Newsmakers: Dabur to adopt villages under 'Swachh Bharat', HDFC to raise over Rs 10,000 cr and more

Dabur India to adopt villages to support 'Swachh Bharat'
FMCG firm Dabur India said that it will adopt five villages in Uttar Pradesh and make them 'Open-Defecation Free' within the current fiscal. The announcement coincided with the first anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Swachh Bharat ' initiative. The five villages to be adopted by Dabur India are Nandpur, Nagla Gajju, Naraina, Nidhawali and Domatikri.

HDFC to raise over Rs 10,000 cr through issuance of securities
Mortgage lender HDFC will raise more than Rs 10,000 crore through issuance of warrants and non-convertible debentures to qualified institutional investors. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) would mop up Rs 5,000 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures besides over Rs 5,000 crore worth warrants.

India to displace China as Silicon Valley's next frontier: USA Today
India may soon displace China as Silicon Valley's next frontier, a leading American daily has said, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the headquarters of technology giants Tesla, Facebook and Google. "China may be a Silicon Valley obsession, but India increasingly is in the conversation and may soon displace its Asian neighbour as tech's next big frontier," the popular USA Today said in a news dispatch from San Francisco.

India commits 33-35% cut in carbon emissions by 2030
India has pledged to cut the intensity of its carbon emissions by 33-35 per cent and boost the renewable energy capacity to 40 per cent by 2030 in the target submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCCC) on Climate Change for a global climate pact. In its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submitted to the UNFCCC, India announced that it aims at achieving around 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

India should link gas price to deficit nations: S&P
India should benchmark its natural gas prices to similar gas-deficient nations instead of using rates prevalent in gas-surplus geographies like the US and Canada, says Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. Using rates in gas-surplus nations, domestic natural gas prices earlier this week were cut by 18 per cent to $4.24 per million British thermal unit, a rate which S&P said will "discourage oil exploration and production (E&P) companies from committing new capital expenditure (capex)".