Mercedes-Benz India CEO Martin Schwenk, who moved to Pune last year, said he doesn't understand what people "mean by the incessant honking". When asked which aspect of India took the most time adjusting to, Schwenk said, "The Indian 'head bob' did take me some time to get used to." He added he finds Indians to be very friendly and competent.

An Uber glitch on Wednesday charged riders in several US cities 100 times their normal fare for short trips. Riders in cities including Washington and San Diego took to social media to post about the hiked rates. Uber said the glitch was fixed and the fare would be corrected so riders are charged only the amount for their actual trip.

The Mumbai Police has busted a sex racket involving Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)-listed firm Rajnish Wellness, which sells sexual wellness products. The company's Founder Rajnish Singh was arrested, who allegedly ran sex racket under the name of spas and body massage parlours. The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police rescued three women allegedly involved in flesh trade from a three-star hotel.

The Enforcement Directorate arrested IMA Jewels Ponzi scam main accused Mohammed Mansoor Khan from the Delhi airport on Friday morning. On Thursday evening, the SIT had traced him to Dubai and persuaded him to return to India. The IMA Group has been accused of siphoning off nearly ₹4,000 crore of funds from investors for the personal benefit of the owners.

Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda banned taking in-flight photos and videos after a popular travel blogger's photo showing a handwritten business class menu went viral. Following a backlash, the airline said customers can still take photos for personal use such as selfies. The blogger said both he and his fiancée were reported to police for alleged defamation over the post.

US-based software firm Ebix has agreed to acquire Indian travel services company Yatra through a merger at an enterprise value of $337.8 million (₹2,320 crore). Yatra will become part of Ebix's travel portfolio EbixCash alongside Via and Mercury and will continue to serve customers under the Yatra brand. Ebix has invested nearly $700 million in India through EbixCash since 2017.

Wadia Group-run budget carrier GoAir on Wednesday said it has hired former Airbus executive Miranda Mills as the Chief Operating Officer (COO). She will be reporting to the airline's Managing Director Jeh Wadia. Before joining GoAir, Mills worked with British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce as Chief Digital Officer and Director (Transformation), of the company's civil aviation vertical.

China's total corporate, household and government debt rose to 303% of GDP in the first quarter of 2019, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF). This is up from 297% in the same period a year earlier and makes up about 15% of all global debt. China's economic growth slowed to a 27-year-low of 6.2% in the second quarter.

Hiranandani Group has said it plans to invest ₹1,000 crore to develop its first data centre park at Panvel in Navi Mumbai under the brand Yotta. The data centre will come up by this December at an integrated township that the company is currently developing. H-Energy, the group's energy arm, will provide the power requirements to operate the data centre.

Yes Bank Co-Founder and ex-CEO Rana Kapoor has become $1 billion poorer since August 2018 following a 78% drop in the lender's shares. His net worth has fallen to $377 million from $1.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. The 61-year-old, who owns just over 10% of Yes Bank, had pledged to never sell his shares because they were like diamonds.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Group Chairman AM Naik has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of mid-sized IT services firm Mindtree on Wednesday. The move follows L&T's acquisition of a controlling stake in the Bengaluru-based company. Mindtree CEO Rostow Ravanan, Executive Chairman Krishnakumar Natarajan and Executive Vice Chairman NS Parthasarathy had resigned earlier this month.

US planemaker Boeing on Wednesday said it will dedicate $50 million (more than ₹340 crore) of the $100 million fund it created after two crashes of its 737 MAX planes to provide payments to families of those killed. The crashes killed 346 people. The world's largest planemaker has hired veteran US compensation expert Ken Feinberg to oversee the distribution.

A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigator found that India's Strides Pharma Science dumped batch records for US drug products in a 200-litre drum in the scrapyard of its Puducherry plant. Strides, which sells numerous drugs in the US, was also caught attempting to shred quality-control documents. Ibuprofen is among the drugs the company makes at the Puducherry plant.

Tata Chemicals is reportedly planning to set up a factory to manufacture lithium-ion batteries, mainly for the electric vehicle (EV) segment in India. Reports said the firm has already acquired land in Dholera town of Gujarat to build the factory. Tata Chemicals will reportedly play a key role in Tata Motors' plan to devise an EV ecosystem in India

IT services company L&T Infotech (LTI) has signed an agreement to acquire Bengaluru-based advanced analytics startup Lymbyc Solutions for ₹38 crore. This would be LTI's fifth acquisition since its listing in 2016, after having acquired India-based Ruletronics, AugmentIQ, and European firms Nielsen Partner and Syncordis. The company has committed over ₹340 crore across these acquisitions.

Cryptocurrency exchange Cryptokart has decided to shut down its operations after about two years. The RBI had barred banks from serving cryptocurrency exchanges and firms in April 2018. Cryptokart Co-founder Gaurang Poddar said that since this decision, the general interest in cryptocurrency in India has "tanked" and regulatory uncertainty "just makes any long term planning difficult".

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) on Thursday said its subsidiary Reliance Brands has completed the acquisition of 259-year-old British toy retailer Hamleys for nearly ₹585 crore in an all-cash deal. It acquired Hamleys from Chinese fashion retailer C.banner through a special purpose vehicle set up in the UK. The toy retailer has 167 stores across 18 countries

Vakrangee on Tuesday said it will set up electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across India through its 'Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra' outlets. It aims to expand its presence from 3,504 outlets across 19 states to at least 75,000 outlets by 2021-22 and 3 lakh by 2024-25. This follows government announcing ₹1.5-lakh income tax deduction on loan interest for purchasing EVs.

Credit rating agency CARE Ratings on Wednesday said it has sent its CEO and Managing Director Rajesh Mokashi on leave, pending investigation into an anonymous complaint received by regulator SEBI. It has appointed TN Arun Kumar, Executive Director (Ratings), as the interim CEO. Earlier, rating agency Moody's India unit ICRA had sent its CEO and MD Naresh Takkar on leave.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) can register as companies to avoid the new tax surcharge. The government in Budget imposed 25% tax surcharge on those with ₹2-5 crore taxable income and 37% surcharge on taxable income above ₹5 crore, that will also cover trusts. About 40% of roughly 9,400 FPIs are reportedly registered as trusts.

IT services firm Wipro on Wednesday reported a 12.6% rise in its profit at ₹2,387 crore in the June quarter from ₹2,121 crore in the year-ago period, driven by strong demand across its business segments. However, the profit, which met market estimates, fell 3.9% from ₹2,483 crore in the previous quarter. Wipro's first-quarter revenue grew 5.3% year-on-year to ₹14,716 crore.

Yes Bank on Wednesday reported its profit fell by 91% to ₹113.8 crore in the first quarter from ₹1,260.4 crore in the year-ago period, driven by higher bad loan provisioning. The bank's gross bad loan ratio was 5.01% in the June quarter compared to 3.22% in the previous quarter. Its provisions for bad loans rose 185.2% year-on-year to ₹1,784 crore.

The government may reportedly list units of state-run Coal India (CIL), the world's largest coal miner, as separate companies to raise government funds and boost competition. Reports said the Coal Ministry is studying a proposal to list CIL's four production coalfields, constituting over three-fourths of its output, and its exploration unit. In 2017, think-tank NITI Aayog suggested a similar move.

State-run Allahabad Bank on Wednesday said it has reported a fraud of nearly ₹688.3 crore by textile firm SEL Manufacturing (SELM) to the RBI. It added the fraud by SELM, a non-performing asset account, is being heard by the National Company Law Tribunal. Earlier, Allahabad Bank had reported a fraud of ₹1,775 crore by bankrupt steelmaker Bhushan Power and Steel.