Atul and Rahul Kirloskar under SEBI Scanner for Insider Trading

Eight years ago, on 6 October 2010, some members of the Kirloskar family including Atul Kirloskar and Rahul Kirloskar had sold 13.5% of Kirloskar Brothers Limited shares worth about ₹275 crore before financial results were reported on 8 October 2010. In 2012, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) sent a letter to the company seeking transaction details.

Following this, Kirloskar Brothers Limited hired law firm AZB and Partners to conduct a forensic audit to verify allegations of insider trading. The audit found that few members of the Kirloskar Family, including the two brothers, mis-stated in a regulatory disclosure that they were not in possession of unpublished price-sensitive financial information while seeking clearance to sell Kirloskar Brothers shares. The code of conduct for promoters and other key management personnel requires them to take the board’s clearance before transacting in the company’s shares.

“The financial performance of Kirloskar Brothers was discussed collectively by the promoter group individuals on a regular basis,” the AZB report said.

When AZB went through the pre-share sale clearance declaration, it found that the promoters had declared they did not possess any unpublished price-sensitive information at the time of share sale.

“However, while examining records of Kirloskar Group-Management Operating Board (KG-MOB), annual operating plan (AOP) and other relevant financial information circulated or discussed with the promoters or board of directors in meetings, it was found that financial performance of the company was discussed collectively by the promoter group on a regular/periodic basis. Contrary to the disclosure made by the promoter group individuals, the information could be constituted as price sensitive,” AZB said in its report.

Sebi norms for insider trading mandate that a share sale cannot be done while in possession of unpublished price-sensitive information or UPSI.

The audit report added that the relevant AOP providing forecasts for fiscal 2010-11 was circulated to the directors by the finance department of Kirloskar Brothers on 31 March 2010.

In response to media queries, a spokesperson for Atul and Rahul Kirloskar said: “As far as we are aware, no investigation is pending in respect of the said transaction undertaken in 2010.” The person added that they reserve legal rights on factually incorrect statements.

Sandeep Phadnis, associate vice president and head secretarial at Kirloskar Brothers declined to comment on the forensic audit, but added that they were unable to comment on any query at this stage as the issues are sub judice.

Encourage young minds to think critical, challenge themselves in chess and life: Viswanathan Anand

•          Grandmaster played with 12 students simultaneously

•          Top 10 participants were honoured with Prize money, trophy and certificate.

Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand won the Edify Chess Tournament against the 12 champions in 1:12 match, a unique tournament organised by Edify International School and Pune District Chess Association held at Edify International School Hinjewadi.

This was the unique chess tournament for school student aged between 5 and 16 years. The preliminary rounds were held on November 17- 18, 2018, which witnessed around 486 participants from Pune.

While interacting with media Grandmaster said, “I am very happy, that Edify International School is focused and passionate in building these critical skills by encouraging the young minds to think critically, to challenge themselves to do things every day they couldn’t do before, both in chess and life to accept winning and losing outcomes gracefully.”

Ms Priya Anand, Head of School said, “This was the most unique opportunity for students of Pune as it gave them an experience to play with the Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. Huge thanks to everyone who participated in this event. It was an exhilarating experience to compete with fellow competitors.”

Mr. Joseph D’Souza, Chairman, Pune District Chess Association said, “It is a Golden opportunity for the budding youngsters of Pune, who have qualified to pit their skills with the legendary five times World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. For others it was the witnessing the games and learning from the nuggets of wisdom given by the Legend himself.  Kudos to Edify International School & Pune District Chess Association for providing this excellent opportunity to the Chess fraternity of Pune.”

The top 10 participants Kashish Jain, Shivraj Pingle, Digambar Jail, Keval Nirgun, Advait Patil, Prem Mhetre, Sahil Dhobale, Yuvraj Patil, Aryan Singla and Dhiren Mor were honoured with prize money, trophy and certificates. And Atharva Bagul and Chhavi Bafna were felicitated with a medal by Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. The prize money for top 10 participants was 1) Rs.10, 000/- 2) Rs.6000/- 3) Rs. 4000/- 4) Rs. 2500/-, 5)2500/- 6) Rs. 2000/- 7) Rs 2000/- 8) 2000/- 9)2000/- and 10) 2000/-

The Edify International School offers a broad, rich and challenging curriculum based on the world-renowned IB programmes. It promotes a strong foundation in the academic disciplines, a broad exposure to the liberal arts, and selective opportunities to pursue individual interests.

Media contact: Aspire PR & Strategies Pvt. Ltd, Shekhar Wagh  9967348414, 9689966141-020 24488778

Indian developers contribute actively to open source projects: DigitalOcean Currents Report

Developers in India are more likely to contribute to open source than developers from other countries, with more than two-thirds (68 percent) actively participating.

23rd Nov, Bangalore India: DigitalOcean, the cloud services platform designed for developers brings out key developer cloud trends through its quarterly Currents report. In the fifth edition of Currents, they focused entirely on open source, to coincide with the movement’s 20-year anniversary. They asked more than 4,300 respondents around the world about the state of open source, including how they and their companies use it and what inspires them to support the community.

The following are some key findings from the report: 

• Twenty years in, just over half of developers surveyed are contributing to open source projects (55 percent). However, that is less than what companies expect from their employees: three out of four respondents said their companies expect them to use open source software as part of their day-to-day development work.

• Two of the most prominent barriers preventing developers from getting involved in open source are not knowing where to begin, and doubting they have the right skills. Companies not giving their employees time to contribute is also a large factor.

• Of the five major tech companies — Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple — developers overwhelmingly said Google is most supportive of the open source community, followed by Microsoft. Apple ranked last.

