More trouble for H-1B applicants, Binani Cement promoters accused of fraud, and more trending news

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A ?2,400 crore fraud has been unearthed at Binani Cement, according to multiple media reports. A forensic audit revealed that the bankrupt cement maker’s promoters diverted company funds to related parties at preferential prices. The suspected transactions affected the working capital position of Binani Cement, which owes banks ?6,469 crore. However, a Binani spokesperson said the accusation was “totally false”. UltraTech Cement — one of the two parties in the fray for Binani’s assets — now wants the bidding process to be scrapped.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is temporarily suspending fast processing of H-1B visa applications until early September, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. The suspension applies only to for-profit companies, which is already capped at 85,000 visas — meaning that non-profits and research institutions are not affected. The agency said the move is to speed up overall processing times just weeks ahead of the 2019 application season. President Trump has vowed to end the H-1B regime in favour of a Canadian-style, skills-based immigration system.

American firms could soon be compelled to offshore fewer call centre jobs to India. A US Senator is sponsoring a bill that mandates outsourced service agents to disclose their location and give clients the option of conversing with a local agent. The proposed legislation also aims to make companies that offshore ineligible for certain federal grants and taxpayer-funded loans. Presently, voice-based outsourcing accounts for 10% of India’s $30 billion back office industry. But India also accounts for 86% of all tech-support scams that defraud Americans every year.

The Centre is probing several non-government organisations for not complying with local laws. In just the last 12 months, nearly 5,000 organisations were barred from securing foreign money. IT lobby Nasscom, Amnesty International, an NGO run by Olympic gold medalist Mary Kom and 39 other organisations are presently under the government’s radar for flouting foreign funding norms, PTI reports, quoting junior home minister Kiren Rijiju. Many NGOs are being chastised for failing to file their annual returns and being opaque about their source of funding.

Directi is the hottest employer in India. The internet group takes the No. 1 slot on LinkedIn’s Top Companies list, which is based on billions of actions taken by LinkedIn’s more than 546 million members worldwide (47 million in India alone). The list, now in its third year, highlights the nation’s most sought-after employers — the firms that have figured out how to attract and keep top talent. Here’s Linkedin Influencer Ravi Venkatesan’s take on how to win the war for talent.

Idea of the Day: “Winning in life is truly not so much about being right as it is about getting it right,” says ACT-1 Group’s Janice Bryant Howroyd. But that’s easy to forget — so often we’re blinded by the idea of winning rather than finding a solution.

“Most arguments, at root, are not born from wanting different things, but from seeing different ways to get to a same result. Ask yourself, ‘Is this argument about what I want, or about how I win?’”

From earlier: Indians are the most data literate people in the Asia Pacific region.

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Adith Charlie and Disha Sharma / Share this using #DailyRundown