QBiz: UDAN Takes Off; Huge Discounts on BS-III Bikes After SC Ban

A roundup of important business news.

Image used for representational purpose. ( Photo: Reuters)

1. 5 Airlines Win Bids to Fly 128 Routes; Link 70 Airports

The government on Thursday said it was close to resolving a dispute with major Indian carriers over levying regional connectivity charges. It also unveiled a list of successful bidders and routes under the scheme, called Udan.

Five operators will operate on 128 routes and connect 70 airports, most of which are not well connected by airlines now. “This is a unique scheme, which is completely market-driven,” Jayant Sinha, minister of state for civil aviation, said. “Through a corpus of only Rs 205 crore, we will create around 1.3 million seats, which will kick-start the underdeveloped regional aviation market.”

Agra, Shimla, Nanded, Kanpur and Jamshedpur are among the many airports that would see connectivity under Udan. Experts have said the scheme has good business propositions.

(Source: Business Standard)

2. GST Council to Finalise Draft Rules on Friday

The 13th sitting of the GST Council will take place on Friday in the backdrop of four key Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills – the Centre GST, the Union Territory GST, the Integrated GST, and the compensation law – getting Parliamentary nod.

At the Council meetings, the Centre and the States finalise draft rules for various aspects of the GST and review the preparedness for the roll out of the new tax regime. At Friday’s meeting the Council will finalise rules on four issues relating to composition, transition, valuation and input tax credit.

The Council has already approved five sets of rules relating to refunds, registration, invoices, payments and processes. “This is now the last lap of discussions. Once the rules are finalised, the committee of officials will work on the fitment of commodities,” said an official.

(Source: The Hindu BusinessLine)

3. Hero, Honda Offer Discounts of up to
Rs 22,000 on BS-III Models

Two-wheeler manufacturers, in a rush to sell hundreds of thousands of scooters and motorcycles that run on old emission technologies, are offering discounts up to Rs 22,000 per vehicle in the two days remaining until a ban kicks in.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court banned the sale and registration of Bharat Stage-III (BS-III) vehicles from 1 April, putting a question mark on an inventory numbering 6,70,000 two-wheelers as on 20 March.

Market leader Hero MotoCorp Ltd is offering benefits up to Rs 12,500, including free insurance and cash discounts, on its range of scooters and motorcycles, as per the advertisements and a circular issued to dealers.

Discounts at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Ltd (HMSI), the country’s second largest two-wheeler seller, are even steeper. The local arm of the Japanese two-wheeler maker is offering a cash discount of up to Rs 22,000 on its BS-III scooters and motorcycles.

(Source: Livemint)

4. Maruti Targets 20% Sales From NEXA

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki is targeting 20 percent of its total sales to come from its premium channel NEXA in the new financial year. With 250 outlets, NEXA currently contributes around 12-15 percent of the company’s total sales, said a top Maruti official.

NEXA has cumulatively sold over 2,00,000 cars and in the current financial year, sales from NEXA are estimated at more than 1.5 lakh units. Maruti has now decided to move its mid-size sedan Ciaz to the NEXA network. Ciaz will be sold exclusively through NEXA outlets across India starting 1 April 2017.

Maruti is targetting an overall sales growth of around 10 percent next fiscal and the Ciaz is expected to repeat its high double digit performance. The Ciaz has helped Maruti gain market leadership in the A3+ mid-size sedan segment.

(Source: Times of India)

5. Kotak Mahindra Bank To Raise Over Rs 5,000 Cr Equity Capital

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd plans to raise up to Rs 5,300 crore through an equity offer as the private lender looks at acquisitions and hunts for stressed assets amid growing bad loans in India’s banking sector.

The offer will bring down the promoters’ stake in the lender to 31.1 percent from 32.11 percent. It’s a move towards complying with a Reserve Bank of India directive asking the promoters to cut their holding to 30 percent by June this year.

The board approved a proposal to raise equity capital by issuing up to 6.2 crore shares of Rs 5 each, Kotak Mahindra Bank said in a filing to exchanges. At the current market price of Rs 866.65 per share, the bank can raise up to Rs 5,373 crore.

The company intends to raise the capital via a rights issue, public issue, private placement, including a qualified institutional placement, or any other permissible mode, the filing said.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

6. India May Ease Rules for Foreign Food Retail Before November

Following calls from global retail giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Tesco Plc, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to decide by November whether India is prepared to ease strict rules on food retailers, a minister said on Tuesday.

India allows 100 percent investment by foreign wholesalers, but if they want to access the burgeoning retail market, they can only have a 100 percent holding to sell food items. This forces them to overhaul their businesses instead of replicating models that have worked abroad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, minister for food processing industries, said in an interview at her official residence in New Delhi.

“Wal-Mart, Tesco, etc have said that they should be allowed non-food items and that’s a decision the government has to take now,” she said. “The government’s decision will come before the World Food India event being organised for November.”

(Source: BloombergQuint)

7. Snapdeal Misses out on Funding as SoftBank Feuds With Kalaari Capital, Nexus

A rift between investors on the board of directors of online marketplace Snapdeal has led to the company missing out on at least two desperately needed funding offers over the past six months, said three people familiar with the matter.

The clash is between early and powerful Snapdeal investors Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners on one side, and SoftBank Group Corp, the company’s largest shareholder, on the other, the people cited above said. At the heart of the matter is Snapdeal’s valuation in a potential funding round, the people said on condition of anonymity.

The boardroom battle has contributed to the crisis at Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd), depriving the company of much-needed cash. Since January, Snapdeal has cut hundreds of jobs, slashed spending on discounts and marketing and seen a sharp drop in monthly sales.

(Source: Livemint)

8. Idea, Voda Competitors Till the Merger Is Completed

Idea Cellular managing director Himanshu Kapania has told employees that the telecom operator will remain in competition with Vodafone India till the merger is completed, a clarification that experts said is aimed at avoiding the possibility of flouting any laws.

In an email last week, Kapania advised several middle management employees to keep company plans and communications to themselves, and not share these with their counterparts in Vodafone India, people aware of the matter said.

On 20 March, India’s No 2 telco Vodafone and third ranked Idea had said they had signed a pact to merge their telecom businesses, excluding Vodafone India’s stake in Indus Towers.

Till a merger is sealed, the firms are not supposed to share spectrum, assets or business plans including on marketing, said an expert, who did not wish to be identified.

(Source: Economic Times)

9. L&T Construction Bags Orders Worth Rs 1,725 Cr

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) construction arm has recently bagged orders worth Rs 1,725 crore across two of its business segments.

In the transportation infrastructure business, the company bagged contracts worth Rs 725 crore.

“An engineering, procurement and construction order has been secured from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH) for four-laning of Wadpale to Bhogaon Khurd section of NH-17 in Maharashtra,” the company said in a statement.

The scope of work includes construction of 38.76 km of four-lane dual carriageway with concrete pavement, 27.53 km of service/slip road, two major bridges, nine minor bridges and 17 vehicular and cattle underpasses along with other associated works.

(Source: The Hindu BusinessLine)