1. Railways to Phase Out Diesel Engines in Five Years: Piyush Goyal
Two months after a run-in with US giant General Electric Co (GE) over the manufacture of diesel locomotives, the Indian Railways has decided to phase out diesel engines in the next five years and switch entirely to electric ones.
By phasing out diesel locomotives, the national transporter will save around Rs 11,500 crore annually, railway minister Piyush Goyal said at a meeting of the executive committee of the industry lobby group Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
“We have planned to switch all trains to electric-driven in the next five years,” Goyal said on Tuesday. “The diesel locomotives will be used for back-up purposes in the yards.”
(Source: Livemint)
2. Cabinet Approves Setting up of 15th Finance Commission
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of the 15th Finance Commission, which will assess the tax resources of the nation and suggest a formula for their devolution among states.
The members of the Commission and its terms of reference will be notified in the due course of time, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after the Union Cabinet meeting.
Its recommendations will have to be in place before 1 April 2020, he said. "Normally, it takes 2 years for Finance Commission to give its recommendations."
The 14th Finance Commission was set up on 2 January 2013. Its recommendations cover the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2020.
(Source: PTI)
3. “Pay up by December, Like a Good Kid,” Says SC to Jaypee Builders
In a stern message to realty firm Jaiprakash Associate Limited (JAL), the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed its 13 directors not to alienate their personal properties and asked the company to pay up Rs 275 crore by December end "like a good kid".
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra accepted a demand draft of Rs 275 crore submitted by the real estate firm and directed it to pay another two tranches of Rs 150 crore and Rs 125 crore respectively by 14 and 31 December.
The bench restrained 13 directors, including five promoters and eight independent directors, from alienating their personal properties as well as of their immediate family members.
The top court also made it clear that it was granting "indulgence" to allow the firm to deposit Rs 2,000 crore in instalments as the interest of homebuyers was "paramount".
"Deposit the money like a good kid on the next date of hearing," the bench said.
(Source: PTI)
4. India's ‘Dirty Dozen’ Debtors Lure Big Funds to Their Bad Loans
India’s highest-profile default this year and the government’s plan to inject capital into state-controlled lenders have thrust the nation’s bad debt into the spotlight. Some global debt funds increasingly like what they see.
The nation’s so-called dirty dozen – 12 large debtors that have been ordered to go through the bankruptcy courts – are one focus for funds including Bain Capital Credit and buyout firm Varde Partners. The government’s decision last month to inject Rs 2.11 lakh crore of capital into state-controlled lenders over two years, as well as the country’s new insolvency code that took effect in 2016, will help open the market for soured loans, according to Hong Kong-based loan and bond trading firm SC Lowy.
Asia’s richest banker Uday Kotak concurs, saying India’s $207 billion pile of bad loans is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Oaktree Capital Group LLC, the world’s largest distressed debt investor, has said it is “quite enthusiastic.”
(Source: Bloomberg)
5. Indian Companies Remain Stressed But Ability To Service Debt Improves
India’s corporate debt fell in the three months ended September and ability of companies to pay interest on loans improved slightly.
Indian companies’ debt stood at Rs 13.9 lakh crore at the end of September, compared to Rs 14.3 lakh crore in the previous quarter, according to Credit Suisse’s Corporate Health Tracker report. While the overall corporate stress level remained largely unchanged, the share of debt with interest coverage ratio of less than one was at 40 percent of the total debt, down 2 percentage points from the previous quarter, the report added.
This improvement was largely on the account of Tata Motors’ exit from the list, as the share of “chronically stressed debt” has increased 100 basis points to around 38 percent, the report said.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
6. Tata Nano to Make a Comeback With Electric Model
The Tata Nano is making a comeback, with an electric motor under the hood. Tata Motors, the manufacturer of the car once touted as the cheapest in the world, however, has only a limited role this time.
A Coimbatore-based company, Jayem Automotives, has signed an agreement with Tata Motors to source the body shell of the car, which will then be fitted with an electric motor and power train at its facility in the southern city, people in the know of the matter told ET.
It is expected to travel more than 150 km on a full charge. An announcement of the vehicle's launch is likely in the next few days.
The company already has orders for 400 electric Nanos from taxi aggregation platform Ola Cabs, the people said.
(Source: Economic Times)
7. Auto Component Firms Wary of Govt’s Electric Vehicles Push
The government’s push for electric vehicles (EVs) has made automobile parts makers, especially engine manufacturers, wary of putting in more money into their businesses, with a majority of them contending that the move will alter their businesses drastically.
Auto Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), a lobby group that represents auto parts makers, is conducting a study to assess the impact of such a transition on the industry. A report containing the outcome of the study will be submitted to the government in a month for further deliberations, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, requesting anonymity.
Internal combustion engines (ICE), which are used in most cars, have more than 2,000 moving parts, while an electric vehicle has about 20, resulting in fewer breakdowns.
Among the parts that will see demand dry up once electric vehicles dominate in India, are engines, transmission, aluminium castings, cylinder blocks and cast iron. These will give way to an electric motor run by batteries.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Tiger Global Management to Cash in $1 Billion From Ola, Flipkart Exits
New York-based Tiger Global Management is set to cash in about $1 billion from its early bets on Ola and Flipkart by selling part of its shareholdings to Japan’s Soft-Bank, said two people familiar with the development.
The share sales by Tiger Global, the industry’s most prolific investor, signals increasing liquidity available in India’s mostvalued Internet firms as strategic investors SoftBank and China’s Tencent are keen on playing a bigger role in them. This, in a market where investment exits have been hard to come by.
The share sales in Flipkart and Ola will take the total realisations for Tiger Global, which has invested $2 billion over a decade in India, to nearly $1.5 billion. Led by reclusive Lee Fixel, Tiger Global is expected to earn about three times its investment in Flipkart and about five times the money it put into Ola.
(Source: Economic Times)
9. Uber Had a Massive Data Breach in 2016 That Nobody Was Told About
Uber apprently failed to disclose a massive breach last year that exposed the data of some 57 million users of the ride-sharing service, the company's new chief executive officer said on Tuesday.
Discovery of the company's handling of the incident led to the departure of two employees who led Uber's response to the incident, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who was named CEO in August following the departure of founder Travis Kalanick.
“According to the company’s account, two individuals downloaded data from a third-party cloud server used by Uber, which contained names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of some 57 million Uber users around the world. They also downloaded names and driver’s license numbers of some 6,00,000 of the company’s US drivers,” Khosrowshahi said.
(Source: Reuters)
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