1. Accenture India appoints Rekha Menon as chairman, Anindya Basu as MD.
i. Global technology and consultancy giant Accenture on Friday said it will elevate Rekha M Menon as chairman of its India operations.
ii. It has also roped in Anindya Basu as the country managing director (MD) in India.
iii. Menon is currently MD, human resources, for company's growth markets and has been leading HR strategy for Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Russia, Turkey and Latin America.
iv. Basu will be responsible for driving Accenture's domestic business in India and building relationships with key clients by leveraging the company's capabilities in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations, it said.
2. Thomas Cook (India) Ltd acquires zurich Kuoni’s travel business in India and Hong Kong
i. Billionaire investor Prem Watsa-backed Thomas Cook (India) Ltd has acquired Kuoni Group’s travel businesses in India and Hong Kong for ₹535 crore.
ii. The deal includes outbound travel brand SOTC and destination management brand SITA. It does not include VFS Global, which is Kuoni’s outsourcing and technology services subsidiary for governments and diplomatic missions.
iii. Kuoni entered India in 1996 by acquiring travel brand SOTC and destination management brand SITA. The acquisition includes these two units of Kuoni.
iv. The deal does not include Kuoni’s outsourcing and technology services subsidiary VFS Global which provides technology services to governments and diplomatic missions.
v. Over 1,800 employees of Kuoni’s business unit in India and Hong Kong tour operations will now work for Thomas Cook. After this deal Kuoni will operate its business activities as an independent entity.
3. Boost for 'Make in India': Foxconn to invest $5 billion in Maharashtra.
i. Global electronic manufacturing giant Foxconn has announced it will invest $5 billion over the next five years in Maharashtra, which has given the Taiwan-based company 1,500 acres of land for its plant.
ii. Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou said the facility in Maharashtra will focus on research and development as well as manufacturing, and the company has chosen the state for being a financial centre, availability of quality talent and software-hardware integration facilities.
iii. Foxconn will look for tie-ups with local partners for its presence in this state, he said, while adding that this MoU with the Maharashtra government was different from the already announced JV with the Adani group.
iv. At an event organised to announce the investment and a Memorandum of Understanding in this regard between the company and the state government, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Foxconn will be given 1,500 acres of land.
4. Maharashtra government declares Thane creek area as ‘Flamingo Sanctuary’
i. Maharashtra government has declared the area along Thane Creek as Flamingo Sanctuary.
ii. In this regard State Revenue and Forest Department has issued notification to declare northern part of the creek as a wildlife sanctuary as per provisions of Section 18 of the Wildlife (Protection Act), 1972.
iii. It should be noted that this Sanctuary is Maharashtra’s second Marine sanctuary after Malvan (marine) Wildlife Sanctuary which was declared in 1987.
5. Pramerica buys Deutsche Bank’s mutual fund business in India.
i. Mutual fund house Pramerica has agreed to buy the asset management business of Deutsche Bank in India. While neither party disclosed the size of the deal, industry sources estimate it to be ₹300-400 crore.
ii. As of June 30, 2015, Deutsche AMC had assets of around ₹20,720 crore, while Pramerica managed assets worth ₹2,125 crore. Both fund houses are focussed on liquid and fixed income funds.
iii. Pramerica Asset Managers Pvt Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc of the US, and is the asset management company for Pramerica Mutual Fund here.
iv. Ravneet Gill, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank Group India.
6. ESIC extends health insurance scheme to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur.
i. Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has decided to implement its health insurance scheme to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Manipur in a bid to cover all states in the country.
ii. It has decided to extend the benefit of its health insurance scheme to Andaman & Nicobar Islands, a union territory, according to an official release.
iii. ESIC already covers union territories of Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Puducherry under the ambit of its health insurance scheme.
iv. ESIC, an arm of Labour Ministry, has a direct subscriber base of 1.95 crore, covering a population of around eight crore people under its cover.The ESIC board, headed by Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, has also decided to extend the reach of ESI Scheme to 393 districts in the country by 1st April, 2016.
7. Ram Nath Kovind, Acharya Dev Vrat appointed as Governors of Bihar, HP.
i. President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Acharya Dev Vrat and Ram Nath Kovind as the governors of Himachal Pradesh and Bihar respectively.
ii. Mr. Kovind will succeed Keshri Nath Tripathi (Governor of West Bengal) who was holding additional charge of Bihar. He had been a two-time Rajya Sabha member between 1994-2000 and 2000-06.
iii. He hails from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and is a lawyer by profession. He was a senior BJP leader and had severed as chief of BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha.
iv. Acharya Dev Vrat will succeed Kalyan Singh (Governor of Rajasthan) who was holding the additional charge of Himachal Pradesh.