Newsmakers: Telcos face penalty, ICICI Bank's new home loan product and more

Apollo Tyres closes 300-mn euro financing for Hungary plant
Apollo Tyres on Wednesday said it has closed a 300-million euro financing for its upcoming manufacturing plant in Hungary. The company has successfully closed a 300-million euro financing for its greenfield plant in Hungary, Apollo Tyres said. An international consortium of banks comprising ABN AMRO Bank NV, Magyar Export-Import Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UniCredit Bank Hungary, supported the company and provided the debt financing, it added.

Govt considers imposing penalty on telcos for call drops
As the call drop menace refuses to subside, the government is now weighing the option of imposing penalty on telecom operators while individual letters would be sent to their promoters to convey the concerns raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this problem. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad held a meeting with DoT officials along with CMDs of two public sector firms, BSNL and MTNL, on Wednesday to deliberate on the measures for reducing call drops.

ICICI Bank unveils first guarantee-backed home loan product
Largest private lender ICICI Bank on Wednesday launched the country's first mortgage guarantee-backed home loan product that will expand the credit amount and increase the tenure for an additional fee as well. It will help customers raise the eligible amount by up to 20 per cent and increase the tenure by up to seven years, MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar told reporters.

Raghuram Rajan not in favour of rupee devaluation
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan is not in favour of depreciating the rupee and joining a global wave of monetary measures that have weakened currencies. In an interview with The Economic Times, published Wednesday, reiterates Rajan's frequent criticisms of the competitive devaluations he has said are occurring globally because of actions taken in the euro-zone, Japan, and most recently China.

Vishal Sikka buys 9,116 Infosys shares as part of restricted stock
Country's second largest software services firm Infosys on Wednesday said its chief executive Vishal Sikka has acquired 9,116 shares of the company after partly exercising the restricted stock units (RSU) awarded to him last year. "In accordance to the RSU Grant made on August 21, 2014 to Dr Vishal Sikka, CEO and Managing Director of the Company, 10 per cent of the RSUs numbering 2,279 shares (equivalent to 9,116 shares post bonus issues) have vested on August 20, 2015," Infosys said in a filing to the BSE.