SEBI Says Adani Group's Offshore Investors Violated Rules; Climate Change Killing Workers, Says ILO

SEBI Finds Offshore Funds Invested In Adani Group Violated Rules

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), India's markets regulator, has found that a dozen offshore funds invested in Adani Group companies were in violation of disclosure rules and in breach of investment limits, the Economic Times reported, quoting a Reuters update. 

SEBI was also looking into Adani Group ties with one of the funds to determine whether it could be seen as acting "in concert" with the conglomerate's key shareholders, an accusation Adani has rejected in the past. Earlier this year, SEBI sent notices to a dozen Adani Group offshore investors outlining the charges and asking them to explain their positions on the disclosure violations and breach of investment limits. More here

Tata Motors Developing Super App To Get Over EV Charging Fears

Tata Motors is developing a super app for charging electric vehicles (EV) across brands, ET Prime reported. The company had inked an agreement with some charge point operators (CPO) to strengthen charging infrastructure across the country. 

The super app will enable discoverability, tell real-time status of chargers and offer unified payments across CPOs. This can be used by customers across OEMs to access any CPOs, will rid companies of effort duplication and could be a more efficient way forward. Range anxiety continues to be the biggest stumbling block for greater EV absorption, followed very closely by the struggle to find a working charging point. Read more

Namma Yatri: A Disruptor Rises In Uber, Ola Territory

A driver-focused ride hailing app from Bengaluru is set to disrupt the ride of Uber and Ola, ET Prime reported. The Namma Yatri app is just a week-old in the cab space after being a popular app among autorickshaw drivers and commuters in the city.

The reason Namma Yatri is popular among drivers is because it does not charge commissions but a fixed nominal fee from drivers. Most drivers like the subscription fee-based arrangement of Rs 25 a day or Rs 3.5 per ride. Uber and Ola charge 15 to 20 per cent commission. Drivers nudge customers to switch to the new app for better availability and cheaper fares. Read more

Chinese EV Suppliers Eager For Tech Tie-Ups, Have JV Hoodoo

Chinese suppliers for EV companies in India, especially lithium ion battery cells which account for 35-40 per cent of the cost, find technology tie-ups more attractive than a joint venture with a local player owing to the government’s stringent FDI rules, the Business Standard reported.

The report quoted a senior executive of an EV company saying that Chinese companies were ready to give technology for which they get technical fees paid up-front, royalty fees, commissions and installations by manpower and raw material cost. They don’t want to enter a JV model because of the risks of policy changes and concern over investigations that happened with mobile device players. Read more

Climate Change Threatens Global Workforce, Many Exposed To Risks

More than 70 per cent of the global workforce is exposed to risks linked to climate change that cause hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, the International Labour Organization said.  They added that governments would need to act as the numbers rise, the Business Standard reported.

Workers are more vulnerable than the general population to the dangers of climate extremes such as heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes because they are often the first exposed, or exposed for longer periods and at greater intensity. As climate change accelerates, governments and employers are struggling to protect employees, the ILO said in the Reuters report. More here

Google Sacks 50 Employees For Protests Against Israeli Govt Project

Google has fired almost 50 people for protesting against its US$ 1.2 billion project with the Israeli government, Moneycontrol.com reported. Twenty-eight employees were fired last week for their sit-in protests at offices in New York and California, more than 20 have been fired this week, a report in The Verge said.

It started off with employees protesting at Google offices which resulted in nine employees being arrested. Google's head of security, Chris Rackow, sent a company-wide memo reminding employees of workplace conduct policies. Google CEO Sundar Pichai made it clear that while Google has an open culture where debate, discussions are encouraged, a line has to be drawn. Read more