Moneycontrol Selects: Top stories this evening

A round-up of the big stories

Here is a collection of the most important stories this evening:

Unclaimed deposits in banks fall to Rs 35,000 crore. What does it mean?

On Monday, April 3, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Bhagwat Karad, in a written reply to parliament, said that the total amount of unclaimed deposits transferred to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by public sector banks (PSBs) fell to Rs 35,012 crore till February 2023, from Rs 48,262 in March 2022. This is a decline of Rs 13,250 crore in a year.

So, what does this mean for the banking system? And what happens to unclaimed deposits? Here’s an explainer. More here

What Mumbai can learn from a 45-floor slum in Venezuela

Two-thirds of the population in Caracas, Venezuela, lives in slums. The capital city of the bankrupt South American nation held the record for the highest inflation in the world when it clocked a rate of 65,374 percent in 2018. But there is one more dubious record that the country holds — it has the tallest slum in the world. The slum, known as the Tower of David, has 45 floors. Unlike most slums, it was never meant to be one. More here

Moneycontrol Selects

Rents double in India’s Silicon Valley as engineers fight for flats

Rents in India’s technology hub of Bengaluru have nearly doubled since the start of last year, making it the country’s hottest residential market. Landlords in the city, often referred to as India’s Silicon Valley, now charge the highest proportion of their property’s value as rent, edging out financial centre Mumbai, according to data from market researchers. More here

Five important laws every salaried employee should be aware of

In the recent past, there have been cases of employees taking corporate bigwigs to court to get justice. Last year, IT company Infosys was summoned by the Central Labour Commissioner and later the Karnataka labour department over the non-compete clause in its employment agreements. There are other examples that highlight how awareness of certain laws helped corporate professionals to not only demand justice but set an example for other companies to refrain from bullying. Moneycontrol interacted with law experts to declutter key laws that every employee should be aware of. More here

Adani JV in talks for first dollar loan since Hindenburg

An Adani Group joint venture with EdgeConneX is in talks with about half a dozen banks for a loan of about $220 million, which would be the conglomerate’s first offshore borrowing since it was targeted by shortseller Hindenburg Research. Data center provider AdaniConneX Private Ltd. would use the money for capital expenditure, with a five year tenor under discussion, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The loan may be signed in the next few weeks, they said. More here

Maruti Suzuki WagonR, Alto K10 score low safety rating in Global NCAP crash test

Vehicle safety group Global NCAP on Tuesday said it has given one- and two-star safety ratings for adult occupant protection to Maruti Suzuki India's popular models WagonR and AltoK 10, respectively after conducting crash tests. Both the models scored zero stars for child occupant protection as per the Global NCAP's latest round of crash tests. More here

Finland becomes 31st NATO member as Russia rages

Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday in a historic shift that drew an angry warning of "countermeasures" from the Kremlin. "Not so many years ago we thought it was unthinkable that Finland would become a member. Now they will be a fully-fledged member of our alliance and that is truly historic," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. More here