ICICI Bank to finance Indian sellers linked with Alibaba.com
ICICI Bank announced an association with Alibaba.com to provide easier trade finance to India-based sellers on the portal.
Indian micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSME) who are members of Alibaba.com will also get access to ICICI Bank's other banking facilities such as cash management, foreign exchange, bank guarantees and cross-border remittances
ICICI Bank's announcement come within a month of State Bank of India's move to finance MSME sellers attached with Snapdeal's online market place.
IndAsia Fund, Iran’s Middle East Bank form joint venture to tap investment
Ahead of the June 30 deadline for a possible accord among six nuclear power nations and Iran over sanctions against the oil-rich nation, Pradip Shah's IndAsia Fund Advisors and Teheran-based Middle East Bank (Khavarmianeh Bank) have taken an early leap of faith by forming a joint venture to explore investment opportunities between the two countries.
Iran has $8.8 billion of interest-free funds lying idle in India because of the sanctions. These could possibly be a source for foreign direct investment in India that the venture hopes to tap.
The new venture is called MEB-IndAsia Corporate Advisors Pvt. It will advise companies on trade and investment opportunities between Iran and India.
India Forex reserves 2015 hit all-time high of $354 bn
Recently released data show that the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose to yet another all-time high of $354.29 billion for the week ended June 12, recording a week-on-week rise of $1.57 billion.
The foreign exchange reserves have been rising this year, as the Reserve Bank of India has been mopping up dollar flows through public sector banks.
Nikesh Arora appointed SoftBank president
India-born former Google executive Nikesh Arora has been appointed the president of Japan’s telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp that paid the “rising star” a whopping USD 135 million for the financial year 2014.
Mr. Arora was appointed company president and chief operating officer at a general meeting of shareholders in Tokyo on Friday.
He was previously chief business officer of Google Inc., which he entered in 2004 as a telecom industry analyst before being recruited by Mr. Son.
