a capacity of 55,000 Tonnes […]

Indiabulls Real Estate on the mend post demonetization hit – Fitch

Fitch Ratings affirmed property developer Indiabulls Real Estate Limited’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating at ‘B+’ with a ‘stable’ outlook, noting that conditions for the real estate developer are improving. “The Stable Outlook reflects the recovery in IBREL’s contracted sales following India’s currency demonetisation last year,” it said. However, it said it couldn’t upgrade the […]

PC Jeweller signs Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna for pan-India expansion

PC Jeweller, the Delhi-based jewellery chain, said it signed up Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna as it gets ready for a pan-India expansion. The brand, which started 12 years ago with a single shop in Karol Bagh in New Delhi, today has close to 80 outlets. Most, however, are in North India, and […]

Crompton Greaves says no binding deal with Videocon on Kenstar acquisition

Crompton Greaves, one of India’s biggest electrical durables makers, said it has not executed any binding transaction documents with Videocon Industries on the acquisition of the Kenstar brand in India. Responding to a report in the Economic Times that said a binding offer at Rs 1,400 cr has been submitted, Crompton Greaves said: “The results […]