Business briefs

• Maruti Suzuki inks pact with J&K Bank for car financing
      
       Srinagar/Mumbai/New Delhi, Dec 6 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Bank on Tuesday announced its partnership with Maruti Suzuki India to ease car loan facilitation for its customers via the auto major's smart finance digital platform.
       "This collaboration between Maruti Suzuki Smart Finance and J&K Bank will allow customers to avail hassle-free affordable financing options across 984 branches of the bank," a spokesman of the bank said.
       Since its inception in 2020, Maruti Suzuki Smart Finance has disbursed more than Rs 39,000 crore worth of loans, allowing over 6.4 lakh customers finance their cars from the partnered banks.
       Maruti Suzuki currently has 21 financial institutions onboarded on Maruti Suzuki Smart Finance.
       "Our latest association with Maruti Suzuki Smart Finance will allow us to simultaneously leverage J&K Bank's digital platform to provide a modern and convenient financing option for today's customers who intend to avail a J&K Bank loan from the comfort of their homes," Ashutosh Sareen, General Manager (Credit), J&K Bank, said.
      
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  Godrej & Boyce elevates Anil G Verma as Executive Director, CEO
  
       Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, on Tuesday said it has elevated Anil G Verma as the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer.
       In his new position as CEO, Verma will continue to oversee the company's expansion and profitability while bringing about quantifiable changes in its operations both in India and overseas, Godrej & Boyce said in a statement.
       Verma, who has served on the Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co board of directors since 2008, is responsible for the organisation's operations, both domestically and internationally, which involve more than 14,000 employees across 30 locations.
      
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  Axis AMC looks to mop up Rs 100 crore from new debt fund
      
       Axis Mutul Fund on Tuesday announced the launch of a long duration debt fund with a maturity of more than seven years, which offers relatively high interest rate risks and relatively low credit risks.
       The open-ended debt scheme, which opens on Wednesday and closes on December 21, will invest in portfolio benchmarked to Nifty's long duration debt index-- A–III -- that has greater than seven years of maturity, the fund house said in a statement.
       The fund, to be managed by Devang Shah, Kaustubh Sule and Hardik Shah, has no exit load, Axis Mutual Fund said.
       Raghav Iynegar, chief business development officer at the fund house, told PTI that the company has an internal target of mopping up at least Rs 100 crore during the offer period.
       Fixed income strategies have the potential to be an attractive option for investors, especially those who are in the middle of their career lifecycles and wish to plan for post-retirement and the new fund seeks to precisely do this, Chandresh Nigam, managing director of Axis AMC said.
      
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  OYO boss pitches for placement of laid off employees
      
       OYO Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal made a pitch for the 600 employees laid off by the travel tech firm and urged employers to recruit them.
       IPO-bound travel tech firm OYO on Saturday announced it will downsize about 10 per cent of its 3,700-employee base by cutting 600 jobs in the technology and corporate verticals and hiring 250 members, primarily in the relationship management teams.
       "Many talented OYOpreneurs are having to part ways with OYO and we want to ensure they receive as much assistance and support as possible. For companies that are hiring in tech, reach out to us at talent@oyorooms.com and we will share a directory for rehiring our outgoing colleagues," he wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday.
      
      
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  Oxford International Education Group to offer ELLT from VFS Global test centres
  
       Oxford International Education Group (OIEG) on Tuesday said it has partnered with visa outsourcing and technology services provider VFS Global to offer English Language Learning Test (ELLT) from test centres hosted by the latter.
       Under this partnership, ELLT language proficiency tests will be available at its centres in Mumbai (India), and Dhaka and Sylhet (Bangladesh), VFS Global said in a statement.
       ELLT Global and VFS Global will open more test centre locations globally in the coming months, it added. PTI MIJ BEN RSN SM HVA

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)