1) Anjan Lahiri named new CEO of Birlasoft: Former Sasken chief executive and Mindtree
co-founder Anjan Lahiri has been appointed chief executive of BirlaSoft, the
information-technology arm of the CK Birla Group.
2) Tata Teleservices to drop DoCoMo from its telecom brand Tata
Docomo: Tata Teleservices has decided to drop the brand
DoCoMo from its telecom brand Tata Docomo months before its agreement with
Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo to use the brand ends. In June 2014,
Tata and NTT DoCo-Mo reached an understanding under which Tata Teleservices was
allowed to use the Tata Docomo brand name for at least a year. As part of the
understanding, NTT DoCoMo agreed to let Tata use the brand name in lieu of a
"marginal royalty".
3) New income tax forms put on hold:
The new income tax return forms, requiring stringent disclosures, are on the
hold for now. The tax authorities have made several additions to the income tax
return forms for the assessment year 2015-16 seeking details about foreign
assets and income from any source outside the country, and details of all bank
accounts held in India at any time during the previous year.
4) IAS, IPS officers need government approval before accepting
gifts of over Rs 5,000: IAS and IPS officers will now need
to take prior permission from the Union government before accepting gifts,
including free transportation, boarding and lodging, worth more than Rs 5,000.
5) Elector's Photo Identity Card(EPIC) or Aadhaar enough to get PAN card: An EPIC or Aadhaar document will now be
enough for any individual to obtain PAN card as the Income Tax Department has
relaxed the cumbersome procedure of having multiple documents to prove one's
own identity.
6) ICICI launched near-field communications-enabled payment service
'Tap-n-Pay': Largest private sector lender ICICI Bank
in collaboration with Tech Mahindra launched a payment service 'Tap-n-Pay'
based on the near-field communications (NFC) technology, enabling customers
make over-the-counter payments without using cash. It can be used for merchant
payments by merely tapping a NFC-enabled mobile phone or a tag on the counter.
7) Federal Bank offers health insurance of Rs 1 lakh for new
accounts: South-based
lender Federal Bank announced it will be offering a health insurance of Rs 1
lakh for all new savings accounts under a tie-up with Max Bupa.
8) BHEL commissioned 250-mw thermal power plant in Gujarat:
State-owned power equipment maker BHEL has commissioned a 250-mw coal-based
thermal power plant in Gujarat.
9) Government introduced bill to raise investment limits for MSME
units: Government on 20 April 2015 introduced a bill in the
Lok Sabha to enhance the investment limits for micro, small and medium
enterprises and also made a provision for enhancing it further through a
notification. The investment limits in plant and machinery for the micro
enterprises is proposed to be raised to Rs 50 lakh, of small enterprise to Rs
10 crore and medium enterprise to Rs 30 crore. The existing limit are Rs 25
lakh, Rs 5 and Rs 10 crore respectively.
10) Airtel-Vodafone JV deployed Wi-Fi network in Supreme Court
premises: FireFly Networks, an equal joint venture between
Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel, has equipped the Supreme Court of India with
a 24x7 Wi-Fi network with services currently being provided by the local unit
of the British telecom major.