• There’s a disconnect between companies’ encouragement of open source within their organizations, and their actual investment. Only 18 percent of respondents said their company is a member of an open source-related organization, and 75 percent said their company invests $1k or less every year in donations to open source.

• Newer developers actively contribute more to open source than veteran developers: While 55 percent of respondents said they actively contribute to open source projects, developers with five or fewer years of experience were significantly more likely to contribute (60 percent) than developers with six or more years of experience. This participation boost from newer developers aligns with the overall perception that the open source community is healthy and growing (89 percent).

Prabhakar Jayakumar, Country Director, DigitalOcean India says “This year marks both the 20th anniversary of the open source movement, as well as the 5th year of Hacktoberfest, our annual month-long celebration of open source. DigitalOcean Currents highlights the latest trends among developers in the cloud and our latest edition carries interesting insights on the potential of open source software”.

• Developers want an easier entry point into the open source community: 45% of developers listed “difficulty knowing how to get started” as the primary barrier preventing them from contributing to open source projects. Other key challenges included developers feeling they don’t have the right skills to contribute (44%) & companies not offering time for employees to contribute (30%).

• Companies expect developers to use open source technologies at work, but don’t invest as much in the broader community: Nearly three out of every four respondents said their companies expect them to use open source software as part of their day-to-day development work, but only 18 percent of employees said their companies actively participated in open source organizations (e.g. Apache Foundation, Node.js Foundation, Cloud Native Computing Foundation). The cost of participating in these organizations is the biggest barrier (38 percent), and 75 percent of respondents said their companies also donated just $1k or less to these organizations in the last year.

• Javascript, Python and PHP are among the top 3 programming languages that developers primarily use when engaging with open source

• Companies evaluating open source technologies look primarily for ones that are widely used, and have great documentation and active maintainers. At the same time, poor documentation and security concerns are a few reasons why companies opt against open source.

About DigitalOcean:

Founded in 2012, DigitalOcean provides the easiest cloud platform to deploy, manage, and scale applications of any size, removing infrastructure friction and providing predictability so developers and their teams can spend more time building software that customers love. DigitalOcean has a $200 million run rate and a community of 3.5 million developers with 12 data centres across the globe. In addition to its headquarters in New York, DigitalOcean has an office in Cambridge, Mass. and remote employees around the world. For more information, simply visit http://www.digitalocean.com or follow @digitalocean on Twitter.

Truefitt & Hill - World’s oldest luxe barbershop from London comes to Koregaon Park

• First outlet in Pune
• Total 19 outlets in India

Pune: 29th November, 2018: Having groomed the Monarchs of Great Britain for 200 years through nine consecutive reigns, Truefitt & Hill (T&H) continues the legacy by bringing their sophistication to the most prestigious address in Pune, Koregaon Park. The uber millennial of KP can now dedicate a day to themselves for all their grooming needs as T&H brings their world renowned grooming services along with its first spa service in the city of Pune.

Brought to India by the Lloyds Luxuries Ltd., which has acquired the Master Franchise License for not just India but also Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar and Vietnam, the venture looks promising.

Started by Krishna Gupta & Istayak Ansari in 2013, Lloyds Luxuries Ltd aims at creating an atmosphere of total relaxation and ultimate comfort for their male guests. Through this, they wish to encourage grooming for men greatness. “Our aim is that the customer should ultimately feel revitalized and renewed when it’s time to leave. We don’t just offer a service; we offer an experience. Grooming yourself is a daily necessity, we provide you with the most luxurious atmosphere and highly skilled barbers and staff to turn that into a luxurious experience. The highlight of our Pune store is Spa services which we have recently introduced at some of our stores and will add in more of our future stores”, says Krishna Gupta.

The store at Koregaon Park is spread over 2000 sq. ft., with Retail Section, a Royal suite, Barbering section, Pedicure suite, Foot Spa suite and two Massage rooms. Offering a quintessential feel with its classy interiors in mahogany wood adding chic blue wallpaper creating a contrast, makes for a complete relaxing environment.

Truefitt & Hill worldwide is in 12 countries including India and present in cities: London, Canberra, Baku, Toronto, Beijing, Shanghai, Salmiya, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Chicago, Washington and Indian Cities.

Speaking on the occasion, Istayak Ansari said “We currently have 19 operating stores across India in 11 Cities. We have 7 Truefitt & Hill stores in Mumbai, 3 in Bengaluru and one each in New Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,  Kolkata, Chandigarh, Chennai & now in  Pune.  We are also opening our first International store in Dhaka, Bangladesh in affluent neighbourhood of Gulshan Avenue.”

About Truefitt & Hill

The prestigious history of Truefitt & Hill began in 1805 during the reign of H.M. King George III. Since then, the clientele has included members of the male like of the Royal Family, as well as members of visiting Royal households. Their barbers hold Royal Warrant to H.R.H., The Duke of Edinburgh. It has provided discerning gentleman with the finest grooming products and services. The elite clientele also include the Business leaders, Members of Parliament, Ambassadors and Diplomats and visiting Dignitaries. Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Frank Sinatra, Winston Churchill, Alfred Hitchcock and Laurence Olivier are few of their renowned clients. Apart from London T&H, they now have the luxe barber shop in Chicago, Toronto, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Baku, Canberra, Beijing, Seoul.

Superior and distinct services offered by Truefitt and Hill are The Royal Shave and Haircut, Classic Shave and Haircut, other hair treatments, Royal manicure & pedicure, head massage, facials, etc. and offer complimentary valet service, Wi-Fi, refreshments with every visit.

They also have an exclusive VIP Room called Royal Suite for that special engagement, business meeting, or simply just to relax and unwind!

Truefitt & Hill Koregaon Park

Address: 5, Galaxy Garden, North Main Road, Koregaon Park (Next to Starbucks), Pune