1. Tatas May Be Waiting in the Wings to Buy Jet Airways
The Tata group may revive an attempt to buy Jet Airways (India) Ltd if lenders to the grounded airline fail to find a buyer and are forced to drag the carrier to a bankruptcy court, said two people familiar with the discussions at India’s largest conglomerate.
Last year, the Tata group withdrew from talks to buy the ailing airline once it became clear that Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal was unwilling to cede control and had opened parallel negotiations with existing investor Etihad Airways PJSC of Abu Dhabi for a potential equity infusion. As part of its initial interest, the Tata group had inspected the books and assets of Jet Airways last November.
(Source: Live Mint)
2. Jet Airways Confident of Finding New Investors, Says CEO Vinay Dube
Jet Airways (India) Ltd is confident of the successful outcome of a share sale process initiated by its lenders that will potentially lead to new investors for the grounded airline, chief executive officer Vinay Dube said.
However, with no emergency funds in sight and the likelihood of any investment still a few weeks away, the only task before the Jet Airways management at present is to prepare the groundwork for talks with business partners including aircraft lessors to resume operations once fresh investments are made.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Companies May Take Only 3 Days to Register with Central Agencies
In a bid to break into the top 50 countries for ease of doing business, India may soon put in place a simple, single clearance process to incorporate a company with seamless registration of permanent account number, Tax Account Number, Goods and Services Tax, Employee Provident Fund Organisation and Employee State Insurance Corporation in flat three days.
(Source: The Economic Times)
4. Impact on Sri Lanka Tourism Post Attacks May Be Short-Lived: Travel Firms
Tour operators are bracing for cancellations and deferrals of Sri Lankan tours after multiple explosions killed at least 215 persons in its capital Colombo on Sunday morning.
India is the largest source market for Sri Lanka, which received 2.3 million tourists from around the world in 2018. The terror attack at the beginning of outbound travel season will impact tourist footfalls at least on short term, say industry experts.
(Source: Business Standard)
5. HDFC Bank’s Stellar Run Continued in fy19, but Aditya Puri’s Exit May Be a Concern
What happens to a bank with a stellar performance if the leader behind the strong run has to leave? Investors of HDFC Bank Ltd have a year and a half to find the answer.
HDFC Bank’s chief Aditya Puri may have to hang up his boots midway in FY21 due to a rule that sets 70 years as the maximum age for top banking executives to hold office.
(Source: Livemint)
6. Anglo Steps Up Defence to Repel Agarwal's Interest
Anglo American Plc has hired three investment banks to fend off a potential takeover bid from the billionaire owner of Vedanta Resources Ltd, Anil Agarwal, the Telegraph reported, citing unidentified people.
Agarwal has previously stated he had no intention to take over the miner, but bankers think he is now working with adviser JP Morgan Chase & Co to help finance a bid as soon as September, the British newspaper said.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. Job Creation Trebles In February At 8.61 Lakh, Shows EPFO Payroll Data
Net employment generation in the formal sector almost trebled to 8.61 lakh in February compared to 2.87 lakh in the same month of last year, according to the latest Employees' Provident Fund Organisation payroll data.
The retirement fund body EPFO has been releasing payroll data from April 2018, covering the period starting September 2017.
According to the latest data, the highest job creation was recorded in January 2019 at 8.94 lakh against the provisional estimate of 8.96 lakh released last month.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
8. Ola in Talks with Luxury Carmakers Audi, Mercedes for Self-Drive Subscription Services: Sources
Ride-hailing platform Ola is in discussions with luxury carmakers, including Audi, Mercedes and BMW, to launch a subscription-based service under its self-drive offering, according to sources.
Ola has been running a small-scale pilot of the self-drive service in Bengaluru currently, and is expected to launch the offering in the next few weeks through Ola Fleet Technologies.
(Source: The Economic Times)
9. Basmati Rice Exporter GRM to Enter Domestic Mkt; To Invest Rs 50 CR on Marketing, Distribution
Leading basmati rice exporter GRM Overseas Ltd has decided to foray into the domestic market and will invest around Rs 50 crore over the next two years to expand its business across the country. The company sees tremendous growth potential in the domestic market where the demand for packaged branded basmati rice is rising at a rapid pace, its MD Atul Garg said.
GRM Overseas, a listed entity with around Rs 950 crore turnover in the 2017-18 fiscal year, has two processing plants at Panipat in Haryana and recently acquired a plant in Gujarat. “We are the third largest basmati rice exporter in the country. Now, we are entering the domestic market under our brand Tanoush,” he told PTI.
(Source: Financial Express)
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