1. Vijay Mallya Sees No Grounds for Extradition to India
Vijay Mallya, the one-time billionaire and co-owner of the Force India Formula One team, said on Wednesday that Indian authorities had no grounds to extradite him from Britain and he would not be leaving.
India wants Mallya to face trial after the liquor and aviation tycoon was charged with conspiracy and fraud over a loan to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. It said this month that it had asked Britain to extradite him.
Mallya told Reuters in an interview at the launch of his team’s 2017 car:
I will be and am severely contesting all this, legally. I firmly believe they have absolutely no case against me whatsoever
(Source: Livemint)
2. Snapdeal Founders to Take 100% Salary Cut, Write Letter to Employees
After reports came in about Indian e-tailing portal Snapdeal set to lay off 500 to 600 employees from the company, now co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have reportedly taken a 100 percent salary cut.
The reports have suggested that many others at Softbank owned Snapdeal have ‘proactively’ offered to significantly reduce their compensation.
Bahl wrote in the e-mail:
We started growing our business much before the right economic model and the market fit was figured out. We also started diversifying and starting new projects while we still hadn’t perfected the first or made it profitable. We started building our team and capabilities for a much larger size of business than what was required with the present scale
(Source: Financial Express)
3. Softbank Looks to Pick up Stake in the Proposed Vodafone-Idea Combine
Masayoshi Son’s Softbank, which is about to close its mega $100 billion Vision Fund, could emerge as a new investor in the proposed Idea-Vodafone combine, according to four people aware of the development.
Softbank is learnt to be in talks with Vodafone Plc to buy a minority stake in its Indian unit, which is likely to be merged with Idea Cellular.
While discussions are still on and there is no guarantee about the outcome, people familiar with the situation say it is possible that the Japanese investor may end up with 15-20 % in the merged entity.
(Source: Economic Times)
4. ATM Dispenses Rs 2,000 Notes With 'Children Bank of India' Written on Them
A man who had gone to withdraw money at an ATM in Sangam Vihar here allegedly ended up getting four notes of Rs 2,000 with "Children Bank Of India" written on them, police said.
Rohit Kumar, who works as a customer care executive at a call centre in Chhatarpur, had gone to withdraw cash from the State Bank of India (SBI) ATM in Sangam Vihar on 6 February.
He got four notes of Rs 2,000 which had "Churan label" written on them in place of the official watermark.
Meanwhile, SBI issued a statement saying that they have a robust system in place for monitoring the quality of notes, adding that the investigation in the matter is underway.
(Source: PTI)
5. Demonetisation Will Save Indian Fintech Companies From Funding Blues: KPMG
Fintech companies around the world may have experienced some slowdown in 2016, reflecting uncertainties in the broader investment market, but their growth potential remains healthy, said KPMG in a report published on Wednesday.
Total fintech funding across the globe declined to $24.7 billion last year from $46.7 billion in 2015. However, venture capital funding to these companies rose to $13.6 billion during 2016 compared to $12.7 billion in 2015, the global consulting firm said.
This was in sharp contrast with the rest of Asia where funding received by fintech companies touched record highs. Fintech companies in Asia raised $8.6 billion in 2016 compared to $8.4 billion in the previous year, with three mega rounds of funding accounting for more than half of the total investments.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
6. Setback for GST: Need for E-Permit to Be Flashed at Inter-State Borders
The revolution the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) promised might not be all that rosy because it would be hobbled by the need for an e-permit to be flashed at inter-state borders as the states insisted the old analogue practises continue.
The states seem to have gotten their way and will continue with the old ‘permit raj’ system, undermining one of the biggest gains of GST. Though the paper permit may become an e-permit, those transporting goods within or outside states will still have to queue up at border checkposts where their e-permits will be checked.
The GST Council, the apex decision body for GST that has state finance ministers as members and union finance minister as chairman, will take up the GST Law at its next meeting in March.
(Source: Financial Express)
7. Hiring US Locals Won't Hurt Margins, but Skill Shortage Must Be Overcome: Infosys
Infosys Ltd MD and CEO Vishal Sikka on Thursday said the increase in local hiring in the US may not necessarily hurt margins, following his assertion that the company is hiring more people in the US to engage better with clients and foster innovation on the ground.
“It is incorrect to assume that local hiring means change in margins,” Sikka said in an interview to ET Now, adding that at times people on visa from elsewhere may cost higher than local people on site.
Earlier this month, Infosys had said the company is not “overly concerned” about potential restrictions on sending its employees to the United States for client work, as it is anyway increasingly hiring more local people.
(Source: Financial Express)
8. RIL Rallies as Analysts Get Clarity Over Reliance Jio's Future Revenue
Reliance Industries Ltd.’s (RIL) share price rose as much as 10 percent as of 2:00 pm on Wednesday, after its chairman Mukesh Ambani, on Tuesday, said its subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., will start charging subscribers from 1 April 2017.
Reliance Jio begun commercial operations on 5 September 2016, but will be offering free services till 31 March 2017.
The new plan seems competitive and might put further pressure on high ARPU (average revenue per user) customer of the incumbents.PhillipCapital (India)
Mukesh Ambani also said that Jio will provide 20 percent more data compared to any other telecom provider and aims to increase network coverage of Jio to 99 percent of population and double its data capacity by 2017-end.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
9. Andhra Pradesh to Develop Vizag as Fintech Hub, Signs MoU With Visa
The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday unveiled its plans to develop Visakhapatnam as Fintech hub of the country and signed MoUs with Visa and Thomson Reuters.
This initiative is designed to provide the foundation for the city to emerge as India's Fintech Valley, in keeping with the vision of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the company said.
Naidu announced the Fintech Valley initiative at the Microsoft Future Decoded conference in Mumbai.
Six companies, including Paytm, are already working at Fintech Tower in the port city.
The Chief Minister tweeted that YES Bank is also keen on setting up a Fintech Park in new state capital Amaravati.
(Source: IANS)
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